Kevin Bronson is headed to South Florida, not Virginia Tech
By Tim Thomas
Oct 12, 2013; Blacksburg, VA, USA; Virginia Tech Hokies head coach Frank Beamer walks down the sidelines during the game against the Pittsburgh Panthers at Lane Stadium. The Hokies defeated Pitt 19-9. Mandatory Credit: Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports
The Virginia Tech Hokies did a solid job of recruiting for the Class of 2013 and made a late surge right before National Signing Day. This surge led to the addition of a few more players to the Hokies’ recruiting class including 4-star wide receiver Isaiah Ford. Another one of the additional commitments for the Hokies was 3-star DE Kevin Bronson from Delray Beach, Florida.
Despite being a three-star and not a four or five star, there was a lot of hype around Kevin Bronson being one of those under the radar recruits from a big state. Bronson also already had above-average size at 6-4 and 233 pounds which was definitely something that very much intrigued many. Bronson seemed like a future starting defensive end for the Hokies when he committed to Virginia Tech.
However, Bronson will not be headed to Blacksburg via this tweet from Wells Dusenbury of ESPN 106.3.
Big area recruiting news: #VaTech DE signee Kevin Bronson (Village Academy) has been granted a scholarship release. Will enroll at #USF.
— Wells Dusenbury (@DuseReport) July 3, 2014
Dusenbury’s tweets also suggest that there were some communication issues that were part of the reason why Bronson ended up asking to be released from his scholarship. Also, later tweets from Dusenbery would reveal more specific reasons for Bronson’s decision to leave Virginia Tech and enroll at South Florida.
Per his HC, Bronson was a point shy on ACT of qualifying. VTech had said from beginning they'd be able to get him in, but started to waver.
— Wells Dusenbury (@DuseReport) July 3, 2014
Bronson & family thought #VTech had been giving him the run-around, so he asked for release on Tues. #Hokies granted it & he's now with #USF
— Wells Dusenbury (@DuseReport) July 3, 2014
It is definitely disappointing that Kevin Bronson was just barely unable to qualify academically to enroll at Virginia Tech but the Hokies definitely seem like they will have the depth they need, especially with how they could end up with more than 2 defensive ends in the Class of 2015.
The odd part about this is the reported circumstances about the communication issues that Kevin Bronson and the Hokies had. If there wasn’t a communication issue, Bronson would have likely gone to a prep school for a year instead before going to the collegiate level. However, the disconnect between Bronson and the Hokies along with his previous good relationship with South Florida are two big reasons why Bronson is no longer a Hokie.
This is disappointing but there is no reason for concern with the Hokies traditionally not having communication issues with recruits.