Wade Hansen’s Quick Rise at Offensive Tackle

Aug 30, 2014; Blacksburg, VA, USA; Virginia Tech Hokies running back Marshawn Williams (42) rushes the ball during the third quarter against the William & Mary Tribe at Lane Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Peter Casey-USA TODAY Sports

During fall practice, the Hokies proved to be loaded with depth at defensive tackle and for Wade Hansen, he started falling behind a lot of younger defensive tackles. The Hokies realized that Hansen would not get much of a chance to play at defensive tackle in the next two season so the Hokies decided to move the redshirt junior to offensive tackle.

Now, it looks like Hansen might end up getting the chance to start in Blacksburg before the end of his collegiate career after 2015.

Hansen moved to offensive tackle and he was able to quickly move up the offensive tackle depth chart to being the backup right tackle behind Jonathan McLaughlin. Then, Mark Shuman picked up a season-ending injury and made the decision to retire from football with a NFL career seeming unlikely.

Hansen’s surge at offensive tackle has been quite impressive as this Saturday showed that he is the Hokies’ top backup offensive tackle. When Jonathan McLaughlin picked up an injury late against East Carolina, the Hokies brought in Hansen to be the right tackle instead of Parker Osterloh. Now, Osterloh still could have been the guy if it would have been Laurence Gibson that got injured but Hansen seems like the top backup offensive tackle for now.

Jonathan McLaughlin seems likely to move back to left tackle in 2015 with the loss of Laurence Gibson and Wade Hansen would have a great opportunity to gain the starting right tackle job though Brent Benedict could challenge him along with Parker Osterloh.

Hansen has gone from being buried on the defensive tackle depth chart to being the top backup offensive tackle in about 6 weeks which is a very impressive rise.