It's been extremely difficult to keep track of where three Tech line recruits who failed to qualify - Tennessee strongman Anthony Nelson and Virginians Anthony Davis and Marlan Hicks - were going to wind up this fall, but apparently, the matter has finally been settled.  All three will enroll at Hargrave Military Academy this fall and will play for the post graduate team there.

The Bristol Herald Courier ran a great article on Nelson in Monday's edition, and since they don't archive their sports material, I snagged a copy of it for you to read here at HokieCentral.  The BHC does a passable job of covering the Hokies.   From what I've been able to tell, they generate as much material about Tech, or more, than The Washington Post or the eastern Va newspapers do.  A link to the BHC is available on my Links page, so if you can, be sure to check it daily.

It sounds as if Nelson will stay true to his commitment to Tech (remember, although he signed a letter of intent to play for Tech, non-qualifiers go back to the recruiting pool and are fair game), and I have read an article about Hicks that indicates that he, too, will stick with Tech.  Material about Davis has been scarce to non-existent, so I can't comment on him.

This assuages any fears I have about the three of them not going to Fork Union Military Academy, where Coach Fletcher Arritt (sorry if I misspelled that, coach) is famous for persuading his enrollees to stick to their original commitments.  If the commitments of Nelson, Hicks, and Davis are strong, the three of them being together at Hargrave can hopefully only serve to strengthen their commitment to Virginia Tech.

We need linemen, gentlemen.  Have a good year, and we'll see you in Blacksburg next fall - or earlier - okay?

If there's one thing you don't want to be, it's "my favorite recruit."

In 1996, I was excited about a Tech football recruit named Jeremy Kishbaugh, a 6-2, 230 pound linebacker from Berwick, PA.  Berwick had just finished the previous season ranked as the #1 high school in the country by The USA Today.   Kishbaugh was described by his coach as "an animal," with unparalleled intensity on the football field.  In 1995, he was listed in the preseason as the #2 prospect in Pennsylvania by Superprep.

I laid out the red carpet for Mr. Kishbaugh and proclaimed here on HokieCentral that he would one day be a star for the Tech defense at middle linebacker.   He was "my favorite recruit" in the 1996 recruiting class.

So what happened?  Kishbaugh injured his knee his senior year in high school, never quite recovered, and never enrolled at Tech.

The next year, I was excited about a recruit named Camm Jackson from Amherst High School.  Camm committed very early, in the summer of 1996, signed in February of 1997, and showed up for freshman drills, ready to go, in the fall of 1997.  Camm was "my favorite recruit" of the 1997 class, and I was looking forward to seeing him play linebacker or defensive back for Tech.

So what happened?  Camm injured his knee on the first day of practice here at Tech.  He never recovered, and the papers are now reporting that Camm is no longer with the team.

Know who my favorite 1998 recruit is?

That's right - I don't have one.

Jim Druckenmiller, who had a so-so outing in his first preseason game and was summarily roasted by the press (it appears the honeymoon is over for Druck), put in a much better effort in his second game this past weekend.  The press, likewise, was kinder.  The San Jose Mercury ran the headline "Druckenmiller one of few 49ers to earn passing grade," and the San Francisco (?) Examiner had the following quotes:

Backup quarterback Jim Druckenmiller appeared more comfortable in his second exhibition performance. He completed seven of 14 passes for 71 yards and one touchdown, a 4-yard scoring toss to tight end Irv Smith in the third quarter. Still, he wasn't too excited about what appeared to be some improvement.

"There were no interceptions so I was happy about that," Druckenmiller said. "I made a couple plays here and there, but for the most part, it was a mediocre effort. There were some positives, but I remember the negatives."

The last paragraph shows that Druck learned a lesson after game 1.  In that game, he didn't play well and was torched by one SF writer for not appearing too despondent about it, and for referring to himself in the third person after the game.

Ahh, the fickle press.  Stick with HokieCentral, Jim, where we love you no matter what, and you can talk about yourself in the third person all you want to.   Isn't that what deities do?

Many other former Hokies had good weekends - Bryan Still caught a TD pass, Shawn Scales (San Francisco) caught 2 passes for 30 yards, and Ken Oxendine scored a 1-yard TD.   Lanny Dietz has all the details on his well-done page The Professional Hokie.

• If you haven't seen it yet, the HokieCentral message board has been converted over to a new script by our esteemed host, Grassy Knoll.  The new script is almost identical to the old one (in fact, it's an upgrade), with one key difference:  it runs much faster.  Enjoy, and feel free to drop Grassy a brief note of thanks to [email protected].  But he may not answer ... like yours truly, he's a very busy guy.

• Former Blacksburg Hokie Club president Ron Gibbs tells me, "Will, you need to alert HokieCentral readers about the new traffic problem at Rt 460 and the 460 bypass to Tech. VDOT is building an overpass on 460, and the right-hand turn lane one took to avoid the stoplight has been eliminated. All traffic has to go to the light before making a turn. VDOT is grading a new turn lane but, at this point, they are not going to be finished by the ECU game. Point being - leave earlier than normal to avoid a big mess."   Thanks for the info, Ron.

• The upperclassmen report today, and on Wednesday, the Hokies hold their media day.   I'll keep an eye on the TV and newspapers and will bring all the info to you here at HokieCentral.

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