Virginia Tech made some big splashes in the transfer portal in the first portion of it landing four transfers who all signed on Early Signing Day.
There were plenty of headlines among that group of four as well with Old Dominion star WR Ali Jennings being the biggest name having 2,000+ receiving yards in 22 games over the past 2 seasons for ODU. He also was ranked as one of the top 10 transfers in America by On3 and an average four-star transfer among the services which drew lots of attention.
Additionally, landing promising Baylor backup QB Kyron Drones in seemingly a few days after Tyler Bowen flew to Texas first followed by Drones flying from Texas to take an official visit the same weekend and then committing on the Monday following it rightly impressed many. Adding in Temple First Team All-AAC DE Darian Varner was another big addition with a proven pedigree that was the headline new commit on Early Signing Day for the Hokies among the trio who did.
Flying under the radar though is the one player that the Hokies landed out of the portal from the FCS level, Norfolk State WR Da'Quan Felton.
The 6'5'' wide receiver who is originally from Portsmouth, VA is the unknown of the group given the lower profile he comes from. He put up solid numbers in his two seasons there with 28 catches for 492 yards and 2 touchdowns as a redshirt freshman in 2021 before becoming the lead guy this past season with 39 catches for 573 yards and 7 touchdowns averaging 15.9 yards per reception over his two seasons for the Spartans.
Now those numbers may not seem spectacular but it's important to note that Norfolk State's offense wasn't very good as a whole with poor QB play as they completed fewer than 55% of their passes. Felton had almost half of the receiving touchdowns for this team while being the best offensive skill position guy on this team by a clear amount.
So the numbers may not be splashy but in context, Felton proved that he's ready to play at a higher level of football.
Fontel Mines also knows well about Felton including how he's only been playing football for a years as someone who played basketball for the early portion of his high school career. In many ways, Mines sees Felton as a late bloomer with loads of potential and the right mentality in his perspective as he shared with the media when breaking down what Felton brings to the table for the Hokies.
"Quan is long. He's athletic. He's a former basketball player who didn't start playing football till his junior year of high school. He went to a camp at Norfolk State and did a good job there, got a scholarship offer and committed. I think he did well there, 67 catches, over a thousand yards in the two years that he played (at Norfolk State). But this is a guy that is going to bring a different demeanor than what we have. I think he's proven. I think he is confident. I think he has a chip on his shoulder and he has that mentality that you need to play this position at a high level," Mines said.
Here's a look at some game film from Norfolk State against South Carolina State where Felton had 9 catches for 163 yards and 3 touchdowns in what would be his final game for the Spartans. Note that none of the highlights in this package including Felton as a receiver after the 8:30 mark.
One of the best things that I love watching Felton in this game is the fact that there are multiple catches where he plays like a 6'5'' receiver who has a deep basketball background. You can see him multiple times get great positioning and though he may not have the home run speed, he makes life extremely difficult because of his positioning that boxes out the defender from being able to make a play at times similar to a good box out by a basketball player to get a rebound.
Felton may not have game burner speed but for a 6'5'', 210-pound receiver, he shows pretty good speed while also having solid agility with the ability to make multiple guys miss.
Now it's important to note that his performance against South Carolina State was his best of the season and one of only 3 times where he had more than 3 catches (with all three of those being 6+ catches). He did put up 3 catches for 141 yards and a touchdown against JMU as well but Felton was somewhat up and down which likely was in part due to the quality of the passing attack.
In many ways, Felton should be viewed just like you would view a JUCO signee except playing against a little bit better level of competition overall. You can see that Felton has loads of potential given the size he has, the growth he's shown despite a poor passing attack, and the fact that he has only been playing football for maybe 5-6 years while he's facing guys who have playing it since much younger years.
There's loads of potential for Felton as a jumbo 6'5'' receiver who knows how to use his body while also being able to make plays in space. In many ways, Felton feels like a very boom or bust prospect given the tools that he brings to the table but the massive competition jump that he is facing despite only having 3 games this past season with 4+ catches.
Da'Quan Felton may be the under-the-radar guy of the four initial transfer additions, but he has loads of potential with tremendous size that makes him a fascinating prospect to watch and see how high his ceiling is and how much of that he can reach at Virginia Tech.
