■ 30 September 2008 | 8:30 PM
Talkin' Tyrod's knee and Davon's replacement ...
You can expect a bunch of Dorian Porch stories in your newspapers tomorrow. It’s sort of a slow news week here in Blacksburg, what with the Hokies playing my alma mater, Western Kentucky.
The Hilltoppers won’t put up much of a fight, I suspect, but it’ll be comforting to see the red towel on their helmets. Ah, the good ole days. I’ve got two best buds from college flying in this week to watch WKU get hammered.
Good times.
So anyway, all us hacks, I think, are writing about Mr. Porch … Davon Morgan’s replacement at rover. He’s really the only thing none of us have written extensively about. Below, you’ll find full transcripts of my interviews with (and about) Porch over the last couple of days.
But first, an injury updated from the esteemed Mike Goforth, resident wrist, ankle, knee and even kidney expert. Tech’s trainer covered a few notable topics. They are:
* Yes, worry warts, QB Tyrod Taylor did have an MRI on Monday. It wasn’t on his ankle, which he’s rolled a time or two. It was on his right knee, which he banged on the turf late against Nebraska. And he's fine. “Just a bad bruised knee,” Goforth said. Taylor is wearing a padded contraption on his knee this week. “We’re gonna keep that on him to kind of protect him this week.” Goforth doesn’t think Taylor will have to wear that in the game. “Purely precautionary,” he said.
* Davon Morgan’s ACL injury was a complete tear. Goforth said he’s going to appeal the NCAA for a medical redshirt, “but I just don’t know.” He said the rule is that a player can’t get one after playing four games, but that he’s still going to try. “I don’t know that I can speak on the way the NCAA acts,” Goforth said. “It used to be a three-game rule and they just switched it last year. … I wouldn’t say the door is completely closed (for Morgan), but we’re gonna keep trying.”
* Freshman WR Xavier Boyce (knee) is probably done for the year. Rookie DE Bruce Taylor (shoulder) might not be. “More than likely, that’s the way he’s leaning. We’re still doing some testing on him,” Goforth said. He also said he thinks both could get a redshirt if neither plays the rest of the way because of their injuries. On their injuries: “Bruce is a sprain. Boyce has got a cartilage injury on the end of his bone that he had repaired in high school. … Bruce’s is the same deal, but the other shoulder … He’s tried to keep it quiet from us because he wanted to play. It’s a typical freshman-type thing that I’d have wished we’d have known sooner.”
So that pretty much catches you up on the injury front. Now for all things Dorian Porch …
WHIPS AND ROVERS COACH JIM CAVANAUGH
ON WHAT DAVON MORGAN’S INJURY MEANS: “I just moved Porch up. Porch goes to 1, he’ll start the game. And Matt Reidy, who’s been a back-up at both whip and rover, will concentrate strictly at rover.”
ON PORCH PREVIOUSLY BEING THE TOP BACK-UP AT FREE SAFETY, TOO: “Well, he’s been back-up at both, and Lorenzo Williams was listed as a 3 at free safety, so this will enable him to get a lot more work.”
ON WILLIAMS, THEN, BEING THE NEW BACK-UP AT FREE SAFETY: “No, no … you’re not going to get me to pin that down. It depends on how he does, and we’ll keep Porch enough work (at free safety). They’re all going to have to be double-taught. Reidy can play whip and rover. Porch can play free and rover. Lorenzo is obviously locked in (at free safety). Hunter Ovens is now getting work as the third whip.”
ON HOW MUCH PORCH HAD PLAYED THIS SEASON AT ROVER, IN GAMES: “I’d say a quarter. He got enough work … the other day when he went in he had 36 plays and did real well. He didn’t have any major technique flaws.”
ON MORGAN AND PORCH BEING CO-NO. 1 ENTERING CAMP: “Uh-huh. There shouldn’t be any drop-off between Porch and Davon. I’m counting on Porch to come in and play real well.”
ON WHAT PORCH LACKED EARLY IN PRESEASON: “I think he needed to be in better shape, in better conditioning. He had not been here that summer (had in internship in D.C.) and when you’re not in as good a shape to start, you don’t practice as well. Consequently, you don’t practice as well, you may not play. And (Morgan), the light bulb had been on and I thought he performed better than Porch did. Plus, Porch was also getting a lot of work at free, which sort of hurt him at rover. He had to do both.”
ON PORCH’S CONDITIONING NOW: “Very good. He’s fine.”
ON WHETHER HE MIGHT’VE WON THE JOB IF HE’D BEEN IN SHAPE TO START CAMP: “He could’ve. But you don’t know that. (But) Porch and Davon Morgan are excellent rovers. Both can be co-1s. And Grimm and Martin can be co-1s at whip. Porch, quite frankly, in getting work at free hurt him getting work at rover. It’s tough doing that.”
ON THE BIGGEST BLOW BEING IN DEPTH FOR THE DEFENSE: “Yeah, you lose a good player. You lose one of your top four rovers and whips. You go from four to three.”
ON ANYTHING PORCH MIGHT HAVE AS A STRENGTH OVER MORGAN: “Yeah, Porch is a very good reader of run-pass and he’s a great tackler. He’s a very good tackler. He should do a very good job in our run defense.”
SS DORIAN PORCH
ON THE SUMMER INTERNSHIP THAT KEPT HIM AWAY FROM BLACKSBURG AND OUT OF SUMMER WORKOUTS: “In D.C. I did an internship with Aimco, a property management company. Probably the largest one in America, as a matter of fact. I had a lot of fun. I was up there the whole summer, got a lot of experience, got to work on both sides, commercial and marketing. So it was good for me.”
ON WHETHER IT WAS HARD TO KEEP IN SHAPE: “That was the big thing. I worked out a lot. The pace is what’s hard to keep. You come back down here and it’s so fast-paced. That’s the hard thing to keep up with. It’s not the same intensity.”
ON SPLITTING TIME BETWEEN ROVER AND FREE SAFETY, AND HOW MUCH THAT AFFECTED HIM BEING ABLE TO WIN THE STARTING ROVER JOB: “I feel like it helped me, because part of my game that I was lacking was the confidence in knowing exactly what to do. Going to free safety opened my eyes to look at a lot more. It helped me out a lot. It’s always good when you go out and notice something, just by alignment, what might come at you. At rover, I was focusing more on one side of the field. Free safety, it kind of opened me to focus on the whole field and that helped me a lot.”
ON HOW MUCH FREE SAFETY HE PLAYED IN GAMES THIS YEAR: “In the Georgia Tech game I went in the third series and two more series after that. And the very first game, I went in the third series. Mostly, I’ve been at rover.”
ON HOW COMFORTABLE HE IS TAKING OVER THE STARTING JOB: “I’m a guy that’s been here. I’ve been through a little bit. I got to watch a lot of good players play the position. So, sitting back and watching, I feel like now I’m ready to do the job.”
ON MOST SPOTS ON DEFENSE HAVING ROOKIE BACK-UPS, AND WHETHER ROVER IS ONE SPOT WHERE THE BACK-UP ISN’T A CONCERN: “Yeah. I’ve got to give it to the coaches. They stayed on me, prepared me like I am the guy. I think that’s really moved me along. I’ve got a lot of respect for what they’ve been doing for me. I’m ready to do it.”
ON WHEN HE GOT HIS CONDITIONING RIGHT: “After the 110 test (a series of 110-yard sprints that must be completed in a certain time). I kind of went on my own and did a little bit of extra work, and coming back to practice I was ready.”
ON WHETHER HE MIGHT’VE WON THE ROVER JOB EARLIER IF HE’D BEEN IN BETTER SHAPE: “Yeah, that was one big thing (Cavanaugh) told me. We had a couple talks about that. He said I let him down with that part. I worked back in there, but it just wasn’t enough. I mean, Davon, he’s a good player.”
ON HIS THOUGHT PROCESS WHEN DAVON GOT HURT: “I was watching the kick return. He told me he was going to break one (right before he got hurt). You saw him catch the ball – he really wasn’t supposed to catch it – he kind of went and got the ball, and I seen him take a hop … and I was like, ‘Oh, that’s it!’ Next thing I know, he went down. Came over, talked to him a little bit … and he was in pain. I just started getting my mind ready.”
ON PLAYING WELL TO FINISH THAT GAME, INCLUDING A FUMBLE RECOVERY TO CLINCH IT, AND WHETHER THAT EASES THE NERVES OF BEING THE NEW STARTER: “It’s been the same. I’ve been preparing. We practice so hard that when you go in the game, it’s already more of a relaxed situation. You know what’s going to come for you. I was already ready for that when it came.”
ON WHAT HE NEEDS IMPROVE: “My biggest thing is concentration on every play, focus. I’ve got the tools to do the job. I just need to stay focused in on every play and not be in any wrong positions at any time.”
ON WHAT HE MIGHT DO BETTER THAN MORGAN: “I feel like my body strength and my speed might be a little bit better, but he’s a guy right beside me in everything we do, so not much … except maybe strength.”
ON BEING A FOURTH-YEAR JUNIOR WHO HASN’T PLAYED A LOT AND WHETHER IT’S TAKEN LONGER THAN HE THOUGHT: “Honestly, when they recruited me, it was more as an athlete. They told me I would be on defense. In my high school career, I was an all offensive guy. I wasn’t so sure when I came here. I wasn’t even sure I was going to redshirt until the fourth game of my freshman year. And then I had little things off the field that kept me from being focused and being the guy they wanted me to be. I feel like I matured over time and I’m ready to do what needs to be done.”
ON WHAT HIS OFF-FIELD ISSUES WERE EARLY IN HIS CAREER: “Class, little class stuff, assignments and stuff that I wasn’t doing exactly what I needed to be.”
ON WHETHER THERE’S A SENSE OF URGENCY TO DO THINGS RIGHT NOW THAT HIS CLOCK IS TICKING: “It’s necessary. I don’t rely on coaches to do anything. I feel like it’s all my responsibility, and I feel like that was a little bit of my problem before.”
ON HIS MINDSET MAYBE BEING A LITTLE OFF WHEN HE STARTED HIS TECH CAREER: “When I first got here, I didn’t actually know what position I was going to be. They talked about I was going to be a cornerback, and when I got in, I knew we had a lot of great corners. I wasn’t sure if I was even going to play in my first season. … Just being away from home, in a different atmosphere, and it was always so much going on, I kind of got caught up in little things, like being out, going out with friends, instead of focusing more on school on what I needed to do to get on the field. It was kind of a get-away-from-home thing. That was my biggest thing.”
ON WHAT GO HIM IN THE COACHES’ DOGHOUSE, SPECIFICALLY: “We had study hall. I was not getting 10 hours a week. I was getting eight or nine. It was always just little pet-peevish stuff that they said, ‘If you don’t get it together, we can’t do anything with you.’ The way they look at it: If they can’t trust you off the field, they can’t trust you on it.”
ON HAVING LOTS OF AFTER-PRACTICE SESSIONS WITH COACH FRANK BEAMER: “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Usually it’s either Bruce (Garnes) or (John) Ballein (football operations guys) coming and telling me, ‘Go see Coach Beamer after practice.’ After a while it gets old and you think: This isn’t even making any sense what I’m doing. So after a while, I decided to get it together.”
ON WHAT BEAMER WOULD SAY TO HIM AFTER PRACTICE, PUTTING PORCH THROUGH EXTRA EXERCISE: “His biggest thing was, ‘I could be at home eating a nice steak. Instead, I’m out here and we’re doing these up-downs.’ We did up-downs or we would run half-gassers. They’ve got this thing: 40 seconds of work, 20 seconds of rest. So it just depended on what he was feeling like.”
ON WHAT YEARS HE WAS DOING THAT THE MOST: “My freshman year. My redshirt year. Not as much (after). I still had times here and there … but not as much.”
ON HAVING LOTS OF LITTLE THINGS HOLDING HIM BACK IN HIS CAREER, AND HOW IT FEELS NOW TO HAVE NOTHING STANDING IN HIS WAY: “It’s kind of like a weight lifted off my back. When you can walk around and you don’t have to think, ‘Did I mess this up? Or mess that up?’ you’re on top and you stay ahead of things. I feel real good about this week especially.”
ON BEING A BASEBALL PLAYER IN HIGH SCHOOL, AND WHETHER HE CONSIDERED PURSUING THAT: “They offered me like a free agent contract: two years, $300,000 out of high school. The Diamondbacks, Arizona. They came at the beginning (of his senior season) … and I hit a home run. Then they came our last home game. … My first at-bat, I hit another home run. They got in contact in my coach. … They talked to my mom before they talked to me at all. That’s why she had the big say-so in it. She didn’t feel like $300,000 was secure enough for me to go ahead and take that offer. It’s definitely something I think about every now and then. It would’ve been nice, but I think I made the right decision.”
ON HARD THAT WAS TO TURN DOWN: “I don’t know what she was thinking. In my mind, I was like, ‘Three hundred thousand? Yes! Right now! I’m ready, I’m ready!’ But she definitely didn’t feel like it was enough to just go and take a chance, not knowing what would happen after that, or if you got injured.”
ON WHETHER HE EVER TRIED TO PLAY BASEBALL AT TECH: “No, I never went out there at all. When I first got here … I was just so excited about getting out there to see what would happen (in football), I didn’t have any time really to focus on baseball.”
ON BEING DETERMINED, GIVING UP THAT KIND OF MONEY, TO MAKE SOME ONE DAY IN FOOTBALL: “Oh, yeah. All the guys here want to go to the next level. In case it doesn’t work out, you never know, I could end up trying to play baseball again. If not baseball, definitely I’m getting my degree this spring.”
ON HANGING ON TO BASEBALL AT ALL: “Actually, every time I go home, my baseball coach, we hit a little bit and he throws me some. Just try to keep a little bit going.”
ON THE DETAILS OF THE D-BACKS’ OFFER: “It was if I wanted to come and start at their Double-A level, I could see what happened after that.”
ON WHY THEY DIDN’T DRAFT HIM THEN: “Because I had already committed with Tech. My mom, we tried to talk to them about sometimes they pay for college for you after you’re done. They weren’t sure if they wanted to do that, so that was probably the biggest thing for me. She wanted me definitely to go to school.”
ON FELLOW HOKIE KENNY LEWIS TAKING A SIMILAR DEAL TO PLAY BASEBALL AFTER HIGH SCHOOL, THEN COMING TO TECH THREE YEARS LATER: “He talks a lot about playing 155 games in 160 days and how committed you have to be. But just to me, I feel like it might be worth it. Three hundred thousand dollars? Definitely something I’d like to have. Everything happens for a reason, so hopefully I made the right decision.”
ON WHY HE LISTENED TO HIS MOM: “I just didn’t want to disappoint her. It’s one of those things that the family gets together and they always support me in everything, and I just feel like we made the right decision in the long run.”
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Nebraska's turf
Davon Morgan blows out his knee, Tyrod banged his knee up, and there was a span during the game when their were players going down and staying down left and right. I realize that it was a very physical game and both teams are stacked with some pretty big dudes, but do you think that Nebraska's turf field had anything to do with these injuries? I mean Davon was untouched and after replaying it a couple times on my DVR, it almost seems like his foot got caught up in the carpet a little... Maybe not, it just seems like a bit of a coincidence, plus I've never been a fan of the artificial fields, even the hybrid ones with the little rubber balls that you see flying up from time to time. As well as Nebraska grows corn, you'd think they could handle growing grass on their football field.