Virginia Tech coach Brent Pry is going down a dangerous road that won't end well

When Virginia Tech football coach Brent Pry was hired to replace Justin Fuente, he knew that one area that he would need to make strides in that Fuente didn't was with in-state recruiting. You could make the case that Pry is making strides, but you can also make the case that some of the strides are not as big as they need to be.

The latest recruiting loss came Thursday night when in-state offensive lineman Carter Scruggs of Leesburg made his commitment and the four-star and seventh-ranked player in the Class of 2026 picked Clemson over Michigan, Penn State, Georgia, and Oklahoma. Missing from that list of the Final Five was Virginia Tech.

Virginia Tech losing in-state recruit to ACC rival is another sign that recruiting in the Commonwealth is not where it needs to be

It's one thing to lose a recruiting battle in your own state to a rival, it's another loss when one of the powerhouse schools in your conference comes into Virginia and wins the recruiting battle. To be honest, are you really surprised?

Now, there are people out there who will say that Virginia Tech was never going to get him, and that proved to be true, but having Power 4 conference schools come into your state and finish hiring, then you should be something that is not overlooked.

Clemson is Clemson, and Dabo Swinney is always going to get the recruit over Pry and Virginia Tech. That's just a fact until proven otherwise. Pry has done a good job of bringing talent from Virignia home in the transfer portal to finish their college career, but now he needs to start winning those recruiting battles while they're in high school.

This is something that should be concerning, and with the commitment season here, worth keeping an eye on. If Virginia Tech is going to turn things around under Pry, this needs to change.