ESPN's Heather Dinnich believes Virginia Tech's defense will return to one of the nation's elite in 2011. Dinnich sites defensive coordinator Bud Foster, the front four and All-American cornerback Jayron Hosley as reasons why.
I'll give you one more, the schedule. The Hokies are one of the few teams that don't play an opponent from a BCS conference in their non-conference schedule. East Carolina will be tough, but the rest of the schedule shapes up favorably for the defense and running back David Wilson. This is a big reason why both are rated very highly in our preseason rankings.