Virginia Tech football coach Brent Pry continues the success of the elite transfer portal

Some college football coaches make big additions to the transfer portal, while some coaches make no, if any, additions to the portal. Clemson coach Dabo Swinney is a coach who doesn’t dive into the portal much, and he’s been open about it.

Swinney has the Tigers as one of the top programs in the ACC year after year, despite not being a fan of the portal. One coach who has had a lot of success over the past two seasons with the portal is Virginia Tech coach Brent Pry. After making some key additions ahead of the 2023 season that paid huge dividends, he’s back at it.

By now we all know the impact that quarterback Kyron Drones (Baylor) and defensive lineman Antwaun Powell-Ryland (Florida) had on both sides of the ball last season. The drones and offense took off once he settled in under center and led the Hokies to six wins in their last nine games. Now he returns in 2024 with one season under his belt on offense under coordinator Tyler Bowen and bigger expectations with a veteran core of receivers, running backs and linebackers.

Powell-Ryland was big along the line for Virginia Tech last season, with 40 tackles, 23 solo and 9.5 sacks to lead a group that played well once conference play began. What does Pry do in a year where his team was one of the top teams in the country in sacks? He goes and gets more talented players from Power Conference schools.

Over the winter, he added Oklahoma transfer Kelvin Gilliam, a redshirt junior from Richmond, Virginia. He was a top 150 high school recruit by 247Sports, ESPN and Rivals and was actually the 93rd ranked player by Rivals, 143rd by 247Sports and 147th by ESPN. With the Sooners, he struggled to get playing time, and the 6-foot-3, 295-pound Highland Springs High senior should slide right in with the Hokies and make a quick impact.

On Monday night, Pry received a commitment from Alabama defensive end transfer Khurtiss Perry. The Alabama native was the No. 2 in Alabama by 247Sports while being the ninth-ranked defensive player and 53rd overall nationally. Like Gilliam with Oklahoma, Perry was caught in a numbers game with the Crimson Tide and should make an impact with the Hokies.

This will be Year 3 of the Pry era in Blacksburg, and the former Penn State defensive coordinator is building a roster to quickly become a major player in the ACC, and he’s doing so by adding power conference transfers. Who saw him land transfers from Oklahoma, Florida, Baylor and Alabama? If you build it, they will come and they will come to Blacksburg.