Brent Pry's Recruiting Reinforcing a Virginia Tech Roster Needing Talent

Most, if not all, of Virginia Tech's Class of 2025 signees are officially in the boat. But are Brent Pry's recruiting wins enough to push his program in the right direction?

Brent Pry (center) has improved Virginia Tech’s recruiting efforts. Will it pay off? (Photo by Izzy Ruhland)

While fans rightfully complain about his lack of progress in the win-loss column, there is one area where the data clearly supports Brent Pry’s vision — the recruiting trail.

Virginia Tech signed 19 recruits in their Class of 2025 on Wednesday, accounting for all of Tech’s verbal commitments. They may add one or two more before the final National Signing Day on Feb. 5, but this year’s cycle is mostly finished.

These new Hokies represent a critical pillar of the foundation Pry is attempting to build in Blacksburg. Aside from all the on-field problems, Pry’s progress in recruiting is legitimate.

In an effort to quantify this success, I looked back to 2016, Justin Fuente’s first class as Virginia Tech’s head coach. I compared each recruiting class since in five key areas:

• Average 247Sports Composite rating

• How that number ranked nationally

• How it ranked in the ACC

• Number of four or five-star prospects in that class

• And the number of Virginia Top-10 prospects in that class.

Here’s what I found.

(Note: FBS transfers are not included. Class of 2025 data is subject to change.)

Fuente and his staff recruited quite well from 2017-2019, but much of those classes didn’t pan out. Virginia Tech’s recruiting bottomed out in 2020 and 2021, finishing amongst the worst Power 5 teams in the country.

Pry took over on Nov. 30, 2021, giving him some influence over the Class of 2022. That recruiting class marked significant improvement over the previous two classes, setting the table for continued gains over the next three cycles. Virginia Tech’s last three recruiting cycles are all marked improvements from the 2020 and 2021 classes.

Some of Pry’s early recruits are showing signs of success. The Class of 2023 yielded several contributors this season, including quarterback Pop Watson, running back Jeremiah Coney, wide receiver Ayden Greene, defensive end Aycen Stevens, linebacker Caleb Woodson, cornerback Dante Lovett, and safety Mose Phillips.

Aside from Phillips, it’s likely that each of those players return to Virginia Tech for next season, possibly assuming starting roles.

Improvements on the recruiting trail are important, but only if they translate to improved results on the field. Pry’s Hokies showed promise after a 6-6 season in 2023, only to duplicate the same record in the face of heightened expectations.

As the Hokies lose several starting seniors on both sides of the ball, it opens up opportunities for Pry’s hand-picked players to take reins and lift his program out of the quagmire in which it resides.

Based on the numbers, Virginia Tech should have enough talent over the next couple of seasons to begin contending. Then again, that’s what we expected the Hokies to do this season.

Pry’s winning on the recruiting trail. He’s invested heavily in relationships across the Commonwealth and across the region to put Virginia Tech back on the map. When it comes to recruiting, he’s done just that.

Now, he needs to win on the scoreboard.