Former Penn State commit Ben Eziuka set to join James Franklin at Virginia Tech

Offensive lineman Ben Eziuka is the latest 2026 recruit to back out of his commitment to Penn State. Instead, he’ll join former Nittany Lion head coach James Franklin at Virginia Tech following an official visit to Blacksburg two weeks ago.

A 6-foot-3, 305-pound interior lineman from Detroit Catholic Central in Michigan, Eziuka caught the staff’s attention when he camped at Penn State in July 2024. He followed that up with visits in November and January, but it was a strong showing at an Under Armour Camp this past spring that boosted Eziuka up Penn State’s board. After returning to Penn State on June 1 to work with offensive line coach Phil Trautwein again, Eziuka became one of the staff’s top interior line targets in the class.

“The biggest thing was really the testing,” Eziuka said when asked why he wanted to camp again. “Last year, I was 325 when I camped, so my times weren’t great, but I worked hard over the last year on my body and mobility and shattered all my numbers from last year and had a good rest of camp.”

Link: The Penn State Football Coaching Hot Board, v. 8.0

Eziuka publicly announced his commitment to Penn State two days later on June 3. He took an official visit with the rest of the committed players June 13-15 and even returned to State College for a third time a week later for the Lasch Bash at the end of June.

At the time, Penn State was the only school he took an official visit with, but that changed recently after he went to Cincinnati (Nov. 15-16), followed by Virginia Tech (Nov. 23-24).

“The visit was great and definitely opened my eyes,” Ezuika told Rivals analyst Steve Wiltfong following his visit to Virginia Tech. “I didn’t know what to expect going in and had some other plans pretty much set in my mind, but this weekend changed everything. 

“Seeing Coach Franklin again and hearing his vision for the program really impacted me and all the other recruits that were there. The opportunity to be the foundation of a restoration of a college football powerhouse program is something that I don’t take lightly.”

The former Penn State commit moved up from No. 505 nationally in the Industry Rankings to No. 418 following his senior season, putting him just outside of four-star status. He’s the 38th-ranked interior offensive lineman and No. 7 overall in Michigan for the class.