For the uninitiated, TSL created a purely numerical system for rating past recruiting classes, and over time, it has been applied VT football recruiting classes from 1990 to the present (it requires that a class go through its redshirt-senior year before it can be fully evaluated). The rating system is explained in this article, and there are links that go into more detail. At the end of this article, a link is provided to an Excel file with the data that was used.

The 1998 recruiting class will be always be remembered as the class that brought in superstars such as Michael Vick, Lee Suggs and Jake Grove. There were many other good players in that class as well, and they helped Virginia Tech win a lot of football games over the course of their careers.

I was in high school when this class signed with Tech, and probably followed the program as closely as anyone could expect from a 9th grader, but I knew next to nothing about recruiting. And I didn't really care about it either. But I do remember hearing and reading about the 1998 recruiting class and getting really fired up. I remember having the belief that this class would get Virginia Tech to the next level, and I think a lot of other people believed that as well.

So why so much hype for the 1998 recruiting class? Read on.

Virginia Tech dominated in-state recruiting in 1998, signing six of the top 11 players in Virginia, according to The Roanoke Times' Top 25 list. Obviously the headliner of the group was quarterback Michael Vick, who was a very highly-touted quarterback, but he was somewhat overshadowed by Ronald Curry, the #1 recruit in the country. But there was a lot of quality in the class, from the top of the rankings to the bottom.

The class also included players like Jake Houseright, Lee Suggs, Ronyell Whitaker, Willie Pile and Jake Grove. That's quite a bit of talent in one class. The Hokies signed a total of 13 players from Virginia that year, and all but two went on to become starters at one point during their Tech careers. That is excellent production, and it doesn't even count the out-of-state players.

Six players from the 1998 recruiting class are currently in the NFL. The two lowest rated members of the Roanoke Times Top 25 that the Hokies signed, Willie Pile and Anthony Davis, are in the NFL. Besides the players who currently play in the NFL, other members of the class such as Keith Burnell, Grant Noel and Emmett Johnson spent time on NFL rosters during the preseason.

There were very few busts in this class. Only four members of the class failed to letter for the Hokies, and one of them, Marlan Hicks, never even made it to Blacksburg.

Here is a list of all the recruits Tech signed in 1998:

• QB (2): Michael Vick, Grant Noel
• RB (2): Lee Suggs, Keith Burnell
• WR (2): Emmett Johnson, Terrell Parham
• TE (0)
• OL (7): Anthony Davis, Jake Grove, Jermaine Hinkson, Joe Marchant, Anthony Nelson, Daniel Nihipoli, Luke Owens
• DL (2): Thenus Franklin, Marlan Hicks
• LB (1): Jake Houseright
• DB (3): T.J. Jackson, Willie Pile, Ronyell Whitaker
• ATH (2): Lamar Cobb, Travis Turner

Some of the best offensive players to ever play for the Hokies were a part of the 1998 recruiting class. Virginia Tech recruited starter-caliber players at nearly every position on the field.

Quarterback Michael Vick was the big one, of course. Vick was the #3 recruit on The Roanoke Times Top 25 list, and was listed as the #5 quarterback in the nation by SuperPrep. Were it not for Ronald Curry, who played at Hampton High School and was regarded as the #1 player in the country, Vick would have received massive amounts of hype.

As it stands, Vick went on to lead the Hokies to an undefeated regular season in 1999 and a berth in the National Championship game. He was a Heisman Finalist and a First Team All-American. Vick only lost one game as a starter in college, and he was the #1 pick in the NFL Draft in 2001. Curry is now a backup wide receiver for the Oakland Raiders.

Tech also signed some standouts at running back and center. Lee Suggs signed with the Hokies and went on to become one of the greatest running backs in school history. He is fifth on the all-time VT rushing list, and his 53 rushing touchdowns are a school record for a career. His 27 rushing touchdowns in 2000 is also a school record, and he holds NCAA records for games scoring a touchdown in a season (14, 2002), and most consecutive games with a touchdown (27).

Suggs currently plays for the Cleveland Browns. He has shown flashes of brilliance at times, such as a 186 yard performance against the Bengals during his rookie season, but he has spent a lot of his career on the injured list.

The other headliner of the class was Jake Grove, who went on to become one of the greatest offensive linemen in Tech history. Grove was a Unanimous All-American during the 2003 season and took home the Rimington Trophy, which goes to the best center in the country. He now plays for the Oakland Raiders.

The most underrated offensive recruit in the 1998 recruiting class would have to be Anthony Davis. Davis didn't even make the Roanoke Times Top 25—he was listed at 28th—but he is currently starting at offensive tackle for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Virginia Tech concentrated mostly on the offensive side of the ball in 1998, but they did manage to sign some highly-touted defenders. Most of those players panned out and went on to productive careers in Blacksburg.

The biggest name on the defensive side of the ball was Jake Houseright. Houseright was the #4 player in Virginia according to the Roanoke Times, and he was recruited by a number of big-name schools. In the end, he decided on Virginia Tech. After some early playing time as a true freshman at fullback, he went on to develop into a solid linebacker for the Hokies.

Houseright never lived up to his potential because of multiple knee injuries. It seemed that he could never play in spring practice or participate in offseason conditioning because he was recovering from yet another knee operation. The greatest compliment ever paid to Houseright came from Boston College All-American tailback William Green. When asked to name the best defenders he had ever played against Green named Houseright and Ben Taylor.

The Hokies also signed Marlan Hicks, who was the #6 player on the Roanoke Times list, and the #1 defensive lineman in the ACC region according to PrepStar. He was expected to be a star defensive tackle at Tech, but he never qualified. He prepped at Hargrave and went on to an uneventful career at Marshall.

In the defensive backfield, the Hokies signed the highly-touted Ronyell Whitaker, and the not-so-highly-touted Willie Pile. Both earned All-American honors at Tech, and Whitaker has bounced around the NFL and NFL Europe, while Pile played for the Chiefs and his currently a Dallas Cowboy.

This was a big-time class for Virginia Tech and could go down as the best the Hokies have ever signed. They got offensive all-stars like Michael Vick, Lee Suggs and Jake Grove, and two NFL defensive backs in Ronyell Whitaker and Willie Pile. Not to mention that they thoroughly dominated the in-state battle with Virginia.

The Hokies got major production from nearly every in-state recruit, except Marlan Hicks and Travis Turner. Meanwhile, the list of players from Virginia who signed with UVA are a bunch of no-names. They include Darnell Hollier, Butch Jefferson, Richard Rodgers (a VT decommit), Boo Battle and David Blount. The biggest contributor that UVA got from the state of Virginia in 1998 was Shenard Newby, who was ranked #21 by the Roanoke Times.

Any class that contains five All-Americans (Jake Grove, Michael Vick, Lee Suggs, Ronyell Whitaker and Willie Pile) is a very good one. The class also featured very solid depth to go along with the stars with players like Keith Burnell, Luke Owens, Jake Houseright and Emmett Johnson.

The Recruit Ranking System

Note: the recruit ranking system was introduced in the TSL Extra, our old monthly publication that is no longer produced, in issue #21 (July 24, 2002). To learn how it works and how points are awarded, see the Inside the Numbers article from that issue.

In an effort to numerically rate the "success" of a recruiting class, both as individuals and as a team, we created a detailed point system that awards points for individual accomplishments and team accomplishments. We created a large table of "accomplishments" that players and recruiting classes could achieve, and then awarded points to players and classes that achieved those objectives.

Individual players, for example, can earn varsity letters, set records, become All-Americans, and get drafted by the NFL. Recruiting classes can win games, go to bowls, and obtain Top 25 rankings.

The system is admittedly flawed -- no ranking system is perfect -- but for consistency's sake, it does a pretty good job of enabling us to compare recruits individually and as classes.

Here is a list of how many points are awarded for what accomplishments, both individual and team -- note that this system still uses "Big East" awards, because the Hokies were in the Big East at the time.

Individual accomplishments: letter earned (1 point); season starter (2 points); VT season stat leader (2); VT game (5), season (7) or career (10) record held; All-American (10); First-team AA (15); Consensus AA (20), Unanimous AA (25); national award (20); Heisman finalist (30); All-Big East 2nd (3) or 1st (5) Team; BE Player of the Year (10); BE season stats leader (5); BE game (6), season (8), or career (11) record held; BE academic honor roll (2); drafted by the NFL (3-10 points). New categories: Division 1A season stat leader (15), Division 1A game record (20), Division 1A season record (25), Division 1A miscellaneous record (25), Division 1A career record (40).

Class achievements: Wins (2 points per win); conference win (2); win over Virginia (5) or Miami (5); BE Champions (25); Top 25 (10) or Top 10 (15) finish; play in (15) or win (10) minor bowl; play in (25) or win (25) BCS bowl; play in championship game (50).

Note that the reasons for this ranking system, and its strengths and shortcomings, were talked about in detail in TSL Extra issue #21. See the article explaining the ranking system at this link.

As we do for each of these articles, here's a walk-through with Tyronne Drakeford, a key member of the 1990 recruiting class. Here are his accomplishments:

• Lettered, 1990-93 (4 points, 1 for each letter)
• Started, 1991-93 (6 points, 2 for each season)
• Led VT in interceptions, 1991-93 (12 points, 4 points for each season)
• All-Big East 2nd team, 1991 (3 points)
• All-Big East 1st team, 1992-93 (10 points, 5 for each season)
• Led Big East in interceptions, 1992 (5 points)
• Drafted in the second round, 1994 (9 points)

Total points for Tyronne Drakeford: 49

• Michael Vick (QB, 257 Points): Vick's accomplishments are too many to name in just a short paragraph. He helped Virginia Tech get to the next level. He was a Heisman Finalist, and won the ESPY for College Football Player of the Year in 1999. He lost just one game as the Virginia Tech starting quarterback. His accomplishments easily make him the top recruit of the 1998 recruiting class.
  
  
• Lee Suggs (RB, 204 Points): Lee Suggs could arguably be considered Tech's greatest running back of all time. He is fifth in school history in rushing yardage, and how many more would he have rushed for had he not blown out his knee in 2001 and shared carries with Kevin Jones in 2002?
  
  
• Jake Grove (C, 69 Points): Jake Grove is arguably Virginia Tech's best center ever. He was a Unanimous All-American and winner of the Rimington Trophy in 2003. He was known for his nasty demeanor on the field, and defensive linemen hated playing against him.
  
  
• Willie Pile (FS, 39 Points): Willie Pile is one of Virginia Tech's top free safeties in school history. He is near the top of the school record books in interceptions, placing third on the list with 14.
  
  
• Ronyell Whitaker (CB, 28 Points): Whitaker drew the ire of many Tech fans for his trash talking ways and personal foul penalties, but he was a third team All-American in 2001 and a three year starter. He has played in the NFL, NFL Europe and is currently the property of the Minnesota Vikings.

In terms of team accomplishments, the 1998 recruiting class wins points for what the team accomplished during the 1999-2002 seasons, when the class would have been redshirt freshmen to redshirt seniors. The accomplishments are:

The 1998 recruiting class is at the top of the list in nearly every category for the classes we have rated so far. The only rating that the class is not in first, or tied for first, is number of players. The 1998 class leads in total points and points per player, and is tied for first in team points.

Here is how the nine classes we have rated stack up against each other:

That's quite a number of accomplishments for the 1998 recruiting class. Of course, when a class contains two of the top three recruits in VT history up to this point, according to our rating system at least, it is going to be a highly rated class. Throw in Jake Grove, who is also in the top 10, and that makes a lot of star quality in this class.

The 1998 recruiting class didn't feature as many 4-year lettermen as most of the other classes that we have rated, but there were also very few busts. Three of the six “busts” from this class came among the offensive linemen, and two from the defensive line.

Michael Vick jumps to #1 on the list, while Lee Suggs falls in at #3. Jake Grove is also a member of the Top 10.

The Data

To download an MS Excel spreadsheet containing all of the data and formulas that were used here, go here:

http://www.techsideline.com/tslpass/2006/1998RecruitingClass.xls

The spreadsheet also includes ranking data for the previously-covered 1990-1997 recruiting classes.