Last season, Virginia Tech football coach Brent Pry found a lot of success in the transfer portal after adding some players on offense. Some of those players played a big role in the 2023 success of the Hokies and most of them are returning for 2024. On the defensive side of the football, Pry added some additions for coordinator Chris Marve. Over the last two months, the Hokies once again have added players for next season the portal, and with some of the new additions comes even more hope for next fall.
There is a lot to like going forward for Virginia Tech and here are three reasons why the 2024 transfer portal class brings a lot of excitement.
More talented unit on defense
Both the offense and defense saw improvements over the final eight weeks of the season once ACC play began and they carried that over to the Military Bowl victory over Tulane. Before the Hokies added transfers, some of their top defensive players announced that they were coming back, including Antwaun Powell-Ryland and Josh Fuga along the line and Mansoor Delane and Dorian Strong in the secondary.
Aeneas Peebles from Duke, Kelvin Gilliam from Oklahoma, and Kemari Copeland from Western Iowa Community College were added to give Virginia Tech one of the better defensive lines. At linebacker, Sam Brumfield from Middle Tennessee State will solidify the second level for the Hokies. Next year’s defense could be really, really good.
Depth, depth, and more depth
If there is one thing that Pry and his staff have done, it added depth on the roster. Defensively the Hokies are going to be a tough group to on and they should record more sacks in 2024 than they did in 2023. The Hokies will be able to run D linemen in and out and keep some of their top players fresh. Offensively, Virginia Tech added Montavious Cunningham from Georgia State to the offensive line to protect Drones. If there was one area that Tech could have upgraded this offseason in the portal, it was in the trenches on both sides of the ball.
Offensively, the Hokies did not need to add any skilled players with all the returning players they got coming back, including their wide receivers, Drones under center and Bhayhsul Tuten at running back. Add in tight end Nick Gallo coming back after missing 2023 with an injury, there is already some pretty good depth on that side of the ball. If there has been one area that Pry and his staff have been able to address in the first two years of their tenure in Blacksburg, it’s been getting depth from the transfer portal on both sides of the ball. That again was the case over the last two months.
Bigger expectations
Who expected the expectations to be what they are heading into the third year under Pry? The 5-3 record over the final eight weeks in ACC play, then a 41-20 victory over Tulane in the Military Bowl, along with all the players returning have created some hype. And the hype is real. The strides that were made by Drones at quarterback, the emergency of the running with both Drones and Tuten, along with the wide receivers coming back. We only got one game of Ali Jennings in a Virginia Tech uniform and there was a lot to like from the one outing against OId Dominion.
Add in the returning players on defense along with the transfers, the defensive unit next season could be tough. This season’s ACC schedule was not the hardest by any means as the Hokies lost to the three teams that finished ahead of them and then beat the teams they were supposed to that finished below them in the standings. Next season there is no Florida State or Louisville on the schedule, but Clemson and Miami. It shouldn’t matter to this group as there is a lot to be excited for in Blacksburg in 2024.