Courtesy of Dave Knachel | Virginia Tech

Dustin Pickle was put on scholarship Thursday.

Courtesy of Dave Knachel | Virginia Tech

Dustin Pickle was put on scholarship Thursday.

BLACKSBURG -- Dustin Pickle did it the Smith Barney way. He earned it.

Two years after walking on as an unknown and undersized freshman out of Salem High, Pickle was overjoyed Thursday when he was informed by Hokies coach Frank Beamer that he had been placed on scholarship.

"I don't know if there's higher cloud than Cloud 9 ... maybe it's Cloud 10, Cloud 11, or something ... but I'm floating there right now," said Pickle, a 5-foot-10, 184-pound tailback and special teams performer.

"I was so excited to make the call home and tell my parents [Mike and Sandra]. My father answered the phone and I just told him, 'Your financial burden has been lifted a bit.' And to hear their excitement about me being placed on scholarship was just unreal.

"Personally, it's a huge deal. Now, I feel like I really belong on this football team. I'm going to work even harder now to prove to everybody it was the right decision, too."

Pickle, who played football for three years at Glenvar before transferring to Salem for his senior season, has been one of those overachieving players that coaches love.

As a sophomore last season, he impressed enough to participate in 103 snaps on Tech's special teams.

"Everything is just right about Dustin," Beamer said.

"He's worked extremely hard. He's our third tailback right now and he's on most of our special teams. He's all about great effort, a great team guy, he's full speed all the time. You just like having Dustin around. He makes my days better."

Cleared to go

Freshman offensive lineman Will Alvarez and freshman wideout-return man Ervin Garner have been certified as academic qualifiers and have been cleared for full athletic competition by the NCAA Clearinghouse.

Alvarez has been practicing with the team since Aug. 8. The 6-foot-5, 332-pound Woodbridge native may have been a candidate to play this season on a depth-shy line if he hadn't missed the first six practices due to the NCAA's red tape.

"I think it's asking too much for Will to catch up right now," Beamer said.

"Maybe it would be different if he had been here at the right time. I think physically he's certainly got what it takes, it's just a matter of how quickly he can learn it. When you're that late coming in, it's really hard to get going.

"We think he's really going to be a good player. We think all those freshmen [O-linemen] are going to be good players, but all of them just get caught up a little bit in the learning department. Besides quarterback, that offensive line is the toughest position for a freshman to play, I think."

Garner, a 5-9, 160-pound Fairfax native, originally committed to Towson in June.

He matriculated to Tech a couple weeks later when February signee Quillie Odom failed to make a qualifying test score and decided to attend Hargrave Military Academy, thus leaving the Hokies an extra scholarship opening. Garner is the nephew of former NFL running back Charlie Garner.

Wash my ride

Following a short morning workout, the players and coaches will participate in a charity car wash, which will run from 3:45 to 6:15 p.m. in the softball parking lot on the west side of Lane Stadium.

Donations of any amount will be accepted, with all proceeds going to the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund for the families and victims of the April 16 shootings.

"We hope we can raise a lot of money for those people and show our support," Beamer said.

Noting his car needed an oil change more than a wash, one wisecracking reporter asked Beamer if the coach could do the honors.

"Depends on how big a donation you'll give us," said Beamer, laughing.

Tech tidbits

Today's 9:30 a.m. practice will include a 24-play scrimmage for those players still on the verge of cracking the two- and three-deep on the depth chart. "We're also going to work with some kickers who are right there," Beamer said. "We've got to make a decision on some of these guys and you want as much information and you want to see as many scrimmage plays as you can so you can make a good decision." ... Saturday's 3:15 p.m. scrimmage in Lane, which is open and free to the public, will mostly include work between the ones and twos on the depth chart. "After that, I think we've got to say this is the way we're going to go and go hard with the guys," Beamer said. "We've got to make some gut decisions and choose between this guy or that guy, because if you're working two guys both of them are getting half the number of reps they need to be getting."