Caleb ends speculation, chooses Virginia Tech

In the weeks leading up to National Signing Day, speculation about Joel Caleb’s college choice exploded across the Internet.

First, the Clover Hill senior supposedly had decided to sign with West Virginia.

Then it was Ohio State, which had made a late push behind new coach Urban Meyer.

Caleb even heard a rumor that he had secretly committed to Baylor, which really was news to him; the school was nowhere to be found when he trimmed his list to three finalists in December.

But as Caleb waited to take the stage and make his choice official in a packed Clover Hill auditorium last Wednesday, he wore the relaxed smile of a young man who realized that he alone knew what he was about to say.

Caleb made up his mind about two weeks earlier, but didn’t tell any of his friends. He didn’t tell his coaches or teammates. Heck, he didn’t even tell his mother.

And that’s the way Annette Bailey wanted it.

“I didn’t want to know,” she said. “Everybody has treated us so well. He had tremendous options. Regardless of who he chose, I would’ve been fine with it.”

At the same time, Bailey was hardly surprised when her son looked at the three hats sitting on the table in front of him and donned the maroon one with “Virginia Tech” in large white letters.

Bailey noted that Caleb was a big Hokies fan long before he became the most sought-after high school football player in Virginia. When he played a college football video game, he almost always chose to play as Virginia Tech.

Caleb, who will play wide receiver in college, acknowledged the opportunity to play for a program with Tech’s winning tradition and a coach like Frank Beamer was simply too good to turn down. But he suggested that, in his final analysis, there was another, far simpler factor that elevated the Hokies above his other two finalists.

“They always showed me they wanted me,” Caleb said. “They were the ones who recruited me the hardest.”

That didn’t change even after Beamer shuffled his staff – his son, Shane, replaced longtime assistant Jim Cavanaugh as Caleb’s lead recruiter – and Caleb suffered a torn meniscus in his knee that limited him to just seven games in his senior season.

Caleb credited both Cavanaugh and the younger Beamer for doing a great job of recruiting him. Frank Beamer closed the deal and Bailey said she felt comfortable with the family atmosphere at Virginia Tech.

“They’re all very good people. I knew if he picked them, they would take very good care of him,” she added.

Caleb, a 6-3, 210-pounder with a mesmerizing mix of strength, speed and agility, has been a Virginia Tech recruiting target since he put up more than 2,000 yards of total offense as a sophomore quarterback in Clover Hill’s spread offense.

He finished his high school career with 6,400 yards of total offense and accounted for 81 touchdowns.

Along the way, he received more than 30 scholarship offers and was wooed by some of the nation’s most powerful football schools.

“The only thing I told him was, ‘Don’t get into a situation where you’re committing and de-committing,’” Clover Hill coach Sean O’Hare said. “He was very mature about how he handled the whole recruiting process.”

That didn’t mean his decision was easy.

Of his three finalists, Virginia Tech runs by far the most conservative offensive system. While both Holgorsen and Meyer prefer to spread the field with multiple receivers, Beamer’s offenses have been better-known for sending running backs to the NFL than racking up huge passing numbers.

Caleb believes that will change with strong-armed Logan Thomas at quarterback for the next two seasons. The Hokies lose both of their starting receivers (Danny Coale and Jarrett Boykin) from the team that fell to Michigan in the Sugar Bowl, meaning the door is certainly open for Caleb to come in and play as a true freshman.

“I’m doing everything I can to come in and make an impact right away, but that’s up to the coaches,” he said. “I’m just anxious to get there and do my part.”