Rivalry Week, Volume 1 (Capturing the Commonwealth edition) ...

In the spirit of Rivalry Week, I’d like to quote a noted scholar, who once said of Virginia-Virginia Tech: “It’s like the rivalry between the hammer and the nail.”

That was Pilot columnist Bob Molinaro, (in)famous for his salty one-liners that often ring uncomfortably true. Sorry, Virginia folks, but the Cavaliers have been distinctly nail-like of late.

And not nails like Lenny Dykstra. No, the Hokies have hammered Thomas Jefferson’s University for five consecutive seasons and a startling 9 of 10. This once-hot rivalry has turned a tad tepid.

Or as Franklin Delano Beamer often says: It has gotten outta whack.

There are myriad reasons for the Cavaliers crashing as the Hokies have been cruising. And in this lowly scribe’s humble (and oft-wrong) opinion, one major factor has been recruiting philosophy.

Beamer has said from the moment he was hired in 1987 that he believes Virginia Tech can win a national title by corralling all the best recruits in his own state. Virginia used to live by much the same mantra.

Under Al Groh, that strategy has changed a bit. While the Cavs have never abandoned recruiting the Commonwealth altogether – and while they’ve come back a little heavier of late – Groh made it clear early in his tenure that he was going to recruit places like Maryland, New York, New Jersey and Maryland with as much (or more) zeal as his own state.

The proof, really, is in the two-deep.

The Hokies will have 28 players from Virginia (counting special teams guys) in their two-deep Saturday. The Cavaliers will have 14 in-state guys in their two deep. Tech will have 15 in-state starters, while Virginia will have five.

Interestingly, the Cavs have more total in-state players on their roster than the Hokies. But it’s clear that many more of U.Va.’s top guys are from outside the Commonwealth.

Or how about this quick look at recruiting since 2003 (as far back as Rivals.com’s state rankings go) and which program got the most top-10 talent in the state during that span ...

Class of 2010

VT: No. 3, No. 8, No. 9

UVA: None

Class of 2009

VT: No. 1, No. 4

UVA: No. 2, No. 8, No. 10

Class of 2008

VT: No. 2, No. 5, No. 9, No. 10

UVA: None

Class of 2007

VT: No. 1, No. 6, No. 7

UVA: No. 2, No. 4, No. 8

Class of 2006

VT: None

UVA: No. 9

Class of 2005

VT: No. 1, No. 3, No. 4, No. 5, No. 7, No. 10

UVA: No. 2, No. 9

Class of 2004

VT: No. 2, No. 3, No. 9

UVA: No. 1, No. 5, No. 7, No. 8

Class of 2003

VT: No. 2, No. 3, No. 4, No. 5, No. 10

UVA: No. 1, No. 6

SINCE 2003: Tech signed 26 players ranked top 10 in the state and 16 ranked in the top five. The Hokies signed the state’s top-ranked player three times and the second-ranked player three times. ... Virginia signed 15 players ranked in the top 10 in the state and seven ranked in the top five. The Cavaliers signed the state’s top-ranked player twice and the second-ranked player three times.

Maybe I’m wrong here, but this looks like a trend. And at the same time, Tech has trended upward in the win column while Virginia has trended downward. Coincidence?

Let me just say that four years ago, when Beamer hired offensive line coach Curt Newsome, Groh had talked to Newsome about possibly coming to work for the Cavaliers. Newsome had deep “757” roots and had recruited that area for several years as an assistant at James Madison.

I asked Beamer today if Newsome’s recruiting prowess in a major hotbed for the Hokies – along with Groh’s interest in him – played a part in Tech hiring Newsome. Beamer’s answer? “Absolutely. He’s a good coach and of course we knew a lot about him from James Madison. We knew a lot about him when he was at Kecoughtan. We’d known him a long time, and we knew he was a quality coach and had a lot of recruiting tie-ins and was a good recruiter. He works at it, he likes it, and he’s good at it. I wanted him right here at Virginia Tech.”

I asked Beamer again if he was aware Groh was, to some extent, pursuing Newsome. “Oh yeah, absolutely,” Beamer said. “And I wanted him right here at Virginia Tech.”

Food for thought. Below, some interesting thoughts on recruiting (and a few other items) from Newsome himself and a couple of players who hail from this state ...

O-LINE COACH CURT NEWSOME

ON HOW R-FRESHMAN MICHAEL VIA HAS DONE STARTING THREE GAMES AT CENTER WITH BEAU WARREN INJURED: “I tell you what: He has really, really done well. To get us through, playing some good interior people, he’s been impressive. He’s very athletic, got really good feet, and he has gotten us through a tough situation. He’s been about 80 percent (grade-wise) – or right on the borderline – every week. He’s been real solid. He’s going to need to get a little bigger and a little stronger, but he is athletic.”

ON WHETHER HE HAS SHOWN THE COACHES SOMETHING IN THESE THREE GAMES THAT MAKES THEM LIKELY TO PLAY HIM NEXT SEASON, PERHAPS AS AN OFFENSIVE TACKLE: “Oh, yeah. I think he’ll definitely be a factor. I don’t think we want a Michael Via watching. That’s for sure. He has proven to be a tough guy who will get in there and mix it up. He’s got enough ability.”

ON THE LIKELIHOOD HE’S A TACKLE NEXT YEAR: “That’s a strong possibility. We’ll see how we are in that center position (backing up Warren, who’ll be a senior next year). We’ve got a young guy, Andrew Miller, and we’ll see how he progresses. And he’s got a shoulder injury, so there’s a couple things there that will decide it.”

ON MILLER BEING A POTENTIAL VERY GOOD CENTER: “Yeah, we’d like to leave him there and get Michael somewhere else. That back-up center doesn’t always get reps and Michael’s going to need to be playing. Miller (a freshman who is redshirting) has been the scout-team center. In this time, we don’t see the scout team that much, but we hear from the defense and have gotten good reports.”

ON WARREN’S STATUS FOR THIS WEEKEND: “I feel like he’ll be ready to go.”

ON GETTING OUT OF IT WITH THREE WINS, WHETHER WARREN’S INJURY WAS IN SOME WAYS A POSITIVE BECAUSE A YOUNG GUY GOT SOME GOOD EXPERIENCE AND IT DIDN’T COST THE TEAM: “I think it just adds to your depth. Any time you can do that, you’re getting better. For him to come in there and do what he’s done, it’s great. His first game is down at East Carolina, a tough atmosphere against some good defensive tackles. Just getting the ball snapped and running the operation is hard enough for a young guy. Then to block the people he’s had to block, that’s very encouraging.”

ON HERALDED RECRUIT AND REDSHIRT FRESHMAN VINSTON PAINTER’S PROGRESS: “He has gotten better. He’s not where he needs to be, so we’ll see how long that process takes. What you’ve got to realize is he wasn’t with us last fall. He was on defense. So we only had him in the spring and now this fall. We’ll see. He has gotten better, but he still has work to do. He’s not ready yet. Sometimes I get a little impatient with them. He has shown he’s got all the tools. That’s why you want to see it happen faster. He’s a big guy that can run, got great feet. He’s got everything. So you’d like to see the process of him improving be a faster one. This spring will be a big one for him.”

ON THIS BEING RIVALRY WEEK AND AN INTERESTING ONE SINCE BOTH TECH AND VIRGINIA WERE INTERESTED IN HIRING HIM A FEW YEARS AGO: “Well, I talked to them (UVA) and that was really it. I just talked to them. But this thing has been a rivalry for a long time. The biggest thing is the kids know each other in a lot of cases. It’s a big one.”

ON TECH’S PRIORITY ON RECRUITING IN-STATE PLAYERS AND VIRGINIA DE-EMPHASIZING THAT: “I really don’t know where their focus is. I know our is on in-state. That’s important to Coach Beamer. He feels like if you get an in-state guy, his parents are going to be involved, so his academics will be better. They’re going to be here to see him and support him and stay on him, as opposed to a guy who doesn’t see his parents very often. We’ve definitely tried to make a living off Virginia kids.”

ON WHETHER HE THINKS HIS DEEP RECRUITING TIES TO HAMPTON ROADS, THEN, WAS A MAJOR PART OF BEAMER HIRING HIM: “I don’t know that. I had known Coach Beamer since he got here. I’d known him for years. That could be part of it, but I’m just glad to be here.”

ON WHETHER BEAMER HAD TO WIN A RECRUITING BATTLE WITH UVA TO GET HIM ON STAFF: “No, no. We didn’t get to that point (of a job offer from Al Groh). It was just talking with them.”

ON BEAMER’S THEORY THAT IN-STATE PLAYERS GET MORE POSITIVE PRESSURE TO DO THE RIGHT THINGS BECAUSE FAMILY IS CLOSER: “They’re going to see them each weekend. That’s big. If you’ve recruited a kid from California, that doesn’t happen. That’s what Coach brings up when you talk about going into Virginia first. And it makes since to me. The first time I heard it was from him, but it just makes too much since.”

ON SEEING THAT THEORY PLAY OUT: “There’s no question. They know if their parents are there to watch them, it means more to them. And I enjoy seeing the parents of the kids I recruited. You’ve built a relationship with them also.”

RT BLAKE DECHRISTOPHER

ON HAVING OFFERS FROM BOTH STATE SCHOOLS: “I think both of them were probably pretty equal, as far as how much they recruited me. I think my mom was kind of leaning toward Virginia, just for the academics, but once me and my family came up here for the official visit to Tech, when we were driving home I just knew. I said, ‘Mom, Dad, I got a great vibe.’ I got to hang out with Richard Graham, who was a great host for me. The coaches and all the players I met were great. I just knew this was the place I wanted to go.”

ON TECH HAVING SO MANY VIRGINIA KIDS ON THE ROSTER AND WHETHER IT MADE BLACKSBURG FEEL MORE LIKE HOME: “I think it might. It was nice coming here and seeing a lot of guys I knew about, like John Graves, who was highly recruited, and getting to talk to him. But to be honest, I think it’s more the coaching staff and the environment that makes the decision.”

ON WHY TECH WAS A BETTER FIT: “Right when I walked into the locker room, talking to the coaches and players, I knew I was in the right place and I wanted to go here.”

ON WHETHER HE KNOWS ANY GUYS ON THE UVA ROSTER: “No, not really. Not any.”

ON THAT SAYING SOMETHING ABOUT THE CAVS’ RECRUITING PHILOSOPHY: “Yeah, I guess that could be.”

ON THIS GAME STILL HAVING SOME EXCITEMENT EVEN THOUGH BOTH TEAMS HAVE LESS TO PLAY FOR THAN IN THE PAST: “We need to win this game to help us get the 10-win season. They’re going to be bringing their ‘A’ game and we just need to bring ours. Any team can upset you, so we have to go in there and be ready for anything. We need to play fast and play hard for these seniors.”

ON WHETHER THERE’S SOME PRIDE IN TRULY HAMMERING THE HOOS, MAKING IT SIX STRAIGHT WINS AND 10 OF 11: “Oh, sure. A lot of guys feel that way. You want to come out here and whip up on them.”

WR DANNY COALE

ON HAVING AN OFFER TO PLAY LACROSSE AT VIRGINIA BUT NOT A FOOTBALL OFFER: “I did not. It was kind of, ‘Wait a few more weeks and we’ll see what we  can get for you. Just wait a little bit more.’ But I just felt right when I was here.”

ON WHETHER, THEN, THIS GAME MEANS MORE TO HIM: “I don’t think so. I hold no grudges. My brother graduated from there. I think it’s a great place. But this was the right place for me, and looking back – even if they had offered – in my heart I still believe this is where I would’ve chosen. It felt right from the beginning here.”

ON WHETHER HE THINKS VIRGINIA’S STRUGGLES HAVE HAD SOMETHING TO DO WITH THEIR RECRUITING PRIORITIES, SEEMING TO EMPHASIZE IN-STATE PLAYERS LESS THAN TECH: “I think there’s a lot to the recruiting process that recruits don’t know about. So from that standpoint, I couldn’t tell you exactly what they are looking for. At the time, I wasn’t what they were looking for. What that was, I’m not sure. I don’t know what their priorities are.”

ON WHETHER IT’S SURPRISING, THOUGH, THAT THEY RECRUIT SO HEAVILY IN STATES OTHER THAN THEIR OWN: “Sure, sure. They find areas they like. They’re absolutely trying to recruit the state, but I don’t know the thinking behind that. I couldn’t tell you.”

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