Virginia Tech DB Christian Ellis plans to enter NCAA transfer portal

Virginia Tech defensive back Christian Ellis plans to enter the NCAA transfer portal, according to On3’s Pete Nakos. He spent the last three seasons at New Mexico before coming to Virginia Tech.

In four games this year, Ellis had seven total tackles, one tackle for loss and three pass deflections for the Hokies. He’ll now look elsewhere to continue his college career.

In four years of college football, Ellis has 168 total tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss, one interception, 11 pass deflections, one fumble recovery and one defensive touchdown. He had a career high 99 tackles last season.

As a member of the Class of 2022, Ellis was a three-star recruit out of Jacksonville (Fla.) Ed White, according to the Rivals Industry Ranking. He was the No. 179 overall prospect in the state, the No. 115 safety in the country and the No. 1,377 overall prospect in the class.

Christian Ellis enters NCAA transfer portal amid change at Virginia Tech

Ellis entered the portal amid a lot of change at Virginia Tech. The school already fired head coach Brent Pry, so their search has been underway. The Hokies announced their search committee earlier this month and it includes former star receiver and current ACC Network analyst Eddie Royal.

Royal joins the likes of Bruce Arians and Bud Foster as members of the committee as the school works to replace Pry. Virginia Tech promoted offensive coordinator Philip Montgomery to interim head coach, and Royal praised the way the team responded last time out against NC State.

“When you talk about the next coach, there’s characteristics that you need,” Royal told Jim Rome. “And especially at a place like Virginia Tech, you’ve got to win the state of Virginia when it comes to recruiting. So you need a guy who can really recruit – a guy who’s been through it. You don’t want to have to question if the coach knows what he’s doing or not. So he needs to have a clear-cut plan and [be] a guy who can win over a team. You’ve got to be able to win over a locker room and command respect when you walk into a room.

“That’s the thing that people forget about. Yeah, Xs and Os and all of that matter. But when a coach talks to you and he looks you in the eyes, will you run through a wall for that guy? That’s kind of what Virginia Tech needs to get back to is finding a leader that can do that, can motivate these guys to go out there and play their best brand of football.”