BLACKSBURG -- Nick Marshman spilled his sizable guts out Monday.

His voice crackling with emotion, the mammoth Marshman apologized to his coaches, teammates, and the program's backers for returning to camp too heavy and out of shape and promised all that he will quickly get his huge house in order.

He'd better. With prospective starting right offensive tackle Ed Wang likely done for most -- if not all -- of the season after breaking his right leg Sunday in practice, the Hokies' offensive line desperately could use a huge transfusion and contribution from the biggest player on the roster.

"I've let this team down once this year and I'm not going to do it again," a stoic Marshman said following the club's Monday workout. "I came back overweight this summer and let the entire offensive-line room down. I'm going to step in here and play that right tackle spot. I'm going to make it up to everybody ... make it up to Ed, make it up to the team, make it up to the fans, and everything."

In the wake of Wang's injury, offensive line coach Curt Newsome moved Marshman from backup left guard to No. 1 reps at right tackle Monday. The big fellow is determined to help bail his team out in this time of serious need.

"I hated to see Ed go down," Marshman said. "You don't want it to happen that way, you want to earn that spot. Ed was getting the job done and I'm not going to let him down. I'm taking his spot and I'm going to represent it well and I'm going to represent the team."

The 6-foot-5 Marshman, who started two games last season at left tackle when starter Brandon Frye was injured, reported to camp at 357 pounds. He was hampered by not being able to participate in summer conditioning workouts as he served an internship in Northern Virginia for his property management degree.

"I was supposed to come back at 340 ... it's a bad thing the way I came back," Marshman said. "I hit the gym while I was there, but it's a lot different when you're by yourself and none of your teammates are there to motivate you."

The redshirt junior from Harrisonburg now finds himself paying the price. He has been running extra sprints and will continue to do so until he rounds into shape.

"Coming back overweight and not making the running test, there's no excuse for that," Marshman said. "At first, I knew I had let them down and I was beating myself up. The guys have rallied around me, saying, 'C'mon, let's go, it's your time.' Letting them down once was motivation not to do it again to the guys."

Pitching and catching now

With Sean Glennon firmly entrenched as his No. 1 quarterback, Tech coach Frank Beamer has encouraged backup Ike Whitaker to take some reps at wide receiver. Whitaker got a few plays Monday to see how he may fit at wideout.

"I'm still our backup quarterback," Whitaker said. "I'm still going to get my reps there, but I'm also going to be working a little at receiver. I just want to help the team anyway I can."

Wang starts road back

The recovery time on Wang returning from his Sunday night surgery for a broken fibula and ligament damage around his ankle has now been amended to 10 to 12 weeks.

"It's tough setting there looking in a kid's eye after he had worked so hard for this," Newsome said. "We want him Ed back, of course. But I think we have to approach it right now as if we going through the whole season without him."