Mook Reynolds Dismissed From The Virginia Tech Football Program

Virginia Tech announced on Monday morning that rising senior whip linebacker/nickelback Mook Reynolds has been dismissed from the program.  He was previously suspended from all team activities during the spring semester, though that information was not revealed until Monday morning’s press release.

Reynolds played a lot as a true freshman in 2015, and then became Tech’s full-time starter at whip/nickel as a true sophomore in 2016.  He amassed 165 tackles, 22.5 tackles for loss, 3.5 sacks and two interceptions during his career.  He is the second projected senior starter to be dismissed during the offseason, joining cornerback Adonis Alexander.

With Reynolds off the team, true sophomore Devon Hunter is expected to take over the starting role at whip/nickel.  He started at that spot during the spring after playing special teams as a true freshman in 2017.  Hunter was Virginia Tech’s top recruit of the 2017 class, with the following national rankings…

247: No. 45
Rivals: No. 47
ESPN: No. 126

With the dismissal of Reynolds, the Hokies have just a total of 14 starts returning in the secondary: 12 from starting rover Reggie Floyd, and two from Khalil Ladler.  Redshirt sophomore safety Divine Deablo also has experience in a backup role.  They are now missing the following starters from last year’s defense…

DT Tim Settle (early NFL entry)
LB Andrew Motuapuaka (graduation)
LB Tremaine Edmunds (early NFL entry)
S Terrell Edmunds (early NFL entry)
CB Brandon Facyson (graduation)
CB Greg Stroman (graduation)
CB Adonis Alexander (dismissal)
NB Mook Reynolds (dismissal)

Projected starting defensive tackle Vinny Mihota is also recovering from a torn ACL sustained in the home finale against Pitt.

25 Responses You are logged in as Test

  1. I’m bummed we are losing so many players who’ve been integral over the last 3ish years, but I hope it’s righting itself now. I dread the thought that this could be indicative of more to come. On a different note, I’m curious about the last sentence – do we know any more about Vinny’s rehab and if he’s on track for September?

  2. My guess is Mook new exactly why he was not participating in the spring. It is also my guess he was aware exactly what he needed to do to make himself eligible this year. Personally I don’t need to know all the details of how our program is being run. Just my 2 cents

    1. Agreed, it doesn’t matter what he did. Coach Fuente is showing his own character as a coach and like Coach Beamer is holding his players accountable. I imagine that Mook Reynolds will rebound from this and make the best of situation. These are players are young men and they make mistakes, they should not be burned by the general public and its nice to see that Coach Fuente has their back. I think this is a big blow to our secondary but it is no surprise to the staff either. They have been training their players for this for months and Reynolds replacement is a blue-chip player. Bud Foster will have a top 25 defense again this year and in 2019-2020 they will Preseason Top 10 due to the age. All this means to me is we will likely never see Devon Hunter as a senior. He will be a high NFL prospect by his junior year. Maybe our next Kam Chancelor!

  3. I’m telling you……i like some to many of the things Coach Fu has bought to the Hokie program but I’m telling ya…..the transparency and building relationship with the fan base and the media is not there IMO. We are getting alienated at his direct discretion if you are outside the inner VTU circle. This breeds distrust. I know we dont need to know everything but if the fanbase sees and feels this way……..what about the recruiting and operational side of the business. Are recruits, their families, and our existing players and families feeling properly and honestly informed and managed? If not the program, and our esteem AD is going to get upside down with the alumni, fanbase, and highschool circles real quick if the perception is that they are not above board in their communications as much as they could or need to be. This is another off the field event that doesn’t seem to be handled well either by the program in general or by the head CEO of our team.

    Anyhow…..this is a BIG loss. The fans liked Mook and loved saying his name during key plays (reminiscent to our Bruce days.) I hate seeing Mook’s career end this way in what seems to be a snap of the finger. He will be missed.

    1. you also might want to check the recent additions and changes to the FOUA laws.

      i personally do not care about your r details of a dismissal – except that:
      a) is it permanent or for a set time duration?
      b) is it academic or a legal situation?
      beyond those two answers i need to know no more.
      i would rather know more about those who want to live within the discipline of being a committed, faithful Hokie.

      Coach Fuente has his rules, and guidelines in addition to ncaa junk. we pay our AD, staff, to run a wholesome program not to cater to our gossipy whims.

      Go Hokies!
      iPhone

    2. I don’t understand how this has anything to do with the Coach and transparency. What is he supposed to do, announce in the spring the kid has committed a violation and will be dismissed if he doesn’t shape up? I don’t see how any recruit or parent would have a problem with how Coach Fuente handled the situation. As a parent, I would appreciate how he handled the situation, even though the end result was not what any Hokie fan wanted

    3. Coach Fu doesn’t owe you a damned thing when it comes to discipline and running his program and his football team. The fact you feel he owes you some sort of explanation is absurd.

      The fans loved saying “Mook”? That’s your yardstick?

      Next.

  4. Chris, believe Settle left early rather than graduation. Time for the young kids to step in and step up. While could have a short term negative impact, good for the long run imo. Bring it, Devon!

  5. Can’t please everybody. I trust our coaches and can live with their rules and ways of handling things. We don’t need to know everything!

  6. It is all good with Virginia Tech football. The current coach runs a tight program and will not tolerate less than excellence from his players. It is time to let go of the FB era football players and move forward with his style football players. This year it will truly be his team and players he recruited on the football field.

  7. Gonna need a lot of offense this year to win games as I anticipate the youthful, inexperienced VT defense to get lit up by the average or better teams on the schedule.

  8. Wow. He was out of spring ball as well. That is really discouraging. Wonder how they were able to keep that under wraps.

        1. Nope, just a half-truth. He had shoulder repaired & was out of contact anyway, they (rightfully so) didn’t disclose he was out for other reasons as well

      1. I think this no-disclosure policy by the coaching staff is hurting the program. When you don’t inform correctly, people (myself included) draw their own conclusions. What motivation would you have to say it was medical rather than a suspension? Where they planning to let a missconduct go and sweep it under the rug? I guess it’s bad to jump to conclussions, but coach can avoid that by having better channels of comunication with hokie nation.

        1. Believe he had off-season hip surgery as well, so it wasn’t a bold-faced lie to say he was withheld medically. If he’s not going to be able to participate, why air dirty laundry anyways? What if he had been cleared/reinstated in the fall, what would divulging the suspension achieve?

          1. You have a point, however, I don’t think divulging the suspension would hurt, however, not being straight could potentially generate doubt about the coach’s intentions. If he was suspended, that means he already at least had put himself in a bad position, if after that he was cleared, then you lift the suspension and people forget about it within a couple of weeks.

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