Thursday, August 31, 2006
Enough action for all five to jive?
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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Many have coined this as Virginia Tech's most-talented and deepest wide-receiving corps ever. The Hokies have five wideouts -- Josh Morgan, Eddie Royal, David Clowney, Justin Harper and Josh Hyman -- whom all seem capable of getting the job done at any given time.
The big question now? Can all five get enough balls thrown their way to remain satisfied?
"This was a running school, know what I mean, so they've never had like five guys at one time," Hyman said. "I figure [Bryan] Stinespring, the offensive coordinator, will find a way to get everybody the ball, I think, this year."
Clowney said he has been dropping hints to Stinespring that the offense should throw some five-wide sets at opposing defenses.
"We could do it!" Clowney said. "We've been trying, for real, to convince the coaches to let us go five-wide. Hopefully, they'll let us do it if the offensive line can take care [of the pass-blocking] and we can get the ball out of there. You talk about dangerous, man!"
Until a couple of days ago, it appeared freshman Zach Luckett, who caught a couple of long touchdown passes in preseason, was going to join the group. After a long discusssion with Tech coach Frank Beamer, Luckett has agreed to redshirt since it will be very difficult for him to break into what's already a deep rotation.
Hyman said it's one six-pack the Hokies really don't need. Shoot, to most, five already seems overly crowded.
"At the college level anyway," Hyman noted. "It's whatever. If we can go all the way with five, three, two, six, let it be. I think we can get the job done, I don't care how many receivers we have. I think it's a team thing."
NAME ANOTHER ONE: In his Tuesday gathering with the media, Beamer brought up an interesting point when the name of junior offensive tackle Duane Brown surfaced.
"We may be the only team in the country that has an offensive tackle on their punt-coverage team," said Beamer, referring to the mammoth 6-foot-5, 290-pound Brown. "We put people on there who are athletic and Duane Brown is on there.
"But that part right there may make him some money, too, because those pro guys notice that."
WHAT IS HE DOING?: Speaking of Beamer, the coach was looking spiffy for his first regular-season media conference. However, close examination of his new tie revealed a pattern of little diamonds colored orange and blue.
"You like that tie?" the unassuming coach responded after hearing me make a remark about never seeing him wear it before.
When I told him to take a good look at the the colors of the little diamonds and cracked how "they resemble the colors of another bunch up the road," Beamer finally got the message.
"You're right ... man, I'd better get this thing off right now," responded Beamer, tugging at his tie while heading out the door.
WAKE UP, DOUGHTY: When asked how a player seemingly as talented as freshman Kam Chancellor was so lightly recruited, Beamer shook his head back and forth. Chancellor, who is going to play this season, received only two offers -- from Tech and I-AA James Madison -- coming out of Norfolk's Maury High last spring.
"I have no clue, no clue," Beamer said. "We need to talk to Doug Doughty [my Roanoke Times' cohort and resident recruiting guru], get that Top 25 he puts out ...
"Naw, it's just hard sometimes, it really is. These pro scouts, they'll be here everyday this season. They watch film all morning and come out and watch practice. They give these guys all these tests, so how do you miss on a draft choice? And these kids are four or five years older [than high school recruits].
"So coming out of high school and trying to determine who the best players are ... it's not a very exact business because kids change. I think it's easy to miss somebody."
SOME 'NIFTY' PEDS: While no one in their right mind is giving Northeastern any hope of upsetting Tech in Saturday's season opener in Lane Stadium, Beamer, quite predictably, wasn't about to go there. When he was head coach at I-AA Murray (Ky.) State from 1981-86, his teams beat I-A programs Memphis and Louisville on the road.
"We had some good teams at Murray State," Beamer said. "Ol' Charley Wiles [Hokies defensive line coach] was an offensive guard for us ... Bud [Foster, defensive coordinator] was an outside linebacker.
When asked if the burly Wiles was packing "three bucks" on his frame in his playing days, Beamer said: "No, he wasn't three bucks [300 pounds]. He was about 260, but he was nifty on his feet ... just an athletic offensive guard ... and smart."
NEWFOUND STATISTIC: I've been covering football at the high school and college level for a long time. Still, I've never heard of the stat angle that Beamer has taken this week on Northeastern's defense.
"Eighty-seven percent of the people who made tackles for them last year are back," said Beamer on Tuesday, repeating the same information that he had told much of the same media members who had been on his Monday teleconference.
I couldn't resist asking Beamer if he had actually crunched the numbers on a stat that may not have ever been figured before -- anywhere.
"I got Dave Smith [Tech sports information director] to do it," he said. "He got right on it."
NO WISE-CRACKERS: Discussing his much-publicized winter job working at a 7-Eleven warehouse, tailback Branden Ore got a huge chuckle when I jokingly asked him if any of his teammates have busted on him by perhaps saying, "hey, can you fix me a Slurpee?"
Once he could stop laughing, Ore said: "Naw, they don't bother me too much. Luckily, they don't mess with me about that."
