Ranking Virginia Tech's Top Three NFL Draft Position Losses From Least To Most Impactful

Though Virginia Tech football did not see any of its players drafted in the seven-round installment of this year's NFL Draft, it did see numerous players signed to undrafted free-agent (UDFA) contracts in the wake of the Draft. Here's a quick rundown of where everyone ended up:

Ben Bell: Indianapolis Colts (mini-camp)
Kyron Drones: Green Bay Packers
Kelvin Gilliam Jr.: Dallas Cowboys
Kody Huisman: Buffalo Bills
Jaden Keller: Las Vegas Raiders (mini-camp)
Tomas Rimac: Minnesota Vikings
Terion Stewart: Kansas City Chiefs
Nick Veltsistas: Washington Commanders (mini-camp)

With those signings and mini-camp invites in mind, here are where I think the losses were the most impactful:

No. 3: Offensive Line

Virginia Tech's offensive line is not undergoing a momentous level of turnover from the 2025 season to 2026, but it is losing an anchor in Rimac. As a redshirt senior in 2025, Rimac served as a solid plug-and-play option along the line for the Hokies, putting in reps at every position on the front except for center due to injuries.

Throughout the season, Rimac allowed two sacks, three hits and 10 hurries, putting up a pass block grade of 69.7, best among any offensive lineman with more than 10 snaps. On the overall grade front, he put up a fine total of 59.3 (No. 17 of 33), but his versatility and proven track record of overall production will be a trench that requires fixing if the Hokies are to contend.

No. 2: Quarterback

I'm not including it here for volume — after all, Drones produced an overall quarterback rating of 52.4 in his final season, which sat No. 96 in the nation and 13th of 17 ACC quarterbacks. Drones' quarterback rating stood only ahead of North Carolina's Gio Lopez, Wake Forest's Robby Ashford, Stanford's Ben Gulbranson and Syracuse's Rickie Collins. All either transferred to different programs (Lopez to Wake Forest, Collins to Syracuse), are entrenched as backups (Gulbranson) or have exhausted their eligibility (Ashford).

Drones landing in Titletown 🧀@KyronDrones ➡️ @packers #NFLHokies | #LetsGoHokies pic.twitter.com/t6E0Zk1S5I
— Virginia Tech Football (@HokiesFB) April 26, 2026

So, to say it's a huge hole being left is a falsehood. But there is a hole being left, one that is vital to fill with an upper-echelon quarterback to fulfill any hopes Virginia Tech has of reaching back towards the glory days. Penn State transfer quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer has flashed at points — his quarterback rating of 75.0 would have ranked No. 25 in the country if he qualified for the list, and he logged six touchdowns to no interceptions in his final four games — but he will need to find a new level of consistency for the Hokies to truly succeed in 2026.

No. 1: Defensive Line

Though Kemari Copeland will be back at Virginia Tech for his redshirt senior season, the defensive line behind him has been thinned out due to the exits of both Gilliam Jr. and Huisman. Gilliam started in all 12 games, while Huisman started five. Huisman was the team's top overall defensive grader on Pro Football Focus (min. 100 snaps) with a 77.7 overall grade. Though Gilliam's total was more pedestrian — out of the 47 total Virginia Tech players to log defensive snaps, he ranked No. 21 with a 62.8 overall score — he also amassed a 9.90 Relative Athlete Score (RAS) during his Pro Day test. Plus, there's Bell, whose overall PFF grade stood at a solid 70.3 (No. 12).

Virginia Tech lost two of its top four defensive tackle prospects from last season, meaning that Elhadj Fall, Eric Mensah and Emmett Laws (unavailable for the spring game) need to step up their game to compensate for the exits of Copeland and Gilliam Jr.

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