Virginia Tech Football's 2026 Recruiting Class Position Grades
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James Franklin's first recruiting class at Virginia Tech is officially in the books. It finished No. 24 in the country, per 247Sports, and fifth in the ACC. I'm going to grade each position in this class along with the class as a whole. I will be using a half star rating system (credit to Tech Sideline's Chris Coleman for the concept). Let's dive into my grades.
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Quarterback
My grade: B+
Virginia Tech landed just one quarterback in this class, and it was Troy Huhn out of California. They had Louisianna quarterback Cole Bergeron decommit earlier in the week. The standing rumor is that Franklin wanted just one quarterback in this class.
Typically coaches want two quarterbacks in a class to create competition, and I am somebody who follows that belief. It can be hard to strike gold on a quarterback, but Virginia Tech and James Franklin were able to land a stud in Troy Huhn, which is why I won't be so harsh on them not taking a second quarterback.
Huhn is somebody that Franklin has been targetting for over two years and for him, his head coach was always going to be James Franklin.
My ranking:
Troy Huhn - 4.0-star
Running Back
My grade: A
Virginia Tech has repetitively brought in too many running backs in a given class for over 5 years now. In the five year stretch of 2021 to 2025, Virginia Tech has brought in eight running backs out of high school and 12 total when you include the transfers. That is too many.
I'm in the belief that a team should typically bring in one running back in a given class, maybe two if need be. Quality trumps quantity in the running back room more often than not. Virginia Tech has only brought in one in the recruiting class and they will likely not be looking to get any from the portal. I love the addition of Messiah Mickens.
I think Mickens is one of the top running backs in the country, as do a lot of the experts. The 247 Sports Composite ranks him as 14th best running back in his class and I completely agree. He will get time to develop and play behind a strong offensive line that it will likely take James Franklin and Virginia Tech a few seasons to entirely put together. He instantly becomes on of the highest ceiling running backs in the room.
My ranking:
Messiah Mickens - 4.0-star
Wide Receiver
My grade: C+
I'll go ahead and get this out of the way, James Franklin didn't bring in enough pass catchers, and he knows that. He tried to make a late push at Michigan signee Travis Johnson, but was unable to land him, so he was stuck with just Davion Brown.
Davion Brown is a fantastic receiver. With that said, having just one in a class, especially when the future of the receiving room is very up in the air right now. Brown will likely be somebody who plays early, given his strong frame and size, and I think he will impress a lot of people. Even with bringing in a potential star receiver, the room as a whole gets my lowest grade of any room in this class.
My ranking:
Davion Brown - 4.5-star
Tight End
My grade: A-
James Franklin landed an absolute stud in Pierce Petersohn and is currently working on getting Isaiah Pina to sign to February. Petersohn is an off-ball tight end, similar to the way Virginia Tech utilized Bucky Hodges, who is effectively a big body wide reciever.
Franklin ran a lot of 12 personnel at Penn State, and the combination of Petersohn and Pina can make that personnel very difficult and annoying to defend, especially in the pass game. Petersohn likely develops and grows a bit. I'd expect him to put on about 25 pounds if he is going to be playing tight end. The staff could opt to develop him at receiver, though.
Pina is a high-upside player who is new to football and stands 6-foot-6 and weighs in at 225 pounds. His stature is more of a blocking type tight end but he holds the athleticism to be able to line up in a ton of different ways. I wouldn't be surprised if you see him line up on the boundary in some redzone sets. He is a fantastic athlete and I am very excited to see how he develops.
My ranking:
Pierce Petersohn - 4.5-star
Isaiah Pina - 3.5-star
Offensive Line
My grade: A+
The job that James Franklin did on the offensive line truly cannot be overstated enough. Landing seven offensive linemen - two of which are four stars - is truly impressive given that just two of the guys that he had on the boat when he got here stayed (Ace Hamilton flipped to Michigan).
The average height and weight of the offensive linemen in this class is 6-foot-6 and 300 pounds. While most (and likely all) of these guys won't make an impact early in their career, their class on the offensive line sets a foundation for the Hokies to bring back what they once were on the offensive line.
It is incredbly difficult to accurately evaluate offensive linemen out of high school. They are typically so much larger and stronger than their competition compared to what it will be at the high school level. It is important to take a minimum of about five per class to allow you to develop enough guys for a starting offensive line.
My ranking:
Thomas Wilder - 4.0-star
Roseby Lubintus - 4.0-star
Marlen Bright - 4.0-star
Maddox Cochrane - 3.0-star
Tyrell Simpson - 3.5-star
Buddy Wegdam - 3.0-star
Benjamin Eziuka - 3.5-star
Defensive Line
My grade: B+
Defensive line is a position that can be picked up and improved upon quickly in the transfer portal, and because of that reason, I have personally leaned more towards aiming for high-upside players out of high school rather than going for field-ready. Virginia Tech did just that, landing Kamren Johnson (Green Run pipeline), Garrett Witherington and T-Ron Richardson. The two latter flipped to Virginia Tech from SEC commitments.
In the past few years, Virginia Tech's defensive line has thrived by filling gaps in the portal and getting high-upside guys out of high school, see Emmett Laws and Aycen Stevens, for example. You also have Ben Bell, APR and the slew of interior defensive linemen that played for Virginia Tech this year.
While his future at Virginia Tech is still up in the air, J.C. Price has definitely signed off on at least Kamren Johnson and T-Ron Richardson, both of which he targetted earlier in the cycle, not landing Richardson until shortly before signing day.
My ranking:
T-Ron Richardson - 3.5-star
Garrett Witherington - 3.5-star
Kamren Johnson - 3.0-star
Linebackers
My grade: A+
James Franklin arrived in Blacksburg and didn't have a single linebacker committed to play for Virginia Tech. Fast forward to today, and he landed four, two of which are composite three-star recruits.
Virginia Tech has had consistent trouble landing true linebackers, which has made the job of some of Virginia Tech's linebackers coaches incredibly hard. All the sudden, Virginia Tech has four guys who come to Blacksburg with the size to be able to play on day one.
My rankings:
Terry Wiggins - 5.0-star
Tyson Harley - 4.5-star
Matheiu Lamah - 4.0-star
John-Patrick Oates - 3.5-star
Defensive Backs
My grade: B+
Virginia Tech effectively started the "DBU" brand that is so argued upon in college football today. In the last 20 years, they've had some spectacular names like DeAngelo Hall, Jimmy Williams, Brandon Flowers, Kam Chancelor and Kyle and Kendal Fuller. That comes far short of naming how many good defensive backs that Virginia Tech had.
They've done quite the job getting away from being DBU in the last 10 or so years, and recruiting has played a huge part in it. Virginia Tech hasn't been able to properly recruit blue-chip defensive backs (excluding true freshman Jahmari DeLoatch, who hasn't played much) since they turned Caleb Farley into a first round pick.
Virginia Tech went out and got a few guys who I am very high on while also reinforcing the Green Run pipeline with Zaevion Cleveland. They also landed Amauri Polydor from St. Frances Academy, one of the nation's top high-school football programs, along with landing Tyrell Grant, a high upside athlete.
My rankings:
Zaevion Cleveland - 4.0-star
Amauri Polydor - 4.0-star
Tyrell Grant - 3.5-star
More Virginia Tech Football News:
-6a5b43e289498e1daf5a7229ef5b8a73.jpeg "Josh Poslusny")
Joshua Poslusny - who goes by Poz - is a Radford University sophomore in the School of Communication. He graduated from Ocean Springs High School in Mississippi in 2024. He has previously done work for The Tech Lunch Pail, Tech Sideline, and Sons of Saturday, among others. He specializes in baseball coverage, which he has been doing for the last year. He also has experience covering football, basketball, and softball.