BLACKSBURG, Va. -- The time had come for a position meeting a few months ago. Virginia Tech defensive end Ken Ekanem looked around the room at the young guys looking back at him.
There was a bit of an awkward silence.
“I was like, ‘Oh, there’s no one else here. I guess it’s my time to step up and talk to these guys and embrace the leadership role,’” Ekanem said in a recent interview.
Ekanem is the lone returning starter among the defensive line. What’s more, he’s the only defensive end on the roster who has logged significant playing time (1,412 snaps on defense the last two years).