2016 DE Nick Coe Visits Blacksburg for Junior Day, Comes Away with VT Offer

Virginia Tech defensive line coach Charley Wiles first met 2016 defensive end Nick Coe of North Carolina's Asheboro HS almost entirely by accident.

Wiles was swinging through the state on a recruiting trip in January when he stepped in to Asheboro head coach Owen George's office.

"He said he was coming down to eyeball our big defensive end," George said. "And it was ironic, just as he was walking into my office, Nick was walking out."

Coe's 6"6", roughly 260-pound frame clearly left an immediate impression.

"He just goes, 'that must be him, he looks as big as he does on film,'" George said. "After they met, he was just begging me to get him to campus in February, saying 'please make this happen.'"

George came through for Wiles, convincing him to take a trip to Blacksburg for the team's Junior Day. He headed up for his first look at campus accompanied by Asheboro's offensive line coach, who just happened to be a big Hokies fan.

"I just loved campus, meeting all the coaches," Coe said. "Walking into the facility was just so great."

Coe also got to spend more quality time with Wiles after their first meeting in passing, but he also spent a little time with the head Hokie.

"I spent most of my time with Coach Wiles, but I also got to meet with Coach Beamer in his office, shake his hand," Coe said.

But for all of his positive experiences with the Hokies, the program still had yet to formally offer him a scholarship. That changed almost as soon as he left Blacksburg.

"Just as Nick was leaving, I reached out to Coach Wiles to tell him he had a great time and thank him for the hospitality, and then he hit me right back saying they were offering him," George said. "Then I called Nick and gave him the news ASAP."

Coe was caught a bit off guard by the sudden offer, but given his connections to the area, it was hardly an unwelcome surprise.

"I was very excited, just getting it as I was going home," Coe said. "I could definitely see myself going there. It's just so close to my hometown in Virginia, Richmond."

It's clear that once Wiles got an up close look at the size that's helped Coe earn a 4-star rating on the 247Sports Composite ranking, he could barely stand the thought of him leaving campus without an offer.

But George notes that Coe's size isn't the only thing Tech's DL coach appreciates.

"Nick is a wrestler as well, one of the best in the state," George said. "And Coach Wiles said he also wrestled back in the day, and he really appreciates that wrestler mentality, because it's all about leverage. That's why so many former wrestlers are so successful."

Coe isn't just your run of the mill high wrestler either; he won the title bout at 285 pounds National High School Coaches Association's national championships as a sophomore last year.

George says Coe even got to get a look at Tech's wrestlers on his visit, stopping by the team's match against Pitt at the Moss Arts Center.

But even though George notes that wrestling each weekend while also crisscrossing the coast for campus visit has been taxing for Coe, he thinks his experience on the mat is indispensable.

"He's one of the best conditioned kids on the whole team," George said. "And that's because of his wrestling experience, he's always in such good shape."

George says Coe's time wrestling also keeps his weight in flux pretty regularly, as he tends to check in anywhere from 250 to 275 pounds on any given day.

That constant change has made it difficult for coaches to determine exactly where he might fit on the defensive line at the next level.

"(UNC defensive coordinator) Gene Chizik was saying he'd keep him at DE, but Coach Wiles said for them it really either/or," George said. "Nick carries his weight really well, he has a slender body type. He came in this summer at 275, 278 pounds and looked great. It'll just be about once he gets in program if he can add the weight and keep the speed and agility."

Coe certainly has the frame to play tackle, even if the bulk of his high school experience has been at end.

"He's mostly outside, just because when we get in passing situations, we want to set Nick free off the edge," George said. "It's about what we've got personnel-wise too. But he's definitely fast, he runs a 4.78 40(-yard dash)."

The rising senior doesn't seem overly concerned about where he plays on the line, just long as he can keep creating havoc for opposing offenses.

"I love getting past the offensive line, getting sacks," Coe said. "I had 19 sacks and 15 tackles for loss last year. I just love getting in the backfield."

George thinks Coe can be such a disruptive force on the edge that he needs to learn to deal with one inevitable problem for any talented rusher: holding.

"He's got to work on his hands some, his rips and swims, just to stop offensive linemen from holding," George said. "I told the refs last year he was getting held every play, and you could see him getting frustrated with it. But I told him, 'if you want to get the flags, get better with your hands.' It's all about hand placement."

Like any good high school coach, George also wants him to keep his focus on his academics.

"He got off to kind of a slow start in the classroom freshman year, but he's been on a slow, steady incline ever since," George said. "We just need to prepare him for being an independent student-athlete, because it definitely gets harder once you go off on your own."

But Coe still has plenty of offseason left to take some time for his recruitment on top of his training and schoolwork, and he plans to use it.

Coe notes that West Virginia, North Carolina and Tech make up the three schools he's most interested in, and vice versa, but he's also starting to hear more from Old Dominion.

"He's had a chance to talk with the coaches a lot in person from Virginia Tech and Carolina a lot now, and I think he wants that chance with West Virginia too," George said.

Coe says he has yet to make any concrete plans to return to Tech for spring practice or summer camp, but George thinks another visit is definitely in the cards.

"With all his family in the area, I bet he'd hop on the opportunity to spend a long weekend there," George said.

If George proves as persuasive as he was when he first coaxed George to Junior Day, then it seems another Blacksburg trip is a very strong possibility indeed.

"I've always told him I won't push him any one way, but I will push him to do the right thing and help his mom see all the schools," George said. "Nick comes from a single parent home, so I think she's got to see the schools in spring and summer, see campus, and I think that will play a big role."