Strongest Unit Matej: "Nester's commitment to Virginia Tech changed everything for the offensive line. He and fellow four-star offensive line prospect Bryan Hudson are two guys that can completely change the perception of the Hokies OL group. Add in Jesse Hanson, an extremely intelligent, yet violent offensive lineman - and you're looking at a pretty solid haul. Last, but certainly not least, is William Pritchard. Standing at 6-foot-2 inches, Pritchard is more limited to an interior role on the offensive line, hurting his overall ranking. He is an absolute mauler and could be the force Virginia Tech has been missing at center." Answer: Offensive Line Evan: "It is hard to argue against the offensive line, but I will give it a shot. I am going to go with wide receiver. While it was obviously a massive flip to haul in Doug Nester from Ohio State and pair him with Top247 offensive lineman Bryan Hudson, Virginia Tech’s wide receiver corps are equally as impressive. All-American Jaden Payoute leads the wide receiver group that consists of three 247Sports Composite four-star prospects. Payoute, a speedster out of Chesterfield, brings a deep threat to Virginia Tech that the Hokies have been lacking. Tayvion Robinson, a slot receiver, and Jacoby Pinckney, a big-body outside receiver, are both considered four-star recruits and should see early returns in Blacksburg while the lone three-star, Elijah Bowick, could be the most polished of the group. It is a tossup between the two groups but I am going with the wide receivers in a close head-to-head matchup." Answer: Wide Receivers<doc-sep>National Signing Day is here. Wednesday, February 6, marks the end of the 2019 recruiting cycle nation wide. Virginia Tech already signed 19 members of their 2019 recruiting class in December during the early signing, but expects to sign a few more members throughout the day Wednesday. Stay tuned as Virginia Tech finishes off their 2019 class.<doc-sep>Opening Statement “It’s a great day. I’m just awfully proud of the guys we’re bringing in to our program combined with the guys that signed in December. I think it’s got a chance to be a really special group of people. You all know me well enough now that I’m not prone to hyperbole when it comes to these things. Obviously, they’re all young and have a tremendous amount of work to do but this is the byproduct of relationships that have been built over multiple years. “Today we welcome Knox (Kadum) to Virginia Tech. First and foremost, he’s a guy that we’ve been tracking for some time. Obviously, we’ve recruited that school for a while and have had a lot of success. He’s had a lot of success. He played at an early age. We knew that there was a chance that we may find ourselves in this situation with a limited number of quarterbacks. Even though we had four, we knew there was a chance that this could happen. We tried our best to inoculate ourselves by continuing to evaluate guys and be prepared. In some ways this happening now is better than it happening at the end of spring, so we actually have an opportunity to fill one of those spots. I’m excited to get him in here and get him going. “Jaden Cunningham as well, a big defensive tackle. Obviously, that was a point of emphasis for us. To fill those needs on the defensive tackle front, someplace we’ve been really, really thin. Jaden’s a big body. We brought him on an official visit some time ago and we’re happy that he’s joining us hopefully in the summertime. “And the one that probably everyone wants to talk about is Doug Nester. Congratulations to Vance Vice. Pretty quickly we hand off recruiting to position coaches. Our assistant coaches are in charge of their positions, their recruitment, development of those positions. Doug’s signing with Virginia Tech is a byproduct of the job Coach Vice did with Doug. It’s also a byproduct of the way Doug was raised and the values that he has - a fantastic family. I think distance played a factor in terms of them staying close together but you know I think the biggest thing was his relationship with Coach Vice and his belief in us. “Quite frankly when you look at the offensive class that’s come in it’s not hard to figure out why we are becoming more attractive to these types of players. You look at what’s happened here statistically over the last three years in terms of where those offenses have ranked, some with veteran players some with young players, it’s pretty impressive. You think about total offense in the history of Virginia Tech the last three years we’ve ranked one, five and eight. When you start to talk about that with young people they start to understand what we can do. We’ve ranked in total touchdowns first, fourth and seventh within the last three years. As far as wide receivers wanting to come here, we’ve ranked first, second and fourth in receptions per year. It goes on and on passing yards wise, passing touchdowns first second and sixth. I think that’s become appealing. Now we’ve got to be better absolutely. Now combine that with running the football. I think that’s been a point of emphasis for us and that starts up front. I think this offensive line crew has got a chance to really help push that forward combined with the guys that we have here.<doc-sep>
The first three letters of intent are in, and it’s looking like the Hokies are definitely getting better. The first is the expected letter from Quarterback Knox Kadum. He’s a Fuente prototype QB with a live arm, good legs, and serious size. At 6’ 3” and 188 he’s not as heavy as Willis and Patterson, but of very similar stature. Kadum adds much needed depth, and more than a bit of push for the very short two QB stack currently on the roster. The big signing of the morning is Offensive Guard Doug Nestor from neighboring West Virginia. For those who don’t want to check the maps, Kenova is right down the Ohio River from Huntington on the western spine of West Virginia.. sort of the junction of Ohio, WVA and Eastern Kentucky. (At one point in our history it was all Virginia but I won’t launch into the geographical history of the Old Dominion). Nester brings some serious size and strength to the interior line. He’s a good pulling guard with the potential of lending a serious upgrade to the Hokies’ runblocking chops. (that have been weak thin chops of late) BIG BOY ALERT Welcome aboard, @Freshie74 Can't wait to see you working in the trenches for @VanceVice #EnterNight19 pic.twitter.com/DL9bY3cE43 — Virginia Tech Football (@VT_Football) February 6, 2019 The Defensive Line also just got better, and quickly. Jaden Cunningham has signed his paperwork and is now officially a Hokie. This JUCO transfer promises to upgrade the interior of the defensive line, immediately. He’s hoping to make a big impact, and we sure are, too! Some Highlights from Hudl by way of the football program are in the tweets, take a look. And That’s A Wrap! The 2019 signing class is all finished except for the potential of a few stragglers here and there. Coach Fuente answers lots of questions, and actually looks happy and animated instead of in “coach talk” mode. Find out all about the Hokies' Spring '19 National Signing Day https://t.co/qpHnyVpJ8m — HokieSports (@hokiesports) February 6, 2019 Note: Hang in for the end of the presser. In a perfect segue, Coach John Szefc makes an appearance to talk about the 2019 Hokie Baseball team and the season of continued transition ahead. More to come as Mike McDaniel and I start the season and roster reviews, soon. So to Jaden, Knox, and Doug welcome to Hokie Nation to the new Fighting Gobblers!