2017 WR Kalil Pimpleton Ready to Play for a Coach With the "Same Mentality as Frank Beamer"

Pimpleton may be on the small side, but he thinks he can step in and contribute as a slot receiver right away.

2017 WR Kalil Pimpleton (3) poses with his Muskegon HS teammates at an April VT visit. [antwan_reed]

Standing at just 5'7", Kalil Pimpleton is realistic about why the Hokies decided to offer him.

The 2017 WR out of Muskegon (Mich.) HS understands that Justin Fuente doesn't see him as the next big outside receiver in his offense, using his strength and size to manhandle opposing defensive backs. Still, he's anxious to use quickness to ply his trade in Blacksburg all the same.

"What every coach likes is, of course, not my size, but the speed I have for me to get out to the outside, and the hands I've got and my quickness," Pimpleton told The Key Play. "So they say I'd be the slot receiver, kick returner, punt returner. They'd move me around however they can."

The rising senior committed to the Hokies in early May, even though Tech was the only Power 5 school to offer him (though he also had a scholarship on the table from Eastern Michigan). But based on how he might fit with Fuente's offense, and his impressions of the program as a whole, he didn't give a second thought to waiting to make his decision.

"It was just somewhere I could see myself playing for the next five years of my life," Pimpleton said. "They have a 100 percent graduation rate for their senior football players, and it's not all about football, it's about education, of course."

Yet, as early as the start of this year, Pimpleton says he didn't really know much about Virginia Tech at all. After all, the Hokies are hardly a local program to his Michigan high school.

Nevertheless, once the staff noticed his teammate, 2017 LB Andrew Ward, and sent him an offer in early March, they ended up extending one to Pimpleton just a few weeks later.

"I hadn't really spoken to them, the offer really came out of nowhere," Pimpleton said. "But they were speaking to my coach almost every day. I knew they'd offered Andrew, and that was cool, but I had no clue they were talking about me. But the day they offered me, that was pretty much the first time I'd ever talked to them."

He didn't wait long before getting a chance to see Blacksburg for himself. Pimpleton, Ward and several other Muskegon players headed down to Tech during their spring break in early April, and he got his first glimpse at Southwestern Virginia.

"We saw pretty much the whole facility, all of campus, and (the coaches) told us pretty much everything we need to know about it," Pimpleton said.

With spring practice going on, Pimpleton said the coaches had only a limited amount of time to talk with him on the trip, but he came away immensely impressed, especially with the new head Hokie.

"The coaching staff was great, a wonderful staff," Pimpleton said. "For them to bring in Justin Fuente, replacing Frank Beamer who was there for 30-some years, I know that they wouldn't bring in any old random guy, they'd bring in somebody who had the same mentality as Frank Beamer."

He also got along well with WRs coach Holmon Wiggins, calling him "very family oriented."

Pimpleton held off on making his decision for a few weeks after the trip, but ultimately pulled the trigger on May 8. He gave Fuente a call with the good news, and he says the coach was definitely "excited" that he was coming on board.

Pimpleton also got a chance to feel the love from defensive coordinator Bud Foster a few weeks later when he stopped by Muskegon.

"He went to visit another school and stopped over at my school on the way back and he was just saying that I'll make them better, a better program," Pimpleton said.

Going forward, Pimpleton is hoping to take an official visit to Blacksburg ("possibly" for a game during the season) though he's "undecided" if he wants to try and enroll early.

As he ponders that decision, he says he's hoping to amplify Tech's overtures to Ward, considering they've long talked about playing together.

"It's been our dream, we grew up together, and it's been our dream since we were kids," Pimpleton said. "Elementary (school), played ball together, all the way up until now. I don't think we've ever missed a year of ball together, so it'd be great to continue that."

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