Three-Star Edge Rusher Garrett Witherington Commits To Virginia Tech

James Franklin continues dominating the race to signing day, this time adding on Garrett Witherington, a three star edge rusher from Alabama.

BREAKING: 3⭐️ DL Garrett Witherington has flipped his commitment from Kentucky to Virginia Tech

The 6-5 290 lineman from Birmingham, Ala. originally pledged to the Wildcats on June 29 pic.twitter.com/hqfPfYODHc
— Kolby Crawford (@kolby_crawford) December 1, 2025

Penn State was originally a big player in his recruitment, hosting the Birmingham product back in June. He didn't want to go so far away from home, though. He landed at Kentucky after taking visits there, Penn State, Mississippi Sate, Georgia Tech, and Stanford over the summer.

Landing at Kentucky turned out to be a helping hand for Virginia Tech, as the SEC program just dismissed their Mark Stoops from head coaching duties following a 5-7 season with losses to all of their noteworthy rivals.

Witherington was already on campus this weekend with James Franklin, but the Hokies knew that they would have to really put their best foot forward to land the 6-foot-5 edge rusher. That became much easier when his current commitment decided to let go of the head coach that he committed to. His recruitment was wide open, and James Franklin swifty took advantage of it.

Maxpreps hasn't reported any defensive stats for Briarwood Christian - the school that Witherington is currently going to. His team won his region this year and finished ranked top 100 in the state, going 7-6 and 5-1 in their region.

WItherington is Franklin's first commitment on the defensive line since getting to Blacksburg and he is Virginia Tech's second. There is likely room for one or two more edge rusher commits, depending on where Witherington plays at the next level. The Hokies are targetting a few high level guys there.

Witherington stands at 6-foot-5 and 290 pounds with a frame that could very easily fill out well in multiple ways. Antwuan Powell-Ryland stood 6-foot-3 and 244 pounds in his senior year, so Witherington is larger, both overall and is more densely built.

He is the type of prospect who could find himself putting on 20 pounds and playing on the interior defensive line or shedding some weight to fit better as an edge rusher at the college level. I think that he will end up being an interior defensive linemen at the next level.

Franklin and his staff have made the trenches a priority and have done a great job at doing so on the recruiting trail. Recruiting experts predict that Franklin isn't done for the 2026 class and those efforts will likely show themselves with Signing Day on the horizon.

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