Virginia Tech Basketball Recruiting Notes 4/23/22

Since winning their first ACC Tournament title and then crashing out in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, Mike Young and his staff have been busy recruiting both transfers and high school recruits while also waiting to see if Keve Aluma and Justyn Mutts will stay in the NBA Draft or return for one more season.

So with all that said, here are the latest Virginia Tech basketball recruiting notes.

4* SF Tyrell Ward

Virginia Tech hosted Tyrell Ward on an official visit over the past couple days with that visit wrapping up before the weekend.

Ward was a priority target before he committed to Xavier, and has became a top priority since his decommitment with his official visit to Virginia Tech being a tremendous opportunity for the Hokies to make a big move and position themselves as the clear frontrunners.

The top competition for Ward appears to be Florida and LSU who have both either hosted him or visited him on an in-home visit. Of course, there are numerous other schools certain to be involved for one of the top remaining 2022 recruits, but these three seem like the focus at the moment.

Tech has plenty of strong connections that should help from his former DeMatha coach Mike Jones being the associate head coach at Virginia Tech to the Hokies having multiple other D.C.-Baltimore standouts committed with Rodney Rice and Darren Buchanan Jr. Those connections should prove valuable along with the inherent comfort Ward likely has with the VT staff compared to the new staffs at LSU and Florida.

Virginia Tech is looking to land Tyrell Ward on the second time with the Hokies having the inside track on many fronts for the DMV standout.

LSU Transfer Efton Reid & Memphis Transfer John Camden

Virginia Tech has been busy in the transfer portal and while most felt the focus would be on grad transfers, a pair of transfers early in their careers have been heavily linked to Virginia Tech by college basketball insider Andrew Slater in LSU C transfer Efton Reid, a Virginia native, and Memphis F transfer John Camden.

They are also currently hosting Reid and Camden as reported by Chris Arvin of 247 Sports and others.

Reid is the bigger name of the two as the former five-star recruit and Richmond native is in the portal after a promising freshman season at LSU where he averaged 6.3 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 0.8 blocks in 19.6 minutes per game while shooting 51.6% from the field. Reid has loads of upside and would be a very high ceiling replacement for Keve Aluma at center.

While most of Tech's targets at center have been experienced players like Grant Basile and Morris Udeze, Reid would be a home run additional who you'd absolutely be willing to take a chance on playing 30 minutes a night with his past pedigree and the upside he's shown.

If Tech could land Reid, it would be one of the biggest transfer additions of the past decade for the Hokies and another great foundation piece to continue VT's rise in the Mike Young era.

Meanwhile, Camden is down to two schools with Virginia Tech having the last visit after LSU hosted him last week, and Tech having been heavily involved in his recruitment previously is definitely a positive situation. Combine that with the Andrew Slater report, and it's easy to wonder if Tech may be able to close it out for Camden by the end of this weekend.

Of course, one thing that might even help Tech with Camden in some way is the fact that the Hokies are hosting a former LSU player in Reid though that's something that probably shouldn't be read into given the new LSU staff.

Camden may not seem as hyped up in large part because of injuries held him to playing one game at Memphis this past season, but there's no doubt that Camden has lots of upside and would be a strong addition for next season. Additionally, Tech has a deep prior relationship with Camden after he was a top target of theirs in the previous recruiting cycle which should help.

Virginia Tech's transfer recruiting is full steam ahead with the Hokies having a big opportunity to add two talented, long-term pieces in Efton Reid and John Camden.

2023 4* SF Gavin Griffiths

The focus isn't just on next year though as top 50 2023 recruit Gavin Griffiths has set a trio of official visits including one to Virginia Tech.

The Hokies will host Griffiths at the beginning of June with visits to Rutgers and Michigan surrounding his trip to Tech. While it's possible Griffiths will use his other official visits, the fact that he already has three on the calendar suggests that he has a good idea about the schools he is most interested in and that a commitment could be very possible this summer.

Tech has had some success in the past recruiting the Northeast including with Wabissa Bede all those years ago while Mike Young and his staff have also extended their fair share of offers to the Northeast. Michigan will definitely be tough competition while Rutgers has had growing success and gets the first visit which can sometimes be valuable though more so on the transfer front than traditional high school recruiting.

While the focus remains on the 2022 class and the transfer portal, Tech's laying the groundwork for their 2023 class with a massive visit from Griffiths coming in June.