2026 Virginia Tech Football Preview: The Defensive Line

Chris Coleman

Lead Analyst and Columnist

August 24, 2026 3

Sean Spencer was brought in from Texas A&M to get more negative plays out of the Virginia Tech defensive line.

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VAHokie89 August 24, 2026 at 3:47 PM

It feels like we don't have anyone right now who can consistently get to the QB? Stevens is getting positive reviews, but is it all relative? For example, Clark (not a DL-men!, but symptomatic of a thing in my mind) has been getting "he would have started last year if he had not gotten injured). Was that going to be a good thing? That does not tell me he was good. It told me he could beat out people in a bad secondary.. So, maybe I am cynical. We might be good run stoppers, but will the lack of a pass rush hurt the secondary?
Tidewater Hillbilly August 24, 2026 at 3:24 PM

Out of the 13 DE's on the roster, EIGHT are Fr or RS-Fr! And, the strange thing is, it sounds like confidence is quite high, at that position. At DT, we have to also hope "the future is now" as it appears the starters are the two Seniors and there are no Juniors. That's a lot of 19 and 20 year-olds vying for playing time in the trenches!
ColoVT82 August 24, 2026 at 3:18 PM

The 1st thought that came to mind when scanning the DE height/weight was "this was what we were looking for in the 2010s "SEC size". Yay!