The portal giveth, and the portal taketh away.
PRAISE PORTAL.
We will undoubtedly see some of our beloved Hokies entering their names into the transfer portal based on the changing coaching staff. Let's set that aside and focus on the players that Pry may focus on bringing to Blacksburg.
Based on the current roster situation, expect Coach Pry to be quite active in getting experienced players out of the transfer portal.
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Part 1 discussion thread: https://www.thekeyplay.com/content/2021/december/2/tech-transfer-targets
So far so good. Diggin the direction coach is taking us.
My work laptop thanks you for making this new thread
like i said in the other -- pls feel empowered and encouraged to make a new thread if a given thread is still going strong after hundreds of comments and several weeks, especially when it's a thread to monitor or track evolving situations (like this one with incoming transfer targets, other with recruiting, coaching search, etc)
not just directed at you specifically, but to the wider community
Thanks for making a second - keeping up with the first was impossible, was gonna keep updating the OP and realized how foolish that was!
We should have a thread just for WR targets and call it JUGSment Day.
I'll subscribe to that.....
BONK
Hardees Coupons - January Edition
Make it an Onlyfans
Tyler Baron returning to Tennessee per Matt Zenitz of On3.
Well that was quick. Might be a record for shortest time in the Portal
I think Khadim Sy in one of his 7 trips in and out of this school approached that record.
I thought he may try and enter the portal to come back to Tech when I saw him at a game in Cassell this season.
Enter portal at half time while on the opposing bench. Tweet at halftime and come out to VTs team bench.
If the Hokies had been playing better, this would have occurred.
PRAISE PORTAL
WR from Temple has committed.
For more context from when he entered the portal about a month ago, from a free 247 article...
Looks like he had a lot of interest from schools, but not a lot of reported offers.
Really like the experience we're adding to the offense this year. Trying not to get my hopes up, I just want to see something fun for a season.
Hopefully everyone is prepared. I feel like VT without 10 RBs may be like Y2K...
I mean sure I don't remember either
https://www.localdvm.com/sports/football/shepherd-junior-quarterback-and...
This might sound weired to some of you but Tyson Was awesome at the D2 level. I would love for him to at least be in the qb room as insurance
I think it's unlikely given we've picked up two qbs already. There are more dire needs along the lines
I'm gonna make myself a list here cause I know I'll lose track with how many transfers I'm expecting us to take.
QB (2) Wells, Brown
WR (2) Blue, Gosnell
Swoboda, RT/G at UVA is visiting VT
How are his hands? Can we slot him out wide?
Is this the "taking their lunch money" step in bullying the hoos?
Yes
The Commonwealth Cup was stealing their lunch money. This is more like stealing their best friend.
Poach, Pry, Poach....
Being a grad transfer, this is how I imagine his self reflection went after we took it to them on their home turf...
Swoboda just committed to UCF
Must have been a mix up with his commitment from when Herb Hand was rumored to be Coach Pry's o-line coach and he accidentally committed to the wrong school. You know those Wahoos aren't too sharp...
Super productive in high school, class of 21 from VA. Didn't get much look from bigger programs mostly due to the level of competition if I recall
https://247sports.com/player/trenton-adkins-46056412/
Darryl Jones from UMD off the board to NC State.
NC State DE Dawkins off the board to SCAR.
Wyoming WR Neyor off the board to TENN
Edit: Tennessee got Big Dogged by Texas
Damn Shane is killing it with recruiting AND the portal...don't know if they're ready to challenge UGA, but they could be the second best team in the SEC East next year.
Yep. It sounds like Wells from JMU has SCAR as a top choice right now too.
Shane is about 6 top recruiting classes away from UGA. That said, being 2nd isn't a stretch, the SEC east wasn't good. Though UF quit on Mullen so they should be better. UT has Hooker for another go and he had a great year.
The SEC East is a drop from the SEC West, but they still have some talent. USCe could challenge for 2nd, but it's far from a given with a possibly righted ship UF (with more talent), a now very stable and quality Kentucky program, and Tennessee looking to be on the rise, or at least a GT-esque annoying threat with the Heupel offense. Mizzou is bringing in one of their best recruiting classes ever this offseason as well.
Lots of talent, I just feel the way is a cluster right now outside of UGA. Really its UGA > everyone > Vandy. That middle could be anything.
Not sure this is about Chatman coming back
85 rated DT in the 2019 class, obvious connections
https://247sports.com/Recruitment/Joseph-Appiah-Darkwa-124869/RecruitInt...
Antwane Wells does indeed pick Sakerlina
Took me a minute on Sakerlina, but this needs to be the official spelling
Personally, I prefer South Cackalacky
We dont have 'official spelling' here.
Don't think too many were expecting after landing Wells+Brown, but Ward to wsu
Following his HC who is the new OC there as well.
Mardner, the WR from Hawaii transfers to Cincy
Hawaii is one of those every player is going to be in the portal before too long with how thats going out there.
Ameer Speed, CB from UGA is in the portal. He was a signing day flip away from the good guys coming out of HS, so could be some interest/connections. Occasional starter and consistent contributor for elite defenses, could be a big get.
Is he fast?
I think it is important to reach out and I am sure our staff is doing so. Worse they can say is "no". Really hope we can start pulling in bigtime transfers. Sometimes you just get jumped when the guys around you are 5 stars, that doesn't mean there is anything to say they wouldn't immediately start elsewhere that doesn't recruit at that kind of clip.
Sparty bound
Guess these guys decided they couldn't get a ring under Saban...
Total Pro Sports - 7 Alabama Players, Including A QB, Entered The Transfer Portal Less Than 24 Hours After National Title Loss
Obviously, he's lost the locker room
Sounds like they need a players only meeting. Maybe discuss turkey bacon options
I agree, it's definitely time for Alabama to move on from Saban. What they need is more CornFu in their diet!
#parity
I dunno. Based on our past experience with that diet I cannot recommend.
I wouldn't mind alabama with sabin as their coach falling off the face of the earth ... mostly because I'm tired of their we-are-the-best-and-no-one-else-is-even-close-attitude of their fans ... at the same time, yearning for the day when we will have that attitude based on our own winning ways.
Naquan Brown EDGE from Pitt just hopped in the portal he was heavily targeted out of Ocean Lakes by VT. Was a .91 4* out of HS.
Wasn't he borderline not a take at the time? Maybe he can get a spot if he wants to play linebacker?
He was much more of a fit when we were playing undersized edge rushers. I think VTs interest dropped when we went away from that. Not sure how he'd fit in Pry's scheme
I don't think we were that interested at all once it turned out he was like 6'1 205.
Yeah tapp lost interest when it turn out he was 6'1 205 and only ran a 5.00 40
Dont know if it was the we missed out on a 4* backlash but the overall vibe was he never grew out like expected and was a bit overrated. One of the covid camps not happening so nobody knew his exacts. Might be a serviceable line backer but an edge rusher might not work in prys scheme.
From LAHokie
Ahh look at optimism I still had for the old staff a year and a half ago. It didn't long for it too change😂
Also I miss LA
I remember people in the know saying his body type wouldn't work in our past D. But from memory Naquon is built like a lot of prior Pedo St OLBs....
edit: I read below that he was listed at 6'1". I guess I remember the hype stats before he went elsewhere. At that height he is built like past Pitt OLBs.... 😂
Yeah I somehow skipped over the entire part of discussion years ago about his actual size and eval. I guess he wasn't that much of a VT target.
Noah Cain RB from Psu might be worth keeping a eye out for👀
A lot of PSU fans are saying he just hasn't been the same since his freshman year due to injuries.
Interestingly, a lot of them also think Devyn Ford may not stick around either...
I really don't know why Devyn stayed around this long. With not getting much PT and then he had the legal issue, that was the perfect time for a fresh start....
I'd want protection playing for that coach too.
He does have a track record of killing kids
Stay away from scissor lifts, Noah!
And I love the fact that even Lane Kiffin is calling him out. Brian Kelly is so cringe
My barf barfed
Is your Barf a Mawg?
I think Brown might find a spot on CBP defense, he was highly rated. I'm interested in the PSU running back
As many highly rated RBs they have poached from VA, I am interested in all of their RBs
With today being the start of spring semester, does that mean we won't see any additional transfers eligible for spring practice?
They technically have until add/drop is over.
Sheesh I'd hope we still plan on adding at least one DE and one OL before the season
I would imagine there's still an outflow and inflow after spring ball
Yeah I think the standard unless timelines change/rules are implemented you will see occasional in-season portal entrants, a nice chunk after the regular season ends before ESD and bowl games begin, a nice chunk AFTER bowl season ends/spring semester start, and a nice chunk after spring/early summer.
I know he was brought up in the previous thread. Asante goes to Auburn
Good get by AU. A lot of good talent from Auburn and the rest of the SEC in the portal. Sure would be nice to get some of that to VT.
In a shocking turn of events, the SEC has gone from dominating recruiting to dominating both recruiting and portal destinations.
JT Daniels? Anyone?
The staff is definitely talking to more transfer QBs. I don't think they are done yet.
Also a WR from them.
I would LOVE to get JT
Good news, we have room for both!
TLP now reporting the Costelli contact. Figured I'd keep it in this thread as it's a transfer and not a recruit.
As I said in the other thread, his parents are Nittany Lions.
If we land him, who is the first of our QBs to hit the portal? Not sure how I would take it if I were Tahj, seemingly being the next guy in line, then seeing the staff filling the room up around me
I would feel bad for him, but a new coaching regime doesn't owe the older regime's players anything (in my opinion).
Poor timing for this to happen for him and his life goals maybe, but if he does Transfer Portal and he's as talented as people think/say, he should land on his feet somewhere where he'll be needed/appreciated.
I think feeling bad for him is premature. Im sure you want to have backup QBs with close to the level of talent as your starters. Having a significant talent drop off is bad for what seems like obvious reasons. Just bringing in another QB doesn't mean they will automatically beat Tahj out for the starting job. I'd think he'd have a decent idea of where he falls in the pecking order by end of next year.
Further, Fuente was always bringing in new QBs in the portal also, so the same thing likely would have happened if Fuente had stayed, only now he'll likely get some good coaching/development.
Tahj will be a r-Freshman next year. It would be absolutely insane for him to think about portaling before the end of the season. Especially with QB turnover everywhere being so high.
The only reason it would make sense for him to leave is if the coaches ran him off, which I seriously doubt will happen
I don't know why we are going after another QB, when we now have 4/5 on the roster. We need multiple someones for them to throw to, or additional bodies on the 2-deep at pretty much every position on the defensive side of the ball.
Because he is 6'3" 205 10.8 hundred meters 4 star QB with 4 years of eligibility remaining. Have you seen his highlights on 247? He's a true dual threat QB and would be a huge pick up for us. That's why.
All I know is, I hope Coach Pry is a QB Whisperer.
Not in the sense of developing quarterbacks, but in the sense that he's defensive minded and teaches our blitzers to whisper in the ear of the opposing team's QB after a sack that:
"I'll be back in a minute"
Ok, I want our defense to call "5's" after every sack. As in, "Save my seat, I'll be right back."
Because we don't have a proven P5 QB on the roster thanks to the QB whisperer and the guy Jerry Kill wanted to knock out
Uhh.... We do not have 4/5. We have transfer Grant Wells, 3 years eligibility, Jason Brown, 1 yr eligibility, and Tahj. I do not count Connor Blumrick bc a quarterback must be able to throw a forward pass. We need one more at least.
There's Devin Farrell coming in as well. 247 shows him as already enrolled also.
Not sure what the philosophy is on how many you need, but we do have a clear immediate need. Maybe we take more now in case some of these guys don't respond as well/quickly to throwing mechanics changes?
But we probably need other positions as well, notably experience on the line.
There is a high likelihood that Farrell is a position change candidate. That leaves us with 3, one of which is a one and done.
I am all for one more QB.
That's fair, just wasn't sure what the priorities are given that there are only so many transfers we can take right now. So is getting another position from the portal more important than having another QB, and being able to pick up 1 or 2 QBs next year, potentially 1 HS recruit and one transfer? I guess since we've heard that they're talking to another QB, it at least seems like they're prioritizing another QB, but also not sure if they're talking to him in case they lose someone else to the portal, or if we're already set on picking one up.
My recollection is the rule is transfers count against recruiting class totals, but you can pick up an additional 7, but limited to how many have left from the portal (early draft entries don't allow additional transfer pickups). So, given that we have 21 signees, 2 commits, and 4 transfers in, that's 27. We get 25 plus transfers out, but not sure about exact total. We had 6 guys leave (that counts Hunter Green, but not sure he was on scholarship). So excluding Green, we get to take the 23 in our class, 2 transfers to fill out the class, then 3 more transfers, for a total of 28. Someone correct me if I'm doing that total wrong. But if true, that only gives us room for 1 more transfer in.
The numbers always work out. There will be more turnover come spring
By when do the numbers have to work out? Are teams allowed to have spring practice with a roster expanded further than what is allowed?
(Not necessarily directed to you, but anyone who knows about these concepts.)
You aren't allowed to exceed the 85 scholarship limit at any time, as far as I know. I'm certain someone will correct me if I'm wrong.
Or are you asking when the transfers have to happen?
The transfers have to happen during a certain period to count against the 7 player transfer waiver and not against the 25 player new signee limit. Technically, Derrell Bailey won't be allowed to be replaced under the waiver, because he entered the portal before the end of the semester. Not sure about Kadum or Robinson.
I asked Andy Bitter about the end date for the waiver, and he implied that transfers had to happen by the add/drop date (the waiver applies to this recruiting season). He didn't outright say that, though.
I don't think you can ever go over the 85, with the exception of last year when super seniors didn't count against the numbers.
Remember, when we're talking about VT being at 90 scholarships (by my count) right now, though, that we're including players who have signed but are not yet enrolled. That's like 10 guys. So really, there's 80 scholarship guys here right now, with 10 more (plus two more expected signees) coming this summer.
So there's time for roster finagling before then.
Woah, a wild Andy Bitter appears!
I think he chimes in from time to time just to show us common folk how to rack up insane amounts of legs in short fashion.
His leg/comment ratio has to be in the high 20s :-)
Thanks. This now makes sense to me and now I understand how teams can be "over" the 85 count by including the signees not yet enrolled.
Andy could you explain the reason one scholarship player doesn't count because of "military consideration" towards the total?
One of two things - ROTC scholarship, or GI Bill transferred from parent, so he can essentially walk on?
Knew about ROTC but didn't see anything about a player being in the corps. Didn't know about GI Bill transfer.
Those are educated guesses, not knowledge.
I want to give this a leg, but.... nice.
Thought this nugget from Andy Bitter's recent article from The Athletic was worth sharing:
We'll see how things shake out in the next few months, but the roster is currently over the 85 scholarship limit, so there's definitely going to be some attrition.
Maybe some of the younger guys haven't transferred yet because they are planning on finishing up their degrees and walking this spring. Then if you don't find a landing spot in the portal at least you already have your degree to fall back on. It wasn't making sense to me why we didn't have more flow out until this occurred to me.
Yep. There will likely be another solid wave of transfers after Spring. Maybe some during conditioning.
Based on CBP comments, he mentioned that he had conversations through position coaches and we could see 15-20 Transfer out. Anyhow we need to get to 85 Scholarship guys and I think we are close to 97 right now. After all that takes place, we will most likely add Wide Receivers and don't be surprised if we get another QB. Potentially a CB and Safety.
I knew we needed to lighten the numbers from a scholarship perspective but I didn't realize it would be that many. Covid year really going to come around and rear its ugly head for a lot of teams needing to get their numbers back down. I think they should have tapered it for a couple years to allow for more natural roster management and not have as many kids lost at sea with no place to call home
A lot of the coaches were asking the NCAA for this exact policy. My guess is that there some programs at the G5 and/or FCS level that probably couldn't afford to extend the scholarship limit another year and the NCAA stepped in to enforce it across the board.
The NCAA should have limited it to only Seniors so that they could benefit for Draft purposes. The granted an extra year to every class. made no sense at all. That means its a roster impact for 5 years on a team. all this stuff is weird. Remember last year, Fuente sat 15 players for preseason training due to being over the limit. Between this and the transfer rules, NCAA needs to make some common sense adjustments
NCAA. Common sense. Pick one.
We need ~1/2 our RBs to transfer out or switch positions.
Will this process include weeding out those from outside "The Footprint"? /s
I hope Lofton stays, he would ball out in what we think our offense might be as a receiver.
That would be completely illogical.
If the whole idea is to not expend resources on low-yield recruiting, it would make no sense to let go of already secured talent, which would just necessitate spending more resources to replace that talent.
Dang. And you even included the /s.
Could be an option? Had an offer outta high school.
Ole Miss bound. All aboard the Lane train. Choo choo
He may not dance like BK, but Lane could talk a dog down off a meat wagon.
Welp, running backs room finally thinning out some. To no one's surprise, Tahj Gary apparently entered the portal.