Friday, May 01, 2009
Another legacy for Hokies’ football
Spring football was survival of the fittest
Doug Doughty
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The joke around the Virginia Tech football office on Friday morning was that running backs coach Billy Hite had gone recruiting but would be back in time for lunch.
Maybe it wasn’t a joke.
The Hokies took a commitment Friday morning from Tahrick Peak, a 6-foot-3, 205-pound linebacker and part-time running back from Pulaski County.
He was the leading tackler for a Cougars’ team that finished 12-1.
Peak is the younger brother of Nubian Peak, a senior running back for Pulaski this past season and a February signee with the Hokies.
Nubian Peak was listed at 6-1, 180 when Tech announced its signees Feb. 4. His younger brother has a different frame.
“He’s got real long arms,” Cougars’ coach Jack Turner said. “If you’ve got long arms, you’re not going to be a great bench-presser, but he’s really working hard in the weight room, trying to get his strength up.
“I think he can put on a lot more weight. He can put on another 25 pounds and maintain his speed easy. [With] Virginia Tech, you know they’ve got the best strength and conditioning program around.”
Peak was the second Timesland-area player to commit to the Hokies in the past week, joining Rockbridge Country offensive lineman Caleb Farris. Both were recruited by Hite.
THERE WERE 103 players on Virginia Tech’s spring practice roster, all with remaining eligibility. Tech signed 21 players in February. So that’s 124 players who will be available to the Hokies in August.
Problem is, Tech can bring only 105 to camp in August.
In many ways, spring football in Blacksburg served as a tryout camp.
“I was just telling that to Frank Beamer the other day,” director of football operations John Ballein said recently.
In addition to 21 signees, Tech recruited a handful of walk-ons this year who were promised spots on the preseason roster. Several other walk-ons were promised a spot once school is in session.
Once school is in session, rosters can swell to 125, but do the math. Tech can delay the arrival of some of the upperclass walk-ons who participated in spring practice but, in all likelihood, some of the participants in spring ball will not be invited back, at least not for August workouts.
Virginia had 87 players on its spring roster and signed 25, although one of those, Will Hill, enrolled early and took part in spring ball. So, that’s 111 and the Cavaliers also have some recruited walk-ons, most notably walk-on placekicker Drew Jarrett from Virginia Beach.
IN THE CONTEXT of last week’s “lead” item, it was interesting to see that quarterback Graham Harrell, who passed for more than 15,000 yards in his Texas Tech career, was not selected in the NFL Draft.
Does that substantiate comments made last week by Rich Morgan, head football coach at Oscar Smith High School in Chesapeake, the Group AAA Division 6 state champion?
“A lot of those schools that pass every down, their quarterbacks go to the combines and they don’t have the best feet,” Morgan said. “They haven’t made a lot of the NFL-type throws and they kind of get lost in the shuffle.”
Morgan’s comments were made in the context of quarterback Phillip Sims’ decision to commit to Alabama and related to the “spread” offense that has gained increased popularity in spring football. Morgan said that Alabama uses a multiple, pro set and that coach Nick Saban “tries to prepare his guys for the next level.”
Maybe Harrell wasn’t drafted, but neither was Alabama quarterback John Parker Wilson. Wilson passed for more than 5,500 yards and 35 touchdowns while starting 26 of 26 games over the past two seasons.
Harrell was listed by Texas Tech at 6-3, 205. Alabama listed Wilson at 6-2, 211. That’s not tall by NFL quarterback standards but it’s not short, although combine measurements indicated that both players are an inch shorter than what their colleges listed.
In fact, very few quarterbacks were drafted. Matthew Stafford, Mark Sanchez and Josh Freeman went in the first round. West Virginia’s Pat White went in the second round, but he’s viewed as a combination wide receiver and quarterback.
There were no quarterbacks taken in the third round and you had to go all the way to the first pick in the fourth round, Texas A&M’s Stephen McGree, before another QB was taken.
One of the ESPN analysts, probably Mel Kiper, ripped Seattle for taking Rutgers quarterback Mike Teel in the sixth round. Why waste a sixth-round pick on Teel, the analyst said, when you could get somebody equally good off the free-agent market?
It’s hard to disagree with him when you look at the list of college quarterbacks who either have signed with NFL teams as free agents or are headed to mini-camps:
Wilson (Atlanta), Harrell (Cleveland) Louisville’s Hunter Cantwell (Carolina), Arizona State’s Rudy Carpenter (Dallas), Utah’s Brian Johnson (Green Bay), Connecticut’s Tyler Lorenzen (Jacksonville), Virginia Tech’s Sean Glennon (Minnesota), Michigan State’s Brian Hoyer (New England) and Missouri’s Chase Daniel (Washington).
FOLLOWING ARE THE in-state football players who already have made oral commitments to Division I-A programs for 2010:
VIRGINIA TECH (4) – Nick Acree, Caleb Farris, Tahrick Peak, Mark Shuman
WEST VIRGINIA (3) – Tre Johnson, Marquis Wallace, Quintin Spain
ALABAMA (1) – Phillip Sims
DUKE (1) – Aramide Olaniyan
MARYLAND (1) – Jeremiah Wilson WAKE FOREST (1) – Duke Mosby
