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ESPN college football analyst Mark May announced his 2008 “All May Day” team, which is made up of what Mark considers the 22 toughest players in college football. Among those 22 is Virignia Tech defensive lineman Jaosn Worilds. Sometimes we forget that some of these guys play through injuries and pain that we cannot even begin to fathom.

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We haven’t even played the Orange Bowl yet and already Hokie fans are questioning who will be the backup quarterback next season. Tyrod Taylor will be a junior and this yeary’s backups, redshirt seniors Sean Glennon and Cory Holt won’t be back. That leaves redshirt freshmen JuJu Clayton and Marcus Davis, two guys who haven’t taken a single snap in a college game. Of course, there’s always Greg Boone, the high school QB turned tight end turned QB in the Wild Turkey offense.

Read The Roanoke Times article.

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The Hokies will be without one starting offensive lineman and could be without two more players due to injury for the Jan. 1, Orange Bowl game against Cincinnati. Senior offensive lineman Nick Marshman has been ruled academically ineligible and will not play in what would have been his final game as a Hokie.

On the injury front, Jason Worilds (r-So.) and Brett Warren (r-Sr.) are both suffering from injuries that may keep them out of the game.

Finally, reserve running back Jahre Cheeseman has informed the coaching staff that he will transfer for his senior season.

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The on-again, off-again game between the Hokies and the Tide in 2009 is apparently back on again. According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Virginia Tech and Alabama will meet in the second Chick-fil-A College Kickoff at the Georgia Dome. The matchup was confirmed by Gary Stokan, Chick-fil-A Bowl president and will be broadcast by ABC or ESPN.

The last time Tech and ‘Bama met on the gridiron, the Hokies smoked the Tide 38-7 in the innaugural Music City Bowl in Nashville. The Hokies were led by quarterback Al Clark while Alabama has All-American Shawn Alexander. All time, the Hokies are just 1-10 against Alabama.

Read more at the AJC.

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I figured tickets for the Orange Bowl wouldn’t be hard to get, but I never would have expected to be able to get tickets for just a buck. Shoot, I can’t get a decent hamburger for a dollar. But, according to this article from BleacherReport.com, tickets for the Virgina Tech vs. Cincinnati Orange Bowl game on Jan. 1, are selling for as low as $1 on StubHub.com. Wow!

Unfortunately, I will be working two basketball games leading up to the New Year’s Day game, so I won’t be able to take advantage of the great discount, but I hope more Hokies will flock to Miami for this game. It’s really unfortunate that this game appears to be destined as a “bust” in the eyes of the BCS, but in these tough economic times, I can’t say that I blame people for skipping this exhibition game.

From BleacherReport.com:

Congratulations, BCS. You have outdone yourself. The Orange Bowl is an official flop, and it hasn’t even played out yet.

The going rate for an Orange Bowl 50 yard line ticket is $181, but it’s probably up for negotiation. The rest of the tickets are selling for far below the face value of $130-$240 per seat.

Some tickets are going for $1. That’s O-N-E dollar, folks.

Want to sit in an executive suite? For $250, it’s yours on StubHub.com. Want to sit in the upper deck? From $1 to $11 bucks, you can watch the Virginia Tech Hokies take on the Cincinnati Bearcats from the upper decks, because those seats at those prices still aren’t selling.

Read the rest at BleacherReport.com.

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From HokieSports.com:

BLACKSBURG – Last winter, when Victor Harris changed course and announced he was returning to Virginia Tech after originally declaring for the NFL Draft, he said one of his goals was to lead the Hokies to another ACC Championship. Check. Another was to be named a first-team All-American. Check.

Sporting News magazine awarded Harris that honor Wednesday, making him the 19th first-team All-American in Virginia Tech football history. For Harris, it is his first honor of such magnitude.

Sporting News is one of the five recognized All-America squads along with AFCA, FWAA, Associated Press and Walter Camp. The NCAA officially recognizes All-Americans selected by these five to determine consensus All-Americans.

Harris keeps alive an impressive streak by defensive coordinator Bud Foster. He has had at least one All-American from the defense in each of his 14 seasons as either coordinator or co-coordinator at Tech. This includes 2004 when Sports Illustrated honored two players, even though that is not one of the five major All-America squads.

“Macho came back for the right reasons – to come back and lead this team to a championship and to improve himself physically and mentally,” Foster said. “He came back to be a leader and to grow as a person. I’m really, really happy for him. It’s a very deserving reward for someone who has stepped up and had a tremendous season.”

Harris is one of two cornerbacks chosen for the first team, joining Vanderbilt’s D.J. Moore. Harris has six interceptions this year, returning two for touchdowns. The Highland Springs, Va., native also returns kicks and has made contributions on offense this year. He has also been named second-team All-America by the AP and first-team All-America by Sports Illustrated.

Harris made the move to boundary corner, taking over for Brandon Flowers after he declared for the Draft. Harris, Flowers – who is now starring with the Kansas City Chiefs – and Jimmy Williams are the only cornerbacks in school history to be named first-team All-Americans. Anthony Midget, Ronyell Whitaker and DeAngelo Hall were all cornerbacks who earned second- or third-team All-America honors at some point in their careers.

The entire first and second teams can be found here.

All of Virginia Tech’s All-Americans for football can be found here.

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No big surprise, but 4-star high school QB Kevin Newsome chose Penn State over Virginia Tech, Boston College and Ohio State during a press conference this evening.

Read more here.

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Highly sought-after high school quarterback Kevin Newsome said he will announce his decision at a press conference Tuesday evening. Newsome, a 4-star prospect, committed to Michigan but withdrew his committment after Rich Rodriguez took over as coach. Since reopening his search, he has named four schools as finalists: Virginia Tech and Boston College from the ACC and Penn State and Ohio State from the Big 10.

Stay tuned! VTHokieFans.com will post his decision as soon as it is announced. Keep your fingers crossed!

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Box Score

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According to ESPN’s Ivan Maisel, Clemson has removed the “interim” tag from Dabo Swinney’s title and has named him the full time head coach. This means that Bud Foster could very well remain in Blacksburg as the Hokies defensive coordinator for at least another season. The offer came last night and Swinney accepted. Contract negotiations began immediately after Swinney accepted, according to ESPN. Clemson has called a 5 p.m. ET news conference.

Read the ESPN article.

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