According to Rivals.com and other sources, Virginia Tech has picked up a commitment from Joshua Stanford out of Martin Luther King High School in Lithonia, Georgia. Stanford was offered a few weeks ago when the coaches learned of Robert Lockhart’s defection to the University of Miami. Torian Gray then offered Stanford and the Hokies received an official visit from him this weekend.
The Georgia native is a very compelling recruit. He obviously didn't garner a whole lot of attention with TCU and Virginia Tech being the only BCS level programs to offer him but he did earn 10 or so scholarship offers from D1 teams around the country. Still, these are the players that we really excel with. They're kids that weren't highly recruited until their senior years and then blow up. Luckily, Stanford didn't blow up too much and we were able to securely land a very talented receiver.
Strengths
From watching the film below, it's hard not to notice how fluid Stanford is in and out of his breaks. He has great body control and does a good job catching the ball away from his body. He can high point a football, which is a crucial skill at the collegiate level. He has good hands it appears and he seems to know how to run routes. He has enough skills right now to come in and player early on in his career here at Virginia Tech.
Weaknesses
I like Stanford's skill set and honestly, it's tough to find a weakness on film. That's because its a package of their best plays. It's easier to pinpoint some weaknesses when you see these kids play in person. Right now, I'm intrigued to see how he measures in when he enrolls. Rivals.com has him at 6'2" and 175 pounds while 247 Sports has him at 6'1" with the same weight. That means he's probably 6-foot or a little above. On film, he does look a little frail so he'll need some time in the VT S&C program before seeing the field.
When Will He See The Field
A perfect segue there. The Hokies have three senior receivers this fall, which should allow both of our current July enrollment receivers (Stanford and Irick) to redshirt. However, after Dyrell Roberts, Marcus Davis, and DJ Coles graduate, it's anybody's guess how 2013 goes. Plus, we may be breaking in a new QB if Logan Thomas has a terrific 2012 campaign. My guess is that Stanford will be in the mix next spring and how he develops from there will determine when he sees the field here in Blacksburg.
Highlights
Closing Thoughts
I really like this class of receivers we're bringing in but we really need that capstone recruit. We need that guy who is our Julio Jones, our Dez Bryan, our Michael Crabtree going forward. We need that guy that's just better than everybody else. That's what we've been missing in Blacksburg under Frank Beamer. We've had some great receivers come through here (Bryan Still, Ernest Wilford, Jarrett Boykin, Danny Coale, etc) but we need that next level guy. I don't know if Joel Caleb is that kind of player or not but that's really the only thing missing from this (and 2011's) class.
As for Stanford, he's really a recruit that you have to like and I'm starting to wonder if we would have offered him a scholarship even if Lockhart had stayed committed. His film won't garner him a high star rating but he just seems like the type of reciever that's going to have a very solid college career. If he does, then Virginia Tech will have once again stole one in the month of January.
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{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
Sweet!
we also got another walk on kicker/punter in AJ Hughes from indiana, thats 3 by my count
any other news on how the visits went for the others like ekanem or deloatch?
See below for Deloatch and I’m hearing Ekanem’s visit went really well. But we just have to wait and see what Notre Dame does next weekend. It’s neck and neck between those two schools. Hopefully we land him though.
Deloatch didnt make the trip again.
Beamer will be at Phoebus High School today to talk to Deloatch. He actually visited Temple this weekend I believe and committed to them but said he would listen to what Beamer had to say before making it completely official. My guess is he may be able to get into Temple right away whereas at VT, he would need to prep. Just have to wait and see if that’s something he wants to do or not.
I think VT needs to recruit the kid Mike Tyson (Lake Taylor, Norfolk) a little harder. I seen that kid play a few games and he’s the truth.
I like Tyson as a recruit but the numbers just don’t work in his favor. I just don’t see us adding another DB in this class especially with Kendall Fuller and a few others being high on VT in 2013.
I know its a longshot, but what are the chances that Va Tech goes after Kenneth Crawley or Yuri Wright???? I know please don’t get mad its just a question.
Yuri Wright was expelled from school for some Twitter comments. We backed off him a long time ago. As for Crawley, we’re done at DB so I doubt we would try to take anyone else.
…..and Crawley committed to Colorado.
Is there chance we pull a Signing Day upset and maybe land an unexpected prospect? Even if it is like a 2% chance. Also what happened with Darius Hamilton? Is Cornell Brown a terrible recruiter?
We’ll have a 3 star QB on campus this weekend apparently. Skyler Mornhinweg is down to Penn State (where he was committed and has not backed out of), Florida, and Virginia Tech. He also has Alabama, Stanford, and Tennessee offers to go along with a few others. He would be a nice surprise especially with us only having Motley as a QB in this class.
Why did Jack Willenbrock get downgraded to a 2 star? Did he have a bad senior year or something? Do you think VT offered him because of Drew Harris or were they really interested? Also Thomas Smith got upgraded to a 3 star! I think he could be a steal in this class from what I’ve read on him.
I wouldn’t worry about it. He actually had a good senior year but there’s just not a lot out there on him. Rivals caters to bigger, more national high schools. Kids at smaller schools in a small town will always get shafted by recruiting services because there just isn’t that much media to cover them. I wouldn’t worry about the star rating. I really like Willenbrock and for offensive linemen, you really just have to recruit guys who are physical and hope they develop. You can’t project linemen anymore, it just doesn’t work.
who all is visiting this weekend….and how did last week visits go?
on rivals all there analyst have joel caleb commiting to vt.