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The Long Road Home
Orion Martin, who once attended Norfolk State because no other school offered him a scholarship, calls playing for the Hokies "a blessing."
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"Listen," David told Beamer, "I got another son. If you could just look at him, if you could get him in the school, if Orion ever got on that campus, he would be successful."
Said Cam: "I didn't even like talking about the recruiting. I never even brought it up around him. I always looked up to him, I saw the tough times he had to come through. It wasn't his plan to go to Hargrave or Norfolk. He had bigger expectations."
When Orion joined the Hokies as a walk-on in spring 2005 with tuition aided by federal grants, David implored his eldest son to try out as a defensive end -- not tight end, where other schools projected he might need to play. Orion stood out, with a game-high seven tackles and two sacks in the Maroon-White game.
"You saw early he had some qualities to be a really good football player," defensive coordinator Bud Foster said. "He's really worked hard to be a major college football player."
Orion phoned David a few days later to tell his father about an upcoming meeting with Beamer. During the meeting, Orion said Beamer told him the hope was to place Orion on scholarship, but Virginia Tech might not have enough.
A few hours after the meeting, Orion received a congratulatory text message from a friend while doing work in a Virginia Tech computer lab. Orion did not know why he was being congratulated. He learned he was on scholarship upon inquiring and said he never formally discussed the quick change with Beamer.
It was essential for Orion not to rest satisfied with achieving his hope of becoming a football player at Virginia Tech. He continued to add muscle, currently up to 255 pounds. He worked his way into the starting lineup and registered 6.5 sacks last season. Now he is the lone returning starter on the Hokies' line and one of the key players in their attempt to win a second consecutive ACC championship.
"When you grow up and watch Tech on TV, to now you get your chance to take part in Virginia Tech," Orion said, "it's just a blessing."
Staff writer Adam Kilgore contributed to this story.
