Virginia Tech punctuated its stellar 2008 recruiting football class with a exclamation point on Thursday's National Signing Day.

Continuing a strong finish to its record-sized haul of 31 commitments, the Hokies landed highly regarded defensive end Leon Mackey of Hargrave Military Academy. The 6-foot-4, 275-pound Wilmington, Del., native has the makings of a player who likely can contribute immediately this fall on a Tech defensive front riddled by graduation losses.

Tech fended off fellow ACC programs Florida State and North Carolina in the final week of the recruiting process in luring Mackey to Blacksburg. Seminoles coach Bobby Bowden and Tar Heels coach Butch Davis were hot on Mackey last week, too.

"We had three coaches down there at Hargrave and we had about three coaches going up to Delaware to visit with his mom, his brother and his uncle," said Hokies coach Frank Beamer Thursday afternoon on his annual recruiting teleconference.

"So, you've got to do that on the same day. And I think Butch Davis was following us in to see [Mackey's] mom, so there's a lot of people seeing Leon and his family that particular day. I talked to Leon over the weekend and I felt good after my conversation with him."

Tech's class, which the national recruiting experts had rated as fourth in the ACC behind Miami, Florida State and Clemson, included 21 players from Virginia -- 14 of the top 25 players as rated by The Roanoke Times. The Hokies' arch rival, Virginia, managed to ink only one player from the newspaper's list.

Beamer, who team has beaten UVa on the field in eight of the past nine meetings, refused to be lured in any banter concerning the Hokies dominating the Cavaliers in the state's recruiting war in unprecedented fashion.

"Oh, I think that goes in cycles," Beamer said. "We hit on a lot of guys who liked Virginia Tech. Some years, Virginia has gotten the best of us, and some years we've gotten the best of them.

"But I think you've just better keep your head down and keep working because we want to get the best players out of the state."

Beside landing Mackey from Delaware, the Hokies' lured five players from North Carolina, two from South Carolina and one player from Florida.

Tech went particularly hard at wide receiver and linebacker, signing five prospects at each position. The Hokies landed five defensive-line recruits and five players regarded as "athletes." Those are players whose versatility allows them to play them more than one position.

Besides Mackey, the incoming freshmen who may be able to help Tech immediately include another Hargrave player, linebacker Quillie Odom, linebacker Bruce Taylor of Myrtle Beach, S.C., and wide receivers Dyrell Roberts and Randall Dunn from the state. Ryan Williams, a tailback from Manassas, also is among that group.

"If you go back and look at the numbers of players we lost [from last season], there's probably going to be more opportunity to play as a freshman than it's been in some years at Virginia Tech," said Beamer, noting this fall's squad will have only 10 seniors on the roster.

While Tech's class wasn't rated overall among the nation's top 15 by most recruiting services, Beamer was happy.

"We might not be ranked as highly as others, but I can tell you we liked them," he said. "All these kids, we liked them. Now, we hope they're going to turn out as I think we will. We'll see how it all turns out."