Friday, October 30, 2009
With latest Tech loss, chopping talk dies down
UVa, Tech come after Hargrave players
Doug Doughty
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Two weeks have passed since Virginia Tech’s 28-23 loss at Georgia Tech on Oct. 17 and the issue of Georgia Tech’s chop blocking has died down, particularly since a Thursday night loss to North Carolina has taken the Hokies out of the what-if mode.
ACC supervisor of officials Doug Rhoads will be only too happy to have that controversy die down. The same for the ACC office. The only problem is: it’s probably going to come up again at some point.
What is chop blocking? In a conversation I had with Rhoads on another matter earlier this week, he told me that most people confuse chop blocking with crackback blocking.
You can count me in that group.
For several minutes, Rhoads was talking about a crackback block and I thought he was talking about a chop.
Only the umpire is positioned to see the chop, Rhoads tells me.
“He stands in there where the linebackers are, 7 or 8 yards behind the line,” Rhoads said, “and we ask him, ‘Watch the guard-center-guard holding. Help with the tackle on the side behind the referee.
“In this combination where one block is high and one block is low, it’s a chop.”
It’s an easy call to miss.
“It happens too quick,” said Rhoads, who thinks it is possible that officials miss three chops for every one they catch. “You have to make a decision in a split second. Sometimes, they flag it and the low block misses, and it’s possible you call something that’s not even there.”
There are examples of chop blocks on the training tape that Rhoads sends to his officials every week but not because of Georgia Tech, which runs a run-based offense that is like none other in the ACC.
“We do Navy; we do VMI;” Rhoads said. “They run the same offense. Army runs the same offense. We see it from Army, from Navy, from Georgia Tech and from VMI. We just want to be better at doing it.
“Every coach in the conference gets our tape. Every official gets the tape. It’s not like there’s any hidden inference or we cover something up. This thing operates in pretty good daylight; we don’t make public statements like ‘yep, they missed these three and these five were right.’ That’s for the coach.”
SEVERAL READERS were disappointed at the absence of feedback concerning the meal that the University of Maryland offered to reporters at a cost of $15.
The menu arrived ahead of time and I wasn’t too interested in the offerings: lasagna, vegetarian lasagna, “classic” Caesar salad and cookies.
One of the Notebook Plus readers suggested that “classic” Caesar salad did not include chicken. That may have been correct. However, you would think that the “classic” Caesar Salad would have more ingredients than regular Caesar salad.
I had made the decision not to eat the press-box dinner until I realized on the eve of the game that I did not have my game credentials. As a result, I had to pick up my press pass and parking pass at the College Park Holiday Inn.
Perfect timing allowed me to arrive just after 1:30 p.m. for a 3:30 game and, on my way to the Holiday Inn, I spied a Moe’s Southwestern Grille in a nearby shopping center. Great! I would order a sandwich at Moe’s and head to the game.
There was one problem. The parking lot was packed. I must have circled the parking lot 10 times and no spaces opened. Finally, after estimating that I was on the verge of spending an extra $15 on gasoline, I relented.
At first glance, the press box fare didn’t look great – I’m not partial to items preceded by the adjective “vegetarian” – but there was one question left to ask.
“Can you get seconds?”
Once I got an affirmative answer to that question, I was sold. Ate lunch before the game, ate dinner at halftime. Had some cookies. It wasn’t great, but I’ll be headed back to College Park, Md., for a basketball game Feb. 10.
Is it too early to reserve a parking spot outside Moe’s? LAST WEEK’S COLUMN also had a luncheon angle, specifically the reluctance of Virginia Tech offensive coordinator Bryan Stinespring to reveal his Oct. 23 destination.
I raise this matter carefully because many Tech fans would prefer to hear what Stinespring is doing to rev up the Hokies’ offense after a 20-17 loss to North Carolina, but I’m not going to call him today. It’s too soon.
(Actually, I did just call him on his cell, but there was no answer).
I can report that Stinespring did come clean on last Friday’s luncheon destination: Cucci’s in Covington. Do a Google search and you’ll find that Cucci’s is highly regarded for its Italian fare.
Aaron McFarling subsequently raved to me about the Daleville Cucci’s and apparently there is a Little Cucci’s in Bedford. Sounds like a tantalizing location for a future SEC Roundtable.
ON THE SUBJECT of Stinespring, somebody told me that he has been spotted at Hargrave Military Academy, holding area for a couple of 2009 Hokie signees, safety Theron Norman and defensive end De’Antre Rhodes.
I’ve also heard the Hokies mentioned with a Hargrave offensive lineman from Arizona, presumably 6-5, 295-pound Laurence Gibson from Sierra Vista, Ariz.
Hargrave coach Robert Prunty said Friday that Gibson had no offers out of high school and came to a Hargrave combine as a 260-pound defensive end.
“Then he shows up and he’s 6-6 or 6-7 and he weighs 290,” Prunty said. “I told him, ‘Son, we’ve got to talk.’ We sat down for about two hours and I said, ‘You’re going to be an unbelievable offensive tackle. You remind me of Branden Albert and Jared Gaither.’
“He said, ‘But, coach, I’m a defensive end. I convinced him to try it, and now he’s got offers from all over.’ He’s just a physical specimen.”
Prunty said that Tech has made an offer to Gibson and that Virginia has offered Josh Watson, a 6-3, 285-pound defensive end who was a qualifier coming out of high school in Newark, Del.
According to Prunty, UVa also has asked for tape on a pair of tight ends, 6-6, 230-pound Rashad Blackwell from Winters Mill, Md., and 6-5, 230-pound Rob Fronk from Apex, N.C.
