Uncertainty Rules at Defensive End, Whip Linebacker for Hokies in Second Week of Spring Practice

Between Dadi Nicolas and Ken Ekanem, it might be tempting to write off the importance of developing depth at defensive end as the Hokies near the end of their second week of spring practice.

But defensive line coach Charley Wiles won't be shortchanging the position any time soon. Even though the team is working without its top two defensive tackles this spring as Corey Marshall and Luther Maddy rehab injuries, Wiles' watchful eye is fixed on the backup ends.

"We've got to be better in the two deep at defensive end than we were a year ago," Wiles said Thursday night after practice. "The defensive tackle position, we're going to be fine unless a grenade goes off or something. We've got some numbers in there."

With Ekanem also recovering from surgery this spring, the main man Wiles has been hoping to see improve is redshirt sophomore Seth Dooley.

While he did log time in each of the team's 13 games last season, he spent the bulk of his time on special teams and rarely rotated in to spell Nicolas or Ekanem. Wiles says that could change this season if he keeps making the kind of strides he's taken this spring.

"Now, we haven't scrimmaged yet, but with Seth it seems like the lightbulb is starting to come on a little bit for him, which is exciting," Wiles said. "He's played a lot faster, he's been a lot tougher."

Last season, Wiles saw the complete opposite from Dooley.

"He just played slow, played soft," Wiles said. "He just wasn't sure of himself. He wasn't confident in his abilities, didn't want to screw up, didn't want to hurt the team, so he's playing slow, playing soft, and he just seems to be speeding up a little bit and the game's slowing down for him."

Dooley has been the focus of Wiles' attention thus far, but he was also quick to mention sophomore Melvin Keihn. Like Dooley, he too appeared in each of last year's games, but only five of his 132 plays came on defense.

Wiles admits his development process isn't moving along quite the same way.

"He's still a little bit robotic, everything is literal, just go play," Wiles said. "I'm looking forward to seeing him get better."

But Wiles has been impressed with his smarts and his speed, even if he's not yet as fluid as he'd like.

"He's smart enough, he can answer questions and all that, we've just got to see it," Wiles said. "He's playing with great technique, he's got some speed. Right now, Melvin is kind of..."

At this point, Wiles imitated someone very robotically fighting off a block while making some strange growling noise, but it's safe to say his point was taken.

Yet there are also plenty of questions about Keihn's size. At 211 pounds, Keihn's weight is evocative of Nicolas' frame when he first arrived at Tech, and Wiles doesn't see him getting that much bigger while at Tech.

"He's got muscles in his ears, how much bigger can he get, I don't know," Wiles said. "He's not going to be much bigger than 230 I wouldn't think. He's 218 right now and he's all rocked up, it's hard to put (weight) on him really."

But for all his focus on defensive end, Wiles hasn't forgotten his tackles.

The team has stuck with the lead pair of Nigel Williams and Woody Baron, both of whom got extended playing time the last couple years as injuries have stacked up. Now, the team's also watching for the development of younger guys like Vinny Mihota and Ricky Walker.

"Nigel's been showing up, Woody's having a great spring right now," Wiles said. "You notice Vinny and you notice Ricky."

While it's never ideal to be missing a pair of senior leaders like Maddy and Marshall, it has opened up the spring to give plenty of reps to backups like Walker, which Wiles notes is a bit of a blessing in disguise.

"Ricky Walker, he needs reps, so Corey being out, Luther being out, so long as it's August 4 and we've got them ready for next football season, we'll be ok," Wiles said.

But building depth on the line is only one part of this spring's plan for the defensive staff.

At whip linebacker, the issue isn't so much depth as it is re-integrating a player that's only sporadically been on the field the last two years in redshirt senior Ronny Vandyke.

After showing some flashes in 2012, Vandyke tore his labrum ahead of the 2013 season. He returned in 2014 just as Bud Foster started to move toward a scheme featuring extra defensive backs to defend spread teams.

"To be honest, going into game planning you know certain teams will want to run 11 personnel (one RB, one TE, three WRs) or 10 personnel (one RB, four WRs) and I probably won't be in the game because they want to get more DBs on the field," Vandyke said. "But the game is changing to that, having more spread sets on the field, getting athletic guys on the field. So it's alright, when my time get's called I have to make the best of it."

Vandyke also continued to struggle making it back from the injury last year, yielding most of the playing time to Derek DiNardo, who might've lacked Vandyke's athleticism, but made up for it in experience.

The team experimented with moving him inside to backer, where he had some reps backing up Deon Clarke last year. While Vandyke says the team hasn't asked him to play inside so far this spring, he'd be open to it down the line, even if moving between the two spots can present a challenge.

"Being at backer, my vision is different than at whip," Vandyke said. "I'm at a different angle being able to read the offense. But going back to whip now, but I'm a little rusty because I was at backer last year, but getting back here I was able to shake off that rust and get back to playing whip."

Now with a seemingly clear path to the starting job, Vandyke is focused on staying healthy enough to seize the opportunity.

"Right now, I'm feeling really good. I'm just trying to take care of my body now and during the spring game," Vandyke said. "Before, we were lifting, so I was really focused on lifting and now I'm working hard in the weight room, but now I'm mainly working hard on staying healthy so I can be there for my teammates."

He freely admits that shaking off the disappointment of the last two years will be a challenge, but one he's confronted well to this point.

"I'm very optimistic about this spring," Vandyke said. "I just want to come out here and have fun and not worry about last year or what happened the years before with the injuries."

Vandyke will have a fine tutor in that respect once Cody Grimm arrives on campus as a graduate assistant, as the team announced Thursday. Not only does Grimm have experience in dealing with chronic injuries, after some persistent nicks ended his NFL career, but he's also a legend for his days playing whip at Tech.

"If I see him, I'm definitely going to pick his brain because I know, when I started watching Virginia Tech, I saw him when i was getting recruited and he was a great player when he was here," Vandyke said.

Until Grimm joins the staff on the practice field, he'll focus on taking tips from another famous former Tech linebacker on developing his pass rush.

"One thing Coach Brown and I always talk about is pass rush," Vandyke said. "Just once I get closer to the opponent, (I need to) be able to get around the opponent, get my hips around as quick as possible so I can get my hips around directly to the ballcarrier so I can make a play."

Vandyke knows that if he wants to see the field this year, that development will be key to making his blitz-happy defensive coordinator happy.

"Coach Foster, he likes to call a lot of blitzes, so I want to work on that this spring," Vandyke said.

In his final year in Blacksburg, he's particularly keen on finally making an impact.

"It's been frustrating to be honest, because coming in as a freshman, I was expecting, hoping and praying and dreaming about having a fantastic career," Vandyke said. "Not saying I can't end with that, because I don't know what this coming season is going to be like. So it has been frustrating, but I'm putting that all behind me and it's in the past and now I'm just looking forward."