Three Players to Watch on Virginia Tech's Defense vs. VMI

VMI threw for 11 yards last week. Not 11 completions. Eleven yards, on 9 attempts, in a 38-10 loss at Idaho State.

So throw out the usual season-opener checklist for a defense. There will be no coverage reps worth grading Saturday night, no meaningful pass-rush sample, and nothing to learn about a rebuilt Virginia Tech secondary that added Jaquez White from Troy and got Joshua Clarke back from a torn ACL.

First-year VMI head coach Ashley Ingram brought the triple option with him from Carson-Newman, and the Keydets ran it 52 times for 229 yards in the opener. Nobody else on Virginia Tech's schedule runs anything close.

That makes this a night about eyes and gaps, and it makes the front seven the only place worth looking. It's also Brent Pry's first game back at Lane Stadium since Virginia Tech fired him as head coach on Sept. 14, 2025, now calling the defense for the head coach he coordinated for at Penn State.

Here are three players to watch.

Kemari Copeland, DT

Copeland is the best player on this defense, and the triple option is built to keep him from proving it.

He started all 12 games last season with 48 tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks, and an interception, earning third-team All-ACC honors and becoming the only Hokie on any All-ACC team. Phil Steele put him on his preseason All-ACC first team, and Copeland broke Virginia Tech's program bench press record at 510 pounds this offseason.

None of that shows up against an offense that hands the ball off before a rush can develop. VMI allowed 33 sacks last season. Copeland won't add many on Saturday. What he can do is occupy two blockers and refuse to get moved off the ball, which is the least glamorous and most useful thing an interior lineman does against option football.

Noah Chambers, LB

The option is designed to lie to the middle linebacker, so Chambers will have to be on his game Saturday.

The sophomore is the youngest starter for Virginia Tech's linebackers, flanked by two seniors in Kaleb Spencer and Penn State transfer Keon Wylie. He played eight games as a true freshman last season, started six, and finished with 44 tackles, two tackles for loss, and a sack, all under a staff that no longer works here.

VMI ran 52 times at Idaho State and barely threw. Saturday is an evening of the same communication problem on repeat.

Aycen Stevens, DE

Stevens has been in Blacksburg since 2023 and has not put up any meaningful numbers.

He redshirted as a freshman and has cycled through the edge rotation without a breakout. Then he took the Lunch Pail in the spring and was still carrying it at media day in August, which is the program's way of saying the staff sees something.

Saturday tests that in a narrow way. Against the option, a defensive end's job is to be right rather than disruptive: set the edge, take his assigned man, don't chase the fake. It's a discipline exam, not a talent exam. It also won't answer the real question hanging over this group: whether the redshirt junior can rush an ACC quarterback.

The secondary shouldn't have much to do on Saturday. The more important question is whether Pry's front seven can keep an offense from becoming a problem once it establishes its rhythm.

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