On the back of Jaevon Becton’s suspension, I thought it would be a good time to talk about what the Hokies have coming back at defensive end this season, whom they could pick up between now and August, and some other recruiting generalities.

By losing Becton, the Hokies have lost their No. 5 defensive end from 2019.  It’s possible that he could have improved and passed the smallish Eli Adams on the depth chart, but based on this past season the loss of Becton doesn’t impact Virginia Tech’s two-deep at defensive end one iota.

Let’s use Pro Football Focus to tell us about the production of Virginia Tech’s defensive ends in 2019. 

• Emmanuel Belmar: 624 snaps, 69.9 rating
• TyJuan Garbutt: 515 snaps, 69.5 rating
• Eli Adams: 257 snaps, 64.7 rating
• Jaylen Griffin: 272 snaps, 51.5 rating
• Jaevon Becton: 198 snaps, 52.5 rating

From a production standpoint, the Hokies aren’t losing much.  Over half of Becton’s snaps came early in the season when Garbutt was hurt.  Thereafter, the only games in which he played double-digit snaps were easy wins over Rhode Island, Wake Forest, Georgia Tech and Pitt.  He graded slightly better than Jaylen Griffin, but Griffin had never practiced at defensive end until fall camp opened.

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