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TechSideline.com has come a long way since its conception in 1996. We are the #1 media source and community covering Virginia Tech athletics; producing an average of 110,000 unique viewers and over 6 million page views each month. We reach a coveted demographic (you know who you are) 24/7, 12 months out of the year. Furthermore, TechSideline.com provides a powerful advertising opportunity, leveraging our unique two-way medium to clearly and precisely communicate our sponsor’s marketing goals to our loyal community. This permission marketing approach has resulted in unprecedented marketing success for all our sponsors, "brick and mortar" and dot-com alike. Each custom sponsorship varies in investment according to the desired target reach, frequency, geographic territory, category, and/or time your campaign requires. In a nutshell, our custom targeted sponsorships allow you to focus your message and product to the right customers in the right market at the right time. To learn more, please
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 Have
You Checked Kroger®'s
Store Locator and Weekly Specials Web Page?
TSL is proud to have Kroger® as a sponsor. Kroger® has been sponsoring Hokie athletics for years and has become a permanent fixture in VT athletics (whenever someone says, "You know what Coach Beamer says" on the message boards, someone else ALWAYS responds with, "Get your tailgate supplies at Kroger®!") Kroger®'s latest TSL ads, the ones that start out with the notation "Local Specials", are very cool -- when you click them, it takes you to a store locator, and once you locate a Kroger® store from the list, it loads your latest weekly specials. You can browse them all, sort them by category, etc. Very cool -- click below to give it a test run.
Although we all know that the true value of a recruiting class cannot be measured until a few years down the road, it is interesting to take a look at the recent classes and see how they stack up against each other on paper, especially at the top end. Early in his tenure at Virginia Tech, Frank Beamer was not known for pulling in the top recruits in the state of Virginia. The Hokies were on probation in 1987 and 1988 and were not in a conference, while in-state rival Virginia had on-field success, a probation-free program, and membership in the ACC. Teams like Penn State and UNC would hit the state of Virginia hard every year as well, leaving slim pickings for Beamer and company. As time passed however, Frank Beamer was able to get his foot in the door by building good relationships with many of the high school coaching staffs around the state. That, coupled with membership in the Big East Football Conference, took the Hokies’ recruiting to a new level. Take a look at the chart below and you will see that Tech’s entry into the Big East directly coincided with the signing of some of the top 5 players in the state, as defined by Doug Doughty's Roanoke Times Top 25 rankings. Later on, success in the Big East would help lead to the Hokies signing multiple players in the top 5.
The first highly touted top 5 player that Frank Beamer signed at Tech was Maurice DeShazo, a quarterback from Bassett High School in Bassett, VA. While DeShazo was the first of these types of players to commit to Tech, he really did not open the door for these blue chippers to play football in Blacksburg. DeShazo signed with Tech in 1990, and for the next two years the Hokies failed to sign a top 5 player. The next top 5 player that Tech signed was Cornell Brown, who committed as a part of the class of 1993. Since Brown signed with the Hokies back in 1993, Beamer has signed someone in the top 5 every year except 1995. Obviously, some of these prospects have worked out very well for the Hokies, and some not so well. To save the good news for last, let’s take a look at some of the players that didn’t pan out as well as their rankings indicated:
Despite the occasional player that doesn’t develop, the vast majority of top 5 players that Tech has recruited have become major contributors, and in some cases, major stars. Obviously, the biggest name on that list is Michael Vick. Vick finished 3rd in the Heisman race as a freshman for the Hokies and became the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft after his redshirt sophomore year. DeAngelo Hall is another top 5 player that excelled at Tech and went on to be the eighth selection in the draft after his junior year, ironically joining Vick in Atlanta. Overall, four of the five No. 1 players in Virginia that the Hokies have signed under Frank Beamer have been selected in the NFL draft. Besides Vick and Hall, Ken Oxendine and Cornell Brown were also selected. Tyrone Robertson was drafted by the Buffalo Bills, but he never actually played at Tech so he is not included. Bryan Randall will likely add to that number this April. In addition, the Hokies boast a lot of top 5 players on their current roster who will potentially fill big roles in 2005. Marcus Vick, Jonathan Lewis, Xavier Adibi, Vince Hall, and Eddie Royal will all start at for Tech, while Kent Hicks and Chris Ellis will compete for a starting position and could very well win out in their respective position battles. Sean Glennon will likely fill an important roll as the backup quarterback, and Victor “Macho” Harris will look to get on the field as well. Linebacker Deveon Simmons is another candidate to play early for the Hokies, if he qualifies academically. Running back Elan Lewis will likely red shirt, but he has a bright future in Blacksburg. Overall, the Hokies have fared very well with Virginia’s Top 5 players in recent years. While they certainly didn’t get them in large numbers until Tech began becoming a national name in football, generally the players that did come to Blacksburg had very successful careers. Ever since Tech played in the National Championship game following the 1999 season, Frank Beamer and his staff have made even more inroads in recruiting in Virginia. Beginning in 2001, Virginia Tech has signed 3 of the top 5 players in Virginia every year except for the 2002 recruiting class, when they "only" managed to land Marcus Vick and Jonathan Lewis. On paper, the Hokies are
continuing to pull in some big time prospects, as they proved this year with the
signing of four more of the top 5 Virginia recruits. As stated earlier, only
time will tell if these players develop as expected, but it appears that the
Hokies are becoming more and more talented as the years go by.
Brain Injury Services of SWVA and Brain Injury Services, Inc. in Northern Virginia are offering Hokie fans a chance to win a truly unique prize: a "game-winning" football signed by the Virginia Tech football coaching staff and players. The football up for grabs is the football being carried by Cedric Humes in the picture above, during Cedric's game-clinching 37-yard TD run against Virginia this past season. The ball was taken from the field -- "It still has dirt on it," yours truly was recently told -- and later signed by Virginia Tech coaches and players. The ball is now being raffled off. Only 600 raffle tickets are being sold, and each ticket costs $100. To make things even better, the cost of your raffle ticket is tax-deductible as a charitable donation to Brain Injury Services of SWVA and Brain Injury Services, Inc. These two organizations are the only two case management programs serving kids with brain injuries in the state of Virginia. The services needed by brain injury survivors are scarce, and these two programs make a difference in people's lives. Proceeds from the raffle will be used to fund desperately-needed case managers at these two organizations. Interested? Here are the details:
The Virginia Tech football
program and head coach Frank
Beamer (click the link to see a letter written by Beamer) are behind this effort to raise much-needed funds. Buy your ticket
and get your chance at winning the football pictured above! | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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--
Will Stewart | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| TechSideline.com
Updates From the Past Week
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TSL Audio: Interview With Dave Glenn of the ACC Area Sports Journal, 2/10/05
(MP3 Audio)
Hokies
Turn Over in Loss to Maryland, 86-71
Game
Preview: Virginia Tech at Maryland
Advance
Auto Parts Hokie Hotline Notes for 2/7/05
Lane
Stadium Expansion Construction Pictures
Game
Preview: Virginia Tech vs. #7 Wake Forest