After a bit of a drought, the coaches finally landed another piece to this 2011 puzzle. Dewayne Alford was an unknown until he decided to camp in Blacksburg a few weeks ago at the Hokies 2nd summer camp. However, after a good performance on the day, the coaches decided to offer the young man out of Suffolk, Virginia. With a Virginia Tech offer in hand, it didn’t take Alford long until he decided that Blacksburg was the place for him, calling the coaches Monday night and pledging to Virginia Tech.
Alford is a greyshirt offer meaning that he will enroll in January of 2012, a full semester later than the rest of the 2011 class. Of course, the coaches do this to stretch that 85-scholarship barrier to the limit. In this case, both parties should benefit from it as Alford will be able to play at an ACC level and the Hokies get a low risk, high reward type of prospect. Now, let’s get into the breakdown.
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Name: Dewayne Alford
Position: Defensive End
Location: Suffolk, Virginia
School: Nansemond River High School
Height: 6’3”
Weight: 220
40 Time: 4.5
Offers: Virginia Tech, JMU, ODU
Recruiting Rankings
Alford has only been rated by ESPN where he ranks in as a 2 star prospect, 69 overall. This is where it’s tough to gauge exactly the potential the kid has because he is a bit of a project. Also, he’s only played a high level of high school football for one year so needless to say, I wouldn’t expect Alford to be rated very high this year.
Prediction Based on Film Evidence
Alford’s film won’t compare to that of Jadeveon Clowney’s but it does give you an idea of what kind of potential the kid has. With his size, the Nansemond River star will likely enter the Tech program as a STUD defensive end, which is the spot made famous by Corey Moore and most recently Jason Worilds. With limited film available, it’s tough to predict how he’ll do once he arrives at Virginia Tech but he does have good explosion all the ball and does possess some of the raw skills needed to be a defensive end at the collegiate level.
Alford has been clocked at a 4.5 40 at a Marshall camp earlier this year so he has the straight line speed needed at this position. Obviously, he does need some technique work and will benefit immensely from Coach Wiles tutelage for five years. If he can bulk up some in his first year or two, I wouldn’t be shocked to see him battle for a spot in the two deep by either his redshirt sophomore or at worst his redshirt junior year.
The Suffolk product finished up his junior season with 61 total tackles and six sacks. According to a Virginia Pilot article, his coach feels that he compares to Chris Ellis, who was a talented defense end at Virginia Tech who graduated back in 2007.
Overall, I think the Hokies landed a low-risk, high-reward type of player in Alford. At best he’ll benefit from a college weight system and become a starter or at least a contributor later on in his career. Worst case he’ll stay on the depth chart, provide depth and get a degree from Virginia Tech. If a free degree from VT is your worst case scenario, that’s a pretty damn good worst case scenario.
Upshot For the Rest of the Class
I said in my recruiting article last week that the Hokies wouldn’t take any more defensive lineman in this class. Two days later, Coach Beamer offered Alford and it showed exactly how much I know about recruiting. However, I can now say confidently that the Hokies are done recruiting defensive linemen in this class. With Kris Harley, Corey Marshall, Matt Roth, and now Dewayne Alford on board, this could potentially be one of the best defensive line hauls in Coach Beamers career.
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