Virginia Tech football recruiting: Top in-state prospect will visit next month

The Virginia Tech Hokies have six players committed to the class of 2024. Tech landed its sixth commitment earlier this week when Ohio offensive lineman Tommy Ricard picked the Hokies over some other impressive offers.

As the calendar is set to flip to June, next month represents a huge recruiting month for the Hokies. While Tech has landed some talented kids early in this cycle, led by quarterback Davi Belfort, the Hokies have only one commitment from a player inside the state of Virginia — defensive back Joshua Clarke of Oakton.

Clarke is an underrated recruit who had other options, so he is a good get for head coach Brent Pry. But the Hokies, who’ve made a significant re-investment inside the Commonwealth, need to start landing some of the state’s top prospects in 2024.

The Hokies will have a shot to land the state’s No. 6 player — per 247Sports — next month when King George wide receiver Mekhai White will be in town on an official visit.

White recently released a top eight and the Hokies made the cut.

That’s good, right? If you consider the Hokies made White’s top eight, and he has scheduled an official visit to Blacksburg, you should like your chances. However, in speaking to Brian Dohn of 247Sports, White named Tennessee, Michigan, Penn State, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Maryland and LSU as his top schools.

Did you guys notice something? He named eight schools, but seven were named as his “top” schools. Either I am confused, or this is a simple omission from Dohn here.

He did confirm he has three official visits in June: Maryland [June 2], Arkansas [June 16] and Virginia Tech [June 23].

Here’s what he told Dohn about the Hokies:

“They showed me a lot of love and they make me a priority for them,” he said of the Hokies. “They said I can make an impact for them early, and they want me. It feels like home. They show a lot of love. It’s a place I can see myself developing at.”

Those are positive comments from White. He also had positive things to say about some of the other schools, too. This doesn’t feel like it will have a good outcome for Virginia Tech, but I’d expect Pry and his staff to pull out all of the stops next month.

At some point, the Hokie must convince at least one of the state’s top players to “stay home.” Tech recently lost out on Patrick Henry [Roanoke] linebacker Bodie Kahoun, who committed to Notre Dame. Pry and his staff did an excellent job of locating Kahoun and getting him interested, only for one of the blue bloods to come in and convince him to leave the state.

Two other players the Hokies were in on early also appear headed out of state — and they are both from Salem, less than an hour from Blacksburg: Linebacker Chris Cole and running back Peyton Lewis. Both players have big-time SEC offers, and that looks like it will be too much to overcome for the Hokies in the end.

You can’t knock Pry and his staff’s efforts. But the Hokies must win one of these battles, in addition to having a much better season on the field in 2023.

Outside of White, the Hokies will have plenty of other opportunities to land some of the state’s better players next month.