With the loss of Harris, senior Stephan Virgil moves to boundary cornerback, and Virginia Tech needs someone new to step in and take over the role of field cornerback.
In defensive coordinator Bud Foster’s scheme, the boundary corner position covers the short side of the field and receives little help from the safeties in the backfield.
With the seasoned Virgil holding down that position, the Hokies are left with a handful of other, less-experienced cornerbacks to fill the starting job at field corner.
The two frontrunners for the job are redshirt junior Rashad Carmichael and redshirt sophomore Cris Hill.
Coming into summer practices, Carmichael appeared to be the frontrunner, and it seems he will retain the title for now.
According to Tech defensive backs coach Torrian Gray, Carmichael, Hill and possibly even sophomore cornerback Eddie Whitley seem ready to handle the duty. Gray won’t really know, however, until the three see live action at the position.
“Right now, Carmichael has separated himself a little bit,” Gray said. “He’s really played steady and has made a couple wild plays, as I would like to say. ... So, I think he’s separated himself somewhat from Whitley and Hill right now at the field corner position.”
“There’s a lot of space out there to make a mistake, and, if they score a touchdown, the game’s out of hand, and it’s over, basically. We carry that kind of burden and responsibility whether it’s field corner or boundary corner,” he said.
Carmichael handled that responsibility last year when he started in the season opener against East Carolina University in the absence of then-starter Harris, who was recovering from an ankle injury.
While Carmichael may get his name in the starting lineup on ABC’s telecast Saturday night against Alabama, his teammate Hill is no slouch and could receive time there as well.
Coming out of high school, Hill ranked 17th among cornerbacks nationwide by Rivals.com and was
a SuperPrep postseason All-American.
Both Carmichael and Hill saw action in every game last season and the two are also reported to be the fastest men on the team.
“Coming in I was a little faster, but it goes back and forth, so we just work on our techniques and pushing each other,” Hill says.
With sub-4.3 forty-yard dash times and valuable experience already under their belt, it seems the two corners are prepared for the task at hand.
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