{"id":665136,"date":"2026-05-26T01:43:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T01:43:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/665136\/"},"modified":"2026-05-26T01:43:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T01:43:08","slug":"virginia-tech-building-big-recruiting-class-under-james-franklin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/665136\/","title":{"rendered":"Virginia Tech building big recruiting class under James Franklin"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s time to re-adjust where Virginia Tech<\/a> sits in the college football recruiting hierarchy.<\/p>\n

Previously battling other ACC bottom-feeders to not finish with the worst class in the conference, the Hokies have some newfound swagger on the recruiting trail thanks to the arrival of head coach James Franklin<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After essentially bringing the entire Penn State class to Blacksburg last cycle, VT is starting to pick up some steam in the 2027 cycle. As of May 25, the Hokies have the No. 20 class in the Rivals Industry Team Recruiting Rankings<\/a>. <\/p>\n

There\u2019s still a ways to go and plenty of commits to add to the fold, but Franklin and his staff have had Virginia Tech in the thick of some big-time recruitments thus far. Earlier this month, they picked up their biggest commitment thus far.<\/p>\n

Hingham (Mass.) Tabor Academy four-star quarterback Peter Bourque<\/a> was a one-time Michigan commit who came back on the board earlier this year following the coaching changes in Ann Arbor. Franklin\u2019s PSU staff was previously in the mix and he re-ignited the interest at VT. It eventually paid off as he chose the Hokies over Georgia on May 14. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m super close to that staff. I have a great relationship with Daniel O\u2019Brien and Coach Franklin,\u201d\u00a0Bourque previously told Rivals\u2019 Steve Wiltfong<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Bourque, the No. 7 QB in the nation, is one of four four-stars in the VT class to date. May has also brought pledges from Swainsboro (Ga.) Emanuel County four-star cornerback Chase Johnson<\/a> and Arlington (Texas) Martin four-star running back JP Jones-Priest<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s currently 14 total commits in the class, eight of whom are set to play on the offensive side of the ball at the next level. The class also ranks No. 3 in the ACC, behind just Miami and Clemson. The class can be viewed below.<\/p>\n

Virginia Tech Commitments by Position<\/p>\n

Quarterback
Four-star Peter Bourque<\/a>, No. 82 NATL. (No. 7 QB)<\/p>\n

Running Back
Four-star JP Jones-Priest<\/a>, No. 380 NATL. (No. 29 RB)
Three-star Kelvin Morrison<\/a>, No. 521 NATL. (No. 41 RB)
Three-star Stanley Smart<\/a>, No. 661 NATL. (No. 59 RB)<\/p>\n

Wide Receiver
Three-star Demarcus Brown<\/a>, No. 415 NATL. (No. 60 WR)
Three-star Anthony Roberts<\/a>, No. 429 NATL. (No. 61 WR)<\/p>\n

Tight End
Three-star Braxton Salster<\/a>, No. 568 NATL. (No. 33 TE)<\/p>\n

Interior Offensive Lineman
Three-star Kaden Buchanan<\/a>, No. 423 NATL. (No. 32 IOL)<\/p>\n

Defensive Lineman
Four-star Joseph Buchanan<\/a>, No. 226 NATL. (No. 24 DL)
Three-star Xavier Perkins<\/a>, No. 481 NATL. (No. 48 DL)
Three-star Brock Frisby<\/a>, No. 634 NATL. (No. 59 DL)<\/p>\n

EDGE
Three-star Alexander Taylor<\/a>, No. 690 NATL. (No. 57 EDGE)<\/p>\n

Cornerback
Four-star Chase Johnson<\/a>, No. 354 NATL. (No. 38 CB)<\/p>\n

Safety
Three-star Elijah Butler<\/a>, No. 460 NATL. (No. 42 S)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s time to re-adjust where Virginia Tech sits in the college football recruiting hierarchy. Previously battling other ACC…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":665137,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[290720,290721,290722,290723,290724,290725,290726,399,290727,290728,290729,290730,398,396,397,213867,99,290731,290732],"class_list":["post-665136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-football","tag-alexander-taylor-27-st-frances-academy","tag-anthony-roberts-27-rolesville","tag-braxton-salster-27-pleasant-valley","tag-brock-frisby-27-archbishop-spalding","tag-chase-johnson-27-emanuel-county-institute","tag-demarcus-brown-27-north-cross-school","tag-elijah-butler-27-st-frances-academy","tag-football","tag-joseph-buchanan-27-mcdonogh-school","tag-jp-jones-priest-27-martin","tag-kaden-buchanan-27-friendship-christian-school","tag-kelvin-morrison-27-hickory","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-football","tag-ncaafootball","tag-peter-bourque-27-tabor-academy","tag-sports","tag-stanley-smart-27-benedictine-military-school","tag-xavier-perkins-27-jordan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=665136"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665136\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/665137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=665136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=665136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=665136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}