I hate writing this article.  Tyrece Radford was my favorite current Virginia Tech athlete, regardless of sport.  I admire his game, his toughness, his ability to overcome his difficult background to find success, and the bulldog nature of his game.  These days I’m hardly ever surprised when an athlete enters the transfer portal, but I’ll admit that I was taken aback when I saw the news yesterday afternoon.

I want to talk about this situation from two aspects.  First, from the emotional side of things.  Second, from the standpoint of how it affects the 2021-22 Virginia Tech Hokies.  What I’m not going to get into is the “why is he transferring?” part of it.  That doesn’t really matter.  The only fact that matters is that he’s gone.

The Emotions: All Negative

I’ve rarely ever been emotionally attached to a professional athlete.  In fact, I’m not an emotional guy by nature.  I was attached to Dale Murphy when I was little, and I was pretty upset when he got traded to the Phillies when I was seven years old.  I was pretty attached to Chipper Jones as well because he made it clear that he was going to spend his entire career with the Braves even though he could have made more money somewhere else.  But that’s about it.  I’ve never held an emotional attachment to any of the other top players on any of my other teams.

But college sports are different.  These are guys who chose to attend my alma mater.  When an athlete picks the Hokies over UNC or Penn State, I appreciate it.  Heck, when Jackson LaHue picked Tech over Columbia, Penn, Harvard and Yale, I appreciated that as well, perhaps even more because I’m not even sure that’s the best decision for him long-term if he doesn’t go on to make the NFL.  When a player signs with your alma mater, there is a sense of bonding, and as a result there is somewhat of an emotional attachment before they even set foot on the field. 

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