Recruiting the best

The Virginia Tech football team?s coaching staff has been extremely busy over the past month. With the Hokies? season opener against Northeastern just around the corner, Tech has new reason to appreciate strong safety and outside linebacker coach Jim Cavanaugh.

Cavanaugh, currently entering the 10th year of his coaching tenure with the Hokies, serves as the team?s recruiting coordinator, a title he earned in 2002. Even before he headed Tech?s recruiting operations, Cavanaugh played a large part in recruiting several notable Hokies ? Nathaniel and Xavier Adibi, Kevin and Jonathan Lewis, defensive lineman Chris Ellis and standout quarterbacks Bryan Randall and Michael Vick.

Recently, Cavanaugh?s recruiting program has been on a roll. This past off-season, Tech has garnered an NCAA-leading 23 verbal commitments, 19 of those being announced during July alone.

?The month of July was indeed a very productive time for us,? said Cavanaugh. ?We were able to get a lot of early commits, something all the coaches and I were very pleased with, before heading into the summer practices. Being able to attract such a strong number of recruits in that time period was amazing.?

On July 21, during part of the Hokies? remarkable recruiting run, Tech arguably landed the biggest commitment of the summer. Rivals.com five-star, dual-threat quarterback Tyrod Taylor of Hampton, Va. committed to play for Frank Beamer and Co. next season. The 6-foot 1-inch, 200-pound high school senior is already being compared to Michael Vick. Taylor boasted several strong accomplishments as a junior last year, accounting for over 2,500 yards and 20 scores while leading Hampton High School to its 17th AAA State Championship. Immediately following the signing of Taylor, a flurry of action developed for the Hokies. Nine other recruits announced their decision to commit to Tech as freshmen in 2007, reiterating the after-effects of what signing such a highly-touted recruit can do for a program.

Among those who rode in on Taylor?s signing was four-star safety Davon Morgan from Richmond. Morgan is a two-way standout from Varina High School and has been rated the fifth-best prospect in Virginia by Rivals.com.

Taylor has also announced his intention to work with several other prospects who have expressed an interest in Tech. Taylor has mentioned contacting five-star wide receiver Arrelious Benn, five-star running back Caleb King and four-star wide receiver Jay Smith. Of the 23 total recruits that Tech has received verbal commitments from this past offseason, 15 play on the offensive side of the ball. This comes as a rather large discrepancy, especially on a team famous for its defense. Five offensive linemen and five tight ends have orally committed to Tech, possibly adding some much-needed depth to the Hokie offense.

Tech?s increased emphasis on acquiring offensive talent comes as a clever tactic to upgrade the offensive firepower for the quarterback phenom Taylor.

Reflecting on the Hokies? successful July, Cavanaugh accredited the program?s mid-summer spike in commitments to two specific reasons.

?First, in July we had our Junior Day, in which several high school prospects came and worked out with the university and got affiliated with the program. Overall, we had a great response,? Cavanaugh said. ?Second, along with the workout experience, the recruits saw our facilities, such as our new 18,000 square-foot academic area on the third floor of our stadium. It?s quite a structure and not only the players, but the parents as well, felt comfortable with their kids coming here and doing well both on the football field as well as in the classroom.?

Both the parents and the players were interested in the university?s graduation rate of 70 percent (ranked eighth in Division 1-A by the American Football Coaches? Association.)

?Basically, the combination of our kids graduating as well as the facilities that the kids will go into academically, helped the recruits? overall decisions,? Cavanaugh said. ?Not to be forgotten too was the fact that all the kids got to know each other during our Junior Day and see our football facilities as well, which ultimately helped us to experience such a strong recruiting process this offseason. I?m really looking forward to next year?s class, for the future of Tech football sure looks bright.?