Virginia Tech Signing Day capsule 2021: Jack Hollifield

Virginia Tech runs in the family. The latest set of brothers - second to be minted as Hokies in this class - is the Hollifields.

The younger brother of Hokies junior linebacker Dax Hollifield, Jack is a tight end from Shelby (N.C.) High School.

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5.6 three-star. Unranked nationally or at his position. The No. 30 senior in the state of North Carolina.

East Carolina, Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina, NC State, Old Dominion, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Virginia, Wake Forest

Hollifield had lots of connections - both natural and forged - to programs throughout ACC territory and beyond. Dad Aubrey (his and his older brother's high school basketball coach and an assistant on the football team) is a Wake Forest alum, while obviously his older brother is a three-year starter in Blacksburg. He also took a number of visits, including to out-of-region programs like Michigan and Notre Dame in addition to local ones like North Carolina.

However, the family relationship with Virginia Tech, made over the course of Dax's recruitment - and enhanced by the fact that Jack visited for nearly every one of Dax's games in the first couple years the elder brother was on campus - was too much to overcome.

There was faith that becoming a Hokie was not only the best thing for his football future, but also the only one that felt right. In the end, it was an easy decision.

Hollifield is primarily a high school linebacker/DE who also contrivutes as a blocking tight end. He is expected, however, to play the latter in high school.

Jack should take to the physical portions of the game pretty quickly, already showing his toughness as a hard-nosed linebacker. Playing more of an H-back, blocking-back role early in his career as his pass-catching develops and adds polish is likely. He is similar to recently-graduated (and first-round pick) Dalton Keene in that respect, though art least Keene was his team's starting running back to there was some familiarity with the nuances of the offensive game.

The body composition and athletic ability are already game-ready, so a simple acclimation to the new position will be all that separates him from seeing the field.

Jack was his Shelby (N.C.) High team's leading tackler as a junior with 164 total tackles, 24 of them for loss, with nine sacks during his junior year. The Lions finished 14-1 with a Class 2AA state title.

He is not expected to participate in his senior year as an early enrollee with basketball season pushed back in North Carolina (and thus no reason to stick around).

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