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Hokies continue to get cream of state's crop COLLEGE FOOTBALL

February 6, 2008 12:15 am

BY JIM McCONNELL

Now more than ever, recruiting is the life blood of any big-time football program.

For most teams, recruiting begins at home.

On National Signing Day '08, however, the recruiting disparity between the Commonwealth's two Division I-A programs is as wide as it's ever been.

According to Rivals.com, Virginia Tech has secured commitments from 17 of the top 30 high school seniors in Virginia. The Roanoke Times credits the Hokies with 14 of the top 25.

U.Va., meanwhile, has just one player--Norview defensive end Klinton "Buddy" Ruff--on both lists.

Of the 30 players currently pledged to the Hokies, 22 hail from the Commonwealth. Fifteen of the Cavaliers' 18 prospective signees played high school football in states other than Virginia.

"I've always said we want to make sure we're recruiting the best kids in the state of Virginia, and if we got our share of those kids, we'll play for a national championship," Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer said last year.

Even when you allow for the fact that Beamer and his assistants were cultivating homegrown talent while Virginia coach Al Groh was still working in the NFL, numbers like that are alarming to Cavaliers fans already tired of losing head-to-head battles with their chief rival on the field.

It hasn't always been that way. Just two years ago, Virginia actually had seven in-state signees to only six for Virginia Tech. Last year, more than half of the Cavaliers' 24-man recruiting class was home-grown.

Groh insisted, however, that the lack of Virginia-based talent in this year's class was not a signal that the Cavaliers had permanently shifted their recruiting focus outside the Commonwealth.

"It always starts with trying to fulfill our profile from Virginia," he said. "This year there seems to be a smaller pool of guys who fit our model."

Groh's comments generated more than a little heat from message-board posters across Virginia. Offended at the suggestion that U.Va. knowingly avoided signing the Commonwealth's top talent, several posters said Groh was using the university's academic requirements as an excuse for the recruiting-trail whipping he took from Beamer and Co.

Locally, the sample size is smaller, but equally telling.

Three Fredericksburg-area seniors--Brooke Point teammates Donovan Miles and Isaiah Hamlette and Stafford's Jake Johnson--were offered scholarships by both Virginia and Virginia Tech.

Hamlette and Johnson chose Tech over U.Va. Miles opted to go out of state, picking West Virginia over Georgia and Tennessee.

"I can't say one is better than the other," Stafford coach Chad Lewis said. "Virginia Tech has done a great job recruiting the state and been very successful with it, but Virginia does a nice job of coming to the schools and talking to us, too. They all do a great job."

While Brooke Point coach Jeff Berry largely echoed Lewis' comments, he suggested that the stability of Virginia Tech's coaching staff gives them an advantage over a Virginia program that has lost several effective recruiters (Ron Prince, Danny Rocco, Al Golden) over the past few years.

After Virginia defensive coordinator Mike London resigned last month to take over as head coach at Richmond, highly touted defensive end prospect Ugo Uzodinma backed out of his commitment to U.Va. and decided to sign with Illinois.

"[Virginia Tech defensive coordinator] Coach [Bud] Foster, whether we were 4-6 or 9-1, he always made a point to come in and talk with us. Even if we didn't have any players, he established relationships and got a foot in the door," Berry said.

"Coach Foster is entrenched. The Virginia guys have been great, too, but it's been a different guy every two or three years."

Miles said high school players aren't oblivious to Virginia Tech's recent on-field dominance, either. The Hokies have won four straight and eight of the last nine against the Cavaliers, including a 33-21 victory in Charlottesville that sent Tech to the ACC championship game.

Virginia Tech is also one of only two programs in the nation with four consecutive 10-win seasons. The other: Southern Cal.

"U.Va. has great facilities and a great program, but if you look over the past, Tech has had better teams," Miles said. "It's as simple as that."

Jim McConnell: 540/374-5444
Email: jmcconnell@freelancestar.com