Loudoun County rising senior linebacker Chase Williams verbally committed to Virginia Tech this morning, choosing the Hokies over seven other schools, including Miami and West Virginia.

Ranked as the No. 10 middle linebacker in the nation by rivals.com, Williams committed this morning after consulting with his family.

Williams, the son of former Washington Redskins defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, will graduate from Loudoun County in December and will enroll at Virginia Tech in January.

Chase Williams is now a Hokie. (Photo by Tracy A. Woodward, The Washington Post)

"It feels great to know where I'm going to be going and to have a little bit more understanding of where things are going to go from here," Williams said. "And also being able to focus on playing football and making sure I get done what I have to get done in my senior season."

Williams had originally listed Virginia Tech as his top choice early in his recruitment last fall, but as the linebacker rose up the lists of programs in other parts of the country, the Hokies' pursuit slowed.

But Virginia Tech stepped up its pursuit recently, and after a visit last week in which he spent a significant amount of time with the coaching staff, Williams decided to verbally commit this morning.

"I had a chance to branch further away and they did start to fly down my list a little bit," Williams said. "And when they came around for their second round of recruiting everything picked up again and I made a trip down last week, had a great time, spent the whole time with the coaching staff, coach Beamer and [defensive coordinator Bud] Foster, felt good there, felt comfortable there and decided with the family it was the best decision."

As a junior, Williams racked up 163 tackles, including 33 tackles for loss, with four sacks and one interception to help lead the Raiders back to the Virginia AA playoffs for the first time since 1999.

Williams had also been offered by Miami (Fla.), West Virginia, New Mexico State, Southern Methodist, Marshall, Rice and Tulane, and drew interest from several of the top schools in the nation, including LSU, Missouri, Maryland and Penn State.

He joins Stone Bridge standouts David Wang and Nick Sheehan as the third defensive player from Loudoun to commit to the Hokies in the calendar year. Wang and Sheehan will both begin their careers in Blacksburg this fall. Jeron Gouveia-Winslow, another Stone Bridge graduate and the 2007 All-Met Defensive Player of the Year, will be a red-shirt freshman this year for the Hokies as well.

Matt Brooks contributed to this report