Inside The Numbers: Replacing Caleb Farley

Caleb Farley, Armani Chatman
Armani Chatman made one of Virginia Tech’s best plays of the season against Notre Dame, but unfortunately it didn’t count. (Ivan Morozov)

Back after Michael Vick declared for the NFL Draft, Will Stewart wrote an article called Goodbye Michael, We Hardly Knew You that reflected on Vick’s 16 months in a Virginia Tech uniform.  That’s sort of how I feel about Caleb Farley, except the fan base’s exposure to Farley’s elite level of play was even shorter.

Farley did not play defense in high school, and he tore his ACL as a true freshman at Virginia Tech in 2017.  In 2018 he stared at cornerback in his first season ever playing defense, and coming off an injury, he struggled.  He caught a lot of flak from some portions of the fanbase following the 2018 campaign, most of which probably didn’t realize that he was only an offensive player at the high school level.

As a redshirt sophomore in 2019, Farley upped his game and developed into one of the best, if not the best, cover corners in the country.  He went from being a liability to being the best player on the team.  And then he got hurt, missing the final two games of the season – key losses to UVA and Kentucky.  And now he’s opted out of his junior season due to the Coronavirus, and he’s played his last game at Virginia Tech. 

Farley was such a dominant player for the Hokies last season.  Think about it like this: not one team has scored against Virginia Tech’s defense with Caleb Farley on the field since Wake Forest on November 9, 2019.  He’ll be missed.  The really sad part is that we only got to see the real Caleb Farley for all of 11 games. 

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