Since Since being officially introduced as Virginia Tech’s head football coach, Justin Fuente and his staff have taken to the recruiting trail in a big way. At least six new scholarship offers have been extended in the past week, including three to players committed elsewhere.
By position, Virginia Tech’s new head coach has extended offers to one running back/linebacker, two wide receivers, one offensive lineman, one linebacker and one cornerback. Not surprisingly, the prospects who have reportedly been offered are from areas/schools familiar to Fuente. Three high school seniors hail from Oklahoma, where Fuente grew up. One hails from Alabama, a state Fuente successfully recruited the past several years at Memphis. And two are sophomores in junior college. As I wrote in this TSL Pass article last week, Fuente recruited 27 junior college prospects in four classes at Memphis.
In alphabetical order, below is the rundown of those scholarship offers.
VELUS JONES JR., WR, Saraland (AL), USC Trojans commit
The 5’11”, 180-pound senior has taken official visits to Michigan, Oklahoma and Tennessee. He reportedly has scheduled official trips to Mississippi State (this weekend) and Notre Dame (in January) as well. Barring a change in plans, Virginia Tech doesn’t appear to have a great chance here.
Whether or not Tech is successful with Jones, don’t be surprised if Alabama is a state Coach Fuente targets in future classes. He recruited six players from Alabama to Memphis in the 2014 and 2015 classes.
KYLE MAYBERRY, CB, Washington (Tulsa, OK), Committed to Kansas
Mayberry, a 5’11”, 170-pound senior, was offered by Coach Fuente in the hours following the November 30 introductory press conference. He has verbally committed to Kansas. The first order of business for Virginia Tech is getting the speedy defensive back to visit.
LON’TRELLE MILLER, LB, Edison (Tulsa, OK), 6’1″, 210
Miller, who hails from the place where Coach Fuente grew up, scored an offer from the Hokies within the past week. The interest is mutual.
DEMETRI MOORE, OL, Mississippi Delta Community College (Moorehead, MS)
The Moore is a sophomore at Mississippi Delta. He hails from Huffman High School in Birmingham, Alabama. Auburn is among the handful of SEC offers the 6’6″, 290-pound prospect reportedly is considering at this point. Moore reportedly made an official visit to Auburn the weekend of the Iron Bowl last month.
DAE WILLIAMS RB, Oklahoma, 6’2″, 230, Sapulpa (OK), SMU commit
Through Twitter, SMU class of 2016 running back commitment reported that Virginia Tech has extended a scholarship offer. The 6’2″, 230-pound prospect’s interest level in Tech remains to be seen, but we have reached out with an interview request to find out.
CEDRICK WILSON JR., WR, Coffeyville CC (KS), Boise State commit
Wilson is a 6’3″, 190-pound sophomore at Coffeyville Community College who reportedly received an offer from the Hokies yesterday. The Memphis (TN) native verbally committed to Boise State on November 24, but he has since added offers from Kansas and now Virginia Tech.
Read more from Wilson in this “Q&A” on Bronco Nation News, which interviewed him following his commitment. Given that the talented wide receiver is from Memphis, I wouldn’t be surprised if he gave Tech a closer look. A Dead Period begins December 14, so if he wants to take a closer look at Virginia Tech it’ll have to be soon. I expect he plans to enroll in college next month.
Wilson had a terrific sophomore season at Coffeyville, totaling 66 receptions for 1,045 yards and 17 touchdowns. His highlights are below.
Print
Boy, check out the tape on that Dae Williams … reminds me a lot of Derrick Henry !
It’s hard to tell how good he really is, as nobody wants to tackle him for fear of getting hurt. I see more “oops I really tried to tackle him, but I just happened to miss” instances in his tape than I’ve ever seen in a VT recruiting tape. Of course, the college defenders won’t have the same fear. But, Dae may still be very good in college.
My guess is the real number of new offers is double that.
Awesome, but would like him to focus on 4 & 5 star players, any where that he can get-em !!!
Awesome but would like him to really focus on Virginia and the Carolinas
It’s not surprising to see Fuente staying in familiar territory with some of these offers. He probably evaluated these kids at Memphis. If he didn’t recruit VA/NC/SC much while at Memphis, it’ll take time to evaluate some potential new targets for this class. He is after previously established targets such as Landon Dickerson, but in terms of new offers in these areas I think you may see those come in the coming weeks and as we move toward NSD, provided there are players he wants.
Nothing wrong w/offering guys that he’s already evaluated but Memphis is closer to AL than Blacksburg. If might make a difference to some.
CJF steps away from the microphone at his introduction press conference, pulls out his top 25 recruiting misses from Memphis and starts calling them, and he gets enough interest to offer at least 6 to go to VT.
I’m okay with that in December 2015. Go Hokies recruiting!!!
Thank you someone thinking correctly! People focus on stars so much! I agree it’s important but him offering guys he knows is smart and like you said its early DECEMBER!!!