Following Virginia Tech’s annual Maroon vs. White spring football game on Saturday, members of the media asked head coach Frank Beamer about the option of redshirting sophomore QB Tyrod Taylor if redshirt senior Sean Glennon won the QB battler outright. Beamer’s response surprised more than a few people - he didn’t rule it out - though he did say that the competition would remain open throughout fall practice.

I have made my case for Tyrod Taylor being the starter this season, but I’m having second thoughts. Not because I do not think that he is the best quarterback for this team; but because the team, as it stands right now, might not be the best fit for his game, and redshirting him this season would give us two full seasons with him as the uncontested QB. Throw him in there this season and he could very likely be running for his life on every play, which would increase the likelihood of injury.

The offensive line, while massive, is untested and suspect. The running game is in complete disarray with our top two RBs out with injuries and the next three guys, while talented, have no meaningful game experience. In fact, Dustin Pickle, the redshirt senior, is the only one of the three that has run the ball in an actual game, though all of his game experience came in garbage time. He only got one carry in the spring game. The other two, Josh Oglesby and Darren Evans, both redshirted last year. Even when Jahre Cheeseman and Kenny Lewis come back, there is no guarantee that the offensive line will be able to open up the holes necessary to establish an effective ground game.

Then there is the receiving corps, which is completely new. Our top guy right now isn’t even on scholarship. Brandon Dillard is a redshirt junior out of Martinsville and he’s all of 5-11, 180 pounds. He’s one of the fastest guys on the team and looked alright in the spring game, but he also lacks game experience and his lack of height will hurt him in jump ball situations. Then there are Ike Whitaker and Cory Holt, both converted QBs who haven’t seem much action as receivers. Certainly there is talent and potential at the receiver spot, but again, it is untested and there will be growing pains.

Glennon looked good in the spring game and tossed a pair of nice touchdown passes. He showed poise and maturity and looked every bit of the solid QB he proved he could be in the last year’s impressive 27-3 win over Georgia Tech. His issues is inconsistency and that is where I have concerns about making him the full time starter. Who would back him up if he struggles? Right now, Jeff Beyer, a 6-4, 221-pound redshirt junior is listed as the only other QB on the roster. I sincerely doubt they’d moved Ike or Cory back to QB after playing them at receiver all spring, though they could step in should the need arise, a la Nick Sorenson, but that’s a worst-case scenario.

If the Hokies are to redshirt Taylor this season - which is making more and more sense to me - they would need to ride any inconsistencies on Glennon’s part for the entire season. I would think that if Glennon - God forbid - got hurt within the first three games, you could bring Taylor out and burn the redshirt. However, if Glennon remains healthy, you keep Taylor on the bench and give the RBs, OL and WRs a year to mature and adjust to the system. That also gives Tyrod another two years with the incoming, talent-laden ‘08-’09 recruits.

Sean Glennon (r-sr.) seemed to take the edge in the quarterback battle following Saturday’s annual Maroon vs. White spring game at Lane Stadium. Glennon led White to a 24-3 win over Tyrod Taylor’s Marron squad by completing 9 of 15 passes for 120 yards and tossing a pair of touchdown passes - one to Brandon Dillard on a triple pump fake, and the other to former QB Ike Whitaker, who laid out in the corner of the endzone to make a spectacular catch.

Sophomore Tyrod Taylor wasn’t as impressive and struggled at times to find wide open receivers down field. He completed 11 of 19 passes for just 67 yards and one interception that was returned 55-yards by Kam Chancellor. He did have a touchdown pass called back because of a holding penalty. He didn’t get much protection from his offensive line and was sacked three times, including an unblocked corner blitz by Macho Harris. Taylor showed some elusiveness, but otherwise his performance was uninspiring.

Frank Beamer said after the game that the quarterback battle would continue through the fall, but when asked about the possibility of redshirting Tyrod this season if Glennon wins the QB battle outright, Beamer did not rule it out.

The Lynchburg News & Advance quoted Beamer as saying, “We’ll evaluate it. That will continue. The good thing about us is we’ve got two really good quarterbacks.”

The backfield battle is no closer to being settled. Redshirt freshmen Darren Evans and Josh Oglesby both turned in respectable games. Evans scored the game’s first touchdown when he pounded in a 1-yard TD run to give White a 7-0 lead. Evans finished with nine carriers for 24 yards and two catches. Oglesby rushed for 40 yards on seven carriers. Dustin Pickle (r-sr.) was listed as the No. 1 RB, but only got one carry for four yards. While he didn’t get many snaps, his leadership and work ethic earned him the honor of being a co-captain for White.

Without seeing Kenny Lewis or Jahre Cheeseman in the spring game and knowing that they’ll both likely be back for the season opener, or in Lewis’ case, possibly the Furman game, it’s tough to get a sense of who will be the guy come the ECU game in Charlotte on Aug. 30. The good news is, Oglesby and Evans looked serviceable.

The special teams came up with a blocked punt by Prince Parker that was recovered by Nekos Brown; and Macho Harris returned a missed field goal for 36 yards, using a pretty spin move to gain an extra 10 yards or so. Macho clearly has emerged as the leader of the defensive unit.

The kicking game wasn’t anything to write home about, but it wasn’t horrible either. Kickers combined to make 2 of 3 field goal attempts with the lone miss coming on a 52-yard attempt in which the snap was bobbled by the holder. The result was the 36-yard return by Harris. Chris Hazley connected on a 42-yarder while Dustin Keys hit an 18-yarder.

Wrapping Up…

Macho Harris did not see any snaps on offense, which was a little disappointing. But, Dillard - a non-scholarship player - looked pretty good at receiver and certainly made his case to be among the top three receivers (and possibly earn a scholarship). Dillard caught a 25-yard TD pass and rushed for 49 yards on a reverse.

Tight end Greg Boone, who looks like an undersized offensive lineman, caught two passes for 27 yards and saw one snap as a fullback that saw him lose two yards. Boone was also named the offensive MVP for the spring practice session.

Read more recaps:

• Lynchburg News & Advance
• Roanoke Times
• Daily Press

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!

There is finally some good news on the injury front! Tyrod Taylor sounds like he’s going to be just fine. Tyrod practiced yesterday and today so you can re-pack the car for Saturday as Frank Beamer and Mike O’Cain both think he will play in the spring game this weekend.

Also in the article by Randy King of the Roanoke Times is mention of a player that has really impressed me (and obviously the coaches too) this spring: Mr. Dorian Porch. While I suspected that he was going to play his way into the starting rover role this spring, I didn’t realize he was almost drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the second round out of high school. It appears the Hokie nation owes Mrs. Porch a big “thank you” as she talked Dorian out of the draft because she wanted him to get an education.

Keep up with the Hokies here and at VT.Fanfoc.us!

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.

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

ESPN released it’s “way-too-early” preseason college football top 25 poll today and the Hokies are ranked No. 11. OK … first, it is entirely too early to have a preseason college football poll of any kind, but I give ESPN’s Mark Schlabach credit for admitting as much. That being said, it is the off-season and college football junkies are already going through withdrawals. So, releasing a preseason poll gives us something to talk about and debate.

I was listening to Greg Roberts Live on WFIR this afternoon and he was incredulous that Virginia Tech was ranked so high. He also said that he thought the Hokies would have to scratch and claw their way to get seven or eight wins next season. I like Greg and I respect his opinion, but I think he’s missed the mark here.

I boldly - some would argue foolishly - predicted the Hokies to go undefeated next season in my Feb. 9 blog post and part of me really believes that they can. But, I am also a realist and understand just how difficult that would be, especially with road games against Boston College, Florida State, Miami and Nebraska. I’m not backing off my prediction, but if the Hokies drop two or three games, I will not be surprised. But to struggle to win seven or eight game? I think that’s a bit of a stretch.

Roberts, who is a Virginia Tech grad and former punter for the Hokies, pointed to the huge personnel losses on both sides of the ball as his main arguments for his prediction. Yes, Tech loses three defensive linemen, one all-conference corner and two all-conference linebackers. But this is not the first time Tech assistant head coach and defensive coordinator Bud Foster has had to reload his squad. Remember, Vince Hall and Xavier Adibi saw considerable playing since their freshman years because Foster lost his linebackers from the previous season. Hall started 12 of 13 games as a redshirt freshman and Adibi played in seven games, but missed six because of a torn tendon in his right biceps muscle. Those guys had immediate impacts and the players waiting in the wings have the same potential. Sure, they may not been as good as Hall and Adibi, but Hall and Adibi weren’t just good, they were great. The guys replacing them are very good and have the potential to be great.

As for the offense, I addressed the loss of personnel in an earlier post, but again, all four of the receivers came in at the same time because Tech lost guys to the NFL or graduation. We have two 4-star and two 3-star WRs coming in, plus two better-than-average TEs in Sam Wheeler and Greg Boone, so as far as the passing game goes, I’m sure it’ll take some time to gel, but I think it’ll be just fine by the middle of next season. Hmmm, let me rephrase; it’ll be as fine as it can be under Bryan Stinespring.

The offensive line is another year older and they are monstrously big, and scary strong. I think this will be a much-improved group. The running backs should be one of our most reliable and certainly our deepest position. Again, I covered all of these positions already, so if you want more detail, read my Feb. 9 post.

The bottom line is that I have a difficult time seeing the Hokies struggling to get seven or eight wins. I give the coaching staff and their recruiting skills much more credit that Roberts’ apparently is. Virginia Tech’s football program has reached a point in its evolution where it doesn’t panic when it loses a lot of guys - they just plug in guys they have molded and prepared and nine out of 10 times, they step in and pick up where their predecessors left off. Of course there is an adjustment period, but thanks to the coaching staff’s preparation, it is usually a very brief period, thankfully.

As for Tech’s No. 11 ranking - I think that Schlabach is using the same logic - the Hokies have the personnel to simply reload as they have proven in the past. I’d say that No. 11 is about right.

Virginia Tech released its 2008 football schedule and that means it’s time for me to make my annual pre-preseason predictions. Last year, I predicted a 10-2 regular season, which is what the Hokies ended up with. However, I missed two games: I predicted a win against Boston College and loss against Virginia. Other than that, I was pretty much dead on. Don’t believe me? Click here to read last season’s previews.

First, an overview of how I think the Hokies will shape up next season.

(Editors note: vatechhokies50 pointed out that I conveniently left out the QB situation. I was planning on writing a more detailed blog about that later, but I still should have addressed it to some degree here. So, what follows is an addition to the original article.)

Let’s begin with the quarterback situation. We all know that rising r-Sr. Sean Glennon and rising So. Tyrod Taylor will be back. What we do not know is whether there will still be a dual-QB system in place. I have a hard time believing that Glennon will be the starter next season or even split much time. Tyrod is the future of this team and the future is now. Even when the team had four all-conference caliber receivers, Bryan Stinespring didn’t use them and Glennon is supposedly the more traditional pocket passer. So, if you factor in the team is without experienced receivers; has a huge and strong offensive line; and a crowded backfield - that just screams a return to the power running game, which screams for a mobile quarterback, ergo … T-Mobile, a.k.a. Tyrod Taylor.

Let’s face facts … the dual-QB system was fun while it lasted, but sustained success is highly unlikely, especially with a lot of new faces on the offense this season. You can’t have a bunch of newbies learning two sets of offensive game plans, you need to simplify. Running is about as simple as it gets. Center snaps ball. QB hands ball to RB. RB runs with ball. As Peyton Manning said in his United Way commercials … “This ain’t rocket science.”

Tyrod should be the starter next season and Glennon will be a great … well, a very good … backup QB if he’s needed. It is absolutely absurd to think that you wouldn’t have Tyrod on the field as much as possible after the way he played last season. But that’s just my opinion.

Read more »

From TechSideline.com:

Virginia Tech received 31 letters of intent from football prospects today, the largest recruiting class in Frank Beamer’s tenure at Virginia Tech. The class includes 22 players from the state of Virginia, also a record for Beamer at Tech.

Although not all of the recruits will be enrolling this year, it marks the biggest recruiting class Tech has ever signed. The class features a number of highly-touted players, and as usual, a few sleepers that have an opportunity to defy the experts and excel at the college level.

Click here for a more complete recap from the boys at TechSideline.com.