Virginia Tech's defensive tackle play was part of why the Hokies were able to turn around their 2023 season, especially with Pheldarius Payne developing into a playmaker and also forming one of the best interior pass rushing duos in the country with Norell Pollard.
This became a room that had a ton of talent to replace with Payne, Pollard, and Mario Kendricks graduating after this past season, leaving Josh Fuga, Wilfried Pene, and no other experience.
Brent Pry and his staff got to work in the transfer portal landing three new DTs from the Power 4 and JUCO ranks in the winter transfer portal window headlined by All-ACC Third Teamer Aeneas Peebles from Duke plus Oklahoma's Kelvin Gilliam and JUCO standout Kemari Copeland. Tech then added further reinforcements to that room with the addition of Alabama's Khurtiss Perry during the spring transfer portal window.
Now some would reasonably think that even with all this new talent including a 2023 All-ACC Third Teamer, it would be a challenge to at least match the type of play that the Hokies got on the interior as the season progressed last season.
While it is a challenge to replace all of those guys, Brent Pry believes that not only have they do that, but they also can be stronger at DT this year than they were last year, with that not being disrespectful at all to the DTs who graduated.
“It was scary at the end of the season. You lose three good players that helped us down the stretch. They played very well. So when I say that we got a chance to upgrade there and be better, it’s a credit to those guys, and also the maturity and improvement of the Josh Fuga’s and the (Wilfried) Pene’s," Pry said.
