Every year during fall camp, there are usually a few players who coaches are apt to state their excitement publicly out and make clear that said player is a candidate to either have a breakout year or take a big step forward. Sometimes those players do live up to the hype and other times, those players come up short with the preseason talk setting some unfair expectations on them (see LB Jaden Keller)
Prior to the 2025 season, DT Kemari Copeland was that guy with DL coach J.C. Price saying this about him just days into fall camp regarding his role for the upcoming season.
“I think he’s going to be a dominant player. I think he’s flying under the radar right now and that’s the way he likes it and that’s the way I like it. Not a lot of people know about him, but they’re going to find out about him real quick. He’s a good player,” Price said.
As Tech Sideline’s Andy Bitter noted well on the TSL podcast at the time, Price isn’t exactly someone to make statements like that. The fact that he was comfortable proclaiming that Copeland would be a dominant player after an injury shortened his first season in Blacksburg was a bold proclamation.
It was also one that Copeland lived up to.
