2nd Annual Peninsula Pilots College Coaches Showcase (VA)

Coach,

the link "click here for more details" does not work. Can you please try again. thanks.

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2nd try.


Sorry,

Virginia Tech ! REALLY ?

Why would that catch you by surprise?

Because in the last 25-30 years Va.Tech has signed only a handful of south hampton roads players ? I am a Va. Tech fan and wish they recruited harder down here. That is about as nice as I can be with this !

Chad Pinder from Poqouson, had a great year and current staff have already made several trips to the area, some recently.

Kyle Bynum 2012 Churchland HS OF committed to Va Tech also Raheim Cooper from Orange HS was seen at the baseballclearinghouse.net skills combine at War Memorial Stadium in June.

Driller, I feel your pain. Pinder was a 2010 grad from Poquoson. Checked the Perfect Game site and did not see any Tidewater (or Virginia) recruits from the 2011 class. PG lists 3 Virginia players in the 2012 class that have orally committed to VT. They are Sean Kennedy from North Stafford, Tim Kelly from York and Kil Scheetz from James River. Kyle Bynum (who was not listed on the PG site) would make a fourth Virginian, and, if you include York in the Hampton Roads area, the second 2012 player from the HR area to commit to VT.

I don't think there's any lack of VT interest in VA players or even in Hampton Roads players. I do think that you'll find that any ACC school or comparable level school is going to recruit nationally, so you'll only see so many VA kids in any one year.

Certainly VT has had all sorts of standout, VA-bred players in recent years. Justin Wright, Ronnie Shaban, Austin Wates, and any number of others.

I think VT generally did not have a big class of 2011. Not sure if that was just a numbers thing or a result of Hughes being totally without assistants during the summer of 2010.

I know that VT head coach Pete Hughes made a special trip to Princess Anne HS over the summer to see certain teams of interest play himself, in person, and he stayed for 2 full games.

I also know that VT is having a couple of VA teams come to its place this weekend to be seen on English Field, right Bobby? So it's not like there aren't opportunities for VA players to get recruited there.

Also bear in mind that, just like in football and other sports, VT has to compete for players and they don't get everyone they might have an interest in, any more than anyone else does. But I'm confident they'll get their share, or better, from year to year.

quote:

Originally posted by Midlo Dad:
I don't think there's any lack of VT interest in VA players or even in Hampton Roads players.

I think driller is referring to the history of VT's recruiting, which I agree with. As for their lack of presence in Hampton Roads, one can simply look back to last year in being late to the dance with (or it can be viewed as the passing over of) quality players like Jake Cave and Nick Thompson.

Regardless, I am happy to see they are attending Bobby's event. I hope it will be a regular occurrence.

Right or wrong - the perception is that historically VT has not been as interested as they could be in top level Virginia players.

Cave and Thompson may have fallen into the situation where VT just wasn't able to move quickly due to going all last summer with no assistants to help out on the hustings.

Also, I know many may have shied away from Cave, at least, for fear that he would tie up a big chunk of the 11.7, only to turn pro in the end. Which is exactly what he would have done to VT had they signed him; instead, his 800k deal with the Yankees is LSU's loss to deal with, and VT put its 11.7 to work on guys who are now on campus.

It's hard to draw conclusions from the individual situations of one or two players.

quote:

Originally posted by Midlo Dad:
Cave and Thompson may have fallen into the situation where VT just wasn't able to move quickly due to going all last summer with no assistants to help out on the hustings...

Cave and Thompson are a representative sample, albeit small. There are others. I just chose to mention those 2 becuase I am familiar with them. And, no, VT wasn't without assistants last summer. Even with Coach Gambino's departure, there was a succession plan in place. Either way, the 2 aforementioned players did not fall through the cracks with 'Bino leaving. The staff had seen them play at least 7-8 times at their own field.

The reality of it is (and it has been discussed on here ad nauseum) that VT moves slowly on recruits. In the past, they have rarely offered underclass kids. By the time they do, the student-athlete has already been offered by other comparable programs and, many times, accepted those other offers.

This has been their M.O. It doesn't make it bad or wrong, it is just reality.

Gotta agree with Driller and Redbird on this one. I believe Cave, Thompson and others were actually recruited in their sophomore years, not last summer. Gambino's departure should not have had any impact on the recruitment of any top baseball players in the 2011 class. VT (and other schools) had the opportunity to recruit them.

Having said that, we really do not know what offers they (and others) had unless we were apart of the schools' staff or the players' immediate family or circle of friends or someone discussed the situation in public with detailed information. Bottom line, as in fishing, is landing the player/recruit, and the 2012 class appears to be fairing much better than the 2011 class.

As far as Cave, Morimando and other players that went pro, if you don't make an offer, you don't have any chance of landing the player and should not complain. I appreciate some schools may not want to get involved with a player who might go pro, but nothing ventured, nothing gained.

One thing to consider is that most of recruiting is done in "stealth" mode. Recruiter's don't ride into town with the school flags flying from their mirrors.

Old Dominion, Norfolk State, William and Mary, Radford, Liberty, VMI, JMU, VCU are all very busy in Tidewater.

Virginia Tech, UVA (of course both ACC schools) have a wider regional "brand awarness" by ACC games on television. When UVA spends 10 days on ESPN in the CWS they by default gain more national attention by hs players. Some Tidewater players might have their sights set on "greener pastures"

Georgia Tech, Florida State, Clemson, South Carolina, also are very aware of the talent pool in Tidewater and have had very good success in attracting local players to commit.

Don't forget some players actually consider the education options offered by a school. Some players will not meet admission requirements, ect. Mix in (example) a All American freshman at your position, might deter players from accepting at a certain school. Of course there is unlimited variables that lead to both a school making a offer and a player accepting and offer.


Just because a player does not end up at a certain school does not mean they were not at the top of that school recruiting list. It is not a simple task of "all you have to do is offer a player and they will accept".

Tidewater, Richmond, Northern Virginia are all very competitive recruiting grounds and will continue to have players head out of state as well as accept pro offers.

Side note:

Many top schools may make up to 100 "offers" to finish with 8 commitments.

In some cases , schools can move slowly. In most cases players move slow to accept offers only to have the offer pulled off the table when a school has to move on and pursue another talented player who may have a short shelf life.

Recruiting is a very interesting business, and never is quiet as it appears on the surface.

RedBird, Coach Bobby, and Midlo,

I am extremely thankful that you have all made posts to this subject (not counting the original post announcing the showcase but the insights that have followed). I really feel that you all have provided some valuable lessons learned to the recruiting process.

On a side note... I will probably send my son to the showcase. Sounds like agreat opportunity.

Latest Player roster for this weekends Pilots Showcase

Coaches just addded:
Kyle Padgett-Duke University
Patrick Wingfield-Shenandoah University
Andy Barden- University of Richmond

There are still a few spots available.



Latest Player Roster for Pilots Showcase

First Name: Last Name: Grad Year High School Name
Bryan Andrews 2012 Matoaca H.S.
Thomas Baacke 2013 Phoebus High School
Alex Blankenship 2013 Landstown
Toren Bolden 2012 Atlantic Shores
Taylor Boyd 2013 West Springfield High School
Eddie Britt 2015 Deep Creek High School
Hunter Buchanan 2012 Hampton Christian
Toby Buchanan 2015 Greenbrier Christian Academy
Bobby Chandler 2012 Hickory HS (Chesapeake)
Dylan Cheely 2012 Walsingham Academy
Jeremy Cobb 2014 Nansemond-Suffolk Academy
Jacob Coggsdale 2012 Churchland
Connor Collins 2013 Bishop Sullivan Catholic High School
Lane Deaver 2013 Grafton High School
Jeff Decker 2013 Hanover H.S.
Kelly Dent 2013 Narrows High
Aaron Duecaster 2012 Stonewall Jackson High School
Taylor Edens 2012 Nansemond Suffolk Academy
Harry (Hj) Ellis 2013 Cosby High School
Domenic Ferrante 2012 Landstown High School
Jacob Futrell 2012 Frank W. Cox High School
Joshua Giles 2013 Alliance Christian School
Christopher Gilliam 2013 Hanover High School
Daniel Gromkoski 2013 King's Fork
Bryson Hayes 2012 Prince George H.S.
William Hinton 2012 Landstown
Jesse Howlett 2012 Atlantic Shores Christian School
Jacob E Johnson 2013 Lee Davis
Jay Dee Johnson 2012 Prince George H.S.
Hunter Knott 2012 Prince George H.S.
Patrick Kyle 2013 Hampton High
Alex Lewis 2013 Lake Braddock Secondary School
Brandon Light 2012 Cosby
Forrest Lipscomb 2012 Nelson County High School
Brandon Lloyd 2013 Patrick Henry High School
Stephen Lorkiewicz 2012 Oscar Smith
Stephen Magnuson 2012 Walsingham Academy
Joshua Martin 2012 Gloucester High School
Hunter McKinney 2013 Varina
Reed McKinney 2013 Western Branch
Adam Meeker 2012 Cosby High School
Matthew Metheny 2013 New Kent High School
Blake Miller 2012 Atlantic Shores Christian School
Bryan Miltenberger, Jr. 2012 Cosby HS
Logan Moore 2012 North Stafford High School
Nicholas Morrisette 2013 Churchland High
Michael Mumejian 2013 Frank W. Cox
Connor Myers 2012 Middletown High
Aaron Newman 2012 Salem High School (Virginia Beach)
Timothy Newman 2012 Phoebus High School
Aaron O'Neil 2012 Gloucester High School
Ryan OHara 2012 Nansemond River High School
Will Patteson 2013 Narrows High School
Donnie Read 2013 Grassfield High School
Robert Reaume 2012 Floyd E. Kellam High School
Bruce Reid 2014 Hampton Roads Academy
Zach Rice 2013 Nansemond River
Trevor Riggs 2014 Nansemond River
Tj Rinoski 2012 York High School
John Romano 2013 L.C. Bird High School
Tyler Ross 2012 Patrick Henry HS
Kyle Rosso 2012 Norfolk Collegiate
Brandon Savage 2013 Nansemond River
David Scheiderer 2013 Hampton Roads Academy
Alexander Smith 2012 Matoaca H.S.
Philip Smith 2012 Floyd E. Kellam High School
Connor Staskey 2012 Salem High School, Virginia Beach
Nathan Steele 2013 Patrick Henry High School
Forrest Sterling 2013 Alliance Christian Academy
Kyle Vaas 2012 Matoaca
Nick Valentino 2013 New Kent High School
Brian Vincent 2012 Hampton Roads Academy
Anthony Waldner 2012 Nansemond Suffolk Academy
Reece Walton 2014 Nansemond Suffolk Academy
Dylan "Coty " Ward 2014 Kings Fork High School
Darnell Ware 2012 Kecoughtan High School
Nicholas Whitman 2013 Kempsville High School
John Woodard 2013 Menchville High School
Zachary Wright 2013 Saint Johns College HS

Thank you Bobby McKinney for putting on this event. The weather was a set back but you all overcame and did your best to get everything in for these boys.

Although the miserable weather made the actual results of the showcase basically irrelevant, I felt Saturday's informal chat session with the ~20 coaches was very informative. After the recruiting talk with the players and parents, the ad-hoc scheduling permitted the parents to go from coach to coach and informally talk with them about their programs and about recruiting in general.

quote:

Originally posted by bball_lifer:
...chat session with the ~20 coaches was very informative...

VWC Expo has had this feature for the last ~10 years.