Virginia Tech’s 2015 recruiting class is complete. The Hokies picked up 17 letters of intent on Wednesday to go along with the five 2015 prospects who enrolled in January.
Note: As always, we don’t count 2014 signees Xavier Burke and Tyrell Smith as part of the 2015 class because they signed last February, though we do include them in OXVT’s info graphic above.
SIGNED PLAYERS (LOI RECEIVED BY VT) - SHOWN IN THE ORDER RECEIVED |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| POS | PLAYER | STARS | STATUS |
| S | Adonis Alexander |  | Signed (Jan enrollee) |
| OL | Austin Clark | | Signed (Jan enrollee) |
| CB | Mook Reynolds | | Signed (Jan enrollee) |
| LB | Carson Lydon | | Signed (Jan enrollee) |
| DE / DT | Yosuah Nijman | | Signed (Jan enrollee) |
| CB | Adonis Williamson | | Signed |
| QB | Dwayne Lawson | | Signed |
| ATH | Coleman Fox | | Signed |
| ATH | Jahque Alleyne | | Signed |
| OL | DAndre Plantin | | Signed |
| DE | Houshun Gaines | | Signed |
| OL | Mike Arnold | | Signed |
| CB | DuWayne Johnson | | Signed |
| LB | Tremaine Edmunds | | Signed |
| DT, DE | Harry Lewis | | Signed |
| DT | Tim Settle | | Signed |
| OL | Zachariah Hoyt | | Signed |
| DE | Darius Fullwood | | Signed |
| TE, DE | Chris Cunningham | | Signed |
| DT | Eric Whitehead | | Signed |
| RB | Deshawn McClease | | Signed |
| DE | Trevon Hill | | Signed |
Headliners for the class include TSL 4-star recruits Dwayne Lawson (QB, Florida), Tim Settle (DT, VA), Trevon Hill (DE, VA), Mook Reynolds (CB, NC) and Austin Clark (OL, VA). The Hokies also picked up a few players who were rated as 4-star prospects by other services, such as Jahque Alleyne (S, VA), Darius Fullwood (DE, MD), Yoshua Nijman (DL, NJ) and Deshawn McClease (RB, VA).
The Hokies were focused on signing a lot of offensive and defensive linemen in the 2015 class, and they accomplished that goal from a numbers standpoint. However, it’s not quite clear where some of the players will end up, or whether they will qualify.
DT Tim Settle: Settle may have to attend prep school.
DE Darius Fullwood: Fullwood could potentially grow into a defensive tackle.
DE Trevon Hill: Hill left Salem High School in October, and currently attends Renaissance Academy, a school for students with academic, discipline or behavior issues. We do still expect him to enroll at Tech.
DL Yoshua Nijman: Nijman will begin his career at DE, but at 6-7, 277 already, he could be destined for the offensive line.
Houshun Gaines, who signed as a defensive end, will definitely play that position for the Hokies. Tremaine Edmunds signed as a linebacker, but we at TSL feel there is a strong chance that he could eventually play defensive end or tight end.
Tech signed four offensive linemen…
4-star OT Austin Clark, VA
3-star OT Mike Arnold, FL
3-star OT D’Andre Plantin, GA
2-star OG/C Zachariah Hoyt
It’s possible that Yoshua Nijman could also end up at offensive tackle, which would give the Hokies five offensive linemen for this class, with 2014 signee Tyrell Smith being a true freshman as well.
Of the three “blue chippers” in this class, two hail from the state of Virginia.
Austin Clark: #124 nationally by Rivals, #180 overall by 247, unanimous 4-star prospect
Tim Settle: #174 by Rivals, #162 by 247, #19 (5-star) by ESPN
Dwayne Lawson: #175 by Rivals, #199 by ESPN, unanimous 4-star prospect.
Three of Tech’s signees, including two of the top three, were once committed to other programs. Austin Clark was a South Carolina commit before deciding to stay close to home, and Dwayne Lawson decommitted from Miami for a chance at early playing time. Darius Fullwood originally chose the Kentucky Wildcats.
We’ll have much more on the 2015 recruiting class in the coming days, including scouting reports on every player throughout the month of February and into early March.
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Is there any information about Walk Ons offered and who(m) they might be? Sam Rogers was given a Walk On offer and I think many of us would like to know of others that may be sleepers with huge potential. Thanks Will and GO HOKIES bust ’em up and win ’em all.
Interesting factoid I heard on WTEM in DC today: There was not a single 5 star recruit in this year’s Super Bowl.
Not sure if it’s true, but if it is, that’s really surprising.
That’s true. No 5-stars, and something like nine 4-stars, and around the same number of 3-stars. Vast majority of the 48 starters (including kickers) were 1 or 2-star recruits. So, in reality, they don’t really mean a darned thing IMHO.
Russell Wilson was a 2-star recruit out of HS.
So was Kam
I don’t agree that stars mean nothing. They are an INDICATOR of talent at the HS level. By the time the NFL rolls around, the busts have busted, and the hidden jewels have shown themselves.
Despite the poor exploited college football players lament, THIS 4 year audition is as big a benefit as there is for an aspiring professional football player.
Kids get to play “Triple A” football for 4 years and showcase their talents, character, and work ethic. Some of the unknowns prove themselves to be NFL worthy, some of the 4-5* guys just flame out for one reason or another.
STILL, I ll take as many highly rated HS stars as I can get. When WE get a 4-5* recruit, he is GOING to play, and play a lot (we know it and HE knows it), When Alabama, etc get ANOTHER 5*, if he isn’t all he’s cracked up to be, he is benched and followed with another in the line of 4-5* players…That provides a MUCH bigger margin for error.
I’m starting to come to the realization that signing day for a VT fan is pretty anti-climactic. Basically the same class each year and I don’t foresee us becoming one of those schools that shows up in those “Signing Day Storylines” articles on recruiting sites or on TV with a VT hat sitting on a table in front of a player.
There’s always money in the banana stand…
It’s as Ann as the nose on Plain’s face.
Solid VT class of 3 and 4 star recruits(22). Tech does well coaching-up players, so the 2 star signees should be fine, and it’s great two have two local kids that other P5 schools wanted. Tech has done real well coaching-up walk-ons too.
Solid class, would have been excellent if we could have landed another DL like Sweat and a playmaking WR on the outside.
So what’s the final analysis? Trending up, trending down or, or just about the same as previous years?
Rankings-wise, right now VT is 21 in the nation by Rivals and 24 in the nation by 247. They have been in the low to mid-20s the previous three classes. A no. 17 rank in 2013 by 247Sports was the most highly rated class the past four years. Pretty consistent in pulling in top 25 classes the past four years.
and as we know rankings don’t mean a row of beans – more hype for the media than anything. Go Hokies!!!!
Sure they do (mean something) … here are the average rankings for the five most recent recruiting classes of the last nine national champions.
For example, OSU was the NC in 2014, and their five classes prior to that (2010-2014 signing classes) were ranked an average of 9.0
2014 (OSU): 9.0
2013 (FSU): 7.0
2012 (Bama): 1.8 (wow)
2011 (Bama): 3.6
2010 (Auburn): 12.0
2009 (Bama): 8.2
2008 (Florida): 6.2
2007 (LSU): 7.2
2006 (Florida): 9.8
You’re probably not going to win the national championship averaging classes that are ranked around 21-25. You’ll be outgunned.
Now, rankings aren’t the be-all and end-all. One great player (Cam Newton) can skew results, and great coaches and great systems can overcome “low-ranked” classes (Oregon’s classes from 2010-2014 were ranked 13, 9, 16, 22, 26, an average of 17.2, and they almost won it in 2014).
But in general, taken on the aggregate, rankings do matter.
OK Will you win. I’ll jump on your ship but sometimes “all that glitters ain’t gold.”
What came 1st, the Turkey or the egg? Many of these classes are highly ranked b/c of the teams past success. If ‘bama/Lu’s/Oregon/etc. are recruiting a kid, he magically becomes a blue chip prospect. Of course, good kids want to go to successful programs, so it becomes self fulfilling. All in all, this haul combined with the last two classes should have us competing for a conference title (IMHO).
Thanks for clarification and analysis. Now- how do we get “movin’on up, to the east side”?
Well put. I agree completely!