In addition to recapping Virginia Tech's work in the class of 2016, head coach Justin Fuente addressed several other recruiting topics on National Signing Day, giving us a glimpse into what we can expect in future recruiting classes as the Hokies head man.

MAKING A “STATE”-MENT

Two days after being named Virginia Tech’s new head coach, Justin Fuente tweeted, “Coming for you 757!”

Virginia Tech has since adopted the term “Statement” as a theme for the 2017 Class, which of course will be Fuente’s first full recruiting class as Hokies head coach. He's off to a great start, scoring a commitment from 4-star Riverbend (Fredericksburg) defensive end TyJuan Garbutt.

“We still will have a high priority on the state of Virginia, you’ll continue to see that through my tenure here. I’m proud of the kids that decided to stay close to home and play for Virginia Tech,” Fuente said on February 3.

“I do think it’s important for everybody on the staff to have a piece of Virginia. We’re going to emphasize this state and I think everyone needs to have a hold or stake in it. I think all of our assistant coaches should have a piece of Virginia,” Fuente said, discussing his staff’s recruiting area responsibilities. “We’ll branch out, basically in general terms, down the east coast, but we’ll still organize it by areas and that will lead into position specific recruiting. I want those kids to develop a relationship with their recruiting coach, with coordinator on that side of the ball and ultimately their position coach.”

Having longtime Tech defensive coordinator Bud Foster by his side has helped Fuente ingratiate himself with high school coaches and players in the Commonwealth.

“Obviously when you walk into a high school in the state of Virginia and Bud Foster is walking in with you, you have instant credibility,” Fuente said.

Outside the state, Fuente mentioned on Signing Day that Virginia Tech will “branch out, basically in general terms, down the east coast.” At Memphis, Fuente also enjoyed success in recruiting non-traditional Tech territories such as Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas, so don’t be surprised he continues to mine these states on occasion as well.

In addition to location, Fuente tackled these other recruiting topics on February 3...

JUNIOR COLLEGE RECRUITING

Memphis signed four recruiting classes with Justin Fuente as head coach. In those four classes, 27 junior college players signed with the Tigers. Naturally, some wondered if junior college recruiting would become a significant part of Virginia Tech recruiting after Fuente took over for Frank Beamer.

Well, Fuente did sign junior college prospects quarterback Jerod Evans and offensive lineman Demetri Moore in his first class as Virginia Tech head coach, but he says not to expect a major influx of junior college recruits in the coming classes.

“I don’t anticipate it being a big part of what we do,” Fuente said during his press conference on National Signing Day. “I think these were special scenarios and special situations, pretty strong academic kids that we feel like that can handle Virginia Tech first of all. I’m [not] saying we’ll never do it, but I don’t anticipate it being a large part of our philosophy. We’d like to go in-state in the high school ranks. Jerod was somebody that we knew a little bit about his background and same with Demetri so it made it a little bit easier of a transition. In the long run, I don’t anticipate it being a huge part of what we do.”

PURSUING RECRUITS WHO HAVE PLEDGED ELSEWHERE

It’s certainly common these days for a recruit to “commit” to a school and continue to talk to coaches from other schools. In fact, with scholarships going out when prospects are freshmen and sophomores, and with those recruits having more access to schools with Junior Days, camps, etc., and thus committing earlier, the issue is becoming more prevalent.

Virginia Tech was in the running with a handful of 2016 Class recruits who had committed elsewhere, hosting cornerback Coney Durr (Minnesota commitment), defensive end/linebacker Tomon Fox (UNC commitment), linebacker Dominique Ross (UNC commitment), linebacker Chase Pine (Pittsburgh commitment) and wide receiver Rick Wells (Florida commitment). The Hokies flipped Tyree Rodgers from Old Dominion on National Signing Day.

Coach Fuente has no issue with recruiting players who have committed elsewhere, if of course they indicate they still want to be recruited.

“We ask them. I think that’s a pretty simple way to do it. If they don’t want to be recruited, we absolutely won’t. We’ll go through the high school coach and the player. When we have guys commit to us I ask them to not commit unless they are ready to sever ties with everybody else. If they want to be recruited, we will. If they don’t, we won’t,” Fuente said.

OFFENSIVE LINE RECRUITING

You can’t have a successful offense without a solid offensive line, and a quality offensive line consists of quality starters but also quality depth. The offensive line was of Fuente’s top priorities in closing out the class of 2016, and moving forward it’s a position he wants to address consistently year in and year out.

“In general terms it’s around four, maybe sometimes it’s as low as three,” Fuente replied when asked what he wants a typical offensive line class to look like. Virginia Tech had two offensive line recruits enroll in January and signed four more on National Signing Day.

“Guys can be red-shirted, guys will play and classes get spread out a little bit. Off the top of my head I can’t remember what our target number is (in terms of scholarship offensive linemen in a given season), around 18 or somewhere in there.”

In terms of overall recruiting numbers from one class to the next, “You’d like to not be so heavy in one spot from year to year, you’d like it to look a little bit more like the defensive side of the ball does this year," Fuente said. "You’d basically like to sign an offense and you sign a defense in a year.”

In next week’s “Strategy Session,” I’ll break down what we can expect numbers-wise by position and take a look at the obvious needs in class of 2017 recruiting.