Virginia Tech enters the second year of the Tony Robie era with several transfers and weight changes. The shakeup was done to keep the Hokies where they've been for over half a decade: as a top-10 team in the hunt for a team trophy.

Over the past five years, VT has scored the seventh-most team points at the NCAA tournament. That has clearly resulted in an uptick in recruiting, which was only bolstered when Robie brought on Olympians Jared Frayer and Frank Molinaro as assistant coaches.

Let's take a look at Virginia Tech's roster, broken down by weight and grade, along with their incoming recruits.

When they kick off their season in a couple months, their starting lineup will feature four transfers, three of them from this past offseason in Korbin Myers, Tom Sleigh, and Billy Miller. The fans in Blacksburg will also be treated to the varsity debut of blue chipper Mekhi Lewis. And of course, senior Zack Zavatsky and junior David McFadden have five NCAA tournament appearances and three All-American finishes between them.

Coming tomorrow will be Willie's review of the potential student-athletes the coaching staff is targeting in recruiting. He will further assess the weight class needs addressed in certain areas of the roster, which you will see below.

125 Pounds

This Season: Kyle Norstrem was given an at-large bid to NCAAs with a losing record last year and so will likely be the starter again. However, seeing Dom Latona at 125 instead of 133 on the official roster makes me think they’ll look into Latona being the guy. Either way, the Hokies are capable of having a qualifier at this weight.

Long-Term Outlook: All of their 125s on roster are redshirt sophomores, so whoever takes the job this year will probably be the guy for the next two years as well. After that comes Sam Latona, following a redshirt year. The Fargo champ from Alabama might just be a 125 for life. It remains to be seen if Sam or any of the four options listed above can have a similar career to two-time AA Joey Dance.

133 Pounds

This Season: The Hokies brought in transfer Korbin Myers, who was the 14 seed going into NCAAs. A two-time NCAA qualifier for Edinboro, Myers picks up where Dennis Gustafson left off for the Hokies. His placement in the conference is likely helped by the fact that Jack Mueller is redshirting, though he did take a one-point loss to Micky Phillippi at Midlands.

Long-Term Outlook: Myers can start this year and next, after which they’re looking at true freshmen Collin Gerardi of Virginia and Hunter Graf of New Jersey. Depending on how big Sam Latona can get, I expect the coaching staff to continue looking at lightweight prospects.

141 Pounds

This Season: With Brent Moore missing the season due to surgery, the coaching staff has a decision to make: run Mitch Moore out as a true freshman and maybe redshirt him later, or still allow Mitch to redshirt and let Darber, Baier, and Wyland battle for the spot.

Long-Term Outlook: It seemed like the plan was for Brent’s younger brother Mitch to take over next season after redshirting, allowing Brent to move up to 149, we'll see how the surgey impacts that. Mitch previously wrestled at Who's #1 and was a four-time Ohio state champ at St. Paris Graham.

149 Pounds

This Season: Ryan Blees finally finishes out his college career. After transferring from Oklahoma State, he made it to the big dance in his second season in Blacksburg. The North Dakota Native is looking to replicate the performances of Troy Heilmann and Ronnie Perry, who did not place until their senior years.

Long-Term Outlook: Brent Moore moves up from 141, with depth being provided by either freshman Jake Hart or incoming recruit Jack Darling. This and 141 are probably low-level recruiting priorities for the next few years.

157 Pounds

This Season: While he did not qualify for the national tournament, BC LaPrade showed some promise during his freshman season; he's also in the ACC's toughest weight. A leg injury forced him to miss all of February, and there was talk this offseason that Mekhi Lewis would drop down to 157. That no longer appears to be the case, so a healthy LaPrade will get a full season to show if he is qualifier level or better.

Long-Term Outlook: LaPrade still has three years of eligibility (and a redshirt) left, but at some point either Connor Brady or Bryce Andonian takes over. One of them will probably be a 57/65 and the other a 65/74, giving the Hokies good problems in the upper middle weights. I know Andonian won Fargo at just 145 this summer, but he’s very tall and has the frame to get much bigger.

165 Pounds

This Season: One of the nation’s most intriguing freshmen is Mekhi Lewis, and even in a weight with seven returning All-Americans he is seen as someone with a legitimate shot of placing. He'll be wrestling 74kg at Junior worlds in about a week, his first overseas trip and excellent practice for the NCAA tournament.

Long-Term Outlook: What would be ideal for Tech is if one of Brady or Andonian ends up at 57 and the other ends up at 74, allowing Lewis to stay at 65 for his whole career. I have a feeling they'll be the guys at those three weights, and it will be an excellent set of upper middleweights for ACC coaches to sweat over.

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174 Pounds

This Season: The Hokies are in great shape at this weight. All-American David McFadden is bumping up and, on paper at least, should be a likely placer once again. That allows last year's NCAA qualifier as a true freshman Hunter Bolen to redshirt. Running third string is Cody Hughes, who has posted a winning record every year of college and someone many coaches would love to have on their roster.

Long-Term Outlook: McFadden is a junior, meaning he's the guy for the next two years. That likely means Hughes won't see the starting lineup, and Bolen has a year or two to possibly hold down the spot. Again, Andonian or Brady could possibly end up here.

184 Pounds

This Season: Zavatsky has been remarkably consistent in his three regular seasons, earning seeds of five, five, and six at NCAAs. However, it was not until this past season that he made the podium for the first time, taking down Ryan Preisch in sudden victory in the quarterfinals, avenging a loss to Preisch from earlier in the season.

Long-Term Outlook: With Zavatsky graduating, right now they're looking at Stanley Smeltzer being a three-year starter. While certainly not a terrible wrestler, the Hokies would likely see a dropoff in performance from Zavatsky, making this an area of need in recruiting, perhaps the most important need.

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197 Pounds

This Season: Sleigh transferring in from Edinboro gives VT a very solid one-year holdover while they try to figure out how to replace the team points of three-time All-American Jared Haught. It also means John Borst is up at 285 this season. 

Long-Term Outlook: Borst moving up to heavyweight likely means they view Cody Howard as the guy down the road. He'll redshirt this season and then take over for Sleigh in the 2019-20 season. Howard, a two-time Ohio runner-up, will be joined by his former St. Ed's teammate Andonian next year.

285 Pounds

This Season: The plan for now is that Borst will start the first semester while Miller recovers from an injury, and then the Edinboro transfer wrestles the second half of the season. A three-time NCAA qualifier, the senior was seeded 12th in 2017 and 13th last year. 

Long-Term Outlook: The move to bump Borst was not the initial plan, as the coaching staff pivoted once they got Miller, Sleigh, and Howard. With Lewis Fernandes de-committing to verbal to Cornell, Borst is the only clear option on the roster at 285.

Depth Chart Analysis

Iowa | Ohio State | Oklahoma State | Michigan | Nebraska | North Carolina