Just wondering on thoughts of the best NFL careers of former Hokies. I don't know much about the Hokies pre-MV7, but I'm sure some of the TKP'ers do. I'll start with the ones I've seen play.
QB: MV7
RB: ?
WR: Antonio Freeman, Andre Davis
TE: Ernest Wilford, Jeff King
OL: Jake Grove, Duane Brown, Will Montgomery
DL: Bruce Smith, Darryl Tapp,
CB: Brandon Flowers, Deangelo Hall
LB: James Anderson
S: Kam Chancellor, Pierson Prioleau, Keion Carpenter
P: ?
K: Shayne Graham
PR/KR: Eddie Royal
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Looking back at Andre Davis' career stats in the pros, I think it's fair for me to put Eddie Royal as the 2nd best hokie at WR that I've seen play in the NFL.
Kevin Jones at rb. If DW4 can get healthy and learn how to run behind an oline, he can run away with the most successful HOKIE rb career.
Bryan Still, Kevin Jones (pro bowl 1st yr), J. Boykin, Josh Morgan. Don Strock won a SB with the Dolphins. Wilford spent most of his career as a WR.
Lee Suggs and Ben Taylor had a couple good years. Jim Pyne maybe a decent year or two.
You see I feel that Ben Taylor, Suggs and Jimmy Williams were more disappointments. We forgot about John Engleberger and Vincent Fuller.
Absolutely so... I figured they each were pro bowl and hall of fame bound. And then... they weren't. I pondered on why so many great Tech players excelled relative to their peers only to "underperform" in the NFL and it finally hit me. Being a Hokie is the pinnacle of every football players career, if in fact they were lucky enough and worked hard enough to attain such a position. The NFL is some sort of pseudo-retirement position to Hokie footballers with a 401k that is made to look like a work contract. Brilliant!
From the 60's:
Carroll Dale receiver for the Packers
Don Oakes center for the Patriots
I'm gonna put Nick Sorensen on this list under Special Teams Guru. Not many really know that he played 10 seasons in the NFL. That's a very good run especially considering that he played most of it just on Special Teams, but he had some great contributions in the secondary as well. The reason why I think he should be added is that he in a lot of ways shows the lunch pail attitude of VT and no matter what he was doing played lights out football. Then he translated that to an Asst Coaching job on the Seahawks this year for, you guessed it, Special Teams.
He by no means had the best Hokie NFL career, or anywhere near it, but for just a Special Teams category I think he is the only candidate.
Then in that case you're gonna have to put Kevin McAdam. In many ways I feel that he was a superior athlete to Sorenson (not to take away) on ST.
Hmmm... each their own, but he only had 4 or 5 years in the league right? superior athlete, maybe, but this is about a career and I just don't see the same level of impact or the longevity of Sorensen.
no down votes for opinions. here's a leg to balance you out. (even though you are wrong, haha)
I can see Nick as a good coach given his experience at many positions and time in the NFL. Add another to the list!
QB Don Strock - 14 years in the NFL from 1974 to 1988. Played 13 years with the Miami Dolphins as a well-paid career back-up, but did start in 20 games, winning 14. Played his last year in Cleveland.
Whoops. Overlooked the defensive side of things on the post, so I take it back.
he's listed in the OP
Cornell Brown was a very effective, Super Bowl-winning spot-duty outside linebacker with the Ravens.
WR's have to be Carroll Dale, Antonio Freeman, and Eddit Royal, in that order.
All time greatest: Bruce Smith FTW!
Looking at Defensive stats is difficult since the NFL did not treat tackles as an official stat until 2001.
So I was working to compile the stats for each player by general position when I came across this gold mine of how Hokies have fared in the NFL:
http://www.pro-football-reference.com/colleges/virginiatech/stats.htm
Its easily sortable, so you can see clearly how Carroll Dale and Antonio Freeman are light years above the other receivers coming out of Tech.
Also interesting to see that MV7 is arguably the best "RB" to come out of Tech when you look at the stats.
Mike Johnson (Tech 84) LB is the tackles leader with 1146 and that doesn't count two years playing in the USFL as well.
Anyway, I recommend giving it a look and playing around with the stats to see what you find.