Virginia Tech Football Preview

This is my very biased view of Virginia Tech’s 2006 football season. The QB is not the key. Warning: very long.While the leaves are still green and the sports world is still focused on baseball and golf, soon the trees will show their true colors and America will forget all other sports to watch the one sport that engulfs our society: It is August 24, 2006 and finally, I can say that it is football season.
    This is not just about any football, this is about Virginia Tech Hokies football, the lunchpail is back. No more Marcus Vick or Jimmy Williams to screw up our program, on the other hand, we lose Darryl Tapp, one of my favorite players of this generation, but we move on. I am going to start off my 2006 Hokie Preview by running down major coaching changes and other offseason happenings.

    QB coach, and should-be offensive coordinator Kevin Rogers left for the NFL, to go coach QBs for the Minnesota Vikings. He now has a young mobile QB to work with by the name of Tavarius Jackson. That left the QB coach spot open and Tech filled it with former NC State head coach Mike O’Cain. He led NC State to beating the #1 ranked Florida State Seminoles in 1998. He was most recently the QB coach at Clemson where he coached Charlie Whitehurst. Frank Beamer knows O’Cain from the 1981 Murray State team which Frank was the head coach of and O’Cain was an assistant. He has the task of coaching our young QBs into manageable shape. One problem he could face is the differences in them and the amount of change to the offense there would have to be if we were to switch quarterbacks. Sean Glennon is his starter right now, but there will be much more on that later.

    Offensive line coach, formerly occupied as an unnecessary second job for offensive coordinator Bryan Stinespring, will now be a job for Curt Newsome. Newsome’s last offensive line won the National Championship, in Division 1-AA, with James Madison. He should also have great scouting tips on Northeastern! On a more serious note, he is brought in to try and coach up an O-line that, quite frankly, has been the weakest point on out team for about 7 years now. We have had good players like Jake Grove and Will Montgomery on the line, but the unit has always been weak all told. From the never ending penalties of Jon Dunn to the inconsistency of Reggie Butler, our line has been bailed out by scrambling QBs that can make their mistakes into a highlight reel. Newsome now takes the line off of his fellow JMU-er and will attempt to put young talents to use, such as Sergio Render and Duane Brown.

    Defensive backs coach will now be occupied by former Hokie player and runner down of Tiki Barber to save Jim Druckenmiller’s final UVA game. His job should not be that difficult. While the corners somewhat inexperienced, Brandon Flowers and Macho Harris are wildly talented. The safeties are the underachieving DJ Parker and highly underrated Aaron Rouse, a Kevin McAdam, Cory Bird prototype.

    Wide receivers coach, seemingly an unneeded position at Tech right now, will be taken over by Kevin Sherman, most recently at Wake Forest. This makes about as much sense as hiring the Indianapolis Colts’ clutch kicking coach. Luckily he will not have to do much this season, as Tech has its most talented WR corpsever.

    Jim Weaver, master scheduler he is, managed to schedule 3 non-conference home creampuffs (Northeastern, Cincinatti, Kent State) and a guaranteed win, but not creampuff (Southern Miss). Those are just the non-conference variety. We also play Duke at home and at Wake Forest. We reportedly had a deal to play Wisconsin, but that tragically fell through. Not only do we have 3 creampuff games at home, we play 8 home games with the NCAA’s transition to the 12 game schedule, one of Weaver’s best moves, 8 tailgates! Also, non-television controlled games will start at 1:30 rather than 1:00. While all of this is great, it might actually hurt us when we are undefeated and still ranked lower in the BCS than a 2 loss Florida team due to an amazingly weak schedule. I will go more in-depth into our opponents in my Schedule Analysis Edition, coming out sometime before September 2nd.

Now to the Unit Previews and key player profiles:

Quarterbacks- Obviously the most questioned unit on our team, this is what landed us out of the Preseason Top 15. Contrary to popular belief, there is not a controversy in the making. Cory Holt may have played the most last year, but that was because we did not care if this Vince Young wannabe lost a year of eligibility. Ike Whitaker may be the prototypical Tech QB, but he also has the makings of Marcus off the field and will not be our starter this year. We will have a 6-4, 215 pound, white QB. Don’t panic, it is not Grant Noel. It is redshirt sophomore Sean Glennon. He has chemistry from high school with wide receiver Eddie Royal, and showed a good passing ability in mop up duty in 2004. Glennon is from Centreville, VA. He is an interesting change-up for an offense that has featured mobile QBs for this entire century, besides the Grant Noel problem. I am actually very pleased he will start. This will force Stinespring to think up some different ways for the offense to matriculate the ball down the field. As we proved against Miami and Florida State, our offense can be a bit too predictable, and is easily figured out by good teams. However, where there is good, there is bad. Glennon is not a mobile QB and therefore does not possess the ability to consistently bail out the offensive line like the Vicks and Randall did. Glennon could be described as the second coming of Jim Druckenmiller, if he wins. He does not have to carry this team or be a superstar. He has a great wide receiving unit and will not need to score that many points with our defense. He is under the typical Tech QB strategy that Bryan Randall did so well: Don’t screw up.
Rating (out of 10): 7

Running Backs- This is actually the more concerning backfield position for me. While it may not be a national point of interest, our running back situation could make or break our season. I think the coaches may have made a mistake in not playing Branden Ore more frequently last season. If he was academically eligible, he should have been on the field because he was the most talented back we had, and he needed the experience, because he will be carrying the load this season. George Bell was supposed to be able to carry weight and make it a young duo, but it looks as if he can barely put weight on his knee, so Ore is the man. Ore has reportedly come into camp with a much better attitude and a healed shoulder. I’m not kidding when I say that walk-on freshman Dustin Pickle has impressed the coaches and could see action as the number two tailback for the beginning of the year due to Bell’s health problems. If Ore can play to the level of his potential, such as he showed against Marshall, then our offense will fly much higher than people think.
Rating: 7

Wide Receivers- While Tech has had some great individual wide receivers come through the program, Carroll Dale, Antonio Freeman, more recently Andre Davis and maybe even Ernest Wilford, this is the best unit of wideouts Tech has ever had. While nobody is the real star, we have a unit of specialized wide receivers. We have Eddie Royal, the quick speedster that is an expert reverse runner. We have David Clowney, the only senior of the bunch, who is a great deep threat. Then there is Josh Morgan, the kick returner and mid range reception guy who will, by the way, be switching to number 2 this year, let’s hope he doesn’t inherit the number 2 curse (Jimmy Williams, Ronyell Whitaker). Next, there is Josh Hyman. He was sensational freshman year, but was inconsistent last year. Freshman year he was a touchdown machine, leading the team, but sophomore year he failed to score a touchdown. That was likely because of our redzone offense, which was all run, no pass. Hyman has a knack for making the dramatic/amazing play. Anybody remember his game against USC? Our offense would be better served to use him inside the thirty to run into the corner of the endzone and let him show his ability to beat a defender. Can anyone tell who my favorite wide receiver is? I think we tried to use the reverse way too much last year with Royal and forgot what the wide receivers are for. And finally, our fifth wide receiver, Justin Harper, is our best bruiser, over the middle threat. And due to the lack of a decent tight end, I believe we should be seeing lots of 3 and 4 wide receiver sets. Three with Jesse Allen in as the full back. On plays that would usually involve a tight end. We should put Allen in to block and use Harper as a tight end from a wide receiver position. The receivers are a big advantage to work with, but it is also a necessity since we have no tight ends that I want in the game.
Rating: 10

Offensive Line- Curt Newsome is the new offensive line coach. Hopefully he can make me quit criticizing Tech for hiring JMU football guys, or at least make me like him. In terms of experience, he has one decent player in center Danny McGrath. Duane Brown is a pretty safe bet over at right tackle, but while he is a junior, it is only his second season at the position. The left side features the heaviest starter on the team, Nick Marshmann, at guard in his first season as a starter. He weighs in at 346, but Jon Dunn was huge too, but unfortunately he was still able to lift his leg enough to false start more frequently than he blocked someone. Brandon Frye is the left tackle, and my main concern for this line. Left guard is either Sean Glennon’s best friend or worst enemy. Frye is Glennon’s blindside protection, and for a QB like Glennon, the confidence of being safe has to be there, or his production will decline rapidly, see David Carr in the NFL. While Ryan Shuman is listed first on the depth chart at right guard, that could change by mid-season with the great talent and progression of true freshman Sergio Render, possibly the best offensive lineman we have gotten since Jim Pyne, no kidding.
Rating: 6
Total Offense Rating: 30 out of 40
Just don’t blow it, and we will be alright.

Defensive Line- Even with the loss of Darryl Tapp, we have a good line. It may not draw the double teams that allowed Vince Hall and Xavier Adibi to tackle every single person that touched the ball, but it will be fine. Chris Ellis, as I may mention multiple times this year, is a freakish athletic specimen playing defensive end. He is 6-5, but it sure does tend to look like he is much taller than every lineman he faces. He looks a little odd when he pass rushes because he stands taller than most ends, pushing down on the offensive lineman to get by. The other end spot will be filled by Noland Burchette, (who I swear has been at Tech for 7 years) always a player, now he gets a chance to be a starter. The tackle spots will be a three man rotation for two spots. Carlton Powell be most frequently on the field, with Kory Robertson and Barry Booker splitting time in the other spot. Kory Robertson has been a little inconsistent, but would be the perfect nose tackle style run stuffer to free Hall and Adibi. The line will not be spectacular, but definitely solid.
Rating: 8

Linebackers- Vince Hall and Xavier Adibi are arguable the best linebacker duo in the nation. In fact, I had more problems deciding whether to call them “Vince and Xavier” or “Hall and Adibi” than figuring up this unit’s rating. Hall is the inside man, and he will be all over the place. He is a tackles machine. Adibi is on the outside, and his speed basically enables him to be both outside guys at once. However, we still have to play another outside linebacker, and that is a battle for the position between Brenden Hill and Corey Gordon. I expect the younger Gordon to win it eventually. I am also looking forward to the announcer’s reaction to our young linebacker named Purnell Sturdivant. While these guys might not have quite the same stats as last year since they are now targeted over the defensive line, Hall and Adibi could probably handle enough for three linebackers by themselves.
Rating: 10

Secondary- This is about young talent. Roland Minor will be recovering from a wrist injury suffered in a car accident. So, Macho Harris and Brandon Flowers will get their chance to start, and this is fine by me, I will take their desire over Minor’s slight case of the Jimmy Williams bug. Macho is extremely talented and if he excels at corner without much problem, could be asked to take some carries, as a running back. Flowers really impressed me as the number 3 corner last year. He actually is a better hitter than Jimmy Williams, which is what ESPN hailed Williams for. The safeties are no different from last year. DJ Parker will try once again to live up to expectations. Aaron Rouse will try to continue to exceed our expectations. After switching from linebacker, he has morphed himself into one of the nation’s most underrated players and one of Tech’s great rovers, following in the steps of McAdam and Bird, except with more size and more NFL potential.
Rating: 9

Total Defense Rating: 27 out of 30
We should once again be among the top in the Nation.

Special Teams- In case you were not aware, everyone plays special teams at Tech. Due to the recent decline in blocks and increase in opposing strategy, Frank Beamer put an even more strenuous emphasis on the unit this summer. There is no need to say more. Beamerball should be riding an up-curve this year.
Rating: 10

Coaching Staff-  The Good: Frank Beamer: Classic. Bud Foster: The Best. Billy Hite: Amazing. Jim Cavanaugh: Keep up the good work. The Bad: Mike O’Cain: Just isn’t Kevin Rogers. Torrian Gray: No experience (however, it shouldn’t be a big deal). Curt Newsome: We hired a guy out of 1-AA! The Ugly: Bryan Stinespring: I could write for a year, but creativity becomes stupidity the 41st time you run a reverse on 3rd and 7.
Rating: 9
Would be a ten if Kevin Rogers were offensive coordinator, or probably anyone else for that matter.

Intangibles- Lane Stadium won’t be losing any of its thrill even though I am getting sick of the clueless fair weather fans. And to compliment that, we have 8 home games! With the NCAA’s new 12 game format, both Florida State and Tech capitalized and gave themselves 8 home games. However, Jim Weaver still managed to screw something up. After a Wisconsin idea fell through, we are playing aforementioned creampuffs at home (cross fingers on Cincinnati). The creampuffs are great, but we managed to schedule them so that we could have our 4 toughest games in a span of 5 games. We play Georgia Tech, at BC, then have the break with Southern Miss, followed by Clemson and at Miami. And the one intangible that apparently decides our season: the press does not believe in us and has us ranked low, the best possible intangible.
Rating: 9

Total Team Rating: 85 out of 100

    Don’t panic that the score is a low B on the grading scale. This is football, not an English paper. Excluding our offense, our score is 55 out of 60, a much better grade. So if our offense can just hold its ground, and not lose the game, we should be able to pull it out. Now, can you just imagine if we could work the offense into one worthy of a powerhouse? Well, taking all of this into account, I will now predict our season. Explanations on each opposing team will come out in the Schedule Analysis Edition. Remember last year the game I was most worried about was Georgia Tech, that worked out well.

Northeastern 0
Virginia Tech 51
Over under 2nd quarter for the backups to come in?

At
North Carolina 10
Virginia Tech 17
Actually a somewhat worrisome game to go on the road against a real football team.

Duke 10
Virginia Tech 26
Start climbing the difficulty scale from the bottom.

Cincinnati 9
Virginia Tech 31
Creampuff with upsetting history.

Georgia Tech 16
Virginia Tech 34
Meningitis Bowl II

At
Boston College 28
Virginia Tech 24
We always play close games in Chestnut Hill, and this is my game to worry about, as I obviously see a loss coming.

Southern Miss 9
Virginia Tech 35
The toughest homecoming game in years!

Clemson 13
Virginia Tech 34
I am really angry about Clemson, like I am ready to strangle the media. They are “the team to watch” this year, ranked in the Top 20, but everyone forgets that their QB situation is worse than ours. I hope we clobber them in our house at our time, Thursday night.

At
Miami 10
Virginia Tech 24
Goal: Knock Kyle Wright out so we can sack their backup QB: Kirby Freeman. Great name for a backup. Miami is the most overrated team in the country, next to Clemson.

Kent State 3
Virginia Tech 38
Just as we hit our step, the degree of difficulty goes way down.

At
Wake Forest 10
Virginia Tech 27

Virginia 14
Virginia Tech 31
If you have not heard Colin Cowherd’s radio clip, you have to see an exceprt. It is what I have been trying to convey for 12 years. “UVA? UVA football is the biggest bunch of fru-fru daquiri drinkin’, ascot wearing, cookie dough eating bunch of weenies I’ve ever seen in my life.” That was just part of a 10 minute set of rants.

ACC Championship Game
Florida State 23
Virginia Tech 27
Not kidding, I think we can beat anyone in the Coastal. I am apparently the only person in America who believes in Sean Glennon, and I think he will force the offense to change, and therefore make us less predictable. If defenses do not know what is going to happen, which has been our problem, then the offense can muster enough for our defense to win the game. ACC surprise of the year? No America, it is not Clemson, wake up and see the Hokies. Welcome back to 2004. (Now if only the Red Sox would follow suit.)

Orange Bowl
Ohio State 31
Virginia Tech 21
We lose to the third best team in the nation as we take on the number 2 team from the Big Ten. Find out why in this weekend’s Hokie Pokie National College Football Preview.

    Low expectations have a good connotation in the ears of Hokie fans. Shocking the world is apparently the road we like to take. While we are certainly not the “ultimate underdog,” having a chip on our shoulder is certainly an advantage for Tech. Our best seasons are ones without hype. While hype machines work for Notre Dame, Texas and other big programs, Tech has made it obvious that hype does not help our style of play. Players worrying about individual honors and NFL potential has shot down seasons repeatedly(Jimmy Williams, Michael Vick). Believe it or not, the Team United slogan that I stress actually means something. Teams are harmed by individuals getting more attention than others. While every team has a star, Tech comes out of nowhere when we have to prove ourselves, as a team. Nobody knows who Sean Glennon is, they just know he is number 7. That sound familiar? We should put confidence in Frank Beamer and our guys, because nobody else will. Small names often equate to lower preseason rankings, as it did in 2004 and 1999, and that should be fine with us, because while we expect our team to win, the team plays better when they must believe in themselves as a team, united. Hokie Hi for 2006 Surprise. Zc