BLACKSBURG -- Billy Hite hasn't returned to his old tobacco habit, but the veteran Virginia Tech running backs was smoking late Wednesday afternoon inside Lane Stadium.

Hot over the performance of his stable of young backs in the Hokies' first preseason football scrimmage, a fuming Hite promised to give his class a geography lesson today about the difference of running due north compared to going east or west.

"I've never had as many backs in my life running sideways as I saw today," a red-faced Hite said. "With the speed on this field, if you're running sideways we're not going to get the job done. We've got to attack people and run north."

Except for Josh Oglesby's 34-yard touchdown burst late in the 78-play scrimmage, the Hokies' backs spent the majority of the day running sideways instead of rambling straight ahead. Tack on a fumble on the goal line by Salem's Dustin Pickle, and things were far from a pretty sight to Hite, who had hoped the scrimmage would enable him to trim down his six-pack of tailback candidates.

"I found out nothing," he said. "Your guess is as good as mine right now. The position is wide open to me. Now we're going to have to go through another scrimmage [Saturday] before they're going to make a decision or I'm going to make a decision. I'm hoping they make a decision."

Oglesby, who entered day as the co-No. 3 back with fellow redshirt freshman Darren Evans -- juniors Jahre Cheeseman and Kenny Lewis are listed as co-No. 1s -- had 65 yards on five carries. Evans had seven totes for 26 yards, followed by freshman Ryan Williams' 20 yards on seven carries.

Oglesby, who also blocked a punt, made some amends for his lackluster effort in a mini-scrimmage last Saturday.

"Tyrod [Taylor, quarterback] actually called it in the huddle, he told me was I going to score," said Oglesby of his jaunt that provided the day's only TD. "It opened up in the middle and I hammered the hole, made it to the second level and gave [cornerback Cris Hill] a stiff arm and then outran the corner to the end zone.

"But, nah, I didn't see anybody separate today. We didn't play up to our ability."

Don't book it yet

It's no guarantee that Williams will be playing this fall. Hite said the talented freshman from Stonewall Jackson High School in Manassas has a lot to learn in a hurry to make that happen. When asked if the highly touted Williams is ready to play, Hite shook his head from side to side.

"Not right now," Hite said. "I told him the other day that 'I'm done with you in scrimmages, you've got to learn the plays and you've got to be able and perform.' And I know of four or fives times today when he had to ask the quarterback what he had to do. It's up to him. He has all the information that he needs, and now it's up to him to study it and get it done. He'd better hit the book."

Little solved

Tech's offensive staff didn't find many answers in their search for starters at quarterback and wideout, either.

Sean Glennon and Tyrod Taylor, who remain tied for the top spot, both went 6-for-10 passing for a combined 69 yards.

"You can't tell much today," QBs coach Mike O'Cain said. "Basically, you've got rookies in the backfield, rookies at wide receiver and you go only 18 of 78 plays with the starting offensive line, so there's going to be inconsistencies."

Same for the wide receivers, who had some drops. Lanky sophomore Prince Parker had a scrimmage-best three catches for 19 yards.

"We're not close on timing [with the receivers]," O'Cain said. "Honestly, I don't know if we're going to be there for the first game [Aug. 30 vs. East Carolina in Charlotte, N.C.]. We need to start working with five or six and give them the work, then it just becomes repetition."