Hokies Camp 2009, Volume 27 (Moon Bounce edition) ...

Don’t take it personal, but you don’t get your scrimmage play-by-play today. Maybe tomorrow. But today ... my wife is throwing me the grandest 28th birthday party of them all.

For those of you who don’t know, I’m a child. Forever. As our dear friends at Toys-R-Us are fond of saying: I don’t want to grow up.

My wife knows this, and somehow married me anyway. So, in keeping with this theme, I’m in the midst of a backyard bash that includes a Moon Bounce (yep, the giant, inflatable children’s carnival jumping apparatus), a Slip-N-Slide, whiffle ball, a snow cone machine, ice cream cake, pointy hats and the like.

Sometimes, it’s good to go back in time. Try it some time. Life is short, friends. Act like it.

My fellow beat writers (and best friends) are here with me. Richmond’s Darryl Slater and Newport News’ Norm Wood are also recently a year older and are sharing in my fun. The newest guy on the beat, the Washington Post’s Mark Viera, is getting an eye-opening welcome to our little crew. And we’ve even allowed a radio talking head in on the fun. ESPN’s Sean Bielawski is jumping and giggling like a 5-year-old as I type.

So ... Hokie folks ... if you hate the media coverage of your favorite team, now would be a good time to toss a grenade into my backyard.

But here’s a little reaction from yesterday’s scrimmage to try to dissuade you. I’ll be back with much more tomorrow. Have a good night. I know I will. The Moon Bounce beckons ...

QB LOGAN THOMAS

ON WANTING TO PLAY RIGHT AWAY AND NOW REDSHIRTING: “It’s alright. I didn’t have my hopes up too high. I knew when they put me at quarterback it was a lower chance, so it’s alright.”

ON BEING EXCITED, THOUGH, TO BE A QB: “It’s going to give me a chance to work on my game a lot and progress as a player and next year, hopefully, be where I want to be as quarterback.”

ON WHEN HE HEARD HE’D LIKELY REDSHIRT: “Two days ago, so Thursday morning. I always said I’d do what’s best for the team, and I think this is best for the team.”

ON HIS ROLE IN PRACTICE: “He said we’re going to keep doing the same amount of reps. He wants to keep me there learning.”

ON WHETHER THE POSSIBILITY THAT HE COULD STILL PLAY IF TYROD GETS HURT EARLY IN THE SEASON KEEPS HIM DIALED-IN DURING PRACTICE FROM HERE ON: “I think I’m going to stay dialed-in no matter what, because I want to get better and help out this team.”

ON HIS FUTURE UNDER CENTER: “I was excited to stay here (at QB). I think I still have a long ways to go, but I think I can be a pretty good player here.”

QB TYROD TAYLOR

ON THINGS THAT NEED TO GET TIGHTENED UP ON OFFENSE BEFORE THE OPENER: “Still work on protection, route-running, getting the ball out. But I think guys are confident enough to go out there and get the job done.”

ON WHETHER HE’D LIKE TO GET MORE CONTACT IN PRACTICES: “It really doesn’t matter. Sometimes taking the yellow jersey off does help, but sometimes the yellow jersey is good. You can go through your (passing) progressions and you don’t have to worry about running.”

ON THE LAST TIME HE WAS ‘LIVE’: “I haven’t been live since ... last fall.”

ON WHETHER FANS WHO’VE SEEN THE TWO SCRIMMAGES STILL DON’T KNOW WHAT TECH’S OFFENSE CAN DO: “I think they see the talent. Of course we still have to go work hard in practice. We’re a long way from where we can be. But we have a talented offensive group. It’s our job to go make plays now.”

ON WORRYING ABOUT THE RB INJURIES: “This is a tough game. Running backs take a lot of hits. But we have a strong group of guys back there. I think we’ll be OK. I don’t think Ryan was injured too bad. David Wilson will be back the beginning of next week. Tony (Gregory) is running the ball good, and so is Zach Evans.”

ON HOW IMPORTANT THE NEXT TWO WEEKS WILL BE TO GET THOSE BACKS PRACTICE TIME: “It’s very important. Hopefully we’ll get Josh back as soon as possible. At this point, David has just been getting mental reps. He’s doing good. He’s practiced with us, but he just hasn’t gone live with contact. But he’s doing good.”

ON WHERE THIS OFFENSE IS COMPARED TO WHERE IT WAS THIS TIME LAST YEAR: “I think we’re farther along. We’re throwing the ball more, connecting with guys, spreading the ball out. A lot of our receivers are catching passes, and that’s a good thing.”

ON BEING RANKED NO. 7 IN THE AP POLL THAT JUST CAME OUT: “We know that after we won the ACC two years in a row, a lot of people are going to be coming after us. They’re going to give us their best game. But that’s always been the case. A No. 7 ranking is great for us. We just have to go out and prove we deserve to be in that spot.”

RB COACH BILLY HITE

ON RUNNING BACK DAVID WILSON’S CONDITIONING DESPITE SITTING OUT A WEEK WITH INJURY: “Well, he played in four games earlier in the year (high school all-star games in the spring/summer). He came in and was way ahead of everybody else, conditioning-wise for football. He did such a great job in our pass protections against our linebackers. He’s had contact in this camp, but he definitely needs to get another scrimmage under his belt. But I’m playing him anyway. I think he’s that good. I really do.”

ON WHETHER WILSON COULD’VE GONE TODAY: “If we played Alabama today, he would’ve played. And he wanted to play. That’s the thing you like so much about the kid. He’s been my shadow for the last week. I bet I’ve stepped on his foot about 10 times. Every time I turn around, boom, he’s there. I like what he’s doing. He wants to learn, and that’s the greatest thing in the world.”

ON WHETHER HE’S WORRIED AT THIS POINT ABOUT THE LACK OF SCRIMMAGE LOOKS HE’S HAD AT HIS GUYS: “I’ve got to go with who I have. I think all of them are going to be ready. Now, if you go back and look at our prior scrimmages, in other years, how many snaps did Kenny Lewis (who started the season in 2008) have in this scrimmage last year? Twelve. So those guys really aren’t missing that many plays. It’s all the things we do all week long that they’re missing right now. I’m not worried about that part of it. Once they get back out here, they have two weeks to get ready for Alabama. If they’re healthy on Monday, I think they have a chance to be ready. That’ll be plenty of time, and we have one more scrimmage to get under their belt.”

ON WHETHER THESE BACKS CAN PASS-PROTECT AGAINST BAMA’S TOUGH DEFENSE: “They’re going to have to be. That’s where we’re mixing our blocks up. Sometimes we’ll hit them high. Sometimes we’ll have to cut them. And I don’t know that there’s a whole helluva lot of difference in playing the Alabama defense and the Virginia Tech defense, to be honest with you. We face that defense every day.”

ON RB RYAN WILLIAMS PICKING UP NICE BLOCKS ON A FEW PASS PLAYS TODAY: “He’s improved so much on protections. He sits in there at night time going over the film. That’s been the great thing about going once a day (not doing two-a-day practices), is you have so much meeting time. Now they can see it. When you run the play back and forth, they can see where that stunt’s coming from, who’s their blocking responsibility is. All of them have done a great job of that. Our pass protection is so much better this fall than what it was last fall, it’s unbelievable.”

ON NOT HESITATING TO PLAY WILSON, EVEN WITH THE TIME HE HAS MISSED AS A TRUE FRESHMAN: “Nah. He’s that good. I have that much confidence in him. He’ll find a way to beat you.”

ON WHAT HIS PECKING ORDER IS AT RB: “When we get into the meeting on Sunday morning, whoever they tell me is healthy will be my No. 1 tailback. Right now, it could be Tony Gregory or Zach Evans. But once we get back into practice next week, we’ll go from there and see. I tell my guys anyway, I don’t pay attention to that depth chart. I’m going to play two of them. They’re going to rotate. If another one gets in and gets hot, he’s going to play, too. That’s the way it’s got to be.”

ON WHETHER HE WAS WORRIED ABOUT OGLESBY’S INFECTION EARLY LAST WEEK: “When I saw his foot last Monday, it was about the size of your head. I was very worried. That is the worst infection I think I’ve ever seen. When (Mike) Goforth squeezed it the other day, puss just kept gushing out of it. That’s how much was inside. I was worried more from a health standpoint than anything. It was that bad. But our trainers and doctors are outstanding. He’s felt so much better every day, it’s unbelievable. They kept him off his feet. He was icing it and getting it cleaned two or three times a day. He wasn’t on the practice field. He was going back home and relaxing. They wanted him to stay off it and keep his feet up.”

ON WHAT WILSON IS DOING WHEN HE’S STANDING BESIDE HIM IN PRACTICE: “I tell him the play. Then, if it’s a pass play, he’s got to tell me who his responsibility is. He’s got to tell me, No. 1, where the Mike linebacker is. He’s doing unbelievable. Right now, he’s on it every time. Standing right here with you, he could give you a clinic on it.”

ON BREAKING IN YOUNG RBS ON SUCH A HUGE STAGE: “These guys, they’re here for a reason. They’re at one of the top universities in the country, and those are the type of players we’ve recruited. They all have to start at some time. And he’s going to (start) in front of 70,000. That’s the thing with Darren and Josh, going into it ... years ago, I had Otis Copeland. None of y’all even remember him. Then I had Maurice Williams and Eddie Hunter. Otis Copeland, from the goal line to about the 40-yard line, he was in there. Then, once I knew those guys were going to have success – or if they did make a mistake, it wasn’t going to kill us – Hunter and Williams took it down the field the rest of the way, and usually put it in the end zone. So you like to have an experienced back in there that’s been in the situation before. But the way it’s going right now, Ryan’s never played, and it might be him, that he’s going to have to be the guy. Oglesby has only carried the ball 38 times, but I have all the confidence in the world in him. He’s running better, he sees the holes. Last year, he wasn’t hitting the holes. This spring, he changed all that. We’re just going to have to wait and see who’s healthy and who’s going to get the start and who’s going to be playing.”

ON STILL FEELING GOOD ABOUT THE BACKFIELD: “I really do. I thought Kenny Younger had a helluva day today at the fullback spot, and Kenny Jefferson. We were tricking our defense today. We ran the fullback belly against them (laughing).”

ON HOW KENNY LEWIS JR. IS RECOVERING FROM ANOTHER ACHILLES SURGERY, THIS TIME TO DEAL WITH AN INFECTED WOUND: “I really feel awful about that. His infection was awful. He has had an IV in his arm for the last two weeks, laying on his mother and father’s couch at home. He will be back at school on Monday, but he’s had an IV pumped in him 24 hours a day since he got out of the hospital. His infection was so bad, I guess it’s in his blood. But he still, when I talked to him the other day, he said, ‘Coach, I’m coming back.’ He still thinks he’s got time to come back and play again. You’ve got to love the kid for that. He thinks by October, he’ll be ready to go.”

ON HITE’S ADVICE FOR LEWIS: “The only thing I told him is, ‘I don’t want something else to happen to you.’ I don’t want that on my conscience when he’s 40 years old ... you can’t even play with your kids or go for a walk down the street. But if anybody can do it, Kenny Lewis can.”

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