Virginia Tech has added some more DL depth after landing a commitment from USF DL Immanuel Hickman.
He is the eighth transfer portal addition this spring joining North Dakota State DT Kody Huisman, West Virginia OL Gavin Crawford, Hawaii CB Caleb Brown, Georgia Southern DT Elhadj Fall, Iowa State LS Drew Doyle, Temple LB Antwone Santiago, and Jackson State WR Isaiah Spencer.
Hickman, the product of Chesterfield, VA, committed to Virginia Tech after spending four seasons at four seasons at ECU and two at USF, including a medical redshirt this past season. He has played in 33 career games.
In 2023, Hickman tallied 19 tackles, including two for a loss as one of USF's top performing defensive linemen. He also earned a 71.5 PFF grade during the 2023 season including a 76.0 run defense grade.
He brings more depth on the interior defensive line and has one years of eligibility remaining.
His commitment comes after Hickman was on campus at least earlier today, per source to the TLP. That visit clearly went quite well with the Hokies able to close the deal either on campus or right after he left.
Hickman will be able to come in and immediately provide more depth and get a chance to make an impact on Tech's already deep defensive line. It’s unclear whether he’ll end up playing a big role or not, but he'll have a chance to battle his way into the two deep. He'll be in the mix with Emmet Laws, Kody Huisman, Elhadj Fall, Arias Nash, and current projected starter Kemari Copeland for reps. Kelvin Gilliam remains relative locked in as a starter at defensive tackle.
Hickman does project more as a run stuffer and likely will be paired more often with a smaller, twitchier DT like Copeland or Nash.
