BLACKSBURG — There is nothing unusual about a standout Hampton Roads football player like Kemari Copeland to hope that one day he will be playing defense for Virginia Tech.
The road Copeland took to become a Hokie — that included a few more bumps and detours than what might be considered standard.
“I’m a person that for whatever I do and set my mind to, I just have to do it,” said Copeland, a Kellam High graduate who transferred last December to Virginia Tech and is projected to be part of the rotation on a deep and experienced defensive line. “Coming here was one of my dreams. I always wanted to play (for) Virginia Tech, and if this is what I had to do to get here, then I would do it.”
Copeland had to do plenty. When he suits up later this month for the Hokies’ season opener at Vanderbilt, he will be representing his third team in as many seasons.
The recruiting interest in Copeland, who was rated the No. 28 senior in Hampton Roads by The Virginian-Pilot after the 2021 season, came mostly from FCS schools such as VMI, Fordham and William & Mary. At the FBS level, offers came from Army, Navy and Marshall.
The 6-foot-3, 280-pound defensive lineman ultimately opted for Army and headed to West Point a few months later. The 2022 season went well for Copeland, who appeared in seven games as a freshman, including the Cadets’ 20-17 win over Navy to conclude the year.
While he saw limited action that first season, Copeland said he realized that football could be part of his life beyond college. The small taste of Division I football convinced him that there could be a professional career ahead for him. But that can be a problem when you play for Army, which in almost all cases requires graduates to fulfill their military commitments.
“I knew I wanted to play Power Five football,” he said during Virginia Tech’s preseason media day. “I felt personally I could get a better chance to get to the league here than I would at Army.”
So shortly after the season ended, Copeland informed his coaches that he wanted to move on to a school that could help improve his chances of an NFL career. It took some time to convince anyone that this was a good idea.
“It was definitely hard,” Copeland said. “The coaching staff was hard on me (when I told them). They called my parents — both my mom and my dad. Oh my. … My parents come from military families. They were hard on me and said don’t do it.
“But I feel as a man, sometimes you have to make (hard) decisions about your life.”
Copeland held his ground and resigned his commission. However, there were more barriers ahead.
While he hoped to land at another Division I school when he entered the transfer portal at the end of the 2022 season, he said transcript issues left the junior-college route as his only option. But it wasn’t a dead end. Iowa Western Community College, located near the Iowa-Nebraska border and more than 1,300 miles from Virginia Beach, was one of the best.
The attention came early. Iowa Western’s spring game was attended by several college scouts. Offers started to come long before Copeland played his first official game for the Reivers.
“As far as (playing) JUCO, it was a lot of fun.,” said Copeland, who said he was offered by schools such as Tennessee, Auburn, Texas A&M and Oregon State. “Coming from Army and then going to JUCO, it made it a lot easier because of how hard Army was. JUCO was definitely easier than that. It was hard being out there in Iowa. I’m from Virginia Beach, so being all that way out there was hard, but I had to do it if I was going to make it to the next level.”
Copeland helped Iowa Western to a 12-1 record and a spot in the NJCAA Division I football championship game, where the Reivers beat East Mississippi 61-14. More importantly, he was contacted late midway through the regular season by a coach who used to visit him when he was in high school — Virginia Tech defensive line coach J.C. Price.
Those visits came when Price was working as an assistant for Marshall, one of the schools that offered Copeland when he was in high school.
“I remember in October, Coach Price called me, and I was like ‘What! Virginia Tech? I might be able to go home now!'” he said. “Once he called me, I knew it was the school for me. It was also a sigh of relief. Because with the current process, coaches call you 24-7, and I was still trying to focus on football and stuff.”
Price said Copeland’s decision to spend his sophomore year in the Midwest probably led to some “late-night conversations with himself,” but Price said he also saw someone who still had the same personality qualities from high school but had matured and had found his place on the football field.
“I knew he was going to be a D-lineman way back then, even though he was playing ‘Mike’ linebacker back at Kellam,” Price said. “It’s been great to see this thing come full circle for him. He always wanted to be here, and it shows to never give up on a dream, keep working, and no matter what obstacle they put in front of you, just keep fighting.”
Copeland said his time with the Hokies so far has gone fast, but that’s because he has enjoyed his experiences. That includes the spring practices, where the action on the field was sometimes overshadowed by who was watching on the sidelines.
“Seeing guys like (former Hokies quarterback) Mike Vick … and being in the same spotlight as him now is something I have to get used to,” Copeland said. “It’s been crazy seeing guys like Tremaine Edmunds. I came on a visit here, and we went to the locker room at halftime and he was in there. I was like ‘this guy is as big as heck.’ Being in the same vicinity as these guys is a blessing.”
