Elijah Howard intends to enter the Transfer Portal

Virginia Tech's post-spring attrition is here. Redshirt freshman defensive back Elijah Howard has announced his plans to leave Blacksburg.

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A three-star athlete in the Class of 2021, Howard flipped his commitment from home-state (hometown, in fact, as he was a boarding student at Chattanooga's Baylor School from his home in Knoxville) Tennessee in December 2020.

He played both running back and at multiple positions in the defensive backfield during his time in Blacksburg. His on-field time came after a shift to the latter, including three special-teams appearances in his true freshman year and nine as a redshirt freshman last Fall. In those 12 appearances, he made three total tackles.

With the departure the short-term for the Hokies shouldn't be significantly impacted: returning contributors Mansoor Delane and Dorian Strong are expected to start at corner this season, with incoming transfer Derrick Canteen providing significant depth, as well as contributions at the nickel position. The longer-term shouldn't be impacted, either: both Strong and Delane have multiple years of eligibility remaining (though after redshirting due to injury last year, Strong is on-track to graduate and head to the NFL with eligibility remaining if he proves worthy on the field this year), while there's an extremely talented group of redshirt and true freshmen on the roster this season.

The picture looks like this:

Howard's athletic ability was expected to translate somewhere on the field in college - and it may well do so at his next stop - but his polish as a defensive back didn't come around quickly enough to ensure that he'd have a chance to be a multi-year contributor beyond depth minutes.

He is the first player to leave since the conclusion of spring practice, but almost certainly won't be the last to depart the program by the time the Spring Semester ends n a couple weeks.

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