The Long Road Home
Former Hokies Walk-On Orion Martin Kicks Off Final Season As Team Captain for the Program He Loved as a Child

By Zach Berman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, August 28, 2008

On the nearly five-hour trek from Norfolk to Martinsville, Va., David Martin wept. It was January 2004 and he just dropped his son, Orion, off at Norfolk State. On the ride back, David and his wife grappled with the reality that Orion might not be in the best place for him. Certainly, it was not the school he wanted to attend.

Orion's dream remained Virginia Tech, the school whose name was emblazoned on his shirts and those of his younger brother, Cam, now a standout linebacker, when they were children. That was the team featured in football preview publications the brothers engulfed. That was the alma mater of Uncle Bobby, David's brother.

Instead, Orion attended Norfolk State for the simple reason that it was the lone school that offered him a scholarship.

The ride west on U.S. Route 58 is a distant, but still relevant, memory for David. He will take another ride west to Blacksburg this season for what will be Orion's final home game at Virginia Tech, where Orion is now a standout defensive end. Orion's journey from walk-on to team captain was unfathomable four years ago.

"It's been absolutely amazing," David said. "There were some real down times when we didn't know which way to go. We kept believing it would work for the best, but we didn't know in our minds how it would happen."

Said Orion: "It's been long and tough. It definitely wasn't easy."

As a defensive end and tight end at George Washington High School in Martinsville, Orion did little to distinguish himself statistically. He weighed just 215 pounds and attracted no college interest.

Orion enrolled at Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham, Va. The prep school route provided exposure, but at a cost. For David, it was sometimes spending his entire paycheck from his job as an English teacher at George Washington to pay tuition.

Orion nearly paid a bigger price: On his way to a game against Virginia Tech's junior varsity, his car flipped at a spot full of gravel where construction was taking place near his home. The car was totaled, although Orion left with just a scratch on his face. David feared the accident was a sign that Orion would never become a Hokie.

At the end of Orion's stint at Hargrave, only Norfolk State offered a scholarship. Right away, David observed it was not where Orion wanted to attend school.

"Daddy," David remembered Orion telling him, "Nobody else wants me. I'm going to make the best of it."

Meantime, Cam was one of the top prospects in the region and bound for Virginia Tech. As a heralded recruit, Martin earned a visit from Virginia Tech Coach Frank Beamer. David wanted to recruit Beamer for his older son as much as Beamer wanted to recruit David's younger son.

"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.