From the Collegiate Times:

At 6′3″ and 230 pounds, Bruce Taylor, rated a four-star recruit by Rivals.com, seems a snug fit for Virginia Tech’s perennially stout defense.

Currently a senior at Myrtle Beach High School, Taylor’s sub-4.6 forty-yard dash time figures to mesh with Tech’s swarming front seven quite well. However, he’s much more than just a freakish combination of size and speed.

Taylor is ranked the twelfth-best inside linebacker recruit in the country by Rivals.com, and Myrtle Beach head football coach Scott Earley’s words don’t fall empty in proclaiming him “probably the most decorated high school athlete that’s ever played in South Carolina.”

Read the rest of the Collegiate Times article by Thomas Emerick.

Green Run (Va. Beach) defensive lineman Joe Jones verbally committed to Virginia Tech making him the 31st recruit for the Hokies 2008 class.

Jones’ high school coach Shawn Wilson told the Roanoke Times, “He’s one of the best defensive linemen I’ve seen down here in 10 years.”

Jones is an All-Tidewater DL and the RT rated him as the No. 27 senior in Virginia.

From Techsideline.com’s Free E-mail:

Jones, 6-3, 245, registered 96 tackles, 28 tackles for loss and 17 sacks during his senior season in 2007. He also blocked three kicks. He was a First Team All-Tidewater and First Team All-Beach District player. Jones chose Virginia Tech over Georgia Tech and Maryland.

Articles related to Joe Jones:

• Roanoke Times - “Joe Jones commits to Tech”
• SuperPrep.com- “Jones Hints at Leader”

Bad news Hokie fans … YouTube has seen fit to delete the vthokiefans user account. This was the source of so many videos we have come to love and watch repeatedly. We are working on new solutions, but it will take some time.

However, we do have some videos on a Veoh account, but it is nowhere near as comprehensive as the YouTube account. Currently, we have all of the 2007 football games with the exception of LSU and Kansas. We also have all of this season’s basketball games that we had before. Below are the links to the football and basketball channels:

• Hokies Football Highlights
• Hokies Basketball Highlights

By Gary Cope

Bryan Randall, one of the most beloved football players in Virginia Tech’s history is back in professional football. Team Tennessee (that’s the official name of the team) selected Randall with the No. 2 overall pick in the inaugural All American Football League (AAFL) draft. (Here’s a great article about Randall including an interview with the Hokies living legend.) He was actually taken ahead of former Heisman Trophy winner Eric Crouch of Nebraska.

Download the complete draft results.

If you have never heard of the AAFL, don’t worry; you are not alone. It’s brand spanking new and it will not compete with the NFL (smart move).

According to its Web site, AllAmericanFootballLeague.com, the league truly lives up to its name and will only “employ” football players who have completed their college football eligibility and have earned a four-year degree. Wow! How’s that for refreshing?

The league will have six team from six states: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Michigan, Tennessee and Texas. So far, none of the teams have names other than “Team Alabama.”

During today’s draft, four former Hokies were selected.

• Bryan Randall (QB) was the 2nd overall (1st round)
• Tim Sandidge (DL) was the 11th overall (2nd round)
• Derrius Monroe (DL) was the 23rd overall pick (4th round)
• Keith Willis (TE) was the 270th overall pick (45th round)

Randall, Sandidge and Monroe were drafted by Team Tennessee, while Willis was drafted by Team Alabama.

About the Draftees

Bryan Randall went undrafted in 2005 following his senior season at Tech. But, he hung around and in 2006 was signed by the Atlanta Falcons. Randall and former Georgia QB D.J. Shockley were battling for the third QB spot behind Michael Vick and Matt Schaub, but Shockley was a Georgia fan favorite and it seemed the Falcons would rather have the hometown guy, even though Randall was probably the better of the two in camp - but it was close.

He was picked up by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers when Chris Simms got hurt in 2006. but was later cut. He is currently listed by the NFL’s Web site as being on the Pittsburgh Steeler’s roster. The Steelers’ Web site also has a bio for him, so maybe he’ll get a look next training camp. In the meantime, it looks like he will get some good off-season conditioning as the starting quarterback for Team Tennessee in the first season of the AAFL.

Tim Sandidge earned his bachelor’s degree from Tech following the 2004 season and was attending graduate school, also at Tech, during his final season with the Hokies in 2005. He was signed as an undrafted free agent in 2006 by the St. Louis Rams and was on their practice squad for most of the season. The Kansas City Chief signed him off the Rams’ practice squad, but just before the Chiefs playoff game, they needed an extra DB and Sandidge was cut and resigned by the Rams. He has also seen time with the San Diego Chargers and played a season in NFL Europe with the Hamburg Sea Devils, but missed the final NFLEL championship game with a knee injury.

Derrius Monroe, whom many of us remember as the troubled defensive lineman who pled guilty to a felony charge of cocaine possession in 2000, was a seventh-round NFL pick by the New Orleans Saints in 2002, but never played a regular season game. Later that year, he was signed to the Dallas Cowboys’ practice squad, but again, never saw any playing time in the regular season. To be quite honest, I was surprised to see Monroe’s name in the list of drafted players. We all are aware of his troubles with the law, but I did not know that despite those troubles, he still earned his degree. So, kudos to Monroe for following through on his education. I hope he has his life on the right track.

Keith Willis earned his bachelor’s and master’s degree from Virginia Tech and finished his collegiate career following the 2004 season. He has seen time on several NFL rosters: Willis was signed by the Green Bay Packers as an undrafted free agent in 2004. He was cut and picked up by the Cleveland Browns in 2005. Seattle signed him in 2006 while he was playing in NFL Europe for the Frankfurt Galaxy. He is currently listed on the Kansas City Chiefs roster.

Congratulations our fellow Hokies. We wish them the best of luck in the inaugural season of the AAFL and hope that it gives them the exposure and experience they need to get a shot at the next level.

By Gary Cope

The Hokies got another commitment for the 2008 recruiting class season this week. According to TSL, Rivals and the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Virginia Tech received a verbal commitment from Hermitage High School (Richmond, VA) quarterback Joseph “Ju-Ju” Clayton. Clayton was the Times-Dispatch’s 2007 All Metro player of the year.

Clayton was not a highly-recruited prospected, mainly because he didn’t arrive on the scene until his senior year, by which point most big time Division IA schools had already handed out their scholarship offers. Virginia Tech and Army were the only D-IA schools to offer while W&M and Youngstown State, both D-IAA schools, had also offered.

Clayton is 6-2, 205 pounds and completed 153-of-255 passes for 2,117 yards in his senior year. He tossed 22 TDs to just nine picks.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch article made the assumption that Tyrod Taylor would be the only scholarship quarterback after Sean Glennon leaves following the 2008 season. That’s not entirely true.

The Hokies have a solid commitment from Amherst County quarterback Peter Rose, who is expected to sign his letter of intent on Feb. 6, 2008 (national signing day) and enroll at Tech in the fall. More than likely he will redshirt his freshman year and if the coaches do not move him to another position, he could compete with Clayton for the backup QB role behind Taylor in 2009.

Rose ran a the triple option at Amherst and even though new Georgia Tech head coach Paul Johnson, who ran the triple option at Navy, invited Rose down to Atlanta for a visit, Rose turned it down and has reaffirmed his commitment to the Hokies. Rose was The News & Advance’s all-area offensive player of the year for 2007. He was also the player of the year in Group AA, Region III and the Seminole District. His passing game apparently needs some work, but he accounted for 41 TDs last season.

He may end up on defense eventually, but it would appear that a projected lack of depth at the QB position beginning in ‘09 will likely force the Hokies coaching staff to give him a look.

Click here to read more about Rose.

By Gary Cope

With senior kickers Jared Develli and Jud Dunlevy gone to graduation, Virginia Tech head football coach Frank Beamer, who is also the special teams coach, was looking for some new blood to compete for the kicking job in 2008. And today, he added a kicker to the mix in Lancaster County, Penn.’s Justin Myer.

“I feel like I have a really good chance to win the kickoff job,” Myer said in an interview with the Lancaster New Era. “They said if I win the kickoff job, they’ll put a scholarship up. Not having a scholarship going in will help me with training and preparation.”

Myer kicked a Central High School record 47 field goals this season and was focusing his college search on Division I-AA schools before Virginia Tech “came out of nowhere” and offered him a preferred walk-on spot.

Read the entire article by Jeffrey Reinhart.

I was perusing the football message board at TechSideline.com and came across a post that questioned whether Virginia Tech offensive coordinator Bryan Stinespring violated NCAA Recruiting rules by specifically mentioning a recruits name and his potential role with the team before the recruit signed the official letter of intent. (Read the TSL post here.)

In Randy King’s Roanoke Times article on Friday, Jan. 18, Stinespring was asked about who would be Tech’s No. 3 quarterback in 2008 now that rising senior Cory Holt is moving to wide receiver. Stinespring told King that incoming freshman recruit Peter Rose of Amherst County would be the best bet.

“Obviously, you don’t want to ever get in a position where you have to play your third quarterback,” said Stinespring. “Right now, though, with the possibility of Holt moving to wide receiver, I think Rose would be our third guy.”

OK, so it would seem the Stinespring just committed an NCAA recruiting violation. I went to the NCAA Web site and read a lot of boring rules until I came to section rule 13.10.2 - “Comments Before Signing.” It reads as follows…

Before the signing of a prospective student-athlete to a National Letter of Intent or an institution’s written offer of admission and/or financial aid, a member institution may comment publicly only to the extent of confirming its recruitment of the prospective student-athlete. The institution may not comment generally about the prospective student-athlete’s ability or the contribution that the prospective student-athlete might make to the institution’s team; further, the institution is precluded from commenting in any manner as to the likelihood of the prospective student-athlete’s signing with that institution. Violations of this bylaw do not affect a prospective student-athlete’s eligibility and are considered institutional violations per Constitution 2.8.1. (Revised: 1/14/97)

If you pay particular attention to the bolded section, it would seem clear that BS did indeed violate NCAA recruiting rules governing comments about recruits prior to having signed an official letter of intent. What does this mean for Tech? Probably nothing. According to the NCAA Web site, there has only been one violation deemed a “major violation” of this rule. Even if the NCAA gets wind of it, I doubt the penalty will be severe. If anything, it will be a slap of the wrist and a stern “don’t do it again” from Myles Brand.

Still, this is just another reason to dislike Bryan Stinespring … like we need any more.

According to a release issued by Virginia Tech’s athletic department, available at HokieSports.com, running back Branden Ore has withdrawn his name from the NFL draft and will return to Virginia Tech for his senior year.

“I am determined to make my family and my teammates, along with the university and its fans, proud,” Ore said in the statement release late yesterday (Jan. 17). “I plan on helping Virginia Tech to another successful season.”

This is a smart move for Ore personally, but unless he gets his head screwed back on straight … again … it could prove a distraction for the Hokies’ 2008 season. I would expect (and hope) that Head Coach Frank Beamer and Assistant Head Coach and Running Backs Coach Billy Hite will sit down with Ore and let him know that if shows up to spring or fall practice out of shape again, he will be dismissed from the team.

You would think that a guy with NFL potential would wake up and make it his soul mission in life to have the greatest possible senior year, become a senior leader and have NFL GMs giving him a good hard look on day one of the 2009 NFL draft.

I normally do not post stuff about the Hoos on my blog, but this article caught my interest, so I thought I’d share it with all my many admirers and fans - hi dad! Anyhow, in today’s Roanoke Times there is an article titled “Sewell’s status in question.”

The article doesn’t go into a lot of detail other than to say that four Virginia Tech football players, including starting quarterback Jameel Sewell, are not currently enrolled in classes, which means they cannot participate in spring practice. That would be a huge loss for the Cavs, but what struck me as odd about the article was the following statement:

“Sewell has had academic issues in the past, most notably prior to the 2006 season, when he made two B’s and a C in summer school.”

Wuh? Since when did two B’s and a C constitute “academic issues”? Even at UVA where the snobbery and snootery are particularly pungent, I didn’t think two B’s and C were all that bad for a football player. I’m not rooting for the guy, I just think that section of the article was bit unfair and misleading. Carry on.

Looking ahead to the 2008 season, the Virginia Tech Hokies got some good news, some bad news and some news that just kinda makes you shrug your shoulders and say, “Eh.”

First, the bad news: Stud wide receiver recruit Ben Barber was slated to enroll in Tech’s spring semester, which would make him eligible to participate in spring practice. However, he has not enrolled and there is speculation that he has not qualified, which puts his future with the Hokies in doubt.

The good news is that the two other recruits who were expected to enroll early, have. Courtney Prince (defensive tackle) and Alonzo Tweedy (whip or rover) are taking classes and will take part in spring practice.

Also of note, OL Matt Welsh and LB Andrew Bowman will not be back with the team in 2008. Both players were highly recruited but never played up to their potential. Welsh already has his degree and Bowman is expected to earn his this spring.

Click here to read the complete TechSideline.com report.