Virginia Tech added to their 2023 haul today landing a commitment from four-star JUCO DE James Jennette who took a visit to Virginia Tech this past weekend.
Jennette is the first JUCO commit for the Hokies this cycle and the eighth non-high school player to choose the Hokies. He is also the third consensus four-star non-transfer portal commit joining OL Layth Ghannam and WR Chance Fitzgerald.
He started his career at William & Mary playing in 6 games during the spring and fall 2021 season with 13 tackles including for loss 1 with 5 tackles in each of his two games against current FBS teams: JMU (spring 2021) and UVA (fall 2021). He spent this past season at College of the Canyons.
Jennette had this to say about why he chose VT.
"I chose VT because everything feels like family. I really love the coaches. Ima ride or die for coach price that’s really my guy. The school isn’t too far from my home so I can have all my family come to games. (They play) great football in the ACC and I want to help VT get back to where it use to be. My brother also goes to VT, he’s in grad school so it’s really cool to be able to go to the same college as him," Jennette said.
While the JUCO DE has a low profile, that doesn't mean he didn't have interest from multiple other Power 5 programs including a team that made the CFB Playoff this past season.
"App State is one (I was considering). I had really heavy interest from Iowa State, TCU, and Baylor, but I ultimately told the schools I’d like to close down my recruitment and commit to VT," Jennette said.
Unsurprisingly, his relationship with DL coach JC Price was a big factor in his decision to choose the Hokies as he shared with us.
"He played a huge factor. I’ve had many phone calls and Zoom meetings with him. He’s driven down multiple times just to eat lunch with me. He’s a great guy and I love him to death already. He knows the game of football and will elevate my game. You can tell he just cares about people and that’s important," Jennette said.
