Less than a week ago Baltimore (Md.) Gilman School defensive end Mattheus Carroll announced a top three of Duke, Maryland, and Virginia Tech. The pandemic and recruiting dead period didn’t allowed Carroll to take many visits throughout the process but he settled on these three finalists because he’s been to these schools before and has great relationships with the coaches. Virginia Tech was able to sway Carroll their direction because of the amount of attention they showed him and the expertise of their defensive line coaches.
WHY IT'S BIG FOR VIRGINIA TECH
Carroll is a versatile edge prospect that has plenty of room to grow. He's probably going to end up putting his hand in the ground more often than not at Virginia Tech, but look for him to drop into coverage a good bit, and possibly taking on tight ends and running backs down the field. He has that athleticism to be a really special prospect in the Virginia Tech system as long as he develops physically and plays within the system. As an edge rusher, Carroll shows the explosiveness and balance to consistently get into the backfield but he'll need to get much stronger. Once that happens, his hand techniques will become more effective against the talented offensive linemen he'll face at the college level.
TEAMS IT HURTS THE MOST
Maryland and Duke could have used another defensive end/edge prospect to like Carroll but both teams have other targets that they're looking at. Maryland has done a great job stocking up on defensive linemen in this class and could be looking more towards an outside linebacker prospect than a defensive end. Duke has done a good job, making sure that they keep up the relationships they need to end up with a solid defensive front in this class. Carroll would have been a nice piece to add, but they certainly have other targets out there.
