Friday, January 20, 2006
Tech seniors enjoying one last perk
Randy King
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Jeff King, Jason Murphy and Tim Sandidge spent Thursday evening partying at a festive Polynesian Luau in Hawaii. James Anderson spent this afternoon enjoying a scenic boat ride with his parents on the San Antonio River.
Last weekend, Will Montgomery took a stroll on the famous Las Vegas strip. Next week, Darryl Tapp, Jonathan Lewis and Cedric Humes will be treated to the life of luxury in Mobile, Ala.
Little wonder why the eight seniors off Virginia Tech's 2005 football team didn't have to think twice when extended invitations to participate in college football's four postseason all-star games.
As a linebacker who redshirted at Tech, Anderson got to enjoy bowl trips to Jacksonville, Fla., San Francisco, Phoenix, New Orleans, and Jacksonville again, in his five years in college. A final free trip to a place he hadn't been before simply added sweet icing to his Tech career, he said.
"It's a real nice deal, for sure," said Anderson, who will single-handidly represent Tech in today's East-West Shrine Game at the Alamodome in San Antonio (4 p.m., ESPN2).
"It's the first time I've ever been to San Antonio. It's a nice city. The first couple of days everybody was kind of swamped with NFL [personnel] guys. But now they've gone back and our parents are here.
"We got to go to the Bucks-Spurs NBA game [Wednesday] night. I've been to a couple of NBA games before, but I've never had seats that close to the court where I could actually view the game well. It was a lot of fun.
"Yeah, it would have been nice to have had a few Tech guys here with me ... it would have been fun to play with them one more time. But you've got to make do with what you have and enjoy the opportunity here."
Montgomery, the Hokies' top offensive lineman, was the first of the eight seniors to revel in the final perk of his college days. While there's no report on whether he struck any riches at the Vegas casinos, the big fellow was part of the East's rousing 41-3 rout of the West in the Las Vegas All-American Classic last Saturday.
While Anderson has been taking in the sights and sounds of the San Antonio Riverwalk, King, Murphy and Sandidge have enjoyed the sunshine and warm climate of beautiful Oahu. Bank on it, those boys have been wearing leis and partaking it all kinds of good times leading up to today's Hula Bowl (7 p.m., ESPN). The contest has moved back to Aloha Stadium after suffering poor attendance in Maui, the site of the game since 1997.
Anyone who has been fortunate to go to the paradise of Hawaii can't help but feel sorry for Jimmy Martin. The Hokies' offensive tackle was ticketed for the trip until he suffered a knee injury three days before Tech's 35-24 victory over Louisville in the Jan. 2 Gator Bowl.
On Sunday, Tapp, Lewis and Humes will arrive in Mobile for next Saturday's Senior Bowl (4 p.m., ESPN). In a strange twist, the Tech trio, along with three players from Boston College, will be playing for the North squad, meaning they will be going against 14 other ACC players who will suit up for the South team.
Anderson, who has been in San Antonio since last Saturday, is one of 11 ACC players competing in today's East-West contest. Coincidentally, his East teammates include a pair of Louisville players -- offensive lineman Jason Spitz and linebacker Brandon Johnson. Considering the dirty laundry that cycled out of Tech's Gator Bowl triumph -- the infamous stomp of Cardinals' All-American defensive end Elvis Dumervil by since-dismissed Hokies quarterback Marcus Vick, for starters -- I had to ask Anderson how his initial conversations with the pair of Cards went.
"They said a few things about it," Anderson said. "But I can't account for everything everybody does, and I think they understood that.
"I mean it's been fun for me because we got the best of [Louisville]. When they first got here a few words were said about the bowl game, but now it's pretty much, 'let's go beat the West squad.' "
Since the Gator Bowl, Tech has been categorized by some in the media as being a "dirty team." Louisville quarterback Hunter Cantwell has since said some of the Hokies' defenders were punching him in the face through his helmet facemask at various times during the game. Anderson doesn't buy the Cardinals' charges.
"I just feel like we go out there and play hard," Anderson said. "I don't see our guys out there doing anything that anybody else is not doing. Everybody is out there doing the same thing ... some people are just more on the radar doing it. I didn't see anybody doing anything particularly dirty. Hey, it's football, it's an aggressive sport. Plus, when you're winning somebody always saying something."
Anderson said the loss of the talented Vick doesn't mark the end of the world for Tech football, as many seem to believe.
"Tech has good players coming in year in and year out, and they'll find a way to go out and win games next year with or without Marcus Vick," Anderson said. "I just feel like the coaches will do a good job of recruiting and the players will come in and fit well in the system. And Virginia Tech is going to be Virginia Tech, and we're going to play good football regardless.
"It's too bad that folks aren't looking at the good things this team did ... we did something that only two other Tech teams have done [win 11 games in a season]. Hey, there's always going to be something that bad that happens, but now let's try to remember all the good things that this team did and enjoy those."
Anderson's job now is to impress the folks at the next level -- the NFL. The 6-foot-3, 224-pound linebacker from Chesapeake said he's gotten a lot of positive feedback on his future prospects this week. The players competing in the East-West game spent much of their first two days in San Antonio filling out questionaires and participating in tests conducted by the NFL scouts.
"I probably saw guys from 10 to 12 NFL teams," he said. "All 32 teams were here and they were scouting different players for different needs. So far, I've got a feel that I have a good chance of getting drafted. It will depend on how well I do at the [NFL] combine [next month in Indianapolis]. I hear everything from as far as going from mid-first day to early second day, so I've pretty muych heard good things.
"But, now, those guys are gone. So it's time to have some fun here in San Antonio."
