Inside HOKIE SPORTS | Vol. 12 No. 3 | January 2020

24 Inside Hokie Sports Hearp Financial, LLC Strategies By Tech Fans, For Tech Fans, and more Todd F. Hearp is a Registered Representative and Investment Adviser Representative of, and securities and investment advisory services offered solely by Equity Services Inc. Member FINRA/SIPC, 4401 Starkey Road, Roanoke, VA 24018, (540) 989-4600. Hearp Financial, LLC. and Eddie Hearp are independent of Equity Services, Inc. TC108373(0619)1 4401 Starkey Road, Roanoke, VA 24018 www.nfservicesinc.com • Hearp_Todd@nlvmail.com Strategies For Seeking a Safe Retirement Todd F. Hearp Class of ‘89 Eddie F. Hearp Class of ‘65 Proud to Support Virginia Tech Athletics (540) 989-4600 Our firm provides policy analysis reviews for all existing life insurance policies with any company to confirm how long death benefit will last, to ensure that policy contains all available non tobacco discounts, living benefit riders, and that your beneficiary and ownership are up-to-date. • Investment Services • Insurance Services • Retirement Planning • Estate Planning Strategies • Premium Financed Life Insurance for Estate Protection & Charitable Planning • Guaranteed Lifetime Income Strategies • IRA/401(K) Rollovers “We certainly made a concerted effort to get bigger,” Fuente said. “Marco is a big, strong, young man. I think Jalen is just touching what he can be size-wise. He’s got a chance in a year or two to be a bigger person, and Jordan is a little more developed already. He’s a 210- , 212-pound guy that is pretty far along from a physical standpoint. So we did make a concerted effort to get bigger. We do have some smaller guys that I really, really like. I think we have a chance to have something really special back there a couple of different styles. I don’t want them all to look the same.” In addition to adding four tailbacks, Tech’s staff also added two offensive linemen, a tight end and a receiver to the Hokies’ offense. Tech’s offensive line lost three players, with Tyrell Smith graduating, Joe Kane transferring to Elon University in North Carolina, and Will Pritchard giving up the sport because of head injuries. To make up for that attrition, Tech’s staff signed 6-7, 270-pound Parker Clements from Lugoff, South Carolina, and Kaden Moore, a 6-3, 305-pounder from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Both were rated among the top 20 prospects in their respective states by Rivals. Tyree Saunders, a 6-0, 174-pounder from Jacksonville, Florida, gives Tech a dynamic playmaker at the receiver position, while Wilfried Pene is an intriguing tight end prospect from France by way of St. Thomas More School in Oakdale, Connecticut. 247Sports rated Pene the No. 3 overall prep school prospect in the nation and the No. 1 tight end prospect. He also played defensive end at St. Thomas More. “I think he’s a guy that could play on either side of the ball in his career,” Fuente said. “Obviously, a unique situation. We have a punter from Australia and a tight end from France. Not a hotbed for college football recruiting. He’s a guy we’ve known about for some time. He came to the United States to have a chance to play college football. He ended up at a prep school in Connecticut. “We have just tracked and tracked and tracked and got a chance to see him live, and we’re really excited about what he can do. He’s an aggressive, athletic guy, with great size and strength. He enjoys the weight room. He taught himself English in a year on his own with no class. He just jumped right in to taking classes and did not speak English when he started. There’s something about people like that, in my opinion.” To round out the class, Fuente and his staff signed three defensive back prospects—Rudolph, the lone in-state signee; Dorian Strong, a 6-0, 160-pounder from Upper Marlboro, Maryland; and Keonta Jenkins, a 6-3, 180-pounder from Jacksonville. Tech’s staff needed to bring in defensive backs after losing both Reggie Floyd and Jovonn Quillen to graduation, and following next season, the Hokies lose four more (JeremyWebb, Khalil Ladler, Divine Deablo, and Tyree Rodgers). Fuente praised his staff’s camp set-up for helping with this class. For example, Strong and Saunders were byproducts of the Hokies’ camps, and one can assume that Fuente and his staff will continue with those going forward. “We want to see them run, watch themwork and interact with them,” Fuente said. “To me, that’s part of it—having a chance to work on the field with them. And Tyree was one of those guys. Great personality, highly intelligent and obviously a big skill set. They couldn’t get him the ball this year. They just couldn’t. They had quarterback issues and that sort of stuff, so they couldn’t get him the ball, but he was fantastic in camp. “The one that came out of nowhere was Dorian Strong. Never heard of him, didn’t know anything about him. He comes to camp, runs really, really fast, is really long and competes the entire day. We bring him on to campus a week later, meet him, talk to him, offer him a scholarship and he commits on the spot and he has a great senior year … We saw several of these guys work out live. It really makes you feel pretty excited about them.” The second signing period for football prospects starts Feb. 5. Though he left the door open, Fuente didn’t anticipate the Hokies adding anyone during that period. “We’ll meet that when we go forward,” he said. “But I’m just excited about what we were able to add today.” Defensive line and running backs the focus of 2019-20 Techrecruitingclass Continued from page 23