It’s time to get to the big work of August made a bit more difficult with a new editing function, but we’re going to ‘give it a go’ as is often said. Remember the Rule #1 of Schneider’s List of Rules for Football: The Offensive Line is 85% of a team’s production. Without a good offensive line, the rest of everything ends up being a mad scramble, hurt players, and a pile of ‘Ls’ to live with.
Given that reality, let’s get to the meat and potatoes of the trenches and look at the current Virginia Tech
O-Line roster.
Location, Location, Location…
You will note that there aren’t many names from Virginia, even though the state represents the largest number of players on the squad. Add to that, one of the 4 Virginia high school players is actually from Germany. There are 7 transfers on the squad. One is in his second season with the Hokies. But the representation for this season is pretty much all over the map with the furthest West being a graduate transfer from Bentonville Arkansas.
There are eight total freshmen with five being redshirts and three being true freshmen. That means that there are 7 experienced players and one of those players has just one game under his belt.
Here is the list of the current Hokie O-Line in order of class from Graduate to Freshman:
2025 Hokie Offensive Line
| Number | Name | Position | Class | Ht. | Weight | Hometown | High School | Previous School |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 63 | Jaden Muskrat | Offensive Line | Graduate Student | 6-3 | 298 lbs | Bentonville AK | Bentonville | Auburn |
| 55 | Tomas Rimac | Offensive Line | Redshirt Senior | 6-6 | 317 lbs | Brunswick OH | Brunswick | West Virginia |
| 66 | Montavious Cunningham | Offensive Line | Redshirt Senior | 6-4 | 318 lbs | Athens GA | Clarke Central | Georgia State |
| 77 | Brody Meadows | Offensive Line | Redshirt Junior | 6-7 | 332 lbs | Bluefield VA | Graham | |
| 79 | Johnny Garrett | Offensive Line | Redshirt Junior | 6-5 | 318 lbs | Scituate MA | Boston College (HS) | |
| 56 | Layth Ghannam | Offensive Line | Redshirt Sophomore | 6-5 | 302 lbs | Charleston WV | George Washington | |
| 67 | Hannes Hammer | Offensive Line | Redshirt Sophomore | 6-7 | 313 lbs | Cologne Germany | North Cross School (VA) | |
| 57 | Lucas Austin | Offensive Line | Redshirt Freshman | 6-5 | 300 lbs | Sterling IL | Sterling | West Virginia |
| 62 | Kyle Altuner | Offensive Line | Redshirt Freshman | 6-3 | 296 lbs | Olney MD | Our Lady of Good Counsel | West Virginia |
| 76 | Aidan Lynch | Offensive Line | Redshirt Freshman | 6-7 | 310 lbs | Flanders NJ | Mount Olive | |
| 51 | Elijah Haughawout | Offensive Line | Redshirt Freshman | 6-4 | 304 lbs | Suwanee GA | Lambert | US. Military Academy Prep School |
| 53 | Tommy Ricard | Offensive Line | Redshirt Freshman | 6-4 | 298 lbs | Hudson OH | Hudson | |
| 50 | Nathaniel Wright | Offensive Line | Freshman | 6-5 | 298 lbs | Manassas VA | Forest Park | |
| 70 | Carter Stallard | Offensive Line | Freshman | 6-8 | 335 lbs | Christiansburg VA | Christiansburg | |
| 71 | Gavin Crawford | Offensive Line | Freshman | 6-3 | 332 lbs | Silver Spring MD | Our Lady of Good Counsel | West Virginia |
* Data Courtesy of Hokie Sports Official Roster
Digging into the List
If you’ve been following the Hokies and our previews for a while, this list might seem a bit odd. There are some familiar names like Montavious Cunningham, Brody Meadows, Johnny Garrett, Layth Ghannam, Hannes Hammer, Aidan Lynch, and Tommy Ricard but the two massive realities to notice is the total number of offensive line positions on the roster this season. This season the Hokies have only 15 players listed on the O-Line, and last season there were 20.
For those counting on their fingers, that’s a reduction of an entire line worth of depth. That reality might be the only real negative result of having a trimmed roster of 111 players which is 6 over the 105 full limit allowed by the House settlement (but there are certain exceptions made so we might be running into several players who fit that category. Whatever the case, 15 listed players is only a 3-deep for a full offensive line. That might make any college coach’s scalp itch enough to bleed after all of the scratching.
The big issue for Coaches Mongomery and Moore will certainly be cohesion and minimizing injury to the 1’s and 2’s because there are only 3’s. One would expect that the of the five core line positions, 2 Tackles, 2 Guards, and a Center, there is going to be a level of nervousness that cannot be avoided.
Filling Holes with Starters, Because
The 2024 to 2025 personnel losses in the offensive line were pretty daunting, there are just no two ways about that reality. The Moore brothers are gone, X is off to a new team, a sprinkling graduated, and Tech is even going to have to replace their Center.
The good news is that Offensive Line Coach Matt Moore brought over some critical West Virginia talent with him. Tomas Rimac has entered camp with a big fanfare and it looks like he’s earning the early starter accolades. Moore has also brought someone with the interesting name of Jaden Muskrat who transferred as a grad student from Auburn. We are positive that Rimac will end up a 1 in the depth chart, but we’ll see where Muskrat shows up. With his experience at the power level (Auburn) he’ll probably see ample playing time.
Moore also brought three freshmen with him. Lucas Austin, Kyle Altuner, and Gavin Crawford. Austin and Altuner are redshirt freshmen and Crawford is a true freshman. None of them have seen significant time, but with a thin line depth chart they will have to be ready to go if called upon. Elijah Haughawout comes to the Hokies from West Point Prep and is also listed as a Redshirt Freshman.
In any of the 3s on the depth chart, are going to get their chances this season. The attrition rate in the line is always a difficult situation to deal with, and there is limited position swapping within the 1s and 2s, but that can sometimes be very disruptive to the rhythm and flow of the line, especially with line audibles within any particular game.
The Returning Hokies Will Play
Returning Hokies Montavious Cunningham, Brody Meadows, Johnny Garrett, and Layth Ghannam all have significant playing time in the 2024 football season. The good news from the returning crew is that Meadows, Garrett, and Ghannam have significant playing time over the past two seasons. Montavious Cunningham was in the unenvious position of being behind Xavier Chapman but when X went down to injury Cunningham stepped up. We can’t forget Hannes Hammer who played in one game last year but will probably be pushed up hard in this season.
In looking at the totality of the available 1s and 2s for the first depth chart, there are only six players with significant snap time and that means the offensive line is pretty thin for the 2025 season. I doubt any redshirts will be handed out for this season because of the normal attrition rate and the reality that there are not 10 1s and 2s available to play.
The talent is better from top to bottom for this season. The coaching will certainly be better, and the word is that the conditioning has been tough and has concentrated on doing things together which is critical for the offensive line, especially when it’s thin.
‘Thins’ to Worry About
The reality of post House “college” football is going to push the depth issue hard, and the Virginia Tech Hokies are only one and three-fifths deep with anyone with real game experience. That’s going to concern everyone involved. Yes, turnover and replacement issues will always be a feature of eligibility limited NCAA football (or NCAA sports in general) but this season, with so much on the line (pun intended) the current offensive line condition is going to present some serious early season issues, and potentially more daunting issues as the season progresses.
Truth: The Hokies can ill afford 1) low effort and achievement as with certain players last season. (They are all gone from the roster so there is no point in angling bloody fingers at past inscrutable coaching decisions.) 2) Injuries.
Nothing will cripple an offense faster than an ineffective offensive line, and Matt Moore might have too few tools in the box to make it work for 12 to 13 games. It remains to be seen, and we really won’t know until the first depth chart is published, and the first game is in the books.
We are all gritting our teeth and wincing on this one.
