Virginia Tech opens spring football practice today. The Hokies hope to be moving around a lot quicker than their boss.

"They'd better be," a laughing Frank Beamer said Tuesday.

Twenty-seven days after undergoing full replacement surgery of his left knee, Beamer duly noted that he's far from returning to full speed.

"Everybody tells me I'm doing great, and I say, 'I would hate to think what it would be like if I wasn't doing great!'" Beamer said. "Other than a knee that won't bend, I'm doing good."

Speaking of major replacement jobs, Beamer & Co. will have plenty of such to work on the next 25 days. The Hokies lost 20 seniors off last season's 11-3 club. As many as half of that group could be selected in the April 26-27 NFL Draft. They also lost a pair of junior standouts: cornerback Brandon Flowers, who left school a year and is being projected by many as a first-round pick; and leading rusher Branden Ore, who was dismissed from the team last Thursday for unspecified reasons.

"It's been a long time since we've had as many question marks or wasn't more settled," Beamer said.

The biggest retooling area on defense comes right up the gut, where coordinator Bud Foster lost standout linebackers Xavier Adibi and Vince Hall, and tackles Carlton Powell and Barry Booker, plus free safety D.J. Parker.

"You've always heard me say that it's kindly right up the pipe that matters," Beamer said. "Well, tackle and linebacker is kinda right up the pipe, I'd say."

John Graves and Cordarrow Thompson, a pair of redshirt sophomores, are the two lead guys for the tackle spots. At linebacker, a pair of fifth-year seniors, Brett Warren and Purnell Sturdivant, are advertised as the respective successors to Hall and Adibi.

Offensively, the Hokies' biggest hole to be filled is at wide receiver, where they lost four seniors, all of whom were major contributors at various times.

In a position that figures to be a lock to demand some immediate help from perhaps two incoming freshmen in August, redshirt sophomore Zach Luckett and redshirt junior Brandon Dillard (Bassett High School) lead an inexperienced group that includes a pair of ex-quarterbacks, Ike Whitaker and Cory Holt.

Macho Harris, who has moved to Flowers' boundary corner spot, is going to get plenty of time to show his stuff at wideout. If he impresses, Harris will no doubt be pulling a lot of duty on both sides of the ball this fall.

With Ore gone, the No. 1 tailback job is up for grabs and becomes a competition between Kenny Lewis, Jahre Cheeseman, Dustin Pickle (Salem High School), and rising redshirt freshmen Josh Oglesby and Darren Evans.

With the exception of three-year starter Duane Brown, the Hokies' offensive line returns intact. Redshirt freshman Blake DeChristopher is penciled as the fifth starter entering spring drills. DeChristopher will work at right tackle as redshirt junior Ed Wang has been moved to Brown's left-side spot.

At quarterback, Tech is set with redshirt senior Sean Glennon and sophomore Tyrod Taylor, who split the role the second half of last season because of various circumstances. At this point, what the exact plan will be this fall is anybody's guess.

"Going into it, we're going to give them equal reps," Beamer said.

"Equal reps with the first team, treat them the same in every way. We'll make judgments as we go and make judgments at the end of spring practice. The fortunate thing is you feel you have two good quarterbacks."

Now it's all about going to work the next 3¹₂ weeks. Spring workouts conclude April 19, with the annual Maroon-White game in Lane Stadium.

"It's going to be interesting ... a lot of new guys working for jobs," Beamer said.

"You've got to remember that all those guys who are going to be drafted next month by the NFL, how many ever it is, well, they were freshmen at one time, too. I think we've got some good talent that's young, and now it's just a matter of working with it and seeing how fast we can get back to where we can play at a successful level. I'm eager to get going."

Video: Hokie football 2007