Virginia Tech Football's Defense Takes Another Massive Transfer Portal Hit

Virginia Tech football coach Brent Pry has had a rough Monday. You get the feeling that he heard some whispers over the last couple of weeks that the transfer portal might be active in Blacksburg with his players entering and if so, he was correct.

During the team’s second bye week, it appeared that Pry and his staff were doing damage control in trying to retain players in their own locker room. That move appears that it is not working out well after just one day of the transfer portal officially being open.

After several Hokies on the defensive side of the ball announced that they were entering the transfer portal, which isn’t a surprise, but one who announced Monday afternoon that he was should be considered a surprise and it’s another big loss for Pry and defensive coordinator Chris Marve.

Mose Phillips to enter the transfer portal

Starting safety Mose Phillips, who is a huge part of Virginia Tech’s secondary, announced on social media that he’s entering the transfer portal. As a sophomore in 11 games, he had 65 tackles and he was a player that the coaching staff had been talking up since spring ball after he played in 11 games in 2023 with 27 tackles. 

A Class of 2023 commit from Tennessee, Phillps departure along with Jalen Stroman’s earlier Monday signals a huge makeover in the Virginia Tech secondary for 2025. The 6-foot-2, 193-pound Phillips has two years of eligibility remaining and this portal entry is somewhat of a head-scratcher after the season he had and the praise he got from the coaching staff.

However, given where the state of college sports is now with the portal and the ability to jump around, it doesn’t come as a surprise if he thinks he going to get a payday from another school and step in and play for them in 2025.