MIAMI GARDENS, Fl. – No matter where you go in the college football world, you have a pretty good chance of running into someone who's got a connection to the Commonwealth Clash. In this case, you need to look no further than Florida's defensive coordinator.
Florida’s defensive guru knows the Cavs-Hokies rivalry well. The Gators defensive coordinator is a Pulaski native, and was an all-american tackle at Virginia Tech, playing from 1984-88. Todd Grantham was an honorable mention all-american in Frank Beamer’s first year as head coach of the Hokies. He returns as an assistant for Beamer from 1990 thru 95.
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“Yeah when Coach Beamer was there at Virginia Tech and had done a good job and kind of had a streak going so I’m pretty familiar with that rivalry. Well my memory I don’t recall well but I say I don’t think we lost to them so I think guy who is the coach I think a guy name Dick Bestwick may have been the coach that might be showing my age right so and then eventually George Welsh came into play,” said Grantham.
Grantham’s success at Florida coupled with a decade of NFL coaching experience, has made his name a popular one on coaching short lists. But the former Hokie says he’s happy helping re-load the Gator program.
“I have a really good job, my family likes it here, and we’re working very hard to win the SEC and I think we’re moving in the right direction and we just got to continue to do that and I think playing well in this game and doing the things we need to do to be a good defense can help us moving in the off-season so that’s the focus,” Grantham said.