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Will the Hokies Oversign in 2012?
by Chris Coleman, TechSideline.com, TSLMail #485, May 20 2011

Virginia Tech has already gained verbal commitments from 11 prospects in the 2011 recruiting class. You can sign as many prospects as you want in February, but only 25 are allowed to enroll for the fall semester. Will the Hokies stop at 25 this year, or will they oversign?

It's a valid question. Tech has oversigned before. They signed 29 players back in 2008, though the only other time they've oversigned was back in 1996 when they signed 28 recruits. However, Shane Beamer was previously the recruiting coordinator at South Carolina, and the Gamecocks have oversigned two of the last three years.

2012 Virginia Tech Recruiting Class
Pos. Expected Numbers Current Commits
QB 1-2 1
RB 2 1
WR 2-3 1
TE 1-2 1
OL 3-4 1
DE 2-3 0
DT 2-3 0
LB 3 1
CB 2-3 2
S 2-3 3
Totals 20-28 11


Tech is expected to sign between 20 and 28 players, though I can tell you right now that they are going to sign more than 20. The final number is going to be closer to 28 than 20.

Some of the prospects who have already committed, such as Der'Woun Greene and Desmond Frye, are currently listed at safety (by TSL). Those guys could also play wide receiver in college, and if they were both slotted at receiver, then Tech would already have three receiver commits.

However, Tech is actively pursuing some highly-touted wide receiver prospects such as Joel Caleb, Stefon Diggs, Kwinton Smith and Chris Brown. If the Hokies land a couple of those guys to go along with Mario Nixon, then the coaching staff could slot Greene and Desmond at safety.

Along the same lines, C.J. Prosise is a safety prospect who is rumored to favor Tech, and Kenneth Crawley is a 4-star safety/cornerback recruit who also likes Tech a lot. As you can see, there are a lot of names to remember for those WR/CB/S spots, and the coaching staff might find themselves in the position of being forced to turn players away. That's a good problem to have.

Just for fun, let's say the Hokies get Joel Caleb and Kwinton Smith at wide receiver. They would be up to 13 commits. They want to take three offensive linemen, so let's add Will Smith and Isaac Hayes to the list as well. That's 15 commits. Three defensive ends and three defensive tackles takes us up to 21, adding Drew Harris at tailback gets us to 22, which leaves room for a couple of more linebackers, as well as QB/S prospect Brenden Motley of Christiansburg.

Take a look at our unofficial Target Board. There are a lot of names on that list, more than usual for this time of the year. You can bet that the coaching staff will find a few more players to offer at summer camps in June and July as well.

The Hokies don't stand a good chance for everyone on that list, but they are in decent-to-good shape with the following guys: RB Drew Harris, WR Stefon Diggs, WR Joel Caleb, WR Kwinton Smith, WR Chris Brown, OT Win Homer, OG Isaac Hayes, DE Darius Hamilton, DE Ken Ekanem, DE Gimel President, DT Korren Kirven, DT Sheldon Day, DT K'Hadree Hooker, DT Alson Smith, DE/DT Courtnye Wynn, DT Woody Baron, DT Nigel Williams, DT Jarron Jones, LB Deon Clarke, LB Trey Edmunds, LB Devin Vandyke, LB Jawand Blue, CB Kenneth Crawley, S Joshua Holsey and S C.J. Prosise.

That's a lot of names, and new names will be added this summer. With so many guys to follow, it should be a lot of fun keeping up with recruiting over the next few months.

I don't know how many guys the Hokies will sign this year, but it wouldn't be surprising at all to see them oversign by 2-3 recruits.

 

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