Virginia Football: Analysis of the 2008 Recruiting Class

John Gilmer by Contributor Written on June 06, 2008
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3.  If more of our recruiting is in state, this allows the coaches to spend less money and time recruiting because the geographical footprint area in which they are spending most of their time driving around is smaller. 

 

     That is why I don’t agree with people who argue that we should be recruiting more in talent hotbeds like FL.  There is plenty of talent in the area from NC to NY, such that I don’t think we should be going outside this area unless there is a recruit with UVA ties or they have a 3.9 GPA or some other reason that we should go out of our way.

 

4.  You can get an inside scoop on recruits that might be under the radar, or even if they aren’t under the radar, you can recruit them early and get a head start. 

 

     This is because you have developed a good relationship with coaches and people in the know in VA who tip you off to rising stars, and because you see younger players in their freshman to junior years as you are scouting the older players.

 

5.  The Virginia Athletics Foundation is the fund-raising arm of the athletic department, and they are responsible for paying tuition to the university for every scholarship athlete.  The VAF has to pay UVA a lot more money for out of state scholarships than in state. 

 

 

To back up these ideas about loyalty and pipelines from in-state schools, I will share some examples from things I have read in the past year.  I have seen a number of quotes from VT commits last year saying that one of the reasons they chose it is because there are other current VT players from their region. 

 

This sort of thing has a cumulative effect over time. For example, Isaiah Hamlette, who committed to VT: "I want to represent the state of Virginia when I play in college…This class at Tech has that—a bunch of guys with the same goal." 

 

Darrel Roberts had this to say about his close friend Tyrod Taylor (a current VT player) before committing: "We always get together and throw the ball around and workout…We're building chemistry, and the plus with that is that I know who the quarterback of the future is… Tech has a lot of '757' players. They pretty much run that school." 

 

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written on June 06, 2008 Opinion

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