Virginia tech safety Devon hunter suspended indefinitely

Jackson Didlake

September 14, 2020

BLACKSBURG - On Monday morning, Virginia Tech athletics announced that redshirt junior Devon Hunter had been suspended indefinitely.

“Devon Hunter has been suspended indefinitely from all football team activities effective immediately for not upholding the high standards we have for our student-athletes. We cannot comment further on Virginia Tech student conduct issues until the matter is resolved,” Tech said in a statement.

Hunter was charged with felony strangulation to cause wound or injury and misdemeanor assault against a family member by Christiansburg police on Sunday, according to reports obtained by Michael Niziolek of The Roanoke Times. The felony charge resulted in an immediate suspension from Virginia Tech.

“Any student-athlete arrested and charged with a felony, or with a crime involving gambling or game fixing under Virginia law or any other jurisdictional equivalent, shall be suspended automatically, by the Athletics Director, from practice and playing privileges until the charges are dropped, dismissed or otherwise resolved,” as Virginia Tech’s student-athlete code of conduct states.

Hunter was expected to play a starting role at safety for the Hokies this season, taking over the role left by graduate Reggie Floyd.

A former four-star recruit who was listed as the No. 2 recruit in the state of Virginia before committing to the Hokies, Hunter played in 10 games as a freshman and redshirted in 2018. Last season, the Chesapeake, Va. native made two starts and finished the season with 16 tackles.

Head coach Justin Fuente talked to the media on Monday morning and brought up Hunter’s suspension, though he did not comment. Fuente was asked if he was surprised that Hunter was suspended, to which he responded with a simple, "yes."

The Hokies are still waiting to be cleared to practice due to COVID-19 issues that postponed their season opener against Virginia on Sept. 19. Fuente said that the team did not practice over the weekend and won’t return as early as Tuesday.

“In my opinion, it wasn’t even close,” Fuente said after being asked how close the team was to being able to play Virginia. "We’re dealing with this the best way that we can. Their timetables are different. … It’s like a revolving door.”

Fuente called Virginia head coach Bronco Mendenhall on Saturday to break the news to him himself. The two have a relationship from their battles in the late 2000s with Mendenhall as the head coach at BYU while Fuente was the offensive coordinator at TCU.

“I called Bronco on Saturday and talked to him,” Fuente said. “There was no way we could walk about there and safely put our kids on the football field.”