We are still a month away from the spring transfer portal opening for college football. The winter portal is more active than the spring, but the spring can still bring some movement throughout the sport.
Earlier this week, Eddie George left Tennessee State to accept the open position at Bowling Green in the MAC, which was opened when former Falcons coach Scot Loefler, who is a former Virginia Tech offensive coordinator, took the quarterbacks position with the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles. When a college leaves for another job, players in the program have 30 days to enter the portal, no matter the time of year.
One former Tennessee State player who is no stranger to the transfer portal entered and was quickly offered by Virginia Tech.
Virginia Tech offers Tennessee State linebacker Sanders Ellis
One of the top linebackers in the FCS this season, Sanders Ellis from Tennessee State, entered the transfer portal after Eddie George left for Bowling Green and was offered a scholarship right after he entered for a second time. Ellis entered the portal on Dec. 12, but withdrew on Feb. 12 before George left.
Virginia tech offered pic.twitter.com/BAf1pJZcPV
— Sanders Ellis (@SandersEllis4) March 13, 2025
Ellis was a finalist for the Jerry Rice Award, which is given to the top player in the FCS, after recording 82 tackles with 14 of those coming for a loss and three sacks for the Tigers. The 6-foot-2, 225-pound Tennessee native collected a crazy 55 solo tackles.
At the time this article is being written, Sanders also has offers from Purdue and Auburn and expect the All-American to get more. Virginia Tech has some good young linebackers returning in 2025 with Jaden Keller and Caleb Woodson, but adding a talented player as good as Ellis is too good of an opportunity to pass up. New defensive coordinator Sam Sifkes is a former linebackers coach and expect him to be heavily involved in the recruiting of Ellis.