Virginia Tech Football Inks 25 To 2023 Class On Early Signing Day

On Wednesday, Virginia Tech football inked 25 high school prospects to National Letters of Intent (NLI) on early signing day. While a few recruits could sign in the spring, the Hokies’ 2023 class is almost complete.

Below is a full list of players who signed with Tech in alphabetical order.

*Editors Note: Brent Pry & Co. signed four transfers on Wednesday. Ali Jennings III (wide receiver, Old Dominion) and Kyron Drones (quarterback, Baylor) previously committed. Temple defensive end Darian Varner and Norfolk State wide receiver Da’Quan Felton both signed with the Hokies.*

Name	Pos	Stars	Hometown	Ht	Wt	Our Take
Jason Abbey	DE		Richmond, Va.	6-4	225
Gabriel Arena	OL		Harrisburg, Pa.	6-5	285
Marcell Baylor	WR		Radford, Va.	6-0	200
Jeremiah Coney	RB		Richmond, Va.	6-0	195
Tavorian Copeland	LB		Appomattox, Va.	6-3	190
Antonio Cotman, Jr.	DB		Richmond, Va.	6-2	190
Ishmael Findlayter	DE		Ontario, Canada	6-4	240
Chance Fitzgerald	WR		Nashville, Tenn.	6-2	190
Cameren Fleming	DB		Richmond, Va.	6-0	190
Layth Ghannam	OL		Charleston, W.Va.	6-5	275
Ayden Greene	WR		Powell, Tenn.	6-2	175
Hannes Hammer	OL		Cologne, Germany	6-7	275
Takye Heath	WR		Richmond, Va.	5-10	165
Braylon Johnson	DB		Richmond, Va.	6-1	165
Dante Lovett	DB		Landover, Md.	6-0	185
Tralon Mitchell	RB		Middlesex, N.C.	6-1	190
Jonathan Pennix	WR		Appomattox, Va.	6-0	175
Mose Phillips	DB		Nashville, Tenn.	6-2	190
Aycen Stevens	LB		Indianapolis, Ind.	6-4	225
William Watson, III	QB		Springfield, Mass.	5-11	180
Krystian Williams	DB		Richmond, Va.	6-0	170
Lance Williams	OL		Alcoa, Tenn.	6-3	295
Thomas Williams	DB		Greenville, S.C.	5-11	185
Dylan Wittke	QB		Buford, Ga.	6-1	200
Caleb Woodson	LB		Haymarket, Va.	6-3	205

The Hokies spiced it up. In the recently renovated players lounge, the staff held an NFL Draft-style event where they called upon different individuals in the program to announce each signee in a special way. For example, Bud Foster announced the decision for Braylon Johnson; his father, Loren, played under Foster at Virginia Tech.

The sights from the first signee 📸#ThisIsHome23 | #GroundUp pic.twitter.com/GuBmJ80zIE

— Virginia Tech Football (@HokiesFB) December 21, 2022

“We want this to be special,” Brent Pry said on Wednesday. “It’s just a really good way to celebrate and continue to build relationships and do something special at the end of a cycle with a lot of hours, a lot of investments by the families, the coaching staffs, everybody.”

Position Breakdown

Here is a complete position breakdown of Virginia Tech’s 2023 class. Signees are listed in alphabetical order by position.

QB: 2 – William “Pop” Watson III (MA), Dylan Wittke (GA)
RB: 2 – Jeremiah Coney (VA), Tralon Mitchell (NC)
WR: 5 – Marcell Baylor (VA), Chance Fitzgerald (TN), Ayden Greene (TN), Takye Heath (VA), Jonathan Pennix (VA)
TE: 0
OL: 4 – Gabriel Arena (PA), Layth Ghannam (WV), Hannes Hammer (VA), Lance Williams (TN)
DL: 2 – Jason Abbey (VA), Ishmael Findlayter (Canada)
LB: 3 – Tavorian Copeland (VA), Aycen Stevens (IN), Caleb Woodson (VA)
DB: 7 – Antonio Cotman Jr. (VA), Cameren Fleming (VA), Braylon Johnson (VA), Dante Lovett (MD), Mose Phillips (TN), Krystian Williams (VA), Thomas Williams (SC)

WR/DB Focus

Virginia Tech picked up five wide receivers and seven defensive backs on signing day. The Hokies needed some support in both areas, and they got it.

Wide receiver Kaleb Smith, one of Tech’s captains in 2022, entered the transfer portal in early December and committed to Notre Dame on Wednesday. As a result, a receiver room that already needed revamping got it a little bit more. Much of the success came in the last two weeks, too.

Baylor, Heath and Pennix were committed for a while, but Fitzgerald and Greene pledged their services just recently. They’re the second and third highest-rated recruits in the class, too.

“The sky’s the limit for that kid,” wide receiver coach and offensive recruiting coordinator Fontel Mines said of Fitzgerald. “He’s an awesome kid. He’s bright, he’s a football mind, he’s got a really good family. I think we did a really good job – myself, Coach Marve, Coach Pry, Coach Bowen – of rallying around him when he was here on his visit.”

Cotman Jr. was also a late pick-up. Once committed to Boston College, he aligned himself with the Hokies within the last week, and he’s Tech’s highest-ranked in-state prospect. He joins three other players from the Commonwealth in the defensive back room in Fleming, Johnson and Krystian Williams.

One of the biggest things to note: positional flexibility is key. Cornerbacks coach and defensive recruiting coordinator Derek Jones and safeties coach Pierson Prioleau value the ability to play any spot in the defensive back room, and many of those guys bring those attributes to the table. Jones used Williams as an example.

“Krystian Williams, we recruited him a long time ago and we liked him at corner at first, believe it or not,” Jones said. “I liked his length. He’s got a 24-foot long jump which means he’s an explosive guy. He’s got good hips naturally, he’s a really good receiver, so he has ball skills. So he’s a guy that even though you hadn’t heard anything about him playing corner is a guy that could potentially play over there as well.”

Late Decisions

Unlike the 2022 class, there were no decommits from Virginia Tech prospects around signing day. Instead, the Hokies earned a commitment from Phillips.

A 6-2, 190-pound defensive back from Nashville, Tenn., he was the last player to sign with Tech around 1 p.m. Otherwise, the day went as planned – or better.

Jones said the Hokies were very high on Phillips but tried to keep him off the radar of other teams. He only had a few offers, a list that included Virginia, Georgia Tech, Toledo and Tulane. And Tech succeeded in doing so.

“He’s a guy that we discovered a while back,” Jones said. “And to be honest, we didn’t want a lot of people to find out about it. Our strategy was to visit him late, to keep all of the dialog down about him. We didn’t like a lot of his posts, we didn’t follow him a whole lot because we felt like this guy brought something to the table that we didn’t have and that we’re going to need in the future.”

Jones described Phillips as a physical defensive back who is very aggressive. And thanks to the transfer portal opening in early December, other programs shifted their focus away from him. Tech didn’t, and he ultimately signed with the Hokies.

Early Enrollees

In his signing day press conference, Pry announced that 11 of the signees would enroll early at Virginia Tech. These players will start their collegiate careers at the beginning of the January semester, giving them a few extra months to get acclimated to the environment.

Eight of the early enrollees are on offense while three are on defense. Here’s how it breaks down by position:

QB: 2 – William “Pop” Watson III, Dylan Wittke
RB: 1 – Jeremiah Coney
WR: 2 – Ayden Greene, Marcell Baylor
OL: 3 – Layth Ghannam, Hannes Hammer, Lance Williams
DL: 1 – Ishmael Findlayter
DB: 2 – Antonio Cotman Jr., Mose Phillips

Class Rankings

At the time of this writing, Virginia Tech signed the No. 6 class in the ACC, per the 247Sports Composite rankings. Here’s how the rest of the conference shakes out with the national ranking on the left:

No. 4 Miami
No. 11 Clemson
No. 20 Florida State
No. 26 North Carolina
No. 30 Louisville
No. 35 Virginia Tech
No. 42 NC State
No. 45 Wake Forest
No. 46 Pitt
No. 49 Duke
No. 54 Boston College
No. 58 Georgia Tech
No. 60 Virginia
No. 69 Syracuse

Tech’s top five signees, per the 247Sports Composite rankings, are as follows:

OL Layth Ghannam, George Washington, Charleston, W.Va., No. 370 nationally
WR Chance Fitzgerald, Nolensville, Nolensville, Tenn., No. 456 nationally
WR Ayden Greene, Powell, Powell, Tenn., No. 545 nationally
LB Aycen Stevens, Decatur Central, Indianapolis, Ind., No. 619 nationally
DB Antonio Cotman Jr., Life Christian Academy, Colonial Heights, Va., No. 646 nationally

More Analysis

For the full signing day central coverage, click here. Chris Coleman’s subscription article with his thoughts on the class will be published on Thursday.

Below is a YouTube playlist on the Tech Sideline page with comments from Chris Coleman and Will Stewart on each signee. For analysis on each specific individual instead of the class as a whole, click a specific “Our Take” link in the signee table at the top of the page.