Soundbites: National Signing Day 2025 Press Conference

BLACKSBURG – Following a busy morning announcing its 19 signees, Virginia Tech football met with local media to discuss its Class of 2025. Head coach Brent Pry took the podium to express his excitement about the incoming talent and the recruitment process. Recruiting coordinators Derek Jones and Fontel Mines addressed the media as well to preview players on each side of the ball. Read and watch below to see what they had to say:

Head Coach Brent Pry

Opening Statement:
"Twelve guys from the state of Virginia, eight on offense, ten on defense, an athlete in Luke Stuewe. We'll see how things shake out. We feel good about him on either side of the ball. And then 11 early enrollees, which is also significant. But couldn't be more excited about this class. You know, the late flip with an in-state guy with Jahmari from the 7-5, helps us at an area of need, talented guy in the secondary, and as a returner, a strong student. Looking forward to coaching Jahmari. But the entire class, really excited about getting all them to the finish line. A bunch of good prospects, great families. Several of these guys had some strong suitors down the stretch. And they stuck with us. Great job by the staff, the relationships, identifying the right people, the right talent, that weathered some things over the course of the season and have stuck with us. A bunch of winners in the class. We've got six players that are still alive for state titles. Jahmari Deloatch, Jayden Anderson, AJ Brand, Zeke Chinwike, Knahly Harrell, Kelden Ryan. So, awesome there. We've got 18 of the 19 are from the footprint. I think you're always gonna go outside the footprint if you need to for a quarterback. Certainly excited to get Kelden in the fold and didn't mind traveling to the Dallas area for him. We got seven players out of the top 25 in the state of Virginia, which I think is the most in a decade or so. So we're proud of that. Again, invested in the state. And then lastly, you know, not that stars mean everything, but six, four or five-star signees. I believe that's the most in at least ties the most in quite some time. So, you know, proud of the class, proud of the efforts of the staff, thankful and proud of the families and the young men that joined us."

Defensive Recruiting Coordinator Derek Jones

On the complexities of the recruitment process:
"Yeah, for me in particular, when you've done this for 25 years, you know, it's a job. You get relationships established with these young men, but, you can't take it personal when they do something else. Your job as a coach is just to do everything you can possibly do to sell kids on the fact that this is the best place for them. But, you know, kids like [Jahmari Deloatch] are special because kids like him are going to attract other kids. He's going to be the type of young man in the room that when you're bringing in recruits in the future, you can let him sit with the family and they're going to be impressed. You know, this is the type of young man you envision possibly being a captain of your football team one day. And then the outlier is the fact that he can really play. He can do a lot of different things for us. He has a lot of versatility. Naturally, he's a return guy, but he can play corner. He can play nickel. He can play safety. And that's the model of young man we want. I mean, he's a 21 to 200 meter guy, which is an elite level of speed that enables you to do a lot of things and with the amount of man coverage that we play, you know, he was a guy that was a big, big time target for us."

Offensive Coordinator Fontel Mines

On completing the incoming class of 2025:
"It's a good class man, talented, a lot of people made a run at them late. That further lets you know we're on the right guys and just to strengthen relationships and culture, test them into the entire staff, led by Coach Pride, and just building those relationships with those guys are important for us moving forward. And I think that's what really solidified those guys getting in the boat."