On Tuesday night, Woodbridge (VA) defensive end Da’Shawn Hand revealed his top five schools. The standout junior did so via Twitter.
“My TOP 5 list: ALABAMA, MICHIGAN, NORTH CAROLINA, SOUTH CAROLINA, VIRGINIA TECH,” he wrote.
Hand also indicated that Ohio State is no. 6 on his list. He added, though, that he is ”sticking with my top 5.”
The 6’5″, 250-pound prospect, in the conversation as perhaps the no. 1 overall player in the nation in the class of 2014, racked up 78 solo tackles with 28 tackles for loss and 16 sacks this past season. He earned scholarship offers from major schools all across the country before narrowing the field to 10 and now to five.
Hand has visited Virginia Tech several times, noting previously that he has a great relationship with Hokies defensive coordinator Bud Foster. He also plans to major in Civil Engineering, another plus for the Hokies.
In an in-depth interview with TechSideline.com (subscription required) last June, Hand said he would “probably” announce his college choice around Signing Day in February of 2014.
Right now Alabama is in pretty good position to get whoever they want. That’s the perks of being MNC. The shiny car on the show room floor is easy to sell to the salivating buyer.
Hand and Green (RB at Hermitage in Richmond) are goners to Alabama. If we got either one it would be a major coup. But we need a stable of these type players to challenge for championships, otherwise they just go to waste in our system even as great a coach as Bud is.
Green is being talked about as having Michigan being the team to beat for him. Thats all I’ve heard on 247 sports about green.
People need to take their O&M goggles off. We have no shot getting him unless he is really and I mean really serious about the Engineering thing. Alabama consistently puts players in the NFL especially on defense, so it doesn’t matter if he ends up at 3-4 LB or 3-4 DE there. I am actually concerned about Fisher as well, because if I am him watching the Bama game on Monday night I am having second thoughts. This is why we really need a splash in hiring an OC like Hamilton who is a proven national recruiter.
Wish you would stick to bashing UVa and leave the negatives on the Hokies off.
Hope that DE DeMarcus Walker’s surprise switch from his Alabama verbal to FSU right after the national championship doesn’t strengthen Alabama’s hand in this recruitment …
Hand would have to be a literal genius to be both a star on the football team and major in civil engineering (regardless of where he goes). At the schools listed, both are full-time jobs unto themselves.
Agree, would be very difficult to do both. Some have in the past.
Chris Smith was star on basketball court and ChE grad.
Mike Johnson was star on football field and Architecture grad.
I do not know of any in recent years.
North Carolina doesn’t doesn’t offer engineering majors. Michigan is probably the top ranked engineering program on his list. VT isn’t far behind. Alabama a distant third. USC is weak in engineering.
I was surprised when I recently learned that UNC does offer some degrees in engineering, but certainly not the number of engineering majors offered at Tech.
I was also surprised when I learned that JMU has engineering program.
There is a rumor that Mr. Jefferson’s special school in C’ville is talking about starting an E school (tic).
Could we possibly sell the Building Construction degree to him? Still takes a lot of time, but pretty closely related and not quite as challenging. Kinzer and Pickle have done it.
I got a Masters in Engineering from Bama. VT is much better in engineering than Bama.
If Bud got all the players Alabama gets,no question they would always be the number 1 defense. How few players do we get who are ready to play when they get here.Alabama second string are mostly 4 star players.I think we will make a lot better showing if no one leaves for the pros,and the offense ever shows up they have a good shot at beating Alabama.
I honestly don’t know how you compete with Alabama in situations like this. I mean if he’s dead set on engineering and really wants to pursue that then Tech would be an obvious choice. But playing for Nick Saban and probably having legitimate shots to go the national championship every year he plays, and probably winning one or two while there is hard to pass up in my opinion.
Yes Bud Foster is known for his great defensive mind. He is a great DC. But Alabama’s D is nothing to scoff at either. That is a point of pride of theirs as well.
How Michigan is in the fray I have no idea. Hopefully the Hokies last but to me it’s hard to pass up Alabama with their record of success. Again, unless your priorities have school above football. We’ll see.
Yeah, competing with Bama will be tough. I think VT can gain the upper hand in two areas.
1) Relationships – VT is likely going to have the same D coordinator the entire time Hand is in school. That isn’t necessarily going to be the case at Bama as Smart will likely take a HC position elsewhere in the next year or two. VT is also physically closer to Hand’s home so it provides his family more of an opportunity to see him play and VT can theoretically have more exposure to him during the recruiting process.
2) Exposure – Yes, Bama as an overall defense is going to have more exposure than VT but Hand will unquestionably be the prized recruit on the defense. That would be questionable on the Bama defense. Hand could be the anchor and the face of the VT defense, which is something that would be much more difficult to achieve at Bama where he is one of a few different 5 star recruits.
Hopefully Hand wants to play close to home and has a good relationship with Bud Foster. That is the key to having him stay in state IMO.
IMHO, our ace cards in this particular recruitment battle are …
a) Bud Foster and the reputation of VT’s defense (Also, our style of defense works in our favor. In a 4-3 defense, the defensive ends are expected to be playmakers. In Alabama’s 3-4 defense, their job is to occupy blockers so that the LBs can roam free and make the tackles, although in fairness, a lot of the time Alabama brings their LBs up to the line so they look just like DEs.)
b) The quality of VT’s engineering programs
c) The fact that we’re his home state school and, out of all of his finalists, are the closest to his home in Woodbridge, meaning that his family and friends can more easily come to see him play.
d) At VT he’d have the chance to do something that’s never been done before: Bring a national championship home to the state of Virginia.
Put all that together, and I think we have as good a shot at Mr. Hand as any of the other four.
Alabama may be your top pick if you were a 5-star football prospect, but that doesn’t mean it would be everyone’s top pick. (It certainly wouldn’t be mine)
There are a million things that go into a college choice for a high school senior – whether it’s a regular student or a top prospect.
It’s not just about who has the “best” program. A winning program is kind of a baseline requirement but there are tons of other things ranging from distance from home, relationship with coaches & other players, playing time, curriculum at the school, where friends from h.s. are going, etc etc.
Are the Engineering buildings going to be locked when he visits like the Arhcitecure building was when that last 5 star was visiting who specifically mentioned a program of VT’s he is really interested in? I won’t even attempt to spell his name, but I’m pretty sure I recognized him on the field for Bama the other night.
Kidding, kind of.
Cyrus Kouandjio is what you’re looking for. He is number 71 and started at Left Tackle for Alabama.