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Friday, August 7, 1998 Smart, Talented Fullback Verbals to Hokies Two days after Shawn Witten verballed to Tech, the Hokies have received another out-of-state verbal, this one for a position where players are dearly needed: fullback. The verbal is from 6-foot-2, 225-pound Ryan Angelo of Spring Hill, Florida. First, take a look at The Roanoke Times article about Angelo: Tech Snags True Fullback From Florida - The Roanoke Times, 8/6/98 Whew. 4.8 forty, 4.9 yards per carry average, can bench 340 pounds ... and he's not even a senior in high school. Back in the 70's, this kid would already be big enough and strong enough to play defensive line. The times are changing, and sometimes I think that ten years from now, we'll probably be talking about a 17 year old fullback who weighs 250, can run a 4.5 forty, and benches 400 pounds. But back to the present. Some highlights from the article:
With verbals from Shawn Witten and Ryan Angelo, it sounds like the recruiting season is off to a pretty good start, and it doesn't sound as if either of these kids will back off from their commitments. Conventional wisdom holds that after a stellar year in-state last year, the Hokies will need to have a good year out-of-state this year. Many of Virginia's best high school players are UVa legacies (meaning, they're related to former or current UVa players), but it's not just that - out-of-state schools are in the run for many of Virginia's top 25, as well. The state recruiting battles appear to be a four-way dog fight this year between Tech, UVa, UNC, and Penn State. Most of the top 25 in the state of Virginia have a combination of those schools on their list. UNC has already received verbals from two outstanding Virginia linemen, Jupiter Wilson and David Stevenson (this is not good, because both Tech and UVa need offensive linemen ... heck, you can never have too many good offensive linemen). The state will not be dominated this year like it was by Tech and UVa last year, so again, the Hokies will have to do well out of state to have another banner recruiting year. I like what I've seen so far, with Witten and Angelo.
The member schools of the Big East Football Conference have adopted a circle-the-wagons mentality for the upcoming season, after hearing all of the "Big Least" garbage for most of the offseason. All over the various Big East message boards on the Internet, Hokies, Mountaineers, Orangemen, 'Canes, and Eagles can be seen wishing each other luck in their 1998 out of conference games. Take a gander at the Big East's out of conference schedule this year:
September 5 in particular is a huge day for the Big East, as the conference steps out against Ohio State, Tennessee, ECU, and Georgia Tech. Hokie fans, who were independent for so many years, are finally learning what it means to be members of a conference. Although the Big East hasn't been particularly loyal to the Hokies (most notably conference commissioner Mike "Trained-Geese" Tranghese, who seems to forget that we're in his conference), many of Tech's finest fans will be watching the scores of Big East out of conference games closely this year, and rooting for teams they never thought they would root for, like Syracuse and Miami. Me, I'm hoping WVU can pull off the victory over OSU, but Ohio State is loaded for bear this year, so it could be tough, even with the game in Morgantown. I'm also rooting for Syracuse against Tennessee and Michigan. Hopefully, the Orangemen's typically weak line play and tendency to gag early season games won't do them in this year. Lastly, a Miami victory over UCLA would be nice ... but a UM victory over FSU would be nearly impossible, I fear.
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