BLACKSBURG -- Virginia Tech's football practice field was abuzz with action again yesterday afternoon, 189 high school players running routes, throwing passes and smacking their way past tackling dummies. This was the second of Tech's two summer camps, mainly for rising seniors, and some of the players who attended already were securing their transition from high school to college ball.
Like lineman David Wang, who has committed to Tech and plans to join his older brother, Ed, on the team next year. Or defensive end Justin Foxx, who received a scholarship offer from Tech in March and hopes to pick a school next month. Or defensive end James Gayle, who got his offer after yesterday's camp.
Then there were those players on the opposite side yesterday, the ones who relied on the camp to sell themselves. Defensive end Hakeem Vinson fell into this group, as did quarterback Josh Byrum, who seems to share little with Vinson other than the sting of having no scholarship offers heading into his senior year.
Vinson, 6-4 and 245 pounds, seemed to impress defensive line coach Charley Wiles during drills. After Vinson completed a drill, Wiles told him to immediately do it again so he could get another look. But Vinson admits that his grades lag behind his football skills. He is transferring this fall from South Johnston High in Four Oaks, N.C., to Mount Zion Christian Academy, up the road in Durham, where he will try to improve his grades.
"I just hate that I didn't get the offers right now," Vinson said. "If it wasn't for grades, I think I would have gotten an offer today."
Across the field, Byrum worked out for quarterbacks coach Mike O'Cain. Byrum came to Blacksburg with several teammates, including Foxx, from Victory Christian School in Charlotte, N.C. It was the fifth such camp Byrum has attended this summer, and he planned on going to Wake Forest's today.
Decently built at 6-2 and 180 pounds, Byrum hasn't done enough to receive a scholarship offer yet, though that's not for lack of trying. He transferred before last season to Victory Christian, a $6,000-a-year private school that had seven players earn scholarships from its 2006 team.
This summer, he already has driven 12 hours with teammates to a one-day camp at Missouri. Byrum knows that every throw at these camps could make a difference. If he doesn't get a football scholarship, he doubts his family can afford to send him to a major university. The first offer he gets, he'll probably take it, he said.
"I've got a lot on my shoulders right now," he said. "If I get a scholarship, it's all worth it."
. . .
Among those at the camp yesterday: Jelani Jenkins, regarded as one of the best outside linebacker recruits in the nation. Though Jenkins didn't participate, he came from his home in Silver Spring, Md., to see Tech's campus for the first time. His offers include Florida, Ohio State and Southern California.
Quarterback Kevin Newsome, from Western Branch High in Chesapeake, was not at the camp. He has committed to Michigan but might be wavering. Newsome's younger brother, Keevon, a rising junior defensive end, did attend.


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