TSLMail #49 - Friday, October 4, 2002

TSL Releases New Top 40 Recruiting Rankings
by Will Stewart, TechSideline.com

TechSideline.com's Top 40 Recruits in the State of Virginia (Version 003, Sep. 2002)
TSL Rank	Player	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.
1	Vince Hall	LB	6'1"	235
2	Chris Ellis	DE	6'4"	230
3	Xavier Adibi	LB	6'3"	200
4	Phillip Brown	CB	5'11"	190
5	Matt Welsh	OL	6'5"	275
6	John Kinzer	TE	6'4"	235
7	Shannon Lane	WR	6'0"	180
8	Chase Anastacio	CB/S	6'1"	180
9	Isaiah Gardner	RB	5'10"	190
10	Duane Brown	JATH	6'5"	250
11	Robbie Catterton	ATH	6'3"	195
12	Terrel Golden	ATH	6'3"	200
13	Barry Booker	DT	6'4"	255
14	James Terry	LB/RB	6'2"	225
15	Fontel Mines	WR	6'4"	211
16	John Hamlett	TE	6'5"	260
17	Kory Robertson	DT	6'4"	270
18	Justin Bell	JATH	6'4"	255
19	Carlton Powell	OL/DL	6'4"	290
20	Kenny Lewis, Jr.	ATH	5'9"	185

If you're moving soon -- say you just got relocated, or you've ditched that rotten old job for a great new one -- we've got two sponsors who would love to hear from you: Hilldrup Moving and Storage, and Foster & Associates legal firm.

First of all, Hilldrup can take care of moving you from your old house to your new house. Hilldrup Moving and Storage are experts in all varieties of relocation, including domestic, international or commercial. Hilldrup also specializes in warehousing and storage. If you are in need of a relocation expert, please look first to Hilldrup, sponsor of TechSideline.com and supporter of the largest VT sports online community. Contact them today by clicking on the link above (or their logo to the right) and filling out the contact form.

Secondly, if you need to sell your home, buy a new home, or both, Foster & Associates is a law firm that deals in all varieties of real estate closings. Foster & Associates strive to provide their clients with superior service for all types of real estate closings, whether they be residential purchases, refinances, or commercial transactions. They work with their clients' schedule and can close in their geographic location throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia. For more information on their legal areas of concentration, as well as contact information and an online contact form, click on the link above or their logo to the right.

Be sure to let Hilldrup and Foster & Associates know that you saw their sponsorship on TSL. And as always, keep an eye on our list of sponsors on our TSL Sponsors Page.

With the Hokies having an off weekend, it's a good time to check and see how they're doing in the NCAA statistics. Here's the rundown of the good -- and the bad -- for Hokie football, statistically speaking.

The only individual Hokie who shows up in the top 20 in any statistical rankings is punter Vinnie Burns, who averages just over 43 yards per punt, good enough for 19th in the country. Tech tailback Lee Suggs is 39th in the country in rushing, with 430 yards rushing, and 23rd in the country in scoring, with 9.6 points per game.

In team rankings, the Hokies fare much better. Offensively, the Hokies are ranked #15 in rushing, at 221.2 yards per game. Tech was doing much better just two games ago, but 257 net rushing yards total in the last two games made them plummet in the rushing rankings. In scoring offense, Tech ranks 27th at 35.8 yards per game.

The bad news is that the Hokies are 81st in total offense at 340.4 yards per game, and a staggering (but not so surprising) 110th in passing offense -- just 119.2 yards per game.

Defensively, Tech is #1 in rushing defense (42.2 yards per game), #1 in scoring defense (7.8 points per game), #11 in total defense (268.2 ypg). On the downside, Tech is 75th in passing defense, at 226.0 yards per game. Just for fun, if you take out the Marshall game (442 yards passing), the Hokies are only giving up 172 yards passing per game, which would put them 25th in the nation.

Barring injury, Lee Suggs will continue to build on his Tech and Big East career record of 40 touchdowns scored (38 rushing, 2 receiving). Suggs entered the season with 32 TD's and already has 8 more in five games this year, meaning that he is on course to score 21 touchdowns in this 13-game season.

If he is able to do that, it would give him 53 career touchdowns, a whopping 23 ahead of the next closest Hokies, James Barber and Cyrus Lawrence, who had 30.

Not only that, but 53 career TD's would place Suggs a solid second on the Tech career scoring list with 318 points, well ahead of Ryan Williams (254 points), but far behind career scoring leader Shayne Graham (371 points).

Lastly, two fly-bys are tentatively scheduled for the Rutgers (Oct. 19th) and Temple (Oct. 26th) home games. Sources tell us two F-16's from the Vermont Air National Guard will fly over for Rutgers, and a B-2 Stealth bomber will fly over for Temple. All aircraft are scheduled to be piloted by Hokies!

Again, this is just tentative. If action is taken against Iraq, the fly-bys could (and probably would) be cancelled.