Virginia Tech has reportedly filled one of their 2 offensive assistant openings in a move that will cause some shuffling. Matt Zenitz of On3 is reporting that Maryland RBs coach Elijah Brooks will be joining the Hokies as the RBs coach.
Virginia Tech is expected to hire Maryland’s Elijah Brooks as running backs coach, sources tell @on3sports.
— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) March 13, 2023
Brooks, a former head coach at high school power DeMatha, has had two of his running backs drafted in the last three NFL drafts.https://t.co/DlIXY6813V pic.twitter.com/QpMgj8Y0tL
Brooks comes to Virginia Tech after being Maryland's RBs coach for the past 4 seasons. Prior to his time in College Park, Brooks was the head coach at DMV powerhouse DeMatha Catholic for 8 seasons prior to Maryland. He also has worked throughout that region prior to landing the head job at DeMatha.
Brooks' arrival most likely means that Stu Holt will be shifting to TEs and Tyler Bowen shifting to either QBs or OL as we previously reported that we had been hearing was a strong possibility.
This is a big time hire for the Hokies as Brooks has proven himself to be a very good RBs coach developing two NFL Draft picks during his four-year tenure who are all currently in the league Anthony McFarland Jr and Jake Funk. He's also continued to produced highly-productive RBs since including Roman Hamby who was All-B1G Honorable Mention as a redshirt freshman this past season.
Brooks also has a strong recruiting reputation in the DMV likely due in part to his time at DeMatha while he also flexed his recruiting muscles when he helped lead the charge for the Terps flipping four-star RB Ramon Brown from the Hokies.
Safe to say, Brooks checks the boxes in terms of what you would want in filling these two openings and is a strong hire regardless of the less than ideal timing for having to make a hire like this.
