■ 29 August 2008 | 6:05 PM
It's Christmas Eve. You get to open one present ...
Hello, Hokies. By this time tomorrow night, I’ll be frantically pounding my keyboard trying to meet The Pilot’s new impossible Saturday deadlines … and you, me and the rest of the world will know a heckuva lot more about Tech’s team.
Yep, it’s here. The season is upon us. After a month of writing about practice, I’m personally quite ready to see these guys actually play. I’m sure you’re with me on that.
No news tonight. I’m sure the Hokies are already in Charlotte and, after crankin’ out a couple of stories for tomorrow’s printed Pilot, I need to throw some clothes in a suitcase and head on down the highway myself.
I may check back in late tonight and post some Brent Bowden interviews from a story I just finished. If not, the story will be in tomorrow’s paper and I’ll post the quotes in the a.m., before the game.
For now, here’s a trio of talkin’ heads from Tech’s defense. I’m very, very curious to see how the Hokies handle ECU quarterback Patrick Pinkney (Captain Scramble) and how well the defense plays together, since (assuming Macho doesn’t play) there will be EIGHT new starters on the field.
Communication is key in Bud Foster’s scheme. Soon we’ll see if these fellas have a good feel for each other. One prediction: FS Kam Chancellor will send someone off the field wobbling tomorrow.
Until then …
LB PURNELL STURDIVANT
ON THE PRESSURE OF REPLACING STAR XAVIER ADIBI: “Not really pressure. I think of it more as a challenge. I’m going to give it my all and just come out with a victory every week.”
ON WHETHER HE HAS MEDICAL DOCUMENTATION OF HIS SUPPOSED 2-PERCENT BODY FAT: “Actually, you can get it from Amy Freel. She’s our nutritionist. I think it’s kind of in my genes. My granddad was a body builder. It kind of skipped a generation and went to me. A lot of guys believe me when I say that (he’s 2 percent). Some guys are like, ‘You can’t be.’ But I work hard in the weight room.”
ON WHETHER HE’D CONSIDER BECOMING A BODY BUILDER AFTER FOOTBALL: “Maybe. If the money’s right. But I just graduated with a degree from Tech in real estate. So that’s my plan for the future.”
ON WHETHER HIS GRANDDAD GOT HIM STARTED LIFTING WEIGHTS: “Actually, I never met my grandfather. He passed away before I was born. I’ve seen a lot of pictures of him, though. He was about 6-1. My mom, she’s about 5-4. My dad’s about 5-8. So actually, I think I came out pretty good (at 5-10).”
ON WHETHER HE HAS ANY NICKNAMES AMONG HIS TEAMMATES, OTHER THAN P-STUMP: “Yeah. Midget Mack. You ever seen “I Love New York”? The call me 50 Cent, too. I guess because of my body.”
ON REMEMBERING LAST YEAR’S ECU GAME: “Very close. Very close. And I think it’s kind of vice versa this year. I think some guys came in this game last year kind of overlooking ECU. This year, I think they’re kind of overlooking us. They have a lot of juniors and seniors back, just about everybody back on offense. They definitely have my attention. Me being a first-time starter, everyone’s going to have my attention. I want to perform on every call, get it down each and every week.”
ON HOW MUCH A RUNNING THREAT ECU QUARTERBACK PATRICK PINKNEY IS: “He’s a big threat. But we practice against a good running quarterback in Tyrod every day. Actually, we’re going to have a period today (that was Tuesday) just doing the read plays and the side plays, having the linebackers scraping and picking up the quarterback (Tyrod), just to get us more prepared for this weekend. That’s helpful.”
ON HIS REACTION TO THE TAYLOR DECISION: “I kind of heard about it this summer. But I think C. Holt’s going to be a great No. 2 quarterback. Who knows: Tyrod might get on the field this year or he might not. It just depends on how the first games go.”
ON WHAT HE’S SEEN FROM SEAN GLENNON IN PRACTICE THIS SUMMER: “I thought he could do it. A lot of people doubted Sean for a long time. Some still do. Things happen, especially at quarterback. You throw an interception, the crowd boos you, there’s a lot of pressure. But for him to bounce back all those times shows a lot. And I think he’s ready to have a great senior season now.”
DE ORION MARTIN
ON BEAMER JOKING ABOUT THROWING UP BEFORE THE GAME: “I hope not. I think he’ll be OK.”
ON WHETHER THE DEFENSE IS PREPARING FOR ONE QUARTERBACK OR TWO FROM ECU: “I think we’re preparing for both. It really doesn’t matter. We know we’re going to get the read play, and we’ll be ready for that. If they play the other guy, we’ll be ready for him, too. The other guy is a bigger guy, more of an NFL-type quarterback. I don’t think we’ll get much of the option with him. But we’ll be ready.”
ON ECU PLAYING THE HOKIES CLOSE LAST YEAR: “The Kass guy (ECU’s pocket passer) got a DUI before the game. So they threw the other guy (Pinkney) in. I don’t think they were going to run all that stuff. We really weren’t prepared for that. That did shock us a little bit. I don’t even think they prepared. I think they just came up with that because of who they had at quarterback. And it worked for them. Got them to a bowl game.”
ON WHETHER TECH TOOK ECU LIGHTLY LAST YEAR: “I think some of the older guys took them a little bit lightly. But this year, they might be taking us a little lightly. Because they came to Lane and fought us to the end. And now they’re getting us in North Carolina. So we know they’re going to be confident. They’re a year older. They’re getting coached up down there. We know we’re going to get their best game.”
ON WHAT THIS GAME MEANS IN TERMS OF SETTING A TONE FOR TECH’S YOUNG TEAM: “I was talking to Dustin Pickle the other day, and this is probably going to be one of our biggest games all year. It’s the first one, we’re away from home and we’ve got young guys getting their first taste of college football. It’s going to be the biggest game of the year.”
ON CONFIDENCE BEING BIG FOR YOUNGSTERS: “It would be good to get that win on opening day and propel us to the rest of the season.”
ON HAVING TYROD TAYLOR ACT AS ECU’S SPEEDY QUARTERBACK THIS WEEK IN PRACTICE: “You can’t get any faster than Tyrod. So if you’re practicing against him, that’s going to help us out a whole lot.”
ON BEING SURPRISED THAT TAYLOR IS PRACTICING THIS WEEK AS A SCOUT TEAM GUY: “Yeah, I was a little surprised. That was their decision, and we’re going to go with it.”
ON SENSING GLENNON IS IN CONTROL: “I know he’s plenty capable. I thought we were going to play both. But Sean seems like he’s in control of everything. He knows everything, and I think the coaches trust him.”
ON WHETHER THE OFFENSIVE LINE’S IMPROVEMENT FACTORED INTO THE QB DECISION: “They’re a whole lot better. All five of them. I think Sean will have plenty of time to get the ball out. So that helped, I’m sure.”
CB STEPHAN VIRGIL
ON GETTING NERVOUS FOR HIS FIRST SEASON AS A STARTER: “Not really. More excited than nervous. I’m real focused. First game, I’m trying to be prepared.”
ON HOW BIG THIS GAME IS FOR TECH’S YOUNG TEAM: “It’s a huge game because it’s the first game. We have to focus on the right now, and that’s ECU. We get them out of the way, we should be alright.”
ON LAST YEAR’S GAME: “We haven’t really talked about last year. We’re focused on this season, this team. We’re kind of underdogs (not according to Vegas, but ECU is a popular upset pick), so we’re out here practicing every day with a chip on our shoulder.”
ON SAYING TWO WEEKS AGO THAT THIS WOULD BE TECH’S BEST-EVER SECONDARY: “I’m sticking by that. My word is my bond. We practice that way every day. That’s why I said it. We’re feeling real good, but we haven’t done anything yet. Saturday’s coming up soon, so we’ll have a chance to show what we can do.”
ON FEELING A RESPONSIBILITY TO KEEP UP TECH’S CORNERBACK TRADITION: “I do. When I’m at home, I’m still thinking about my plays. Even when I’m doing my homework, I’m still thinking about what I’ve got to do. If I make a mistake in practice, I think about it all night, how I could have done it better. I’m trying to better myself all day every day.”
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Oh Blog Boy, darn that old
Oh Blog Boy, darn that old Pilot for those bad, bad deadlines. They're sure not thinking of our No. 1 Hokies fan, are they? Those noon games must be tough, huh? But we all have faith in you. Keep up the good work, Bloggy.