By now you’ve heard the news.  Virginia Tech will not be getting Da’Shawn Hand , the nation’s #1 football prospect despite the fact that many considered him a VT lean during the recruiting process.

Hand has narrowed his choices to Michigan, Florida and Alabama, and the stated reason is that they each offer some kind of a Sports Management program.  Take Hand for his word on that.  He is obviously a guy who takes his grades seriously.  These were his grades at the end of this school year, which he Tweeted earlier today…

It’s nice to see a guy like that taking his grades seriously.  When I first started following Hand’s recruitment, he said he wanted to major in Petroleum Engineering.  You hear guys each year verbal to VT, or Georgia Tech, or some other engineering school because of the engineering program.  However, once they enroll, they are in a different major because it’s just too hard to play major college football and major in engineering at  the same time.

To his credit, Hand showed how smart and perceptive he really is and moved on to his second choice.  I’ve met the guy, and he’s legit.  He thinks about things such as “what if football doesn’t work out?”  You don’t see too many 5-star guys thinking that way, and I respect him for it.  He wants to be at a school where he can get an advanced degree in Sports Administration, just in case football doesn’t work out.

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