Hokie Tracks are on Standby

Here's Monday's edition of Hokie Tracks a little early because I'm delayed at the airport and decided that writing a post on my iPhone would be a good idea. Apologies in advance for any typos. Real quick, here are a few site updates. If you haven't noticed yet I tweaked the layout of the site for the better, I think. More layout changes are coming, most of which will focus on a better designed forum. By the way, you can now hover over topics to get a preview of the post inside. A primary goal of this site is to make it the best Hokies community online. If you haven't registered yet, please consider doing so and join the conversation. If you are registered, but have kept quiet, post a link, picture, or start a discussion in the forum. Thank you all for making this place great! As always, any feedback on how to improve is appreciated.

Notre Dame. Swofford negotiating the re-up with the Orange Bowl despite a terrible showing by the conference was a power move. One of the few big plays left is for the league to wrangle in the Irish. Bart Wright speculates a prime time game in Charlotte against an ACC opponent might be enough  groundwork for such a move to happen in the near future. The ACC will need more than an annual kickoff game to sell the Irish, but it would be a great way to continue a strong relationship between the league and most coveted program in the nation.

 Recruiting, recruiting, recruiting. Kendall Fuller named Clemson and Virginia Tech as his top two schools. Michigan is trailing at third. He'll visit Tech on July 14th and Clemson on July 20th. He's previously said he'll announce his decision at the Army All-American game, but maybe a stellar visit at one of his favorites hurries the process along. Running back Derrick Green, who Rivals now ranks as the top player in Virginia, cut his list of offers to 13. Tech is among the bunch.  Shane has his work cut out for him With Alabama, Michigan, and Ohio State in the mix. Expect Green to take his time and make his decision towards the end of the cycle. Kyle Chung was in Blacksburg this weekend. I think Chung would transition very well from TE to OL (guard or frontside tackle). By all accounts Tech commit Holland Fisher got after it at "The Open".

 All your preseason magazine covers are belong to Logan Thomas.

 Tech Hoops will play in something called the Continental Tire Las Vegas Classic this December.

The Hokies will open play in the event with a pair of home games, Dec. 10 against Mississippi Valley State and Dec. 15 against Georgia Southern. The Hokies will then travel to Las Vegas and play in the evening sessions on Dec. 22 and 23. The three other teams competing in the evening sessions will be Colorado State, Bradley and Portland. Along with MVSU and Georgia Southern, Cal. State Bakersfield and North Florida will participate in the afternoon sessions.

The field is weak, but it's winnable and provides good experience in a tournament atmosphere.

Remember that one time Virginia Tech was going to begrudgingly join Conference USA? Mr. CFB's realignment piece from 1998 probably sounded convincing enough at the time. He even pegged the demise of the Big East (though he didn't foresee the cause). Today, its real merit is a caution to take any realignment speculation, no matter how logical it sounds, with a grain of salt.