Well, that didn't take long now, did it?
Earlier this week and almost two weeks after firing offensive line coach Ron Crook, Virginia Tech football coach Brent Pry announced the hiring of Matt Moore from West Virginia. It was a huge hire as he has a track record of producing NFL linemen and his job with the Hokies is to rebuild a line that has struggled big time.
Part of the reason why the line needs to be rebuilt is because Parker Clements and Kaden Moore have used up their eligibility and Kaden's brother, Braelin entered the transfer portal and committed to LSU. Also entering the portal was argubably the Hokies best lineman this season, Xavier Chaplin also entered and committed to Auburn.
With a lot of work to do, Moore picked up his first portal commitment and it's a good one, a former player who played for him in Morgantown, Tomas Rimac. The 6-foot-6, 318-pound Rimac entered the portal less than a week ago and is following Moore to Blacksburg. This is a significant pickup for Virginia Tech as Rimac has started nearly 30 games for West Virginia in his career there.
Rimac started all 13 games this season for the Mountaineers, including their Scooter's Coffee Frisco Bowl loss to Memphis on Dec. 17. He entered the portal two days later. A two-time All-Big 12 honorable mention the last two seasons, he graded out very well by PFF with a grade of 77.1 and a season-long pass-blocking grade of 86.3.
This is an outstanding start to rebuilding the offensive line for Virginia Tech, bringing in an experienced player who had a lot of success under Moore. There is still a long way to go for Pry and Moore, but this is an outstanding start.