Injuries Casting Doubts on Hokies’ 2008 Season | Virginia Tech Football Go Hokies!

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August
09 | vs. East Carolina
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September
06 | vs. Furman
13 | vs. Georgia Tech
20 | at North Carolina
27 | at Nebraska

October
04 | vs. Western Kentucky
18 | at Boston College
25 | at Florida State

November
06 | vs. Maryland
13 | at Miami
22 | vs. Duke
29 | vs. Virginia

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Injuries Casting Doubts on Hokies’ 2008 Season

No. 1 tailback Kenny Lewis is out for six months after shoulder surgery. No. 2 tailback Jahre Cheeseman broke his leg during Friday’s scrimmage and his surgery will sit him down until August. Tyrod Taylor’s sprained foot will keep him out of the rest of spring practice, which means we will be no closer to learning who will be the starting quarterback next season. Both Sean Glennon (r-sr.) and Taylor (soph.) had similar numbers during scrimmages before Taylor’s injury, but Glennon threw two picks (his trademark).

The tailback position does not concern me as much as the QB race. We still have two talented runningbacks in Josh Oglesby and Darren Evans, both redshirt freshmen. Plus, we have Ryan Williams, the nation’s No. 3 high school runningback, coming in August. And if all the things we’ve heard about this kid are true, then he’s the type of player that will make an impact immediately.

I’m still not sure what is going through Frank Beamer’s mind with regards to the QB battle. Glennon is entering his fifth season with the program, but has never played consistently. Taylor was thrust into the starting role after a game and a half into last season and played spectacularly, especially for a true freshman. This kid is a true talent that only comes along once every decade or so, and going back to a dual QB rotation would be a complete disaster for the Hokies and Taylor.

Taylor has more talent and natural athletic ability than Glennon and can make more things happen. I, for one, am willing to live his occasional mistakes because his play-making ability and big-play potential far outweighs the “steady as she goes” mentality with Glennon.

The coaching staff has to look at the bigger picture in addition to the obvious talent differential. I hope they are just entertaining the illusion of a QB battle and will name Tyrod the full-time starter before the season begins. Perhaps they assured Glennon that it would be an open competition to appease him. Whatever is going on behind the scenes, I sincerely hope that the coaching staff is keeping their future recruiting efforts in mind. What happens the next time a talented QB like Taylor comes around and Tech recruits him? The other schools will tell the kid, “Yes, Virginia Tech is a good football program, but look what they did with Tyrod Taylor - they made him share time for two seasons with someone who was clearly less talented. Come play for us and you’ll be THE guy.” If I were recruiting against the Hokies, that’s exactly what I would say to my QB recruits who were considering VT.

If Tyrod is as electrifying as everyone says he is, and we saw glimpses of it last season before he hurt his ankle and missed 2 1/2 games, then why don’t we let him prove it on the field? Platooning isn’t going to give him the experience he needs to develop. Glennon has a lot of experience and I’m sure the coaches are rewarding his four years of service and how his attitude did a 180 following his benching last season. But he’s not the starting QB for this team.

He had one statistically good season and while the team did well, the majority of the credit goes to Bud Foster’s defense, which was often times more of a threat to score than the offense. Last season, he struggled and got benched early. He threatened to transfer and cried and whined for a couple of days following his ousting. Then, he laid low before coming back as the starter when Taylor sprained his ankle. He stunk it up at home against Boston College, leading the Hokies to just one offensive touchdown. Though, he did play perhaps his best game as a Hokie in the next game at Georgia Tech.

My feeling is that Glennon had his shot. It’s Tyrod Taylor’s time. We lived with the mistakes and growing pains of the Glennon era, now it is time to do the same with Tyrod - he is our QB for at least two more seasons, so let him make this his team. Glennon will be a good backup.

Posted by:

vthokiefans
April 13th, 2008
2008, In the News, The Season

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3 Responses to “Injuries Casting Doubts on Hokies’ 2008 Season”

Comment #95 | April 13th, 2008 at 9:32 pm
Tyrod and Cheeseman Fall to Injuries before Spring Game | The Tyrod Taylor Fansite Says:

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Comment #96 | April 14th, 2008 at 10:56 pm
Hokie Guru Says:

We’ve lived the Sean Glennon pretending that he was a fricking baseball player in that Orange Bowl game with Kansas… I’m still PO’d about those passes he throw to the Jayhawk safeties with no Virginia Tech receiver within 10 yards… Glennon was played like a fiddle… we need to use Tyrod Taylor’s mobility… sooner rather than later… we can’t have Glennon as the starter… he should be a graduate assistant!!
Comment #97 | April 16th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
chicagomaroon Says:

Come off of it. We NEED Sean Glennon in every sense of the word. I went at the beginning of last year from being the biggest Glennon hater to one of his biggest supporters. You act like the kid has no talent at all, and though on some occasions (all of 2006 and the first few games of 2007) he has looked the part, you forget that he was a very highly touted quarterback coming out of high school.

Yes, some of this is probably due to the fact that all he had to do in high school was to throw it up to Royal and it went for six every time, so it’s not necessarily an accurate analysis of his talent (and maybe that’s part of what took him so long to adjust to the college game), but Glennon DOES have talent. In fact, he is by far a better passer at this time than Tyrod or anyone else on the team. And for you to insinuate that Glennon is the reason for the loss to Boston College (and Hokie Guru to say that he cost us the Orange Bowl) is ridiculous. For one, if we lost that game for any reason, it was not because of Glennon, but rather in spite of Glennon.

For one of the first times he looked composed, running when he should (though that sounds like two things that should never be mentioned in the same sentence) and passing when he should. And furthermore, he even threw the ball away on occasion! No he didn’t put up big stats, but it should have been enough based on how it was going on the other end. At least Glennon was efficient. The fault for losing that game should be put on the coaching staff. I don’t care how good your defense is, a 10-point lead is NEVER, EVER safe against a good offense like BC’s, and probably not against anyone. ANYTHING can happen! Beamer should know that, but he is always calling off the dogs way to early out of respect for the other coach and his younger players.

And Hokie Guru, I was at the Orange Bowl, and I was as disappointed about that game as any of us Hokies, but do you really think Glennon threw the game? Our defense couldn’t stop a French ballerina, much less Kansas. And yet, it’s not their fault either. That one again is on the coaching staff. Do you think losing bowl games is unique to Glennon? This is something that goes much deeper than how Glennon played in that game. The problem is, for whatever reason (and I have some hints based on the video diaries of the players at bowl games from hokiesports.com) Tech just never shows up for bowl games! That’s one of the most irritating things I have to deal with. I know that the players have to have some fun, but the focus HAS to be on football!!! And for some reason, the coaching staff just does not do a good enough job preparing them…EVERY YEAR!

Incidentally, how did Tyrod Taylor do in this game? He looked like a blind puppy trying to find a water bowl out there. That’s why they yanked him early. Kansas sent guys after him on every down and the kid still couldn’t figure that out. And yes I know, that takes away from my argument about using Glennon and shows that we need to invest more time in Tyrod, but guys…come on…WE NEED THEM BOTH!

For some reason the two quarterback split worked last year, and we need to keep doing it. You are both acting like you don’t remember that as disappointing as the bowl loss was, we still won 11 games last year, and a lot of them were in the stretch run USING THIS SYSTEM! So it’s proven to work. It’s not going to get better by taking one guy out completely. In fact, I want to see Glennon still get the majority of the reps! I want to see Glennon 55% and Tyrod 45% much like last year, because that’s what our best equation for success is. And I love Tyrod as much as anyone, but let’s be honest about the kid for a minute…HE IS NOT a player that only comes around once every ten years. In fact, Tech has had two in the last nine years that were much better than Tyrod athletically and statistically.

Michael and Marcus Vick make Tyrod look pedestrian (and they look good in stripes, so it’s a win-win (joking)). In fact, there is a player of Tyrod’s caliber or better at his position who does what Tyrod does better almost every year now. The kid has serious skills, but he’s no Michael or even Marcus (yet), don’t kid yourself. Michael’s definition of athleticism is turning a 10 yard loss into a 50 yard gain and six, whereas Tyrod takes a loss of 5 and gets back to the line. Still impressive, but it’s no comparison. The kid will have his time, but now it’s best for us to split time. Plus, we have the advantage of possibly keeping Tyrod around for all four years if we split time this year! Why wouldn’t we want that?

And from the recruiting side of things, conversely, what do you tell a kid that’s coming in to split time with someone who is a moron (not saying Tyrod is) but a freak athlete? What if he’s the #1 player in the NATION!!! Is he gonna get pitches from other schools that sound like “Look what they did to Sean Glennon,” so you can’t let that deter you. It’s a double ended sword. That’s going to happen either way. Look, all I’m saying is they need to split time for us to win. It worked last year, it will work again. If we go to a full-time starter, we stand a chance to not even win 9 games next year, and considering how weak of a schedule it is, that’s pathetic.