Charley Wiles: Best Defensive Line Coach in College Football?
By Tim Thomas
Oct 5, 2013; Blacksburg, VA, USA; Virginia Tech Hokies defensive line coach Charley Wiles talks to players during a timeout in the fourth quarter. The Hokies defeated the Tar Heels 27-17 at Lane Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports
The Virginia Tech Hokies are known for consistently having one of the best defenses in college football under Bud Foster and that was no different this season. One of the reasons for the success of the Virginia Tech defense has been due to the large amount of talent on the defensive line for the Hokies.
Virginia Tech has had some great players on the defensvie line including Bruce Smith, Corey Moore, and Darryl Tapp. From 1996 through this season, there has been one man in charge of the defensive line and that is Charley Wiles.
This season, Wiles had a big challenge on his hands with three new starting defensive linemen before the injury of Luther Maddy meant that the Hokies had none of their regular 2013 starting defensive linemen. However, Wiles built a defensive line that will enter next season as the best in all of college football.
Wiles and the Hokies have built a defensive line that has 46 sacks on the season which is fourth best in the nation for this season. On top of that, the Hokies surpassed the previous mark for the most tackles for loss in a season since Bud Foster has been the defensive coordinator.
Virginia Tech’s 105.0 TFL are the most in a season under long-time D-Coordinator @coachfostervt, surpassing the 102.0 in 2002.
— Virginia Tech Football (@HokiesFB) November 29, 2014
This number is extremely impressive given the numerous amount of new starters in the whole front 7 including the defensive line. The Virginia Tech defensive line has done a great job either getting tackles for loss or creating holes for blitzers to easily get the tackles for loss. This has been done even though the Hokies’ only returning defensive line starter was only able to play in four games this season due to an injury.
Dadi Nicolas has become arguably the best defensive end in the ACC this season and will clearly be the top defensive end in the ACC entering next season. Nicolas is a must to be on the All-ACC First Team for 2014 while Ken Ekanem also shined this season and formed the best pair of defensive ends in the ACC with Nicolas.
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Meanwhile, Corey Marshall proved to be a great run stuffer in his return this season while also doing a great job of rushing quarterbacks even if he wasn’t able to get the sack too often. Nigel Williams played better and better every single week and will be the best backup defensive tackle in college football next season behind Marshall and Luther Maddy.
With the return of Maddy, the Hokies will have the best defensive line in all of college football next season unless someone like Nicolas decided to leave for the NFL eary. Charley Wiles deserves tons of credit for another great job this season and is definitely making an argument that he is the best defensive line coach in all of college football.