Hokies Land First Commit of 2011 Class

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Just a few weeks after Signing Day, the Virginia Tech coaching staff was back to work trying to secure another highly touted class.  Saturday was Virginia Tech’s Junior Day and needless to say the event went off with only one hitch caused by a Bud Lite truck running over a fire hydrant.  Some of the recruits had to leave before the Virginia Tech vs. Maryland game but the quality time spent with the coaches was very beneficial.

Tech kicked off their 2011 recruiting class by having a highly touted in-state player commit.  Ronny Vandyke committed to the Hokies over offers from about nine other schools.  After missing all of his junior season thanks to a shoulder injury, Vandyke saw his recruitment take off with UVA, Virginia Tech, Maryland, JMU, and others send him official scholarship offers on September 1^st.

In fact, the Hokies offered Vandyke verbally after Coach Bud Foster saw his sophomore film.  At 6’3” Ronny will draw some comparisons to Kam Chancellor and honestly they are very similar in build.  After a few years in the weight room, Vandyke should be able to play at 215-220 making him either a safety or an outside linebacker in the Hokies system.

Name: Ronny Vandyke
Position: Defensive Back
Location: Lorton, Virginia
School: South County Secondary School
Height: 6’3”
Weight: 196 lbs
40 Time: 4.5 seconds
Offers: Boston College, Maryland, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Syracuse, UVA, West Virginia, and Virginia Tech.

Recruiting Rankings

Although none of the recruiting services has released their star rankings yet, Vandyke is already receiving some attention from both Rivals and ESPN.  ESPN has Ronny on their ESPN150 to watch list while VirginiaPreps, the state of Virginia high school football site for Rivals.com, lists Ronny as the number 11 player in the state of Virginia for 2011.  If he can finish his senior year strong, Vandyke could easily move into the top ten.

Prediction Based on Film

I had to do a pretty deep search to find Ronny’s film but you can view it here.

Ronny is a fluid athlete in that he uses his hips well and can really lay a hit if you give him the opportunity.  The level of competition will be used against him in the rankings process for most recruiting services but that shouldn’t be a factor these days.  Talent is talent and Ronny has a lot of it.

The biggest challenge for most kids coming to Tech will be learning the defensive scheme and knowing your assignment.  When you’re the best player on the field for four years in high school, you can develop a bad habit of overplaying your boundaries and that’s something that Vandyke may have to work on at Tech.  Other than that, Vandyke is a great prospect with a high ceiling.  If everything goes well he should have a great career in Blacksburg.

Upshot At The Rest of the Class

I don’t see the Hokies taking another safety in this class but I would look for the coaches to find a cornerback and maybe a cornerback/safety combo.  With only 14 or so scholarships left, the coaches don’t have much room to add too many more DB’s in this class but at least one cornerback and one true defensive back was needed and it appears that they’ve landed the one safety they wanted.

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