Two days before signing day, Hokies cornerbacks coach Derek Jones felt somewhat resigned when speaking to flip candidate Jahmari DeLoatch, who’d been committed to Cincinnati since June.
Virginia Tech had stayed in contact with the Oscar Smith defensive back, who kept the door open in his recruitment by appearing on coaches call nights throughout the fall, but Jones didn’t know if he was making any progress.
“I felt like we were saying goodbye to one another,” he said.
Jones and Tech’s coaches kept chipping and chipping and chipping, however, hoping to change DeLoatch’s mind, with a productive and positive conversation wrapping up Tuesday night. Early Wednesday morning at 6:45, the call came in: The Hokies had flipped the four-star prospect.
Several hours later, Jones proudly announced DeLoatch’s name at Virginia Tech’s annual signing day show.
“You broke my heart, we made up. You broke my heart, we made up,” an exultant Jones told DeLoatch on a Zoom call. “This thing’s been going on now for over a year!
“Two days ago, I went to bed sad. Last night, I went to be hopeful. Today, I’m happy!”
It was a positive close to this cycle for the Hokies, who signed 19 players in the early period Wednesday in a class that’s ranked roughly 40th in the 247Sports Composite rankings, fending off challenges from other schools late in the process.
“Really excited about getting all of them to the finish line,” head coach Brent Pry said. “A bunch of good prospects, great families. Several of these guys had some strong suitors down the stretch and they stuck with us. A great job by the staff, the relationships, identifying the right people, the right talent that weathered some things over the course of the season and stuck with us.”
Eighteen of the 19 signees are from Tech’s historical recruiting footprint, with Texas quarterback Kelden Ryan — the first commitment in the class way back in July of 2023 and one of two signal-callers in the group along with AJ Brand — the lone outlier.
Seven signees ranked in the top 25 in Virginia, the Hokies’ most since 2019, though only one (wideout Micah Matthews) ranked in the top 10. Tech hit its crucial recruiting hubs, nabbing four players from the 757, five from Northern Virginia and one from Richmond.
“It’s about the relationships that you’ve built that have allowed us to be in multiple conversations with good players from that area,” Pry said. “Not all those battles we win, but when we got here, those conversations weren’t happening. Those guys weren’t visiting Virginia Tech. And right now, I don’t know that there’s a top player in the state that wasn’t on our campus at least once and honestly, probably multiple times.”
DeLoatch proved to be the cherry on top of the class, a versatile four-star defensive back and the No. 459 player nationally, according to 247Sports’ Composite rankings, who surprised many when he went out of state with his commitment to Cincinnati in June.
“He can do a lot of different things for us,” Jones said. “He has a lot of versatility — not just as a return guy, but he can play corner, he can play nickel, he can play safety. That’s the model of young man we want. … He has an elite level of speed that enables you to do a lot of things, and with the amount of man coverage we play, he was a guy that was a big, big-time target for us.”
He’s one of three consensus four-star prospects in the class, joining receivers Shamarius “Snook” Peterkin (No. 271) and Matthews (No. 410), who were both recruited as possible two-sport athletes.
Peterkin, a 6-foot-3, 175-pounder, will start with football but has spoken to basketball coach Mike Young about possibly joining the hoops team down the line. Matthews, a bonafide prospect in two sports at 6-foot-2, 200 pounds, will onboard at Virginia Tech on the baseball team in January and spend the spring there before coming over to football.
“I think it’s good for both sides,” director of player personnel Alex Jones said. “Whatever is best for the kid in the recruitment process, we’re able to work with each other and help each other get that kid in the boat. … Giving those guys the opportunity to do so was attractive for both of them.”
Switch over to 247Sports’ site-specific rankings and Tech signed another four-star with big-time potential: running back Jeffrey Overton Jr. The tailback ran for 8,125 yards in his high school career. In 2023-24, he was the Virginia Gatorade Player of the Year and Washington Post All-Met Offensive Player of the Year.
“I think he’s one of the more underrated players in this region,” Pry said. “Finally he gets a fourth star, gets some recognition that he more than deserves. … He was one of the more complete backs in this class. … He’s a guy who can help us a freshman.”
“Dominant,” receivers coach and offensive recruiting coordinator Fontel Mines said of Overton Jr. “He’s a hard-nosed football player that wants to win, that wants to compete at any level. It doesn’t faze him at all who’s in the room, who’s not in the room. He’s going to come to play.”
During Virginia Tech’s signing day show with Zoom calls to all of the players and their families, Overton’s father, Jeffrey Sr., detailed his son’s plans in college during an enthusiastic declaration.
“We're coming to run some motherf#@&rs over!" he exclaimed before offering an apology for his language.
Wednesday marked the second time in three years the Hokies signed two high school quarterbacks in the same class, with a pair of dual-threats, Ryan and Brand, making it official. Both have put up huge numbers and are still leading their teams in the high school playoffs.
The 6-foot-2, 200-pound Ryan, who’s from the Dallas area, has accounted for 3,277 yards and 39 touchdowns this fall for DeSoto High. Brand, who measures in at 6-foot-2, 205 pounds, moved past 10,000 career all-purpose yards during his senior season and has accounted for 104 total touchdowns, drawing heavy interest down the stretch from schools in South Carolina.
“I’ll tell you, we’re really pushing that room in the right direction,” Pry said. “I wasn’t sure we could bring them both home to the finish line. … I think AJ and from where he’s from, that was challenging. And there was a lot of conversations in the last 48 hours. But to be honest, they really didn’t waver.”
It’s a delicate dance bringing in two quarterbacks in the same class — the last time Tech did so was in the 2023 class, a situation that didn’t take long to sort out, with Dylan Wittke transferring after a year and Pop Watson staying — but the idea of a crowded room didn’t scare either player off.
“I think what’s unique about Kelden and AJ is they both want to compete,” Jones said. “Neither one of them was really shying away from the fact that there’s another guy in this room that you’re going to have to compete with to be the starting quarterback here some day. Both of them are accepting that challenge.”
Tech went about replenishing positions that face significant departures after the season. It might have as many as four receivers in the class, with Peterkin, Matthews, Jayden Anderson and Luke Stuewe, an athlete who could also play safety.
The Hokies also signed three defensive linemen (Zeke Chinwike, Sherrod Henderson and Christian Evans), three linebackers (Brett Clatterbaugh, Noah Chambers and Brennan Johnson) and four defensive backs (Knahlij Harrell, Jordan Crim, Sheldon Robinson and DeLoatch).
Two signees are legacies. Stuewe’s father, Michael, was a receiver on the Frank Beamer teams in the mid-90s. Johnson is the son of former Hokies cornerback and multiple state title-winning Highland Springs coach Loren Johnson and the brother of Tech redshirt freshman defensive back Braylon.
Eleven players plan to enroll early: Brand, Ryan, Overton, Matthews, Evans, Chinwike, Henderson, Clatterbuagh, DeLoatch, Crim and offensive lineman Carter Stallard.