Nansemond River (Suffolk, VA) offensive lineman Thomas Jarrett Hopple has given a verbal commitment to Virginia Tech. Andy Bitter of the Roanoke Times reported the pledge earlier this evening, but Hopple has also confirmed his commitment to TechSideline.com through Twitter.
Hopple, a 6’6″, 280-pound junior, gives the Hokies 10 commitments — the third in the past eight days — in the class of 2016. He picked Virginia Tech over Pittsburgh, Virginia, Wake Forest and West Virginia, among others.
Hopple is the first offensive line commitment for Virginia Tech in this class. He also plays defense and serves as the long snapper at Nansemond River.
Junior season highlights of Virginia Tech’s newest commitment are below. I’ll have a full report up in the coming days, so stay tuned.
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It does not matter who’s at QB, RB, WR, AND TE, even if they where all 5 star athletes, if you can’t block the other guys, your offense won’t be successful. It is amazing to me that Beamer waiting so long to get rid of Newsome who could recruit, but did not know how to coach the OL. We are beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel and now we need to keep an OL coach that can coach and recruit and has the ability to teach nasty and physicality back into our OL that has been missing for the last several years under Newsome. Nice pick up, we need more though. Once we can control the line of scrimmage again, we will find our offense once again. It really is that simple. Go HOKIES!!!!!!
Yes
Got real Good Size, probably won’t stay a 4 Eyes for long. Welcome aboard.
Really Nice pickup. Welcome to the Hokie Nation.
Great to have you aboard Thomas.
Welcome aboard TJH!!! Glad that you’re a Hokie and will help get the OL back on track.
Reminds me of a more athletic Augie Conte. Great frame, good feet and very good punch in pass protection. Excellent pickup.
Does anyone else see some resemblance with Jeff, Steve and Jack Hanson of “Slap Shot”. Hope he brings some similar nastiness to the O-Line (no fights please) to dominate and open lanes for the RBs.
Welcome to the Hokie Nation.
GO HOKIES!!!
Welcome Mr Hopple! GREAT CHOICE TO BE A HOKIE!
Very nice pick up with a good offer list.
Right. Because without fans, the coaches wouldn’t know to recruit offensive linemen.
Pride and Joy………….how’s the offensive line been in recent years? In case you missed it they opted to turn athletes into linemen and it didn’t work so well did it? You must have missed all the groaning from the fans who wanted true offensive linemen playing on Sat. afternoons, etc.
Really..ask Duane Brown how it worked out for him. Problem isn’t turning “athletes” into offensive linemen; THAT is a good thing when the guy can PLAY!
Problem is not having decent linemen, or enough of them , or that the ones you think are good don’t contribute. Problem is numbers, injury, the fact that only 50% of linemen recruits NATIONALLY contribute (defined as 1st or 2nd string).
To make a blanket statement that “tuning athletes into linemen” didn’t work is WAY too simplistic”!
I’ll take a room full of Wyatt Tellers all day long….Oh wait, my bad..HE was one of those “athletes” who the coaches “turned into a n offensive lineman”!
I would MUCH rather take a chance on a gifted and large athlete than some guy who looked like Tarzan in HS because he outweighed everyone and pushed them around… I’d MOSTLY like to have multiple 4-5* linemen every year, so we could play the ones who panned out, and not need the other 50% who didn’t…..A VT does NOT always get what we want, in the numbers we would prefer.
………and I am THRILLED to welcome Thomas Jarrett Hopple to Virginia Tech. He appears to be one of those offensive linemen (who used to be a TE, btw) who CAN play, perhaps because he IS an athlete, and not just a big kid!
Welcome to VT Tom!
I’m not trying to be confrontational (like some), but Duane Brown being a first round draft pick and part of one of the worst OL’s in recent Hokie history doesn’t really prove anything. I’ll never forget the bowl against UGA, watching the Hokie OL (DB included) stand around while Sean Glennon was getting obliterated.
I’ve mentioned for the past several years (ugh… Yeah, I just said that), OL makes up 23% of the starters on the team. Therefore, the number of offers going out to OL types should be similar. I don’t really care if it is the true OL type or jumbo athletes, we haven’t been offering enough and certainly not landing enough. For every 6’0″ QB/ATH we’ve had that never amounted to anything thing, we could have been offering big men.
Travon McMillian doesn’t count, he’s going to be a stud!
I’ll stand by my assessment. One or two here and there doesn’t make a solid offensive line. Recruit the players who have played that position. A blind squirrel finds an acorn every now and then my friend.
Looks like the coaching staff has finally gotten the message from the fans………..”Recruit offensive linemen”……..Finally, AMEN, AMEN, AND AMEN!!!!!
Welcome to the Hokie Nation Thomas.