Virginia Tech saw a fifth player enter the transfer portal in the post-spring window when linebacker Tavorian Copeland put his name in Friday.
God’s plan…🙏🏾 pic.twitter.com/xt0DDmE1hi
— Tavorian Copeland (@Tavorian_) April 19, 2024
The Appomattox product, who was a three-star signee last year, redshirted in his only season in Blacksburg. Listed at 6-foot-3 and only 192 pounds, he didn’t gain much traction in the linebacker room, spending part of his spring working at the star position.
“Just trying to find him a role, trying to find a place for him where he can help us,” star linebacker coach Shawn Quinn said this spring. “A little easier to learn at star. Just being undersized as a young guy, on the perimeter you can get away with that.”
Copeland joins quarterback Dylan Wittke, running back Tralon Mitchell, offensive lineman Gabriel Arena and defensive back Antonio Cotman Jr. in the portal. All five were members of the Hokies’ 2023 signing class.
Copeland’s departure unofficially puts the Hokies at 82 or 83 scholarships.
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Let’s start signing some!
Now is the time to look in the Portal for position players to fill the gaps. It looks like we have lost r-Fr in the group. Most saw they fell in the depth chart and saw limited playing time down the road. Need to fill these loses with a transfer with a year or two left. AND find replacements in the incoming class at the positions to maintain depth.
So it looks like the team has lost 20-25% of the ’23 class. How does this compare with other schools?
I suspect that’s the norm going forward. If players don’t see a path to playing time then they are going to test the waters and find a program where they can get into the two deep
They are asked to leave-equivalent to being cut.
The difference between the transfer portal with Fuente and the portal with Pry is that while Not This is not another school comparison, but another regime comparison. Fuente was bringing in some portal talent, but he was losing players who were regular contributors. I think the loss of both Nestor and Hudson from the O-line set us back for a couple of seasons. Pry is getting great talent in the portal but not losing it. The players currently portaling out are ones who were likely not going to regularly compete for playing time. None of these five players hitting the portal were big surprises (Wittke the biggest for me but not shocking), especially given the number of scholarships over the limit and that the coaches are actively manning the portal. Other than De’Quan Wright leaving and apparently for reasons I give the coaches credit for not keeping him here, it’s not the players in the top half of the class we’re losing. I imagine this is the case with other successful programs, so I think we’re on the right track.
Pardon the editing errors.
That’s was a very analysis
Well said.