Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, August 8, 1993 TAG: 9308080054
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: E1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
\ Virginia Tech's football recruiting gains in Florida usually begin with losses.
Florida is so large and has so many good prospects, Tech offensive coordinator Rickey Bustle said, it's impossible to blanket the state - even with three Hokies assistants assigned territory there.
So, in May, Bustle, defensive tackles coach Todd Grantham and offensive line coach J.B. Grimes hit the Sunshine State ready to decide who they're not going to recruit as much as who they are going to pursue.
"You don't get yourself spread too thin down there," said Bustle, the veteran of Tech's Florida recruiters. "You can't get to them all, not and take care of your job in the state. You don't sit there and try to have [contact with] 25 or 30 kids. I try to have 10 to 15. You'd like to get a couple of kids a year."
Tech has done more than that recently. The Hokies' emphasis on Florida recruiting has resulted in 10 signees over the past three years, including starting tailback Dwayne Thomas.
When Frank Beamer became head coach in 1987, there were two Florida natives on the roster - starting linebacker Jamel Agemy and reserve safety Derrick Hallman.
Beginning with the 1989 class, Tech has signed 13 Floridians to letters of intent. The Hokies enter fall practice with 10 on the active roster.
"Every [Florida high school] team has a fast kid, and some of them have two or three," Beamer said.
The quality of Tech's Florida recruits appears to be improving, and Beamer said the Miami-Big East factor is one reason. Two of the first three players signed during his tenure - receiver Kevin Bennett (1989) and lineman Jason Boyer (1990) - left the program without making an impact. Leroy Charlton, a defensive end from Miami signed in '90, isn't on the latest three-deep roster.
Thomas arrived in '91 with Jermaine Holmes, who is wide receiver Antonio Freeman's backup. Two of three defensive backs recruited last year are on the two-deep; the other, Danny Dunbar, might have started if he had passed enough credit hours as a freshman.
The '93 class features receiver Larry Green and quarterback Willie Wilkins, who were the 32nd- and 51st-rated Florida prospects, respectively, by SuperPrep magazine.
It's partly a result of Tech picking its spots.
"What makes your final [list] of 10 kids is, `Do I have a chance of getting him?' " Bustle said. "You're not going to go in and battle Florida State, Florida and Miami."
There is enough talent in Florida, however, to feed many mouths. West Virginia assistant coach John "Doc" Holliday's only recruiting territory is Florida, and the Mountaineers have 15 Floridians on their preseason roster - the most of any Big East Conference team except Miami (54).
"When I started going down there in the early '80s," Holliday said, "it was us, Michigan and Iowa State. Now everybody in the world is down there . . . unfortunately."
Bustle and Syracuse recruiting coordinator Mike Vollmar say the mild climate and the fact that Florida high schools have spring football are the two main reasons the state produces so much talent.
Vollmar cites Florida, Texas and California as the top states for high school football talent. He says because Texas (nine) and California (seven) have more Division I-A schools than Florida (three), out-of-state schools see an opportunity.
Bustle and Vollmar each said the Big East has helped their schools' name recognition, and Bustle said Tech often stresses its location as the southernmost school in the league this side of Miami.
The Hokies have a presence in Florida, but putting down the sort of roots West Virginia has might take a few years. Holliday, a member of the Mountaineers' coaching staff in some capacity since 1980, said success begets success.
"Our first year we signed five kids, they were starters, played for the national championship [at the end of the 1988 season] and graduated," Holliday said. "[Now] it's a lot easier to get other kids to come up and visit."
Holliday said he has been aware of Tech spending more and more time in Florida for the past three years or so. Bustle recruits central Florida, an area including Orlando, Tampa, Sarasota, Bradenton and Fort Myers. Grantham works Miami and part of the state's Atlantic coast, and Grimes checks out the panhandle and Jacksonville.
In the Beamer era, Bustle said, Tech usually has had at least two and sometimes three coaches patrolling Florida. But Virginia prospects come first, Beamer said, and then you fill your needs.
"Last year, I didn't do as much as I'd done [previously] in Florida," Bustle said. "I had nine kids [who were prospects] in the local area. I haven't had nine kids in the last six years. You had to take care of your business up here. I zeroed down to three, four, five kids in Florida, and ended up picking one in May [Aaron Layne]."
Bustle signed Cornell Brown and Jon Scott (Lynchburg), Bryan Jennings and Baron Spinner (Forest), Shawn Scales (Woodbridge) and Brandon Semones (Glenvar) from Virginia. Bustle signed Layne, and Grantham recruited Tech's other three Florida signees - Green, Wilkins and Sean Sullivan.
Tech beat some high-profile programs for its Florida players, including Syracuse, Georgia Tech, Maryland, Mississippi and Kansas. The Hokies, however, are prime targets for "poaching" - such as when Bustle spent months recruiting a lineman only to see previously uninterested Penn State swoop in during January, offer a scholarship, and sign the player.
"You hope if [major programs] haven't recruited them very hard, what you're doing may hold on to them," Bustle said.
by CNB