Here is some more stuff on Goochland senior running back D.J. Coles, who on Friday became the first football player in the Times-Dispatch coverage area to commit to Virginia Tech for the Class of 2008. Highland Springs defensive lineman Antoine Hopkins followed on Saturday. There is more stuff on Hopkins below the Coles info.

Goochland coach Joe Fowler said Coles doesn’t play much receiver for his team, though he’s one of the slot players in Goochland’s double-slot formation, which it uses all the time. “That’s where we put our best running backs,“ Fowler said, noting that Goochland essentially uses a Wing T.

He said Coles has caught about 30 passes for Goochland over the past two years. But obviously, the kid has an ideal receiver’s frame: 6-4, 200 pounds. As a sophomore in 2006, Coles won the Group A state title in the 100 meters, in 10.74 seconds.

“Route running and stuff like that is going to be the big challenge for him,“ Fowler said. “Most of the stuff he runs for us is pretty simply stuff.“

Coles might not be able to help Tech next season because he might have to attend prep school to improve his grades. “That might not be a bad thing because that will give him a chance to polish up his receiver skills,“ Fowler said.

Tech loses its top four receivers after this season: seniors Eddie Royal, Josh Morgan, Justin Harper and Josh Hyman. The receivers in the mix next season figure to be junior Ike Whitaker (he’ll be a junior next season), junior Brandon Dillard, sophomore Zach Luckett and sophomore Prince Parker, who might have the best full name on the team: Prince Innocent Parker.

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Fowler, in his seventh season at Group A Goochland, said he’s aware of just one other Goochland kid who has played at a Division I-A school: Brandon Myles, who was a senior wide receiver at West Virginia last season. He finished his career with 76 catches for 1,196 yards and 13 touchdowns. Fowler said Myles played a similar position to Coles at Goochland before transitioning to receiver at West Virginia.

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Hopkins is very close with Tech true freshman cornerback Cris Hill, though that wasn’t the main reason Hopkins chose Tech, said Highland Springs coach Scott Burton.

“He just felt like Virginia Tech has the same type of family environment that we try to support and foster at Highland Springs,“ he said.

Hopkins mostly plays end at Highland Springs but sometimes moves inside to tackle, where Burton has a hunch he could play at Tech. Hopkins is one of two Highland Springs players who plays offense and defense; he’s plays guard. The other is Hopkins’ younger brother Derrick, a sophomore who plays defensive tackle. Derrick (6-0, 280 pounds) started 12 games last season as a freshman, and he could get interest from lots of big-time programs.

“You can see he does things better as a 10th grader than Antoine did as a 10th grader and even than Antoine does now,“ Burton said.

Derrick was at Saturday’s game with Antoine. Their family was also there, as was Burton, one of his assistants and two other Highland Springs players being recruited by Tech: quarterback Matthew Hurdle and wide receiver Deon Miller.