Virginia Tech 2025 Offensive Line: Roster Breakdown & Depth Concerns

It’s time to dig into the heavy lifting of August. A new editing tool might make things trickier, but as the saying goes—we’ll “give it a go.” Before diving in, let’s recall Rule #1 from Schneider’s List of Football Rules: The offensive line accounts for 85% of a team’s production. Without a strong O-line, everything else breaks down—plays collapse, quarterbacks take hits, and the losses start piling up.

With that reality in mind, let’s get to the heart of the matter: the Hokies’ offensive line roster for 2025.

Location, Location, Location…

One thing that jumps off the page: Virginia isn’t heavily represented, even though it produces the largest share of Hokie players overall. Of the four listed from Virginia high schools, one actually hails from Germany.

Transfers make up a sizable piece too—seven in total, with one entering his second season in Blacksburg. Geographically, the roster is scattered across the country, with the farthest West being a graduate transfer from Bentonville, Arkansas.

Youth is also a big storyline. There are eight freshmen (five redshirts, three true), which leaves just seven players with actual college game experience—and one of those has logged only a single appearance.

2025 Hokie Offensive Line

(Courtesy of Hokie Sports Official Roster)

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Digging into the Numbers

For long-time Hokie watchers, this lineup might feel thin. The names are familiar—Cunningham, Meadows, Garrett, Ghannam, Hammer, Lynch, Ricard—but the total count is what raises eyebrows. This season, just 15 players are listed on the offensive line. Last year? Twenty.

That’s an entire unit’s worth of depth gone. With the roster trimmed to 111 (six over the House settlement’s 105 cap, but with some exceptions), the O-line is sitting at only a three-deep rotation. For any college coach, that’s enough to cause sleepless nights.

The challenge for offensive line coaches Ron Crook and company will be keeping the 1’s and 2’s healthy, because there’s very little margin for error once you dip into the 3’s. And with five spots to fill—two tackles, two guards, and a center—the pressure for cohesion, durability, and chemistry is higher than ever.

Filling Holes with Starters

The transition from the 2024 to 2025 season has left Virginia Tech’s offensive line with some serious gaps to fill. The Moore brothers are gone, “X” has moved on, several others graduated, and, perhaps most significantly, the Hokies need a new center.

The silver lining? Offensive line coach Matt Moore brought in critical reinforcements from his West Virginia ties. Tomas Rimac has arrived with plenty of buzz and is already pushing for a starting spot. Early signs suggest he’ll be locked in as a “1” on the depth chart. Alongside him is Jaden Muskrat, a grad transfer from Auburn, whose SEC experience should translate into meaningful snaps, even if his exact role is still being worked out.

Moore also brought three young linemen with him: Lucas Austin and Kyle Altuner (both redshirt freshmen) and Gavin Crawford (a true freshman). Add Elijah Haughawout, who joins from West Point Prep, and you’ve got a batch of untested but necessary depth pieces. With such a thin chart, all of them could see the field sooner than expected.

The reality is simple: any of the “3’s” may be called into action this season. Injuries and attrition on the line are unavoidable, and while shuffling positions among the starters can cover short-term gaps, it often disrupts timing, communication, and line calls. That cohesion is especially crucial in tight games.

The Returning Hokies

The core of Virginia Tech’s experience up front comes from Montavious Cunningham, Brody Meadows, Johnny Garrett, and Layth Ghannam.

• Meadows, Garrett, and Ghannam bring two years of real playing time, giving the Hokies a reliable backbone.

• Cunningham stepped up last season when Xavier Chapman went down, and while his role was secondary in 2024, that experience matters now.

• Hannes Hammer only saw one game of action, but given the roster’s thinness, expect him to be in the mix this year.

When you boil it down, there are just six players with significant snap counts returning. That’s not enough to cover a full two-deep without relying on untested talent. Realistically, redshirts are unlikely this year—Tech simply can’t afford to sideline healthy bodies.

Outlook

What the Hokies lack in depth, they’re hoping to make up with improved talent, coaching, and conditioning. By all accounts, Moore has emphasized togetherness in training—vital for a unit that must operate as a single mind.

Still, the numbers don’t lie: this offensive line is thin, top-heavy, and one injury away from reshuffling. The upside is that the starters look more skilled and better-prepared than in years past. The challenge will be keeping them healthy long enough to gel into a unit that can hold the offense together.

‘Thins’ to Worry About

The reality of post-House “college” football is that depth is now a premium commodity, and Virginia Tech’s offensive line is stretched razor-thin. Realistically, the Hokies are only about one and three-fifths deep with players who have meaningful game experience. That’s enough to make coaches, fans, and quarterbacks alike uneasy.

Yes, roster turnover is nothing new—eligibility clocks always run out and replacements are inevitable—but this year the combination of heavy losses, untested youth, and limited bodies makes the problem feel sharper. With so much riding on the line (pun fully intended), this unit could face serious growing pains early, with even bigger challenges lurking as the grind of the season takes its toll.

The two absolute truths:

1. The Hokies cannot afford a repeat of last year’s occasional low-effort, low-output performances. Those players are gone, and so are the questionable coaching decisions tied to them.

2. They absolutely cannot afford injuries.

Few things sink an offense faster than an offensive line that can’t protect or move bodies. And right now, Matt Moore has a box of tools that looks a little too light for a 12–13 game campaign. Whether he can sharpen what’s there into a cohesive, durable unit is the question that won’t be answered until the first depth chart drops and, more importantly, when the first game is in the books.