Thursday, November 23, 2006
Thanksgiving leftovers on UVa-Tech
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
Editor's note: The next installment of Virginia Tech Insider will post on Friday, Dec. 1.
Here's offering some Thanksgiving Day scraps that don't fit in The Roanoke Times' pregame plan for Saturday's Virginia Tech-Virginia hoe-down in Blacksburg. So, let's stir the pot a little here preceding a contest that the oddsmakers obviously think will be no contest.
-- 'BLUE COLLAR VS. PADDYCAKE': Former Hokie great Jake Grove's classic line when asked the primary difference between a "Virginia Tech guy" and a "Virginia guy."
Seconds after eluding the same question fired his way by yours truly, saying, "You're trying to get me in trouble," Hokies quarterback Sean Glennon burst into laughter when Tech beat writer Nathan Warters of Lynchburg served up Grove's rack-it-forever salvo at Tuesday's game-week media gathering.
"Jake Grove can say something like that," a grinning Glennon retorted. "That's pretty good. I haven't heard that one before. I'm sure Coach Beamer was thrilled about that one!"
-- PERSONALITY CLASH: When asked to assess the difference in personalities between Tech's Frank Beamer and UVa's Al Groh, Hokies linebacker Vince Hall didn't mind breaking down the two head coaches. Hall is familiar with Groh since the two swapped conversation when he was being recruited by Virginia coming out of Chesapeake's Western Branch High in 2003.
"I think Coach Beamer just likes to keep everything in wraps ... he just wants to make sure there are no waves, he doesn't want to start nothing," Hall said. "That's just the way Coach Beamer is, and I understand that. When you're around certain upbringing, that kind of just changes the atmosphere."
Hall then offered his scouting report on Groh.
"Coach Groh, I mean he's got a little like, I guess, a dog mentality. He's trying to get to you. He's not really fall back ... he's not going to hold himself up or whatever. He's going to let you know that you can take it from there, however, you want to take it.
"That's the difference between in them. They've got a different kind of swagger among themselves, I say."
-- THE NFL SPIEL: Groh likes to work the "NFL angle" with prospective recruits. He was an NFL assistant coach for 12 years, and was head coach of the New York Jets' for one season before succeeding George Welsh at UVa in 2001.
"Oh, yeah, [Groh] told me, 'I know these people, I've got experience, I've been there ... ," Hall said. "I mean you can sell that pitch. A lot of people like that, but you can tell I'm not one of those people.
"I'm in college and the NFL isn't on my mind right now. When the time comes around, it will come around, but until then I'm just enjoying life. I'm coming back here [next year]. I don't think about that stuff. Anybody who knows my mother knows that. She's not playing games!"
-- THE YOUTH FACTOR: While Groh hasn't been shy about reminding the media about how young this UVa club this season, Beamer hasn't played the "youth card" nearly as much. Fact is, Tech's two-deep roster includes 18 freshmen or sophomores on its two-deep roster. There are 10 seniors among the Hokies' two-deep.
When asked why he doesn't bring up the subject as much as Groh does, Beamer said: "Well, we want to get as many wins as we can for these seniors who are here."
-- PICK SIX: Opponents have returned five interceptions for touchdowns against Virginia this season. Hall's eyes grew bigger when hearing that stat.
"I haven't heard that," Hall said. "As a matter of fact, Coach [Bud] Foster [defensive coordinator] will probably tell us that today. He'll probably tell me I can get an interception or something. He's been telling me that all year and I ain't got one yet."
-- BIG-CROWD FACTOR: Freshman Kenny Lewis, who will start in place of injured star Branden Ore at tailback on Saturday, is hyped about this game's big-time atmosphere. He's jacked about playing in front of 66,233 fans in sold-out Lane. From listening to Lewis, that's more people than who saw him play in his three years in the low minors with the Cincinnati Reds.
"Oh, yeah a whole lot more," Lewis said. "In baseball, you got your Mom and Dad and maybe your little sister there. Now we've got everybody in the country watching us on TV and at the game."
-- MEMORIES OF 40 YEARS AGO: Beamer was a defensive back at Tech from 1966-68. He made his first college start in Tech's 24-7 win at UVa in 1966, the only year the two teams met in his playing days.
"That's a lot of fourth quarters ago," said Beamer, confessing he couldn't recall a whole lot about the game.
"I just remember we won. I guess we played the week before and I got in there and got an interception, and they decided that maybe I needed to start. That's about all I remember. Now, I do remember George Foussekis up there pounding their heads. George was from Charlottesville, played at Lane High School. He didn't have a lot of like for the Cavaliers pounding their head."
When asked if got beat by any UVa wideouts in the game, Beamer, of course, didn't have any memory lapses.
"Absolutely not!" said Beamer, raising the tone of his voice. "We played a lot of zone coverage ... that's about all we played back then. If we had to play man coverage, I would have been over there on the bench somewhere. But I could keep [receivers] in front of me."
