Practice notes: All-ACC snubs irk Hokies, especially on defense that ranks second in the league

Virginia Tech had eight selections on the All-ACC teams released Monday, the second most in the league.

Naturally, the Hokies wouldn't have minded a few more.

"You know, always happy for the guys who got recognized," head coachFrank Beamer said. "I feel like a lot of guys have played well for us. And to get recognized for All-ACC is quite an honor. You always worry about the guys that don’t make it, though."

The Hokies were particularly perturbed about some defensive slights. Although they rank second in the league and 12th nationally in total yards allowed, they didn't have one first-team selection, instead placing four guys on the second team.

"It goes to show you what whoever votes on it knows," Foster said. "But that’s fine. We’re a bunch of young guys that really don’t care about those things, I don’t think.

"I think it’s a slap in the face, now that I hear about it, because I’ll put our defense up against anybody in the league as far as that goes. But I’m disappointed for our kids if that’s the case. I mean, we’ve got some kids that have played extremely, extremely well. Our record says enough. Obviously that means that people still don’t give us enough respect, in my opinion, that we deserve."

Defensive end James Gayle, cornerbacks Kyle Fuller and Jayron Hosley and safety Eddie Whitley made the second team. Of those players, only one is a senior. Voters tend to favor older players in the balloting.

Foster called Fuller, who has played cornerback, nickelback and whip linebacker, the defensive MVP for Virginia Tech, making him a good candidate for first-team inclusion.

While defensive end J.R. Collins, safety Antone Exum and even injured linebacker Bruce Taylor earned honorable mention, sophomore defensive tackle Derrick Hopkins, who has emerged as a force inside, did not make any of the lists.

"I thought he would be a guy who would get mentioned for sure because he’s turned in a lot of big plays for us, a lot of one-on-one plays," defensive line coach Charley Wiles said. "I think we as coaches as we review film, we know who can play and who’s getting it done on a consistent basis. And he’s been very consistent for us for sure."

On offense, neither Jarrett Boykin nor Danny Coale -- Tech's two leading receivers not just this year, but all-time -- even got honorable mention.

"I think we’ve got some good wide receivers," Beamer said. "And no defensive guys made it (first team). I think we’ve played pretty good defense. But that’s the way it goes. I think those selections, not everyone is going to agree. I’m proud of the ones who did make it."

The Hokies are using it as fuel. When told about the snubs, Exum gave a pretty PC response to reporters. He tweeted this about 10 minutes later: "The decisions of the voters will cost every team left on our schedule and every single team next season."

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Plenty more notes and quotes from Monday night:

• First, some insight on the All-ACC voting process. It was a media vote. They make you choose a first and second team. Regarding Fuller, who probably had the strongest case of the defenders to be a first-team pick, his cornerback stats don't translate great. It doesn't come across that he's played a whole bunch of spots for the Hokies. I had him first team, but I can see how many didn't.
• Regarding Hopkins, even I did not have him on either of the teams. He was certainly a consideration, but defensive tackle was one of the deepest positions in the league, in my opinion. It was hard to make the top four.
• Same goes for Boykin and Coale. There were four receivers -- Clemson's Sammy Watkins, Wake's Chris Givens,North Carolina's Dwight Jones and Duke's Conner Vernon -- whose stats stand out among the rest (Miami's Tommy Streeter could be in there too.) While Boykin and Coale have great career numbers and no doubt have a major impact in Tech's offense, their single-season stats don't really compare. And, like it or not, this is stats-driven selection process. The problem when you have four picks that stand out, like the receiver position did, is that the other guys can't accumulate enough points to earn honorable mention. So while Boykin and Coale probably deserved it, they didn't make the list.
• Now for some on-the-field stuff: Virginia Tech did a pretty good job of defending Clemson in the first game, allowing 23 points. That sounds like a lot, but at the time, the Tigers were putting up some big, big offensive numbers (they averaged 43.1 ppg in the other seven games of their 8-0 start). Foster and some of the defenders said the difference was about four plays that the Tigers hit big. "You look at that in every game," he said. "Big plays for you or against you that make a difference in a football game and they happened to go against us."
• Clemson's up-tempo offense, which is cut from the same cloth as the one that Auburn used to win the national championship last year (Tigers OC Chad Morris is a protege of Auburn's Gus Malzahn), is sort of the new thing in college football. Lots of teams are going hurry up to try to keep defense from making substitutions. "It’s kind of the offense of the new wave and let’s see how we defend it and we’ll find ways to do that and somebody will counter with something else," Foster said. "But there’s always a challenge with anything. ... They’ve got everybody back again [next year]. It’s a growing year for them. I just hope they don’t grow too fast."
• The Hokies did a pretty good job of defending Watkins, the likely ACC Offensive Rookie of the Year, the first time, holding him to three catches for 38 yards. Senior cornerback Cris Hill covered him for most of the night, although it was a team effort. "You can’t double the guy, because they’ve got too many other weapons," Foster said. "But it’s just having an awareness of what they’re trying to do in their formations. ... So just having where he’s got to make good throws, they’ve got to have good throws and catches all the time. You just can’t turn him loose."
• Hosley on Watkins, who has been limited in the last three games because of a shoulder injury: "Everything you see on film is what you get. ... That’s not hard to tell when see a guy with natural talent and the natural ability that he has." Before the injury, he had 10 receiving touchdowns.
• Foster's goal is to make Clemson one-dimensional. He said that's how the Tigers have struggled of late. They've fallen behind early and been forced to throw the ball on every play. "I think they’ve had some situations where they’ve had some turnovers, gotten behind, people turning loose, pin their ears back and they can’t run the offense like they want to run it, per se," Foster said. "I think if you make any team one-dimensional, it affects everybody."
• What makes Clemson good offensively? "Speed kills," Hosley said. "They’ve got speed at receiver. They’ve got the size. Got a good quarterback who can put the ball there. They’ve got the things you need in a good, powerful offense."
• Exum said going back to rover has been a pretty easy transition. He and Whitley had been interchangeable in the positions anyway. He kind of laughed about being back in the ACC title game, a year after he played in it while only a freshman. "I think going into this one, I kind of know how fortunate we are to be here this go around," he said. "Me and Kyle (Fuller) were talking about it a while back, as young freshmen here, it was kind of like going game-by-game. It was the ACC championship, but for us, it was like another game. Don’t mess up. So now we know kind of the new-found importance for where we’re at. And we’ll try to go get the win."
• Exum, by the way, is sporting a blond Mohawk, the Simon Phoenix lookfor you fans of "Demolition Man." He did it before the UNC game and Tech hasn't lost since, so he's keeping it. If the Hokies had lost? "It would have been gone," he said. Some teammates gave him grief when he got it. "I was getting a lot of stuff from the guys, like, 'If you don’t play good now, you have to cut it, because you can’t do all this and then not have a good game,'" he said. "We talk about swag all the time, but that’s just part of my game."
• Gayle was hoping this would be a matchup of top-five teams. Instead, Clemson has lost three of four to drop to No. 21 in the polls. "I definitely wish they were on a winning streak," Gayle said. "I wanted them to be undefeated. I’ve been thinking about Clemson since they beat us. ... That’s definitely motivation, because they crushed our national championship hopes. That’s about it."
• Hosley finally got something going in the punt return game last week, taking one back 38 yards against Virginia before barely getting tripped up. ("I’m still a little upset about it," he said.) After scoring touchdowns in each of his first two season on punt returns, Hosley hasn't had too much to return this year. He had one for 55 yards in the opener against Appalachian State, but pickings have been slim since. "Teams been trying to mix it up with the rugby kicks kind of rolling out, trying to buy their team time to get downfield," he said. "Kind of discourage punt returns, so it’s been tough, a lot of short returns this year. Hopefully we can get a couple these last two games."
• Lastly, it's that time of year again when Foster's name starts getting mentioned for head coaching vacancies. So far, he said neither he nor his agent have heard from anybody, despite the rash of coach firings that have created openings. "It’s a crazy business, man," he said. "It’s a cray-zee business."
• Foster mentioned the Akron and Memphis jobs specifically to show how nuts things are. The Tigers axed head coach Larry Porter after only two seasons, despite a major talent gap. "They expect that guy to turn it over in two years?" Foster said. "Their administration’s crazy. And they’ve got false visions of grandeur."
• If you want a window into Foster's mind on what kind of head coaching situation he's looking for, this is a pretty good indicator. He talked about how Akron and Memphis aren't "quick fix" situations, saying that schools need to give coaches time to bring in some talent. "That’s a coach killer right now," he said.

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