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Months of speculation and guessing are over. Virginia Tech head football coach Frank Beamer said today that he will not redshirt phenom running back and kick returner David Wilson.

Wilson is a true sophomore and served as a backup running back and kick returner in 2009 as a true freshman. Wilson got playing time at RB because of the injury to the team’s 2008 leading rusher Darren Evans, who missed the 2009 season with a knee injury. But Evans is back in 2010 and is listed as the No. 2 RB behind starter Ryan Williams, who led the ACC in rushing last season and finished fifth in the nation.

“He can help this team be successful and he wants to do it,” said Beamer of Wilson. “I think you need to try to get your best players on the field, and he’s one of them.”

WIlson played exceptionally well in the spring and fall practices and pushed Darren Evans for the No. 2 spot on the RB depth chart. His value as a kick returner is enough to get him on the field in 2010, but you can believe the Frank Beamer and offensive coordinator Bryan Stinespring will get him involved with the offense, too. He’s just too good not to be on the field.

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Tyrod Taylor looked every bit of the senior quarterback and leader during Saturday’s final scrimmage before the Hokies being game-week preparations for the Boise State season opener on Sept. 6.

Taylor completed his first 10 passes and finished the game 16 of 17 for 319 yards and three touchdowns. The one incompletion was a pass he threw out of bounds intentionally to avoid a loss. After the scrimmage, Virginia Tech head coach Frank Beamer had high praise for his QB.

“I feel the same way with him out there as I did when Michael Vick was out there,” said Beamer of Taylor. “The next play could be a big play. Any play has a chance of going a long ways. Tyrod gives you that same element right now.”

Taylor got the scrimmage off to an exciting start on just the third offensive play when he hit tight end Andre Smith for a 95-yard touchdown. Taylor also connected with running backDarren Evans for a 4-yard TD pass from wide receiver Dyrell Roberts for a 35-yard scoring strike.

The intrasquad scrimmage featured the first team offense and defense against the second team offense and defense. And the first team defense played very well even if it was against the second team offense. Bud Foster‘s unit, which has been the biggest question mark heading into the 2010 season, sacked second string QB Logan Thomas five times while allowing just 101 total yards.

Defensive end Chris Drager had two sacks, while Derrick Hopkins, Steven Friday andRashad Carmichael each added a sack of their own. Hopkins is a true freshman playing on the first team defense.

Quick Hitters

The special teams looked solid again … well, at least the punt block team did. Marcus Davisblocked a punt that was picked up by Zach Luckett and returned for a touchdown.

Danny Coale quietly caught four passes for 40 yards.

David Wilson played with the second team offense and continued to make a strong case for the coaching staff not to redshirt him. He had a 43-yard kick return and an impressive 25-yard run from scrimmage. He gave the first team defense fits.

Starting left tackle (you know, the guy that protects Tyrod Taylor’s backside) Nick Becton is still suffering from turf toe and will likely not start for the Hokies on Sept. 6. He is expected to be ready and will play, but backup Andrew Lanier will probably get the start.

The kicking game appears to be just fine. Chris Hazley nailed a pair of field goals (37 and 23 yards) and Justin Myer nailed a 54-yarder with plenty of room to spare.

More details and quotes from the players and coaches.

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Earlier this evening I appeared as a guest on KTIK AM 1350′s Idaho Sports Talk with Caves and Prater to talk about the Sept. 6 matchup between the Virginia Tech Hokies and Boise State Broncos.

For the most part, the interview went well, until I had a brain fart and couldn’t remember Jake Johnson’s name. Of course, after his lackluster career, can you blame me for forgetting it? I kid because I care. I wish nothing but the best to Jake Johnson as he moves on to play for D-I startup, the University of South Alabama.

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Blacksburg, VA – The Virginia Tech Hokies held their final open-to-the-public scrimmage on Saturday and head coach Frank Beamer, fresh off a contract extension through 2016, had to be pleased with his team.

The offense, led by senior quarterback Tyrod Taylor, scored easily on this first-team offense’s first drive of the scrimmage, which was capped by a 24-yard touchdown pass from Taylor to Dyrell Roberts. Taylor finished the scrimmage 7 of 9 for 95 yards, 1 TD and 1 interception.

Logan Thomas is settling in as the newly anointed No. 2 QB. While he completed only 6 of 16 passes, he did throw a pair of TD passes – one to Eric Martin and the other to Marcus Davis.

The big question appears to be at running back, but not who will be the starter – that honor clearly falls to Heisman candidate Ryan Williams, who rushed for 46 yards and a TD today. The real issue is who will back him up? Darren Evans, a redshirt junior who is back after missing the 2009 season with a torn ACL, or freak athlete David Wilson, a true sophomore. Today, Wilson appeared to take the lead. He rushed for 38 yards on six carries and scored on a 12-yard run.

Evans, who doesn’t seem to be suffering any ill-effects from his knee injury, ran hard today, but in limited action and he did have one fumble, but it went out bounds, so there was no loss of possession.

Special teams, or as Beamer likes to call it, “Pride and Joy,” blocked two punts. More specifically, Cris Hill blocked two punts.

“Coach Beamer says this is the greatest team [punt block team] of athletes ever assembled,” Hill told the press. “So we take that mindset every day when we go out there. We’re trying to get more blocked kicks this year.”

While the punt block team looked great, the punt protection team struggled.

“On one side, you feel pretty good that you blocked a kick. On the other side, you don’t feel very good because the protection wasn’t right,” said Beamer. “From what I saw out there, we’ve got a lot of work to do.”

Lastly, the defense, which is the biggest question mark of all for the 2010 Hokies, played admirably. Linebacker Bruce Taylor, who will assume the starting job because of the injury to Barquell Rivers, picked off a Tyrod Taylor pass late in the scrimmage. The second team defense also stuffed the first team offense on 4th and goal from the 1-yard-line.

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Nike and Virginia Tech are at it again. Last season the Hokies debuted a Nike Pro Combat jersey that Virginia Tech wore in its road win over Maryland. This year, the No. 6 ranked Hokies will sport a new version of Nike’s modern looking duds.

Below is the release the went out through Nike:

Ten of the top college football programs have been selected to wear uniquely designed Nike uniforms for at least one game during the 2010 season the company announced today.

The University of Alabama, Boise State University, University of Florida, University of Miami (FL), The Ohio State University, Oregon State University, University of Pittsburgh, Texas Christian University, Virginia Tech and West Virginia University will wear the innovative designs for a minimum of one game on their schedules. The dates of those games will be announced at the unveiling of the uniforms Sept. 1 in New York.

The Nike Pro Combat System of Dress uniforms the schools will wear are engineered to provide superior protection and durability, while utilizing advanced fabrics and tooling that reduce weight.

Nike worked diligently with each university to bring relevant elements of the school’s rich heritage into the futuristic elite fit uniform designs. The collaborations with the universities produced the highly customized uniforms that will be revealed just days prior to the start of the 2010 college football season.

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The Hokies have depth at running back and wide receiver, but not at quarterback. Today, Virginia Tech head coach Frank Beamer announced that redshirt freshman Logan Thomas will back up senior Tyrod Taylor ahead of redshirt sophomore Ju-Ju Clayton.

“We’re fortunate to have two quality back ups at quarterback, both of whom are at a stage that they can go in and win a game for us,” Beamer said in a release posted on HokieSports.com. “We felt the decision needed to be made at this time to give our No. 2 quarterback more reps in practice.”

Even with Thomas at No. 2, offensive coordinator Bryan Stinespring wants him on the fieldthis season, which means that Thomas is also getting reps at tight end, a position at which he was a 4-star high school recruit. Stinespring acknowledged there is risk involved with having his No. 2 QB on the field playing another position.

“Tyrod drops back and hits Logan down the middle … Logan gets dinged in the earhole and Tyrod twists his ankle … and you’re going to see somebody coming out of the stadium with no parachute,” said Stinespring in a Roanoke Times article, making a joke about himself and being in the press box area during games.

The Times has a good article about the backup quarterback position with great quotes from QB coach Mike O’Cain, Frank Beamer and Stinespring.

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The Atlantic Coast Conference announced its 54th annual academic honor roll. The honor roll recognizes academic excellence by student-athletes during the 2009-10 academic year.

The honor roll is comprised of student-athletes who participated in a varsity-level sport and registered a grade point average of 3.00 or better for the full academic year. The conference acknowledged 2,761 student-athletes for their hard work in the classroom during the 2009-10 academic year.

Duke led the league with 424 selections. Boston College followed with 363. Maryland was third with 277 honorees, while North Carolina came in fourth with 262. Virginia had 246 student-athletes on the list, followed by Florida State with 216. Clemson and Virginia Techeach had 209 student-athletes recognized. NC State (168), Georgia Tech (155) and Wake Forest (149) and Miami (83) rounded out the list.

Headlining this year’s honor roll are 19 five-time honorees, led by Duke and Virginia Tech which each tallied four. Below are the 21 Hokies that made the list. For a complete list, clickhere.

• Jeffrey Beyer
• Brent Bowden
• Grant Bowden
• Jarrett Boykin
  
• Nekos Brown
• Chris Drager
  
• Joshue Eadie
• Zach Evans
  
• Antone Exum
• Darian Fisher
• Roy Gentry
• George George
• John Graves
  
• Chris Hazley
• Andrew Miller
• Mark Muncey
• Joseph Phillips
• Matt Reidy
• William Tuttle
• David Wang
  
• Jerome Williams

(Source: TheACC.com and HokieSports.com)

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The Virginia Tech Hokies continue to broaden their recruiting reach as they picked up their fifth out-of-state commitment yesterday when defensive back James Farrow from Minnesota verbally committed to play for Virginia Tech. National signing day isn’t until February 2011.

Farrow is listed at 6 feet tall and 178 pounds. His 40-time is listed at 4.43 seconds, which is really good and will only improve once he gets into Tech’s strength and conditioning program.

The rising high school senior chose Frank Beamer and the Hokies at the end of his visit to the Blacksburg campus where he toured the football facilities, watched a practice and met with coaches, according to TechSideline.com. He hadn’t left Blacksburg yet before making a decision.

Brian Mohr from HokieHaven.com (a Rivals.com site), interviewed Farrow following his decision and spoke about his experience visiting Blacksburg, both on campus and off.

“I really understand the whole feel of what people say is the Hokienation, this is it, that was a big thing for me, the fan support is much appreciated and I liked it a lot,” said Farrow. “I went downtown into the stores and the people were real nice. Also, the stadium was great and the way they ran practice, the guys are upbeat and everyone had smiles on their face, enjoying themselves.”

Farrow also pointed to Tech’s coaching staff as another key factor in why he chose the Hokies over Wisconsin, Michigan State and West Virginia.

“Coach Beamer has been there years before I was even born and it’s a stable coaching staff. I felt like it’d be a real nice fit for me.”

Farrow committed to the Spartans earlier this year, but changed his mind and continued his search. Before visiting Tech, the defensive back and kick returner went to Morgantown to check out the West Virginia University Mountaineers.

Read more of Farrow’s interview with Rivals.com. (Subcription required)

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Manchester High School (Midlothian, Va.) offensive lineman Jake Goins has verbally committed to play football for the Virginia Tech Hokies. Goins chose the Hokies over offers from Clemson, Duke, Maryland and Virginia.

Goins is the 10th high school player to commit the Hokies’ 2011 recruiting class. The rising senior is listed by Rivals.com at 6-5, 288-pounds, and while he’s not nationally ranked, he is the first offensive lineman the Hokies have added to the class and the sixth player from the Commonwealth of Virginia in the class.

Picking up Goins was a minor victory for the Hokies, who earlier this recruiting season lost two 4-star offensive lineman to UNC. The Virginian-Pilot‘s Kyle Tucker write more about those here: Hokies land offensive lineman for class of 2011.

Here’s the Hokies’ 2011 recruiting class so far:

Name	Position	Height/Weight	Rivals.com Rating	Rank
Dewayne Alford	DE	6-3, 220	0 stars	NR
Adeboye Aromire	DB	6-0, 192	3 stars	31
Michael Cole	DB	6-2, 198	2 stars	NR
Jake Goins	OL	6-5, 288	0 stars	NR
Chris Hall	QB	6-4, 231	2 stars	NR
Kris Harley	DT	6-2, 265	5 stars	19
Corey Marshall	DE	6-2, 239	4 stars	21
Christian Reeves	TE	6-3, 214	3 stars	NR
Matt Roth	DE	6-4, 225	0 stars	NR
Ronny Vandyke	DB	6-3, 200	3 stars	35

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With a stable of wide receivers and running backs that would make any coach salivate, the Hokies appear to be set – barring injuries, of course – in the backfield and at wideout for the foreseeable future. And that’s why 2009 recruit Nubian Peak is transferring out of Blacksburg.

After redshirting the 2009 season, the short, but speedy high school running back-turned-wide receiver and kick returner didn’t see a future for him at Virginia Tech, so he asked for and received his release in July 2010.

Today, on Texas Tech’s official athletics website, it was announced that Peak was transferring to the Red Raiders. Peak’s younger brother, Tahrick Peak, is a true freshman linebacker at Virginia Tech. Tahrick signed with the Hokies last February, but asked for and received his release in July as well, opting to head to Lubbock, Texas to play for the Red Raiders and new head coach Tommy Tubberville.

The older Peak told the Roanoke Times that he did not feel he fit into the Hokies’ system and was frustrated that veteran players in front of him probably would keep him out of the starting lineup until his junior year.

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