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Bruce Smith became the first Virginia Tech Hokie elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Smith played at Virginia Tech from 1980-1984; won the Outland Trophy his senior year, and was the No. 1 overall pick in the 1985 NFL Draft.

Smith played 19 seasons in the NFL; 15 with the Buffalo Bills and his final four with the Washington Redskins. During his tenure with the Bills, he helped the team to four straight Super Bowl appearances. In 2003, Smith passed Reggie White for first place on the all-time career sack list, finishing his career with 200.

Read more about Bruce Smith’s election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

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Three-star defensive end Landford Collins of Stafford High School announced on Thursday that he will play football at Virginia Tech. Collins is a 6-4, 240-pound defensive end and he chose the Hokies over Virginia, Penn State and 10 other Division I-A programs. This brings Tech’s 2009 class to 19 commitments. The national signing day is Wednesday, Feb. 4.

Read more about Collins:

TechSideline.com
The Free Lance Star

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After only one season as the Virginia Tech Hokies place kicker, the Hokies got some good news as All-Met kicker Andrew Lloyd of James Wood High School accepted a preferred walk-on position with the Hokies for next season. Lloyd can also punt.

Read more at the Washington Post.

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Rising senior offensive guard Sergio Render had arthroscopic surgery on his left shoulder. The recovery process will force him to miss all of spring practice, but he is expected to make a complete recovery and will be back at 100 percent for fall practice.

Render is expected to anchor and lead a more experienced offensive line that peaked at the end of the 2008 season to help push the Hokies to their third ACC title and a BCS win in the Orange Bowl over Cincinnati.

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That should do it, Hokie fans! We posted the highlights from the Miami game this morning and that completes the season. You can now find highlights from every game of the 2008 season on our site. It was a rocky season by Tech standards, but 10 wins is still nothing to sneeze at – and we are not just one of three teams to win at least 10 games in five straight seasons – joining Texas and USC – that’s some pretty good company, folks! See you at the Maroon and White Spring Game on April 25, at 2 p.m.!

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Former Players

The Buffalo Bills signed former Hokies standout linebacker Vince Hall to a “future free agent” contract on Thursday, Jan. 15. Hall, who was not drafted following his senior year, was signed by the St. Louis Rams as an undrafted free agent following the 2008 NFL draft, but was released Sept. 8, after tearing his hamstring. The Bills signed Hall to the practice squad in December and by signing him to a “future free agent” contract, he will be a part of the team when the 2009 NFL contract cycle begins in March, according to the Roanoke Times.

Former Coaches

Lorenzo Ward, the Hokies secondary coach from 1999-2005, is Steve Spurrier’s new defensive coordinator at South Carolina. It seems that while Spurrier couldn’t land Hokies D coordinator Bud Foster on two separate occasions, he believes in Foster so much, that he hired one of his former assistants.

Since leaving the Hokies following the 2005 season, Ward worked as an assistant coach for the Oakland Raiders and most recently with the Arkansas Razorbacks. Ward joins Shane Beamer, another former Hokie, on Spurrier’s staff.

Read the Roanoke Times article.

Thanks to hokieballa for the links!

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Darren Evans’ record-breaking freshman season at Virginia Tech was recognized by the Football Writers Association of America when he was named to their All Freshman team. Evans, who started the season as the second-string RB, ground out 1,265 yards and 11 TDs this year. His coming out party was against Maryland in which he set a single-game school record with 253 yards rushing and then closed out his rookie campaign with 153 yards and a TD against Cincinnati in the Orange Bowl, in which he was named the game’s MVP.

Read more at HokieSports.com.

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Box Score

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