Hokies Camp 2009, Volume 26 (Scrimmage #2 edition) ...

I know you people are frothing at the mouth for Scrimmage #2 analysis. I’m not ready to break anything down, but I can give you a quick stats briefing, then jump into some interesting interviews.

There’s some good news on the injury front for the Hokies’ tailbacks (aren’t you guys ready for GOOD news?) and, at last, clarification on the back-up QB job.

That, and much more, coming at you ... NOW.

(Tune in tomorrow for a play-by-play breakdown and more Qs and As with Logan Thomas, Ju-Ju Clayton and Billy Hite.)

SCRIMMAGE STATS

QB Tyrod Taylor: 8 of 11 passing, 78 yards, 0 INT, 0 TD

QB Ju-Ju Clayton: 6 of 10 passing, 61 yards, 1 INT, 0 TD

QB Logan Thomas: 2 of 10 passing, 16 yards, 0 INT, 0 TD

RB Tony Gregory: 18 carries, 48 yards, 2 TD; 1 catch, 5 yards

RB Zach Evans: 13 carries, 27 yards, 0 TD

RB Ryan Williams: 5 carries, 22 yards, 1 TD; 1 catch, 7 yards; 2 punt returns, 23 yards

FB Kenny Jefferson: 3 carries, 15 yards, 1 TD

WR Xavier Boyce: 2 catches, 47 yards

WR Marcus Davis: 2 catches, 18 yards

TE Randall Dunn: 2 catches, 11 yards

*** WR Ben Barber, Jarrett Boykin, Brandon Dillard, Danny Coale, Dyrell Roberts all had one catch apiece for 10 yards or less.

P Brent Bowden: 4 punts, 161 yards, 40.5 avg.

K Matt Waldron: 4 for 4 field goals (31, 32, 43, 30 yards)

DT Cordarrow Thompson: 7 tackles, 4 for loss, 1 sack, 1 forced fumble

LB Cody Grimm: 6 tackles, fumble recovery

DT Demetrius Taylor: 5 tackles, 1 sack

LB Barquell Rivers: 5 tackles, INT, 38-yard return

FS Kam Chancellor: 4 tackles, 1 for loss, 1 pass break-up

SS Davon Morgan: 4 tackles, 1 QB hurry, 1 pass break-up

DE Jason Worilds: 3 tackles, 2 for loss, 1 sack

LB Quillie Odom: 3 tackles, 2 for loss, 1 sack

CB Cris Hill: 3 tackles, INT, 21-yard return

ATHLETIC TRAINER MIKE GOFORTH

ON RB RYAN WILLIAMS’ ANKLE INJURY IN THE SCRIMMAGE: “Ryan kind of pulled himself out. Got kicked on the inside of that left ankle. Kind of a sprain, nothing major. He should be back fine.”

ON RB DAVID WILSON AND RB JOSH OGLESBY’S STATUS: “Both could’ve played today. (Both back Monday) We might put them in blue just to prove they’re OK – prove to themselves – but they’ll be doing pretty much everything. And I don’t expect Ryan to do a thing.”

ON WHAT OGLESBY’S ISSUE ENDED UP BEING: “Well, it’s an infection. I’m not going to get into what type of infection it was. That’s kind of his personal business. But it’s fine now, it’s cleared up. Understand this: Any infection we have, we’re going to treat it like it’s the worst infection. Our doctors two years ago did research projects on types of infections, the way they’re spread. You’d be surprised, if there’s 10 of us standing here, how many of us are carrying that same bacteria around. It’s there, it’s around. But we’re going to treat it pretty aggressively and diligently from the get-go, and that’s how they clear up in four or five days.”

HEAD COACH FRANK BEAMER

OPENING REMARKS ON THE SECOND SCRIMMAGE: “I thought the hitting was excellent. I thought the effort was excellent. I thought there were some good things offensive, some good things defensively. I think both of us can learn from it. Part of it looked ragged, but that’s where you are with two weeks to go. You want to improve. There’s going to be plenty to see out there that we can improve upon. We gave our third group 24 plays today. That can get things a little ragged at times. Some of those guys won’t be on the plane for Atlanta, but we still need to see them work to help us make those decisions, who are the 70 we’re going to take to Atlanta.”

ON WHERE THE BACK-UP QB SITUATION STANDS: “We’re going to let them both continue to work. We thought both of them had played well enough that they deserved to go forward. It hurts you in one sense, that you’re trying to make sure you’ve got one guy ready. That’s what we want to do, but we just thought both of them deserved to continue.”

ON WHETHER HE’D PREFER TO REDSHIRT LOGAN THOMAS: “We would. We think he’s got a chance to be a real talent. That’s the reason you want to redshirt him – if that happens. We’re not going to make that decision here. As it stand right now, we’re not planning on playing him, but we’ll see how this thing goes the next few weeks.”

ON WHETHER FRESHMAN RB DAVID WILSON COULD’VE PLAYED TODAY: “I think he could have. And he wanted to. But we want to get him completely well, get him back in there and get him some full-speed reps. And Oglesby, we’re hoping to get him back next week. That’s two pretty good tailbacks who didn’t play today. We’ve got two weeks to get this thing done.”

ON WHETHER HE IS WORRIED ABOUT THE LACK OF REPS FOR THOSE TWO BACKS: “Heck yeah. You’ve got a guy (Wilson) who was running for GW last year. That was some good programs, but it’s not going to be quite the same as running against Alabama with a packed house. So, yeah, we’d like to get him some reps. But things are what they are. For sure, we’re eager to get them back in there and get them going.”

ON HIS FEELINGS ABOUT THE OFFENSE RIGHT NOW: “We’ve got two weeks. We need work. We need to get our tailbacks in there. It’s a position that was pretty strong for us – and it is strong – we’ve got a lot of people absent right now.”

ON HAVING SO MUCH HEALTH TROUBLE AT ONE POSITION: “Coach Hite said you can’t have enough of those guys. He’s a wise old man.”

ON FRESHMAN RB TONY GREGORY GETTING TONS OF CARRIES IN THE OTHERS’ ABSENCE: “I think he’s legit. I think a couple times, I wish he’d gone on up inside instead of keeping on bouncing it. But he’s got real speed and I like the way he runs. You’d like to get him thicker, but he’s got my attention.”

ON HIS BIGGEST PRIORITY BETWEEN NOW AND SEPT. 5: “I think the priority right now is to work with the people that’s going to be on the field against Alabama. We’ve got to narrow some things down. The first couple weeks of camp, you try to give everybody opportunities, but we’ve got to make some hard decisions and say, ‘This is the two-deep,’ and give those guys work that are going to be on the field against Alabama.”

ON CHANGING HIS MIND ABOUT HAVING NEXT WEEK’S FINAL SCRIMMAGE OPEN TO FANS AND MEDIA: “We feel like we need to. We need to work on some things for Alabama, and it’s in our best interest to close things down.”

QB COACH MIKE O’CAIN

ON NOT WORRYING THAT KEEPING JU-JU CLAYTON AND LOGAN THOMAS SHARING NO. 2 REPS HURTS BOTH THEIR ABILITY TO BE READY TO PLAY IF THEY HAVE TO: “I don’t think giving one of them a ton of reps, he’d be able to do it anyway right now. Now six weeks, eight weeks down the road, maybe. So we’re just going to continue to give both of them reps and see how this thing goes.”

ON THE PLAN FOR THOMAS RIGHT NOW: “The plan is to redshirt Logan. Right now, we have no plans to play Logan this year – unless something happens. Then we’ll have to cross that bridge when we get there. But right now, the plan is to redshirt him and hopefully Tyrod stays healthy. I don’t know enough about Ju-Ju just to give it all to him right now. That’s why I want to keep Logan in the mix.”

ON WHAT THEY’D DO IF TAYLOR WENT DOWN WITH A SERIOUS INJURY IN THE FIRST FEW GAMES OF THE SEASON: “I can’t answer that right now. That’s hypothetical. It’s going to depend on what Ju-Ju does over the course of the next three or four weeks or whenever this happens. Hopefully it doesn’t happen. But that’s why we want to keep Logan in the mix. So if something does happen, you’ve got two guys there who can get it done for you.”

ON WHAT HE’D DO IF HE WAS PLAYING A GAME TOMORROW WITHOUT TYROD: “I’d run Ju-Ju out there. (long pause) At least for the first play. He knows more about what we’re doing. He’s not as gifted physically, but he’s been through it a fall and a spring, where Logan’s been through it, what, 15 days? I personally have more confidence in Ju-Ju going out there and running the team. Can either one of them go out there and win a game for you right now? I don’t know that. But I feel more comfortable with Ju-Ju going out there. ... He would manage the game better than Logan right now.”

ON WHAT LOGAN’S PRACTICE ROLE WILL BE RIGHT NOW: “I’ll let Logan practice things that he would do in a game. Don’t have him fool with all those other things, so he can get good at 7, 8, 10 passes and 7, 8, 10 runs. So that if he has to play, he can go out and play and not have to think an awful lot.”

ON WHETHER HE THINKS THOMAS’ LONG-TERM FUTURE IS AT QB: “I don’t think there’s any question in my mind, unless he just went haywire all the sudden. But I see a very talented young man, tremendous arm. He’s very accurate for the most part. I like his personality. He’s calm. He’s confident. He moves around well in the pocket. He has all the intangibles, plus the physical tools to get it done. That’s one reason we want to redshirt him, because we do feel like he has ability to play down the road. I really believe, for a quarterback, if you can redshirt that man and let him absorb for a year, then let him step out the next year ... just like Ju-Ju. He’s so much better today than he was this time last year, and Logan will be the same way.”

ON THOMAS SAYING HE CAME TO TECH TO PLAY EARLY, AND HOW HE’S TAKING THE REDSHIRT IDEA: “I think he’s fine. I think he feels that if we feel that is the best thing for him ... First off, I think he’s excited about being a quarterback. He likes that challenge. And I think if we feel that’s the best thing for him, then that’s what he’s willing to do. And if we feel like he has a chance to be a quarterback for four years.”

ON ALL THE TALK ABOUT THE BACK-UPS, BUT WHAT ABOUT HIS STARTER: “I thought he threw the ball very, very well today. He was accurate. I don’t think he missed – he had a couple drops. I’m not sure he missed one. He’s in command. He’s in control of himself. I didn’t think he was that way all of last year. This fall, he knows pre-snap what’s probably going to happen over there (on defense). I feel very good about where he is and the August he’s had. He’s been very accurate, got a lot on the ball. He’s delivering it quickly, making very good decisions and making quick decisions. One time he held on to the ball a little too long. We didn’t have anybody open and he was trying to find somebody. Overall, he’s done a very fine job.”

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