VMI FCS All-American LB transfer Stone Snyder is no longer with the Virginia Tech Football team as the Hokies confirmed to Andy Bitter of Tech Sideline.
Quick roster note: VMI LB transfer Stone Snyder is no longer with the team, the #Hokies confirm. He wasn't at media day or practice Tuesday, termed "unavailable" at the time. He arrived in Blacksburg as a walk-on after being a three-time FCS All-American with the Keydets.
— Andy Bitter (@AndyBitterVT) August 10, 2023
After being a three-time FCS All-American LB at VMI, Snyder chose to transfer to Virginia Tech doing so in a unique situation where he leaned on NIL to help cover scholarship expenses. This means that the departure of Snyder does not change the scholarship situation for the Hokies.
Snyder was expected to compete for the starting Mike LB and was working outside the first or second team defense in the first couple practices. That wasn't a crazy surprise given that Snyder was just learning the defense with a trio of returners he was battling for the job. However, Snyder clearly must have felt that he wasn't gaining the traction he needed to push for the job and chose to move on. It's unclear if Snyder will enter the transfer portal again though time is of the essence if he does.
This doesn't change much with the mike LB battle outside of removing a possible Stone Snyder charge up the depth chart during fall camp. Brent Pry recently said that he felt Jaden Keller and Jayden McDonald were the frontrunners for the mike LB job with Alan Tisdale involved as well. Our TLP Insiders can read more about the mike LB battle with comments from Pry, Chris Marve, Keller, and McDonald here.
One thing that Snyder's departure does do is take away his experience from the LB room which was something that Brent Pry felt could be valuable for the LBs even if Snyder didn't win the job.
