Kyle Tucker

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Category: Va. Tech football

While we're ranting ...

Sep 08

9:07 PM

So today wasn’t nearly as eventful as the past three Tuesday press conferences. Week 1 we had Tyrod Taylor redshirting. Week 2 was Taylor un-redshirting. Week 3 was Whack-gate with Jason from Arlington whipping Fancy Gap Frank into a frenzy.

This week, the big news was really no news at all. I’m pretty sure everyone saw it coming … plus Frank said it last night on the radio … Ryan Williams is redshirting.

Well, there was that and the hornets’ nest my friend and fellow blogger Darryl Slater stirred up with his interview of RB Josh Oglesby, who is apparently peeved at his lack of playing time.

That, it seems, did not go over well in Hokieland. But I’m sure everyone will cool off and apologies, where appropriate, will be made … and we’ll all move on.

One note: Slater isn’t a pot-stirrer. He asked a question, a kid answered, and now everyone’s angry and backpedaling and finger-pointing.

Oglesby has a right to be angry. He’s a good player who ran well in every preseason scrimmage and the coaches keep saying they expect him to break out in a game … but how will he do that with a grand total of four carries in three games?

Oglesby wondered that out loud. And that’s fair. But when he did that with a tape recorder in his face (trust me, Slater wasn’t wearing a concealed wire) … he needed to be prepared to deal with whatever happened next … Which I can only assume was a butt-chewing this morning from RB coach Billy Hite.

Hey, and rightly so. Hite can’t have his players taking digs at other players or questioning the staff’s decision-making to the media. That can cause friction and problems with team chemistry.

My only point here is this: Our jobs as journalists are to present the facts as we know them to be. Whatever the story is, our job is to tell it. And when Oglesby went on his rant into Slater’s microphone, that was the story … a good tailback who is frustrated by his situation and, at least in that moment, wanted people to know it.

Let’s all step back here and take this for what it is. A kid had an emotional reaction and said something he probably regrets and the coaches didn’t like. Tempers will cool, all parties will make up, life will go on.

But please don’t start making a hardworking journalist out to be a villain here. One person made a mistake (albeit it an understandable one) in this situation. That person was not Slater.

Moving on …

Here are a handful of quick observations from my uncomfortable (ugh, still with the back problems) wandering around the practice field today:

1) Dustin Keys’ confidence is on the steady incline. He split the uprights on a 50-yarder with a bunch of guys jumping in front of him and screaming and Frank Beamer hollering in his ear.

2) Freshman WR Jarrett Boykin made a ridiculous catch against fellow rookie CB Eddie Whitley. On a deep ball down the right sideline from Tyrod Taylor, Boykin leapt in the air, twisted to adjust to the ball, and hauled it in over Whitley.

3) Senior Cory Holt is in his second week back at wide receiver. He was a receiver in the spring, moved back to QB this summer when it looked like Taylor might redshirt, and is now a receiver again. He LOST Rashad Carmichael on one route today and snagged a pass near the sideline. Holt looks pretty good over there.

4) Despite being in the dog house for apparently missing a study hall and a meeting last week (thus the no playing time), Ike Whitaker looked good in passing drills. He showed great hands on a bomb down the middle, plucking the pass despite being blanketed by Davon Morgan.

5) The first-string offensive line looked good in middle drill today, opening big holes for Darren Evans and Kenny Lewis Jr. RT Blake DeChristopher was back full in practice today for the first time and should play this weekend.

6) Ryan Williams is the best scout-team running back I’ve ever seen.

Now, on to the interviews …

RB RYAN WILLIAMS

ON HOW HE FEELS ABOUT REDSHIRTING: “I’m OK with it. That wasn’t my plans coming in … but I made the call based on I really didn’t want to waste a year, and for the first three games I thought I was going to get some playing time so it could increase … but I really didn’t get any plays, any playing time, and I felt like that would probably continue through the rest of the year. So I didn’t really feel like traveling, wasting a year, just basically being a scout-team, dress-out person.”

ON WHETHER THE COACHES HAD TO TALK HIM INTO IT: “Nah, not really. The situation went kind of like this: I walked in to Coach Hite’s office. He was like, ‘Do you want me to give you my opinion?’ I said, ‘Sure.’ He just basically said, ‘I think you should redshirt.’ I was like, ‘Well, I’ll just take the redshirt.’ It was yesterday. That’s how the situation went, and that was basically the end of the conversation. It was just based on me feeling like I wasn’t going to get any playing time. If I felt like I was going to get any playing time, with the 3, 4, 5 … increase to 4, 5, 6, and blah, blah, blah … then I wouldn’t have took the redshirt. But I didn’t feel like it would be 3, 4, 5. I really didn’t feel like it would probably be 1, 2. So I just took the redshirt … I’m going to just roll with it. Got to keep working hard.”

ON WHETHER IT’LL BE WEIRD NOT TRAVELING WITH THE TEAM SATURDAY: “I felt weird yesterday. Scout team only practiced two periods out of the eight or nine periods that we had. So I was just taking a knee on the sideline, just waiting. Just waiting to get some action, do something. But I was just sitting there looking at the other redshirts. I was like, ‘Are we going in yet?’ Nope. It was kind of weird. I’m not used to this. I’m not used to anything like that.”

ON RE-ITERATING HE’S NOT TRANSFERRING: “Nah, nah, nah. I’m a Hokie. That’s what it is. I chose this place because I feel like it would be the best fit for me to make it to the next level, and I just love the place, period. Everything about the place.”

ON WHEN IT SUNK IN THAT HE WOULDN’T PLAY: “Last week. Last game against Georgia Tech. No, actually, Furman. To be honest. In the fourth quarter, Josh Oglesby got some good carries. Cheese got some good carries. And I was just sitting there waiting, just looking at Coach Hite walk by, back and forth, back and forth. And I was just like, ‘Well, um, since I’m not getting called in, I probably won’t play.’ ”

RT BLAKE DECHRISTOPHER

ON HIS STATUS IN PRACTICE TODAY: “Going full. Today was the first day. It feels good. I need to get my pass protection back down – haven’t done it in a couple weeks – but I’ll pick it back up pretty fast I think.”

ON THE LAST COUPLE OF WEEKS FOR HIM: “It was miserable. I come out there and play just three snaps (in the first game). I wanted to prove myself to the coaches and I didn’t get a chance to do that. It’s something I’ve been thinking about. It’s been bothering me. Now, I’m going to go out there and prove something to those coaches, and to the fans, and to my family. I want to play.”

ON WHAT THE PAIN WAS LIKE WITH THE BRUISED KIDNEY: “The kidney didn’t hit me until that Monday or Tuesday. My lower back started hurting. Then I went and got the MRI because my knee and leg were still hurting. That’s when they found out about my bruised kidney. The thigh and knee were still hurting, but the main thing was the kidney.”

ON WHETHER HE PEED BLOOD: “It was microscopic. It wasn’t like you could see it. I had to take a test for them to know it was there. They were like, ‘We can’t play you until your urine clears up.’ So I just had to wait.”

ON HOW FRUSTRATING IT WAS: “Real frustrating when you go from starting to being in the stands. I’m a competitive person, and I want to be out there with my teammates, helping them out.”

ON WHETHER IT WAS WORSE WITH THE LINE STRUGGLING: “I think our team’s playing well. I think Richard Graham stepped up. People are saying he’s not doing good. I think Richard is doing a hell of a job. He’s someone who helped me out a lot when I first got here, so I look up to Richard. He’s a good player and he’s a hard fighter.”

ON THE PLAN FOR THIS WEEKEND’S GAME: “Coach Newsome talked to me and Dick and he’ll probably switch us off every series. I’m not sure how we’ll do it, but I’ll get some snaps. I don’t think I’ll start. Dick’s earned since I’ve been injured, so I have to earn it back. It’s going to motivate me to work harder, to get back on that first team.”

ON HOW THE FIRST FULL PRACTICE WENT: “It was good. My legs were a little slower than they should be, but I think by Thursday I should be fine. Right now, we’re rotating every three plays, all practice, so I’m getting some work in there with the 1s, to get that chemistry back, which I think is really important.”

ON PASS-BLOCKING NEEDING TO IMPROVE ON THE LINE, AND WHETHER HE CONSIDERS IT A STRENGTH: “I would say it was a strength for me until I got hurt. Right now, it might be a weakness. I don’t know until I get out there and see what I can do. Bu I think it will be a strength in the end. Coach told me my pass protection was getting a lot better.”

FINALLY, WHAT’S WITH THE GIANT BEARD: “I’m just letting it go, man. Chics dig it.”

WR COACH KEVIN SHERMAN

ON HOW CORNERBACK MACHO HARRIS LOOKS AT RECEIVER: “I think, since the spring and then early camp, we’ve always known Macho has been one of our best football players … and I know he was a good high school football player and has done a lot of good things with the ball in his hands. And with our young guys right now, at times they’re not playing fast. And I think we need to give our offense a boost and give our guys a chance to make some plays offensively. We’re trying to utilize his athletic ability, to try to get him the ball and make some things happen.”

ON HOW MUCH PRACTICE TIME HE’S GETTING THIS WEEK ON OFFENSE: “I’m meeting with him when I can, and we’re splitting time throughout the practice. We’re getting him a little bit over half in (pass skeleton drills) and close to half on offense-defense. So we’re getting him a lot of reps, just so he’s getting a feel for things, seeing the coverages, reacting, and playing full speed.”

ON WHETHER THE STAFF HOPED TO SEE EARLY IN THE YEAR IF THEY COULD GET AWAY WITH NOT USING HARRIS SO MUCH ON OFFENSE AND WHETHER THE YOUNG RECEIVERS COULD DO THE JOB: “I think we’ve always had that in our plans. We wanted to see how these younger guys were going to come along and develop. And they’re getting better each week, but I think until we can get some production out wide, we’ve got to try to put our best people on the field, and Macho’s one of those guys.”

ON HARRIS BEING A THREAT EVEN WHEN THE PLAY ISN’T GOING TO HIM: “I think that’s important, too. I think you saw that a few times last week. He was on the field as a decoy at times. And that’s the thing: We want him to play series moreso than just plays. So I think that’s what we’re trying to build this thing to.”

ON HOW MANY OFFENSIVE SNAPS HE PLAYED LAST WEEK: “Nine or 10. Last week, we didn’t have the ball a lot. But at times, hopefully we can sustain some drives and get him on the field and utilize his athletic abilities.”

ON WHICH OF THE YOUNG RECEIVERS HE’S MOST COMFORTABLE WITH: “Well, I’m comfortable with all of them. I really am. The thing is, they’ve got to get used to playing fast. We knew what we had coming into this season. We knew we were going to be playing with young guys. We knew that had to develop each week. And that’s where we are.”

ON HARRIS’ SPECIFIC POSITION ON OFFENSE: “He’s the flanker position, Z, the same spot as Dyrell Roberts and Xavier Boyce.”

ON HOW THE YOUNG RECEIVERS DID RECOGNIZING COVERAGES LAST WEEK: “They got better. They were doing some things faster. We saw that on video Sunday morning. Guys are playing faster. They’re coming along, developing. The good thing … is they’re giving great effort. Until we get the timing down in the passing game and we have some opportunities to make something happen … I tell them all the time that we have a better game out there. We’ve just got to let it come to us. We can’t go out there and try to do too much.”

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