Virginia Tech had plenty of issues this past season with their play at mike linebacker, as Alan Tisdale had stretches of quality play, but Tisdale and Jaden Keller struggled overall. Combine that with Tisdale being out of the eligibility and the Hokies needed to find a quality mike linebacker in the transfer portal.
Well Virginia Tech has done just that landing a commitment from Middle Tennessee State All-Conference USA LB Sam Brumfield III.
Let’s go Hokie Nation!!🦃 @CoachPryVT @Coach_Marve pic.twitter.com/K0bvhpxGED
— Sam Brumfield lll (@sambrumfield33) December 18, 2023
Brumfield chose the Hokies over a host of offers including Pittsburgh who he visited after visiting VT, plus Ole Miss, Arkansas, Wake Forest, Baylor, Colorado, Mississippi State, Oregon State, Arizona State, Houston, California, UTSA, Memphis, North Texas, Georgia Southern, Tulsa, and potentially more. He has one year of eligibility remaining and slots in currently as the projected starter at mike linebacker.
Tech needed to find themselves a true, quality mike linebacker and have done just that in Brumfield who showed this past season at MTSU that he is more than ready for Power 5 football having 82 tackles including 6.5 for loss with 3.5 sacks plus three forced fumbles on his way to earning All-Conference USA Second Team honors. Additionally, Brumfield stuck out in the eyes of Pro Football Focus receiving a 72.2 season grade, including an 81.5 run defense grade.
He also played well against some of the toughest competition that MTSU faced with 70+ overall grades from PFF against top 10 Missouri, 10-5 New Mexico State, and 9-4 Jacksonville State. The production backs it up as Brumfield had five tackles including two for loss with one sack against Missouri, six tackles including a sack against NMSU, and 12 tackles against JSU.
This is an important pickup for the Hokies as Tech really missed the presence of having a true, quality mike linebacker this past season. The value of Dax Hollifield went beyond his production to how he made sure the defense was properly lined up, something that seemed to be lacking for the linebackers this season with their run fit issues. Brumfield should be able to help fix that while his run defense is the biggest strength of his game, filling a need for the Hokies perfectly.
He's produced at every level he's been at whether that's in high school, JUCO, or the Group of 5 looking the part of a linebacker who can be a quality starter in a power conference. Yes, there will likely be a competition but it's reasonable to expect Brumfield to be Tech's mike linebacker in 2024.
Check out why Sam Brumfield III chose the Hokies for TLP Insiders here.
Check out all of our transfer portal coverage here.
