Phil Steele's latest blog post looks at each team's percentage of last year's tackles returning this season. The Hokies rank 101st in the country in this category at 63.9 percent. This stat is part of Steele's "Experience Chart" which also includes seniors on the two-deep and percentage of lettermen returning among others.
The Hokies' first opponent of the season, Boise State, returns the largest percentage of tackles from last year at 91.7 percent. On the opposite end of the spectrum, East Carolina is 118th, ahead of only Oklahoma State and Navy.
Here's how the ACC breaks down:
8 Maryland - 79.3%
10 North Carolina - 78.0%
16 Georgia Tech - 77.1%
51 Clemson - 71.8%
52 Miami - 71.8%
60 Wake Forest - 70.6%
63 Florida State - 70.5%
70 Virginia - 69.4%
71 Duke - 69.0%
92 Boston College - 65.6%
101 Virginia Tech - 63.9%
117 NC State - 59.2%
The Hokies are hurt by losing three of their top four tacklers from last year's team and their top returning tackler, Barquell Rivers, is recovering from a torn quad and may or may not be ready for the Boise State game. Tech will be very inexperienced on defense this year and it could take time for it to come together.
How much do you think these numbers matter? Is it a bad sign that the Hokies return such a low percentage of their tackles from last season?