How Could San Diego State Transfer Miles Heide Fit At Virginia Tech?

Virginia Tech men's basketball secured its second incoming recruit from this year's transfer portal when DraftExpress reported that Miles Heide is committing to Virginia Tech. Heide, a 6-foot-9, 235-pound center, has one year of eligibility remaining.

NEWS: SDSU transfer, Miles Heide, has committed to Virginia Tech, his agent Jeff Potter of @PotterSportsLLC tells DraftExpress.

The unsung starting center was among the Mountain West’s best offensive rebounders and paint finishers this season.

Smart add for Mike Young’s Hokies. pic.twitter.com/7P1yA3Rq8E
— Jon Chepkevich (@JonChep) April 23, 2026

Heide should slot in as a similar player to the likes of center Christian Gurdak. Here's a quick look at how the two stacked up in the basic stats:

Heide: 5.6PPG, 4.5RPG, (2.0 ORPG), 61.5% FG
Gurdak: 5.6PPG, 4.4RPG (2.1 ORPG), 63.2% FG

The two stack up with largely identical stats on the offensive side of the ball, though Gurdak produced more offensive peaks. The 6-foot-10, 260-pound Gurdak, who is set to play at Rutgers next year, totaled a career-high 17 points and 19 boards against then-No. 21 Virginia on December 31, 2025.

That's not to say that Heide cannot be effective as a scorer. It's to say that he is perhaps a rawer offensive option with more defensive tangibility. San Diego State ranked No. 16 at the end of the year in Ken Pomeroy's adjusted defensive efficiency metric. Virginia Tech ranked No. 74.

Heide also represents an experienced option that Virginia Tech can worry little about placing at the five. Heide has played 99 career games, and he has started 40. Last year, he started in all but one of the 32 games he played.

At the very least, Heide offers up a higher floor — and he offers Virginia Tech a relatively steady option as a potential starter at the five-spot. It offers Virginia Tech the opportunity to avoid rushing Solomon Davis into too big a role; Davis, a redshirt freshman, played one year at DeMatha Catholic before pledging to Virginia Tech. The 6-foot-11, 225-pound center has not played in college yet.

Heide may not be the most impactful player that was available in the transfer portal, but he was within reach for Virginia Tech, both from a recruiting standpoint and presumably from a budgeting standpoint, as well. His addition allows the Hokies to have a reliable safety net, and there is still room to add a starting center if Tech does not feel comfortable with Heide as the starter.

Simply put, Heide offers Virginia Tech more malleability with what it wants to do next. The Hokies can ease Davis in, and Virginia Tech can run an interchangeable combination at the four- and five-spots with Heide, Oklahoma transfer forward Kuol Atak and senior forward Amani Hansberry. That also enables Tyler Johnson to shift over to the two or the three, depending on opponents' size and allows the staff to adjust Sin'Cere Jones' role based on his progression.

Virginia Tech may arguably now have a more concrete starting five that it can send out. Whether that roster can contend for a top-half spot in the ACC is yet to be determined, but the Hokies' front-end rotation seems to be OK. The question is whether Virginia Tech can find enough secondary firepower through the transfer portal to back up Hammond. The Hokies are still in need of a two-guard that can both spread the floor and serve as a stellar defender — plus another immediately able big, if they're not comfortable running with just Heide.

At the time of writing, the Hokies stand at seven scholarship athletes for the 2026-27 season. Here's the full list:

forward Amani Hansberry (Sr.)
center Miles Heide (Sr.)
guard Ben Hammond (Jr.)
guard Tyler Johnson (Jr.)
forward Kuol Atak (r-So.)
forward Sin'Cere Jones (So.)
center Solomon Davis (r-Fr.)

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