Column: Virginia and Virginia Tech have new football coaches and high hopes. Do they need directions to Hampton Roads?
Virginia and Virginia Tech have new football coaches, and we’ll soon start to see just how, and who, the Hokies’ Brent Pry and the Cavaliers’ Tony Elliott recruit.
But let’s hope both contracts given to the new guys include a page with a map to Hampton Roads.
It’s no secret that Virginia’s Bronco Mendenhall and Virginia Tech’s Justin Fuente drifted away from heavily recruiting the top high school football players in the 757.
In 2020, one area high school coach called the Hokies’ lack of presence in Hampton Roads “alarming.”
“I don’t know if it’s change in philosophy or what,” added Danny Dodson of Woodside High in Newport News in a 2020 interview with The Pilot and Daily Press. “You know, with [coach Frank] Beamer’s group, and then with George Welsh and [current William and Mary coach] Mike London at U.Va., they’d come in here and we felt like we’d established that relationship with the coaches in the state. It seems like the philosophy is different now.”
Nothing is likely to change immediately as National Signing Day looms Wednesday — the day high school football players in the Class of 2022 can sign.
Each of the of the top four players in The Pilot and Daily Press Top 50 rankings are headed out of state:
Landstown receiver Tychaun Chapman (North Carolina).
Oscar Smith defensive back Sherrod Covil (Clemson).
Green Run wide receiver/defensive back Tayon Holloway (North Carolina).
Nansemond-Suffolk running back George Pettaway (North Carolina).
Maury’s Ahmarian Granger, a versatile two-way star at No. 5, has committed to Old Dominion.
Heading into Wednesday, only King’s Fork defensive lineman Kyree Moyston (No. 7) and Green Run defensive lineman Lemar Law (No. 9) have committed to Virginia or Virginia Tech. Both have committed to the Hokies, but it’s unclear whether the coaching change will impact their decisions.
As Virginia’s coach, London — now at William & Mary — recruited the top-rated player in South Hampton Roads to Charlottesville for four consecutive years: Bayside’s Demetrious Nicholson (2011), Ocean Lakes’ Eli Harold (2012), Bayside’s Taquan Mizzell (2013) and Bayside’s Quin Blanding (2014). All played prominent roles for the Cavaliers.
At Virginia Tech, Beamer and his staff enjoyed some of their best seasons when the roster was bolstered by Hampton Roads players, most notably in 2000 when quarterback Michael Vick — who starred in high school in Newport News — led the Hokies to the BCS national championship game.
But during the signing classes of 2019 and 2020, only three players combined from Hampton Roads signed with either Virginia (defensive tackle Ben Smiley from Indian River High in 2019) or Virginia Tech (wide receiver Tayvion Robinson from Cox High in 2019 and receiver Lakeem Rudolph from Green Run in 2020).
Robinson, rated the area’s No. 1 senior recruit in 2019, led the Hokies this season in receiving yards with 675, and his 40 receptions were second to Tre Turner’s 44 catches. Robinson also was the Hokies’ primary punt returner, averaging 13.7 yards and returning one punt for a 60-yard touchdown.
But Robinson announced Dec. 2 he was entering the transfer portal and planned to leave Virginia Tech.
None of Hampton Roads’ top five players in the Class of 2021 rankings chose Virginia or Virginia Tech.
Pry, the former defensive coordinator at Penn State, and Elliott, most recently the offensive coordinator at Clemson, both spoke of winning the recruiting battle in Virginia when they were introduced.
At Clemson “we benefitted greatly from some players from the state of Virginia, so you know that the talent is there,” Elliott said Monday in Charlottesville. “We have to make it a priority and start with building relationships. Knowing that we may not be able to take every player in the state of Virginia, but the ones that fit the profile, they need to come to the University of Virginia, and it’s going to start with me setting the tempo from a relationship standpoint with the high school coaches and making sure that we start inside out and we take care of our backyard.”
Added Pry: “We’re going to recruit our footprint. We’re going to recruit everywhere, but our footprint is going to be the emphasis. There’s been a sense of pride on this football team for a lot of years about the guys from the state of Virginia coming here and being successful.”
So will signing day Wednesday bring any changes to recent trends? Will any of the top recruits be convinced to join Elliott in Charlottesville or Pry in Blacksburg?
Maybe not right away. But sooner or later, the Hokies and Cavaliers need to find their way back to the 757.
Jami Frankenberry, 757-446-2376, jami.frankenberry@pilotonline.com
