The week of Early Signing Day has arrived with college football programs across the country looking to mostly tie up their high school recruiting class and finish off their first of 2 or 3 waves of transfer signings.
Virginia Tech has been on a roll lately landing 8 commits starting December 11th with 6 being high school recruits plus 2 transfers in ODU WR Ali Jennings and Baylor QB Kyron Drones.
So with that said, here's a look at some players to watch as Signing Day approaches.
UNC CB Tony Grimes
Tony Grimes is undoubtedly the biggest transfer or high school recruit on the board for the Hokies currently. Tech hosted Grimes last Wednesday for a visit before he then had plans to visit Texas A&M and USC.
Or at least, that was thought to be the plan though it's unclear if that's what played out.
Grimes did indeed visit Texas A&M after visiting the Hokies, but there's no indication on Twitter or elsewhere that he made the trip to USC. The Trojans then landed a commitment from veteran Arizona CB Christian Roland-Wallace which would seem to be a potential sign that the Trojans, who some national insiders considered a favorite, may be out of this one.
If so, it sets the stage for this to be a Virginia Tech vs Texas A&M battle with one of the big questions being whether Grimes wants to rep the flagship football program in his home state or is the allure of the SEC too much, even an A&M team that went 5-7 this past season. Both teams present clear opportunities for Grimes to start immediately though defensive schematic and coaching fits could also factor in as well.
The fact that the USC visit didn't happen following his A&M trip seems like a potential good sign for the Aggies. Of course, Grimes hasn't said clearly whether he will make his decision this week or wait and maybe try to take additional visits in the transfer-specific window that opens in early January.
The Hokies are in the hunt for Grimes and if they land him, they'll be in a strong position to have one of the best transfer classes in America this cycle.
Temple DE Darian Varner
Temple defensive end Darian Varner was scheduled to make a trio of visits this past weekend including a trip to Virginia Tech plus Vanderbilt and Ole Miss. Varner has since received offers from the Hokies and Commodores while it's unclear if Ole Miss did offer as it was not publicly reported or if he even took a visit to Oxford.
Varner has steadily gotten better during his time at Temple on his way to a breakout 2022 season where he had 12 tackles for loss including 7.5 sacks in only 10 games on his way to earning All-AAC First Team honors. He also played well in big games as we previously broke down when reporting on Varner's upcoming visits.
As with Grimes, transfers don't really apply to the same rules as high school recruits in terms of potential pressure to make a decision at Early Signing Day. While this first wave is likely trying to enroll at their next school in January, there is also a special transfer visit window during the first week of January that they can also take advantage of should they choose to do so.
This feels like the type of player that Tech should land given how the Hokies have a land for pass rushing upgrades. Additionally, Varner is a 757 native and though proximity to home isn't necessarily as big of a factor for transfers, it's something that can certainly help.
It's unknown when Varner plans on making a decision, but he's definitely a guy to watch both in this window and in the coming weeks as the spring semester ticks closer and closer.
3* DB More Phillips
As we briefly take a step away from transfers, we shift our attention to the high school recruiting front to three-star ATH More Phillips.
Phillips has taken three official visits this month including one to Virginia Tech on the first weekend of December followed by visits to Virginia and Georgia Tech the past two weekends. He also holds offers from Tulane and Toledo.
Phillips visited the same weekend as near consensus four-star WR Chance Fitzgerald who has since committed to the Hokies. Clearly that weekend went quite well and that type of hype on a visit can sometimes help push another recruit in the boat.
This also feels like a battle that Tech should generally win given their stature compared to UVA and Georgia Tech who are both not nearly the same football brands as the Hokies. Tech has also done well this cycle recruiting the state of Tennessee especially the eastern part with Shawn Quinn putting in lots of good work as they push to land the Nashville area standout.
The potential wild card in all this could be the Oklahoma Sooners as they did make a visit to his school and spent some time with Phillips early this month. A last minute Oklahoma offer would be a wild card that could easily push this to the February Signing Day though we've seen the Hokies beat out the Sooners for Fitzgerald already.
Keep an eye on Phillips as Tech may add one more HS recruit to this class.
Potential Surprise/Last-Minute Offer?
Last year, we saw Brent Pry send out a late offer on Early Signing Day to nearby three-star OL Hunter Mclain who at the time was committed to Richmond. A short time later, Mclain sent in his NIL to Virginia Tech as one of the final additions to the 2022 class.
There isn't a clear candidate for a late offer with those offers seeming to go out to a pair of recent commits: RB Jeremiah Coney and TE Zeke Wimbush. I could speculate that maybe they take a chance on 757 CB CJ Fraser or Roanoke ATH Jahzae Kimbrough but this may not be the year for an Early Signing Day offer.
Tech also hasn't been linked with any specific flips though you know that they'll continue recruiting just about any big time recruit in the footprint that they had high on their overall board originally like Jordan Bass, Kamren Robinson, Carmelo Taylor, etc.
Could Tech get a surprise transfer or 2 as well? Tech could likely use one more receiver to go with Ali Jennings and they've extended a pair of offers to promising FCS players in Da'Quan Felton of Norfolk State and Abdul Janneh of Duquesne.
Or could there be an even bigger surprise like Kaleb Smith for example? He previously told us that he hasn't ruled out a return to Blacksburg for his final season of college football.
All of this is speculation but there will be surprises nationally on Signing Day, the question remains to be answered as to whether Virginia Tech will be involved in any.
