BLACKSBURG, Va. – It's a rather youthful group, but they certainly have talent. Those were the sentiments coach Bud Foster uttered about his defense after Saturday's annual spring game. The Hokies Lunch Pail Defense (LPD), lost a handful guys from a year ago. But there were some positive signs on Saturday that the Hokies can hang their hat on for the fall.
"You know, I do really like this group, and I say that from the standpoint that it's a group that's very ... it's important to them they're very willing and want to be good players," said Foster.
The defensive line generated a solid pass rush in the first half that stymied the offense. Zion Debose had a tackle for loss and a sack in the first half, while fellow lineman Emmanuel Belmar worked off the edge and tallied a sack and a safety. The collective effort on defense has been encouraging for the veteran players, such as Ricky Walker.
"Today they looked good, they looked hungry and they came out with the right mindset," Walker said.
"I think everybody did. You know, first half defensively, we looked pretty good and solid. But you know, those guys like Zion looked real good today. And you got EB [Emannuel Belmar] of course he looks real good."
"I feel like, you know, my second year at defensive end I learned," said Belmar.
"I learned to play faster, learned to scheme a little bit better but, you know, two-hand touch football ... it is what it is you know. You just have to compete and I feel like I competed, you know. Got after the quarterback a little bit. Missed a few I could have got but you know I just got to work on that in the summer."
While the line seems to be solid, there are more questions to be answered in the secondary, since many of the defensive backs did not practice this spring.