Football is a brutal sport. It’s taxing both mentally and physically. I can’t
think of anyone on the current team who has gone through more, mentally and
physically, than defensive tackle Kwamaine Battle.

By all accounts, Battle (pictured at right) is a really good guy. He
committed to the Hokies in the summer of 2006 when Tech offered him a
scholarship at one of their summer camps. He actually started one scrimmage as a
true freshman defensive tackle in 2007, but required two shoulder surgeries (one
on each shoulder), and took a redshirt that season.

One shoulder surgery is bad. I can’t even imagine what it is like to come
back from two. He was still recovering as a r-freshman in 2008, and only
appeared in six games. He was finally healthy in 2009, and played in 11 games.
In 2010, he was Virginia Tech’s best defensive tackle in the month of August,
but tore his ACL in the first quarter of the James Madison game.

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