In the past, I haven’t taken much interest in football recruiting until, say,
December or January, which is when the Hokies and every other college football
team in the country start their sprint towards signing day in early February.
It’s my dirty little secret as TSL’s managing editor: I don’t follow recruiting
closely until I have to. But this year, I am determined to get in on the ground
floor of the 2007 recruiting class, to get to know the names early, and to
follow all the twists and turns that make up the drama of recruiting. Call my
journey “The Road to Signing Day 2007.”

Okay, so I’m not a total idiot about recruiting. You’ve seen my work enough
to know that I can at least post-analyze recruiting classes. And like anyone
else, when it gets late and the target board gets narrowed down to about 15
kids, I can track it. But what about early in the process, when there are
literally dozens of kids in the recruiting database, and you’re not sure which
way is up, and which is down? I’ve poked around some Rivals and Scout articles,
as well as Chris Horne’s updates here on TSL, and some names stick — Tyrod
Taylor, the QB out of Hampton, William
Alvarez, the OL out of Hylton High in Woodbridge, plus some others — but
most don’t.

How do you cut through the clutter early on? Concentrate, I guess. Immerse
yourself in it a little every day. And that’s what I’m going to do. As we wander
towards Signing Day 2007, which is about ten months away, I’m going to check out
Rivals, check out Scout, check out Horne’s stuff, talk to some contacts, and
muddle my way through. As things catch my eye and I share them with you, you’ll
learn, right along with me, what matters and what doesn’t. Who matters and who
doesn’t. That kind of thing.

With that in mind, I called up Horne Thursday morning and did a TSL Audio
interview with him. I didn’t get to cover nearly the topics I wanted to,
but we got started, and here’s some of the stuff I learned.

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