Virginia Tech transfer steps up and speaks up
Defensive back Tae Daley already is proving himself a leader for the Hokies.
Before he gave much of a thought to his future as a player in Blacksburg, Tae Daley was already familiar with one of the more prominent defensive backs Virginia Tech has produced. Kyle Fuller provided an indirect education.
Daley’s regular pregame routine at Northside High in Warner Robins, Georgia, involved spending a little time studying Fuller.
Before high school football games, Daley said he watched highlights of Fuller, a former Virginia Tech defensive back who plays for the Denver Broncos now, but who started for the Chicago Bears as a rookie in 2014 and in the ’15 season before sitting out the ’16 season with a knee injury. Those were Daley’s sophomore through senior years at Northside, where he was an all-state performer both as a defensive back and as a center back on the soccer team.
After three seasons at Vanderbilt, where he was a starting safety in his sophomore and junior years, Daley decided to enter the transfer portal last September to see what other playing opportunities might exist for him. Given his familiarity with Tech, it didn’t take long for him to gravitate to the Hokies.
“I looked at some practice film, some things that were on YouTube,” said Daley, who decided in December to transfer to Tech after Hokies defensive coordinator and safeties coach Justin Hamilton recruited him. “Just the place for me. Everything happens for a reason. I’m at where I’m supposed to be.”
Daley, a 6-foot-1, 190-pound Miami native, hasn’t wasted any time becoming a vocal presence his new teammates can hear. Not lacking for confidence after leading Vanderbilt in 2019 with three interceptions and finishing third on the team with 57 tackles, Daley has apparently assumed a leadership role for Tech this spring while competing at strong safety with returning starter Devin Taylor.
“He’s a dog,” Tech linebacker
Dax Hollifield said of Daley. “I’m telling you. He’s wired different, and I’ve come to respect him a lot over the last couple weeks, months since spring semester started. He’s a dude. ... Just how he leads, it’s pretty incredible to see a guy coming in just a couple weeks and basically like take hold of the team.”
Talking a good game and performing on the field are two different pursuits. After last playing for a Vanderbilt team that went 3-9 in 2019 and was second-to-last in the Southeastern Conference in both scoring defense (31.8 points per game) and total defense (436.6 yards per game), Daley joins Tech with plenty of experience, but lacking positive results from a team standpoint.
During Daley’s last season at Vanderbilt, Deep Creek High and Tech alum Darryl Tapp was the Commodores’ special teams quality control coach. Tapp went on to become Tech’s co-defensive line coach last season before leaving in February to take the San Francisco 49ers’ assistant defensive line coaching job, but prior to departing Blacksburg, he put in a good word for Daley when he hit the transfer portal.
Being a leader on the defensive side has been a theme throughout Daley’s athletic career. As a center back at Northside, he said he garnered Division II soccer scholarship offers and saw similarities to his play at safety, relishing the role as “the last line of defense in both positions.”
As for Hollifield’s assertion that Daley comes with an edge most newcomers to a program don’t have, Daley isn’t about to deny it.
“For the most part, when I see something wrong, I don’t have a problem calling it out,” Daley said. “I want someone ... if they see me doing something wrong, someone will call me on it so I can fix it. Like I told them before, we’re all here for the same goal. We’re all trying to win.”