Hokies receive Late-Night commitment from J’Bril Glaze

Well, goes to show you that recruiting never really sleeps or cares much about a late Friday night, as Virginia Tech received an announcement from Florida defensive end J’Bril Glaze. Glaze was formerly a South Florida recruit, and no one had particularly seen this coming. Zero crystal balls. Period. His other offers include USF and Arizona, along with Kentucky, Louisville, Maryland, Mississippi State, Iowa State, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Michigan State.

So what isn’t adding up? Are his offers legitimate (IE, committable- also, don’t get me started on non-committable offers, which are just the scourge of recruiting and are pretty much why I can utterly despise this business sometimes…)

But this will be the first ‘official’ defensive line commitment, since Proctor’s status is still as an OLB- it could remain that way, but I’ve heard initial plan is him at DE. He’s the second commitment from Florida, joining Aundre Kearney, and the 21^st overall commitment. Glaze is rated at three stars by 247, ESPN, and Scout, and two stars by Rivals. It’s an interesting get based on the other offers he has, and especially at this point in the cycle.

Let’s see the tape.

J’Bril Glaze (Tampa, FL. 6’-3”, 250lbs. Defensive End)

I see him as eventually gaining weight onto his sizable frame and becoming a defensive tackle rather than sticking at defensive end. It’s obvious that he’s good with disengaging from the line, and pursuing quarterbacks and running backs- but it’s at tackle speed, not end speed. I don’t think losing weight’s going to be good for him in that regard. It’s best to play to the strengths he has- interior fight, letting him work on the inside and get up the A-gap- rather than trying to chase an ephemeral pass-rusher that he’s not. I see him as playing the Woody Baron role in the defense in a few years- being the lighter defensive tackle in the 4-3 pair that Bud and Charley run. He’s not going to be an immediate contributor- the depth and mostly the youth on the defensive line will prevent that- so he’s a take-and-stash roster recruit for a redshirt year and waiting for a firmer skill set to develop. Again, he’s good at shedding, but he’s got no real refined moveset. We’ll see what comes of it, but he’s definitely worth rostering and seeing what you can make of him in a couple years’ time.

Welcome to the Statement17, J’Bril!