Inside HOKIE SPORTS | Vol. 13 No. 5 | May 2021

14 Inside Hokie Sports THE OFFICIAL KIDS’ CLUB OF VIRGINIA TECH ATHLETICS TWO PLANS TO CHOOSE FROM ORANGE LEVEL: FREE MAROON LEVEL: $35 Visit hokiesports.com/hokiekidsclub to join! CLEVELAND–The 2021 NFL Draft is officially a wrap, at least the official 259 picks. The second phase is already heating up as teams bid for rookie free agents who have an opportunity to sign with any of the 32 NFL teams. Hopefully Tech will see several of its non-drafted players land training camp opportunities through that avenue. One of just seven FBS programs to land a pair of players in the first round with CB Caleb Farley (Tennessee) and T Christian Darrisaw (Minnesota), S Divine Deablo was arguably Tech’s biggest climber in the 2021 NFL Draft after jumping up to the 80th overall selection in the second round, heading west to the Las Vegas Raiders. RB Khalil Herbert rounded out the picks for Virginia Tech, going in the sixth round (217th overall) to the Chicago Bears. Here are some nuggets for Tech fans on this year’s draft class: •Tech has now had a pair of first-round picks for the second time in the past four seasons under head coach Justin Fuente. LB Tremaine Edmunds (Buffalo) and S Terrell Edmunds (Pittsburgh) were the most recent duo. •It was the third time Tech has produced a first-round duo. RB DeAngelo Hall (Atlanta) and RB Kevin Jones (Detroit) were the first pair to accomplish the feat in 2004. •Farley became the 25th Tech defensive back who has been drafted dating back to 2000. His position coach in Tennessee will be Anthony Midget, who was a fifth-round pick of Atlanta as cornerback in the 2000 NFL Draft. •Darrisaw became Tech’s first offensive lineman to be selected in the first round since T Duane Brown (Houston) in 2008. •Tech produced a trio of players in the top 80 picks for the first time since 2008, when T Duane Brown (26th overall –Houston), CB Brandon Flowers (35th overall –Kansas City), WR Eddie Royal (42th overall –Denver) and DE Chris Ellis (72nd overall –Buffalo) all went in the first 80 selections. •Prior to Farley, the latest Hokie drafted by Tennessee was S Vincent Fuller (fourth-round) in 2005. •Darrisaw was the first player taken in the NFL Draft by Minnesota since TE Bucky Hodges in 2017. •The 2021 draft marked the third time that a pair of Hokies have been selected with back-to-back picks in the NFL: RB Ken Oxendine (Atlanta) and RB Marcus Parker (Cincinnati) in the seventh round of the 1998 Draft. DE Doug McDougald (New England) and RB Kenny Lewis (Oakland) were taken with consecutive picks in the fifth round in 1980. •Deablo became the 26th Tech defensive back to be picked in the NFL Draft since 2000. Dating back to 1997, the Hokies have had 29 defensive backs drafted. •The last time a Tech player was drafted in the second round was RB Ryan Williams, who went to Arizona in 2011. •Prior to Deablo, the last time a Tech player was drafted by the Raiders was G Gennaro DiNapoli in 1998. •Herbert became Tech’s first player to be drafted by Chicago since CB Kyle Fuller was a first-round pick of the Bears in 2014. •Herbert was the first Tech running back taken in the draft since Sam Rogers in 2017. Tech lands three players in the top 80 picks for the first time since 2008 TECH’S 2021 NFL Draft class FARLEY, DARRISAW HEADLINE FOUR-MAN