JC Shurburtt is the National Recruiting Director for 247Sports.com.  He was kind enough to join us for a quick interview this week.

1: Why does VT have trouble recruiting 5-star players from the state of Virginia?

I think things like this are cyclical, especially with regards to the state of Virginia. There are times when the elite, five-star types stay in-state and go to Tech – and as is the case this cycle, some are staying home and going to Virginia. There are also times when the three-star prospect that stays in-state with the Hokies ends up being better than the five-star that leaves the state.  Devin Vandyke, for example, is probably going to do more on the field this season than Curtis Grant at Ohio State.

That’s not a given, or a shot at Grant or the Buckeyes, it just seems to work out that way with regards to prospects from the Commonwealth. That’s not to say that at Virginia Tech, they don’t recognize that they would do wonders for their roster if they landed Da’Shawn Hand or Jonathan Allen or Andrew Brown. In fact, I know it’s something that has been discussed there, but many times it’s not so much that there’s one overriding issue other than in every cycle, kids make different decisions for different reasons and there is a ton of foot traffic in the state of Virginia from college coaches – more than there used to be.

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