**The NFL season starts in a few hours with the Steelers hosting the Titans, so I thought I’d do an NFL related blog post today.

Say what you will about Virginia Tech’s offense, but it’s churned out some pretty good NFL players the last few years.

I scoured ESPN.com’s NFL depth charts and found that 11 former Hokies are penciled in to start this weekend – five are offensive players, four are defensive and two special teams. That’s somewhat surprising, considering Tech gets so much attention for its defense and special teams play, and its offense is oft criticized.

Sure, Tech’s offensive numbers haven’t been very good over the last few years, but a program’s purpose is to win games and prepare its players for the next level. I think the Hokies have done a pretty good job of that.

Here’s the list of 23 former Tech players in the NFL. The bold players are projected starters. Andre Davis starts at KR. Macho Harris is listed as his team’s starting free safety. He played his entire college career at CB.

Xavier Adibi, OLB, Houston Texans
James Anderson, OLB, Carolina Panthers
Duane Brown, OT, Houston Texans
David Clowney, WR, New York Jets
Andre Davis, WR/KR, Houston Texans
Chris Ellis, DE, Buffalo Bills
Brandon Flowers, CB, Kansas City Chiefs
Vincent Fuller, S, Tennessee Titans
Shayne Graham, K, Cincinnati Bengals
Jake Grove, C, Miami Dolphins
DeAngelo Hall, CB, Washington Redskins
Macho Harris, DB, Philadelphia Eagles
Kevin Jones, RB, Chicago Bears
Jeff King, TE, Carolina Panthers
Will Montgomery, G, Washington Redskins
Josh Morgan, WR, San Francisco 49ers
Pierson Prioleau, S, New Orleans Saints
Aaron Rouse, S, Green Bay Packers
Eddie Royal, WR, Denver Broncos
Nick Sorensen, S, Cleveland Browns
Darryl Tapp, DE, Seattle Seahawks
Michael Vick, QB, Philadelphia Eagles
Ernest Wilford, TE, Jacksonville Jaguars

**Another interesting NFL related note, brought to you by the Hokies’ sports information department. Since 1980, Virginia Tech is one of only six schools (Miami, Ohio State, Auburn, Southern Cal and Penn State are the others) to produce two No. 1 overall draft picks – Bruce Smith in 1985 and Michael Vick in 2001.