You have to go all the way back to 1937 for the first time a Virginia Tech football player was taken in the NFL Draft. Since then, there have been plenty of Hokies selected over the years – 163 to be exact – since Herman “Foots” Dickerson was picked by the Chicago Cardinals.
Tech is coming off of two straight years of having four players selected in the draft, including James Mitchell (No. 177 overall, Detroit), Amaré Barno (No. 189, Carolina), Luke Tenuta (No. 209, Buffalo) and Lecitus Smith (No. 215, Arizona) in last year’s draft.
In the 2021 draft, it marked just the third time in school history that the Hokies had two players taken in the first round – defensive back Caleb Farley (No. 22, Tennessee) and offensive lineman Christian Darrisaw (No. 23, Minnesota).
The other two occasions happened when Tremaine (No. 16, Buffalo) and Terrell Edmunds (No. 28, Pittsburgh) become the first-ever brothers to accomplish the feat in NFL history in 2018 and when DeAngelo Hall (No. 8, Atlanta) and Kevin Jones (No. 30, Detroit) did so in 2004.
Speaking of brothers, Virginia Tech is the only school that has been home to four brothers who have all been selected in the NFL Draft – the Fuller brothers. The first brother was Vincent, who was taken as a defensive back in 2005 to the Tennessee Titans in the fourth round.
Then there was a stretch of three years when the NFL Draft had a Fuller, starting with Corey (No. 171, Detroit) in 2013 at receiver in the sixth round, Kyle (No. 14, Chicago) in 2014 at defensive back in the first round and Kendall (No. 84, Washington) in 2015 at defensive back in the third round.
Tech has had two No. 1 overall draft picks in its history, with Bruce Smith being taken by the Buffalo Bills as a defensive lineman in 1985 and Michael Vick being selected by the Atlanta Falcons in 2001 at quarterback. The Hokies are one of only two schools in the ACC to produce a pair of No. 1 overall selections (Miami).
The most picks in one draft for Tech came in 2006, when a record nine Hokies were picked, headlined by two second-round selections in defensive back Jimmy Williams (No. 37, Atlanta) and defensive lineman Darryl Tapp (No. 63, Seattle). The second-most draft selections for Tech came in both 2002 and 2008 when eight Hokies were taken.
The next wave of Hokies to hear their names called in the NFL Draft will happen this weekend, taking place from Thursday through Saturday on ABC, ESPN and NFL Network in Kansas City.
Virginia Tech Athletics