:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/45630648/151283037.0.jpg)
It's Christmas morning in Blacksburg. The coaching staff has finished its "shopping" list, and here are the results. Nationally, we are at least back in the game. In the conference, most services rank us third, 24/7 has us ranked fifth in the A.C.C.. Only time will tell which signees create the biggest impact, but on the whole this class has all the signs of a special one. We will run you through all 24 new Hokies, starting with the biggest names of this incoming class.
Tim Settle 6'2" 325 DE (Manassas, VA)
Seems to be the consensus home run amongst the staff. A huge kid with unlimited potential.
Next on the list was a QB, and that's exactly what the Hokies got:
Dwayne Lawson 6'6" 207 QB (Tampa, FL)
Wild Turkey anyone? With this dual threat running the attack, the possibilities are endless...
After securing a big time QB, the Hokies put a definite exclamation point on the class with Trevon Hill. Tech had to absolutely nail this player. Hailing from Virginia Beach, Hill was rated as high as four stars by some services. Hill was heavily recruited by Duke and Clemson. Not only did Tech send a message by locking him up in the state, they told the "pretenders" that we were still the force in Virginia recruiting.
Trevon Hill 6'4" 220 DE (Salem, VA)
With two absolute destroyers on the defensive line, a QB who can run and throw, the next thought was to bolster the O-Line. At Tech, we love two things: a debilitating defense and running the football. We needed a big man with a nasty attitude and that's exactly what we got.
Austin Clark 6'6" 297 OT (Lexington, VA)
Bud Foster nailed down his love of a shut down corner by signing Mook Reynolds. Reynolds is an early enrollee, and has the size and speed to compete with the pass happy offenses of today's college football. He's not big at only 6'0", but physical.
Mook Reynolds 6'0" 175 CB (Greensboro, N.C.)
Tech had seven enrollees including the previously mentioned Austin Clark and Mook Reynolds. What does that mean for a program? Oh, nothing much except extra learning time for the campus life, not to mention the playbook. Running down the early enrollees looks like this:
Player Pos. Height Weight School *Stars
| Austin Clark | OT | 6'6" | 297 | Rockbridge County | **** |
| Yosuah Nijman | DT | 6'6" | 265 | Fork Union Military | **** |
| Xavier Burke | TE | 6'4" | 250 | Fork Union Military | *** |
| Mook Reynolds | CB | 6'0" | 175 | Northern Guilford (NC) | *** |
| Carson Lydon | LB | 6'1" | 231 | East Lake (FL) | *** |
| Adonis Alexander | S | 6'3" | 193 | Independence (NC) | *** |
| Tyrell Smith | OG | 6'4" | 285 | Cushing Academy (MA) | *** |
Interesting of note here, the footprint is getting larger. We took care of our house with our top three rated prospects. For the last four, we venture out of the Commonwealth. We had already locked these guys up before signing day. Then we waited. We waited by our phones, our Twitter accounts, and for the love of God, our fax machines. Here is the complete list of signing day Hokies that we have letters of intent for:
Player Pos. Height Weight School *Stars
| Tim Settle | DT | 6'2" | 361 | Stonewall Jackson | **** |
| Dwayne Lawson | QB (PRO) | 6'6" | 207 | Hillsborough (Tampa, FL) | **** |
| Trevon Hill | DE | 6'4" | 220 | Salem (Virginia Beach) | **** |
| Tremaine Edmunds | OLB | 6'4" | 220 | Dan River | *** |
| Deshawn McClease | RB | 5'9" | 175 | Oscar Smith | *** |
| Darius Fullwood | DE | 6'4" | 240 | Good Counsel (Olney, MD) | *** |
| Jahque Alleyne | S | 6'1" | 180 | Ocean Lakes | *** |
| Adonis Williamson | CB | 6'1" | 190 | Arsenal Technical (Indianapolis, IN) | *** |
| DuWayne Johnson | CB | 6'1" | 160 | Woodson H.D. (Washington, D.C.) | *** |
| Mike Arnold | OT | 6'5" | 280 | Winter Haven Senior (Winter Haven, FL) | *** |
| Harry Lewis | DT | 6'2" | 260 | Phoebus | *** |
| Eric Whitehead | DT | 6'1" | 300 | Arsenal Technical (Indianapolis, IN) | *** |
| Houshun Gaines | DE | 6'4" | 220 | Nash Central (Rocky Mount, NC) | *** |
| Chris Cunningham | TE | 6'3" | 225 | Atlantic Coast (Jacksonville, FL) | *** |
| D'Andre Plantin | OT | 6'5" | 277 | Norcross (Norcross, GA) | *** |
| Zachariah Hoyt | C | 6'5" | 275 | Salem | *** |
| Coleman Fox | RB | 5"11 | 190 | Salem | *** |
So here they are. These kids most likely will play valuable snaps in the Bristol Bowl. I know all of you have that circled on your calendars. Looking through the list, some interesting "gets" stand out. Eric Whitehead was generally lauded as a surprise signing. After all, in Indianapolis the Hokie nation may not be well represented. He brings Adonis Williamson, or Williamson brought him. Like a lot of things on signing day, it depends on who you ask. It doesn't really matter what came first, the cart or the horse, it just matters that two serious ball players are on their way to Blacksburg.
This class as a whole is a serious upgrade. I'm not saying that we are final four material next year, or even the year after that. What I am saying is that at the very least, we are back in the game. When you keep in mind that the last nine national championship teams had a nationally ranked top 10 recruiting class, its not a hard stretch. Imagine if our coaching staff had Saban talent. Imagine Lane Stadium packed with the type of physical, ball hawking defensive talent that made Bud Foster his bones. It's not a fantasy anymore. We are starting to load up with the kind of talent that stamped Virginia Tech on the face of college football. The future is here and I am loving it.