After spending a few years at Oklahoma where he struggled to break into the defensive line rotation in a scheme that wasn’t a great fit for him, redshirt junior DT Kelvin Gilliam decided to enter the transfer portal in search of a new team that could provide the right fit. Enter the premier football program of his home state Virginia Tech, with the Hokies prioritizing him as soon as he entered the portal till when he signed with VT.
The addition had plenty of fans excited, especially those who remember the type of talent Gilliam was in high school in Richmond, earning four-star ratings. However, there were no guarantees that Gilliam would be able to deliver on that given the lack of proven production he had at Oklahoma.
So far this season though, Gilliam has looked like the former four-star recruit who many believed could be a productive Power 4 defensive lineman.
Through three games, Gilliam has nine tackles including 1.5 for loss with one sack plus five total stops per PFF, which are defined as plays deemed as a failure for the offense. For comparison, he had four stops during his time at Oklahoma despite the fact that over those three years, he played more than double the snaps he's received so far at VT.
His finest performance of his career to date came this past Saturday against Old Dominion when he had his first career sack among six tackles on the evening. That was the coming out party for the Richmond native, who has found his footing at Virginia Tech and is making big strides in his development as he receives more live action.
Among those with praise for Gilliam is DL coach J.C. Price who had this to say about his development after the Hokies' 37-17 victory over ODU.
