What to Make of No. 1 Recruit Josh Sweat Making Virginia Tech His Final Visit

An official visit to Virginia Tech this weekend is the last major landmark in the recruiting process of 5-star defensive end Josh Sweat—the nation’s top overall prospect in the 2015 class.

According to Ryan Bartow of 247Sports (subscription required), Sweat—who will enroll at his school of choice in January—will shut things down and then have a decision within a week or two following his trip to Blacksburg. 

The Hokies will get the last crack at Sweat, who took previous officials to schools among his final group including Ohio State, Georgia and Florida State. 

But does that mean they are the prohibitive favorite to land the impact pass-rusher?

Sweat has played his recruitment close to the vest, so it’s hard to tell if the Hokies are trending in their quest to keep the state’s top prospect close to home.

As Bartow notes, one interesting detail is that Sweat will have seven members of his family joining him for this weekend’s trip—which can’t hurt the Hokies' chances. 

By contrast, he was alone when he went to Tallahassee last weekend, and only his mother and sister joined him in Athens two weeks ago.

That could be significant, or it could be nothing.

"

5-Star Josh Sweat visited #FSU alone. He’ll bring 7 family members w/ him on his #VT visit. Big deal or nah? http://t.co/q9mFPzt8zE

— Josh Newberg (@joshnewberg247) November 25, 2014"

“It’s not like I can bring all of them when I go to school,” Sweat told Bartow. “If it was up to me, I would go on all of the visits by myself.”

Regardless of whether or not family and location will play a role in his final choice, Virginia Tech will be tasked with showing Sweat that the future in Blacksburg is equally as bright as it is at Georgia, FSU and Ohio State.

All three of those programs occupy spots in the Top 10 of the rankings (via ESPN) and possess classes that rank among the top five in the country.

Meanwhile, Beamer’s Hokies limp into the finale against Virginia having lost six of their last nine games—including an ugly 6-3 loss in double overtime to hapless Wake Forest last weekend. Their recruiting efforts are also pedestrian in comparison to Sweat’s other finalists, as their class is rated fifth-best in the ACC and No. 28 nationally.

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On the flip side, Sweat was in attendance at Ohio State when the Hokies defeated the Buckeyes in impressive fashion. However, the luster from that big win has worn off and given way to talk of Beamer being on the proverbial hot seat, as noted by Bill Bender of Sporting News.

Despite the issues surrounding the program, the 6’5”, 240-pound pass-rusher is giving the home state school every chance to convince him that it can provide the best opportunity for him to be successful in college.

It will be up to Beamer and his staff to convince Sweat that he isn’t going anywhere and, more importantly, that there is a viable plan in place to help get the Hokies back to the top of the ACC.

Sanjay Kirpalani is a National Recruiting Analyst for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise noted, all recruiting information courtesy of 247Sports.