Virginia Tech Football Preview, Best Players, Top Transfers, Season Prediction, Win Total 2024

Virginia Tech College Football Preview 2024

Is 2024 Virginia Tech the new Louisville?

With no divisions, it’s hard just to get into the ACC Championship, much less win it. Louisville was able to rise up and shock last year, and Virginia Tech has everything in place to be the ACC’s fun team this year.

To do that, you need to have a solid team - this Hokie squad is loaded with veterans, talent, and depth - and you need the right schedule.

Virginia Tech fans are excited after the strong close to last year and the demolishing of Tulane in the Military Bowl. However, five of the six wins came over teams that didn’t end the season with a winning record - Boston College went 7-6 - and beating a Group of Five program in a bowl game is, well, beating a Group of Five program in a bowl game.

But that was last season; call that the rebuild to 2024 and the third season under head coach Brent Pry. The reasons to be excited are warranted.

Oh yeah, the schedule.

Louisville played - and shocked - Notre Dame last year. Virginia Tech doesn’t have to deal with the Irish.

Louisville didn’t have to play Clemson or Florida State in the regular season - the Hokies miss FSU and at least get Clemson at home.

Louisville had to fight to get by NC State - no dealing with the Pack for Virginia Tech. And there’s no playing Louisville, either.

Pry’s team has to go to Miami and then fly to Stanford. Everything else is manageable, the non-conference slate isn’t bad - Vanderbilt, Marshall, Old Dominion, Rutgers - and yes, again, the team should be just that good.

With a fun-looking offense, one of the best defenses in the ACC, and one of the best kicking games in the country, Virginia Tech is about to have some fun.

Virginia Tech Football Preview 2024: Offense

- it wasn’t consistent, and there’s plenty of work to do, but the offense scored the most points in a season since 2019, it returns a slew of key players, and there’s a ton of excitement around what it could all be now that everyone knows what to do. That starts with …

- The Hokies have a quarterback. Kyron Drones looks more like an edge rusher playing quarterback, and he has to bump up his completion percentage - just 58% last year - but he threw 17 touchdowns and just three picks, and ran for 818 yards and five scores. He’s the signature star of the bunch, and he has the receivers to do even more.

Leading receivers Da’Quan Felton and Jaylin Lane are back after combining for 79 catches with 14 scores, and Ali Jennings and former Old Dominion transfer Ali Jennings - a dangerous deep threat - is back after missing most of last year. Solid-catching TE Nick Gallo is back after being out last season.

- The ground game is good, too. The ground game that averaged 190 yards per outing gets back Bhayshul Tuten, the leading rusher who came up with 863 yards and ten scores. Malachi Thomas is a decent backup who can rotate in.

Four of the top five starters are back on the line - sophomore Xavier Chaplin is a good one at left tackle and the Moores - Braelin at guard and Kaden at center - are solid. Georgia State transfer Montavious Cunningham will step in at one of the guard gigs.

Virginia Tech Football Preview 2024: Defense

- The defense was No. 2 in the ACC overall and was one of the best in the nation at getting into the backfield. Antwaun Powell-Ryland is a star pass rusher at one end - he led the way with 9.5 sacks and 14.5 tackles for loss - and Cole Nelson is back on the other side.

The interior is all transfer portal around Duke transfer Aeneas Peebles and former Oklahoma Sooner Kelvin Gilliam taking over.

- The linebacking corps is loaded with tacklers. Keli Lawson led the team with 80 stops, the depth is good, and Middle Tennessee transfer Sam Brumfield is coming off an 81-tackle season with 3.5 sacks.

- The secondary was last in the ACC in interceptions, but whatever - the Hokies led the conference in pass defense. The pass rush went a long way to help with that, and it should be good again.

Losing Derrick Canteen to Cincinnati stings a bit, but Dorian Strong is back after leading the way with three picks, Mansoor Delane is a strong tackler on the other side, and veteran safety Jalen Stroman returns after finishing third on the team with 44 tackles.

Key To The Virginia Tech Football Season

Don’t get gouged against the run.
Overall the Virginia Tech defense was great last year and the pass D strong, but the stats are a tad skewed considering teams occasionally just kept on running.

The Hokies were 6-0 when allowing fewer than 140 yards on the ground and were 1-6 when giving up more.

Over the first two seasons of the Brent Pry era, Virginia Tech is 1-11 when allowing more than 140 rushing yards.

Virginia Tech Key Player

Aeneas Peebles, DT Sr.
Just about everything else is in place for the Hokie D, but the new tackles have to be terrific. The Duke transfer isn’t massive, but he’s a fifth-year veteran who can move a bit. L

Last season he came up with 43 tackles with five sacks and 8.5 tackles for loss as one of the key parts of the Blue Devil interior. If Peebles isn’t the best transfer coming in it’s …

Virginia Tech Football Top Transfer, Biggest Transfer Loss

Top Transfer In: Sam Brumfield, LB Sr.
Virginia Tech just picked up its next leading tackler.

Brumfield will fly under the national radar, but he’s a good-hitting 5-11, 230-pound former JUCO transfer who rolled at Middle Tennessee last year as the team’s top tackler. Stick him in the middle of the linebacking corps and watch him produce.

Top Transfer Out: Derrick Canteen, CB Sr.
A star at Georgia Southern, he came up with 22 broken up passes and seven picks in his two full seasons. Last year he made 43 tackles with five broken up passes for the Hokies and would’ve fit in nicely somewhere. Instead he’s off to Cincinnati.

Virginia Tech Key Game

at Miami, Sept. 27

It's the ACC opener, and it's the hardest road game on the slate.

After going to Miami the Hokies get a long - but winnable - trip to Stanford, and then comes the break. There's just one road game - at Syracuse - until Thanksgiving, so beat the Hurricanes for the first time since 2019, and the expectations will be jacked.

10 Best Virginia Tech Football Players

1. Kyron Drones, QB Jr.
2. Antwaun Powell-Ryland, EDGE Sr.
3. Dorian Strong, CB Sr.
4. Aeneas Peebles, DT Sr.
5. Keli Lawson, LB Jr.
6. Da’Quan Felton, WR Sr.
7. Bhayshul Tuten, RB Sr.
8. Ali Jennings, WR Sr.
9. Xavier Chaplin, OT Soph.
10. Kaden Moore, C Sr.

Virginia Tech 2023 Fun Stats

- Virginia Tech 1st Quarter Scoring: 59, 2nd Quarter 147

- Sacks: 39 for 244 yards, Opponents 24 for 164 yards

- 4th Down Conversions: Virginia Tech 17-of-26 (65%), Opponents 9-of-17 (53%)

Virginia Tech Football 2024 Win Total Prediction: What to Expect This Season

The expectations will be sky-high for the 2024 Hokies, and rightly so. The schedule should help, to a point.

The team isn’t so good that it can just show up at Vanderbilt and Old Dominion, host Marshall and Rutgers, and expect to be 4-0. 3-1? Yeah, and anything less hurts.

Again, from before, there’s no Florida State on the slate. There’s no Louisville, North Carolina, NC State - that’s huge - and there’s no Cal, Pitt, SMU, and Wake Forest.

Clemson is there to play, but that’s at home. Going to Miami is a nasty road game, but the rest of the away dates - Stanford, Syracuse, and Duke - are manageable.

Let’s slow a little bit of the roll here. Virginia Tech didn’t beat anyone all that amazing last year, and it’s not above biffing at home against a Georgia Tech or at a Syracuse.
This still has the potential to be the program’s best season since 2019.

Set The Virginia Tech Win Total At … 7.5

Likely Wins: at Old Dominion

50/50 Games: Boston College, at Duke, Georgia Tech, Marshall, at Old Dominion, at Stanford, at Syracuse, Virginia, at Vanderbilt

Likely Losses: Clemson, at Miami

2024 Virginia Tech Football Schedule

Aug 31 at Vanderbilt
Sept 7 Marshall
Sept 14 at Old Dominion
Sept 21 Rutgers
Sept 27 at Miami
Oct 5 at Stanford
Oct 12 OPEN DATE
Oct 17 Boston College
Oct 26 Georgia Tech
Nov 2 at Syracuse
Nov 9 Clemson
Nov 16 OPEN DATE
Nov 23 at Duke
Nov 30 Virginia

Missing: Cal, Florida State, Louisville, North Carolina, NC State, Pitt, SMU, Wake Forest