South County (Lorton, VA) will have more than one sure-fire Division 1A prospect on its roster in the 2009 season. One is a rising senior, while the other a rising junior. At this point, Virginia Tech has only offered the latter. Safety/wide receiver Ronnie Van Dyke is not allowed to receive official offers until the beginning of his junior year, but the Hokies recently became the first program to verbally offer the versatile standout.

“Virginia Tech was up in January. I was talking with Coach Foster and showed him tape of Ronnie,” South County head coach Pete Bendorf recalled. “I’ve been coaching in Virginia for so long and do a lot of what Tech does defensively, so I told Coach Foster I think we’ve got a guy that fits their scheme. Coach Foster took a look at him and thought that Ronnie is that kind of kid. Ronnie is 6-3, 185 pounds, is rangy and runs extremely well. He is extremely competitive. He had a great sophomore year and I expect him to get better.”

Effective on both sides of the ball, Van Dyke’s versatility was evident this past season.

“Ronnie plays Rover, which is basically a weak-side safety for us, but we move him all over the place,” Bendorf said. “We do some different things with him. We played Ronnie some on offense, too, as a wide receiver. He made some huge plays for us last season. I had to temper my expectations because he was just a sophomore, but it got to a point where I realized I just had to get the ball in his hands.”

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