CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The plan wasn't for Georgia Tech to lose top running back Jahmyr Gibbs as a transfer to Alabama in the Southeastern Conference. Yet the Atlantic Coast Conference school has found its share of help from the SEC, too, in the form of seven transfers.
It's a common theme for schools in those leagues amid freer movement through the transfer portal: players shifting from one power conference to the other, often to stay close to home and within an overlapping Southern footprint.
"I think it is kind of a natural move," said Virginia receiver Keytaon Thompson, who has played two seasons for the ACC's Cavaliers after spending three seasons at Mississippi State in the SEC.