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Well, that wasn’t as painful as I thought it would be. The Hokies slayed the Tigers in one of the most important recruiting battles in recent memory; landing five star defensive back and legacy recruit Kendall Fuller. Thankfully, Fuller decided to commit at the end of July and not in January like he originally envisioned. Could you imagine four more months of this? Yea, I don’t know if I could either. Instead, the youngest Fuller bro committed this weekend and decided to follow in his brothers footsteps and enroll here at Virginia Tech. Welcome to HokieNation Kendall!
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Player Breakdown
Height: 6’0”
Weight: 175 lbs.
40: 4.5
Year: 2013
Location: Olney, Maryland
High School: Good Counsel High School
Offers: Virginia Tech, Clemson, Michigan, Alabama, Boston College, California, Florida, Florida State, Maryland, Miami, NC State, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Purdue, Rutgers, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Virginia, and West Virginia.
Recruiting Rankings
Rankings Reliability: Very High
There are over 2000 college football prospects every year so it’s tough to give every one of those players an equal opportunity to show off their skills. However, Fuller has attended a ton of camps over the past two years and has even played on ESPN. There might not be a more exposed prospect in this 2013 class. If you need film to watch just go to YouTube, there’s plenty there from numerous events.
With Fuller attending all of these recruiting camps, most of the recruiting services have been able to give him a full evaluation. It’s clear that he is one of the top three cornerbacks in the country this year. Where in the top three he stands depends on what team you pull for.
Excitement Level: Very, Very High
Kendall was the number one recruiting target in this year’s class. Whenever you can land your top prospect, that’s big. In this case, it’s huge for Virginia Tech, who’s last five star commitment was Tyrod Taylor. This solidifies the Hokies as one of the best schools for defensive back recruits and gives our coaches some ammo they can use on the recruiting trail.
Highlight Film
Prediction Based on Film Evidence
Where do you even begin analyzing Fuller’s game? Much like his brothers, Fuller is an aggressive, intelligent, and physical cornerback who will fit perfectly in Bud Foster’s defense. His tackling ability is top-notch, his technique is sound for a high school prospect, and he has great hands; which is something you don’t see from many defensive backs. At least, you didn’t use to. Now, it’s a little more common.
Judging from all of the camps and 7-on-7 events he’s participated in, he’s already gone up against some of the best talent in the last two recruiting classes. There’s not that concern of how he’ll do against elite completion because he’s already faced those guys. He went up against one of the top wide receivers in the country out in Oregon at “the Opening” and shut him down. This exposure will only help him going forward.
From an improvement standpoint, I think you would like to see him develop in the weight room. He has a great frame to work with but he just needs to continue to develop there. But, that’s not a problem at Tech with our strength and conditioning program. I would like to see him become more of a vocal leader on defense this season. Fuller is a little reserved but with his status, a lot of players are going to look to him for leadership. Same goes for down the road when he becomes a veteran in our secondary.
Honestly, Fuller is the complete package. He’s just a really, really good football player.
Other Notes
How close was this race? Well, it ended up being much closer than most Virginia Tech fans envisioned. Kendall had this to say about the Clemson Tigers in an ESPN article on Sunday:
“People thought I was playing, but I loved Clemson,” Fuller said. “It was a very hard decision. Distance was not a factor, even though my mother did not want me to go too far from home. When we were on our way back from Clemson, she already thought I was going there because it was the first time any of her children talked about any other school. She thought I was sold on Clemson and was going there.”
However, the primary factor in his recruitment was his development, not only as a player but as a person.
“As I was driving home from the visit to Clemson, I started thinking about where I was going to develop most as a player,” Fuller said. “I just got that feeling that I knew I wanted to go to Virginia Tech. Their defense is so complex that you never know what they are going to be doing. Coach (Bud) Foster and Coach (Torrian) Gray are amazing coaches. They have a track record of great defensive backs that Coach Gray has produced. Just sitting in the room watching film and seeing some of the different techniques, I just felt that the only way I could fail was if I did not work hard.”
Fuller is the 5th five star commitment for the Hokies since 2001. That's pretty special. The other four consist of Kevin Jones, Marcus Vick, Macho Harris, and Tyrod Taylor.
If you're like me then you're already looking to the future to see who else the Hokies could snag out of Good Counsel High School. Obviously, none of those players will have the connection to VT that Fuller has but getting a foot in the door at GCHS is big. This is the same school that produced two top 50 players last year in Stefon Diggs and Wes Brown. They've done the same feat this year with Fuller and Dorian O'Daniel.
For 2014, GC will have a safety named Kobie Walker to watch out for. He already holds offers from Wisconsin, NC State, and Hawaii. At 6'3" and 200 pounds, he has a good frame to work with. Also, OG Sam Mustipher is a big OL prospect for the same class. He holds 10 offers from schools like Miami, NC State, West Virginia, Rutgers, and others. Lastly, Jesse Aniebonam is a big pass rusher at defensive end. He holds an Auburn offer currently. It will be interesting to see if the Hokies choose to recruit any of those guys.
Lastly, here is Fuller's interview after he committed at Gridiron Kings.
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{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow it feels amazing to be wrong. Kendall’s mom isn’t the only one who thought he was going to Clemson i would have bet my bottom dollar 2 days ago he was going to commit to CU this weekend. In the end he did the right thing for him personally, sure im a VT fan and biased as hell but he hit the nail on the head with knowing he will put himself in a much better system and coaching staff to get him ready to compete at the next level. It’s a no brainer for a kid like him to pick VT just glad at the end of the day he did. Also, like previous comments i am very interested to see how this plays out with the rest of our recruits. I am sure this locks up Fisher (not saying he wasnt, but still) and will make the battle for Teller very very interesting. Green is gone and never considered Tech if you ask me. Also i think this does nothing but help booster an already strong relationship with Hand for 2014. We can sell, hey we have top talent like everyone else and coaches better than everyone else come play for us as we make a title push.
Great decision for everybody concerned. As for the remaining 2013 unsigned class we have only Wyatt Teller, DJ Reid (4* 247 only) and Tarean Folston in the 4 star category where we are in his top group. Based on what we have now I think last year’s class is slightly better. Signing Teller would even the classes out in my opinion. 2012 looks to have at least 10-12 future starters in that class (very underrated). Currently Derrick Green is down to Michigan and Auburn and I don’t think VT is in the picture at all.
Does this help us with Teller justin. I’ve heard Teller would like to play with Fuller and Fisher from a article I read. We aren’t going to get green I agree we should go ahead and lock up Reid, I’ve never heard of Folston is he high on Tech.
Teller is really tough to read but anytime you snag one of the top 3 players in the country, it gives you an extra pitch on the recruiting trail. Also, I can’t find any truth to the rumor that he wanted to play with Fuller and Fisher.
So, I’m glad we grabbed Fuller. This was huge, I have been waiting a long time since we snagged a 5 star. Who is on our Recruiting Target list now that we got Kendall Fuller off the board? Do we still go after Torrean Folston, Desean Hamilton, Wyatt Teller, Daniel Reid or maybe another OL prospect? Do anyone forsees like a Tim Harris switch during the season when he takes his official visit here, or are we just going to shut our recruiting down
Torrean Folston has mentioned us whenever he’s asked for a top 4 but he’s never visited. That normally means we’re a placeholder. If he visits for a game this fall then who knows but we’re not actively recruiting him until he visits.
As for the rest, you’re pretty much spot on. I think Reid is probably our number one prospect on the board if Green ends up committing to Michigan. Teller is up there too but he’s just tough to get a read on. I thought he would have committed to UVA by now. WR Marquez North likes us but I think he wants to stay close to home.
We’ve been in contact with DE Alquadin Muhammed out of Don Bosco Prep in NJ. It sounds like he wants to make it down for a practice or game this fall. He’s a high ranking 4 star so that’s a name to watch. We’ll see if he does visit. Oren Burks is still on the board and he has a greyshirt offer. Unless that changes or he changes his mind, I think he’ll end up at UVA. Also, keep an eye on Mike Tyson who’s going to the Grave this semester. He’s a good looking prospect but needs to get his grades up. He’s also close with 2014 DE Jalyn Holmes.
There are a few names the Hokies will monitor throughout the season and could offer late. We still have about 3 to 5 spots left depending on how many scholarships we want to save for 2014.
I’m glad we Kendall picked us. I think he is a great player, but I want to see him work on his speed and his backpedal to become a complete player.
When I was referring to the article about Teller wanting to play with Fuller and Fisher someone wrote about that topic on 247sports a couple weeks ago. I think it was a fan but he seemed to have good insight on Tech recruiting he seemed like he knew what he was talking about, but I don’t know if true or not. kendall should try to get o’daniel to visit Tech, he said he would recruit for Tech hope he talks to Teller and Green.
We’ll start going after Teller, Reid, and Hamilton hard. I think we’ll get Reid and Hamilton, Teller would be a bit of a surprise … but given that he hasn’t committed to UVA yet, I think that there is definitely some doubt there.
Green is not out of reach yet but it looks like Michigan is the front-runner. Their class is almost full and a lot of their focus will be on him, from here on out. With their kind of resources, it will be an uphill battle … but we’re not out of it … YET.
Folston will not be a Hokie and neither will Muhammad. I’d like to see us land another SOLID OL commit but there isn’t a lot left out there (talent-wise) that we have a legit shot with.
and FWIW, I’d think that landing Kendall Fuller increased our chances with Blanding …. a lot