In Virginia Tech’s quest to add depth and talent to their running back corps for the Class of 2018, the Hokies have evaluated and offered several recruits at the position. One of the more recent offers is Caleb Steward.
Steward is a 5-foot-11, 195-pound running back from Ed White High School in Jacksonville, FL. Steward is currently unranked by both Rivals and 247Sports. Steward currently holds 12 scholarship offers, with three of them coming from Power 5 programs. Virginia Tech, Duke, Purdue and East Carolina are his most notable scholarship offers.
Ed White High School is in the 6A classification in Florida, which is on the higher end of classifications. Steward more than holds his own. According to MaxPreps, Steward ran for 684 yards on 109 carries in nine games, scoring nine touchdowns.
Steward doesn’t flash elite athleticism; then again, most players don’t. Instead, he has great vision as a ball carrier and has great patience with the ball in his hands. Steward runs better between the tackles, but shows the ability to get to the edge at the high school level. He also has experience running routes and catching passes out of the backfield, a must for today’s running backs.
On an interesting note, one of the early highlights on Steward’s film is him blocking. To me, that shows that he doesn’t mind blocking, and that he actually has an idea of how to do it.
Steward’s recruitment has taken off a bit in recent weeks. Virginia Tech pulled the trigger and offered Steward on May 4, and Duke, Purdue and Georgia Southern have all offered since then. If Virginia Tech can get Steward on campus, it would be reasonable to think they have as a good a shot as anyone else. It is still early, but Steward is one name to keep an eye on.
Virginia Tech wants to take two running backs in the Class of 2018. The Hokies have missed on several targets so far, including Ricky Slade, Jamal Elliott and Justus Woods. Mychale Salahuddin seems to have eliminated the Hokies from contention as well, which has forced Virginia Tech to widen the net.
The Hokies are high on Mataeo Durant and Malcolm Davidson, and have recently offered Master Teague and Andrew Cunningham as well. Virginia Tech sits well with Trent Pennix, and the Hokies have made up a lot of ground with Ronnie Walker, but no running backs are committed at this point.
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