Let's get something out of the way right off the bat: This review of the defense is not going to be kind.

After my article that graded the offense was released, I was chastised for being a little bit too nice, particularly to the offensive line. But more so than that, where the defense is concerned, I spent a lot of time in the second half of the season, breaking down film and trying to figure out why a defense that only gave up 326 yards rushing in its first eight games (40.8 per game) surrendered 1,374 yards in its last six games (229 per game).

The Hokies held just one of their last six opponents under 200 yards rushing. I wanted to know why. So I watched a lot of film of linebackers getting blocked or being out of position, defensive tackles getting blown off the ball, rovers and safeties being nowhere in sight � I saw a lot of ugly, ugly defense as I tried to analyze what went wrong.

Along the way, I noticed other things:

• Jim Davis, after posting 5.5 sacks in the first eight games, disappeared, without a single sack in the last six games.

• Likewise, Nathaniel Adibi had seven sacks in the first seven games, but only two in the last seven games.

• Vegas Robinson returned from his injury and was lost and ineffective, taking the wrong attack angles and getting blocked out of many plays.

• Mikal Baaqee, an instinctive linebacker, a warrior who really knows how to attack a play, was undersized and weak, making his tackles falling down backwards, giving up two to three yards to ballcarriers even when he read the play perfectly and defended it perfectly.

• The whip linebackers and rovers, two key positions in this defense, were so ineffective as to be invisible.

And on and on. Breaking down film of a defense that coughed up 483 yards to Pittsburgh, 604 yards to Syracuse, and 556 yards to Miami leaves me in a mood to hand out F's.

The "problem" with this defense is that it started off strong, but eventually wound up doing what every Hokie fan feared in the preseason: giving up massive rushing yards up the middle. Last year's second-ranked defense lost its top three linebackers and top five defensive tackles, leading to fears that a void would be created up the middle that would draw opposing ballcarriers into it and slingshot them downfield for big gains.

After the Hokies stifled their first eight opponents, not a single one of which gained over a hundred yards rushing, those fears appeared to have been unfounded.

Then came Pittsburgh. The Panthers racked up 275 yards rushing, much of it right up the gut, and all of Tech's remaining opponents had a blueprint from which to work (except for pass-happy Virginia, which inexplicably ignored that blueprint and instead built an offensive house of cards that fell down in the Blacksburg wind).

So, sorry, but don't expect me to be nice when handing out these grades. All finals have been returned, and the professor is not in a generous mood.

The defensive line started out strong. Bolstered by a crew of three-year starters at defensive end that went two-deep at each position -- Nathaniel Adibi, Cols Colas, Jim Davis, and Lamar Cobb -- the line disrupted the operations of every offense they faced early in the schedule, including LSU, Texas A&M, and Marshall.

Twice in the first four games, a Hokie defensive end had three sacks in a game, and not against the Connecticuts of the world. Jim Davis did it against LSU, and Nathaniel Adibi did it against Texas A&M.

Meanwhile, the defensive tackles, led by Jason Lallis and Kevin Lewis, were holding their own. Lallis was disruptive against Arkansas State and LSU, and Lewis was a bull. His brother Jonathan made a play here and there, showing flashes of the ability that will make him a great defensive tackle one day.

But then the defensive ends went AWOL, and the defensive tackles started getting pushed around. Nathaniel Adibi had four tackles or less against Temple, Pitt, UVa, Miami, and Air Force. Jim Davis had three tackles or less in nine of Tech's last twelve games and went from being a pass-rushing force to being a non-factor. Lamar Cobb was nowhere to be found.

Among the DE's, only Cols Colas showed some fire in most of the second half of the season. The Hokies only had three sacks in the last four games -- that is not a typo -- and Colas had all three of them, against Virginia. He also led the team in tackles for loss, with an impressive 19 for 74 yards. But even he had some bad games, going without a tackle against Miami.

At the DT position, JUCO savior Jimmy Williams ran into a qualification snafu that kept him out of the lineup until the Rutgers game (game seven), and when he was able to play, he wasn't very effective, because he was out of shape. Jason Lallis started getting pushed around, and the young DT's -- J. Lewis, Tim Sandidge, and Jason Murphy -- started to fade and play like the freshmen they were.

By the time Lallis and Kevin Lewis went down with injuries, missing most or all of Tech's last four games, the defensive line was a shadow of what it had been early in the season. They weren't pressuring the QB and weren't getting penetration in the running game, leaving running backs free to hit the hole at full speed, and leaving offensive linemen and tight ends free to fire into Tech's linebackers. The result, as the stats bore out, was a nightmare of a time trying to stop the running game. And with no pressure on the QB, teams found plenty of time to pass, too.

I have to hand out grades for the whole season, not just the second half, so I give the D-line a C. They were worthy of a B early in the season and played more in the D-range late in the season, so I'll average it out to a C.

The biggest question moving forward is when the D-line is going to be able to pressure the QB consistently. This year's defense line had 42 sacks in 14 games, which would have been just 33 sacks in an 11-game season (a good 11-game season is 40 sacks or more -- the 1999 Hokies had 58 sacks in 11 games) . With three junior defensive ends and one senior, the pressure from the DE's should have been better. I'm not sure that this current crop of DE's is ever going to pressure the QB like past groups have, and they're not getting much help from the DT's, either.

The linebackers came under a lot of scrutiny this year, partly because the defensive line didn't play well, and partly because the linebackers themselves didn't play well. The defensive line didn't keep the fullbacks and linemen off the linebackers, and when faced with that challenge, the linebackers couldn't handle it.

This season left Hokie fans longing for a George Del Ricco, Jamel Smith, Michael Hawkes, Ben Taylor, or even a Jake Houseright. As a sidebar, if Houseright had redshirted as a freshman, instead of wasting a year seeing spot duty at fullback and special teams, the defensive story for the Hokies might have been very different this year. Houseright wasn't a world-beater, but he was better than any linebacker the Hokies put on the field this year.

At the Mike (middle linebacker) position, I thought Mikal Baaqee showed a playmaker's instinct and a nonstop motor. Baaqee was Tech's leading tackler, with 112 tackles in 13 games (versus 121 in 11 games for Ben Taylor last year), and he was third on the team in tackles for loss, with 12 for 50 yards. This shows a great ability to get into the backfield and make plays.

The problem was, Baaqee wasn't physical enough. He weighs, according to my 2002 media guide, 223 pounds, but it's a 223 pounds that doesn't arrive with much authority. Baaqee doesn't stop ballcarriers dead in their tracks like a good middle linebacker does. He too often gives up extra yards even when making the play, because he gets knocked backwards or has to drag a ballcarrier down.

And if you get a blocker on Baaqee, he's toast. I saw a number of plays where offensive linemen got into him and drove him downfield. Too bad Baaqee doesn't have Vegas Robinson's body.

Speaking of Vegas Robinson, I have not gone back to break down film of VT's early games, but once Vegas returned from his injury, he was not every effective. He's a hard-hitting stud, standing 6-0 and weighing 239 (the same dimensions as Cols Colas), but he was out of position a lot and proved to be surprisingly blockable. When he was out with an injury and Tech lost to Pittsburgh and Syracuse, fans (and this writer) pined for his return, but sadly, he didn't make much of a difference after he came back.

And as a backup for him, redshirt freshman James Anderson was lost. There's no nice way to put it, other than to say that Anderson's performance in the Syracuse game was one of the worst performances I've ever seen from a linebacker. Anderson has been moved from Backer to Whip to see how he does at Whip.

The Whip position was very quiet for the Hokies this year. Since its creation in 1993, the Whip linebacker position has served as a means to create havoc in an opponent's game plan. Whip linebackers play the run, cover the tight end, and blitz. At least, they used to blitz. From Dwayne Knight to Brandon Semones to Lorenzo Ferguson, the Whip has gradually been toned down from a blitzing machine that got about 2-5 sacks a year to a more passive read-and-react position.

In 1996, Brandon Semones led Tech with 88 tackles from his Whip position, including 8 tackles for loss and 5 sacks. He also had 5 pass breakups and 6 QB hurries, all in just 11 games. This season, Brandon Manning and Mike Daniels had 126 tackles between them, but only 7 tackles for loss and 1 sack. Daniels and Manning only had 1 QB hurry and 4 pass breakups, so they got their tackles, but they weren't disruptive like Whip linebackers of the past. (Of course, the Hokies simply don't blitz the Whip as much as they used to.)

Daniels and Manning deserve a C (they weren't good, but they didn't stink), and Baaqee deserves a solid B or B-, but I think the Backer linebacker spot, manned by Robinson and Anderson, was a disaster. They had 119 tackles between the two of them, but only 6 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks. They only had 3 tackles for loss and a half a sack in Tech's last nine games.

To compare, Ben Taylor played Backer last year and had 121 tackles, including a whopping 18 tackles for 56 yards in losses, and 4.5 sacks. And Taylor was not known as a great playmaker, just a heady linebacker and a sure tackler. Yet he made many more plays behind the line than Robinson and Anderson did.

All-in-all, a very bad year for the linebackers, in my opinion, so I give them a D+.

Here's a position that produced some unexpected pleasant surprises (Vince Fuller and safety Jimmy Williams), and only one letdown: Ronyell Whitaker.

This unit suffered a big blow when rising junior Eric Green blew out his knee and had to sit out the year. Green redshirted, so he can have up to two more years to play for the Hokies. Provided he recovers as well as Lee Suggs did, it could turn out to be blessing in disguise for the Hokies, because Tech didn't really miss him on the field this year.

The injury to Green also uncovered a pretty good cornerback: Vince Fuller. Fuller was converted over from his backup safety position to play corner when Green got hurt and Whitaker was suspended for the first two games for a violation of team rules. And Fuller (who's really corner-sized, anyway) played well.

DeAngelo Hall continued to develop nicely, and is a rare combination of cover skills and hard-hitting ability. Hall has NFL written all over him. No cornerback at Virginia Tech in recent history has hit as hard as Hall does, save for Antonio Banks, who bounced back and forth to and from the corner position during his tenure at Tech. Save for one nightmare game against Miami, Hall had an outstanding season, intercepting four passes (one for a TD) and returning two punts for TD's.

One nit with Hall, though: he also dropped some interceptions that would have been big. In particular, with the Pitt game tied at 21 with about twelve minutes to go, he dropped a perfect opportunity for a pick-six when Rod Rutherford threw the ball into Hall's belly in the flat.

Garnell Wilds, never the recipient of much hype, quietly had an outstanding season. He led the Hokies in interceptions with five, including one incredible pickoff that put the Hokies in position to win the Syracuse game.

Ronyell Whitaker was a disappointment, though. First, as a senior who should have shown leadership, he got suspended for the opening two games for violating a team rule. Then he committed a critical boneheaded penalty against Pitt that allowed the fading Panthers to get back in the ballgame. He did have an excellent game against Air Force, including the game-ending tackle against AF quarterback Chance Harridge.

At safety, Willie Pile was solid, but was not up to the run-support task that the sieve-like front seven thrust upon him. Willie, who has been plagued by shoulder injuries his entire VT career, has never been a physical run-stopper, probably because he has had numerous injuries and surgeries to his shoulders. He had 106 tackles (second on the team behind Baaqee and way too many tackles for a free safety) and four interceptions.

His backup, Jimmy Williams, looks like a keeper. A bigger, stronger Pile who can hit. Pile on steroids, pardon the expression.

At the Rover spot, Billy Hardee and Michael Crawford did not remind anyone of Cory Bird or Kevin McCadam. Both were mostly anonymous players, as opposed to the everywhere-at-once Bird or the hard-hitting, playmaking McCadam. The Rover position is given ample opportunity to make plays, and Hardee and Crawford didn't stand out. Between the two of them, they had 109 tackles, seven tackles for loss, and two interceptions. By contrast, in 11-game seasons in 2000 and 2001, Bird and McCadam had similar tackle numbers, but had 12 and eight tackles for loss, respectively. And more telling, Bird and McCadam had five sacks in two years, but Hardee and Crawford didn't have a single one this year.

That B- grade might be a little generous, but I was impressed with Fuller, Wilds, and Jimmy Williams. Whitaker's very poor leadership skills reflected badly on the group, and the vanilla play from the Rover position -- in a year where outstanding run support and game-breaking plays from that position were badly needed -- dragged the group down.

If I broke it out, I would give the cornerbacks a B, the Rover a C, and the free safety a B+. That equates to somewhere around a B- as a whole.

For every good story like Fuller and Wilds, there was a bad story like Whitaker's suspension and key penalty, or a nightmarish game like Hall had against Miami, or the late-game fold against Marshall. And there's the nagging feeling that DeAngelo Hall should have made one or two more plays from his corner position, like Ike Charlton used to.

But overall, this group did well, particularly when you consider that they didn't get much help from the front seven.

Bud Foster has done a good job tinkering with a defensive scheme that is getting some age to it. And when his linebackers and D-tackles can't shed blockers and make plays, the whole scheme starts to break down.

I was impressed with Bud's coaching job against Virginia. He eschewed the blitz and concentrated on stopping the passes to the flat and the flare-outs, and the strategy worked like a charm, as the Hokies held Virginia to 203 total yards.

Bud's hands were tied in 2002 for two reasons: (1) the talent wasn't up to speed this year; (2) Big East opponents have learned how to defend Tech's previously blitz-happy scheme. Foster has adjusted by blitzing less, and he even toyed with a three-man rush and zone coverage, which didn't seem to work very well.

No doubt this is a defense in transition from a scheming and playcalling standpoint, and it's hard to separate out coaching difficulties from player difficulties. Bud can't attack the gaps and make the tackles for his players; they have to do it themselves.

For some reason, Bud Foster, the defensive coordinator, seems to get the benefit of the doubt that former OC Rickey Bustle and current OC Bryan Stinespring do not. Same here. I'll trust in Bud and give him a B, mainly because I think that if the front seven had been better, this defense would have had an outstanding year.

Here's a recap of the grades so far.