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Aside from the obvious fact that they are current members of the Virginia Tech football team, each mentioned player is a full-time starter at their respective position (or is at least currently facing heavy consideration for playing time) and each is a native of Hampton Roads, Va.
Hampton Roads, located in Southeastern Va., is also known as the Tidewater region or the ?Seven Cities? ? referring to the area?s seven major cities of Chesapeake, Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Suffolk and Virginia Beach.
According to Virginia Tech assistant coach Jim Cavanaugh, who actually began his coaching career in Newport News and is a heavy advocate for Hokie recruiting in the Hampton Roads area, Tech?s current assembly of football players are well aware of the latest string of talent emerging from the region. In fact, Cavanaugh addresses the issue quite often. However, the players tend to avoid the use of formal terminology when referring to their hometown.
?The kids, they just call it the 7-5-7, for the local phone area code,? said Cavanaugh. ?With so many players having already come to Tech from that area, you hear the players addressing the issue more often than you think, wondering why so many talented young athletes come from there to eventually play here as a Hokie.?
Virginia Tech?s recent crop of football talent from the Hampton Roads area notably began with the successful play of former Newport News quarterback Michael Vick. His extreme athleticism and speed as a quarterback was one of the prime factors in giving Blacksburg and the Hokies national recognition, putting Hampton Roads on the map.
Since Vick?s time, several other Tech stars from the Tidewater region have enjoyed successful careers as Hokies, including Bryan Randall (Williamsburg), cornerback DeAngelo Hall (Chesapeake), or even more recently, cornerback Jimmy Williams (Hampton) and linebacker James Anderson (Chesapeake), both of whom were taken on the first day of this year?s NFL Draft.
Current Virginia Tech redshirt junior linebackers Vince Hall and Xavier Adibi of Chesapeake and Hampton respectively, keep up to date with the success of players from around their hometown, and along the way formed a few theories addressing Tech?s latest trend of 757 successful players.
?I think it?s something in the water,? said Adibi. ?I mean, that?s got to be it, because we do a lot of the same things here in training as everybody else. But I guess once you take a few sips of that H20, it changes you to a whole another level.?
Hall, Tech?s returning starter at middle linebacker, made a valiant effort in trying to accredit other factors serving as the reason for the team?s recent crop of successful athletes from the Hampton Roads area. Like Adibi, Hall feels the success comes right out of the tap.
?I mean, if you look at the situation, you can say maybe it?s because of the better competition, maybe because of some better coaches for guys in the 757, stuff like that,? Hall said. ?But now that I think of it though, now that I really think about it, I?d have to say it?s something in the water. Yeah, that?s it, because you might see guys down there in high school right now who are trying to go to college and play ball, and some of those kids may have a bad junior year or what not and then they drink some of that water and for some reason they?re back to being a star again, that?s just how it is. It?s got to be something about that water.?
Water jokes aside, perhaps the biggest added benefit for the Hokies is having 19 players on the team from the same area, adding a chance for friendships and team bonding. This can translate to easier, smoother signings of new recruits to come play for the Hokies, something that Cavanaugh and the Hokie coaching staff have been well aware of for quite some time.
?Since our program has been successful in recruiting players from the Hampton Roads area, and in turn those kids have been successful playing for our program, we have built and received an added fanbase down there,? said Cavanaugh. ?All the exposure down in the Tidewater region helps to draw other kids to come play out here in Blacksburg, and once they do come play, typically they already know several players on the team, which just makes it an all-around more comfortable experience for them.
Things like that are just a win-win situation for the university, so if athletes from the area want to come play for Virginia Tech and be successful, we here just urge them to continue to work hard just like all those before them.?
And maybe drink eight glasses of water daily.
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