Hokies Rely on Players Like "Funny Character" Tim Settle to Host Recruits on Official Visit Weekend

Virginia Tech's coaching staff frequently calls on current players to host recruits as they visit Blacksburg, but it's clear that no two Hokies have the same strategy when it comes to impressing their guests.

The staff enticed a bevy of top prospects to take their official visits to campus the weekend of Dec. 10-11, just one week removed from the team's ACC Championship loss, and each one got a chance to spend some quality time with their peers rather than just sticking with the coaches for the entire weekend.

For some, that meant getting a chance to see the lighter side of the players they see on ESPN each week. 2017 DE Victor Dimukeje of Baltimore's Boys' Latin School got just that sort of experience while hanging around DT Tim Settle for the weekend.

"He's a good guy, he's a funny character," Dimukeje told The Key Play. "I just enjoyed my time with him, since he's a D-linemen also. He just talked to me all about the school and how he felt as a freshman coming to the school, and how he loves it there. Everything I heard was great."

2017 WR commit Sean Savoy of Washington, D.C.'s Woodrow Wilson HS said freshman WR Eric Kumah offered him the same sort of lighthearted view of the VT experience.

"I stayed with him at his little house down there and we just had fun, playing the game," Savoy said.

But others got some frank truths about what they can expect from the college experience. 2017 OG commit Aiden Brown of Potomac, Md's Bullis School said his host, freshman OT T.J. Jackson, wasn't afraid to tell him what to expect from the big move to college.

"He basically said the adjustment is hard, especially for him because he only played one year of football before coming to college because he's a big basketball player," Brown said. "But he said the adjustment is different. It's requires way more self-discipline and basically it's just high school with a lot more free time and you have to figure out how to use it."

That sort of straight talk aside, Brown said Jackson also gave him plenty of insight into how the players keep things light with the coaches.

"I already knew Coach (Vance) Vice was great, and Coach Vice jokes around with T.J. a lot," Brown said. "The O-Line there is like a family, they've all got each other's backs and stuff, so he said it was pretty cool."

But Brown is no stranger to the close bonds among the players. He's been to campus several times now, and committed while in Blacksburg back in July, while the December visit was just Dimukeje's second trip to Tech.
He said he first visited just one week after the "Blacksburg Bash" that helped convince Brown to commit, and came away impressed with Tech's "peaceful, calm campus." But this time around, he got a real chance to see how the players actually interacted with each other, and he came away with a similar impression as Brown.

"It was just a family feeling, it was great," Dimukeje said.

Yet he also says that the coaches had plenty of a role to play in making him feel welcome. Though the players days' were largely dominated by campus tours and presentations on academics, Dimukeje said the staff frequently convened the recruits for big group lunches and dinners to make sure they got to know each other.

"I got to sit down with Coach (Justin) Fuente, Coach (Bud) Foster, Coach (Charley) Wiles, all the coaches were around me most of the time," Dimukeje said.

He said he first met Fuente back in July, and his conversations with the head Hokie only confirmed his initial observations of the man.

"He's just a calm, great coach," Dimukeje said. "Just a great man to be around, just his personality really attracts people. It was fun talking to him."

Dimukeje is also fond of Wiles, who told him that "he likes the way I play on film and "said I probably would play strictly D-end" rather than moving him around to linebacker at all. Based on what he's heard about Tech's depth at the position, Dimukeje said that's quite the good news indeed.

"I just want to earn my time and play as early as possible," Dimukeje said.

Savoy got a similar pitch from WRs coach Holmon Wiggins. With Isaiah Ford and Bucky Hodges possibly headed for the NFL draft, he said the coaches know exactly where he might be able to fit in when he gets on campus this summer to help the team fill some needs.

"They're just gonna put me in the slot and put the ball in my hands and put me in space, making guys miss," Savoy said. "Home-run plays, just trying to break them all."

Brown is a little less certain about where he exactly he might fit in along the offensive line, but he's already set up to get some more face time with Fuente and company to hammer out the details.

"I got to visit with Coach Fuente the last day before we left at breakfast one-on-one with my parents, and we scheduled a time where he can get a home visit, so it was pretty successful," Brown said.

After that, he suspects he'll come up for "a spring practice or the spring game" to get an even better feel for Blacksburg. Savoy is mulling spring visits as well, though he's "not sure yet" how he might make those trips.

Meanwhile, Dimukeje has one last visit planned as he tries to make his college pick. He's currently planning on visiting Duke for an official on Jan. 20, then he's hoping to commit once he can see campus again.

While the Hokies are surely anxious for an answer, Dimukeje said they're not showing it.

"They told me on the official to take my time with it, and make the best decision," Dimukeje said. "They didn't pressure me or anything."