By Jimmy Robertson
BLACKSBURG – Virginia Tech's 2020 football recruiting class was short on numbers, but long on quality.
Head coach Justin Fuente gave that basic summation when discussing the class at a news conference Wednesday morning, as he and his staff signed 14 prospects to letters-of-intent on the first day of college football's three-day early signing period. The staff also added a graduate transfer in former Kansas tailback Khalil Herbert, who rushed for 1,735 yards and 14 touchdowns in his Jayhawk career.
"I'm excited with what we've been able to add to our class," Fuente said. "There's a lot of dynamics in this. There are a lot of people that have helped us on this campus and continued to sell Virginia Tech. Obviously, we didn't have a lot of room – we've got a pretty darn good football team coming back. I'm excited about that. We did feel like at running back that we needed to get immediate help with the rest of our squad, and I think we did that. Also, we planned for the long term. Next year's class is going to be really, really large. We tried to plan a little bit ahead."
Tech's 2020 recruiting class took on a national look, as the staff signed players from nine different states, including three from Georgia, two from Florida and two from Texas. The staff also added players from the states of Virginia, Tennessee, South Carolina, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Connecticut.
The signings of defensive lineman Robert Wooten and Alec Bryant from Texas provided an interesting twist to this year's recruiting. Those two are believed to be the first high school prospects from Texas to sign with Virginia Tech, with a couple of Tech's staff members taking advantage of connections to reel in the Lone Star State standouts.
"It's just a different world than it was five years ago, quite honestly," Fuente said. "It's just so much easier for people not just to communicate, but to look and see and touch and feel programs and colleges without having been there. I think we're just beginning to scratch the surface of what we can do. I think we have a beautiful product here to sell, and I think it is going to appeal to people a little bit farther away in areas that haven't been historically productive for Virginia Tech. Part of that is a function of technology, and part of that is it's a little bit easier to sell your school from a distance than it used to be.
"It's not the end all, be all of recruiting [recruiting in Texas]. I understand that, but it's pretty hard to argue the statistics when you talk about the quality of players and programs that are down there. I think people would really be taken aback if they got a close look at the quality of programs in that state. I think it would be shocking to some people if they really got to get on the inside and see what it looks like."
Bryant, a 6-foot-3, 230-pounder from Pearland, Texas – a suburb of Houston – comes to Tech as the highest rated of the Hokies' recruits. He earned a four-star rating from Rivals and was No. 10 in the Houston Chronicle's top 100 prospects in Texas, and he currently had 45 tackles and six sacks for a team playing for the Class 5A state championship Saturday. Wooten, a 6-3, 230-pounder from Stafford, Texas (also a suburb of Houston) was No. 19 on that Houston Chronicle list after recording 73 tackles and six sacks as a senior. He registered 155 tackles and 14 sacks in his career.
Those two will team with Derrell Bailey Jr., a 6-6, 255-pounder from Greenback, Tennessee, and Justin Beadles, a 6-5, 232-pounder from Tyrone, Georgia. Bailey had 63 tackles, including 11.5 for a loss, as a senior, while Beadles registered 59 tackles and nine sacks as a senior.
A year ago, the Hokies' signed four defensive tackle prospects to letters-of-intent. This year's class features four ends, though any of these could grow into defensive tackles.
The one common trait with all of them was length – all are taller than 6-3 and all possess long arms.
"I do think relative speed and relative strength is important," Fuente said. "And we have made a concerted effort to get longer … When you're trying to keep people off of you, offensive players want players in there tight when they're blocking, and defensive players want them far away. I know that's oversimplifying it, but that's part of it. That doesn't mean if you're just tall, you can play, obviously but trying to continually take up more space on the field and continue to develop some players. They're all developmental players. They're all guys that we'll have to get into the system and lift and feed and bring along, but I think they can restrict some space and ultimately, in the long run, lead to more productive play."
Tech's staff also went heavy on running backs, signing three tailbacks to go along with the addition of Herbert. The group includes: 6-0, 210-pound Jordan Brunson from Alpharetta, Georgia; 5-10, 195-pound Jalen Hampton from Rockville, Maryland; and 5-11, 225-pound Marco Lee from Columbus, Georgia by way of Coffeyville Community College.
Hampton rushed for nearly 1,300 yards and 11 touchdowns his senior season at Georgetown Prep, while Lee rushed for 820 yards and five scores at Coffeyville. Brunson rushed for 661 yards and nine touchdowns as a senior.
The four tailbacks feature an array of skill sets, but all of them are on the bigger side, with Hampton being the smallest at 195 pounds. This season, Tech's staff wound up playing Dalton Keene some at tailback just to get a bigger presence in the backfield, and the coaches set out to add size with this class.
"We certainly made a concerted effort to get bigger," Fuente said. "Marco is a big strong young man. I think Jalen is just touching what he can be size-wise. He's got a chance in a year or two to be a bigger person, and Jordan is a little more developed already. He's a 210-, 212-pound guy that is pretty far along from a physical standpoint. So we did make a concerted effort to get bigger. We do have some smaller guys that I really, really like. I think we have a chance to have something really special back there a couple of different styles. I don't want them all to look the same."
Here are some other takeaways from the day:
TECH FOOTBALL GOES INTERNATIONAL
The Hokies' staff added another tight end to the fold when the coaches signed Wilfried Pene, a 6-3, 235-pounder from France who played his prep football at St. Thomas More School in Oakdale, Connecticut. 247Sports rated Pene the No. 3 overall prep school prospect in the nation and the No. 1 tight end prospect. He also played defensive end at St. Thomas More.
"I think he's a guy that could play on either side of the ball in his career," Fuente said. "Obviously, a unique situation. We have a punter from Australia and a tight end from France. Not a hotbed for college football recruiting. He's a guy we've known about for some time. He came to the United States to have a chance to play college football. He ended up at a prep school in Connecticut. We have just tracked and tracked and tracked and got a chance to see live, and we're really excited about what he can do. He's an aggressive, athletic guy, with great size and strength. He enjoys the weight room. He taught himself English in a year on his own with no class. He just jumped right in to taking classes and did not speak English when he started. There's something about people like that, in my opinion."
RUDOLPH LONE IN-STATE RECRUIT
Tech's class consists of just one player from the Commonwealth of Virginia – defensive back Lakeem Rudolph, a 6-4, 202-pounder from Green Run High School in Virginia Beach. In the past, Tech rosters have been built with Virginia prospects, but with advances in technology, times have changed, and a lack of scholarships available forced the staff to be selective.
"Quite honestly, there's some we didn't get, and some we didn't like," Fuente explained. "That's the truth. I was pretty slow with some things because of the small numbers [of scholarships available]. I was pretty hyper sensitive to make sure we did things the right way because of our numbers situation. I'd say it was all those factors. I don't think it's going to be anything indicative to come."
MORE ON STAFF SHUFFLING
Fuente revealed Wednesday that Pierson Prioleau, who is in the role of director of player development (defense) would be coaching the cornerback positions for the Hokies' Belk Bowl game against Kentucky. In an announcement made Dec. 8 – the same day that Fuente promoted Justin Hamilton to defensive coordinator to replace Bud Foster, who is retiring – he announced that Brian Mitchell, the previous cornerbacks coach, and Zohn Burden, the running backs coach, would not return to the staff.
Fuente announced Dec. 9 that defensive line coach Charley Wiles would not be returning, but hasn't named a replacement for him. Nor has he named who will be coaching the defensive line in the bowl game.
"I'm going to let Bud build it however Bud wants to build it," Fuente said. "However he wants it to go, I'm going to let him do that. We haven't made any final decisions on that."
