Sam Houston State safety Isaiah Cash committed to the Hokies. (Nick Brown)

Isaiah Cash 
Safety 
Sam Houston State 
6-0, 195 
1 year remaining (Gr.) 

The Hokies added another defensive back through the transfer portal in Sam Houston State safety Isaiah Cash on Thursday.

As a redshirt senior with the Bearkats in 2024, he notched 67 tackles, 1.5 TFLs and half of a sack to go with two interceptions. The Austin, Texas, native got better as the season went on and racked up eight-plus tackles in three of the last four games, highlighted by a season-high 10-tackle performance in the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl vs. Georgia Southern.

In his first year at the FBS level after spending four seasons at FCS Houston Christian, he played 881 snaps and posted a 77.3 overall defensive grade, a 77.3 run defense grade, a 91.0 tackling grade and a 75.0 coverage grade, her PFF. Here's where those marks ranked against safeties that played significant snaps for Virginia Tech in 2024, along with the two other portal safeties to commit to the Hokies: Sherrod Covil Jr. of Clemson and Tyson Flowers of Rice:

On paper, Cash and Flowers look like upgrades for the Hokies at safety. (David Cunningham)

After losing Jaylen Jones to graduation and Mose Phillips and Jalen Stroman to the transfer portal, the Hokies quickly flipped that room over by picking up Covil, Cash and Flowers in the portal, a trio with a combined 4,117 career snaps — 2,848 of which are from Cash. For comparison, Jones, Phillips and Stroman had 2,846. Quentin Reddish, who will anchor the unit with the three newcomers, played 242 snaps this season as a freshman.

Cash also considered Auburn, Ole Miss and Wisconsin out of the portal before choosing the Hokies. He visited Blacksburg in mid-December.

He started his career at Houston Christian, where he compiled 220 tackles over four seasons. He started with the Huskies in 2020, which did not count against his eligibility due to COVID, before starting 11 games in 2021 and ranking third on the team with 98 tackles. After starting four of the first five contests in 2022, he redshirted due to injury, but he bounced back well in 2023 with 62 tackles and two interceptions.

Cash also ran track & field at Houston Christian. In 2020, he captured gold at the long jump at the Southland Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships with a program-record mark of 7.44 meters (24-5). He also set the Huskies record in the outdoor long jump at 7.45 meters (24-5.5).

He was unranked as a prospect coming out of Rouse High School and Texas Southern was his only major offer. As a senior, he was an all-district performer with 80 tackles, two sacks and two touchdowns. He also won the U.S. junior nationals title in the triple jump.

Cash comes from an athletic family. His father, Kerry, and his uncle, Keith, were both tight ends at Texas and had solid NFL careers. The former was a fifth-round pick in 1991 by Indianapolis who caught 132 passes for 1,427 yards and nine touchdowns as a tight end. His twin brother was a seventh-round selection by Washington in 1991 and posted 118 receptions, 1,136 yards and 10 scores. Cash's mother, Kim Cameron, played soccer at Texas.

Cash is Tech's eighth transfer portal pickup of the offseason and the sixth on defense. The Hokies have completely reworked their defensive back room with Covil, Cash and Flowers at safety, along with cornerbacks Isaiah Brown-Murray (East Carolina) and Joseph Reddish (Wingate).

For more information on Virginia Tech’s comings and goings in the portal, click here for Tech Sideline’s roster management page.

Isaiah Cash links: 

ESPN  Sam Houston State bio