Hokies Camp 2010, Vol. 18: Second scrimmage report ...

The Hokies’ second scrimmage is in the books. The first-string offense looked great on the opening drive against the second-string defense. They went 70 yards in six plays, capped by an 24-yard TD toss from Tyrod Taylor to Dyrell Roberts, diving in the front left corner of the end zone.

Taylor was 4 of 4 for 50 yards and a TD on that opening drive. RB Ryan Williams looked super-smooth today. He had runs of 11 and 9 yards and caught a 6-yard pass on that opening drive. 

Other quick impressions: RB David Wilson needs to play this season. He’s too dynamic not to. ... LB Bruce Taylor is going to be just fine replacing Barquell Rivers, if not a slight upgrade. ... QB Logan Thomas, given time to develop, will be a playmaker. He ripped off a 15-yard TD run, trucking defenders on the way, that was called back for holding. He ripped off an 18-yard run on the next play. Also threw a very nice TD fade to Marcus Davis. ... Not sure what it says about the second-string defense and first-team offense that the former stuffed the latter twice in goal-line situations. Rough day for RB Darren Evans, who never got going and fumbled once. ... The Hokies are going to block some kicks this season. Yes, they are.

There were three injuries today. Punter Brian Saunders had his foot/ankle iced after having a punt blocked early on. It’s being called an “ankle contusion” and I’d suspect he’ll be fine soon. But WR Xavier Boyce suffered a sprained left MCL and is having an MRI next week. Whip LB Lorenzo Williams, who only recently returned to practice from a groin injury, suffered a sprained right foot today and is also having an MRI next week.

That’s all I’ve got time for right now. Gotta write for that silly old printed newspaper. But below are complete scrimmage stats and post-scrimmage interviews. Enjoy. Check back in tomorrow for a more detailed breakdown of the action ...

PASSING: Taylor 7 of 9, 95 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT; Thomas    6 of 16, 45 yards, 2 TD; Clayton 4 of 11, 34 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT

RUSHING: Williams 9 carries, 46 yards, 1 TD; Gregory 9 carries, 44 yards; Wilson 6 carries, 38 yards, 1 TD; Evans 7 carries, 2 yards; Thomas 3 carries, 12 yards

RECEIVING: Davis 3-22, TD; Coale 2-39; Roberts 2-32, TD; Boykin 2-25; Coles 2-14; Parker 1-19, TD; Call 1-9; Martin 1-5, Williams 1-5

PUNTING: Saunders 1-53 (injured after the next one was blocked); Keyserling 2-74 (37.0 avg, also had another punt blocked)

FIELD GOALS: Hazley 2 of 3 (made 43, 47, missed 48 but without normal holder, Saunders); Journell 1 of 1 (made 26)

DEFENSIVE LEADERS: Whitley 7 tackles, 1 PBU; Luckett 4 tackles; Tucker 4 tackles, 1 sack, 1 FF; Hill 3 tackles, 2 blocked punts, 1 PBU; Sykes 1 tackle, 2 PBU; B. Taylor 1 INT; Norman 1 INT; Battle 1 sack, 1 QB hurry; Clark 3 tackles, 1 TFL; Friday 2 tackles, 1 TFL.

HEAD COACH FRANK BEAMER

ON HIS CONTRACT EXTENSION THROUGH 2016: “I’m just really pleased to be the coach here at Virginia Tech and to have the confidence that they want me around a while longer. I appreciate that fact. I look forward to it. We’ll work out the details later on, but I’ve got great trust in them and I think they feel like they can deal with me, so we’ll get the details worked out.”

ON THE EXTENSION BEING AN INDICATION THAT HE INTENDS TO COACH AT LEAST UNTIL 2016: “Yeah, I do. I really enjoy the players we’ve got right now and we can win with the players we’ve got right now. As long as my health stays good and we’ve got good players, players that can win, I enjoy this. I look forward to getting started with it.”

ON WHAT COMES AFTER 2016: “That’s a long ways away. We’ll kind of figure out as we go here what we’ll do after that.”

ON HIS TEAM BEING RANKED NO. 10 IN THE PRESEASON AP POLL: “I was a little bit surprised we were picked that high. When you lose six guys on defense, I think we saw some of the effects of that out there today, some plays popped on us. And to lose two kickers, that’s a big, big part of your football team. I think we’ve got good players, but how quickly we can get to where we can play at the level we need to be playing at, that’s the question. So I’m a little bit surprised that we actually are picked that high.”

ON WHERE THE HOKIES SHOULD BE RANKED THEN: “I don’t know. I haven’t really studied all those other teams all that much, but I bet there’s a lot of people that’s got more guys coming back on defense than we do.”

ON RB DAVID WILSON’S STRONG SCRIMMAGE AND WHETHER THERE’S SOME OTHER WAY TECH CAN USE HIM TO GET HIM ON THE FIELD THIS FALL: “Well, he’s really a good running back. I appreciate David. We said, ‘Come in here, practice full-tilt, and then we’ll make a decision at the right time, what’s best for you and what’s best for this football team.’ And I think he’s making it a tough decision right here. He’s practiced great. He’s got ability. He’s got power, got speed. I thought he had a good day today.”

ON THE TIMETABLE FOR DECIDING WHETHER WILSON WILL REDSHIRT: “If he plays, he counts. I think there’s a possibility he could travel for a few games and see where we are. I think right now, the best thing is for him to keep practicing the way he’s practicing and we’ll make the decision when it’s the right time.”

ON HAVING TWO PUNTS BLOCKED TODAY: “I tell you, Cris Hill, he’s been good all camp coming off that edge. He’s a threat coming off the edge. On one side, you feel pretty good you blocked a kick. On the other side, you don’t feel very good because the protection wasn’t right. I told the players out there, from what I saw, we’ve still got a lot of work to do. We’ve got two weeks and a lot of work to do.”

ON HIS PUNTER, BRIAN SAUNDERS, LEAVING EARLY WITH AN INJURY: “I think he just bruised his foot. They thought he was going to be OK.”

ON LB CHASE WILLIAMS, A TRUE FROSH, MISSING MOST OF CAMP BUT HAVING TWO GOAL-LINE STOPS TODAY: “He needs to get out there and practice, which he did today, and then you see results like you saw there at times today. He’s a good football player, got a good football sense about him.”

ON NEW STARTING LB BRUCE TAYLOR, WHO HAD AN INTERCEPTION TODAY: “He’s been pretty good. You notice him on the field. He’s a little bit of a blur out there. We’re pleased in every way with the way he’s performed – last spring and this preseason camp. They’re both good football players (Taylor and injured starter Barquell Rivers). Bruce might be a little bit faster, might be a little bit niftier, but they’re both what you’re looking for there at linebacker.”

ON THE WAY HIS FIRST-STRING OFFENSE LOOKS SO FAR: “I think Tyrod makes a difference out there. He’s in control, and a couple plays he made ... we’ve got good people, but it all starts with him and I thought he was pretty good today.”

ON THE FIRST-STRING DEFENSE: “I think this video, we’re going to be able to learn a lot. You saw some good plays – we had a couple interceptions – but then they popped on us a couple times. We’ve just got to be quick learners. When we weren’t in the right gap, I want them in the right gap. It’s got to be a crash course here. We’ve got to learn quickly.”

ON BACKUP QB LOGAN THOMAS: “The more he gets – and we left him full-speed (and full-contact) in there – he made a couple plays there. I thought he did OK. He’s another guy, he just needs to get in there and learn from what’s happening, and I think he will.”

ON RYAN WILLIAMS RUNNING THE WILD TURKEY TWICE AND WHETHER THOMAS WOULD BE CONSIDERED FOR A SIMILAR ROLE: “I don’t know if we’ve got a better runner on our team than Ryan.”

ON DARREN EVANS’ TOUGH SCRIMMAGE: “Not much happened for him there today, but he’s looked good in practice, and I think when we roll out there at FedEx, he’ll be ready to roll.”

DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR BUD FOSTER

ON HIS GROUP’S PERFORMANCE IN THE SCRIMMAGE: “There were some good things and some things to correct, but I thought the effort was good. There were a couple plays where guys were trying to make plays, rather than play their position. That’s going to happen a little bit, especially when you’ve got backs like ours – some dynamic guys that can make cuts – and you’ve got a quarterback that can make some things happen. That’s going to cause some trouble, I hope, for a lot of people down the road and make us better as we go along. The effort was good and we did some good things.”

ON HIS SECOND-STRING DEFENSE STOPPING THE NO. 1 OFFENSE TWICE IN GOAL-LINE SITUATIONS: “Yeah, that was encouraging, especially after they came out (on the first drive) and gave up a couple plays. That’s a group that needed to get better and I think they’ve gotten better. They’re making strides, improving. We’ve got to be consistent in our performance. On defense, you can’t be good three out of four times. One play can cost you a big play or a football game. That’s what we’re driving into the kids, that they’ve got to be consistent with there performance, and we’re getting closer and closer.”

ON WHETHER HE IS AT ALL WORRIED ABOUT HOSLEY MISSING SO MUCH TIME WITH INJURY: “Yeah. It’s all about timing. Your coverage stuff, all the pressures and things we’re putting in. Just being in game shape. The tackling, especially, is going to be critical. All those areas, I’m concerned. He’s a big-time player, a big-time prospect, but we’ve got a couple guys we’re counting on – him being one of them – that’s been hurt all camp. (Alonzo) Tweedy being another one. It’s not their fault they’re hurt, but by the same token, they’re missing time – and valuable time – and there’s nothing like getting out there and performing.”

ON BEING TWO WEEKS FROM FACING A POTENT BOISE STATE OFFENSE AND WHETHER THE STARTING DEFENSE IS WHERE HE WANTS IT: “No. We’re never there. You know how I am. But I think we’re making progress. I like our first group of kids. We’ve got to be consistently good. We need a couple guys in there to be some backup guys that can spells some guys, especially up front, so we can play hard for 60 minutes, because that’s what we’re going to have to do. I don’t know if we’ve got 22 guys (a full defensive two-deep) right now, but we’ve been here before. We’ve won a Big East championship before playing about 11 guys. We stayed healthy. But that’s my concern right now, the overall depth and the quality of their performance right now.”

ON NEW STARTING LB BRUCE TAYLOR: “He’s done everything we’ve asked him to do. He understands his position and he’s doing a good job. I’ve got a lot of confidence in him. He’s a good football player and he’s going to help us win a bunch of football games.”

ON WHETHER TAYLOR COULD KEEP THAT JOB EVEN WHEN RIVERS RETURNS FROM INJURY: “Yeah, it could be. Barquell’s got to come back and play and be able to perform at the level he played at before. But Bruce is a guy that’s a good, smart player that could help us at the Backer spot, and we’ve talked to him a little bit about that. Because I have concerns about that position, those guys being consistent in the backup spots. Bruce is a guy I’ve got a lot of confidence in.”

ON FROSH LB CHASE WILLIAMS MISSING LOTS OF PRACTICE INJURED BUT MAKING TWO BIG PLAYS TODAY: “He’s a tough, hard-nosed kid. But I want to see him healthy. I haven’t seen him play at the speed he’s capable because of a knee, because of a hamstring or because of something.”

ON CB JACOB SYKES CONTINUING TO MAKE PLAYS: “Jacob is a guy right now that, to me, has probably been the surprise of the camp. He’s really come back and bought into it. There’s been time we maybe told him to go on with the rest of his life. But I appreciate what he’s all about right now and the direction he’s going. All we can go on is the information they give us on the field and he’s been fairly consistent in his performance.”

SECONDARY COACH TORRIAN GRAY

ON HIS IMPRESSIONS OF THE SCRIMMAGE: “Well, you’re never happy when they’re catching touchdown passes on you. I always try to keep the perspective that it’s never as good as it looked, never as bad as it seemed, and in between is the reality. I want to look at the film and see what parts are coachable. If there’s parts on the touchdown passes where we’re not good enough, that will be hard to swallow, but I don’t think those situations are going to be where we’re not good enough. It’s just coaching it, seeing it on film in a live situation. We’ll get better from it.”

ON HOW MUCH HE CAN TAKE FROM SCRIMMAGES: “The good thing is your (second-string) secondary, a lot of times, you’re going against your (starting) offense. That’s an opportunity for those guys to get better, the way I see it. The (starting) defense more often than not is going against the (second-string) offense, so those are situations we definitely should win. Either way, regardless of which group you’re going with, you want to win. With those guys catching as many touchdown passes as they did today, as a coach, you don’t feel good about it. But we’ll get better from it.”

ON THE IDEA BEING THAT CB JAYRON HOSLEY IS A ‘GAMER’ AND THERE’S NOT REASON TO WORRY ABOUT HIS NAGGING LITTLE INJURIES, BUT WHAT POINT DOES THERE START TO BE CONCERN: “It becomes worrisome if we had to play a game tomorrow, if we had to play a game today. Right now, you’d rather him get fully healthy than to prove how tough he is. I know the kid is a tough kid. I’m hoping by next week, he’ll be totally healthy and ready to go by him not going Friday, not going today. He’s not going out there before he’s ready and have two weeks, basically, to be ready. If you get him out there early, that thing never gets healed, so you’re not getting the same player. Right now, I’m not worried.”

ON THE LUXURY OF HAVING CRIS HILL THERE TO SHARE TIME WITH (OR TAKE OVER FOR) HOSLEY, GIVEN HILL’S RECENT EMERGENCE: “I feel real good about Cris right now. Cris has practiced well. He made some plays out there today. He’s made some plays, when we’re watching on film, where he has to get better. But Cris has to feel like he’s always a play away. He has to feel like he’s half-starter right now, because he’s played most of fall camp. I like the progress. I like what Cris Hill’s done. Cris Hill is almost a starter right now, in my eyes.”

ON CB JACOB SYKES COMING OUT OF NOWHERE THIS CAMP AND WHETHER HE’S NOW COMFORTABLE PLAYING HIM IN A GAME: “Yep. Yep, Jacob’s earned that right with his play this fall. From a guy who I’m not sure you’d ever feel comfortable putting him out there on the field to a guy who gives us a lot more depth at the cornerback position. The way Cris Hill has practiced, the way Sykes has practiced, I feel pretty good about that position right now. Knowing we’ll get Jayron back, we’ve got Rashad Carmichael, it could be as talented a foursome – at least as comfortable a foursome – that I’ve had in any of the years here.”

ON HOW SYKES MADE SUCH GREAT STRIDES: “Sykes was a guy who always had the tools to do it. He didn’t have the mental makeup or the toughness to do it. He’s been challenged on some of those things. Some kids go one way or the other. For a kid of his psyche to take the step he’s taken and really turn his psyche around, I give the kid a lot of praise for that.”

ON WHEN HE SAW THAT CHANGE: “In winter, when we’re doing our 6 a.m. morning workouts, there was a situation there where, ‘Sykes, if you don’t really want to do this, you don’t have to do this,’ and the kid really from that point sent the message. He did great in those morning workouts and took that into spring camp and has brought it to fall camp and really has been a pleasant surprise.”

ON WHETHER HE HAS ANY REAL, FUNDAMENTAL WORRIES ABOUT HIS GROUP: “Legitimate, fundamental worries? I think talent-wise, we’ll be fine. Fundamental worries? As a coach, you’re going to naturally always worry about something. I challenged (FS) Eddie Whitley after today. He had two chances to get interceptions. He’s doing a great job getting us lined up and communicating, but you’ve got to make plays when the opportunity comes. So that’s a challenge, not a fundamental worry. He’ll have the mindset to know where I’m coming from and get that done. So we’ll be fine.”

CB CRIS HILL

ON ENJOYING HIS ROLL AS AN EDGE RUSHER ON PUNT-BLOCK TEAM: “It’s a good way for me to use my speed, use my quickness. I really enjoy blocking kicks. That’s part of the tradition. I do whatever I can to help out.”

ON TECH NOT BLOCKING TOO MANY KICKS THE LAST COUPLE YEARS AND WHETHER THAT’S A RENEWED EMPHASIS: “Yeah. Coach Beamer says this is the greatest team of athletes (on punt-block unit) ever assembled, so we just take that mindset and mentality every day we get out there. We’re trying to block some more kicks this year. We look forward to it this season. This is one of those years (Beamer) feels really good and confident about it.”

ON SOME OF THE ATHLETES ON THE PUNT-BLOCK TEAM: “Me, Davon Morgan, Dyrell Roberts, Marcus Davis, Rashad Carmichael, Alonzo Tweedy.”

ON GETTING A TON OF TIME WITH FIRST-TEAM DEFENSE BECAUSE HOSLEY IS HURT AND WHETHER HE FELT LIKE THIS WAS A HUGE PRESEASON FOR HIM: “Yes. I just tried to pick up where I left off in the spring, get better every day. I’ve been studying film more, working on my technique, just little detail things.”

ON WHETHER HE IS MORE DIALED-IN, KNOWING HOSELY TENDS TO GET BANGED UP EASILY AND HE WILL PROBABLY PLAY PLENTY THIS YEAR: “We’re just pushing each other. Competition brings out excellent. Whoever the guy is, is going to get the job done. We’re teammates.”

RB DAVID WILSON

ON CONTINUING TO IMPRESS THIS CAMP: “I mentioned that I wanted to redshirt at the end of last season. From that point, I just wanted to make the decision hard on the coaches, show them what I’ve got. So far, from what I’ve heard, the coaches are pleased with what I’m doing. But I feel like I’ve still got a long way to go to get back to where I’m used to playing (in high school).”

ON HIS TOUCHDOWN RUN: “That play wasn’t designed to go that way at all. When I got the ball, I saw the play break down and I guess I’m getting to the point where I’m kind of comfortable (improvising). I made the cut all the way to the outside using my speed and I did a good job, I think.”

ON CREATING YARDAGE WHERE THERE ISN’T ANY: “Any time I’ve got the ball in my hands, I’m trying to make something happen. Once I start getting comfortable, I’ll be more comfortable making my own decisions, not running and saying, ‘Oh, I hope the coaches are going to agree with this.’ The more I get comfortable, the more I turn into my own player.”

ON WHAT HE STILL NEEDS TO PROVE: “One thing I feel like I haven’t done since I’ve been here is I’ve never run full-speed in a Virginia Tech uniform. Most of the time I get the ball, it’s in traffic. I’ve never gotten to that point where I can just turn my speed on and show them my full speed. If I can show them more speed on the game field, then I’ll feel I’ve done everything I could.”

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