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The Rivals Top 100, Present and Past
by Will Stewart, TechSideline.com

Roughly one month before the season starts, over half of the Rivals 100 -- 55 players -- are committed. That number reflects the trend of earlier commitments in college football recruiting, and as usual, the Top 100 players are committing to the heavyweights of college football.

The list of teams recruiting the top players is jammed with the usual suspects, like Ohio State, Notre Dame, Miami, Texas, and USC. There aren't any big surprises in the table, except for maybe Arizona, which doesn't usually land multiple Top 100 players. It's worth noting, though, that their highest-ranked commit is only #84. UCLA, who has never landed more than two Top 100 players in the history of Rivals' rankings, which go back to 2002, already has three.

The Hokies don't have any Top 100 commits yet, and they are only on the list of three Top 100 players (by my count): #55 Ryan Williams (RB, VA), #72 Vinston Painter (OL, VA), and #78 Terrell Manning (LB, NC). The Hokies have an excellent shot at landing Williams and Painter, and they're in the final three for Manning (VT, Clemson, and NC State), who will announce his choice next week, according to recent reports.

VT has never landed more than two of the Rivals Top 100. Here's a look at Hokie signings from the lists:

That's only five Top 100 players in the last seven years of the rankings, and never more than two in one season, so landing three this year would be unprecedented for the Hokies. The one year in which VT landed two, 2005, comes with a big asterisk, because Deveon Simmons, who was a great high school player, wasn't fit to play college football. Simmons never made it to Tech, and as a matter of fact, never even made it to junior college.

Marcus Vick, of course, had one good season before flaming out in a sea of bad publicity. Vick was released by the Miami Dolphins on May 1st, 2007 and is currently a free agent.

Macho Harris' career appears to be on track, and Tyrod Taylor's praises are being sung by anyone who has ever seen him or met him. But the bottom line is, Virginia Tech's program hasn't been built via the Rivals Top 100, as we all know.

There is one glaring exception to this discussion, though: Kevin Jones. KJ and his 2001 recruiting classmates aren't listed on Rivals.com anymore, because Rivals' current online recruiting archives only go back to 2002. Rivals was in existence before then (they launched in August of 1999), but the turmoil in the industry in its early years apparently led to Rivals losing some data as the technology industry melted down after its late-90s heyday.

Jones was the #1 recruit in the country in 2001 per Rivals.com, not to mention almost everyone else, and no one can argue that he had a great career for the Hokies. The team wasn't very successful during KJ's three-year career, going 26-13, but Jones rushed for 3,475 yards, second all-time at Virginia Tech, even though he left early. Had KJ stayed a fourth year, he might have reached 5,000 yards rushing. Jones finished with 35 touchdowns, second all-time in Tech history to Lee Suggs' unapproachable 56.

Moving on, under the current star ratings, 27 of the top 100 are five-star players. This is an average number. One thing's for sure, Rivals generally doesn't mess up when ranking the #1 player in the nation. There are some superstars in this list, and beyond the superstars, some very good players.

Hate on Notre Dame all you want, but Jimmy Clausen is in good company. It's going to be interesting to see how his career shakes out, because he's going to a school with a great offensive coach, so he might excel.

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