A year ago, Augie Conte never dreamed he would play college football at a major Division I school.
But after the past few months, which Conte could describe only as "pretty crazy," he committed to Virginia Tech, choosing the Hokies over Virginia and Old Dominion.
He is Tech's 22nd commitment for the Class of 2012, the 13th from the state of Virginia and ninth (including eight in-state) who also had an offer from the Cavaliers. Tech leads the head-to-head battle 9-3, 8-3 for in-state recruits.
A tackle, Conte is the Hokies' second offensive lineman in his class. Four of their five returning starters up front this season will be seniors.
But numbers don't begin to capture Conte's interesting story.
"I can guarantee you, if you told me I'd be playing for Virginia Tech a year ago, I would have called you a liar," Conte said.
Conte, who is 6-foot-6 and 270 pounds, lives in Richmond and plays for Blessed Sacrament Huguenot in Powhatan. He enrolled there last year after being home schooled through his sophomore year because he had a learning disability when he was younger.
He previously played for the Central Virginia Home School Disciples, and was an under-the-radar player who didn't begin playing football until he was a freshman.
He was named honorable mention All-Metro last year and first-team all-state in Division IV of the Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association.
College coaches stopped by during the spring recruiting period. Old Dominion was the first to offer a scholarship.
"I quite honestly thought I was a Division I-AA prospect, just because a lot of college coaches didn't know about me and weren't that interested in me," he said. "Apparently, they think otherwise."
During those spring visits, Virginia and Tech both invited him to their one-day summer camps, with Tech represented by new assistant and Richmond-area recruiter Shane Beamer.
Virginia didn't offer a scholarship after its camp in June. Tech offered three days after its camp July 9. Later that day, Virginia also offered. What if Virginia had offered first?
"I probably would have accepted, just because that was kind of my school I wanted to go to," said Conte, whose mother attended Virginia and whose father grew up in Charlottesville. "I've always been kind of a U.Va. fan growing up."
Conte is not ranked among Rivals' top 30 players in the state. Because he plays at a small school — he expects Blessed Sacrament to have about 25 players this season — he knows there might be questions about how he will handle college competition.
"Of course, going from high school to college is going to be hard regardless," he said. "But I think I'll be able to handle it."
U.Va gets commitment from wide receiver
The University of Virginia received a commitment from standout Anthony Cooper of Bayside High School in Virginia Beach.
Cooper, a 6-foot, 175-pound wide receiver, chose the Cavaliers over Tennessee and Vanderbilt. He has received a mix of three and four stars from recruiting services, and scored 16 touchdowns as a receiver last season.
He was named to the all-Beach District first team as a receiver, defensive back and return man, but was recruited by U.Va. as a receiver.
As a kick returner, he returned a kick 50 yards for a touchdown in last year's Eastern Region championship game, leading Bayside to the title.
In addition to the three finalists, he received offers from other schools, including Boston College and East Carolina.
Four Liberty players honored
Four Liberty players have garnered preseason FCS All-America honors.
Wide receiver Chris Summers and kicker Matt Bevins were first-team All-Americans, and quarterback Mike Brown and nose guard Asa Chapman were included on the second-team All-America annual preseason listing. In total, 116 players were selected to the first, second, third and fourth Phil Steele 2011 Preseason FCS All-America teams.
Darryl Slater
and Michael Phillips
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