Virginia Tech football: 26 days til kickoff with a look back at Cody Grimm

Today is August 5, 2019, which means we are officially just 26 days away from the Virginia Tech Hokies opening the college football season at Boston College. Yesterday, we profiled former Hokie, Justin Hamilton, a standout during his Virginia Tech career and now an assistant on Justin Fuente’s staff.

For No. 26, we profile former linebacker, Cody Grimm.

Grimm, the son of Pro Football Hall-of-Famer Russ Grimm, arrived in Blacksburg back in 2005 as a walk-on. He redshirted his first year on campus, working as a whip linebacker on the scout team.

In 2006, Grimm would play in all 13 games, mainly on special teams, making 10 tackles. As a redshirt sophomore in 2007, he would play in all 14 games and made one start. He finished the season with 27 tackles and was poised for a breakout campaign in 2008.

As a junior, Grimm again played in all 14 games. While he officially made just one start, he was on the field a lot for the Hokies that season. He finished third on the team in tackles with 71, second in tackles-for-loss with 14 and tied for second in sacks with 7.5. He also picked off two passes, forced two fumbles and registered seven quarterback hits.

In his senior season, Grimm was Virginia Tech’s best defensive player. He led the team in tackles with 106, TFLs with 12 and had four sacks. One of the more impressive numbers in recent memory is Grimm’s seven forced fumbles. He would earn first-team All-ACC honors and also was a third-team All-American. Grimm was terrific in all aspects of the game. A former safety, he could drop back and cover the pass, he was so quick off the line of scrimmage he got into the backfield often and his instincts and athleticism made him a terrific sideline-to-sideline defender for the Hokies.

Grimm followed John Engelberger as the second former walk-on at Virginia Tech to earn All-American honors. After an extremely impressive combine working out with the defensive backs, Grimm would become a seventh-round of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 2010 NFL Draft. Cody would play three years in the NFL and at one time was the starter at free safety for the Bucs. Unfortunately, injuries struck and that led to the end of his NFL career.

Grimm would return to Blacksburg as a graduate assistant, spending three seasons with Tech’s coaching staff before leaving earlier this year to take a spot on Bruce Arians’ staff with Tampa Bay. Cody joins his father and older brother, Chad, as coaches in the NFL. While Russ retired from coaching after the 2017, Chad coaches outside linebackers with the Washington Redskins and is also a Virginia Tech graduate.

Grimm is another example of the type of player this program was built on.