Athlete prospect Dante McDonald admits the initial interest from Virginia Tech came as a surprise, primarily because he hadn’t heard from anyone on the Tech staff at all prior to this season. Head coach Frank Beamer and company have not offered the Terry Sanford (Fayettsville, NC) senior, but the interest appears to be high.

“Virginia Tech, my first time hearing from them ever was this year, about four or five games ago,” McDonald recalled. “[Sanford Head] Coach [Wayne] Inman pulled me out of class because Coach Wiles had come by. Coach Wiles was impressed with my highlight tape. He told me he would be at my next game. He joked with me, telling me to hold on to the ball. He told me he was real impressed with me. The thing I like about him is that he’s real honest. He told me then that numbers were tight but he would try to find a way. He wanted to get some more tape and go from there.”

Virginia Tech and N.C. State, where McDonald impressed at camp this past summer, are the only two FBS programs showing the strongest interest right now. However, Sanford’s star senior recently sent out 2010 highlights to other schools including North Carolina and Georgia Tech.

“There could be more and more schools involved as my highlight tape gets out more, but for now the only ones seriously recruiting me are N.C. State and Virginia Tech,” McDonald said. “I have an official visit scheduled up to Virginia Tech on December 10 or 11. I’m supposed to be getting a home visit from them too. They have recruited me tough. I was getting recruited by Clemson. I went there for an unofficial, but their coach called my coach and said they are pretty set with the skill guys.”

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