Hokies Camp 2010, Vol. 8: Practice/injury notes and Zach Luckett's comeback ...

A few quick post-practice notes and the latest on the Hokies’ injuries from Tech athletic trainer Mike Goforth:

* On the same day Alabama coach Nick Saban banned NFL scouts from his campus (related to his soap-box stance on the NFL needing to protect college players from agents), the Hokies scouts from the Texans, Titans, Ravens, Seahawks and Buccaneers at practice this afternoon.

* The Hokies’ No. 2 and No. 3 whip linebackers, Alonzo Tweedy (groin) and Lorenzo Williams (calf strain) have yet to practice this camp. That has opened the door for senior Zach Luckett, who has an amazing comeback story (which you’ll read about momentarily).

* WR/KR Dyrell Roberts, one of the nation’s leading return specialists in 2009, was back practicing full speed, full-contact today. That’s great news for the Hokies.

* One guy who benefited from Roberts’ early absence was redshirt sophomore Marcus Davis – everyone’s pick for breakout offensive player in 2010. Davis has impressed so far this camp. Receivers coach Kevin Sherman said his “ball skills” improved dramatically. (Also notable: Sherman said sophomore D.J. Coles, who I think most expected to redshirt this season, is really making a move. Has so far practiced great. More on that later.)

* Defensive line coach Charley Wiles said he has a solid set of four defensive ends – starters Steven Friday and Chris Drager, and backups James Gayle and J.R. Collins – but still has only three tackles he feels good about. Those three are John Graves, Kwamaine Battle and Antoine Hopkins.

* If there was a game tomorrow, Wiles said “we’d play with three” tackles, but there are four candidates vying for that No. 4 spot: Joe Jones, Dwight Tucker, Isaiah Hamlette and true freshman Antoine Hopkins. Wiles seems very impressed with the younger Hopkins. Mammoth, ox-strong freshman Nick Acree, Wiles said, is not in the mix. Hopkins is “so far ahead of him from a mental standpoint, from a football-experience standpoint.”

* The Hokies’ trainer, Goforth, said despite offensive line coach Curt Newsome’s hopes that LT Nick Becton could be back practicing in as little as a week, “We’re calling it two weeks minimum. He’s a 300-some pounder ... and you put all that weight on your toe as you’re back-kicking.” Goforth said the injury isn’t major – “a garden-variety turf toe” – and it wouldn’t worry him as much if Becton were a guard or center. To avoid this becoming a nagging injury, they’d prefer Becton sit out the full two weeks, then wear a shoe reinforced with steel upon his return.

* Michael Via, the Hokies’ most versatile backup offensive lineman, began non-contact practice drills on Monday and Goforth believes its likely Via will be fully cleared for practice by the week of the season opener. Via had ACL surgery four months ago and Goforth said most linemen wouldn’t be ready to return from that until the fifth or sixth game. “Typical Michael,” Goforth said. “He gets it done.” Goforth added that his recovery was also quicker because Via’s ACL was stretched over time, not torn in a single catastrophic incident.

* While impressed with Via’s rapid comeback, Goforth said, “The truly remarkable person out there is Zach Luckett. Unbelievable.” Luckett tore his ACL, MCL and damaged “a couple of tendons” in the final regular-season game against Virginia last year. Eight months later, Luckett is back practicing, full-speed, full-contact (wearing a protective brace). Goforth said it was a “Willis McGahee” type of injury, which should have taken 16-18 months to get back from. “His (knee) was trashed,” Goforth said. “He’s a warrior.”

What a perfect transition. I caught up with Luckett tonight. He’s had a roller coaster career. Physically, he’s a Kam Chancellor clone (tall, fast, chiseled). In fact, they came into Tech together and coach Frank Beamer spent their first day of practice having them run through one-on-ones against each other to decide which was a receiver and which a defensive back.

Chancellor became a DB (and played corner, strong safety and finally free safety) who signed an NFL contract this summer for more than $2 million. Luckett started out as a wide receiver, but had to wait behind a loaded corps of wideouts (four of which made it to the NFL).

Just before Luckett was set to take over a starter spot at receiver, heading into the 2008 season, he got his second DUI and was suspended for the year. He came back out in 2009 determined to prove himself – and did so by joining the defense (Tech had discovered the talents of current receiver trio Danny Coale, Jarrett Boykin and Roberts by then) and special teams units.

Luckett became a kick-coverage ace last fall, recording 17 tackles as the Hokies’ “gunner.” He was catching the coaches’ attention and had a chance to fight for the vacant starting whip linebacker job in 2010.

Then he blew out his knee. I’ll let him pick up the story from there ...

WHIP LB ZACH LUCKETT

ON HOW HE’S BACK OUT PRACTICING JUST EIGHT MONTHS AFTER MAJOR KNEE INJURY THAT TECH’S TRAINER SAID WAS LIKE FORMER MIAMI STAR WILLIS MCGAHEE’S AWFUL ‘BLOWOUT’: “I can’t really explain it. I have the support of God, first of all, and my family. They pushed me, told me I could do it. There were some months you were just so down on yourself, just felt like there was no shot at coming back. Then, of course, my teammates. I’ve got a couple brothers – not blood brothers, but brothers on the team – that pushed me and told me to get back because it’s my senior year and we’ve got to do it big.”

ON HOW CRUSHED HE WAS LAST SEASON WHEN HE GOT HURT, IN THE LAST REGULAR SEASON GAME, AFTER BEING A GREAT SPECIAL TEAMS PLAYER AND ANGLING FOR A STARTING JOB ON DEFENSE THIS FALL: “It’s funny, because when I actually got injured, I was shocked at first. There wasn’t too much pain going on, mentally. But as soon as the doc laid me on the table and I felt my leg swing, like everything was loose, that’s when I started to cry. That’s when I knew how bad it was. It was almost like there wasn’t anything inside my knee – and I guess there wasn’t – because it was just swinging back and forth. It was kind of nasty. I knew then I was going to be out for a long time.”

ON HIS ROAD TO RECOVERY: “I knew I had a long road coming into January. The training staff did a great job. They’ve been working with me throughout. It was just hard work and dedication to get me back. I knew I had to go strong (in rehab). I knew at a point that I wasn’t going to be full-strength by the time camp came around. I knew it was going to be a process. But I tried to go in sometimes two times a day for rehab, to get extra work, to get my thighs back. After the surgery, you really have no muscles in your thigh anymore. It’s like every day you work on it, and months later, it seems like there’s still nothing there. You’ve got to fight it. It’s going to fight you physically and mentally. I was ready to go to battle, and (trainers) went to battle with me. God willing, I’ll be ready to play be September.”

ON HOW CLOSE TO HIS OLD SELF HE IS NOW: “I’d say I’m probably 75 percent right now. That’s how I feel on the field. There’s sometimes I stop and try to cut back and tackle somebody and you can feel (the knee) almost shift – but it doesn’t, which I’m excited about. I was worried about it just going when I tried to cut back. So it’s getting there. Day by day, it’s getting there. The first day, it was pretty swollen after practice. But you can tell it’s improving.”

ON STARTING OUT FOURTH ON THE WHIP LB DEPTH CHART BUT SO FAR GETTING ALL THE NO. 2 REPS BECAUSE OF INJURIES: “I’m going full-speed ahead. God creates opportunities for me. During spring, I got some of the defense down (in meetings) but trying to get the full defense without repetitions is hard. Once you’re out there, the speed changes things. You’ve got to know your stuff quick. So getting this many reps has been a blessing. By Day 4, Day 5, everything’s coming a lot quicker. You’ve got to have that, because there’s no time on defense to wait. I’m trying to get that imbedded in my mind.”

ON WHAT KIND OF BRACE HE WEARS ON HIS SURGICALLY REPAIRED LEFT KNEE: “It’s a DonJoy brace, a little bit smaller than what the linemen wear. It’s not too restrictive. At some points when I’m trying to cut outside, you can kind of feel the brace hold you there, but that’s a good thing. As far as running straight forward and backpedaling and sliding out, it feels like there’s almost nothing on my knee.”

ON WHETHER HE’S BEEN TIMED IN THE 40-YARD DASH SINCE RETURNING: “No, but I try to measure myself on how fast everybody else is moving. I know I’m not 100 percent. I like to think I was pretty fast last year. Speed-wise, I’m probably 60 percent of what I used to be.”

ON THE TEAM’S FIRST DAY IN PADS TUESDAY: “We were excited until the rain came. After that, it was like the pads were 5-10 pounds heavier, and then the sun came back out. We were like, ‘No!’ But it was a good day for us. The defense, we gave great effort, I believe. The sun helps you get better late in practices when you’ve got to be more mental than physical. Having that extra 5-10 pounds on our backs today is going to help us the next few days and into the season.”

ON HIS REALISTIC EXPECTATION FOR CONTRIBUTING TO THE TEAM THIS FALL: “Initially, it was special teams. I’ve always loved special teams here since I was a freshman. It’s always been my No. 1 thing. But seeing the doors open up (at whip), I like to set my goals high, so I’d like to get a lot of playing time (on defense) if I can. I want to get in there and contribute to the defense, because I know talent-wise, with my abilities, I can do some things out there. Just watching (former All-American whip) Cody Grimm last year, he was an inspiration because he was undersized. Hard work will get you through. He showed that. I’m trying to do the same thing, trying to get out there and make a few plays.”

ON WHETHER HE’S ALREADY WORKING OUT ON SPECIAL TEAMS, TOO: “Yeah, I’m back at gunner already. We haven’t done much with the gunners yet, but I know I can do that. It’s just a straight shot, not too much cutting going on. We’ve got the board up and it’s me and (Alonzo) Tweedy, who’s also kind of injured right now, starting at the gunner positions (the wide guys on punt coverage, the first tacklers down the field).”

ON WHETHER PART OF HIS ROLE IS ALSO TO HELP LIKELY STARTER JERON GOUVEIA-WINSLOW: “I try to support him as much as I can, because whoever’s out there, we’re all a team. If I help make him a better player, he can do that for the next group of young guys that comes through. As a senior, it’s been a quick trip, but I’m here to provide all the energy to him and the other guys as I can, keep them on their toes.”

* For instant updates on the Hokies, follow me at twitter.com/kyletuckerVP

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