Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports
The Virginia Tech Hokies wrapped up a strong Junior Day event this weekend with some good news: a verbal commitment from safety Kalen McCain from Hillside High School in Durham, North Carolina.
The 6-foot-1, 175-pound defensive back is the fifth verbal commitment to the Hokies for the class of 2014. Other than McCain, the Hokies have lured tight end Xavier Burke (Lawrenceville, VA), defensive end Vincent Mihota (Fredericksburg, VA), running back Marshawn Williams (Hampton, VA), and safety Javon Harrison (Lakeland, FL). McCain is choosing the Hokies over Louisville, North Carolina State and Georgia Tech.
Many things attracted McCain to the Hokies, the first being Hokies defensive backs coach Torrian Gray. Gray carries the reputation of being an excellent recruiter and a players coach: two qualities that go hand-in-hand.
Besides the coaching staff, it was the style of the defense as a whole. The Hokies traditionally employ one of the stingiest defenses nationally, and they have a fantastic history of putting their players, especially defensive players, in the NFL.
McCain will be a good fit in defensive coordinator Bud Foster‘s various defensive backfields. Foster loves players in the secondary that are essentially interchangeable, thus making versatility a necessity.
That works well for McCain, who has no problem of playing either free safety or cornerback. If anything, even though he’s be recruited as a safety, he’ll probably play corner at the collegiate level, just because of how strong his man-to-man coverage skills are.
Next up for McCain will probably be to start recruiting a few of his high school teammates to join him in Blacksburg. Two of his current teammates already claim Hokies scholarship offers: running back Donte Thomas-Williams and receiver Trevion Thompson, both of whom are considered four-star prospects by rivals.com.
Rick Stavig is a National Recruiting Columnist for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @rickstavig or add him to your network on google.
