Virginia Tech Surging For Four-Star In-State Offensive Lineman

Virginia Tech began spring practice today and not only are the Hokies taking the field for the first time under James Franklin, but they appear to be trending for one of the top recruits in the state of Virginia.

Four-Star offensive tackle Junior Saunders (6'6 270 LBS) plays his high school football at Woodberry Forest High School in Virginia and today, he received a crystal ball prediction from 247Sports expect Kolby Crawford to land with the Hokies.

Currently, Saunders is ranked as the No. 339 player in the country, the No. 34 offensive tackle in the country, and the No. 7 player in the state of Virginia. He holds offers from Virginia, South Carolina, Florida, Florida State, Maryland, NC State, North Carolina, Ohio State, Pittsburgh, West Virginia, and Wisconsin, among others.

Virginia Tech is trending for one of the top in-state offensive linemen in the 2027 class.

I’m taking a swing and logging an early Crystal Ball for 4⭐️ OT Junior Saunders to the Hokies.

60% OFF: https://t.co/ED8PK6J34S pic.twitter.com/f4ArOaWZGG
— Kolby Crawford (@kolby_crawford) March 17, 2026

This would be a great start for Virginia Tech's recruiting class. The Hokies have yet to get a commitment for the class of 2027 and Saunders would be a nice start.

Franklin ready to begin spring

While the Hokies are busy recruiting new talent to the program, spring practice and getting this team ready for the 2026 season. Franklin talked yesterday about how things have gone in his first few months on the job and if anything has gone better than expected, as well as questions he wants to answer about his team over the next 15 practices :

"Yeah, I guess what I would say is I think there's a ton of excitement from me and the staff. Because I think there are a ton of areas for improvement and that is specifically in our football program. That is in the athletic department and I think that's really on campus philosophically. There are a ton of areas that I think we can improve on. To me, that's exciting. To me, that's really exciting because I think there's a ton of low-hanging fruit. And then, there's some stuff that we're going to have to be pretty aggressive and climb up deep into the tree to get fixed as well. But to me, that's what's so exciting. There are a lot of areas for improvement within our football program and outside.

So, one question, I mean, that's that's hard to do, right, when you're taking over a program. and there's so many areas that I'm still learning about Virginia Tech, about Virginia Tech football, about our staff, about the players. It's hard for me to say, 'This is the one thing.' I mean, obviously, the big one you guys want is the one of the first questions, right?The quarterback. That's obviously a very important question that we have to get answered as soon as possible and not just the starter, but who are the top two quarterbacks are going to be, so we can get those guys ready.

So, yeah, that's hard for me because there's just so many things that I'm still trying to figure out. And so are the coaches and winter workouts are great and the weight room are great, but we don't really know who our team is. I think we're in a much better position than we were when I arrived on campus, thanks to the support of so many different people, the hard work of our current team as well as the guys that we got out of the transfer portal as well as the high school guys that joined us at mid-semester. But there's still so much; I don't know if I could say one thing."