■ 11 August 2008 | 8:17 PM
NOTE: Be sure to stay 'til the end of this entry. Added something right before posting that I think many of you will find interesting. Nothing like a little good 'ol fashioned discipline. Now, on with the blog ...
Easily the biggest question, offensively, heading into the fall for Tech is where the production in the passing game will come from. And I don’t mean quarterback. Whoever is in there, Sean Glennon or Tyrod Taylor, should be solid. I’m still betting on both, anyway.
But who’ll be catching those passes remains the mystery. We’ve talked a lot in this space about the rookies. And yes, Dyrell Roberts and Jarrett Boykin look like a lock to play right away.
Any good offense, though, needs veterans to lead the way. So I caught up with three “old” guys who will be counted on to shoulder the load, at least in the early going. Even the most talented freshman is going to go through an adjustment period.
Take Roberts. For all his skills (and he has plenty), the kid is moving from running back to receiver and from relatively low-level high school competition to big-time college ball. He has never be clocked over the middle by a Kam Chancellor type.
The three guys below … they won’t be shocked the first time a helmet hits them in the numbers. All three, I think, will be critical to this offense’s success. Especially the first two …
TE GREG BOONE
ON HIS WEIGHT BEING DOWN TO 275: “It’s not bad. I’m working to get down some more. I haven’t been this light since freshman year. I feel a lot better. I’m not as tired as usual. Me being here the entire summer, walking this stadium four days a week really helped. We’d walk up down, over and across, back and forth at 6:30 in the morning.”
ON LINING UP WIDE SOMETIMES, CATCHING A BOMB AGAINST A CORNER IN A RECENT PRACTICE: “Yeah, you saw that right. They’ve got us split out wide and some in the slot. We’ve got a lot to handle as a tight end group, since we’re pretty much the most-experienced out here.”
ON BEING EXCITED ABOUT HIS NEW ROLE: “I’m very excited about it. This is giving me an opportunity to show what they brought me here to do, what I did in high school. This is my time to prove myself in college. We’ve got a lot of opportunities to make plays. Since we don’t have any receivers with experience, we get to be more the focal point.”
ON COMING OUT OF THE BACKFIELD SOME, TOO: “I’m going to try to get about five carries a game. I’m going to ask him for it. But I don’t know if he can do it. I’d be happy with two. Whatever I can get, I’ll take it. It’ll be pretty exciting to hear my name get called a few more times this year.”
ON HIS SPEED: “In the spring I ran between a 4.6 and 4.7.”
ON BEING COMFORTABLE AS A TIGHT END: “I feel much more comfortable having two years under my belt as a tight end. I’m glad I made the switch (from quarterback), because at quarterback there’s too much on your shoulders. If something goes wrong, the crowd’s going to hassle you. Yeah, I’m glad I made the move.”
ON HIS GOAL THIS YEAR: “Go to the national championship. I don’t have any personal goals, really, just to be the best player I can and help my team win.”
WR DANNY COALE
ON SUDDENLY BEING THE GO-TO RECEIVER: “It feels good. You hope for something like that. You hope to get better each day. You work to be that consistent player they’re looking for.”
ON WHAT HE DID TO GET READY FOR THE OPPORTUNITY: “You try to soak in everything (the veterans) can teach you while they’re here. Then once they’re gone, you try to use their techniques, whatever they taught you. You have to step up and make it be your time.”
ON ONE SENIOR LAST YEAR HE PAID CLOSEST ATTENTION TO: “I tried to take notes on Justin Harper a lot. The good thing about him is he was willing to give me a lot of information and let me know when I was doing things wrong. It helped guide me. It helped fix my flaws. I learned how to run routes ... film study … he was there, helping me transition.”
ON WHERE HIS STRENGTH LIES: “You try to be as good as you can in every aspect of the game. Hopefully, consistency. Once you have that, it lets you play faster, get a little more confidence and things take care of themselves.”
ON WORRIES OVER GROWING PAINS AT RECEIVER: “I’m sure there will be growing pains. In football, you’re always going to have some inexperience. But if you work hard every day, maybe you can come out and surprise some people.”
ON HOW HE’D DESCRIBE HIMSELF AS A WIDEOUT: “I think everybody hopes to be known as a playmaker, being that guy you can count on.”
ON BEING A “VETERAN” AMONG RECEIVERS AS A REDSHIRT FRESHMAN: “It is a little strange, one year in the program and I’m already a veteran. But it just makes you elevate your game one more step, knowing you’re the older one and you have to come out and perform. Football is definitely a waiting game. Some people have to wait longer for their turn. Fortunately for me, my turn came quicker than others. Now I need to take advantage of it.”
ON WHO AMONG THE TRUE FRESHMAN RECEIVERS MIGHT PLAY: “That’s a hard bet. Any one of these guys could come out. We’re in the first week, so we’ll see. But the future is bright for them. All of them have their moments.”
ON HOW MUCH A PHYSICAL FREAK IS TIGHT END GREG BOONE: “You’ve seen him in the backfield. He’s a pretty big freak. He’s an intimidating guy.”
ON BOONE CATCHING DEEP BALLS, LINING UP WIDE: “It just shows the athleticism he possesses. He has what it takes to go deep, and that’s a very good thing for us. He’ll be a big factor, along with all our tight ends. They’ll get their hands on a lot of balls.”
WR ZACH LUCKETT
ON WHETHER FANS SHOULD BE WORRIED ABOUT THE RECEIVERS: “No. We keep hearing it. We keep hearing that we’re young and inexperienced. But we don’t buy it. We come out like we’ve played before.”
ON HAVING ALL THE PHYSICAL TOOLS BUT CONSISTENCY BEING THE KNOCK AGAINST HIM: “I’ve been adjusting as a wide receiver. I came to camp to focus on the little aspects of the game. I do have the physical tools, but the little things are what I needed. Keeping your eyes on the ball before you turn and run up the field, getting in and out of my routes, knowing the defense better.”
ON WHETHER HE TRIED TO HARD TO MAKE THE BIG PLAY IN THE PAST, LEADING TO DROPS AND INCONSISTENCY: “Yeah, I guess I was so excited to be out there that I was trying to make those plays. But now I’m just having to slow my game down and focus. Now I feel like I’m well-prepared.”
ON WHICH OF THE TRUE FRESHMEN COULD EMERGE: “I have no idea who Coach Sherman’s going to pick, but actually all the freshmen came in more experienced than I was. They all look really good. Physically, they’ve got all the tools. Some are strong, some are fast. They just look good.”
ON THE PLAYMAKERS: “I’ve seen Dyrell make a couple plays on some deep balls. Marcus Davis, too. Jarrett and Randall … they’ve actually all made plays in practice. It’s kind of surprising for such young guys, but they’re getting it done.”
ON HOW BIG A PHYSICAL FREAK TIGHT END GREG BOONE IS: “Yeah … I wouldn’t tackle him. He is a freak.”
*** LATE ADDITION TO THIS BLOG ***
I had the above blog info pretty much set up and ready to go even before practice today, but after heading over there … I figured I should add this little nugget. While the session was closed to the media, I did notice that the offense was kept on the field longer than the rest of the team today. I noticed because I was waiting to talk to offensive coaches and players.
They didn’t have pads on, and all of them were soaked and exhausted-looking, but they were running through some basic drills … AFTER the whole team had run their post-practice conditioning.
So when they were finally finished, I asked offensive coordinator Bryan Stinespring what that was all about. Here is his interesting response, in full:
“Just a quick lesson in the difference between emotion and intensity. Emotion can be fleeting. Intensity never leaves you. You can ride emotion in times of momentum, when things are going good and you feel good about yourself. But when it gets a little sluggish out there, that’s when intensity won’t allow you to back off what you’re doing. I thought, for the first time in any period since we’ve been in camp, I didn’t feel like we moved with a high energy level. I didn’t think we went through that period with the level of intensity that we need to play with … so it was just a lesson in the difference in emotion and intensity. We didn’t get it done that period, so we went back out and made sure we didn’t leave anything on the field. So we got that period back.”
Sounds like Stiney is serious about turning his offense around.
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Thanx for the Blog and Boone love
Great blog for the Hokie fix!
290 lbs and running a 4.7; Wow.