The Virginia Tech Hokies put together a very good 2017 recruiting class headlined by borderline five-star guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker but with MJ Walker choosing Florida State, the Hokies are finished with high school recruiting in the Class of 2017 and can fully shift to the Class of 2018 where they already have a commit in three-star guard Jarren McAllister.
We can expect that Virginia Tech ill look to sign three or four players from the Class of 2018 with there likely being a heavy emphasis on wings with Justin Bibbs and Ty Outlaw graduating after this season along with this being Devin Wilson's last season. McAllister likely will be a shooting guard though at his size (6'3''), it definitely is possible that the Hokies could look to use him some at the point when he gets to Blacksburg.
That means the Hokies are likely to try to add one or two more wings to their class and for now, VT is in great shape with one shooting guard they've offered.
Keonte Kennedy told us that Virginia Tech leads in his recruitment followed by Texas Tech with VCU and Tulane not far behind among those that have offered. Meanwhile, Florida State, Florida, and Virginia have shown lots of interest in Kennedy and while they haven't offered yet; they aren't far behind VT and Texas Tech with those schools being able to contend for Kennedy if they choose to offer him.
Kennedy is a solid, under-the-radar guard that has a solid offer list that includes Virginia Tech, Texas Tech, VCU, Tulane, Tulsa, South Florida, Middle Tennessee State, UT-Arlington, Louisiana Tech, Rice, and others. Kennedy has been flying under-the-radar so far with ESPN having as a two-star recruit though that is almost certain to rise while no other sites currently have Kennedy rated at this point.
When we asked Kennedy why Virginia Tech was in the lead for him, this is what he told us.
"Coach Buzz Williams is as good as any coach out there. I have built really good connections with Williams and two of the assistants, Coach Roc (Steve Roccaforte) and Coach Webster (Christian Webster). In a short amount of time, Coach Williams has turned VTech's program around. In just his third season, he made the NCAA Tournament."It is clear that Buzz Williams is a significant reason why the Hokies lead for Kennedy at this point while both Steve Roccaforte and Christian Webster have unsurprisingly proven to be assets in recruiting Kennedy. Kennedy told us that Virginia Tech, Texas Tech, VCU, UT-Arlington, and Florida are the schools recruiting him the hardest; a likely sign that the Gators are at least heavily considering offering him soon. Kennedy's recruitment has definitely taken off over the past couple of months but he also appears ready to begin trimming down his list soon with Kennedy looking at cutting down his list to 3 or 5 before school starts up along with possibly making a decision before then. At this point, it appears very likely that Kennedy will make a decision before the first signing period for 2018 basketball recruits though that definitely isn't set in stone either. Currently, Virginia Tech is the leader and favorite to get Kennedy and while Kennedy may not be heavily regarded nationally, Buzz Williams has been known for finding gems whether that be in getting Jimmy Butler out of JUCO when he was at Marquette or developing Zach LeDay from a player struggling to get minutes at USF to an All-ACC caliber player. Williams has a good eye for finding talent that fits his system and Kennedy appears to fit that mold. Virginia Tech leads for Keonte Kennedy but they still have a lot of work to do to seal the deal with teams like Texas Tech, VCU, and Tulane all in hot pursuit along with schools like Florida, Florida State, and Virginia looming.
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