Virginia Tech lost some very good defensive linemen following the 2013 season.  Replacing them with quality players will be one of the goals of the offseason.

Here’s a quick list of the guys Tech lost, and their career production…

DE James Gayle: 40.5 TFL, 22 sacks
DE J.R. Collins: 33 TFL, 17.5 sacks
DT Derrick Hopkins: 25.5 TFL, 13 sacks
DE Tyrel Wilson: 11.5 TFL, 8 sacks

That’s a grand total of 110.5 tackles for loss and 60.5 sacks.  Without doing the research on all 120+ Division 1A football teams, I can’t imagine there is a program anywhere in the country that lost that much production off their defensive line following the 2013 season.  Charley Wiles has his work cut out for him this spring and into the month of August.

...