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Inside Hokie Sports
Virginia Tech’s defensive line played
outstanding this past fall after seniors Woody
Baron, Ken Ekanem and Nigel Williams
anchored a defense that finished 18th
nationally in total defense.
But those three departed, and line coach
Charley Wiles faced a rebuilding job this
spring—one that wasn’t helped when Vinny
Mihota and Trevon Hill missed spring
practice while recovering from injuries
suffered in the fall. Making matters worse,
Houshun Gaines, a defensive end who really
needed reps this spring, sat out after not
meeting certain off-field standards set forth
by head coach Justin Fuente.
Any talk of the 2017 defensive line starts
with projected starting tackles Tim Settle and
Ricky Walker. Those two take over for Baron
and Williams, and both of them enjoyed
excellent spring practices. In fact, both of them
possess All-ACC potential and represent the
positive side of the equation in an assessment
of Tech’s defensive line.
“I think they can be stars,” Wiles said.
“We’re going to be asking a lot of both of them,
but they have the talent, and they also played
a lot last season. They played in every game,
and Ricky even started for us when Nigel was
out [for four games because of an injury]. We
obviously need for them to stay healthy.”
That’s because Wiles came out of spring
feeling unsettled about the backups at both
defensive tackle spots. Last fall, he enjoyed
the luxury of rotating Baron, Williams,
Settle and Walker, but none of the current
group of backups played with consistency
this spring.
That group consists of Darius Fullwood,
Jarrod Hewitt and possibly Jimmie Taylor,
who came to Tech last summer as an end,
though Wiles thinks he fits better at tackle.
Fullwood also came to Tech as an end and
later moved to tackle.
“I’m a little worried,” Wiles said. “I do think
we had our best week of practice that last
week [before the spring game], but we were
inconsistent for the most part.
“Darius has shown the athleticism to play the
position, but has been inconsistent. He reminds
me of Barry Booker [2003-07], who didn’t play
until his junior year—but we don’t have that
luxury with Darius. We’ve got to have him now.
I want to see him get mentally tougher and play
multiple plays in a row at a high level. In a drill
setting, he can look good, and he canmove. He’s
got exactly what we want for the position, but he
needs to get stronger this summer.”
Hewitt’s strength is his strength, as he
recorded a 415-pound bench press in offseason
testing. He probably needs another year of
“seasoning” after taking a redshirt year this
past fall, but the Hokies need for him to provide
depth this season. And Taylor needs to get
2017
(in numerical order)
DEFENSIVE ENDS
11
Houshun Gaines
(6-3, 248, r-So.)
18
Raymon Minor
(6-2, 231, Jr.)
40
Emmanuel Belmar
(6-2, 228, r-Fr.)
43
Xavier Burke
(6-3, 255, r-So.)
94
Trevon Hill
(6-3, 240, r-So.)
99
Vinny Mihota
(6-5, 264, r-Jr.)
DEFENSIVE TACKLES
4
Tim Settle
(6-3, 328, r-So.)
8
Ricky Walker
(6-2, 282, r-Jr.)
47
Darius Fullwood
(6-3, 252, r-So.)
55
Jarrod Hewitt
(6-1, 299, r-Fr.)
61
Joe Koshuta
(6-1, 255, r-So.)
96
Jimmie Taylor
(6-2, 240, r-Fr.)
Defensive Line
Settle
and
Walker
anchor a
defensive
line
that needs for
depth
to
EMERGE
by
Jimmy Robertson
RICKY
WALKER