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Committed Players: DT Chris Burnett, CB Antoine Rutherford
Uncommitted Players: CB Demetrius Hodges, WR Josh Hyman, LB Donte Newsome, LB Justin London, WR Robert Parker, DE Darryl Tapp.

Note: DE John Wood and WR Santonio Holmes were possible visits, but they are not coming this weekend.

Hokies In Good Shape with "A" List Recruits

Sources tell TechSideline.com that the Virginia Tech coaches feel very good about where they stand with their remaining A-list recruits, and that as recruiting winds down, the Tech coaches think they have a good shot at landing each of their remaining recruiting targets.

Does this mean they'll land all of them? Of course not, but they feel like they're in a position to compete to the end for every single player they're targeting. If the remaining A-list targets don't choose the Hokies, it will at least be close.

So what's the A-list? That, my friends, is information that is more closely guarded than nuclear weapons secrets. But it does include targets such as DL Jonathan Lewis, LB Ahmad Brooks, and QB Marcus Vick.

In addition to being on Tech's A-list, those three recruits also have one other thing in common: they're all visiting Virginia this weekend. So is WR Brenden Hill, who is not one of the Hokies' higher-priority targets but will definitely move up if things don't work out with Tech's other wide receiver targets.

Notable by his absence from Virginia's visit list this weekend is ATH Jimmy Williams, who told Rivals.com last Sunday that he was going to visit Virginia this weekend, but has since cancelled. One source told us that a Williams verbal to Tech is imminent ... but that same source told us a couple of times over the last two months that DE Darryl Tapp was about to verbal, so we'll see.

Speaking of Tapp, he has pretty much eliminated Florida from his list for the time being, and at one time, Florida was a co-leader with the Hokies for his services. Tapp has visited Maryland and will visit VT this weekend (1/18), followed by Virginia on 1/25. The Cavaliers are a late entry into Tapp's recruiting, and it's not known how serious they are about him or how serious Tapp is about them. Tapp may or may not schedule a Florida visit for the weekend of 2/1 -- it's up in the air because of the Florida coaching staff changes in the wake of Steve Spurrier's resignation.

In quarterback recruiting, Patrick Dosh (6-3, 215, 4.6) committed to Tech this past Monday, and Lorne Sam dropped out. Marcus Vick remains the primary remaining QB target, and the Hokies paid an in-home visit to James Banks this week, as well. Derrell Jenkins told Rivals.com on Monday that the Tech coaches were going to visit him in-home on Wednesday, but Tech QB coach Kevin Rogers was at Banks's home Wednesday, so we're not sure if Jenkins got a visit.

Confused? That's understandable. It boils down to this: Marcus Vick is the #1 QB target left, but the Hokies are still showing love to Banks and possibly Jenkins.

Vick, by the way, has VT, UVa, and Tennessee on his list, with Miami now out of it. After his UVa visit this weekend, he'll be done with his visits and will decide from that list of three teams. Tech is now widely reported as the favorite, but we'll see how he feels after this weekend.

The Hokies will also finally get their official visit from LB Justin London this weekend. Justin has visited Maryland, North Carolina State, Tennessee, and UCLA. We are told that you can rule out NCSU (didn't like it) and you can probably forget about UCLA because of distance. Tennessee is always a formidable recruiting foe, but we're told that Tech's biggest competition is actually Maryland. Justin likes the coaching staff there and was very impressed with his visit. We'll try to reach him this week (previous calls have been unsuccessful) and give you his thoughts.

Demetrius Hodges, who wasn't known about until we broke the story of his recruitment here on TSL, said on Rivals.com earlier today that he will commit to the Hokies if everything goes well. Hodges has not yet qualified academically (Coach Sam Budnyk told us he's "close" in a recent phone interview), but athletically, he's as good as they get. Tech coaches rate players on a 1-4 scale athletically, with 4 being the best, and we're told that Hodges graded out at a 4.

One other tidbit: one source told us that Frank Beamer is working harder on recruiting than he has worked the entire time he has been at Tech. Beamer is a man on a mission, trying to maintain control of the state of Virginia over Al Groh, seal off the borders from Tennessee and Penn State, and nab some top out-of-state recruits. This year's dramatic battles between Beamer, Groh, Fulmer, and Paterno are the stuff of recruiting legends, and if you like recruiting wars, then this is a great year to have a front row seat for all the battles.

Flash Updates - click here to read updates from the last week on Montavis Pitts (Auburn commit), Laenar Nixon (Oklahoma commit), Marcus Vick, Patrick Dosh (VT commit), Alan Wheeling (W&M commit), Santonio Holmes, LaMarr Watkins, Lorne Sam (FSU commit), Brian Mattes, and James Banks.

Football News:
Hokies to add 13th game in 2002 - News and Notes, 1/17/02
Barring any unforeseen complications, Virginia Tech will add a 13th football game for 2002 by playing a
preseason game on August 24th or 25th against either Tulsa or Arkansas State. The game is the Jim Thorpe Classic preseason game, and Tulsa is the more likely opponent of the two. Last season, the Golden Hurricane, short on talent and riddled with injuries, went 1-10, including 0-8 in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC). For more information, click the link above.

Other News:
Hokie Hotline Notes - by Apex Hokie, 1/15/02