Let’s move on to the big boys who signed with Virginia Tech. There are two things I’m not going to spend much time talking about: pad level and pass protection. For pad level, a lineman just needs to be low enough to hit the other guy’s pads—any lower, and he creates a situation where he’s trying to block a defender’s stomach, which is a narrower, slipperier target than rigid shoulder pads. Everyone on defense plays high in high school, so by default so do their blockers.

There isn’t much great pass protection, either, mainly because it’s not needed at most high schools. Not that recruits ever show good protection in their highlights—knocking guys on their butts in the run game is what Hudl is all about. That said, it looks like the Hokies have some promising candidates, and in the crapshoot of line recruiting, I’m pretty sure most of them will pan out.

Brody Meadows
OT
6’6, 280
Bluefield, VA
Graham High

Meadows looked like someone had grabbed an aircraft carrier-type lineman from Iowa and thrown him on a high school team. He usually dominated the guy across from him, and since he played both ways, there are lots of clips of him bullying defenders down the line on zone blocks, or knocking would-be blockers backwards with a powerful two-handed thump to the chest. Meadows knows how to finish blocks, as his highlights are chock-full of him driving guys ten yards downfield and then burying them. On a few snaps, he decleated somebody on the line, then went on and somersaulted somebody else in the second level.

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