BLACKSBURG -- When reviewing the video of last Thursday's East Carolina game, Virginia Tech running backs coach Billy Hite kept putting a mark on his grade sheet beside Ryan Williams' name.

Mark, mark, mark ...

When the video finished, Hite had 16 marks on his sheet by No. 34.

"Sixteen missed tackles. ... that's how many the guy broke," Hite said Monday. "I've been in the 12-13 range, but that's the most I've had."

Hite's had a ton of running backs, too, in his 32 years at Tech.

Williams carried the ball 26 times for a career-high 179 yards in Tech's 16-3 victory. The Hokies' human highlight maker busted four tackles on his biggest play of the game, a 46-yard jaunt early in the second quarter.

"Ryan broke two at the line of scrimmage, another one about 4 yards down the field, and then there was a guy 12 yards down the field, and he broke that tackle," Hite said. "Then, he went another 8 or 10 yards on his balance.

"He has great vision and his feet never stop. And if you can keep your feet running on contact, you're going to break some tackles. He's very powerful; people don't get a full-speed shot on him."

Evans on field

Darren Evans, the tailback whose shoes are being filled by Williams, celebrated his 21st birthday Monday by putting on a football uniform for the first time since he tore an ACL in a mid-August practice.

"He's been waiting for this day for the longest time," said Hite of Evans, who ran for a freshman-record 1,265 yards last season. "Darren came out in full gear ... he caught some passes. No running drills, no contact, but I was tickled to see him out there. And even better is that he wants to be out there."

Razzin' Brooks

Right guard Jaymes Brooks has been catching some flak from the rest of the offensive linemen because he had to leave the ECU game early in the first quarter with an injured right pinky finger. The finger turned out to be sprained, and his finger was in a protective cast in Monday's practice.

"I thought I jammed it at first ... it just kept throbbing," said Brooks, who hurt it when he pushed off a defender on a block in field-goal protection.

The good-natured Brooks laughed and added: "A pinky is the littlest thing, but it kept me out."

Greg Nosal, who split time in the game with Brooks, said: "Yeah, he looked like it was an ACL tear the way his face was going off, but it was just his pinky. We've had some fun with it, believe me."

Held up strong

Redshirt freshman Michael Via graded out at 83 percent and had three knockdowns in his first college start against the Pirates. Via played for starter Beau Warren, who missed the game because of a sprained MCL.

"Michael stepped in and did a real good job for us," offensive line coach Curt Newsome said. "He's got really good feet. What I was worried about was [the Pirates] are so big inside -- 325 and 315 [pounds]. I knew Michael would handle a guy who was athletic and can move, but I was afraid of just the girth he was going against, and he handled that well."

The 'Big Cheese'

That's what avid followers of the Colorado School of Mines football program called ex-Hokie Jahre Cheeseman this season.

Cheeseman, who transferred from Tech to the Division II program last spring, ran for 629 yards, caught 25 passes for 215 yards, and scored 12 touchdowns in nine games for the Orediggers. Playing in his final college game last Saturday, Cheeseman had 17 carries for 128 yards and two TDs as the 'Diggers buried New Mexico Highlands 69-27 in front of 1,622 fans in Golden, Colo.

Cheeseman got limited playing time in his three years at Tech. Sounds like he loved the move he made.

"I've played in front of a lot of big crowds and in big games, but here, without the hype, I feel like I'm playing football the way it was supposed to be," he told sports columnist Woody Paige in Sunday's Denver Post.