Orange Bowl Recruiting Breakdown

Hokies shaping up to have one of best years ever

Dec. 31, 2007

By Tom Lemming

Special to CSTV.com


	TOM LEMMING Tom is CSTV's college football recruiting analyst, and writes for CSTV.com regularly. E-mail here!

Virginia Tech (Recruiting Log)

Virginia Tech is having an outstanding year, one of its best years in a while. Last year was very good and this year could be just as good. Frank Beamer is a superior recruiter, one of the best in the business, particularly when it comes down to Virginia kids. He's a good guy with a great track record as a coach. He's reaping the benefits of his past several seasons of success.

One of the big guys they've picked up is Vinston Painter (No. 82-ranked senior), the big tackle from Norfolk. The guy already looks like he's ready for the NFL. He's a big, muscular kid with great feet and great strength. He's a powerhouse of an offensive lineman.

D.J. Coles is one of the great athletes nationally, a state champion in the 100 meters. He's an athlete and a big time player that they could probably use somewhere right away.

Bruce Taylor is another big-time star, one of the best players in South Carolina. He can play inside backer and could grow into a defensive lineman. Taylor's been committed since before last February.

Virginia Tech has pretty much picked up everyone in the Virginia area and they still have a good shot at adding to their class with a couple more players.

Kansas (Recruiting Log)

I never thought Kansas had recruited all that well over the past few years. They just coach the kids well because they still don't have great talent. But I guess they're better than I thought. It's one of those schools I kind of missed on the past few years. There's always a few you overrate and a few you underrate and they are one that I definitely underrated.

They've really surprised me. They have one heck of a coaching staff to do what they did. And even now recruiting-wise, they're not having a great year. They have to get players other schools don't like because even though they've had great success on the field this year, it has yet to translate off of it.

Kansas as a football state has below average talent. They have some impact talents this year, like LB Arthur Brown (No. 5 ranked senior, Miami commit) and RB Chris Harper, but most of the time you're lucky to get 8-10 out of the whole state that would warrant Big 12 interest.

They're now doing very well in Kansas whereas Kansas State used to dominate. The Jayhawks are dominating now, but still I'm surprised they're not doing as well out of state. They can go into Texas and take seconds and thirds, which is what they've normally done. They're not yet able, though, to get into that upper echelon where they can battle Oklahoma, Texas and Nebraska.