Virginia Tech is in the midst of their first spring practice under James Franklin and the second week is underway. As the Hokies continue to build toward the spring game next month, they are working to implement the new transfers and new faces from this year’s high school recruiting class, but Virginia Tech has a lot of returning production as well and the latest SP+ numbers bear this out.
Hokies at the top of the ACC
Each spring, ESPN’s Bill Connelly releases his returning production numbers and it gives a great snapshot of how much a team is returning on both sides of the ball and at No. 4 in the entire country is Virginia Tech.
How does Connelly calculate transfers in the returning production numbers? Here is how he puts it:
“I mash an incoming player’s production from his previous team into the numerator and denominator for his new team. (Because the translation in moving from the lower levels of the sport to the FBS is extremely inconsistent, I give only half-credit for players transferring up from lower divisions.) So, if your quarterback leaves, and you bring in a transfer who was productive elsewhere, that dampens the blow of your QB leaving…