Thursday, August 23, 2007
Here's wagering Taylor will play
Randy King
Randy King's Tech Insider is exclusive to roanoke.com and is posted by 5 p.m. Thursdays in season.
See Doug and Randy talk sports every week with the Sports edition of the TimesCast
Recent columns
BLACKSBURG -- So what are the chances of hot-shot
freshman quarterback Tyrod Taylor playing this season?
Two weeks ago, I would have said no chance. The kid is a lock to be redshirted.
Now, though, with a lot of help from the Tech coaches, I've changed my tune on that. How much? Put it this way: If I had to book this thing, I would make Taylor a 7-to-5 favorite to play meaningful snaps this fall.
The key to making this bet is one question that can't be answered: Can starter Sean Glennon remain standing all season?
If Glennon doesn't get hurt, Taylor's hopes of stepping on the field aren't real strong. But if Glennon suffers an injury that figures to keep him sidelined for any significant amount of time I'm wagering the ranch that Taylor will be the guy behind center.
They would never come out and say it. But the decision of Tech coach Frank Beamer and quarterbacks coach Mike O'Cain on Tuesday to move backup QB Ike Whitaker to wide receiver 12 days before the season opener tells me they don't think Whitaker is a viable option to run the offense should Glennon go down. And No. 3 QB Cory Holt? Sounds like to me he's basically just along for the ride.
Add it all up and my math says Taylor is the only good insurance option should Glennon bite the dust. When asked following Wednesday's practice, if Taylor currently rates as the most viable No. 2 option, O'Cain said, "With Ike moving to wide receiver, yes."
I later prefaced a query to O'Cain by saying, "I don't like asking hypothetical questions but ... "
"Well, I hate to answer 'em," said O'Cain, laughing.
OK, coach: If Glennon get his bell rung against East Carolina and it's a close game, who do you go to?
O'Cain laughed and paused, then said: "Well ... well, oh me! Right now, and we've got another week, if we felt Tyrod was that guy we would simplify [the offense] for him, obviously. But I can't answer that question right now. Next Friday, next Saturday, I may be able to. Again, it's all going to depend on how he progresses."
But coach, you've got to have an insurance policy, right?
"No question and that's what we're doing," O'Cain said. "What this move does is it provides other options. This is not what we feel like is the best thing, but if it got to where we didn't feel like Tyrod was ready ... well, then you pull Ike back over [to QB] and now let's see where he is."
Twenty-four hours earlier, Beamer had told reporters that Whitaker's move to to wideout was for the season.
Certainly, in a perfect world the Hokies would play Glennon virtually every snap this season except for late-game mop-up duty, which would then likely fall into the hands of No. 3 Holt. In such a dreamland, Taylor would be redshirted and given another year to learn the offense and how to read defenses before hitting the field.
But the game of big-time college football isn't some kind of dream world. All players, especially pocket-passing quarterbacks such as Glennon, are susceptible to injury on every snap.
As I think about this, all I keep seeing is LSU's defensive front -- the nation's best D-line, according to most experts -- running through Tech's questionable offensive line, leaving Glennon as open game to be hit like some of kind of boxing tomato can.
Now, I'll give it up to Glennon. He's one tough customer. He proved that last season when he was on the receiving end of numerous big licks from the blind side. However, each time he somehow managed to peel himself up off the field and take the next snap.
Still, I think there's some luck involved in that. The law of averages, I think, says the Hokies are really rolling the dice if they expect to be so fortunate that Glennon gets up every time this season after huge hits.
So what happens then? If Glennon goes down, do you move Ike back from wideout? I don't think so. If the guy wasn't good enough to even muster a lukewarm challenge for the starting job this fall, then why would he be good enough to play then? Do you go to Holt? I don't think so. If he was that guy, wouldn't he be taking he second QB snaps now instead of the freshman?
There's only one answer: You tap the talented Taylor, and say, "go get 'em, kid."
The Hokies enter the season ranked ninth in the nation and have a real shot to do something special this season. Pull off the upset at No. 2 LSU on Sept. 8 and Tech will be favored to run the regular-season table. Run the rack from there and the Hokies have a legitimate shot at a national title.
These kinds of opportunities only come along every so often. How many years does a team have 16 returning starters back like Beamer's bunch does this season? How many years does the schedule set up for a team to make such a run? Besides the trip to LSU, the Hokies' other toughest games -- Boston College, Florida State and Miami -- all will be played in Lane Stadium.
Sure, trips to Clemson and Georgia Tech aren't gimmes. Bottom line is, though, Tech has better talent than both of those clubs.
While they say Tuesday's move was all about getting Whitaker on the field somewhere, I think there's much more to it. I think Beamer & Co. knows it has no choice but to get Taylor ready to play should it need him this fall.
Now that he's getting many more reps as the No. 2 QB and facing a top-notch defense in practice, Taylor has the goods to be ready in a few weeks.
"Does Tyrod have what it takes to play this year?" said O'Cain, repeating the question. "I think so. But not right now. He's a long way from being ready to play. But we wouldn't know until we got him some concentrated work. Can he be there in two weeks, three weeks, four weeks? We won't know unless we put him thre to find out.
"Are we going to push him to play? That all depends on Tyrod and how he performs and progresses. I've said it from Day One and I will say it today, it would be best if we could redshirt him, but that may not be the best situation."
Get ready, kid. I'm betting Tech is going to need you somewhere down the road this fall.
