Hughes: What's The Outlook Around Virginia Tech After First Wave of Outgoing Transfers?

After Virginia Tech’s first wave of outgoing transfers, the roster’s identity faces a reset ahead of the 2026 season.

Nov 1, 2025; Blacksburg, Va.; Virginia Tech wide receiver Cameron Seldon (9) runs the ball for a touchdown vs. Louisville. | Brian Bishop-Imagn Images

To answer the question posited in my headline: It could be worse. It could be at the zenith of the 2025 campaign, where safety Christian Ellis tallied the game-sealing pass break up to secure the Hokies' second win of the campaign, then entered the portal the week after. It could be worse.

At the time of writing, four transfers — three of which are under scholarship — have entered or intend to enter the transfer portal since James Franklin became the Hokies' latest head coach on Nov. 17. Two are quarterbacks: Garret Rangel and William "Pop" Watson III. The other two are wide receivers: Cameron Seldon and Charlie O'Connor; the latter was a walk-on.

In total, 11 players have entered the transfer portal, intend to enter or left the team since then-head coach Brent Pry was canned on Sept. 14: Rangel, Watson, Seldon, O'Connor, cornerback Dante Lovett, wide receiver/punt returner Tucker Holloway, linebacker Michael Short, defensive lineman Keyshawn Burgos, safety Christian Ellis, defensive lineman James Djonkam and wide receiver Donavon Greene.

Virginia Tech wide receiver Cameron Seldon is entering the transfer portal, his agents @david_benzaken and @IanGrutman tell me and @chris_hummer.

Seldon, a former top-80 overall recruit who began his career at Tennessee, ranked second on Virginia Tech this year with 23 catches. pic.twitter.com/UP7TAroIKm

— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) December 27, 2025

At quarterbacks, the move appears to be one that was a formality. Rangel did not see the field for any snaps and was the team's third-stringer behind starter Kyron Drones and Watson. And Watson himself saw scant snaps on the field, only logging 22 snaps. Given that Franklin produced an emphatic effort in the Class of 2026 recruiting trail, a similar effort on the portal likely yields the Hokies the starting quarterback that they need.

In a season like 2025, Drones continuing to start over Watson and Rangel reads less as an endorsement of his ceiling and more as a quiet evaluation of the other two. That isn’t a knock on either player, on the field or off it, but it is a statement. When a team stumbles to 3-9 with expectations of ACC contention or, at the very least, bowl eligibility, the default response is often to search for a spark at quarterback. Virginia Tech never did.

That decision suggests the staff believed the alternatives offered a different look, not a better one. In other words, change for the sake of change wasn’t viewed as progress. Whether due to limitations in practice, in-game command, or long-term projection, Watson and Rangel never forced the issue enough to justify a pivot, even as the season unraveled.

Quarterback competitions tend to reveal themselves over time, and this one did in an unconventional way. The lack of a switch, even in a lost season, speaks volumes. As the saying goes, the grass isn’t always greener. In 2025, Virginia Tech seemingly concluded it wasn’t greener anywhere else on the depth chart.

On the wide receiver front, Seldon’s decision makes sense. Assuming he doesn’t return to Tennessee, he’ll be headed to his third school in as many years, a reflection of a career still searching for the right fit. At Virginia Tech, Seldon consistently fell into the “jack of all trades, master of none” archetype. He was deployed more as a pure athlete than a refined receiver, most often appearing on screens, sweeps and manufactured touches designed to quickly get the ball into space rather than win it downfield.

As a returner, he was unremarkable, tallying 13.5 yards per kickoff return. He provided functional depth, though moments like the miscue against California, where he caught the ball and went out-of-bounds at the one-yard line, underscored some of the limitations in situational awareness that come with playing on the margins of a role. The physical tools were evident, but the finer points of the position never fully followed.

The same can be said, to an extent, for Watson. Both players offered athletic upside, yet the intangibles tied to their respective positions remained open questions. In that context, the departures feel less surprising and more like a natural roster correction. I think that the exits reflect a narrowing of focus as Virginia Tech continues to define what it wants at each position; as for what I think would emerge, a focus on experienced playmakers in Year 1 appears to be the course of most likely interest.