Virginia Tech football recruiting: Hokies land commitment from Takye Heath

Sunday was a busy day for the Virginia Tech Hokies. The softball team defeated Miami (Oh.) past midnight Sunday morning to advance to Blacksburg's NCAA Softball Regional Final. For the Hokies to advance to the Super Regional, they would need to defeat Kentucky — twice.

Guess what? The softball team swept Kentucky Sunday and is now heading to the next round.

Oh, and there was some important football news, too. Highland Springs athlete Takye Heath went public with his commitment to Virginia Tech Sunday afternoon. Heath is VT's eighth commitment for the 2023 recruiting class and fourth from the state of Virginia.

The Hokies currently have the No. 20 class for 2023, according to 247Sports.

Heath is a 5-foot-9, 165-pound athlete who plays on both sides of the ball for the Springers — annually one of the top programs in Virginia. He earned all-region honors playing both sides of the ball last season and initially looks like he could play cornerback for the Hokies.

Heath picked the Hokies over several regional Power 5 offers, including Louisville, Virginia, West Virginia, Duke, Boston College, Maryland, and Pittsburgh.

This is a big pickup for the Hokies as they land another player from Highland Springs High School, coached by former Hokie Loren Johnson. We all know Tech's struggles to land players from Highland Springs in recent years, but the addition of new head coach Brent Pry and his staff are making a difference.

Make no mistake; Heath is a talented kid with plenty of options. He wanted to be a Hokie. That's so critical. Remember how kids from Virginia didn't care about Virginia Tech in recent years? Right now, the Hokies are still going to be fighting an uphill battle to land the elite players from inside the Commonwealth, but Pry's approach will — and is — making a difference.

In the past, kids from the state wanted to play for Virginia Tech. Pry and his staff are making kids want to play for the Hokies again. And Pry has only been on the job for around six months.

Welcome to Virginia Tech, Takye.