Hokies Land Six Commits
By Matthew Osborne
SouthernPigskin.com
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Virginia Tech was able to make the most out of a bad situation this past Saturday, as the Hokies overcame the cancellation of their annual spring game to land six verbal commitments on the afternoon.
Scattered thunderstorms brought lightning to the Blacksburg area during the early afternoon, but that inclement weather afforded the Virginia Tech coaches with the opportunity to spend additional time hosting the bevy of recruits which made the trip to Lane Stadium for the weekend’s festivities.
Included in Tech’s six weekend commitments were a pair of high school teammates from Virginia Beach, two in-state offensive linemen and a prospect from the class of 2014.
The headliner of Saturday’s quintet of commitments from the 2013 class was undoubtedly Salem (VA) High School QB Bucky Hodges. Ranked as the second-best dual-threat quarterback and the No. 50 overall prospect in the country for the class of 2013 by 247Sports.com, Hodges has the tools to become a productive traditional-style signal caller at the next level. Voted as District Player of the Year as a junior, Hodges chose the Hokies over offers from numerous elite programs, including Ohio State and West Virginia.
Hodges’ high school teammate, LB Andrew Motuapuaka, also gave his commitment to Frank Beamer over the weekend. Despite being slightly undersized for the position, Motuapuaka plays the game with a ferocious attitude and an excellent understanding of offensive schemes. Although not much is known about Motuapuaka due to the lack of interviews conducted with him at this time, we do know that he held offers from Stanford and Utah at the time of his commitment.
The first prospect to pledge to the Hokies on Saturday was in-state CB Charles Clark out of King’s Fork High School. Clark, who also held an offer from Virginia, had been a Virginia Tech lean for a couple of months and finally decided to make a verbal commitment after making a return trip to Blacksburg this weekend.
The Hokies received some good news along the offensive front with the commitments of in-state offensive linemen Parker Osterloh and Braxton Pfaff. Osterloh is a 6-foot-7 tackle from Williamsburg, while Pfaff is a 285-pound guard from Lynchburg.
In addition to the five 2013 prospects who gave their commitments to Virginia Tech on Saturday, the Hokies also got an early start on the class of 2014. Considered one of the top sophomore prospects in Virginia, DE Vincent Mihota became the first commitment in Tech’s 2014 class when he made his decision over the weekend.
While the Hokies have never been known as a dominant recruiting team, Saturday’s haul of recruits certainly gives Hokie fans reason to believe that the program will bring in an outstanding class this year.
Here is film of teammates Bucky Hodges and Andrew Motuapuaka:
QB Bucky Hodges – http://youtube.com/watch?v=-taQxX1RC-w
LB Andrew Motuapuaka – http://youtube.com/watch?v=L4N192f_x7A
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