You’ve probably heard the saying that it is considered a fashion faux pas to wear white after Labor Day, but the Virginia Tech Hokies are making an exception for their Sept. 6, 2008, home game against Furman.

The Hokies will hold their inaugural “White Out” for their home opener in an effort to promote reading throughout the Commonwealth. “White Out” t-shirts will go on sale for $6 each on Saturday, April 19 - the day of the annual Spring Game - at the University Bookstores. Proceeds from the sale of the “White Out” shirts will go to Herma’s Readers, a non-profit organization that promotes the power of reading and literacy to youngsters during their formative years, grades K-3. The organization was established in honor of Virginia Tech Head Coach Frank Beamer’s mother, Herma, who taught for more than 30 years in Virginia.

The football team will also sports special white uniforms that combine features of past uniforms. It will mark the first time that the Hokies have worn all-white uniforms at Lane Stadium. For more information about the uniforms, visit HokieSports.com.

Receiving Line
With Tyrod Taylor’s injury and the ongoing drama and injury-riddled backfield, the search to find serviceable replacements for the four departed wide receivers seems to have been lost in the shuffle. But, the Lynchburg News & Advance’s Nate Warters addressed the topic in much detail. Read more…

Aaron McFarling of the Roanoke Times wrote a great article about Virginia Tech redshirt freshman tailback Darren Evans. The former high school standout from Indianapolis rushed for mind-boggling 61 touchdowns during his senior season at Warren Central High. Even more amazing, it was only the fourth highest single-season offensive output by a single player in U.S. prep school history. He averaged nearly six TDs a game.

Evans left Warren Central with four state championships and more individual records than you can imagine. Yet only two BCS schools offered him a scholarship - Virginia Tech and one Big Ten school. Whispers of “too slow” and “not enough moves” dogged him during the recruiting process, but this Saturday at Virginia Tech’s first Spring Game in two years, Evans will have an opportunity to silence the critics and prove that he belongs in the backfield of a big-time college football program.

But that isn’t even the real crux of the story. For the real heart of the story, read the Aaron’s article. Trust me, it’s worth the read!

Memorial Video

Nikki Giovanni’s “We Are Virginia Tech Speech”

This is a repost from April 16, 2007…

These are the saddest, most heartbreaking days in Virginia Tech’s history. Hokies all over the world send our collective thoughts and prayers to the families and friends affected by the horrific tragedy on April 16, 2007. We cry with you…

It is beyond our comprehension the devastation that took place on our beloved campus. Never did I think I would watch every news channel in the country covering a horror so unfathomable in my adopted home town. To think that Virginia Tech is now the site of the worst mass shooting in our country’s history is incomprehensible. Even more heartbreaking are the 32 lives that were lost.

Hearing the death toll rise as the day went on brought tears to my eyes and when I got home, I hugged my 2-year-old son and did my best not to show my heartbreak in front of him. Tonight, my family will attend the candlelight vigil on the drill field.

God bless those families and friends affected by today’s tragedy. We are with you. We are all with you. For updated news and information about upcoming events and services at Virginia Tech, visit www.remembrance.vt.edu.

God Bless,
Gary Cope

• See pictures of the Drillfield Memorials from last year here.
• Read the TechHoops.com “In Memory” post here.

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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.

Welcome to VTHokieFans.com. As you can tell, we are in the process of redesigning the site. We have partnered with TechHoops.com to provide a branded look and feel between the two sites. TechHoops.com, as you probably either know or have guessed, covers Virginia Tech basketball. VTHokieFans.com is a partner site and covers Virginia Tech football.

During the next week or so, leading up to the April 19, 2008, Spring Game, we will continue to move content from the old Web site and blog (vthokiefans.wordpress.com) over to this new and improved site, complete with RSS feeds, subscription-based e-mail alerts and much more.

So, whether you love the pigskin or the roundball, VTHokiefans.com and TechHoops.com have you covered! And if you have a suggestion for the site, by all means, keep it to yourself … I kid! E-mail us your valued suggestions and comments at gary@vthokiefans.com.

Former Virginia Tech quarterback Bryan Randall is reportedly talking with the Canadian Football League’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers, this according to today’s edition of the Winnipeg Free Press. As best I can tell, this is not an April Fool’s Day joke either.

With the untimely collapse of the All American Football League, Randall is looking for another shot at playing professional football. Randall was the No. 2 overall pick in the January AAFL draft and was slated to compete for the starting QB job with Team Tennessee until the league unceremoniously “postponed” its inaugural season until 2009 so it could secure more investors.

Randall, the 2004 ACC Player of the Year, has bounced around NFL training camps for three years, but has yet to make an active roster and play a single regular season down. Though, he did look impressive in the Atlanta Falcons’ camp in 2006, but was the odd man out for the third QB spot, losing to hometown favorite D.J. Shockley from Georgia.

My impression of Randall has always been that while he does have certain athletic abilities that allow him to compete at a high level, he is just below the threshold needed to sustain an NFL career. However, his athleticism is not what led to his success at Virginia Tech, rather it was his intelligence and knowledge of the game. He is an extremely smart young man, on and off the field, and can read defenses very well. I think he would make an excellent fit in the CFL where Randall would have plenty of room to roll out, creating time to see plays develop and make something happen.

Even if the Blue Bombers sign Randall, he would still come in as the third-string QB and would have to compete for playing time behind incumbent start Kevin Glenn and Grey Cup (the CFL’s version of the SuperBowl) starter Ryan Dinwiddie. Apparently, Winnipeg has been following Randall since his playing days at Tech. According to the article, Bomber GM Brendan Taman said that Randall plans to explore his options with the Arena Football League, though that is not likely because their season has already started, and the NFL. Stay tuned!

According to a release on HokieSports.com today, rising senior runningback Branden Ore is no longer on the team. This frees up the backfield competition to include incoming four-star recruit Ryan Williams to compete with Kenny Lewis Jr., Josh Oglesby and Jahre Cheeseman.

Read the release.

Update: ESPN is reporting that Ore was kicked off the team because “Hokies coaches grew weary of player’s attitude.” While ESPN summarizes that this will hurt the Hokies 110th ranked offense, I think it will help the team because there is one less player who isn’t giving 100 percent to the team and it opens the door for some fresh legs to show us what they can do.

ESPN Article

Fair warning - this is me bragging about my kid because I’m a proud dad, so if that kind of stuff annoys you, hit the “back” button. My son has been to four Virginia Tech mens basketball games this season and loves every minute of it. He already knows the fight song and all of the other popular chants prevalent at Hokie sporting events. This video is of him doing the H-O-K-I-E-S HOKIES! cheer. He’s 2-1/2 years old. He sings this ALL THE TIME … especially on game days!