2011 Season Preview: bottom line trumps recruiting rankings for Virginia Tech

Recruiting isn’t everything.

Take Virginia Tech’s four ACC titles in the past seven years as proof.

Since 2004, Frank Beamer’s Hokies have won 46 of 56 ACC regular-season games and have never finished the season with fewer than 10 wins.

And they’ve done it – or so say the recruiting rankings – with middle-of-the-road talent.

A look at the last five recruiting classes shows Virginia Tech having cracked the nation’s top 20 just once – a No. 18 ranking by Rivals in 2008.

According to Scout, the Hokies have finished no better than fourth in the ACC recruiting rankings during that period, and the only time Virginia Tech’s class was rated higher than Clemson’s (by one spot) was 2009, when the Tigers signed just a dozen players.

Virginia Tech hasn’t signed a Rivals 5-star player since quarterback Tyrod Taylor in 2007.

Under Beamer, the Hokies have lived and thrived at the three-star level. According to Scout’s rankings, Virginia Tech has signed 18 four-star players and 64 three-star prospects in the past five years. Rivals has the count at 22 four-star prospects and 79 from the three-star tier.

Perhaps no program in college football has done a better job of developing its talent, year in and year out, than Virginia Tech.

The Hokies’ 2011 class was ranked 37th nationally and sixth in the ACC by Scout, and 33rd in the nation by Rivals.

The highest-rated players in the class include Kris Harley, a defensive tackle from Indianapolis, IN; Corey Marshall, a defensive end from Dinwiddie, VA; Ronny Vandyke, a defensive back from Lorton, VA; and Kyshoen Jarrett, a defensive back from East Stroudsburg, PA.

Beamer signed seven three-star prospects from in-state, including running back Michael Holmes of Harrisonburg, offensive lineman Jake Goins from Midlothian, defensive backs Demitri Knowles from Lynchburg and Michael Cole from Roanoke, tight end Chris Hall from Dinwiddie, and defensive end Justin Taylor from Chatham.

Virginia Tech’s latest class includes nine players from Virginia and two from Washington, DC, as well as four from Florida and one each from North Carolina, Georgia, Indiana, Minnesota, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Beamer took some criticism last February when Virginia’s top six in-state recruits signed elsewhere.

Beamer told the Washington Post that he doesn’t follow recruiting rankings, and isn’t particularly concerned about what other schools may be recruiting a prospect.

"I don't really wanna know who's offered this kid, I want us to sit here as a staff and 'Do we like this kid? Do we like what he's doing?' I think that's how we do it," Beamer told the Post. "Does he fit where we're trying to play him and what are the other things besides being a pure football player? What are the other things about him? I think the character part is a big, big part…

"Everybody would like to get the highest rated kids you can, and usually the highest rated ones are getting recruited by the most people, and that's pretty accurate. I think you get guys that want to be in your program and work hard and fit in with a system, and then you're able to win.”

It’s hard to argue with Beamer’s philosophy, or his bottom line.

O&W 2011 Season Preview

Q&A with Richmond Times-Dispatch Hokies beat writer Darryl Slater

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