Signing Day Report: A Look at the Hokies 2010 Recruiting Class (Part Two)
In part two of this article we will analyze the next five members of the 2010 Virginia Tech recruiting class (here's the link to the Virginia Tech Recruiting Report Part 1). Those included in this edition are Kyle Fuller, Laurence Gibson, Derrick Hopkins, Brian Laiti, Mark Leal.
So without further adieu, let's dive into the analysis.
Kyle Fuller
Position: Cornerback
School: Mount St. Joseph
Height: 5’11”
Weight: 165 lbs
40 Time: 4.5 seconds
Experts Take:
Analysis
Vinnie Fuller, brother of Kyle Fuller, had a marvelous career at Virginia Tech and was a Cody Grimm-esque player back in the 2003 and 2004 seasons. It seemed like whenever the Hokies needed a turnover, Vinnie was there to pick off a pass and take it back to the house. The Tech coaching staff is hoping that Kyle possesses the same football genes his brother had and can be an impact defensive back down the road.
Kyle wasn’t a highly recruited kid as he held just five scholarship offers from schools like Kansas, Maryland, Duke, and Syracuse. But, Frank Beamer has made a living off taking these kids that nobody else wants and turning them into All-Americans. Fuller, a lot like some of the other recruits, who only possessed a few offers before committing to Virginia Tech, has a positive vibe around him and hopefully that’s just not gas from the three tacos I just ate.
Kyle will need to camp out in Coach Gentry’s weight room for a year or two until he can gain enough weight to be a physical corner like Coach Gray wants. But once he improves his body, it’s going to be tough to keep him off of the field.
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Laurence Gibson
Position: Offensive Line
School: Hargrave Military Academy
Height: 6’6”
Weight: 290 lbs
40 Time: 4.7 seconds
Experts Take:
Analysis
According to Rivals.com, Gibson is the Hokies best player in this 2010 class. I’m not one to pick favorites and trying to decide who the best player is before any of these kids are on campus is like putting your hand in a green and red jelly bean jar and trying to pull out a blue one. But, as I digress Gibson is definitely a player to be excited about.
Rumors swirled a week before he committed, that he had, in fact, committed to Clemson. However, those rumors were proven false and thanks to some hard work by Coach Stinespring the Hokies were able to land the star lineman from Arizona.
With the Hokies having two juniors at offensive tackle this fall, I don’t see Gibson playing immediately but if any of the incoming offensive line recruits could, it would be Gibson. Since he is currently in a post-grad year, Gibson is going to be a year older than most of the incoming recruits and should be a year stronger than them as well. The terminology and technique will take some time to learn but by next spring, Gibson may be able to fight his way into a spot on the two deep.
Derrick Hopkins
Position: Defensive Tackle
School: Highland Springs
Height: 5’11”
Weight: 280 lbs
40 Time: 5.0 seconds
Experts Take:
Analysis
Highland Springs High School is one the Hokies premiere pipelines in the state of Virginia, as they seem to send at least one or two kids to Tech every year it seems. Noland Burchette, Macho Harris, Antoine Hopkins, and Jim Davis are some of the more recent players to play for both the Springers and the Hokies. Derrick Hopkins, who is the middle brother in the Hopkins family, has a chance to eventually play alongside his brother Antoine on the Hokies defensive line.
Derrick, or Skip, as he’s known around Highland Springs is arguably the best defensive tackle in the state of Virginia this year. Of course, Acree and Penn State commit Evan Hailes would have something to say about that but from a development standpoint, Derrick is the best.
Hopkins best quality on the field is his explosion off the ball and his ability to be a run-stopping defensive tackle once he steps onto Virginia Tech campus. He needs to work on staying lower, using the strength in his lower body to push the offensive lineman off the line of scrimmage. Also, he needs to improve his pass rushing technique some but all of that will be refined and improved in time.
Brian Laiti
Position: Linebacker
School: Robinson High School
Height: 6’4”
Weight: 200 lbs
40 Time: 4.7 seconds
Experts Take:
Analysis
The Hokies defense is at their best when the defense can rotate around stellar play from the two inside linebacker positions. Vince Hall and Xavier Adibi were staples in this Tech defense for two seasons and surprising Tech was rated as the number one defense in both of those seasons. Finding a couple talented linebackers was key in this class and they found a potential stud in Brian Laiti.
Laiti, who was named the 2009 All-Metro Defensive Player of the Year last month, was a playmaker for Robinson High School this past season. He finished with over 130 tackles and sprinkled in a few sacks and forced fumbles on the season as well.
Laiti is far from being the player he is capable of being. With his 6’4” frame, the future Hokie should be able to carry about 230 pounds with ease, allowing him to play either the Backer spot or the MIKE linebacker spot down the line. I have him penciled in at Backer but with the Hokies not recruiting a pure MIKE linebacker since the 2008 class, there’s a possibility he may eventually move.
Mark Leal
Position: Quarterback
School: Atlantic High School
Height: 6’1”
Weight: 190 lbs
40 Time: 4.7 seconds
Experts Take:
Analysis
The Coaches were looking to take two quarterbacks in this class and they managed to accomplish that goal, practically within a matter of hours. Ricardo Young, who we’ll talk about later on, committed to Tech then within a few hours Mark Leal from Atlantic High School also committed to the Hokies.
Atlantic High School has been good to Tech, producing both Brandon Flowers and Jayron Hosely in recent years. Mark Leal will now have his chance to travel up to Tech this summer and make an impact. Leal is a dynamic passer, probably one of the best pure passers the Hokies have brought in. In his senior season, Mark only threw three interceptions along with 24 touchdowns and over 2200 yards passing.
However, the only downside to Leal is his size and overall foot speed. Mark is not a duel-threat QB although he is listed as one. He is quick enough o avoid the rush but he’s not going to take off downfield like Tyrod could in his first two years at Tech. Leal, instead, is a little better at scrambling out of the pocked and finding and open man down field. Also, his size will limit him some since some recruiting sites have him listed at only 5”11”, and not the 6’1” that Rivals.com lists him at. Either way the Hokies have found themselves a very safe and secure option at quarterback for the future.
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