A few minutes after the previous post went up, this went up on Hokie Sports:
Virginia Tech junior defensive end Jason Worilds announced Thursday that he will forego his senior season and enter the NFL Draft. The Carteret, N.J., native was a two-time All-ACC performer who recorded 49 tackles this year, including 11.0 for loss and 4.5 sacks. He also had one forced fumble, one pass break up and a team-leading 32 quarterback hurries.
Obviously, this is a huge blow for our defense.
As I said earlier today, Worilds was the linchpin of the 2010 defense. The Hokies will now be without their top three pass rushers from 2009 and will look to younger, inexperienced players to provide the quarterback pressure this defense needs to succeed. This will be the first time since 2004 that neither Virginia Tech defensive end will be a returning starter.
I believe Worilds is making a solid decision by going to the NFL. Only people close to him know what his personal situation is so I think it could be very callous to call his decision selfish. Worilds is a great pass rushing end and is probably ready to go to the NFL even if he won't contribute immediately. He made a good personal decision, but this really does leave the defense in a bad spot.
I'll have plenty more on this later today and tomorrow.