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Tech's Defense Ready to Reload
by Chris Coleman, TechSideline.com

Virginia Tech's defense has been outstanding since joining the ACC. The Hokies have finished no lower than fourth nationally in total defense since joining the conference. This year Tech has to replace a lot of excellent starters on the defensive side of the ball, but that is something they had to do a couple of years back as well.

First, if you want to know exactly how impressive Tech has been defensively over the last four years, here are the numbers.

Those are some very impressive numbers, particularly the pass defense, pass efficiency defense and total defense. Conventional wisdom would indicate that after losing Brandon Flowers, Xavier Adibi, Carlton Powell, Vince Hall, D.J. Parker and Vince Hall, the stats would drop off quite a bit this year.

However, the 2006 season proves that might not be the case. The Hokies are perfectly capable of reloading on the defensive side of the ball, if 2006 is any indication. Tech had a lot of senior defenders on the 2005 team. Check out the amount of talent that departed for the NFL off the defense following the 2005 season, and then compare it to what Tech lost following the 2007 season.

Virginia Tech had more defensive players drafted following the 2005 season than following the 2007 season. The 2007 team had a couple of more guys catch on as free agents, but overall, the losses were very similar.

Jimmy Williams was a Unanimous All-American pick at his boundary corner position. He was replaced by Brandon Flowers, who went on to become a better player than Williams. It's unfair to think that Stephan Virgil will be the next Brandon Flowers, but he has impressed defensive backs coach Torrian Gray so far.

Darryl Tapp was thought to be a big loss, and he certainly was a great player. However, Chris Ellis and Noland Burchette were very good in 2006. The Hokies just reloaded, and Ellis went on to become a third round pick.

Perhaps the biggest loss off of that 2005 team was whip linebacker James Anderson. Anderson was the best and most physically gifted whip the Hokies have ever had. He was replaced in 2006 by Brenden Hill, a former receiver who had never contributed anything previously. However, Hill was plugged right in by Bud Foster, and he had a very good season.

At defensive tackle, Tech lost two good starters in Jonathan Lewis and Tim Sandidge. They were replaced by Carlton Powell and Barry Booker, who became arguably a better duo than the guys they replaced.

Virginia Tech's recruiting has done nothing but get better since joining the ACC, and the defensive coaching staff is still intact. It stands to reason that the Hokies will be reloading on defense once again. No one is staying that they will finish #1 in the nation in total defense, but these guys are going to be pretty good, if you trust what Bud Foster has been saying.

The biggest question right now is defensive tackle. Powell and Booker developed into excellent defensive tackles. However, there were some growing pains with those guys early in the 2006 season, particularly Booker, as they adjusted to being starters. However, as the year progressed, they developed into very good players.

Don't expect a perfectly smooth transition with John Graves and Cordarrow Thompson this year, but I'm betting they will be pretty good before the year is over.

So if you're worried about the defense heading into this season, don't be. Bud Foster has shown that he can reload, and the program is a lot deeper than it used to be. Tech will field another quality defense in 2008.

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