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Sean Glennon (7) talks with center Ryan Shuman. Tech's starting quarterback will be a "game-time decision" Thursday at Miami.

BLACKSBURG -- While Darren Evans was running for a school-record 253 yards in Virginia Tech's 23-13 victory over Maryland last Thursday, his young son, James, was shown sleeping during the game in his mother's arm by ESPN's television cameras.

With the Hokies (6-3, 3-2 ACC) facing another critical ACC game this Thursday at Miami (6-3, 3-2), Tech running back coach Billy Hite had an interesting thought in regards to a possible encore performance by his redshirt freshman tailback.

"The thing I'm going to do this week is see if I can take Baby James with me on the airplane and hold him on the sideline, and see what he can do for us this time," a laughing Hite said Sunday night following the Hokies' practice.

Evans ran through and ran over the Terrapins, breaking Mike Imoh's 243-yard rushing show against North Carolina in 2004. Evans had gallops of 50, 45, 29, and 20 yards, plus runs of 17 and 15 yards, which accounted for all but 77 of his rushing total.

"Darren ran hard, he had great vision, he had good blocking, he made the right cuts, and he outran some people for a while, and then he ran over some people when he had to," said Hite, who's seen his share of quality ball-carriers in his 31 years at Tech.

"He got in that zone and he wasn't going to let one man bring him down. He had 12 broken tackles. I don't keep record, but that's bunch. When you have more than 10, you've had a heck of a night."

Evans, who carried a career-high 32 times, said his cellphone was jammed with congratulatory messages and text messages.

"It was a bunch of 'em, a bunch of 'em," Evans said Sunday. "I couldn't even keep count cause they were coming one right after another. People were saying, 'good game,' and I was thanking them. It was a good thing right there."

Hite said he wanted to get redshirt junior Jahre Cheeseman, who was moved from fullback back to tailback a week earlier, in the game.

"I was going to play him," Hite said. "I told him at one point to come with me, 'you're going in next,' and, of course, I never got to him.

"I told him after the game, 'hang with me, man, I apologize but when Darren got that hot, I wasn't going to put anybody else in."

Quarterback carousel

Quarterbacks coach Mike O'Cain said his starter at Miami figures to be a "game-time decision" for a second straight week. Starter Tyrod Taylor didn't play against Maryland because of a high left ankle sprain. Backup Sean Glennon got the nod and played solidly, completing 14 of 20 passes for 127 yards.

Glennon said after Thursday's victory that he thought that Taylor "definitely could be ready" for Miami, which is an early 3 ¹₂-point favorite. O'Cain wouldn't go so far to say the same, but the Hurricanes' fast and athletic defense could sway the odds in Taylor's favor.

"I think there's a chance, yeah, because he's still several days away and he's better," said O'Cain, noting that Taylor got more reps in Sunday's workout than any practice last week.

When asked if there's any chance that the Hokies could resort back to a two-QB offense like they did last season, O'Cain chose his words carefully.

"I won't say no, but not yes, either," he said. "Again, try to get through this week and see what's best for us this week."