Virginia Tech transfer joins former Hokies' teammate in the SEC

The Virginia Tech to Vanderbilt pipeline continues.

No, it has nothing to do with the season-opening football game on Labor Day Weekend when the Hokies travel to Nashville to face the Commodores, but on the basketball court. Virginia Tech saw a mass exodus out of Blacksburg in the men's basketball transfer portal following a second-round NIT loss at Ohio State in March and slowly, the former Hokies are committing to other schools.

First Lynn Kidd committed to Miami, then Mylyjael Poteat announced three days after entering the portal that he's returning next season for Virginia Tech. Last week, Tyler Nickel, who was one of the last to enter the portal committed to Vanderbilt, and Tuesday night, a former Hokies teammate is joining him.

MJ Collins commits to Vanderbilt

Guard MJ Collins committed to Vnaderbilt Tuesday night, according to Joe Tipton of On3 Sports. As the 2023-24 season went along, Collins saw his offensive game take off and he became a good 3-point shooter for head coach Mike Young, adding in some important points with Sean Pedulla.

His numbers are not going to jump off the page, but he averaged 7.4 points a night and at times, played some lockdown defense against some of the better ACC players with his athleticism that caused a lot of problems.

Collins was never one who mentioned he was leaving the door open for a return to Virginia Tech like Pedulla did when he announced that he was entering the portal. Now Young is left to work the transfer portal hard to build the 2024-25 roster, something that Collins would have been a big part of. Monday, Virginia Tech got a commitment from former California guard Rodney Brown, but there is still plenty of work that remains to be done.