College Football Preview: Cruising the Commonwealth as Hokies, Cavaliers and Dukes look for stellar seasons

See how Virginia Tech, Virginia and James Madison are leveraging the transfer portal to reshape their rosters and boost competitiveness for the upcoming 2025 college football season.

Virginia Tech coach Brent Pry heads onto the field before the team’s NCAA college football game against Syracuse on Thursday, Oct. 26, 2023, in Blacksburg, Va. (AP Photo/Robert Simmons)(AP/Robert Simmons)

In college football, success hinges on a simple formula: refresh, retain and reload. Since the start of this decade, the transfer portal has become a constant churn, and both quality and quantity are essential to staying competitive — regardless of your conference affiliation.

Virginia Tech, coming off a 6-7 season and 4-4 in the ACC, brought in 30 transfers this past offseason, and it’s more than just finding good players to elevate your team’s talent.

“It would not be fair to anybody on this team to bring a guy in that doesn’t fit our culture, isn’t going to get along, isn’t going to appreciate Virginia Tech,” coach Brent Pry told WTOP earlier this month. “We do a ton of background, we make a ton of phone calls, we do a lot of research to make sure that these guys fit us that way.”

While there are plenty of new parts that include wide receivers Cameron Seldon (Tennessee) and Donavon Greene (Wake Forest) plus running backs Terion Stewart (Bowling Green) and Braydon Bennett (Coastal Carolina), there is stability at quarterback with senior Kyron Drones returning for his third season as a starter.

“He had a lot of suitors, and could have gone places for more money,” Pry said. “But he wanted to be at Tech and be with the people here. The players, the staff. And the promise of a quarterback coach and a play-caller that would be more conducive to his skill set.”

Former Tulsa head coach Philip Montgomery steps in as offensive coordinator, while Sam Siefkes takes over as defensive coordinator after spending the last four seasons on NFL staffs. The Hokies return quite a bit of talent from a unit that ranked third in the ACC in scoring defense, but there will be more than a few challenges for both sides of the ball this fall.

“We have to find our identity on offense earlier and make sure our playmakers are getting the football,” Pry said. “We’ve got to defend the run. We’ve got to be stingy and make people one-dimensional.”

The season begins with a bang: They face No. 13 South Carolina in Atlanta week one and host a Vanderbilt team that beat them last year the following Saturday. For starters, the success of this team will hinge on how they finish. The Hokies went 0-5 in games decided by seven points or fewer last fall.

“We have to be more mentally and physically tough, we’ve got to finish games better. As coaches and players,” Pry said. “That’s been a big emphasis this offseason.”

Virginia (5-7, 3-5 ACC) begins their slate a little bit softer, hosting Coastal Carolina and William & Mary over the first three weekends. Head coach Tony Elliott brought in 31 transfers this year, including quarterback Chandler Morris who, while at North Texas last year, led the AAC in passing yards and touchdown passes.

“Chandler’s getting comfortable with the guys, and kind of pushing him to just do the little things from a leadership standpoint because fundamentally he’s really sound, he has a good command,” Elliott said. “Now it’s kind of like I told him, ‘You drive the ship, push the guys, the tempo, the little things, the gamesmanship.’”

Morris will throw to a blend of targets that are coming to the Cavaliers from UConn (Cameron Ross), Kent State (Trell Harris) and FAU (Jahmal Edrine). In addition to quality, quantity was sought from the transfer portal and recruiting class.

“As much as we’re talking about building competitive stamina, the body is going to slow down after about 100 snaps, so I think depth will help us be a little bit fresher,” Elliott said. “And you notice the teams that are really good in the fourth quarter, a lot of times it’s because they’ve got a lot of depth, and they can play guys. They’re the fresher team in the fourth quarter, and they can lean on people.”

While the schedule doesn’t include a team in the Preseason Top 25, Florida State and North Carolina could easily be ranked by the time UVA plays those schools. And don’t forget the season finale against a Virginia Tech team that the Cavaliers have beaten once since they became ACC foes.

James Madison (9-4, 4-4 Sun Belt) brought in 19 transfers this offseason after being purged last year by former coach Curt Cignetti (13 players went from JMU to Indiana). The Dukes, despite their talent drain, actually had an outside shot at a Sun Belt Conference title in mid-November; but losses in their last two regular season games delivered a bitter pill head coach Bob Chesney and company had to swallow in the offseason.

Picked to win the East, JMU boasts the one-two punch of quarterback Alonza Barnett III (2,598 yards and 26 touchdowns passing last fall) and running back George Pettaway (995 yards and 15 touchdowns rushing plus 24 receptions).

The defense returns six starters, including free safety Jacob Thomas (72 tackles, half of a sack, and three interceptions). But no longer on the roster are the team’s top two pass rushers as Eric O’Neill (13 sacks) transferred to Rutgers and Khair Manns (nine sacks) went pro.

Enter transfer Notre Dame transfer and Fairfax, Virginia-native Aiden Gobaira, who shined locally at Chantilly High School before injuries kept him on the shelf in South Bend. Maine transfer Xavier Holmes posted four sacks last year for the Black Bears.

The Dukes received votes in the Preseason AP Top 25 Poll. Their early test? A trip to Louisville in week two.

And the Cardinals will be ready for JMU after the Dukes put 70 on the board last September against North Carolina.

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College Football Preview: Cruising the Commonwealth as Hokies, Cavaliers and Dukes look for stellar seasons

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