The 2024 college football season is upon us as Virginia Tech gets ready to head on the road to Nashville to open their season against the Vanderbilt Commodores. The Hokies are around two-touchdown favorites entering this game, with the chance to make this a showcase moment to launch themselves into the top 25.
There’s plenty of interesting storylines entering this one from players who will be key to opening this game up to a couple unproven guys taking on big roles at their positions this fall. So with that in mind, here are my Hokies to watch against Vanderbilt.
DT Kelvin Gilliam
Let's start in the trenches with a surprise co-starter in defensive tackle Kelvin Gilliam, the Oklahoma transfer who is battling veteran Josh Fuga for the second starting DT job next to Aeneas Peebles.
Gilliam will clearly play a significant role in Saturday's game against Vanderbilt, with the first thing to watch being whether he actually gets the start or if the experienced Fuga still starts. This is a big chance for Gilliam to show what he can on a Saturday and that he can provide a higher ceiling of play this year than Josh Fuga.
If Gilliam can deliver a big game on Saturday, it could be the beginning of a march to a full-time starting role for him. We’ve seen this before with less experienced but more talented players who slowly take on a larger and larger role as they gain experience till taking a starting job whether that’s Mansoor Delane back in 2022 or Luke Tenuta and Parker Clements surpassing Silas Dzansi early in their careers.
While Aeneas Peebles will replace a lot of what Tech lost at defensive tackle, the Hokies will need guys like Gilliam to step up and fill the rest of the lost production while trying to elevate that group further beyond their solid play last season.
