Fuente has nothing but praise for Edmunds
The game, the analyst, neither’s as memorable as the quote from the production dinner with the head coach the previous night.
It was passed along during the telecast: “Terrell Edmunds is our best player.”
Didn’t he mean Tremaine Edmunds? The guy predicted to be a Top 20 lock in the upcoming NFL draft?
Terrell Edmunds, older and considered a mid-rounder, was playing hurt, and in fact left this particular game because of his injury.
Was it a mistake? Was it hyperbole? Does Terrell believe that his coach, Justin Fuente, told the analyst that?
“He would probably say something similar,” Edmunds said the night he was drafted in the first round by the Steelers. “I don’t think he would say anybody’s the best, because he never makes it as just one person who controls the whole team, but he would definitely say I’m one of the guys who never gets tired.”
One of the guys who never gets tired?
“I’m a leader on the field,” Edmunds added. “I’m sure that’s what he was pushing the most, just that I was a leader on the field and that my leadership skills were up there. I think that’s what he was really mentioning right there.”
A week later, Fuente returned a call from Pittsburgh to discuss Edmunds.
“Oh, where to start,” Fuente said before diving right in: “One of the most dedicated players I’ve ever coached. Incredible work ethic and thirst for improvement. He’s obviously a fantastic athlete. His numbers at the Combine were pretty special. Just a highly intelligent young man who has a great family, great mom and dad, grandparents, really grounded in things that are important, in hard work, and in treating people the right way. I think he’s going to be a really, really special guy.”
Any examples of that dedication?
“The thing that I think of when I think of Terrell is from the very first time I walked in the door and we did drill work, I have never seen him take a rep off,” Fuente said. “I’ve never seen him not finish a rep. I’ve never seen him coast through the end. I mean, he just has that ability to strain every single time. I’ve also never seen him get tired.”
”I mean, if you came out and watched our hardest summer workout in the middle of July, whatever that workout was, he would just crush it. I’ve really never seen anybody capable of doing that on a daily basis. A lot of guys can do that one time, but Terrell could do it every single day of the week.”
Yes, Fuente knows Edmunds is one of the guys who never gets tired. But did he tell a TV analyst Terrell was his best player?
“I probably did,” Fuente said with a laugh. “And, I don’t like comparing the brothers and that, and all the other players we had, I just know this: You talk about a guy who’s versatile and understands the entire scheme and shows up every day, who plays on special teams and continued to make play after play for us there, almost refused to come off the field, one of those type players — that was Terrell. I mean, he just did it all.
“You know, I thought many a time — and I don’t know the science behind all this — but if he had gone in another direction in his athletic endeavors, like in track and field, he’s one of those people who could’ve ended up being an Olympian. He just can work. His work capacity is incredible. It’s really something to marvel at.”
Fuente’s predecessor, Frank Beamer, had once marveled at Edmunds’ basketball ability. At least that’s the first time he saw Terrell, who was playing in a JV game with Tremaine before Beamer’s recruiting target, oldest brother Trey, played that night in the varsity game. Beamer came early and ended up with all three — the 25th and final set of brothers he recruited to Virginia Tech.
Beamer put all three brothers on the kickoff team to open the 2015 season, and then announced his retirement in November. After he left, Trey, now with the New Orleans Saints, left for Maryland. But the two younger Edmunds stayed two more years and made NFL history by becoming the first set of brothers chosen in the first round of the same draft.
Tremaine went 16th to Buffalo as a middle linebacker, and Terrell — a key piece of Tech coordinator Bud Foster’s 4-2-5 — went 28th to the Steelers, who are still looking for key pieces for a 4-2-5 that’s overtaken their traditional 3-4, not in name as the base defense, but in actual usage.
Terrell went to Tech as a cornerback, became the rover (box safety/little linebacker) as a sophomore, and free safety as a junior. He’s now part of a team that’s needed his particular brand of defensive versatility since Troy Polamalu retired following the 2014 season.
Edmunds wasn’t able to play up to his potential during his final college season because of a shoulder injury, thus the general surprise among draft analysts when he was picked 28th. But Fuente wasn’t surprised. He had told The Roanoke Times the week of the draft that “Terrell is going to go maybe higher than some other people think.”
Edmunds did. So, what did Fuente know?
“I had some conversations with some people — and not Pittsburgh,” he said. “It just led me to believe that all the things I had been seeing for years, these people were now seeing in this evaluation process. He was closing hard. They were starting to understand that this is a special young man.”
Virginia Tech finished fourth in scoring defense last season and 13th in total defense. In Tech’s 4-2-5, Edmunds was identified as a key chess piece in the unit being able to defend anything from a spread to a power alignment peppered with fullbacks and tight ends.
“Absolutely,” Fuente said. “You’ve got to be able to tackle the tailback in the box and cover people out wide. I’m certainly not an expert on the NFL game, and don’t claim to be, I just know the versatility that Terrell brings you. I mean, he played so many different spots. Not just from a knowledge standpoint but from a physical standpoint, being able to do those things was pretty special.
“I really think people are going to be limited by their own imagination on what they want to do with him. I mean, he can cover, he can make plays in space, he can slide into the box and defend the run. However they choose to use him, I think they’re going to be pleased with it.”