Gobbler Country

What the Hokies are getting in Adam Smith

2012-05-16T21:33:02Z

Hey, look! The words "transfer" and "Virginia Tech basketball" are in the same sentence and it's NOT about a player leaving Blacksburg!

As first reported by CBS' Jeff Goodman earlier Wednesday, Virginia Tech has added UNC-Wilmington transfer Adam Smith to its basketball program. Smith is a 6-1, 160 pound point guard from Jonesboro, Ga. and just finished his freshman season with the Seahawks.

While Smith won't be able to play until the 2013-14 season, he will have three years of eligibility remaining at that time. His arrival means there are seven players in the program who are schedule to be on scholarship in the season after next. Despite losing Dorian Finney-Smith and (reportedly) Montrezl Harrell, new head coach James Johnson is still working to bring more talent into Blacksburg.

Let's take a look at the type of player the Hokies' are getting in Smith.

Smith started 29 of 31 games for the Seahawks, who are a part of the Colonial Athletic Association — probably the second best mid-major league in the country last season (behind the Mountain West). He averaged 13.7 points per game, which was the 11th highest mark in the league.

In the first game of his career, Smith dropped 22 points on Maryland, including a 5-of-9 effort from three-point range. In mid-December, Smith scored 33 points against Wake Forest. He shot 7-of-12 from long range in that game. He finished the season as a 33 percent shooter from beyond the arc. In games that he attempted at least six three's, he shot better 38 percent from that range.

He's not much of a distributor, though, with only 1.6 assists per game and an assist-to-turnover ratio of almost exactly 1-to-1.

There remains work to be done defensively as well. Smith managed just 0.5 steals per game, a number far below expectations for a lead guard playing 30 minutes per game, no matter the level of competition.

He was a two-star recruit by ESPN.com, which scouted him as a "catch and shoot guy with range out to 22 feet...showed the ability to come off screens and knock down shots, as well as making three's in transition."

It's pretty evident that Smith is a shooting guard in a point guard's body, but his ability to score from the perimeter will certainly add value to the Hokies' bench in a few years. Think Hank Thorns, except a tad bigger but less efficient.

Poll

What grade would you give James Johnson's first 2 weeks on the job?

SB Nation Recruiting Interview with Gobbler Country's Chris Hatcher

2012-05-15T14:03:35Z

SB Nation Recruiting Interview with Gobbler Country's Chris Hatcher

Check out the interview on Virginia Tech's 2013 recruiting class, their previous recruiting classes, a look at their coaching staff and other odds & ends with SB Nation Recruiting's Bud Elliott.

Hokie Softball back in NCAA Tournament field

2012-05-14T02:42:31Z

For the first time since 2008, the Virginia Tech softball team is in the NCAA Tournament. The Hokies made the field Sunday night with an at-large bid after finishing the season 40-19 (12-8 in the ACC). After earning the fourth seed in the ACC Tournament, they made a surprising run to the conference championship game before falling to Georgia Tech, 9-1.

Head coach Scot Thomas' girls will play as the third seed in the Knoxville regional, where they will face UAB in the opening game Friday night. On the opposite side of the regional bracket is Tennessee and Miami (Ohio). The Lady Volunteers are the seventh seed overall as regional hosts.

The Hokies did not start a single senior on this year's club — three of the team's best four best hitters are freshmen. Lauren Gaskill, Kylie McGoldrick and Kelsey Mericka all made the All-ACC Tournament team this weekend, alongside ace pitcher Jasmin Harrell.

Gaskill enters the NCAA Tournament batting .307 with six home runs and 34 RBI. She scored the Hokies' only run in Saturday's loss to the Yellow Jackets.

Harrell leads the ACC in innings pitched with 261 1/3. She faced all but three batters in the Hokies' three ACC Tournament games.

UAB enters the NCAAs with a 37-20 record, 17-7 in Conference USA. The Blazers fell to Marshall in the conference semifinals in extra innings, 3-2.

The Blazers placed six players on either first or second-team all-conference, led by senior catcher Mandy Lowman. Lowman was the lone Blazer on the first team after finishing the season with 11 home runs, 36 RBI and a .350 batting average.

Perhaps there is a little bit of good karma coming the Hokies' way. In 2008, they also made the short trek to Knoxville for the regional tournament, where they stunned the Lady Volunteers en route to the Hokies' first ever College World Series appearance.

Ashton Ward, who is now a graduate assistant on Thomas' staff, was the ace pitcher for that Tennessee team.

Congratulations to a young Hokie club that far exceeded expectations this season. The future is bright in Blacksburg and we'll have more coverage as the tournament approaches next weekend.

Here's a few Twitter accounts from the program you can follow as the Hokies make their way to Knoxville.

@VT_Softball

@VTSBCoach(Head Coach Scot Thomas)

@BaileyLiddle

@CourtneyLiddle

@AshtonWard

@Kittyvtsb4 (Outfielder Kat Banks)

Top Virginia Tech Basketball Recruit Asks For Release From His Letter Of Intent

2012-05-10T20:47:13Z

Top Virginia Tech Basketball Recruit Asks For Release From His Letter Of Intent

Another big hit for the Hokies men's basketball team today as Montrezl Harrell, the Hokies' highest-ranked 2012 signee, has asked to be released from his letter of intent. He becomes the second current or soon-to-be player to defect from the Hokies after the firing of Seth Greenberg, and the second in the last three days.

This latest request leaves the Hokies with seven scholarship basketball players (including now the lone 2012 signee Marshall Wood) on the roster. For more as this situation develops, stay tuned to Gobbler Country.

Dorian Finney-Smith To Transfer From Virginia Tech

2012-05-08T19:44:03Z

Dorian Finney-Smith To Transfer From Virginia Tech

Dorian Finney-Smith, the highest-rated high school recruit Virginia Tech has ever landed plans to transfer after just one year with the program according to David Teel of the Daily Press. The assistant believed to be the reason he chose the Hokies, John Richardson, left the program after the 2011-12 season to return to ODU.

UPDATE: Dorian Finney-Smith's mother has stated he is not interested in transferring to ODU. More on this story as it develops on Gobbler Country.

Hokies in the 2012 NFL Draft

2012-05-07T14:00:10Z

The 2012 NFL Draft is in the past now, and although Virginia Tech didn't place as many Hokies in the draft as we would have liked, we did have our first 1st rounder in David Wilson since 2008 when Duane Brown was selected with the first round pick of the Houston Texans.

So if you're curious about where some of the Hokies ended up, even the undrafted ones who signed deals, follow me after the jump for a complete list and an analysis of the drafted players, why they were drafted where they were and if it was a good fit.

32. David Wilson NYG- When Wilson was picked it was a shock to many analysts who had projected him much lower. The vast majority of the projections had Wilson going in the 2nd or possibly even the 3rd round. For Hokie fans the only surprise was that in light of those "expert" projections, Wilson was picked in the 1st round anyway.

The Giants were very candid about their selection of Wilson. They said they had him as the #2 back on their board behind Trent Richardson, ahead of Doug Martin who was picked one pick prior to Wilson's selection. The Giants also pointed out some of Wilson's flaws: chiefly his propensity to fumble and his need to improve his pass blocking.

Todd McShay indicated he thought Wilson needed to improve as a pass receiver, something I disagree with. After all, his receiving statistics seem to support his being a good receiver, and Wilson has even been lined up as a wideout on several occasions in his collegiate career, not as a decoy, but as the primary receiver on the play. Bottom line, Wilson's pass receiving is an asset, not a weakness. I think that McShay's analysis of Wilson suffered because he has to cover so many players. It's not a good excuse, and he doesn't get a pass (after all he's going on camera to talk about his evaluation of a 1st round player), but I am confident he and Kiper miss out on things because of how many players they have to know and cover.

Tech fans as I mentioned above were not surprised by Wilson going in the 1st round on the basis of him being a 1st round talent. David had a phenomenal combine from a physical standpoint and his character and passion for the game had teams gushing after their interviews with him.

Personally, although I loved David at Virginia Tech, you could count me among those who have their doubts about David as an every down running back in the NFL (I think he's a C.J. Spiller-minus with better power). So that the New York Giants drafted David is a godsend. They have a two-time Super Bowl winning quarterback, an established offensive line, several playmakers at the receiver position and a complement at running back in Ahmad Bradshaw. Though Bradshaw is somewhat out of the same mold as Wilson, as his career has progressed he has become a more effective inside runner and power back (though he was always the scat back to Brandon Jacobs power-running prior to this year). I'd image Wilson will now assume Bradshaw's previous role as the outside runner/playmaker while Bradshaw will run in between the tackles (though Bradshaw sure proved what a playmaker he could be when he played against me).

Even if David never reaches the level of an every-down back he can still be a very good contributor as long as he irons out the wrinkles in his game: his fumbling, his blocking, his power/bulk/ability to run in between the tackles in the NFL and for my money, to stop running backwards to try to keep plays alive. In college that may work some of the time, but in the pro's, it's going to be a loss every time.

94. Jayron Hosley NYG- Hosley's draft stock was at an all-time high at the end of the 2010 season. He finished the year by leading the country in picks, showing uncanny instincts and blinding speed both in his return of said interceptions and on special teams. That performance led to analysts like Todd McShay ranking him as high as the eighth overall prospect for the 2012 NFL Draft in his postseason projections.

But then as we all know there were a litany of issues in 2011 and after his departure early in 2012. First off, he came back to much acclaim and adulation among Hokie fans and the national media, causing him to play entitled (by mid-season Hosley had checked out, ready to move on to the NFL). Of course he was injured midway through the season, but when he got back to health it was clear the effort wasn't there. I mean the guy was giving FOURTEEN-YARD CUSHIONS to receivers in the UNC game (where he was burned to the tune of something like seven catches) and he's supposed to be one of the speedsters and elite cover corners in college football? For an NFL team, it's always hard to pick a guy like that for the same reason students who take a year off from college rarely return: once you've turned it off, it's hard to turn it back on, and if you don't try whenever you just don't feel like it, what's to say you won't do the same thing in the NFL? Who knows? Maybe punching out well before his time was up at Tech to think about being in the NFL will make him feel like now that he's there he has it made and can keep playing the way he did down the stretch in 2011.

On the field, Hosley didn't have nearly the impact he had in 2010, posting only three interceptions. For the record though, Hosley unofficially led the NCAA in interceptions overturned by review or penalty (coincidentally he also led the nation in incorrectly overturned interceptions). So with that in mind, while I can't understand him completely throwing in the towel, I can understand how it felt like the forces were mounting against him, and in those moments you can certainly feel like "why even try?"

Hosley's biggest slip up however may have been when he tested positive for marijuana at the NFL Combine. Some NFL players smoke marijuana, and I'm sure some NFL teams know they do and don't care as long as they aren't caught and they produce on the field. I actually think that teams care less about the fact that Hosley smokes (or smoked) marijuana and more about the fact that Hosley smoked marijuana knowing that he would have to take a drug test at the NFL Combine. That shows an irresponsibility and carelessness that is alarming.

Ultimately in concurrence with the thesis of the analysis of Hosley, his ability to succeed as a pro will be based on his effort and ability to stay healthy. If he can address those concerns, there's no reason he won't be successful. His athletic ability and instincts are too good for him to fail in those departments and the Giants defensive backfield was entirely depleted last year due to injury, giving Hosley a chance to stand out early on. The Giants got a 1st round talent in Hosley, but he will determine if he lives up to that billing.

152. Danny Coale DAL- Danny Coale's agent dropped the hint after the first day of the draft that based off of the number of calls and contact they were getting, there was a very good chance that Coale would be going earlier than he was projected (I saw anywhere from the 4th-7th round), perhaps as high as the 2nd-3rd round range. Obviously it's unwise to listen to an agent who is probably posturing and feeding the fire with gas fire logs to try and improve his clients position through the media. Ultimately, Coale's agent was wrong as Danny slipped to the end of the 5th round.

As for Danny Coale, I really don't have to go into a full on scouting report on him, but I will give a little overview. We all know what a terrific college receiver he was, and what a terrific pro receiver he has the possibility of being. He runs the best routes of anyone in this draft class (although maybe a push with Ryan Broyles), he is the best at knowing the holes in a defense, finding them and exploiting them, he has some of the surest hands of any player in the draft, and performed better than expected at the NFL Combine. The scary thing to consider is that Danny is still growing as a football player. If you think about it, Danny didn't really start playing at the level he's at right now until down the stretch his junior year. I mean who looked at Danny Coale his freshman or sophomore years and said "That guy is a pro receiver." If you did, hats off to you, but I won't claim I did.

Danny is also in a good situation in that he's playing with an experienced quarterback in a pass heavy offense. He also will have several established receivers to work with, which is a two-fold benefit. One, that allows the emphasis to be taken off Danny, which leads to more plays where Danny Coale is open (which we all know happens a lot on its own). It also means Danny will most likely be playing in the slot, which will help tremendously as he is at his most effective when running crossing patterns across the middle of the field, which is the bread and butter of the slot position.

As for a pro comparison, I think Danny compares to Wes Welker, and if he reaches that level obviously he will be one of the top receivers in the league. I give that comparison because of the traits that Danny and Wes Welker both share. Their soft hands, their route running and their ability to break down defenses with their knowledge of coverages. He also is a little more athletic than Welker.

Those traits will serve Danny well in the pro's, and hopefully Danny will be able to make an impact earlier than Welker did. But if he even nearly lives up to the comparison I have made for him, then we will be talking about him as one of the best Hokies ever to play in the NFL.

Also, as a kicker, here's the audio of Coale on the phone with the Cowboys as they told him they were about to choose him with their pick. It's a pretty awesome moment, although it does remind me of the 3rd episode of the Imaginationland trilogy of South Park where Jesus, Luke Skywalker, Superman, Captain Crunch and God all talk to Kyle one at a time using telepathy. Just listen to the clip and you'll see the parallels.

Undrafted FA's who signed with NFL teams

Jarrett Boykin- Jacksonville Jaguars

Jaymes Brooks- Green Bay Packers

Blake DeChristopher- Arizona Cardinals

Cris Hill- Buffalo Bills

Eddie Whitley- Dallas Cowboys

James Johnson will keep Hokies happy... for now

2012-04-30T17:23:09Z

I'm not sure if U-Haul has a loyalty points system, but if they do, James Johnson has a bunch of 'em.

Just weeks after leaving his post as assistant coach at Virginia Tech for a similar job at Clemson, Johnson was reportedly hired Monday as the Hokies' next head coach. Given the circumstances, it is a move that was the best for both sides.

We will never know what the pool of candidates to replace Greenberg would have been had the Hokies pulled the trigger on letting him go a month earlier. The coaching carousel had come to a virtual halt by the time Athletic Director Jim Weaver and his administration finally decided to let the nine-year head coach go.

There were dozens of names floating around during the Hokies' week-long search for Greenberg's replacement. Many of them were always too good to be true. By giving Johnson the keys to the program, Weaver has done one thing if nothing else. He's saved the basketball program in the short run.

Let's make one thing clear. Assistant coaches don't typically land full-time ACC head-coaching gigs. As noted last week on this blog, just five of the last 33 coaches hired by ACC programs came directly from an assistant coaching role at the collegiate level. All but two of those were in-house promotions, too.

Is Johnson qualified for the job? Barely. Make no mistake about it, his familiarity with the program is absolutely vital in this stage of the game. It was anybody's guess what next year's roster would look like as the coaching search dragged on. The Hokies' two commitments, Marshall Wood and prized recruit Montrezl Harrell, had both reportedly asked for releases from their respective letters of intent. Erick Green did not hide the fact that he was waiting to see who the next head coach would be before he decided to return to Tech for his senior season.

Green's tweet in the moments that followed the Johnson new breaking answered that question.

"Yesss I'll be back next year," Green said on Twitter.

Several other players gave their stamp of approval through the social networking platform as well. It's clear that Johnson has a strong relationship with the current team.

It's hard to ignore how this move will be viewed through the national prism. It's never too often that an administration straight-up cans a head coach, only to replace him with his top assistant. From an outside perspective, this would seem to be quite the opposite of a so-called "change in direction."

To those who know Johnson and were close to the program during Greenberg's tenure, they can attest to the vast differences in approach between the two. Greenberg was a throwback type who was more bark than bite when it came to running a tight ship and gaining the trust of the players. Just in the past four seasons, the Hokies lost the likes of Hank Thorns, Manny Atkins, Ben Boggs and Ty Garland to transfer. All four of those players would have played pivotal roles in the Hokies' program had they opted to stay. For whatever reason, it wasn't worth paying dues as a role player for a year or two under Greenberg's watch.

Johnson is wired very differently. He's not nearly as long in the tooth as his old boss, but he has a much better ability to relate to college-age basketball players than Greenberg did. Think Mike London on a basketball court. In this Darryl Slater profile from 2010, which followed Johnson on the recruiting trail, it quoted Johnson busting out rap lyrics as words of wisdom. Kids love that. They will respect Johnson and play their butts off for him.

It's too bad rap lyrics don't win basketball games. Johnson will have to surround himself with a veteran staff that can develop a talented roster and give Johnson the counsel he needs with the "X's and O's" of the job, both during game preparation and during the games themselves. Hiring a staff in early May is much different than hiring a head coach. It's not ideal, but Johnson will have the chance to poach assistants from around the country without much recourse.

Weaver came dangerously close to botching this entire saga from start to finish. By hiring Johnson, he's rolling the dice on a coach who was passed over for the Gardner-Webb job just two years ago. It's a near certainty that Weaver won't be around when it comes time to make another coaching decision on the men's basketball program. At the very least, Weaver is putting off his troubles for another year or two. Now it seems like that is all the aging AD is really worried about.

For all we know, Johnson will prove to be an excellent strategist (something Greenberg never was) and will be the face of the program for the next decade or more. His lack of experience is a substantial red-flag when it comes to feeling secure about the long-term stability of the program. This much is clear: the 2012-13 Virginia Tech basketball team is in good hands. It's what lies beyond next season that is so uncertain.

Poll

Are you happy with the James Johnson hire?

Yes

404 votes

No

173 votes

577 votes | Poll has closed

CBSSports.com reporting James Johnson to replace Greenberg

2012-04-30T16:04:40Z

CBSSports.com reporting James Johnson to replace Greenberg

So there you have it. Seven days after the surprising termination of Seth Greenberg, the Hokies have decided to bring back former assistant James Johnson as Greenberg's successor. Johnson was on the Hokies' staff from 2007-2012 before briefly taking a similar position at Clemson. Much more on this later today.