When the Virginia Tech football team had a mass exodus out of Blacksburg in the Transfer Portal in December 2024, there were some players who left who were big losses. Some of the players who hit the portal landed in the SEC, which wasn't really surprising.
After a 6-6 finish to a disappointing 2024 regular season, there were several reasons to point to why the season went the way it did. It began with so much promise and ended with another win over Virginia on Thanksgiving Weekend at home just to become bowl-eligible. That triggered a much bigger portal exodus than the previous seasons.