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1 7 F O O T B A L L ME D I A G U I D E
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JAKE GROVE WON THE
R IMI NGTON TROPHY I N 2 0 0 3
COREY MOORE EARNED THE LOMBARD I
AND NAGURSK I AWARDS I N 1 9 9 9
BRUCE SMI TH WON THE OUT LAND TROPHY
AS THE TOP L I NEMAN I N 1 9 8 4
MI CHAE L V I CK WON AN ESPY AS THE
NAT I ONAL PLAYER OF THE YEAR I N 1 9 9 9
Jake Grove arrived on the Virginia Tech
campus as a lightly recruited guard from
Forest, Va. He left as a unanimous
All-American, winner of the Rimington
Trophy as the nation’s top center
and a second-round draft pick of the
Oakland Raiders.
Heading into his junior season,
Grove made the switch over to
the center position and became
a natural fit. By the time he
headed into his final season,
he was gaining headlines
and recognition for his play.
He was rewarded by being
named to all five major All-
America first teams. He was
awarded the Dave Rimington
Trophy, given to the nation’s
top collegiate center.
In three years on campus, Corey Moore amassed 35 sacks for
losses, totaling 292 yards. He left Tech as the most decorated player
ever to put on the Hokie uniform. He won the 1999 Bronko Nagurski
Award as college football’s Defensive Player of the Year. Moore
also won the 1999 Lombardi Award as college football’s lineman of
the year. He became Tech’s second-ever unanimous All-American,
joining Jim Pyne. Moore won the Dudley Award as the top college
player in Virginia, the BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year award
and was selected as Football News’ Defensive Player of the Year.
Bruce Smith, “The Sack Man” of Virginia Tech football, capped his
sensational college career in 1984 by winning the Outland Trophy
as America’s top lineman.
The big announcement was made by Wilt Browning at a press
luncheon in Tech’s Bowman Room. Browning, a sports columnist
of The Greensboro Daily News and a committee member of the
Football Writers’ Association of America, began by reading a long
list of former Outland Trophy winners. He then said,
“Add to that list today, the 1984 winner –
Bruce Smith of Virginia Tech.”
“The one thing though, that stuck in my
mind was the statistic on his tackles
for losses,” Browning said. “In four
years at Virginia Tech, he accounted
for losses totaling more than five
times the length of a football field
(504 yards). That’s amazing.”
Smith was a consensus
All-American and was the first
Virginian to win one of the
national awards (including
the Heisman and the
Lombardi).
When Michael Vick took to the field against James Madison on
Sept. 4, 1999, little did people in attendance or watching on
television realize they would be witnessing the beginning
of the most exciting two years in Virginia Tech
football history.
In 1999, Vick led the Hokies to a perfect
11-0 regular season and a berth in
the national championship game,
both firsts in school history. The
Hokies lost that game to Florida
State, but all the talk was about
the performance the redshirt
freshman put on in that game.
For his accomplishments that
year, he was awarded an
ESPY by ESPN, given to
the nation’s top college
football player. Vick was
awarded the trophy at the
ESPY ceremonies on Feb.
14, 2000, in Las Vegas as he
mingled with some of sports’
all-time greats.
NATIONAL HONORS