This is a big weekend for recruiting fans for two reasons: (1) Tech's football camp starts this weekend and runs Sunday, July 14th through Wednesday, July 17th; and (2) the VHSCA Football All-Star Game is this Friday night in Hampton.

Football Camp: The camp is open to boys ages 13 through rising seniors in high school, and of course, it's the rising seniors that are of the most interest to Virginia Tech football recruiting followers.

Camp is always good for a verbal commitment or two, often surprise commitments. In the summer of 2000, Deep Creek's James Anderson and Chris Clifton committed to the Hokies at camp (with a nice, friendly shove from the already-committed DeAngelo Hall), and in the summer of 2001, Amherst's Brian McPherson committed.

Camp commitments, while often unheralded, are among the best that the Hokies receive. The reason why is that the coaches get to see the players in person and see them work out in person. This type of evaluation is more valuable than just looking at film of a prospect, because it gives the coaches a feel for how the player moves, what his build is like, and how he can develop physically once he enters college.

In addition to various drills, workouts, counseling, and motivational talks, each camper is timed in the 40-yard dash and shuttle run. This gives the Hokie coaches a chance to measure a camper's speed and agility on a surface that the Tech coaches are familiar with and comfortable with, using VT timing methodologies, instead of taking someone else's word for it.

The four-day camp costs $300 and includes meals and on-campus housing. There is also an option to camp for just a day for $150. If a player the Hokie coaches are interested in cannot afford the time nor the money for the full camp, they'll try to get the player to attend for one day so they can evaluate him. This is what happened with Brian McPherson last year, and it resulted in a scholarship offer being extended, and McPherson accepted it.

Sources tell TSL that about five or six kids will be exercising the one-day option.

So which players are possible commitments at this year's camp? It's hard to say, but one player to keep an eye on is Milford, Ohio fullback Joey Razzano, the son of former VT linebacking great Rick Razzano. Joey (6-0, 230) is a prototypical fullback who has narrowed his choices down to Virginia Tech and Ole Miss, where his brother plays.

Razzano attended Tech's 2002 Spring Game and the May 5th Tom Lemming photo shoot, so this won't be his first trip to the Tech campus. And some published reports say that he is going to announce his college choice soon, either at Tech's camp or shortly thereafter.

We tried to call Joey and get his thoughts before releasing this TSLMail, but there was no answer at the Razzano house.

If any commitments come out of the football camp, we'll let you know immediately via a TSLMail breaking news update, so keep an eye on your in-box for the next few days.

VHSCA All-Star Game: The Virginia High School Coaches Association (VHSCA) Football All-Star game pits East All-Stars against West All-Stars, and it features a bevy of Hokie players who should play key roles.

The game is played Friday night (tonight) at 7:30 at Darling Stadium in Hampton. Virginia Tech recruits Mike Imoh, Cary Wade, Chris Burnett, and Brian McPherson will play for the West squad, and Jimmy Williams (Bethel), Marcus Vick, Jonathan Lewis, Darryl Tapp, Noland Burchette, and  Brandon Gore will play for the East squad.

Also playing in the game is Deep Creek receiver Josh Hyman, who it was reported will attend Fork Union next year to prep for a year, and then will head to Virginia Tech the following year. Hyman is an All-State receiver and an outstanding talent at the wide receiver position, but he was not able to get the SAT score required to qualify for freshman eligibility. The Virginia Pilot reported Hyman's intentions this morning, and assuming that he makes the SAT score while at FUMA, he will enroll at Tech in the fall of 2003 and count against Tech's scholarship limit for that year.

Other recruiting news: On the downside of the recruiting ledger, Top 100 defensive tackle John Shaw, who liked the Hokies, has verbaled to Penn State since the last TSLMail. Shaw is a true talent who spoke highly of the VT coaching staff. Look for him to be a force for Penn State in the years to come.

Rayna DuBose Fund Set Up

The Virginia Tech Athletic Department has set up a fund to help pay the medical expenses of former Virginia Tech women's basketball player Rayna DuBose. DuBose, a freshman last year, was stricken with bacterial meningitis in April. She was unconscious for a considerable amount of time and, after regaining consciousness, underwent a series of surgeries in which doctors were forced to amputate parts of all four limbs due to tissue damage caused by the infection.

DuBose has finally left the UVa Medical Center, where she underwent the treatments and surgeries, and has entered a Baltimore rehabilitation facility close to her home in Columbia, Maryland. She has a long, hard road to recovery, and her medical bills, which have already reached a million dollars, will continue to rise. It is unknown at this point how much of her medical expenses will be covered by insurance.

The fund has been set up and is being administered by Virginia Tech's Monogram Club and the women's basketball team. For information on how to contribute, please click here.

Fly-bys In the Works