Portal offer: CJ James
Virginia Tech's efforts to reload in the trenches will involve heavy use of the NCAA Transfer Portal.
New Mexico offensive lineman CJ James - whose winding path through college football began as a high school prospect in Massachusetts - picked up an offer from teh Hokies yesterday.
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James played at Springfield (Mass.) Central - the alma mater of freshman quarterback Pop Watson - and headed to Lackawanna C.C. in Pennsylvania in search of a bigger stage. The 2020 season was canceled due to the pandemic, but he headed to FCS Abilene Christian in Texas, where he was the starting center.
He moved to New Mexico after one season, and the 6-4, 294-pounder has been a starting offensive lineman for the Lobos for two years. He played about 70% of the team's snaps at center and another 15% at guard in 2022, before playing all but three snaps at center for the team this season. PFF graded him as an elite pass-blocker, and an average run-blocker for a team that was in the top 15 nationally with 5.25 yards per rush.
At his next stop, James will have two years to play one. Virginia Tech is the only Power-5 program to offer him an opportunity to this point, though he has a handful of Group of Five programs in pursuit (including hometown UMass), as well.
The Hokies' connections to both his high school and junior college - where members of the staff were very involved during their time at Penn State, and the JC alma mater of outgoing DT Pheldarius Payne - should help them in pursuit. He plans to check out his options and enroll at the school of his choice as soon as possible.
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