The Black Diamond Trophy. A rivalry renewed. The chance to ruin bowl expectations each season of your rival. Not to mention watching UVA get dismantled by WVU as well. Seriously, what is not to like about this?

VT should pull what the VA governor did in 2004 and push for an invite for WVU. The ACC needs WVU. Maryland, UVA and VT need WVU so that the Potomac will be under complete control of the ACC. This is a school that brings people, that will fill up stadiums, downtowns, bars; it brings a good football team, and a very good basketball program. It would add depth to a conference that desperately needs it, and would solidify a region for the first time in college athletics. 

Naysayers will claim that WVU is a liability in academic standing for the conference, or that it doesn't bring the needed or new TV market for the conference. To this I say hogwash. If the conference wanted to have academic superiority it would never have expanded the last time. Or the time before that. As seen with a school like Penn State, a program can pick itself up and join the rest of the academic side of the conference. And as for the TV market debate, WVU would make for exciting TV match ups, would fill out stadiums, and would increase viewer ship in the DC area. If the conference can increase it's tv viewer ratings, then I say go for it. 

Alright, done with my rant. Enjoy your weekend kiddos.

I cannot recall a time since I really started to follow recruiting that VT has ever been this high on ESPN''s rankings.  I think the highest i have ever seen VT was at #18. Does HokieNation think we could move up further in recruiting ranks?

#15. Keep It Guys Go Hokies!

http://insider.espn.go.com/college-football/recruiting/classrankings?classyear=2012&action=upsell&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fcollege-football%2frecruiting%2fclassrankings%3fclassyear%3d2012

Good game on the 20th, guys! I meant to stop by and say something sooner, but I was busy. That last game was close, too- argh! Sucks, trust me, the way my boys played last weekend sure left something to be desired, as well. I think that a little work next season, and there'll be a heckuva fight in the ACC for baseball on who's the best- UVA, FSU, GT, Clemson, UNC, and Tech! That's all I had to say!

In just 2 short months at VT Shane Beamer has landed WR/S Desmond Frye a 6'2 170 4.4 speed target  from Thomas Dale in the Richmond Area. Overall this has been a huge week from recruiting and possibly a few more committements by weeks end. I read that our recruiting class last year at this time was 2 to compared to 8 this year! I got a feeling Shane is just heating up with his targets!  GO HOKIES!

50/50 chance I'll be watching it in person, but in the event that I am unable to, is there an outlet to watch it live (wish ESPN3 chose us over the Hoos)?  I'm sure it will be on local TV in the 540, but that doesn't help matters for the rest of us.  At the very least, will it be broadcast on the Hokie radio network?  GO HOKIES, looking forward to this season!   

3rd Annual Football Alumni Autograph Signing

Come out and see 3 of the Best and Most Accomplished Virginia Tech Quarterbacks of All Time and Help Contribute to Charity!!

The Elite Group Presents :::: The Year of The Quarterback Featuring:

• Michael Vick * NFL 2010 Comeback Player of The Year | Heisman Runner Up
• Tyrod Taylor * 2010 ACC Player of The Year | 3 Time ACC Champion
• Bryan Randall * 2004 ACC Player of The Year | Dudley Award Winner

Date: Saturday, April 23rd

Time: 10:30am - 12:00pm

Location: Tech Book Store 118 South Main St, Blacksburg, VA 24060

Purchase Tickets at teg.ticketleap.com/teg  

• $90 Pre-Sale Tickets
• $100 Tickets at the door

* RECEIVE COMPLIMENTARY PHOTOGRAPH WITH THE PLAYERS ALONG WITH SPECIAL GIVEAWAYS AND MORE *

*FREE POSTER TO THE 1ST 50 PEOPLE IN LINE*

Please Visit: www.tegmanagement.com

Twitter, Make Sure to Follow :: @TheEliteGroup @TyTaylor5 @MikeVick @3_B_Ran

For additional questions, contact: Info@TegManagement.com

*A portion of the proceeds will be donated Lunch Pail Defense Foundation Official Foundation of Virginia Tech Defensive Coordinator Bud Foster *www.lunchpaildefense.com

Restrictions:

* ALL SALES ARE FINAL, PRINT OFF REGISTRATION FORM , WILL-CALL TICKETS WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR PICK UP DAY OF EVENT BETWEEN 9 AM-10:30AM. ONE TICKET PERMITS 3 AUTOGRAPHS PER TICKET, ONE BY EACH PLAYER. ALONG WITH COMPLIMENTARY PHOTOGRAPH WITH THE PLAYERS. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO DUPLICATE TICKETS AND PLEASE BRING VALID IDENTIFICATION .*

During spring drills Andrew Lanier is expected to compete with Nick Becton for the LT post. But something in Franks press conference  yesterday raised my eyes the moving of Painter to T. As much as I like the guts of Lanier being an undersized OT he did not do a great job last year, he was at best average. If becton and painter stay healthy i feel that they will both surpass Lanier on the depth chart. My thought with the depth at TE, Lanier should slide over and become a beast blocking TE. The mismatches he could create against LB and DBs would be to our advantage. The only worryis Laniers hands? well he was brought into VT back in 07 as a TE so that should be little worry, but still its a worry. anyone else have thought ont his?

Keep your eyes open for Jonathan Halfhide. He is making some serious gains in the weight room and went 5 for 6 on the Dreaded Winter Work outs. This kid will turn heads when he hits the field. His game speed and football IQ is what makes him a true player. He is not afraid to mix it up and always seems to be on the right place at the right time. When he gets his chance, he wont waste it and there will be no looking back.

I jest a wee bit.  I actually am in favor of moving in that direction considering Foster's defensive scheme. 

First, there is a knee-jerk reaction to anyone mentioning the 3-4 defense in college:

1)  You have to have a jumbo defensive tackle who can eat up 3 blockers every play.  You know, like in the NFL. 

2)  Al Groh tried it at UVA and it didn't work. 

3)  I'm don't have any argument against it but your mere mention of it makes my head explode as if a bunch of pedophiles were burning the American flag at my kid's elementary school on a Sunday. 

However, Foster began this move last year when he began experimenting with the 3-0 scheme on obvious passing downs.  Part of this was out of necessity.  His Whip LB was weak in pass coverage.  He needed to get more pressure up the middle against teams on passing downs.  In reality, he was mimicking the 3-3-5 scheme that WVU has been using for the last few years.  However, it worked pretty darned well. 

Now Foster is off to Ohio State to look at their defensive scheme.  While Tressell (aka Cheaty McSweatervest) doesn't play a true 3-4, he uses something very similar.  Three linemen line up in the down position with a four lineman linedup as a hybrid DE/OLB.  This player sometimes referred to as the "Jack" linebacker is primarily is a pass rusher but will sometimes drop into coverage if a safety blitz is called.  The key though is that it allows a coordinator to mix up his coverages and packages and be unpredictable.  tOSU has been playing this scheme for years and if you haven't noticed, there are quite a few Buckeye linebackers in the NFL. 

Roughly half the NFL's teams use the 3-4 defense so players who have been in the scheme have a natural advantage over players who have not.  If you look at the recently drafted VT defensive ends, they have for the most part been converted over to OLB (Worilds, Ellis and this year Friday).  VT's linemen are generally too small to play DE in the pros.  Tapp has done well but he's had his problems with staying consistent against bigger offensive linemen. 

Last year's recruiting season showed that VT needs to change it's approach to recruiting LB's.  Losing out on guys like Grant (who never really considered VT) and Anthony says that other schools are using VT's scheme to negatively recruit.  VT needs a selling point to get some of these high profile guys.  Pitching the 3-4 can do that in a couple of ways.  First, with 4 linebacking positions, VT can offer guys more chances at playing time.  If you are looking at a team's depth chart, you see 4 linebacking positions and it increases the recruits chances of early playing time by 1/3rd.  Next, the recruit has a chance to play in a system that is used by a big chunk of the NFL and thus, makes the recruit more marketable at the next level. 

I found Chris Coleman's article over on TSL about the Spring practices to be very insightful.  I have had a feeling that VT was heading in this direction for sometime due to the Foster scheme which has always favored speed and unpredictability over size and convention.  There are some hurdles particularly on the defensive line (playing two gap versus one gap).  Those can be worked out.  However, don't be surprised if Foster tries to find a way to play his three linebackers next year (Bruce G, Chase Williams and Barquell Rivers) with Gayle lined up as the Jack backer.  With JR. Collins playing a dual role as a DE/DT, he will be essentially playing like a 3-4 DE.  A lot will depend on how quickly the players can pick up the new tactics.  Also, some of the young talent needs to step up (Acree, McCray). 

Come to the darkside Bud.  You don't have to tell anyone what your are actually doing.  Only a few of us will notice and we promise not to say anything. 

[Ed. Note: Bumped from FanPosts.]

One of the biggest gripes that I have this year (besides VT being left out) was the way the ACC got totally screwed on the number of NCAA bids provided.  The ACC is too good to be a four bid league and the performance so far in the tournament supports that.Let's look at the records so far in the tournament for the major conferences:

Big East 9-9

Big Ten 7-5

Big Twelve 4-4

SEC 4-3

Pac-10 4-2

ACC 7-1

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