A Look Back: 2014 Defensive Scouting Reports

Ricky Walker
Ricky Walker has had a successful career in Blacksburg, and there’s one more season to go. (Photo by Ivan Morozov)

We already covered the offensive portion of the 2014 recruiting class and discovered that it was hit or miss. Today we’re going to look at the defensive side of the ball, where things weren’t much different. The Hokies got some good players in the 2014 class, but they also got some guys who didn’t work out at all.

We’ll start with the defensive line and work our way back through the defense. As with part one, the player’s name links to their TSL recruiting bio, and their ETA date links to their original scouting report.

DE Vinny Mihota, ETA 2014 or 2015:  I expressed some concern that Mihota wouldn’t stay small enough to be an effective defensive end. That was right and wrong. Mihota has been Tech’s biggest end that I can ever remember, and though he has been effective, he hasn’t been effective in the ways of a traditional Hokie end. He’s a run stopper only, and he isn’t much of a threat when it comes to rushing the passer. However, he’s moving to defensive tackle as a redshirt senior, and if he’s healthy I believe he’ll be a more effective player at that position. Mihota got into the two-deep in 2015, and overall my take on him was pretty sound.

DT Ricky Walker, ETA 2014 or 2015: Ricky Walker played as a true freshman in 2014, and he’s had a great career for Virginia Tech. He’ll be the bell cow of the Hokie defense during the 2018 season. Walker was signed in the same year that guys like Derrick Nnadi, Andrew Brown and Da’Shawn Hand went elsewhere. Here’s what I wrote about that…

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