Friday, November 25, 2005
Hokies looking for a block party
Randy King
Randy King's Tech Insider is exclusive to roanoke.com and is posted by 5 p.m. Thursdays in season.
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What's your secret to blocking all those kicks, Coach?
If I had five bucks for every time I've heard Frank Beamer asked that question in my 11 years on the Tech football beat, I could buy a new ride -- anything with four wheels and less than six figures on the odometer qualifies -- that perhaps would be capable of transporting me back and forth to a game venue without incident.
Just like clockwork, the inevitable question surfaced again this week deep into Beamer's Monday teleconference. Beamer, on cue, responded with a spiel that I've heard enough times that I literally could bury any bookmaker ignorant enough to take my word-by-word action.
After hearing Beamer, via take No. 406, I got to thinking outside the box. It occurred to me, hey, there haven't been that many "block parties" lately on the Tech beat. So I grabbed the Tech game notes, compile by the esteemed B.J. Johnston, and happily discovered there's a few information-recovery strands still cooking in my continuously burning memory banks.
So how many kicks has Tech blocked in 10 games this season? Three, four, perhaps five? Drink another Bud, dude. Try one.
Man, call the man. I'm willing to wager that, say, at least 90 of the 119 Division I-A programs in the nation have blocked more than one this fall. I couldn't confirm that notion since the NCAA Web site, for some unknown reason, lists everything but blocked kicks on its stats link.
OK, I confess the one block was a big one. Jeff King's block of a Travis Bell field-goal attempt, in which D.J. Parker recovered the ball on the run and returned for a 78-yard touchdown, was a key play against Georgia Tech, giving the Hokies an early 14-0 lead. Still, it was hardly a gave-saver considering Tech wound up making 51-7 honey out of the Yellow Jackets.
Always being one who loves to stick the needle in Beamer, I addressed the issue with the boss man in Tuesday's media gathering in Blacksburg.
"Frank, all these writers from across the country each week keep talking about your club blocking kicks, yet you've only blocked one all year. What's up with that?" I asked.
Perhaps feeling that I was attempting to fire some kind of scud missile into the whole "BeamerBall" thingie, the boss had me covered like Andre "The Glove" Ray. Exhibiting what kind of savvy veteran he is, the shrewd ol' ball coach was quick to hand off.
"Go talk to Jimmy Williams, will you?" responded Beamer, referring to his star cornerback who plays on Tech's punt-return team. "He should have had two last week. He had a chance to get two, he'll tell you."
Poor ol' Jimmy Williams. Man, when something goes wrong, just point the finger at No. 2. Heaven knows, if there's any cat who wants to be part of a party of any sort, whether it's a block party or not, it's the care-free, fun-loving J-Dub.
When Williams showed up in the house Tuesday, I repeated Beamer's words. Tech's shut-down corner agreed he should draw a flag.
"I should have had two to be honest with you," said Williams, who was bringing constant heat to punter Chris Gould in Tech's 52-14 spankage of Virginia last Saturday in Charlottesville.
"The first time I thought I was going to get blocked [by a protector]. And the second time, yeah, I alligator-armed it. I should have put my arms straight out, but I put my hands up in the air instead.
"The bad thing about it ... Coach Beamer was saying all week that I could get it. I guess in my mind I kind of downplayed it."
Williams, who is sometimes too brutally honest for his own good, confessed he's not too excited about the prospects of taking a swinging foot of a punter in his face grille, or anywhere else for that matter.
"That's my main thing ... like the ball hits me in the chin strap or something like that," a grinning Williams explained.
So you're admitting you're scared, J-Dub?
"No, not really scared ... I ain't no punk about it, but it's just simple fact, man, I haven't really ever been good about balls being kicked into me in certain areas.
Williams laughed. Obviously, the scribes encircled around him effectively caught his drift as, thankfully, no one chose to fire a follow-up question including some kind of reference to family jewels.
Then, in the kind of braggadocio that makes him a media darling, Williams laid down the gauntlet.
"Oh, yeah, I'm going to block one this week," he said. "I was working on it [Monday] with coach, and coach was feeling me out there so ... so, yeah, man! Coach Beamer does what he does. He's going to put us in a beautiful position to do it again, so I want one, a good one!"
For the record, Beamer wasn't playing any sort of blame game with Williams.
"Naw, we just haven't been as good at doing it as we have been in the past," said Beamer, a revelation that all but assures he burned a lot of midnight oil this week to make sure his bunch gets a block against North Carolina on Saturday in Lane Stadium.
"And teams are better, too, I'll tell you. I think people prepare better. The other thing is just about every team we play has done something different in their kicking game than we've seen on video [from past games]. Even Virginia came out there with funky looks. In a way, I think that's a compliment to your punt team that people feel like they may need to do something different to throw you off.
"We'll keep working at it. I still think we're a threat. We've got good people on there. Jimmy, though, just didn't quite get it. He was right there, but just didn't quite get it blocked. But he will."
Still, as long as writers keep asking Beamer about blocking kicks and then writing stories about it, it can only help the Hokies. The mere fact the other side simply thinks that Tech is a threat to get to its kicker is an edge for Beamer's outfit.
"I think it is," Beamer acknowledged. "I would hope where it would really help us is in the punt-return game. We've been so close ... a matter of inches ... to having a lot of good returns and having some kicks blocked. We just haven't been quite as effective with that team as we'd like to be. But we've got good people, and if we work hard, I still believe, hopefully, this season we'll see some good results."
The Hokies need at least one more block to avert their worst production quota in Beamer's 19 years as coach. Only two Tech teams -- 1989 and '99 editions -- have finished with as few as two blocks in a season. Only one has blocked as few as three, Beamer's first team in 1987.
On the top end of the scale, 12 Tech clubs in the Beamer era have blocked six or more blocks in a season. The most proficient team was the 1998 team, which registered an incredible 12 blocks. Two others (1995 and 2000) have gotten their paws on eight kicks. Tech has blocked seven kicks in a season four times. Five more have picked up six-packs.
Tech has blocked 106 kicks -- 53 punts, 32 field-goal attempts, and 21 point-after attempts) in 224 games under Beamer.
HAIL TO THE MEDIA: Speaking of Williams, Tech's star corner certainly knows how to cover the media. In response to hearing he had been selected as one of three finalists for the Thorpe Award, on top of being named last week as one of five finalists for the Nagurski Award, Williams gave some love to the writers who chronicle the Hokies.
"I think talking to the media this year has helped me be in the running for these awards," said Williams, who was banned from the media all of last season after some inflammatory quotes before the Hokies' opener against Southern California.
"So thank all you guys. I like y'all. I've always like y'all. Definitely, I won't forget y'all. I never do!"
GETTING OFF LIGHT: Right guard Jason Murphy and linebacker Vince Hall drew personal foul penalties in the Virginia game. Thanks to the Hokies' resounding 52-14 romp, Beamer apparently decided to let the two violators off a little light in the wake of his reinstituted policy of making guys run 100 yards for every yard of a personal-foul penalty.
"We had to run only eight sprints," Murphy said. "I didn't argue."
CHRISTMAS STOCKING STUFFER: Running short on dough for Christmas? Get you a big load of the Hokies on Saturday.
Mark it down, Tech will bury a beat-up UNC club and easily cover the 23-point betting spread. The Hokies are 6-1 against the spread as a double-digit favorite this season. They blow the Heels out of the house on Senior Day.
Of course, this advice can be totally classified as "for amusement only."
