Hokies Anxiously Awaiting a "Surprise" Decision from 2017 DE Zion DeBose

While the vast majority of high school recruits will end the suspense and announce their college choices on Feb. 1, also known as National Signing Day, 2017 DE Zion DeBose of Spencer, N.C.'s North Rowan HS is planning to keep everyone in the dark for an extra 48 hours.

And by everyone, DeBose means absolutely everyone — he says he won't even tell his mom about his decision before his Feb. 3 announcement.

But DeBose says that particular mystery is her choice, not his.

"That's my mother's birthday, and she specifically asked me for, as a gift, she wants me to even surprise her, she doesn't want to know where I'll end up going," DeBose told The Key Play. "So that's going to be her surprise. I'm just going to do this signing party, pick a school, that's going to be a surprise. Because I honestly feel like this is probably my last time spending time with her for her birthday before I go off to college for the next four years, because I won't be home too much. So I wanted to make it special for her before I end up going off to school."

Yet DeBose's family won't be the only ones waiting with bated breath for the news about the DE's decision; the Hokies have emerged as a key contender for DeBose's services after offering him late last month.

"Honestly, I was excited, but at the same time, it was more of a closure type feeling," DeBose said. "I knew it was coming, so it was like, 'Finally, I got the offer.' But at the same time it was still exciting because it was just a blessing and a gift to have the talents to compete at such a high level, especially Division I football, so it was just a pretty good feeling."

Indeed, the Hokies have kept tabs on DeBose for a while now. He camped at Tech early in 2016, but he committed to Appalachian State in July. Yet DeBose still earned a trip to Blacksburg for the team's beatdown of ECU in September, and he de-committed soon afterward.

But through it all, DeBose says DL coach Charley Wiles and the rest of Tech's staff never stopped watching his progress, culminating in the offer right before Christmas.

"He told me that him and the defensive staff have been watching me my whole senior year, and they've just been watching how great I've been doing and how dominant I've been," DeBose said. "And they say that's what they've been looking for, for somebody who they want to come up and play for them at Virginia Tech and they pulled the trigger. They told me they've been watching me and they're really excited about how I play the game and how I fit their program and stuff like that."

Yet DeBose noted that he hasn't yet gotten the full pitch from Wiles and company about what sort of chance he'll have to earn early playing time or how he'll fit into the defense. Luckily, he expects to get two different chances to learn a little more about the program.

With the dead period ending on Jan. 11, DeBose says TEs/special teams coach James Shibest is ready and willing to line up an in-home visit, along with Wiles and possibly even Justin Fuente.

"(Shibest) DM'd me and told me about just how fired up they are about being able to come down here," DeBose said.

And by the end of January, DeBose is hoping to see Blacksburg in person once more. He's set an official visit for Jan. 27, where he's hoping learn more about every facet of life at Virginia Tech, including the academic side of things.

"I'm hoping to see their architectural program along with their civil engineering program, and I'm looking forward to spending a lot of time with the coaches and being able to get to know them, kind of see where their head is at," DeBose said. "Just see what type of person they are, if they're cool, laid back, easy coaches to talk to. I also want to spend a lot of time with some of the players so I can actually get a feel for the reality of it, the reality of how it really feels to be at Virginia Tech as a football player, the ins and outs. Is it difficult balancing football, academics, and stuff like that, so that's what I'm really going to go see."

The official visit will be DeBose's final official before he makes his big decision. He says he visited Missouri on Dec. 9, and he's planning a trip to Illinois on Jan. 13 and one to Pitt on Jan. 20.

By the time his hectic January is over, DeBose is hoping to have all the information he needs to make his decision. Whether he'll be surprising just his mom with that choice, or the Hokies as well, will likely come down to how those trips go.

"I plan on finding all that stuff out and getting all my questions answered," DeBose said.