So here I am! I can't promise you daily blogs the rest of spring. In fact, I drove into Blacksburg Monday morning, I'm here today and I'll stay through practice tomorrow. Then it's back to home base for a few days.

I'll return to the Burg for the anniversary of April 16 and stay through the spring game, though. And on the days I'm here in Hokieland, I will provide the best, most-complete reports I can. Sorry that it won't be as comprehensive as the fall, but no worries ... I'll be bloggin' in earnest come Aug. 1, all the way through the bowl game.

But enough about that. You want notes and quotes, right? Well, I have a story running in tomorrow's Pilot on Tech's tailbacks, and its RB coach Billy Hite. He seems really rejuvenated -- a word he used himself -- by the sudden uncertainty at the position. He's excited to coach up these young guys.

They even have a new gadget out there -- called the Blaster -- which apparently thumps and swats at the backs as they run through. Supposed to help them protect the ball and toughen them up for increased tackle-breakin'.

So ... I'll have thoughts from Cheese, Darren Evans and Josh Oglesby. Those are the three really fighting for PT right now. While I don't know if Kenny Lewis Jr. will start next season, I get the sense that his knowledge and experience level have all but won him a spot in the rotation already.

Hite's only going to use three backs, max, I think in the fall. He'd like to have two top guys and a third who can spell the other two and be ready if there's an injury. So I think Cheese, Evans and Oglesby are battling for the other spots. (When Ryan Williams comes in July, he'll become a major factor, too, but I think he could be used as a slot receiver, kick returner to get him the PT he's essentially been promised.)

But we'll get to the backs. First ... some observations from practice this week.

* DT John Graves is frightening. He has thighs for biceps. LB Purnell Sturdivant, meanwhile, has beer kegs for thighs. He's stacked ... and playing pretty darn well so far, too.

* DT Cordarrow "Taco" Thompson looks more like a taquito these days. He's dropped 30 pounds and moving much, much better.

* Graduated WR Eddie Royal was at Monday's practice. He said he'd recently worked out for the Washington Redskins and is scheduled for another workout soon for the Atlanta Falcons.

* CB Macho Harris, who spent the first half of spring at wideout, had a rough return to defense. His technique was off and he was getting worked by the newbie wideouts. Zach Luckett made two impressive catches on Harris, including a deep ball at the sideline on which Luckett was actually pretty well blanketed. Later, QB Sean Glennon dropped a perfect bomb over Brandon Dillard's shoulder for a 60-plus-yard TD. Dillard ran by Harris on the play.

* Other impressive grabs from the receiver corps included: An over-the-shoulder deep ball from Glennon to Patrick Terry. Glennon seems to have the timing down the best with these receivers on the long pass so far. Ike Whitaker, covered well, snagged a ball at the sideline on a nice out-route (didn't notice which QB). Ike also hauled in a deep ball from Glennon, adjusting to the slightly underthrown ball, looking back into the sun to make the catch. Danny Coale had a fingertip grab on a bomb from Tyrod Taylor down the middle ... and another snatch by Coale, in traffic, down the seam from Glennon.

* TE Greg Boone is just freaking huge. Just ... enormous. He's listed at 290. He might be 300. But at this point, his weight just doesn't matter. He's a freakish mismatch for defenses. He still runs well and made a tremendous catch on a ball down the middle from Glennon. Boone, striding past the defense, extended in front of him for the catch. And once he's got the ball ... NO ONE on defense wants anything to do with him.

* LB Cam Martin looks good on defense. He sniffed out a read-option by Taylor and corralled the juking QB in the backfield on one play. FS Kam Chancellor, meanwhile, just keeps getting scarier looking (if that's possible). He's gotten noticeably bigger this offseason.

* Salty assistant coach Jim Cavanaugh is in mid-season form already. I won't say who or why ... but he barked out a classic scolding of a player Monday. "I might as well talk to that (bleeping) building!" And then, I'm pretty sure, Cav made a noise not unlike the Lion in Wizard of Oz to further illustrate his frustration. I enjoy Cavs outbursts far more than I should.

That's all for now. I'll be back tomorrow with more notes and quotes. For now, chew on these thoughts from Tech's tailbacks ...

 

ON HAVING THIS UNEXPECTED OPPORTUNITY WITH ORE’S EARLY EXIT: “Things kind of worked their way out. Coming here, everybody thought Branden was going to leave after his junior year. We hate to see him leave this way, but we’ve got to step up and continue the tradition.”

 

ON HAVING THAT IN MIND ALL ALONG, GETTING HIS SHOT THIS SEASON: “That was always the plan.”

 

ON BEING ANONYMOUS FOR A WHILE: “We’ve got a stable full of backs. Any one of us can kill a defense. It’s just going to be great watching us switch in and out and sharing the load this year. I think it’ll be a great learning experience for all of us.”

 

ON WHETHER HE THINKS THIS FALL WILL BE RUNNING BACK BY COMMITTEE: “I believe at the beginning of this season, we’ll have a lot of guys rotating in. But eventually, one guy’s going to come out of the crowd and lead the way. And if somebody gets hurt – Branden got banged up a lot last year – we’re going to have somebody ready to reload. We’re going to pound it this year and take a beating.”

 

ON WHO HE SEES COMING OUT OF THE PACK: “I’ve got a lot of confidence in myself, but there’s a lot I need to polish up on. I’m learning all I can this year and working hard. I’ve got to work on pass protection.”

 

ON WHETHER HE THINKS BLOCKING WILL BE A KEY DECIDING FACTOR IN WHO GETS PLAYING TIME: “Oh, yeah. All of us are here because we can run the ball. But pass-blocking, that’s another thing we need to learn because that’s a big part of the game. And there are different looks for each quarterback we have. It keeps you on top of your toes. You have to know who’s in the game, who to block and how long to block them.”

 

ON THE BACK WHO’S MOST IMPRESSIVE RIGHT NOW: “Kenny Lewis, he has great leadership. Jahre and Darren, they both run it hard. Everybody back there is exciting.”

 

ON WHETHER THE GROUP HAS ANY NICKNAMES: “Well, Darren, he got No. 32 like Cedric Humes. I got No. 25 like Kevin Jones. A lot of people have been talking about the one-two punch with me and him. I like to just call us the stable full of stallions right now.”

 

 

ON LOOKING BIGGER THESE DAYS: “Yeah, when I came in I was like 205. Now I’m about 215. I feel good about it.”

 

ON WHO THE BEST BACK IS: “It would be hard to say right now. Kenny and Jahre know the position better than anyone else. They know what they’re doing.”

 

ON THE SCRIMMAGE HELPING HIM: “It was a big confidence boost because I ran the ball well and actually went up to the line knowing what I was supposed to do in pass protection. That felt good.”

 

ON THE IMPORTANCE OF BLOCKING IN THE COMPETITION FOR REPS: “I think that’s probably bigger than running the ball. That’s second nature to us. He can pretty much trust us with the ball in our hands, but the biggest thing is getting those protections down.”

 

ON BEING EXCITED ABOUT THIS OPPORTUNITY: “It’s about half and half. I knew (losing Ore) would hurt the team, and the team is more important than an individual. But I knew I’d have a shot. I was going to be excited regardless, because I was going to come in with the mindset to learn the plays and run hard no matter what.”

 

ON HIS STYLE: “I like to run between the tackles and pick up those tough yards. I get the ball and see the hole, and that’s where I’m trying to go. I love to score.”

 

ON WHETHER HE’D DESCRIBE HIMSELF AS A PATIENT RUNNER: “I would say I have better vision than patience, because if I don’t see anything I’m just going to try to get what I can get.”

 

ON HOW MUCH THE OFFSEASON IN THE WEIGHT ROOM HELPED: “Oh, a lot. It helped in a lot of ways. My bench, when I came in, was 305. Now it’s about 340. And I have the front-squat record for running backs at 410 … but they just started it, so I guess it’s not that exciting.”

 

ON WHETHER THERE ARE ANY NICKNAMES FOR THE TAILBACKS: “Well, we call ourselves the Stallions. But Kenny Lewis, he has all kinds of nicknames. Kenny refers to me as anything that’s big in life, like King Kong, Big Baby, Eddie George. Anybody that’s big.”

 

ON THE POTENTIAL ONE-TWO PUNCH OF THE FUTURE, HIM AND OGLESBY: “Me and him kind of connected because we were two running backs coming him together. I’d say we have a pretty close relationship. We talk about when it’s all clear for us, just to take over and have that two-back tandem.”

 

ABOUT HIS HUGE HIGH SCHOOL NUMBERS, AND HOW SOME FOLKS HAVE TALKED BAD ABOUT THE LEVEL OF FOOTBALL IN HIS HOME STATE, INDIANA: “I think we came from one of the better conferences in the Midwest. We play football the same way everybody else does. I want to prove I can play the game.”

 

ON BEING A LITTLE HOMESICK LAST SEASON, WITH HIS SON BACK IN INDIANA, AND WHETHER THE PROSPECT OF PLAYING TIME HELPS EASE THAT: “That helps out a lot. It was missing him and my family … and not playing … that’s tough take. To have the two things you love in life not coming to you.”

 

ON WAITING HIS TURN: “I was a little down for a while. But I’m trying to get a little confidence back and show the coaches what’s going on.”

 

ON PLAYING CORNER FOR TWO YEARS: “I gave it a shot but I just couldn’t get comfortable. And I couldn’t cover nobody.”

 

ON WHAT’S HIS STYLE: “I try to – but not always – just run north and south.”

 

ON BEING A HOME RUN THREAT: “I wish that was the case. But I don’t see that. Somebody like me, I see more as an every-down guy. I just don’t see that burst in myself that some other people see – after getting caught from behind a couple of times.”

 

ON THE OTHER BACKS: “Kenny Lewis, he’s strong, fast, smart. He knows everything and has a better outlook on the offense as a whole. He’s the veteran of the group and coaches us up. Darren, he’s young and once he realizes the strength of his body, he’ll become a threat. Josh Oglesby, once he gets the offensive program right, he’ll be good, too. He’s a hard guy to bring down. And Pickle, he’s a wild runner. He always gets a couple yards when you don’t think he can.”

 

ON THE OPPORTUNITY WHEN ORE LEFT: “Coach Hite said there’s a big opportunity for all the backs, and he told everybody in the room we had something to prove. There’s a step we’ve all got to step up to, because Ore was a really good tailback.”

 

ON THE IMPORTANCE OF BLOCKING: “It’s great that we can run the ball, but coming to block a 230-pound linebacker in a full sprint from 10 yards away, that’s the tough part. Once Coach Hite sees that we’re able to do that, he’ll have the confidence to put us on the field. They don’t want to put anyone out there who’s just good at one thing. They’ve got to be a complete package, who they can count on every play, pass or run.”

 

ON WHAT HE HAS TO DO THE REST OF SPRING TO SEPARATE HIMSELF: “Come out here and work for the coaches. Because I think a lot of it is not only who can do it, but who wants to do it. So I need to show them I’m working every play, getting better every practice.”