Welcome to Tunnel Talk, running through the latest in Hokie recruiting.
Austin Barber
Former Minnesota offensive line commit Austin Barber is probably the Hokies' top option for landing a top offensive tackle in the Class of 2021. Of course, that's using a somewhat-liberal definition of "top," given he's a 5.5 three-star, but Virginia Tech's coaching staff is not the only one that feels he's underrated.
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Virginia Tech is confident after he re-entered the open market. At the same time, it's worth noting he's quietly had a Hokie offer for quite some time... and a Mississippi State offer is what convinced him to finally decommit from Minny (along with the Gophers' incompetence on the field this year, of course). That's typically a strong indication of where a prospect's actual feelings lie, and I can say the Mississippi State coaching staff is at least as confident as Virginia Tech's about landing him.
That said, the relationship with VT is certainly longer, and he'd taken a virtual visit to Blacksburg this Summer before MSU was even a glimmer in his eye. The fact that he won't be able to take a recruiting visit to
either program before National Signing Day is damaging when it comes to VT's chance to confirm itself as a top choice. However, as he'd hoped to do over the Summer, there's a strong chance he takes a trip to campus anyway, just without meeting with the coaching staff in-person (does this sort of thing make a Dead Period basically irrelevant? not really. Does it point out how the NCAA isn't achieving what it thinks it is, while really messing with prospects' futures for limited benefit? yes).
I still feel pretty good about VT's shot here, though you could fairly say not as good as the staff feels. This is a true 50/50 shot in my eyes - Maryland and Minnesota seem to be more fringe programs right now, though obviously a trip up the East Coast to see VT would facilitate a few more hours in the car to give Maryland a look, as well. It's still one worth monitoring.
Other OL
There aren't a ton of other realistic options on the OL right now. Griffin Duggan and Omega Williams are not really active targets right now (though either could heat up quickly if the Hokies change course there).
Texan Remington Strickland, whom the Hokies offered just a few weeks ago, is already not realistic: with offers from Baylor, Michigan, Oklahoma, and Texas, Virginia Tech is on the outskirts of his thought process, at best. That also underscores something that's been a themes of recruiting in the past few years - a bit of ADD on the recruiting trail where the Hokies hop into the mix for the next big target, without having laid a bunch of groundwork, and without adequate follow-through to make the offer matter. A re-evaluation of their philosophy this offseason - there's value in being a Tennessee-style "offer everybody in the country" type of program, but not the way they're attempting to execute it, and it may not be the best fit for a program like Virginia Tech anyway - is probably necessary.
I said at the time he committed to Old Dominion (and continue to believe) that Maryland three-star Chris Adams is worth taking a risk on. VT wanted to see some of his senior year - which still hasn't started due to the pandemic - and evaluate his recovery from knee surgery before granting him a place in the class. He's easily flippable if he's given room in the class, IMO, and the staff would be wise to keep those lines of communication open. From my personal perspective - obviously the coaching staff doesn't share my opinion, and they may be privy to information about the severity of Adams's knee injury that colors their take - I'd rather have him than Barber anyway.
All this could be rendered moot, of course, if the staff does a good job closing on their current top target, Barber.
Jucos
We've come to the stage in the recruiting cycle where high school options are thin on the ground (with the obvious caveat that guys who break out in their senior years... haven't even started playing in a number of relevant states), and so the Hokies are evaluating junior college options. As with many other things, the unknown of scholarships, etc. plays into not knowing exactly how to approach it. Virginia Tech
needs a defensive tackle, so if they're to land one Juco player, it'd probably be at that spot - which also tends to be a position where translating from junior college to the FBS level is a bit of a proven pathway, as well.
Isaiah Iton from Hutchinson (Kan.) CC is the only one to pick up an offer so far, and the staff is not making a ton of noise about additional offers so far - though they have a recruiting board specifically of DTs in junior college that they could quickly run through with offers. They'll evaluate both how the unique eligibility-freeze situation and scholarship budget interplay works out, in addition to the needs going into the offseason. If they aren't happy with how they stand with the current targets on the board (which does include a handful of high school prospects still), the end of the college season - when they're traditionally able to shift focus from on-field to recruiting (speaking of philosophy shifts, the coaching staff proper relying on non-coaching staffers to do the vast majority of the recruiting workload in-season is another thing that will need to be evaluated this season) could see some truly compelling action for the first time in a while.
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