Virginia Tech football: Who did the Hokies land as transfers for the 2021 Season?

After finishing eighth in the ACC with an overall record of 6-5 and a conference record of 5-5 the Hokies needed to inject some talent. They headed over to the transfer portal to find some fresh talent for a team quickly falling behind. The Hokies were able to land several, but will any make an impact?

The Hokies did not land a very good recruiting class out of high school for this coming season. Which meant the only way to get better was to go after the transfer portal. They were able to land seven guys from other schools, one coming from Clemson. None of them were highly recruited out of high school, but they do come with college experience.

I would not look for all seven to crack the roster by September, but they could be factors at some point during the season.

This is a Virginia Tech team looking for an identity as its two best offensive players left for the draft in offensive tackle Christian Darrisaw and running back Khalil Herbert. Which are not easily replaceable and when you think about one of the two being All ACC and a top-25 pick, it gets even less likely to find a suitable replacement. Match that with a lackluster 2020 class, and the transfer portal is about the only option to get back on top.

So who all will be wearing VT on the side of their helmet this year who wore a different one last year?

Outside Linebacker- C.J. McCray 6-foot-3 and 215 pounds coming over from Marshall. He sat out the 2020 season and did not play a single snap for Marshall.

Running back- Jared Cole 5-foot-10 and 190 pounds coming over from UMASS. In three games he had seven yards on just 12 attempts and two catches for 13  yards. Coming out of high school he was a three-star player from the 2020 class.

Kicker- Will Ross 6-foot-1 and 185 pounds coming over from South Carolina. He did not get a grade coming out of high school as part of the 2019 class.

Quarterback- Connor Blumrick 6-foot-5 and 215 pounds. Coming out of high school he was a quarterback and was a three-star recruit. He mainly played on special teams for Texas A&M. It seems to stretch the imagination to think he would still be a running back at that size, I would look for him to move to wide receiver, tight end, or back to the quarterback. He will be coming in as a Junior.

Defensive Tackle- Jordan Williams 6-foot-4 and 310 pounds is the highlight of this transfer class. A four-star prospect out of high school went to Clemson. He was a member of the 2017 class. Through 26 games from 2018-2020 at Clemson, he totaled 39 tackles, eight tackles for loss, and four sacks. During the 2019 season, he played in 14 games.

Safety – Tae Daley 6-foot-0 and 198 pounds coming over from Vanderbilt. He was a three-star prospect out of high school. He switched to safety in 2020 but did not play in a game. Through four seasons at Vandy, he played in 27 games totaling 108 tackles, six tackles for loss, one and a half sacks with three interceptions. He should be able to step on the field day one and start, though I would not be surprised if he ends up as a free safety or corner. He was a member of the 2017 class.

Center- Johnny Jordan 6-foot-2 and 290 pounds coming over from Maryland. He was a three-star player coming out of high school.

There are three players out of the transfer class I would look to see start somewhere on day one in Tae Daley, Jordan Williams, and C.J. McCray the others seem more like depth pieces. It will be very intriguing to watch as the most loaded positions currently on this roster are at the corner and safety. We could see more nickel sets coming this year, or guys moving around from corner to safety and safety to linebacker. As the tweener position has become more popular nowadays and it’s not uncommon to see a linebacker with speed around 210 around the line of scrimmage.