The Tunnel

What's the reason for WB kids not going to camps/combines?

Wow...good article...sounds like WB is VERY VT friendly to say the least and we have a really good chance at all four of these kids. My wife graduated from WB so it'd be cool to have some players from there again. It's been a while.

The football program just went through a major overhaul. The new coach was hired last March and has breathed new life into an otherwise dying program. There was a lot of strife within the program the previous year.....quite a few kids (more than just a couple) quit the football team during the season....the previous coach didn't get along with the track coach (who has won like 9 state championships with boys & girls indoor and outdoor track since 2007). This is significant because a lot of the really good athletes ran track....so not all of the best athletes played football previously.

With the new staff in place, they have a recruiting coordinator who is now promoting the players via the hudl software and talking with college coaches. I'm sure Coach Gibson (and Coach Bell/Def Coord. and Recruiting Coordinator) will do what's best for the players in terms of camps. They're a very focused staff and will help these kids get opportunities no matter if they're D-1 or D-3 level players.

While I like all of the kids and their potential, I really think Ricks may have the most upside. As Evan's article states, he played practically the entire year with a broken toe. I know he missed the Indian River game and maybe another one as well (can't remember). But I remember sitting in the stands at the Bethel game (ER first round game) and Terence's Mom telling me how he'd been dealing with the injury for so long. I was a bit speechless considering how ell he was playing......the kid has wheels and has a nice nasty streak to go along with it.

Answers to some of the questions above (sorry didn't want to hit reply on each thread)

I am not sure that there is a "need" for these kids to stick together, but the familiarity won't hurt. The WB coaching staff allows their kids to go to college camps but do not like their kids doing combines or all star camps where there are no NCAA coach's on hand. These 4 kids have received over 20 junior day invites (VT, Wake Forest, Michigan State, etc) and camp invites, schools are very interested in them, and they really like Coach Brown, he has done a fantastic job thus far. All 4 of them are D1 players, they are more under the radar because of the lack of combine events, but Coach Bell does a great job coordinating the recruiting efforts, all without having the kids compete and risk injury at an event where the end goal is to get a star ranking.

Very good and exciting read my man.

Nice that the WB principal and 2 VP's are all Hokies. Sounds like they were thrilled to see Frank.

Glad Stiney is really working FB so far!! He is a legend and having him visit these high schools is pure gold.