Virginia Tech’s first official visit weekend of the summer is off to a great start as the Hokies gained a commitment from three-star TE Sam Faniel out of Richmond.
Faniel chose the Hokies over Alabama and Texas A&M (who both had official visits scheduled with Faniel) plus other offers from Penn State, Florida State, Wisconsin, Auburn, Virginia, NC State, Maryland, Michigan State, Nebraska, Kentucky, Pittsburgh, Duke, Arizona State, UCF, Colorado, Purdue, Rutgers, Northwestern, California, and more. He is the third TE commit this cycle along with four-star TE Jordan Karhoff from Ohio, and three-star TE/ATH Braxton Salster from Alabama.
The 6’5’’, 215-pound Faniel is the second in-state commit this cycle along with three-star WR Demarcus Brown out of Roanoke. Faniel is a consensus top 11 in-state recruit with Rivals ranking him eighth in VA in 2027, 247 Sports ranking him tenth, and ESPN ranking him 11th.
This is another impressive recruiting victory for the Hokies to close out Faniel before his official visit is even over. Add in the fact that both Alabama and Texas A&M were heavily involved and this recruiting victory gets even more impressive.
New OC/TEs Ty Howle continues to show that he is one of the elite tight end recruiters in the country, with VT having what probably is their strongest tight end class in program history.
With Faniel on board, it’s almost certainly safe to say that VT is done at tight end this class unless one of their current commits flips elsewhere.
