Yes, his parents CAN establish residency while he is in school, and he will then inherit Virginia residency through them. He just cannot establish Virginia residency on his own while in school.
They have a number of questions on the application about whether you think you qualify for Virginia in-state education privileges, and about the parent(s) through whom you qualify and how long they have lived in Virginia and what evidence you have to support that. They also have a standard form to apply for a change of residency status after you’re already a student - this certainly does happen. https://www.registrar.vt.edu/academic_records/in-state/residency-information.html
My D1 applied as in-state (living OOS but has residency through me supporting her) and had no trouble with UVA or W&M, but for some reason VT classified her as OOS until I faxed them copies of records in March of my paying CS to provide her substantial support. I don’t know why VT would be more strict about verifying that than the other schools are - VT’s OOS tuition surcharge is less than the others’. But that was our experience.
If his parents can demonstrate that they established their Virginia residency at least 12 months before the first day of classes, he should be able to get his residence changed to Virginian in-state for his second year. But I’m not a representative of the school, and my opinion here is worth only as much as you paid for it.