Danny Wheel doesn’t remember exactly who gave him his nickname, but after everything he went through to become a scholarship football player for the Hokies, it was certainly well-earned.

“I guess it was in practice,” Wheel said.  “I might have made a good play and Cornell [Brown] called me The Wheel Deal.  It was either Cornell or Lawrence Lewis.  Actually it was probably Lawrence Lewis, because he made a nickname up for everybody.  One of the funniest guys I’ve ever met in my life is Lawrence Lewis.”

In these days of college football, where fans love to keep up with 4-star and 5-star recruits, there aren’t many stories like Danny Wheel’s.  He took the road less traveled to Virginia Tech.

“I started off in the ROTC, in the Corps of Cadets because I wanted to be in the Air Force,” Wheel noted.  “That’s the first reason I came to Virginia Tech.  They had an ROTC program, and that was my best way to get to the Air Force.”

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