Virginia Tech defensive tackle’s faith rewarded

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.

Carlton Powell stood smiling in the Florida sunshine Saturday afternoon, soaking up one of the final days of his football career at Virginia Tech. And this one, the Hokies’ first game-week practice in preparation for the Orange Bowl, was one of the sweetest.

“Oh, man, what a beautiful thing,” the senior said. “What a great finish. To end my career in Miami, in a big-time bowl, it’s a great blessing. I’m just glad to be here. But I always knew it would end this way.”

Count Powell among a very small group who ever imagined it would go like this: him starting for almost three full seasons at defensive tackle for one of the nation’s best defenses and now, diploma in hand, heading for a shot at the NFL.

Powell grew up in Chesapeake and played his high school ball at Great Bridge, where the team had a losing record for his career and finished 3-7 his senior year. Although he was imposing at 6-foot-2, almost 290 pounds – playing linebacker, of all things – he wasn’t hotly recruited.

He didn’t make all-region, All-Tidewater or all-state teams. Other than Tech, Powell’s only other scholarship offers were from East Carolina and Virginia.

“He wasn’t courted by everybody,” Virginia Tech defensive line coach Charley Wiles said. “And really, when we recruited him, we thought he’d be a center. He sure wasn’t going to be a college linebacker.”

Turns out, he was bound to become the run-clogging, havoc-wreaking man in the middle of the Hokies’ smothering defense.

Who knew?

He did, of course.

“It’s an amazing thing,” said his father, Carlton Powell Sr. “He told us when he was 13 that he was going to go to Virginia Tech. He believed it in his spirit, trusted God to deliver and all these things have worked out.”

But how?

Powell attributes most of it to his faith – instilled by parents who hosted as many as three Bible study sessions a week at their home when their son was growing up. The younger Powell now leads his own regular study for his teammates. “He can quote scripture like you wouldn’t believe,” Hokies defensive end Orion Martin said.

His success, though, isn’t all in the Psalms. It’s also in the heavy lifting and hard work that Powell has put in since middle school – when a family friend, who happened to be a body builder, took the youngster under his muscular wing. He taught Powell how to eat and what lifts worked which muscles. “And Carlton just ate it up,” his father said. “He got big and strong and people were quite impressed with him at the gym at an early age. He got his body ready for college while he was still in high school.”

That work ethic continued once he arrived in Blacksburg; Powell’s body only grew larger and more powerful under the tutelage of Tech strength coach Mike Gentry.

Today, Powell bench presses 430 pounds, squats almost 600 and can push 330 pounds straight over his head. “He’s got a huge back. It looks like a dining room table,” defensive end Chris Ellis said. “If you’ve got a smaller guard, his strength isn’t going to compare with CP. It’s going to take two guys to hog him up.”

Powell’s brutish strength and relentless effort have become his calling card with the Hokies. They’ve transformed him from an iffy prospect into a key cog – a guy rated by some draft analysts as one of the top 20 defensive tackles available for this year’s NFL draft.

“My motto is, 'Do whatever it takes.’ No water, no breaks,” Powell said.

And his reward for all that work? Just 104 career tackles and 5.5 career sacks in 31 starts – numbers that lend themselves to anonymity on a star-studded defense like Tech’s, stats that don’t add up to the All-ACC and All-American honors that his teammates have garnered.

“Those big guys don’t get the glory,” said linebacker Xavier Adibi who, with 108 tackles this season alone, is one of the chief benefactors of Powell’s dirty work . “But we know and we thank them. In our defense, the linebackers make plays because of the way Carlton messes things up in the middle.”

Powell’s friends call him “Causing Problems.” It’s a moniker fitting for his style of play, but the origin of which is more tame. On his recruiting visit to Tech, former tailback Mike Imoh asked the soft-spoken Powell his name.

“I guess I mumbled it under my breath,” Powell said. “And Imoh was like, 'What? Causing Problems?’”

Powell never has been loud, falling back on Bible verses that tell him, “If you humble yourself, you’ll be exalted in the end.”

On Wednesday, the day after Christmas, a letter arrived at his parents’ house, inviting him to the NFL combine. “He just said, 'Thank you, Lord,’” Powell’s father said.

“All he wanted was a chance. Now he’ll take care of the rest.”