Pry Talks Signees, Transfers on Signing Day

By Carter Hill

Staff Writer

February 2, 2022

BLACKSBURG — Brent Pry’s first recruiting class as Virginia Tech’s head football coach is finally complete.

After inking 27 student-athletes over the past two months — 13 from the Commonwealth and the remaining 14 coming from 10 different states and the nation’s capital — the first-year head coach has begun to lay his own foundation.

Mixed-in with a surplus of talented recruits from former head coach Justin Fuente’s tenure, the 2022 class possesses numerous assets from all over the field. And with that, comes the 33rd-ranked recruiting class in the nation, according to 247Sports.com, Virginia Tech’s best since 2019.

As it currently stands, the class ranks fifth in the ACC behind North Carolina, Clemson, Florida State and Miami. But considering the mass exodus of a former coaching staff, in addition to the high level of turnover within the Merryman Athletic Center, it’s quite remarkable Pry was able to keep together a class this strong. It only got better today by bringing in three additional faces.

With the additions of three-star tight end Daequan Wright (though some outlets give him a fourth star), three-star offensive tackle Xavier Chaplin and three-star defensive back Devin Alves, Tech’s ‘22 class is officially rounded out.

Pry had high praise for each.

“We want to be tight end oriented and those guys are going to be a big piece of our offense and we're going to do a lot with them. Daequan brings a ton of athleticism to that position,” Pry said regarding Wright, a 6-foot-4, 230-pounder out of Perry, Ga. “He's a 230-pound guy that has a lot of traits that you’d like in a wide receiver. Daequan is just another piece to that, he adds to those tight ends that we signed in December with Benji [Gosnell] and Harrison Saint Germain. I think it's got to be one of the better tight end classes in the country.”

Wright hauled in 60 receptions for Perry High School during his senior campaign, totaling 1,205 yards and 14 touchdowns in 2021.

Chaplin, meanwhile, was a Fuente recruit who chose the Hokies over Michigan and Louisville.

“Xavier’s a guy we jumped on right away,” Pry said. “Just really wanted to keep him in the boat…a really good kid, tremendous size, elite size. You always look for elite qualities, Xavier certainly has elite size.

He lost 30 pounds since he was in camp here. He’s got an athletic build, he’s a shot put guy, he’s a discus guy, he plays basketball, played on the defensive line. He’s got really good movement for a guy his size, and with a college strength and conditioning program, we’ve got a chance to have something pretty special right there.”

Tech will welcome five offensive lineman to campus over the course of the next few months. Meaning the Seabrook, S.C. native will be in a crowded room filled with guys itching to learn under new offensive line coach Joe Rudolph, who the Hokies lured from Wisconsin.

Pry’s final signee of the 2022 class came in the form of defensive back Devin Alves, a recent commitment out of Melbourne, Fla.

“He’s a talent we identified early,” Pry said. “Long kid…he can play right now boundary corner, he’s got a chance to be a safety. He’s got great range, a great tackler, and Coach [Tyler] Bowen and Coach [Fontel] Mines think he’s a really good receiver prospect.

I want guys who project on either side of the ball. He's a mature guy, we had him and his father on-campus with us this weekend. Just really impressed with his personality and his maturity, he’s a guy we think can reach his potential. I’m excited about him.”

The former Melbourne Senior High School standout led his team with 61 receptions for 1,249 yards with 15 touchdowns on the offensive side of the ball, while tallying a team-best four interceptions and 42 tackles, defensively.

The Hokies also plucked four players from the transfer portal in the early stages of 2022, including two promising quarterbacks who could help reshape the future.

At exactly 6:00 p.m. on Jan. 6, Tech landed the services of Fredericksburg, Va. native Jason Brown, a graduate transfer by way of South Carolina. It also snagged Marshall transfer Grant Wells, a Charleston, W.Va. native with up to three years of remaining eligibility.

The addition of the two signal-callers will bring a different dynamic — one different from 2021 — to the quarterbacks room under new positions coach Brad Glenn.

For the first time in years, Virginia Tech didn’t have a quarterback competition heading into fall camp when former quarterbacks Hendon Hooker and Quincy Patterson transferred after the 2020 season. Braxton Burmiester — who left for San Diego State a few weeks before the Pinstripe Bowl — was the only quarterback with starting experience left standing. So naturally, Fuente and his staff rolled with him in 2021.

But that won’t be the case next season. Pry said that he plans on giving all four quarterbacks with collegiate experience — Brown, Wells, Connor Blumrick and Tahj Bullock — a chance to work with the first-team offense in the spring and fall.

“Jason's a guy that has one year left, he's a Virginia kid. It was his dream to come to Virginia Tech at one time,” Pry said when mentioning Brown, who started his career at St. Francis (Pa.) immediately out of high school. “He's done some big things at St. Francis, he's done big things at South Carolina. We're excited to have Jason and his maturity, his leadership.”

The 6-foot, 230-pounder finished his 2021 campaign going 60-for-108, tossing for 721 yards and eight touchdowns in his lone season suiting up for the Gamecocks.

Wells, meanwhile, was two-year starter for the Thundering Herd and threw for over 3,500 yards a season ago, adding 16 touchdowns and completing 66.3% of his passes. He’s certainly a nice piece that will help with the rebuild that’s mainly focused on the offensive side of the ball.

“Grant had a really nice career at Marshall,” said Pry. “Native West Virginian, has two, potentially three years left of eligibility. A very talented student of the game. Super excited about both those guys.”

Temple wide receiver transfer Jadan Blue will be a welcomed addition in the receivers room with the losses of Tré Turner (NFL Draft) and Tayvion Robinson (Kentucky). While North Carolina defector Stephen Gosnell, Benji’s older brother, will be another depth piece sitting behind Blue and returners Kaleb Smith and Jaden Payoute.

This year’s Early Signing Day and National Signing Day embody what Pry hopes to once again grow at Virginia Tech. Back to where the program was in the early 2000s, back where it once was on the national stage. And at least in Virginia, the rookie head coach thinks he’s off to a good start.

“The idea is to identify prospects early, get them on-campus early, and start that relationship early. We’ve been in and out of those [high schools in Virginia] to try and do that,” he explained. “I think it's important to note that 13 of these kids are from Virginia. Over the last five years, just taking a quick look at it, I believe in 2018 and 2019, there were seven players signed each of those years from the state of Virginia. 2020, by my research, one; [in] 2021, five.

So good work within our state borders. Obviously, the addition of those Virginia kids is important to all of us.”

Being well-received when touring the Commonwealth, building relationships with high schools across the state and humanizing the faces of Virginia Tech football has been an early point of emphasis for the former Tech graduate assistant.

It’s certainly a start. Now can it pay off? The plan is in place.

Can Pry resurrect Virginia Tech football through dominating Virginia, formulating a competitive class, and setting the foundation with a slew of talented transfers through the early stages of his tenure?

Only time will tell in his quest to return a once-proud football program — back to national prominence.