Most scouts, coaches, and fans would consider Caleb Farley to be Virginia Tech’s best football player, and the numbers certainly back it up.  We’ve run Farley’s Pro Football Focus numbers all year, so I won’t rehash them, but I will point out that recently PFF named Farley as the No. 67 player in all of college football, across all positions.

That’s impressive, and it’s even more impressive after some simple math.  Let’s say for the sake of argument that FBS teams on average have 80 scholarship players (it’s rare that a team is right at the 85-man limit thanks to unexpected attrition).  There are 130 FBS teams.  130 times 80 is 10,400.  Being ranked No. 67 out of 10,400 is pretty good, last I checked.  That puts him in the top 0.6 percent in college football.

One of the silliest things I saw any team do this past season was when UNC targeted Farley eight times.  Remember, he played less than half of that game because of a concussion.  Considering that game went to six overtimes, he was on pace to be targeted over 20 times over the course of the entire game.  The Tar Heels completed exactly one of those eight passes for 23 yards.  The decision to target Farley so much arguably cost UNC the game.  As much as we (rightfully) are concerned about the UNC coaching staff, it’s not like those guys don’t make mistakes.

Virginia Tech wasn’t as good defensively over the last two games of the season with Farley out with an injured back.  I suppose that’s not too much of a surprise…how many defenses out there don’t drop off a bit without their best player?  The good news is that the Hokies were able to work in a pair of younger players at the end of the season, which should give them more depth and versatility in the secondary in 2020.

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