Friday, December 19, 2008
Plenty of possibilities for Hokies at QB in 2009
Phoebus coach discusses Boyd and the ‘Hoos
Doug Doughty
Doug Doughty's College Notebook Plus is exclusive to roanoke.com and is posted by 5 p.m. Fridays.
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There probably won’t be 10 Division I-A football teams that will go into the 2009 season with as few as three scholarship quarterbacks.
Can we say that Virginia Tech will be one of them?
With the decision by ex-Hargrave quarterback Kevin Newsome to accept a grant-in-aid from Penn State, it looks like junior Tyrod Taylor will have a pair of redshirt freshmen, Ju Ju Clayton and Marcus Davis, as his 2009 back-ups.
Other than Taylor, the Hokies won’t have a quarterback who has taken a snap from center.
Or, will they?
How soon we forget.
Greg Boone, nominally the Hokies’ 280-pound starting tight end, took about 30 direct snaps as the quarterback in Tech’s “Wild Turkey” formation and had 19 rushing attempts for 57 yards. He also attempted one pass that fell incomplete.
Obviously, Tech would prefer to have Boone catching passes from Taylor, but what if Taylor suffered a sprained ankle in the first quarter of Tech’s opener against Alabama? Do you send in Clayton or Davis, or do you have a slightly slimmed-down Boone ready to go with a few additions to his 2008 package?
“I’m getting ready for Cincinnati [in the Orange Bowl] and you want to talk about next year?” Tech offensive coordinator Bryan Stinespring said this week. “Get back to me in the middle of spring practice.”
It’s a pertinent question now because there are still quarterbacks on the market for 2009.
Phoebus High School quarterback Tajh Boyd and Newsome were No. 1 and 2 on The Roanoke Times’ preseason list of the top prospects in Virginia (and probably on some other lists). Newsome is off the table, but Boyd is available after decommitments to West Virginia and Tennessee.
Could the Hokies get in on Boyd? They’ve had favorable relations with Phoebus in the past.
“I just know there’s no dialogue and they’re not recruiting him,” Phoebus coach Bill Dee said Friday morning. “I think they’ve moved on to some other kids. I know they’re recruiting a kid up in Richmond, aren’t they?”
Dee’s reference was to Antone Exum, an uncommitted quarterback from Deep Run High School in Richmond. Exum, rated the No. 21 prospect in the preseason, has been projected as a wide receiver or defensive back in college.
And, let’s not forget that Logan Thomas, who made an oral commitment to the Hokies last month, played quarterback this year for Group AA Division 4 runner-up Brookville High School in Lynchburg. Most recruiting analysts list Thomas (6-6, 225) as a tight end, but he was a wide receiver as a sophomore at Brookville and has said that the Hokies plan to split him out.
So, the Hokies should have plenty of options behind Taylor next year. There’s Clayton, Davis, Boone, Thomas and Exum. Aside from Taylor, there’s one thing they have in common. All were recruited initially by Tech to play a position other than quarterback.
If I’m not mistaken, there were some people who weren’t sure Taylor was a quarterback coming out of high school. He originally was slotted as a defensive back in workouts at the U.S. Army All-America Bowl, where he eventually received some time – sparingly – at quarterback.
Pending some work on a hitch the Hokies have discovered in his throwing motion, most observers would agree that Taylor is a bona fide college quarterback, capable of leading a Top 25 program, but it will be interesting if anything happens to him next year.
NOW THAT VIRGINIA has settled on spread advocate Gregg Brandon as its new offensive coordinator, is Phoebus’ Boyd more likely to consider the Cavaliers?
Earlier this week, an Oregon fans’ site indicated that Boyd was saying that Virginia was fourth in a race that included the Ducks, Ohio State and Boston College.
(Wouldn’t that be priceless? Boyd and fellow Virginia-bred quarterback Peter Lalich playing for rival programs in Oregon)?
Dee said Friday that Boyd has indicated he will save a visit for Virginia. Whether he takes it is another matter.
“This thing changes day to day,” Dee said. “I know there was a genuine interest in Virginia a couple of weeks ago. But, you know, things might have changed.
“I’m hoping he’s still considering Virginia because they’re an in-state school and I tell all my kids, to be honest with you, that I like them to consider the in-state schools. They have set a visit, but I don’t know what’s going to transpire in that time.”
Boyd took official visits to West Virginia and Tennessee, which left him with only three more paid visits he could take. He was at Ohio State last weekend and reportedly will be at Oregon this weekend.
The perception is that Ohio State will be hard to beat “but, I’ve talked to Tajh about this,” Dee said. “You’ve got to look at the [Terrelle] Pryor factor. I think Ohio State is a great school but if Pryor stays three [more] years, that doesn’t give you much playing time.
“I know they’re going to say that they’re looking at the possibility of him coming out in two years, but there’s no guarantee. If [Pryor] stays around for three more years, Tajh would be a redshirt junior then.”
Boyd backed out of his commitment to West Virginia but Dee indicated that he was pressured to decommit to Tennessee.
“As soon as they hired Lane Kiffin, I knew what was coming,” Dee said. “[Kiffin] was a West Coast guy looking for a West Coast-type of quarterback. He wanted a guy who was 6-4 or 6-5. I knew that about him.
“He said, ‘At least I’m being honest.’ What I told him was, ‘It’s like guys who cheat on their wives and say that they’re just being honest.’ I said, ‘That doesn’t make it a good thing.’ “He didn’t say to the kid, ‘I’ll give you a chance to compete.’ Honoring a scholarship to me is like, ‘Hey, you come in, we’ll give you a chance to compete.’ Telling him a kid he can come but he’s not going to play, to me that’s not honoring a scholarship. I’m not going to give [Kiffin] but so much credit.”
A PLAYER WHO WILL be following the Boyd recruiting with considerable interest is 6-3, 221-pound Oakton High School senior quarterback Chris Coyer, who accounted for 2,688 yards and 32 touchdowns.
Coyer, a left-hander, was named Concorde District Player of the Year. That’s the same district that produced Westfield High School quarterbacks Sean and Mike Glennon, who became Division I-A signees for Virginia Tech and North Carolina State.
Coyer has offers from Temple and Ohio University but is waiting to hear from Ohio State and Oregon. Both schools have indicated they will bring him to campus depending on developments with Boyd.
Curious has been a lack of interest from Virginia and Virginia Tech as both schools continue to court other quarterbacks. Coyer completed 67 percent of his passes this year while throwing 17 touchdown passes, compared with three interceptions. He rushed for 1,401 yards and 15 touchdowns out of a spread offense.
