2003 Football Preview: Defensive Backs
by Will Stewart, TechSideline.com, 8/15/03

The defensive backs are the biggest bright spot on the defense heading into the 2003 football season. The Hokies are experienced, talented and deep at cornerback, Michael Crawford returns at Rover, and at free safety, Jimmy Williams is creating a tremendous amount of buzz. Times are good for DB coach Lorenzo Ward.

The Depth Chart

The depth chart below represents the latest depth chart released on BeamerBall.com on August 12th, with a couple of minor adjustments based on our prediction of how the chart will look on opening day.

The two-deep in the chart is color-coded by class, and returning starters (9) are listed in bold italics.

Field Cornerback

Starter: 8 Vincent Fuller (6-1, 191, r-Jr)
Backup: 1 Eric Green (5-11, 189, r-Jr)

Last year, because of a big mistake by a fellow player, Vincent Fuller got a new lease on his football life. In August of 2002, it was announced that Ronyell Whitaker was suspended for the first two games of the 2002 season for violating team rules, and to shore up their cornerback depth, the Hokie coaches moved Fuller, a backup free safety, to cornerback to sub for Whitaker. Eric Green was already lost for the season to a knee injury, leaving the Hokies perilously thin at CB, so Fuller was asked to do double duty.

Fuller had earned positive reviews for his play at free safety but was stuck behind Willie Pile at a position where the Hokies historically don't rotate the backups in for playing time. At cornerback, it was different, and the fleet-footed Fuller (4.34 forty) not only played, he started the first two games of the season and four games overall, including the Diamond Walnut San Francisco Bowl. He tied for second on the team last year with 4 interceptions, and at one point, he was playing with two broken fingers on one hand and a broken wrist on the other. 

Fuller was a pleasant surprise, to say the least. His move to cornerback was supposed to be temporary, but one year later, he has the inside track on the starting spot at field corner.

The line between Fuller and backup Eric Green is thin. Green suffered a knee injury prior to preseason drills last year and was lost before practice even began. He had surgery, rehabbed, and was able to participate in spring football, and he shows no ill effects from the injury (other than having lost what was probably a starting job for him to a guy who would otherwise be languishing at backup safety).

Green has always been a special teams demon. He made a tackle on the very first play of his collegiate career as a true freshman, when he took down an Akron kick returner to open the 2000 season. He also turned out to be a pretty good cornerback, though he did take a beating at the hands of the Miami Hurricanes near the end of the 2000 season (along with the entire Hokie defense).

A solid cover corner, Green ensures that the Hokies go two-deep at the Field Corner position. No worries here.

Looking down the road, the coaches have been impressed with Michael Hinton, who will probably redshirt, barring injury to Fuller or Green. Hinton has great size and the chance to be a great corner in the future.

Jimmy Williams (wearing the #2 jersey now) is ready to step in and be a leader on the Hokie D. (click to enlarge)

Free Safety

Starter:  2 Jimmy Williams (6-3, 217, So)
Backup:  31 Mike Daniels (6-0, 209, r-Jr)

Will Virginia Tech miss Willie Pile? In some ways yes, in other ways, no. Pile was a great playmaker in the passing game, finishing third on Tech's career interceptions list, with 14. He was also an intelligent player with a great head for the game.

But he had shoulders of glass, and he spent significant portions of his career hurt or playing in pain. This made him a less than effective run-stopper, despite proclamations by Sporting News and ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit that he was a "big hitter" and an "assassin." From a run-stopping standpoint, Pile's career hit its low point when he whiffed an important tackle on Pitt's Brandon Miree last season, and Miree scored the winning touchdown that sent Tech's season into a spiral.

Free safeties usually aren't known for their run-stopping ability, but what Hokie fans want is a guy who knows the game like Pile, can defend the pass and make plays like Pile, but can stop the run like a brick wall. True sophomore Jimmy Williams might be that guy. One thing's for sure: he's a great physical presence, a guy who is 6-3, 217, and can run a 4.4 forty. He can roam from sideline to sideline, and he loves to hit. Jimmy Williams can hit guys like Miree and stop them in their tracks.

Only time will tell if Jimmy Williams is the complete player, but for a Hokie defense that was destroyed by the run in the latter stages of 2002, he is a bonus: a free safety who can stop the run.

After a dalliance with the Whip linebacker position that lasted over a year, Mike Daniels is back at free safety, where he started his career. For a guy who is not all that big, Daniels likes to defend the run and is a good tackler. Free safety and Whip linebacker are two of the mentally most demanding positions on the defense, and Daniels knows them both. He'll be able to serve the dual purpose of helping Jimmy Williams learn the position, plus provide solid backup duty. Again, no worries here, though having Jimmy Williams' physical talents on the field is preferable.

True freshman Corey Gordon, who enrolled in January, is a physical specimen on par with Williams, and the coaches think he can be a good one, given time. He'll probably redshirt.

Rover

Starter:  21 Michael Crawford (5-11, 202, r-Sr)
Backups:  22 James Griffin (6-1, 191, Jr)

Rover is probably the most fun position on the Virginia Tech defense. You get to blitz, you get to provide run support, you get to provide pass coverage, you get to do it all. Rovers are part of what has held the VT defense together while the Whip linebacker position turned into a revolving door some time around 1997.

For eight years, from 1994 through 2001, the Rover position was manned by future NFL players: Torrian Gray (1994-95), Pierson Prioleau (1996-98), Cory Bird (1999-2000), and Kevin McCadam (2001).

Last year, for the first time in a long time, the Hokies couldn't rely on the same guy from week to week. Michael Crawford went into the season as the starter, but backup Billy Hardee got plenty of playing time, and the coaches seemed unsure of whom to play more. Symptoms of lymphoma sidelined Crawford nine games into the season, and Hardee filled in for him. While the Hokie nation held its breath, Crawford, who always has a smile on his face, underwent tests, and no signs of cancer were found. He has a clean bill of health now.

Both Crawford and Hardee are great guys (Hardee is gone now, having played out his eligibility), but neither one distinguished himself on the field to the degree of their four predecessors. A Rover is above all a playmaker, a disruptor who makes sacks, causes fumbles, and makes interceptions, in addition to providing run support and pass coverage. Hardee and Crawford played okay, but they were mostly invisible. Gray, Prioleau, Bird, and McCadam were very visible.

One key to a return to greatness for the VT defense is to have the Rover be a disruptor and playmaker once again. Crawford is about the same height as the Rovers who came before him, but he's not as physical, weighing in at just 202 this fall (other Rovers have been around 210 and as high as 220). He's also not the strength and conditioning nut that, say, Bird (a five-time Super Iron Hokie) was, but he does well for himself. In max testing this past winter (just a few months ago), Crawford recorded the top push jerk, power clean, and bench press among the defensive backs.

Crawford is a redshirt senior now, and this is his last go-round. Again, it's important for him to step up.

Behind Crawford is junior college transfer James Griffin, who comes in with a reputation as a big hitter and VERY big playmaker, a sack artist extraordinaire while playing linebacker at Pasadena City Community College the last couple of years.

But it's very hard for JUCO's to step in and do well in their first year, even a guy like Griffin who arrived in January and went through spring football with the Hokies. And ultimately, having just two years of eligibility, Griffin is only a stop-gap measure, as the Hokie coaches look for the next great Rover.

It's not likely that third-stringer Cary Wade is that "great Rover." Wade has been moved over from cornerback, and unless he puts on about 30 pounds, blows up in the weight room, and transforms himself on the field, he won't be the physical presence that the Tech defense requires at Rover.

If Crawford stays healthy and elevates his game, the Hokies are in good shape here. If not, things could get dicey at Rover.

Boundary Cornerback

Starter: 4 DeAngelo Hall (5-10, 195, Jr)
Backup: 17 Garnell Wilds (6-0, 200, r-Sr)

When DeAngelo Hall was signed in February of 2001, I heard his recruiting coach, Bryan Stinespring, say that he felt DeAngelo Hall could be the best football player ever at Virginia Tech. Perhaps Stinespring was getting a little bit carried away, because a guy named Vick had come and gone by then, but it tells you that Hall is held in high regard by the coaching staff.

Hall enters his junior season as one of 37 defensive backs named to the Thorpe Award watch list. The Thorpe Award goes to the top DB in the nation, which means that there's a lot of competition for the award -- considering just four starters on each of the 117 D1-A teams at FS, SS, and two CB spots, that's 468 players.

Had DeAngelo caught a couple of key interceptions last year against Pitt and (if memory serves) LSU, he would be a front-runner for the award. There's not a lot you can say about the guy, other than "Hang on to the ball, DeAngelo." And hope that the lower back problems that plagued him last season are completely gone.

Garnell Wilds led the Big East last year with five interceptions, including three in a Syracuse game that was dismal for the Hokie defense. Wilds is not Tech's most physically gifted corner (that honor goes to Hall), but he has rebounded nicely from a knee injury suffered in 2000, to become one of Tech's most consistent and reliable cornerbacks. Wilds' game is quiet, but his dreadlocks are distinctive, and he provides a great second option, should Hall or any other CB go down with injury.

Behind Wilds, redshirt freshman Brian McPherson is improving, and true freshman Roland Minor has the coaches excited about his potential.

DB Summary

Cornerback is a rock-solid and deep position for the Hokies this year, and free safety Jimmy Williams has NFL written all over him, though the pass coverage portion of his game is still an unknown. Michael Crawford is ready for a breakout redshirt senior season at Rover. If Williams and Crawford both stay healthy, the Hokies could have a defensive backfield to rival that of the powerful Miami Hurricanes.

Next: Special Teams

Special teams have been a little shaky for the Hokies the last few years. They have continued to block kicks and return punts for TD's, but punting and placekicking have gotten inconsistent. We'll take a look soon at this vital part of the Frank Beamer football machine.