Ken Ekanem Hits His Stride At Perfect Time for Hokies' Banged-Up D-Line

Defensive end Ken Ekanem isn't above a little superstition when it comes to his good health.

After enduring a string of frustrating injuries before finally seizing a starting spot on the Hokies' defensive line, he's nursing some skepticism about his good luck so far.

"It's the first time I've been healthy in a while," Ekanem said, quickly following that pronouncement with two raps on the wooden desk he sat at in the Hokies' post-practice interview room. "I'm a little superstitious, a lot of bad things have happened."

Given the litany of ailments he's pushed through over the last three years, he certainly deserves to be a bit cautious. Not only did he tear the ACL and meniscus in his right knee in his final game of his high school career, he's since re-torn the meniscus in the same knee and suffered two pulled hamstrings in his time at Tech.

Those injuries largely relegated him to special teams duty last season, but now he's finally starting to realize the potential that made him such a highly touted recruit coming out of Centreville High School three years ago.

"I see things a lot slower, my pass rush has developed a lot," Ekanem said. "So I've developed a lot in my first six games."

Ekanem has five sacks on the season already, proving to be a natural force when rushing the passer. But he says those skills didn't develop overnight.

Instead, he got some key tips from one former player Tech fans will probably find very familiar.

"I remember going into high school and all these camps, I'd run into Bruce Smith because Big Al (Bruce's son, Alston) would be out there at the same camps I was, so I learned a lot of pass rush moves from him," Ekanem said. "He taught me a couple hand moves, like my go to move coming in was the swipe and he taught me that."

Once he arrived in Blacksburg, Ekanem knew his knee injury would keep him off the field for at least a year, so he focused on learning what he could from the team's veterans.

"There were great DEs in (James) Gayle and all them...there was Dadi (Nicolas) and Tyrel (Wilson), great guys to look up to and be mentors," Ekanem said. "They helped me develop as a player big time and do a lot of my pass rush, so my pass rush is a credit to them."

He also tried to glean what he could from another former Hokie.

"Sometimes after practice I'd pull Cornell (Brown) to the side and he'd help me out with some pass rush moves," Ekanem said.

However, he hasn't had a chance to speak with Smith on the subject when they've been together in Lane.

"He's usually a little busy with the cameras so I didn't want to bother him over there," Ekanem said.

Even still, Ekanem's refined pass rush is paying immediate dividends for the defense. He dominated North Carolina left tackle John Ferranto to the tune of three sacks, a forced fumble and two additional QB hits last weekend.

"The left tackle is pretty slow on his feet and he boxes pretty early," Ekanem said. "So I would just power him back and get to the quarterback or get my hips past him and get some pressure so I just took advantage of that."

Once he started watching the tackle's film, Ekanem knew he could be successful against the Heels.

"Going into the game, I thought that if I didn't have a good game, I'd be pretty disappointed in myself," Ekanem said. "We watched Clemson, Vic Beasley was going against him and it seemed like he was getting pressure every other pass. I'm not going to compare myself to him because he's obviously one of the premier defensive ends in the nation, but I knew I was bound to have a good game and if I didn't I'd be pretty sad."

Luckily for the Hokies, he delivered on his own high expectations, tying one of his mentors for the highest post-film review grade on Bud Foster's defense.

"I tied J.R. Collins, and he's one of my mentors from my first two years, so tying him was a big honor," Ekanem said. "I had 19 minutes on the field, pretty surprised I got that done in 19 minutes."

For the staff, it's rewarding that a player they recruited so diligently is finally earning some comparisons to former Tech stars.

"It's exciting to see him coming along," said defensive line coach Charley Wiles. "I think we had high expectations (of him), like we did of every kid we sign. We don't sign them thinking they're going to be a backup, we sign them thinking they're going to enhance our football team, so it's nice to see Ken coming along."

Ekanem's resurgence has come at the perfect time for the Hokies' maligned defensive line.

Defensive tackles Luther Maddy, Woody Baron and Corey Marshall are all dealing with nagging injuries of one form or another, giving the coaches good reason to be thankful for this bye week.

"We need it," Wiles said. "We're beat up right now."

Maddy's absence is the most meaningful, but he could be on his way back soon. He had knee surgery September 23, and was given a two to four week recovery time.

He was scheduled to get on the field for his first work since he went under the knife on Wednesday, but a scheduling conflict postponed those plans.

"He had class today, and he was maybe going to come out here today and run around a little bit," Wiles said. "He hadn't done anything except doing his rehab, he hasn't been on the field since he had surgery."

But will he be ready to face Pittsburgh's physical offensive line? The Hokies' Thursday night matchup with the Panthers would be roughly four weeks since his surgery, but his status is unclear for now.

"It sounds like he's making great progress and we'll see. It's too early to tell," said defensive coordinator Bud Foster. "But I know (head trainer) Mike Goforth reported that he really feels better and that's encouraging."

Wiles says it's a minor miracle that the team will have Marshall at its disposal for the Pitt game after the pounding his injured ankle took against UNC.

"Corey took some shots in that game, and we're fortunate to get him out of that game and not have any setbacks," Wiles said. "He was up underneath a guy on the sack that (Donovan) Riley made, we get the sack, knock him into Corey, he's all tied up here straight legged, and undercut. (He got) dove on on Kendall (Fuller)'s interception. (With) their quick game they're trying to cut you, he's taking shots. So he was just beat up, limping by the end of that game."

The Hokies will need as many of their linemen healthy as possible to take on the Panthers and their 20th ranked rushing offense, which is currently averaging roughly 244 yards per game.

"(They're) totally different from what we just saw," Foster said. "Big up front, physical, obviously the Conner kid at tailback is a big, physical kid. The Bennett kid is a big, physical kid, the quarterback's playing really well. He's more mobile than the guy he had last year, they will run the quarterback on sweeps and things of that nature. And they've got the Boyd kid outside that's really dynamic. They're a physical, good football team."

Foster and company have yet to do a deep film study on Panthers playmakers like James Conner, Isaac Bennett, Chad Voytik or Tyler Boyd, but they have been impressed with what they've seen so far. Even after Pitt suffered a disappointing loss to UVA last weekend, Foster still fears their physicality.

"I watched them against Virginia and it kind of looked like they slept walked through the first half, then they came out in the second half and got after Virginia's tail but it was too little too late," Foster said. "But they're very capable, very physical, they want to run the football and that sets up their passing game so we're going to have to stop the run."

Players like Ekanem know they'll have a tough time containing Pitt's running game, but memories of the team's eight sack performance against Tom Savage a year ago have them excited to get after the QB as well.

"I know they're pretty run heavy and have a really good running back and a big offensive line, so we've got to prepare for that," Ekanem said. "Our front-four got a lot of pressure (last year), so we're excited going into this game."

But if some combination of Maddy, Baron or Marshall can't go against the Panthers, Ekanem will have to step up to provide that pressure on Voytik.

Ironically, Ekanem is the healthy one on this defensive line, and he's ready to show what he can do.

"I know I have to go there and make an impact, so every game I want to make an impact," Ekanem said. "I know it's my time now so I've got to make the best of it."