SB Nation DC: All Posts by Chris Hatcher

Hokies In The Minor Leagues 5/22

2013-05-22T11:30:07Z

A few weeks ago I began getting curious about how long it would take former Hokie Austin Wates to get to the big leagues. After all, Wates is in the ailing (being ridiculously kind) Houston Astros organization which has lost 100+ games each of the last two years and is on pace to shatter that mark again, and Wates was busy crushing AA pitching for the second consecutive year. So a call up to the bigs by season's end or at least a promotion was incredibly likely. That's when I began researching the other former Hokies in the minors and how close they were in their respective tracks to the major league, which gave me the idea for this post and this series.

Also, there are several other #Hokies in the minor leagues doing a good job, including Jesse Hahn and Ronnie Shaban.
— GobblerCountry.com (@gobblercountry) May 4, 2013

So at least several #Hokies on the major league horizon, though none closer than Wates to my knowledge.
— GobblerCountry.com (@gobblercountry) May 4, 2013

Instead of organizing these posts by the players which I feel are closest to the big leagues and going down, I will arrange the players based on draft year (for players who have multiple draft years, I will use the latter one, representing the actual beginning of his pro career).

To my knowledge, this list is complete with every former Virginia Tech baseball player who is currently playing for a minor league baseball team or an independent league team. If you know of one that has slipped past me, let us know in the comments section below. Enjoy.

First off, thanks to Hokiesports for having such a well-organized draft tracker that made doing research for this post much easier. So without further ado, here's the first Hokies In The Minor Leagues:

Warren Schaeffer SS/INF- Drafted in 2007 in the 38th round by the Colorado Rockies

Though Schaeffer is no longer playing competitive baseball as of his decision this spring, I felt it appropriate to add his name to this list as he has taken a coaching position within the Rockies organization, in which he spent all six of his minor league seasons. He will become the hitting coach for the Tri-City Dust Devils (Pasco, Wa.), the Rockies' Short-Season Class A affiliate where he began his career in 2007. By his own admission in the article, Schaeffer stalled in AA where he spent most of the last two years. For his career, Schaeffer was a .214 hitter with 137 RBI's in 461 career minor league games. His best year came in 2010 when he hit .242 with 3 HR's and 43 RBI's in a season split between AA and AAA.

Steven Bumbry OF- Drafted in 2009 in the 12th round by the Baltimore Orioles

Bumbry has been a slow but steady climber up the ranks of the Baltimore system, starting in 2009 at Low-A Aberdeen, Bumbry got as high as AA Bowie last year, but struggled to hit, posting a .170 batting average in 98 PA's (plate appearances). That was, however, his first crack at AA, which me may get another chance at by the end of the year. Bumbry has been in the news recently among Tech beat writers when he ran into Aaron McFarling in Salem while playing for the High-A Frederick Keys of the Carolina League. Based on McFarling's tweets, Bumbry had a pretty good series:

Former #Hokies outfielder Steve Bumbry batting seventh and playing center for Frederick tonight.
— Aaron McFarling (@aaronmcfarling) May 18, 2013

Frederick leads Salem Sox 2-0, mid 2. Ex-#Hokies outfielder Steve Bumbry singled, scored in first at-bat.
— Aaron McFarling (@aaronmcfarling) May 18, 2013

#Hokies alum Steve Bumbry launches a two-run homer deep over the wall in right. Frederick extends lead over Salem to 3-0, T4.
— Aaron McFarling (@aaronmcfarling) May 19, 2013

Frederick rallies for 3 runs in T9 to take 6-4 lead over Salem. #Hokies alum Steve Bumbry caps with RBI single.
— Aaron McFarling (@aaronmcfarling) May 19, 2013

Bumbry is currently hitting .221with 5 HR's and 17 RBI's for the Keys, where he has spent all of 2013 so far. He is a career .245 minor league hitter with 31 homers and 141 RBI in 388 minor league games.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=bumbry001ste

Austin Wates OF- Drafted in 2010 in the 3rd round by the Houston Astros

Now to the former Hokie making the biggest waves (or at least based on his advanced level) in the minor leagues right now: Austin Wates. Like I said at the beginning of the post, I began to wonder about Wates' timetable as it related to promotion or a call up to the major leagues:

It's sad that @mlbtraderumors won't allow you to track players that have yet to see MLB service. I hope I don't miss Austin Wates' call-up.
— GobblerCountry.com (@gobblercountry) May 4, 2013

I also went on to talk about the Houston outfield, which has compiled a -1.5 WAR (Wins Above Replacement) as a unit so far this season according to Fangraphs, the second-worst in baseball to the -1.8 WAR Minnesota Twins outfield. The 9-man unit is batting .228, and has almost four times as many strikeouts as they do walks. In other words: not good...unless you're the up-and-coming Wates. They also just did this...among many other bad things this year.

For those of you who don't know, he is very close to playing in the bigs for the Astros, whose outfield, particularly CF, is underwhelming.
— GobblerCountry.com (@gobblercountry) May 4, 2013

Then on to Wates' stat-line at the time:

He's hitting .319 with AA Corpus Christi, where he hit over .300 a year ago in his age-23 season with 7 HR's and 48 RBI.
— GobblerCountry.com (@gobblercountry) May 4, 2013

And a nice little post that shows you where he projects in the scheme of things in the Astros organization:

He's also listed as a top Houston prospect by this scouting report: scoutingbook.com/players/p3000
— GobblerCountry.com (@gobblercountry) May 4, 2013

And don't forget, he's no slouch in the field either. If you didn't know or didn't remember that detail, here's a friendly reminder:

The good and bad news was announced four days later (good in that Wates was promoted to AAA Oklahoma City, bad in that, just as I projected, I missed it) when Kevin Burke saw an Andrew Rash (current Hokie and former Wates teammate) tweet announcing the call-up before it had been reported anywhere else and went with it. Kudos to Mr. Burke for that one (and also thanks for the assist).

Congrats to @austinwates for being promoted to triple A. Keep working hard. @vt_baseball
— Andrew Rash (@AndrewRash_20) May 8, 2013

@furrer4heisman looks like you'll be seeing Austin Wates in OKC
— Kevin Burke (@KBurke90) May 8, 2013

Since that time, Wates has performed about as well as you could expect for a player adjusting to the transition between AA and AAA ball. While his batting average has dipped just a bit (from .310 in AA to .279 in AAA), he is still maintaining a solid K-to-BB ratio at 2-3 (the sign of a truly good contact hitter) as well as knocking in nearly as many runs (4) as he did in AA (5) in under half as many AB's (at-bats). So it's not like he's being overwhelmed at the plate. Much like AA too, Wates has flashed his ability on the basepaths, scoring 5 runs already and adding 3 stolen bases without a caught stealing.

And to add to that, Kevin was right. If you wanted a play-by-play of what Wates has done while at AAA, what better to have than the founder and former editor of Gobbler Country, furrer4heisman, there in the stands for several of his early OKC games? I present to you Ryan's tweets about Wates:

austin wates is in the lineup in okc, batting 9th and playing left. #hokies #pclforlife
— furrer4heisman (@furrer4heisman) May 9, 2013

austin wates first aaa ab: almost beat out a slow bouncer to 2nd. 43. #hokies
— furrer4heisman (@furrer4heisman) May 10, 2013

wates 2nd ab: checked swing, grounded out weakly to the pitcher. he's 0-2 tonight. no balls out of infield. #hokies
— furrer4heisman (@furrer4heisman) May 10, 2013

wates' 3rd ab: line drive right at the cf. 0-3 tonight.
— furrer4heisman (@furrer4heisman) May 10, 2013

austin wates' aaa debut: 0-3. two ground outs and a fly out. he'll start raking soon. #hokies
— furrer4heisman (@furrer4heisman) May 10, 2013

austin wates robbed of his first aaa hit by tacoma 2b nick franklin. nice running grab on a soft liner. wates now 0-5 w/ okc. #hokies
— furrer4heisman (@furrer4heisman) May 11, 2013

austin wates is 0-5 w/ walk in aaa, but made an outstanding catch to rob tacoma's alex liddi of xbh in the 9th. okc wins, 1-0. #hokies
— furrer4heisman (@furrer4heisman) May 11, 2013

wates in the lineup tonight against salt lake, looking for his first aaa hit. former nats reliever chad cordero is on this slk team. #hokies
— furrer4heisman (@furrer4heisman) May 12, 2013

austin wates lines a single to left off salt lake's billy buckner for his first aaa hit. #hokies
— furrer4heisman (@furrer4heisman) May 12, 2013

wates is 2-for-2 with two singles tonight. 2-for-7 since getting promoted to aaa. #hokies
— furrer4heisman (@furrer4heisman) May 12, 2013

wates beats out a grounder to short for his third hit tonight. he's 3-for-4 with 3 singles. 3-for-9 since joining okc. #hokies
— furrer4heisman (@furrer4heisman) May 12, 2013

wates was 0-3 last night. thru 4 aaa games he’s 3-12. no ks, so it’s not like he’s getting overpowered by aaa pitching. #hokies
— furrer4heisman (@furrer4heisman) May 13, 2013

wates was 1-4 with a sb and his first aaa k tonight. he's 4-16 (all singles) through 5 games. #hokies
— furrer4heisman (@furrer4heisman) May 14, 2013

wates just had a walk off single for okc! #hokies
— furrer4heisman (@furrer4heisman) May 14, 2013

wates singled to right w bases loaded to bring home the winning run in the 9th. went 1-4 today, is hitting .250 in 6 aaa games. #hokies
— furrer4heisman (@furrer4heisman) May 14, 2013

I don't think you can get more detailed than that (and in future versions of this post, we will not be going into quite as much detail as that). Thanks to Ryan for keeping us abreast on Wates' AAA experience out there in OKC.

So, to wrap up the Wates portion of this post, he's in AAA, he's playing pretty well and we expect to see him soon on the major league level to join Joe Saunders as the only other Hokie in the bigs...at least for now.

Jesse Hahn P- Drafted in 2010 in the 6th round by the Tampa Bay Rays

Next on the list of former Hokies in the minors is Jesse Hahn, a 2010 draftee of the Tampa Bay Rays. He was also in my initial report on Hokies in the minor leagues on Twitter:

Hahn is having a terrific season with Tampa Bay's High-A Charlotte right now. In 5 starts he has an 0.6 ERA with a 4-to-1 K-to-BB ratio.
— GobblerCountry.com (@gobblercountry) May 4, 2013

Hahn is still in High-A Charlotte for the Rays, sporting a 0.96 ERA in 8 starts with 29 strikeouts compared to only 5 walks and only 20 hits and no home runs allowed in 28 innings pitched. He has yet to record a win on the season as he has yet to pitch more than 4 innings in a game (below the 5-inning minimum qualifier necessary for a starting pitcher to be considered the winner of a game), which he did in each of his last two starts. That tends to indicate two things: 1. The Rays must have a lot of pitching prospects in High-A Charlotte that they consider to be starters, and so are trying to give them all time, and 2. The fact that he has pitched 4 innings both of his last starts tend to indicate the Rays are stretching him out to see if he can be a starting pitcher at the AA level.

All of his peripherals tend to suggest he's in line for a call up very soon, as he has thoroughly dominated High-A hitters to the tune of a 9.4 K/9 and a 1.9 BB/9 ratio while only allowing 6 hits per 9 as well. Those numbers are amazing at any level.

Here is a tweet from a Bowman Scout who goes by the name of Jaypers regarding Hahn's start last night:

Yet another great start for Charlotte's Jesse Hahn. 4 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K (5:1 K/BB ratio thus far). #Rays
— J.P. (@Jaypers413) May 21, 2013

And another one from a USF baseball writer Kellie Karbach regarding Hahn's velocity:

Jesse Hahn has a nasty fastball clocking in at its highest 95 mph. #nowondertheybabyhim
— Kellie Karbach (@Kellie_Karbach) May 21, 2013

That'll do Hahn. That'll do.

Expect to see Jesse with the AA Montgomery Biscuits (not kidding, that's their real name) really soon, as two of their starters have posted 6.9+ ERA's so far this season.

Matthew Price P- Drafted in 2010 in the 8th round by the Boston Red Sox

Price, another Hokie drafted in 2010, has not seen quite as easy of a road as his fellow 2010 draftees. He did not pitch at all in 2010 and had to have Tommy John surgery in September of that year, essentially putting him on the shelf until mid-2011. And when he finally did get back on the mound, he showed pretty dominant stuff, but he also struggled quite a bit with his control (though we're talking small sample sizes here).

That doesn't mean he forgot how to pitch. Just ask former teammate Steve Bumbry:

Former #Hokies ace Matt Price (Salem) fans former #Hokies outfielder Steve Bumbry (Fredericks) on a 1-2 fastball. VT teammates in '09.
— Aaron McFarling (@aaronmcfarling) May 18, 2013

And keeping with McFarling tweets:

Final: Salem Red Sox 3, Frederick Keys 2. First professional win for ex-#Hokies ace Matt Price. Ejections galore.
— Aaron McFarling (@aaronmcfarling) May 19, 2013

But, all total, we're talking about a combined total of 20.1 IP (innings pitched) in the minors between three different affiliates to this point, and that's not a lot to go off of. So for someone who has seen him pitch during this time, I'm going to defer to the scouting report from SoxProspects.com, which does not have him as one of the Red Sox top-60 prospects (as you would expect for a converted starter who is now relieving at High-A with only 20.1 IP in his age-23 year).

"Tall, thin righty building back up after Tommy John surgery in September 2010. Throws from a ¾ arm slot. Fastball sits 92-93 mph and can top out at 95. Shows heavy, sinking action in the lower tier of the strike zone. Best suited to operate below the thighs. Average fastball command. 79-82 mph breaking ball presently has a ¾ slider look to it. Can be tight at times and break hard off the plate. Better look at pitch will come as he continues to get further away from surgery. Solid-average 82-83 mph fading changeup. Creates similar arm speed to his fastball when throwing it and demonstrates solid feel of offering. Needs work keeping pace of delivery consistent. Over-throws his fastball to cause periods of wildness."

So what to make of that scouting report...? Well, it appears that up to this point in his career, it's spot on, though Price's BB/9 has dropped significantly. As we didn't ever get to see Price pitch in the minors prior to his Tommy John surgery, we'll never know how he would have pitched then. His arm slot has apparently been affected according to the report. But what is clear is this: generally speaking, he has been a better pitcher the further he gets away from the surgery, something doctors always tell athletes to expect, and that's no different than with Tommy John surgery.

So while Price has done an adequate job so far for Salem, I'd expect the Red Sox leave him there for most if not all of the year until he can get some innings under his belt and they can really see what they have in him post-surgery.

Steve Domecus C- Drafted in 2010 in the 9th round by the Los Angeles Dodgers

Domecus is the first active player on this list not playing in conventional minor league baseball. Instead, Domecus just began his 2013 season with the Sioux Falls Canaries of the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball, part of what is more commonly known as the independent leagues. Domecus started out his season with the Canaries in productive fashion, going 2-of-4 with 2 RBI's and a run. Since then, however, aside from a home run that helped get the Canaries the win, his bat has cooled and he is hitting .231 with 1 HR and 4 RBI's in 13 AB's.

Domecus fell out of favor somehow with the Dodgers organization for reasons I can't understand. He hit north of .270 in his three seasons with the organization at various levels and had an OBP (on base percentage) above .340 (both tremendous for a catcher). He didn't flash much of a power bat, but given his plate appearances, he was not terrible there, homering on around 2% of his AB's (1.891 to be exact). The major league average for that peripheral in 2012 was only around 3% (or 2.986 if you want to be exact again) according to Baseball Almanac. So the average player would hit a home run one more time than Domecus every 100 at bats. That number is essentially statistically insignificant and is well within the margin of error should he have been given more at bats. While he did post a very poor walk rate of around 5.3%, Domecus only struck out at just above 15%, considered above-average for any player. Those numbers would be in the ballpark with most good contact hitters at any level.

Defensively, while he threw out a below-average amount of base stealers, his range factor was off the charts at 7.93 as a catcher (the reason I specify as a catcher is because he played 11 games in his three seasons with the Dodgers' clubs in the outfield...which he was predictably not very good at defensively). I know that range factor for a catcher can be skewed towards a catcher who catches high-strikeout pitchers, but even so, that would tend to suggest that he was able to call a good game if that was the case. And while he did post a high passed ball per game average (at around .19 per game), it wasn't otherworldly considering minor league catchers have to handle on average a pitching staff with a lower level of control, creating some of those chances for passed balls.

Lastly, Domecus stole 6 bases in his minor league career compared to only twice being caught stealing. A 75% success rate when swiping a bag was above league average by 2% (using major league statistics) according to ESPN, and for catchers, who are statistically poor base stealers, 75% success in that department is terrific.

So again, why the Dodgers got rid of Domecus, or didn't renew his contract/extend an invite, or perhaps suggested sending him back to Low-A ball (which he had already conquered) for some reason is beyond me. And why another major league team didn't bring Domecus in their organization also doesn't make sense. It befuddles me. Anyway, if he continues to post numbers near or above his career averages, someone will see the value in him and pick him up. Otherwise, what the hell are we using all these metrics for if they don't mean anything!?

Ben Rowen P- Drafted in 2010 in the 22nd round by the Texas Rangers

Another 2010 draftee, Ben Rowen was a player I missed in my initial look into Tech players in the minors. He is doing pretty well considering my looking over him. In three plus seasons with the Rangers affiliates, Rowen has posted a 15-4 record (phenomenal for a reliever) with a 1.53 ERA in 171 IP while allowing only 132 hits, 4 HR's and 43 walks (which gives him an unreal 1.023 WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched)) compared to 142 strikeouts. Rowen has also picked up 24 saves. Right now he has a career-best 0.83 ERA, a 3-0 record and a pair of saves in 21.2 IP while pitching for AA Frisco.

While the Rangers' big league club has an above average bullpen (13th with a 3.33 ERA), if Rowen keeps up anywhere near this level of dominance, expect him in the bigs by the end of the year. Bullpens are extremely volatile, and when a guy is pitching as well as Rowen is over a period of three plus seasons and is at AA or higher, teams usually find a way to give him a major league opportunity, even sometimes when he is not on the 40-man roster (which Rowen is not). Right now I'd rate him as the second-closest player to the major leagues among former Hokies.

Buddy Sosnoski OF- Drafted in 2010 in the 25th round by the Kansas City Royals

The inclusion of Sosnoski on this list may anger Hokie baseball diehards, but he was at one point a Virginia Tech baseball player. Sosnoski transferred from Virginia Tech to Francis Marion University in Florence, Sc. after two years, and despite being drafted in 2010, elected to stay in college. Two years later, he was playing independent league ball with the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks, where he raked, hitting .339 in 53 games. He did so well in fact that the Baltimore Orioles purchased his contract and gave him a spring training invite. While according to this post, Sosnoski was let go, he is back with the RedHawks, again hitting up a storm, this time to the tune of .350 (though it's early in the season for them).

Regardless of whether or not he is to be considered a Hokie, Sosnoski will continue to receive offers from affiliated ball clubs if he hits like this, despite metrics that would tend to indicate poor defense on his part. We'll keep up with him just because, well, this is an incredibly interesting story. Unless there are any objections of course...

Justin Wright P- Drafted in 2010 in the 47th round by the St. Louis Cardinals

Wright, the last of the Hokies 2010 draft picks, was blowing through the Cardinals' organization at a torrid pace until he hit a little bit of a bump in 2012 when he reached the AA level, posting his career-worst ERA (4.45), WHIP (1.401), HR's allowed (6), H/9 (hits allowed per 9 innings) (8.6) and his second-worst BB/9 (4) and K/9 (9.5) in his career (not counting the one inning he pitched at the Cardinals Rookie Gulf Coast League affiliate in 2011) and posting an 0-3 record.

Wright has seemingly caught on to AA hitters and rehabilitated his AA career, despite allowing more H/9 (8.8), his ERA (3.31), WHIP (1.286), BB/9 (2.8) and K/9 (11) are back to sustainable levels if he wants to continue advancing through the minors. While I'm sure that the Cardinals will want to make sure Wright has righted the ship (no pun there unless you read it that way, in which case, sure. Fine. I meant to do that) before advancing him to AAA. Ideally they would like to see his WHIP and H/9 fall back to his career norms, because for Wright, that might be the difference in him being a league-average reliever and one of the premier relief arms in the game. We'll be watching him to see if he can do that.

Timothy Smalling 2B/SS- Drafted in 2011 in the 15th round by the Colorado Rockies

Smalling was one of the original players I researched, but did not include in my tweets due to his performance (relative to those I did include (Wates, Hahn and Shaban). Smalling had two pretty successful years in 2011-12, split between the Rockies' Low-A Tri-City Dust Devils (seriously? Two former Hokies have played there recently? Tech has produced two Dust Devils in the last five years? Okay, if you say so) and their High-A Modesto Nuts (Okay, seriously now! This is getting out of hand), hitting .294 in 2011 and .274 in 2012. While those are acceptable averages for a normal player, Smalling is light in the power department (as most middle infielders are), meaning he needs to make up for it with higher BA (batting average) and OBP. It also doesn't help that Smalling is not a big threat on the basepaths, stealing 10 bags in two-plus seasons so far compared to 5 CS (caught stealing), or 66%, somewhat below average.

Defensively, Smalling's RF says that he is an average middle infielder, though he did not do very well at third base. Smalling is also not a switch hitter, which minimizes his value at two positions which typically produce the most swtich hitters. At this point in his career, playing his age-25 season in High-A with the numbers he's posted to this point, forget the fact that he has a cold bat right now (hitting .220 in 32 games), I'd say we're looking at a guy who projects as nothing more than a career minor league platoon bat and defensive utility player. There's certainly nothing wrong with that, and it's more than I'll ever do in baseball, but I'm just saying, it would be tough for me to see Smalling becoming a major leaguer at this point. As I always say when I have to call out Hokies, I hope like hell he proves me wrong. So Mr. Smalling, there's your inspiration. Just do what so many other Tech players have done and make me eat my words. I promise I won't mind.

Ronnie Shaban P- Drafted in 2012 in the 33rd round by the St. Louis Cardinals

Shaban, the most recent Hokie draftee in the minors had a very solid year for the Cardinals' Appalachian League affiliate, the Johnson City Cardinals in 2012, posting a 3.05 ERA with 16 saves, a 1.258 WHIP, 8.3 H/9, 13.5 K/9 and 3 BB/9 in 20.2 innings.

The Cardinals were so impressed by his performance they skipped him straight over Low-A Peoria and right to High-A Palm Beach to start the 2013 campaign, and Shaban has rewarded their confidence in him. Through 13 games and 17.2 innings with the club this season, Shaban has put together a 0.51 ERA, an 0.906 WHIP, allowing 5.1 H/9 and 3.1 BB/9 while collecting 5.6 K/9 and 4 saves. While ideally you'd like to see the strikeout numbers higher, particularly for a relief pitcher (and I'm assuming still the closer), if those other peripherals are maintained, Shaban might be able to get away with lower than average strikeout numbers. One thing is certain: if he keeps putting up numbers like this, he'll be promoted to Springfield in no time.

So finally we have come to the end of the post. I hope you enjoyed reading into how the former Hokies are faring in the minor leagues just as much as I enjoyed researching and writing about it. Please remember, we will run this as a serial post, updating you on the former Hokies pursuits periodically throughout the season, though keep in mind those posts will be considerably shorter as they will just be updates.

For all your Virginia Tech baseball needs, including news, analysis and comprehensive coverage of former Hokies in the minors, Gobbler Country is the only place you're going to find it.

Poll

Who will be the first Hokie to join Joe Saunders in the bigs?

Virginia Tech Falls At The Hands Of Kentucky In Regional Final Game 7

2013-05-20T02:11:51Z

In 2012 the Hokies were 40-19 heading into the Knoxville Regional as a No. 3 seed. before suffering double-elimination in the regional final at the hands of the hosting Tennessee Volunteers, dropping their record to 42-21 and ending their season prematurely. 364 days later the Hokie softball team suffered the same fate, this time to another SEC foe, Kentucky, on their home field in the elimination game of the regional bracket. As the oft-quoted line of Yogi Berra goes, "It's déjà vu all over again".

But, there are things that are different this time around. For one, the Hokies didn't go down like they did to Tennessee in 2012, victims of a 12-3 run differential in their two games. This time, the Hokies went all out and very nearly beat the Wildcats, scoring more runs (2-to-1) on the day, but simply unable to score the pivotal run that was needed in the second game. There is no shame in losing to a team as good as Kentucky, which came into the game ranked No. 17 nationally and boasting a 40-19 record, especially after they were so dominated just 24 hours prior by Kentucky ace Kelsey Nunley, who one-hit the Hokies in a 6-2 drubbing.

But Sunday, even though she was the pitcher of record in relief for the decisive game, Nunley allowed 9 hits and 3 walks in just 10.1 innings against the Hokies, who handed her just her ninth loss of the season in the first game. Not only did the Hokies hang with the Wildcats, but at times looked like the better team. Unfortunately, the Hokies stranded all eight runners they put on base, and a lapse in the field on an infield pop fly by Kylie McGoldrick that set up the Wildcats only score provided the difference in the game.

Hokie ace Jasmin Harrell was masterful on the weekend, pitching a pair of gems, including the entirety of Saturday night's 13-inning game, without allowing an earned run. All total, her stat-line was 20 innings pitched, 21 hits allowed, 3 unearned runs, 15 strikeouts, 8 walks on 268 pitches. The loss dropped her to 18-9 on the year, but she couldn't have pitched much better than she did. The Hokies had to rally against Notre Dame and Marshall to get to the regional final, something that they did 14 times this season. They just didn't have it in them for a 15th time after last night's energy-draining extra innings game.

While the team does lose four players to eligibility, seniors Bkaye Smith, Courtney Liddle, Betty Rose and Jasmin Harrell, they return much of their lineup and production from 2013, including seven of their top nine hitters and the pitcher who led the team in appearances, strikeouts, batting average against, shutouts, saves, ERA, win percentage and tied for the staff lead with 11 complete games.

For more Virginia Tech softball coverage, including more live-tweeting and game recaps next season, Gobbler Country is the place to be.

Erick Green Injured At Second Day Of NBA Draft Combine

2013-05-17T19:47:21Z

Well unfortunately Hokies, I have bad news in regards to Erick Green's day two performance at the NBA Draft Combine. Green did not appear on the floor with the point guards at the beginning of testing, and concerned, I began looking around the interweb and with the help of our wonderful North Carolina SB Nation blog, Tar Heel Blog, I was able to find this:

Scary moment earlier with Erick Green banging knees with Kabongo. Looked bad for a moment but thankfully he's OK. Just a bruise. #nbacombine
— Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) May 17, 2013

Obviously it's good to hear that it appears Green is okay, but it is unfortunate that as a result he missed the opportunity to show off his traits on what should have been a very good day for him, testing his agility, flat-line speed and vertical jump. While I don't know how much it will hurt his draft stock, it certainly can't help it. This for a player who is shooting up the draft board in an attempt to firmly entrench himself in the first round and become the first Hokie drafted there since Dell Curry in 1986.

Green did however get his height measured, and according to DraftExpress.com, Green measured much shorter than we were previously led to believe, at a pedestrian 6'1.5" without shoes on, much shorter than the 6'3" and 6'4" that he had been listed at as a Hokie. He also was weighed at 178 pounds, seven pounds less than his listed weight according to Hokiesports. That was a concern I pointed out from watching the first day of the combine. He did however post above average wingspan, reach, hand length and hand width as well as only 4.4% body fat (jealous).

It is unclear as of yet how long Green will be on the shelf, or if his removal was just precautionary. It is also unclear how exactly Green and Kabongo collided, as I never saw Green's face on the broadcast. Did it happen in the hall? When they were getting their heights measured? On their way into the gym? I have no clue. But we should get the details soon.

For continued analysis, news and coverage of Virginia Tech's only pro basketball prospect this year, Gobbler Country has you covered like Antone Exum on Sammy Watkins.

Green Excels In First Day Of 2013 NBA Draft Combine

2013-05-17T00:59:02Z

Green was invited to an attended the NBA Draft Combine in Chicago today, which was broadcast live on ESPNU and later ESPN2. Thursday was the first day of the two-day event in which 60 players are invited to the combine to work out in front of NBA GM's, scouts and coaches. ESPN flashed the graphic at the beginning of the program that 29 out of the 30 college players picked in the 1st Round last year participated in the combine, so that bodes well for Green.

The combine pits players of like positions against one another in a series of skill workouts and strength and agility training drills, many at half to three quarter-speed. Today's workouts consisted of shooting and ball-handling drills, which included for the point guards: a dribbling course, the execution of the three-man weave, a 3-on-2 fast break, shooting from an array of positions behind the arc and sprints. Green wore #15 today in a group of 14 NBA Draft hopeful point guards. He also was introduced as Erik Green:

@jawehr13 yup. You'd hope they could've at least gotten his name right considering he's the nation's leading-scorer twitter.com/gobblercountry…
— GobblerCountry.com (@gobblercountry) May 16, 2013

It would therefore seem that he might have been slighted to a degree as almost a courtesy invite, although there were three others with numbers higher than 15. Any apparent slight though would be shot down with what the panel of college basketball commentators handling the event would say about Green in the following segments. Here are the transcripts.

Fran Fraschilla talking about Michael Carter-Williams "But there are so many guys on the next couple of tiers down below that if you're a team picking anywhere in this first round you have a chance to steal a very good player at this position."

Jay Williams: "Prime example Erick Green, Virginia Tech."

Fran: "Erick Green, Lorenzo Brown, Dennis Schroeder from Germany, Pierre Jackson as a utility guy, Shane Larkin, CJ McCollum who's a combo. This is a deep position in my opinion."

Two things I noticed about Erick during this period when the commentators were speaking about him were that he looks like he's lost some weight, something which he needs to reverse and do the complete opposite. Green also looked very good with his handle, crossover, moves and explosion in his cuts in the dribbling drill. The commentators weren't done there, however, and went into this discussion about Green as they played a highlight video of him in the background:

Ryen Russillo: "A guy who did stick around college hoops for quite a while led the nation in scoring this years guy [I think he meant year guys?], from Virginia Tech, Erick Green. Now Jay, in years past sometimes you go 'oh hey, that guy led the country in scoring. That's interesting. He'll be able to tell people that down the road,' and we never think of them as NBA players. Is that the same thing here with Erick Green?"

Jay: "I am a massive fan of Erick Green's. Not only his ability to score the ball, which you need... he has a great jump shot. You can't go under that screen. He can shoot the ball from deep. If you try to go over he understands how to change speeds. He can utilize that strong upper body frame to knock you off balance. He understands how to attack. Now he averaged around 5 and 1/2 assists per game (which is incorrect, he averaged 3.8 apg.). After watching so many of his games at Virginia Tech, he could've averaged a lot more. He hit a lot of his players and Seth Greenberg, [a] guy that works with us at ESPN can definitely confirm this: he hit a lot of guys in the hands and guys were missing his passes. Also once he gets to the rim. Fran, he has that floater element to his game a lot of guards do not have to get that shot over the big man"

Fran: "Exactly right Jay. He's a tough shot-maker. First of all he is a point guard. He does deliver the rock. But to score as many points as he did on a team where the defense is loaded to him every night and shoot so efficiently inside and outside the arc... he's got great burst transition. The floater game, I love, because he's going to need that, Tom, at the next level. I don't know who's taking him, but all I know is he's one of those guys who I classify as a basketball player. He is hiding in plain sight to me and is staring us in the face, and he's going to end up, in my opinion, being a good NBA player even though we've all gotten to watch him for four years."

Then the players began the three-man weave drill. Erick's group went second I believe, and on the first sequence:

In the transition drill Green missed a 2-point jumper and delivers a good pass. On missed shot, looked like his foot got caught.
— GobblerCountry.com (@gobblercountry) May 16, 2013

The foot thing was true, as it looked like he got caught taking an extra step, unsure if he was supposed to shoot it or pass it, but as I went back and looked, it actually went in. It drew a lot of fron iron, but went off the backboard and back in. It was hard to initially tell based on the camera angle.

Going down to the other end, Green's first pass resulted in a good shot, but a miss, so Green grabbed the rebound and headed back the other way, passing it off, which resulted in a Shane Larkin make. The other group stepped on the floor and the commentary about Green continued:

Tom Penn: "What you guys say about Erick Green is the stuff that an executive loves to hear from his scouts, because you dug deeper Jay. You talk about, I like to call them assist-worthy passes. They would be an assist if a guy can finish on the other end. That's the key decision-making. That's one of the nuances in analytics that gets lost if you just look at assists, right? Somebody's got to convert. The other thing is, if you assist to a player that gets fouled and makes free throws it turns into points. That's an assist-worthy decision. If he has that decision-making ability and that ability to finish in traffic, you beat your man off the dribble you penetrate into the defense and here comes the giants, and they will clean that away unless you have a creative ability to finish. You learned this, right!? (Addressing Jay) You probably learned it the hard way. How about your experience as an elite college scorer then trying to figure out how to find your space in The NBA."

Jay: "Oh it was challenging because when you're in college everything is designed for you, and then all of the sudden when you go to the pros you're playing with grown men and guys who expect to get the ball at the right time and you're also managing personalities. You're trying to make sure that everybody's happy. I think the big question for Erick Green that everybody talked about was could he defend? He couldn't do everything for his team. He couldn't score, pass AND defend. It took a lot of his energy out, but I think for sure he's a gem in this draft"

I think Tom Penn started talking and forgot what the hell he was saying, but the first half of that rant at least has some good points and makes some sense. As for Williams' comments, he is absolutely correct. One of the big reasons I didn't see J.J. Redick succeeding in the NBA (and I was right for a while) was that in college, everything was predicated on running a play off of a screen to free him up. They just don't do that for guys in the pros, especially if you're not one of the league's best scorers (which Redick is not). I would believe, however, that it is at least a little easier to find your own offense in the NBA as a point guard, as you usually have the ball.

The other thing that Jay said, and seemed to give credence to, was my theory about Green getting the Kemba Walker treatment from coach James Johnson. After all, it is true, Green could not do EVERYTHING for the Hokies, even if it often seemed like he tried.

During this time, Green's group got back on the court:

Green promptly hits his second shot and makes two passes for the assists. They're really featuring him. #Hokies
— GobblerCountry.com (@gobblercountry) May 16, 2013

He then got confused about which way to go on the weave, something that should not happen, especially for a point guard, as it's a pretty standard drill. It looks like he thought it was his turn to switch sides, but either out of realization that without going back to his side that the drill would breakdown, or just to cover for the other player's (Lorenzo Brown) mistake, Green hustled back into position.

Green then recovers and makes excellent pass to Brown, leading him to about the foul line for a score on the other end. He then dribbles back down, penetrates turns and dishes to Isaiah Cannan for a deep two (it was a three off the pass, but Cannan stepped in). That finished his group's three-man-weave drill (at least as far as the viewer could see from the broadcast).

In the 3-on-2 drill, Green's first possession resulted in him missing a shot. There was too much passing on the play, as Lorenzo Brown got stuck when he was about to go up for a shot, which led to Green taking a fadeaway, contested jumper as the play had gotten too deep. On his second possession of the 3-on-2, Green received a pass on the right wing, drove, pumped for the jumpshot, drew in Larkin, kicked the ball back out to Ray McCallum for a long two at the top of the key (he was set up inside the 3-point line), which he hit. The next time down on offense, Green didn't get the pass, went underneath for the rebound, boxed out Larkin, neither player got the rebound but it was tipped out and McCallum found Green on the right side for a mid-range jumper that he hit with Larkin closing out.

So with those adjusted totals, I believe that Green hit three out of his four shots that he took, by far the most of any player that I saw on the broadcasts. Unfortunately, because of the broadcast format, which includes interviews with other players and long and frequent commercial breaks like the NFL Combine and Draft, we were unable to see Green's individual shooting workout or his work defensively on any of the 3-on-2's, two things I most wanted to see.

In the sprints to end the first-day workouts, Green also finished among the first in the sprints, something you would have expected for a player who relies so much on transition and his effort. He did false start on the third and final set of sprints though, which put him behind the pace and saw him finish around the middle of the pack. But just because the day was done didn't mean the analysts were done talking about him:

Fran: "We talked about this earlier if this were the NFL Draft, a team would consider trading down to get one of these guys later on in the first round. That's not gonna happen. That's not the dynamics of the NBA Draft. We mentioned Erick Green, who could go late first early second, Nate Walters who's likely to be an early second... there's eight or nine point guards here that I think could make NBA rosters next October."

That the analysts were so high on him and featured him more than any other point guard says a lot about how they feel about him and what the perception of Green as a prospect is. This is also an interesting development, as most of those guys have open contact with the NBA GM's, scouts and coaches in attendance, and usually know what types of players they like. I have been saying for a few weeks now, along with several beat writers, that even though Zabian Dowdell went undrafted in 2007 despite heavy rumors in the week leading up to the draft that he could be taken as high as the late first round, this time around it's a different feeling. Every indication is that Green will be drafted, becoming the first Hokie to do so since Deron Washington was drafted No. 59 overall in 2008. Green, however, if the current prognostications stand, could be the first Hokie picked in the first round since Dell Curry in 1986.

The second day of the NBA Draft Combine kicks off tomorrow at 10 a.m. EST on ESPNU. For more coverage of Erick Green, both regarding his performance in day two of the combine and the NBA Draft, Gobbler Country is your #1 source. Follow our live-tweeting of the event tomorrow.

Erick Green's NBA Draft Express Scouting Video

2013-05-11T00:17:49Z

Erick Green has perhaps the best chance to be drafted of any Hokie in the modern era. Though Tech has not been a hotbed of future NBA'ers, nor has it produced the best basketball pedigree, it has produced a handful of individual players who were good enough to make it to the NBA, though some for one reason or another did not. With Green's combination of size, athleticism and natural scoring-ability, he projects as a better prospect than some of the previous Tech players who were undersized or on-par for their position average, or were defensive specialists the like of Deron Washington or Jamon Gordon.

A year ago, nobody saw Green as anything more than a fringe-pro prospect, nor should they have. But Green's continual evolution that saw him be among the most improved players in college basketball each year over his four-year career has altered the perceptions of a lot of those doubters, and subsequently, caused him to steadily rise up the draft boards. Many feel that not only is Green a lock to be drafted, but that he is also quite likely to be a first-round pick.

But is that truly a possibility? Could Erick be the first Virginia Tech basketball player to be drafted in the first round since Dell Curry went No. 15 to Utah in 1986? Could he even go higher and be a possible lottery pick? Well, we've all become accustomed to my thoughts on Erick Green, so this time, we're going to give you an outsider's perspective in Mike Schmitz of DraftExpress.com, one of the leading NBA Draft projection sites. If you haven't ever been, do yourself a favor and check it out.

The video begins with Green and Johnson's soundbites and Green's measurables and 2012-13 statistics (quick note, I apologize for James Johnson's voice on those soundbites...awfully shrill and shrieky). It then transitions to Draft Express' evaluation of Green, starting with his perceived strengths. His strengths are listed as follows:

Speed and quickness
Scoring ability
Improved distributor

All of those things are accurate, and for Hokie fans, there's almost an assumed "DUH!!!" with those statements. But, unlike many of Draft Express' other prospect videos that I have watched, Green has fewer listed strengths (Green is listed with three as opposed to most players I have seen have at least four).

So let's begin with their breakdown of his speed and quickness. Hokie fans know that a big part of Green's evolution and growth this season was James' Johnson's insistence on getting out and running on the fast break, even if Green was the only one to really do that past the midway point of the season. So to know that it represents over a fifth of his offense shouldn't really surprise for as much as he likes to get up and down the court. However, that he scores on 60.2% of those chances is unreal. Just unreal.

Next we go to his scoring instincts. Obviously we knew he was the nation's leading-scorer and those who know much about basketball love his elevation on his shot and his good release/shot mechanics. We also know about his efficiency despite his high-usage per several tweets back in basketball season (though I remembered it being in the high-20's, but either way, that's among the top in the nation usage-wise), a stat that I believe he led the nation in (please correct me if I'm wrong). What we did not know, because we did not break down every individual play on the season to find out, is Erick's pick and roll shooting percentage. But thanks to these guys (or whatever service they use to obtain/generate these metrics) we have that number now, and it's a high one at 44.6%. That's again, very, very good.

Then we see this stat about Green being tremendous off the dribble, which is true, as he does all of those things in the above picture well (creates separation with an array of moves and elevates over his opponent). But shooting 41.2% off the dribble, widely considering to be one of the worst types of shots percentage-wise that a basketball player can take, is just...wow. Just wow.

Draft Express is absolutely right. Green does have a quick trigger, and his shot is almost impossible to block (off of a jumpshot) because of his lift and mechanics. He shoots the ball from essentially overtop of his head. Frankly, it doesn't surprise me that he shoots 44.7% in these situations.

Again, Green scoring 1.32 points per possession off of screens doesn't surprise me. When an effective screen is set, Green gets rid of it quickly and is a good in-rhythm shooter who can knock down the open shot.

Green really developed the floater to be a big part of his offensive game. He has top-of-the-line touch on them. He is a very good ball-handler, as evidenced by his low turnover totals. They're even more impressive considering his usage. The fact that he shoots 9.3 free throws per game is evidence of how dangerous he is when getting into the lane, as he routinely beats defenders and help defenders to the cup, forcing them to reach in and foul. Being second among the top-100 Draft Express prospects bodes well for Erick, who should be able to do similar things in the NBA once he is comfortable with the transition.

We all know that Green is a willing passer. In fact, he started out his Virginia Tech career as essentially a pure point, having to come in to move Malcolm Delaney off the ball. It wasn't until he was forced to play a bigger role in the offense, putting up more shots than even he may have been comfortable with, that he began to evolve. Green will probably have to revert to the player he was as a freshman or a sophomore, style-wise, early on in the NBA, as very few players and even fewer young players in the league pound the ball and dominate the way Green did this season for Virginia Tech. Having a 4.7-to-1 assist to turnover ratio in transition, one of the most likely turnover creators, is phenomenal. That just shows how good Erick is at making the right basketball play, whether that be to find the open man or take the shot himself. I agree that he has a high IQ and is effective in drive-and-kick situations, but I think he needs to do more drive-and-kick as he goes to the next level. Some of that might be due to his teammates shooting 30-some percent (forgot the number and don't care to look it up because...derp) from the floor, a stat that caused James Johnson to estimate Green's assists would've been way up with better shooting.

This stat is also good, as it illustrates two things: 1. That Green is a very willing passer out of the pick-and-roll, and 2. That Green has good variation on who he hits with said pass, though he will need to look to cutters more in situations at the next level where a defender loses his man, as that is the easiest source of offense on the pass out of the pick-and-roll behind hitting the roll man.

Now we move on to Draft Express' assessment of Green's weaknesses:

Strength
Finishing At The Rim
Can He Defend In The NBA?

At this point Green gives a soundbite in which he lists his weaknesses as finishing ability at the rim, strength and his off-ball defense, though he says that he has improved at the first two. So either Draft Express is taking him at his word regarding his weaknesses, or Green has a pretty good understanding of the weak parts of his game. Before we get into his weaknesses, however, again, I must apologize for James Johnson's soundbite. Ouch. Just close your ears.

I agree that Green needs to get stronger. Right now he doesn't have the build of a guy that is going to be successful for an 82-game NBA season. But that's usually not something players go into the NBA already possessing, including Kevin Durant. Most successful players do, however, develop that body/strength within their first two years in the league.

What I do disagree with is his ability to finish through contact at the rim. I'm don't doubt that stats are correct, but perhaps the rim is really the issue here. I remember Green finishing through contact umpteen times this year, and would put his body of work in that department up against any other guard in the nation. He showed real strength in doing that. But thinking about it again, many of those shots were floaters or further out than what may be considered at the rim. So that might be the disambiguation here. I do completely agree that his drive to the rim game is floater-heavy, however, and that NBA bigs who are better rotators, more athletic and generally taller will be able to affect that shot even more. So while it might be an asset in a way, he will have to back it out more often or cross over the rotating defender to get a good shot in the NBA.

I also think they hit the nail on the head in regards to Green's defense. He is not a very physical defender, but is good at keeping players in front of him 1-on-1. He's an accomplished on-ball defender who is good at getting steals, though some of that comes through playing the passing lanes. Off-the-ball, he does suffer through a little bit of ball-watching, a cardinal sin for a defender. But perhaps he was given the Kemba Walker treatment, which was basically just an admission that because he created so much for the Huskies on offense, he would HAVE to take the occasional play off on defense just to be able to stay fresh and in the game. If Green had to trade a little defense for his offensive output, I think it would be welcomed by Hokie fans despite how deficient the defense was as a unit. Green looks absolutely stupid on some of those plays in the video, but I feel like that's some of the worst I've seen from him. He was not that bad of an off-the-ball defender, though the video proves that he was prone to the occasional inattention and laziness off-the-ball that plagues the average player. Hokie fans know those plays are not an accurate representation of the effort that we were accustomed to seeing from Green on a nightly basis.

This stat to me is less important than nearly any other Draft Express has listed. I agree that 45% is too much, but pick and roll defense has a lot to do with who you're guarding, how successful the screen is and whether or not a teammate switches when the defense is designed to do that. For example, a score on a pick and roll could just be the result of an easy shot off of a good pick that eliminates a defender from the play, even if the defender would have played the pick and roll as well as he could have. Also, something that is exemplified on the video, when a team doesn't alert a player that he is about to be picked, it is very hard for that player to get over/under the screen in time to contest a shot or stay in front of the player. Green continually turns around after a made basket in this circumstance and begins to yell at his teammates for not doing what is required of them on those plays.

Again, this was addressed above, but I do think it is a concern going forward for Erick from a physical standpoint, especially as he will probably play as a combo-guard, meaning he'll defend his fair share of shooting guards. Can you imagine Erick trying to out-physical guys like Stephen Jackson, Joe Johnson, Paul George, O.J. Mayo or James Harden (though some of those guys play the small forward position occasionally, and George full-time this year with regular small forward Danny Granger missing the year with Patellar Tendonosis)? My guess is that would not be something Green would have much success with.

Currently, NBADraft.net has Green going to the Clippers with the 25th pick and Draft Express has Green going at No. 30 to the Phoenix Suns. UPDATE: GREEN IS NOW PROJECTED TO GO TO THE BROOKLYN NETS AT NO. 22 IN THE LATEST NBADRAFT.NET MOCK. It will be an eventful period leading up to the NBA Draft, as prognosticators try to project which team will want which player at what point. For Green, it just got even more interesting as it was announced today that Green would be invited to the NBA Draft Combine:

Just noticed former #Hokies PG Erick Green received an invite to the NBA Draft Combine in Chicago next wk. Big since most there get picked.
— Mark Giannotto (@HokiesJournal) May 10, 2013

Even though it seems like a lock Green will be picked in the 2013 NBA Draft, fans must exercise caution as former Hokie Zabian Dowdell was also hearing that he might be a late first-round pick (though the vast majority projected him as a second-rounder) nearing the draft, yet went undrafted.

In addition to trying to become the first first-rounder since Dell Curry in '86, Green will also try to become the first Hokie to be drafted since Deron Washington was selected with the second-to-last pick of the 2008 Draft.

For all of your Virginia Tech sports news, including continued posts about the awesomeness of Erick Green, keep a tab open with Gobbler Country and refresh like it's going out of style.

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Where Should Erick Green Be Drafted In The 2013 NBA Draft?

Virginia Tech To Face Michigan With Home-And-Home Series In 2020, 2021

2013-05-09T17:30:51Z

Minutes ago, it was announced that Virginia Tech and Michigan would be meeting up in a home-and-home series in 2020-2021, with the Hokies traveling to Ann Arbor first on Sept. 19, 2020 and the Wolverines visiting Blacksburg the following year on Sept. 11, 2021.

The games between the two teams will be the first chance for the Hokies to avenge a controversial overtime loss in the 2012 Sugar Bowl to the Wolverines by the score of 23-20.

The addition of Michigan to the regular season schedule highlights several home-and-home series that the Hokies have added to their schedule, beginning with Ohio State in 2014-15 and Wisconsin in 2016-17. The Hokies are officially 1-1 all-time against Big Ten teams in football, playing both in postseason play, beating Indiana 45-20 for the school's first bowl win in 1993 and the aforementioned loss to Michigan.

Hokiesports' future schedules section has not yet reflected the change, but this will be the link to visit once the game has been put up.

For more on the Michigan Wolverines, visit Maize and Brew. For more on Virginia Tech sports, don't touch that internet dial. You're on it, here at Gobbler Country.

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Was it a catch?

Hokies Left Out Of The ACC-Big Ten Challenge

2013-05-08T21:33:37Z

The ACC announced earlier today that the Virginia Tech basketball program would be one of three left out of the annual ACC-Big Ten Challenge that pits schools from each conference against each other in the attempt to build tournament résumé games and showcase their elite squads against those from the other conference.

The 15th Annual Big Ten/ACC Challenge Matchups Announced. #B1GACC Challenge will include 12 games played on Dec 3, 4. ow.ly/kPV30
— The ACC (@theACC) May 8, 2013

The Hokies, alongside of Clemson and Wake Forest were the three who did not qualify for the challenge as a result of low RPI's a year ago. By nature of the addition of new members, the ACC had to choose who would play and who wouldn't to make the numbers match up, much like they did post-ACC expansion in 2004 when one team had to sit out due to numbers before the Big Ten's addition of Nebraska.

It's official: #Hokies, along with Clemson and Wake Forest, will not take part in the 2013 ACC/Big Ten Challenge due to low RPIs from 2012.
— Mark Giannotto (@HokiesJournal) May 8, 2013

The question is, is this a bad thing? At face value, yes. The Hokies are losing what would be one of their marquee opponents in 2013-14 and the ability to potentially play on nationally television (not that they'd want to). The Hokies have also gone 3-5 in the competition, but all three wins have been over Iowa, a team that is far from the Big Ten elite. But as David Teel points out from his conversations with Virginia Tech Head Coach James Johnson:

@gobblercountry JJ is upgrading non-con schedule. Probably a wash.
— David Teel (@DavidTeelatDP) May 8, 2013

So is it tenable to lose a high-quality game that the Hokies probably would've lost anyway for the addition of other, marginal improvements to the non-conference schedule? Yes. I think so. While nobody would have wanted to be left outside the challenge, at least there's a silver lining: J.J. can increase the overall difficulty of the games in the non-conference portion of the Hokies' schedule.

For more on the Virginia Tech basketball programs, Gobbler Country is your #1 source for all things Hokies.

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How do you feel about the Hokies missing out on the ACC-Big Ten Challenge?

Is Drew Harris Still Solid With The Hokies?

2013-05-06T22:57:49Z

All the way back on the night of September 27, 2011, the Drew Harris saga began for the Hokies, as the Downingtown East High School running back committed to Virginia Tech. Harris, then ranked the No. 20 running back and a four-star by Rivals, became the source of intrigue for Virginia Tech faithful and bloggers alike. Our original write-up on his commitment can be found here (though the video has seemed to disappear).

Here is the general theme of what I saw in Harris:

"He is 6'2" 195-200 lbs. and runs a legit 4.47 40. He is the shiftiest guy I've ever seen at his size back there."

So Harris' power-to-speed ratio is impressive, as is his size as a running back at 6'1"/6'2" and around 215 pounds now. I felt that of the three backs the Hokies brought in with the 2012 class (though Harris still has yet to enroll and Jerome Wright was greyshirted) and Trey Edmunds, who was widely believed to be a college linebacker, Harris stood the best chance of helping the Hokies immediately, a hypothesis which never was able to be tested. I also thought that based on the tape of those four players, Harris would be the best every down running back. It is important to note as well that the Hokies have done best when they have multiple back systems, like they did from 2009-11 with Ryan Williams, Darren Evans and David Wilson. They also felt the after effects of not being able to have a suitable replacement lined up when they lost all three to the NFL within a calendar year. That's why getting Harris into the program is integral, as he is now a year behind Coleman and Holmes.

But after signing with the Hokies in 2012, it was discovered that Harris would have an issue qualifying per the NCAA Clearinghouse and would have to attend a year of post-grad, which he did at Fork Union Military Academy. Since that time, Harris has remained committed to the Hokies, even re-signing for the class of 2013. But yesterday there was an alarming break in the Harris story on Twitter by Norm Wood (at least among the Hokie beat writer contingent):

RB Drew Harris,who was going to be part of #Hokies 2013 recruiting class but had NCAA Clearinghouse problems, has received offer from FSU
— Norm Wood (@normwood) May 5, 2013

So? No big deal right? I mean, the guy has stayed committed to the Hokies throughout, and his high school teammate and close friend Jack Willenbrock is a scholarship member of the football team. And it's not like he's the first player to ever be offered while committed, nor the first one to be offered as kind of a shot in the dark (the whole, "if Florida State didn't get him, fine, but by offering him, they had nothing to lose" strategy). After all, Harris was re-ranked as the No. 9 prep player and the No. 1 prep running back in the country for 2013. But then Wood followed with this tweet.

Judging from Harris' excitement on Twitter (@hollacide) about FSU, I'm going to guess his interest is more than just passing. #Hokies
— Norm Wood (@normwood) May 5, 2013

And he wasn't embellishing things. In fact, It would even seem to be an undersell based on this tweet and subsequent tweets:

Received a Florida State offer today from Coach Senseri God is good twitter.com/Hollacide/stat…
— Drew Harris™ (@Hollacide) May 5, 2013

~~Harris hasn't said anything publicly regarding his commitment to Tech since that time~~.

UPDATE: AFTER SPEAKING WITH DREW HE TOLD ME THAT HE IS STILL SOLID TO VIRGINIA TECH AND HAS NOT SAID OTHERWISE.

Just got off the phone with Drew Harris. Says he's solid to Virginia Tech and hasn't said otherwise.
— GobblerCountry.com (@gobblercountry) May 7, 2013

He also told me that he didn't know the exact date that he would hear back from the NCAA Clearinghouse.
— GobblerCountry.com (@gobblercountry) May 7, 2013

So when will we know or have some kind of resolution? Well, according to this Mark Giannotto tweet from back in February:

Dont expect the Drew Harris issue to be resolved until June, at the earliest. 4 star RB, originally a 2012 commit, won't sign NLI today.
— Mark Giannotto (@HokiesJournal) February 6, 2013

Assuming nothing has changed since that time, we should know something about Harris in the next month or two. If he should decide to flip and commit to Florida State though, it will be heartbreaking for many Hokie fans who have seen tweets like these over the past months:

Drew Harris' dad says his son's intention is and always has been to sign with Virginia Tech. "That's what we've talked about." #Hokies
— Andy Bitter (@AndyBitterVT) February 7, 2013

Due to an error in paperwork sent to admissions at Va Tech I have to enroll in June I can choose to open up recruitment or stay committed
— Drew Harris™ (@Hollacide) January 15, 2013

#BEATALABAMA #hokiesforlife #HOKIENATION
— Drew Harris™ (@Hollacide) January 15, 2013

We here at Gobbler Country wish Drew the best in qualifying to enroll at whichever school he chooses, but of course we would be remiss if we didn't mention that we're very strongly hoping that school is Virginia Tech, because Drew is one of the gems of the Hokies 2012 and 2013 classes.

UPDATE: HARRIS' WORDS IN THIS ARTICLE BY NORM WOOD OF THE DAILY PRESS SEEMS TO SUGGEST THAT IT MIGHT NOT BE JUST A CLEARINGHOUSE ISSUE THAT IS KEEPING HARRIS FROM ENROLLING AT TECH. PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO HIS QUOTES ABOUT THE COACHING STAFF AND THEM POTENTIALLY WANTING ANOTHER RECRUIT.

For more recruiting news as well as comprehensive Virginia Tech sports coverage, Gobbler Country is your #1 option.

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SB Nation DC: All Posts by Chris Hatcher

Hokies In The Minor Leagues 5/22

Who will be the first Hokie to join Joe Saunders in the bigs?

Virginia Tech Falls At The Hands Of Kentucky In Regional Final Game 7

Erick Green Injured At Second Day Of NBA Draft Combine

Green Excels In First Day Of 2013 NBA Draft Combine

Erick Green's NBA Draft Express Scouting Video

Where Should Erick Green Be Drafted In The 2013 NBA Draft?

Virginia Tech To Face Michigan With Home-And-Home Series In 2020, 2021

Was it a catch?

Hokies Left Out Of The ACC-Big Ten Challenge

How do you feel about the Hokies missing out on the ACC-Big Ten Challenge?

Is Drew Harris Still Solid With The Hokies?

Where do you think Harris will end up?