Thursday, December 07, 2006
Hokies ready for chicken coop
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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Bock, bock, bock ... bock, bock, bock a bock ... bocckkk!
Yes, families and friends of players on Virginia Tech's football team shouldn't be shocked if their guy is speaking a second language upon their return from the Dec. 30 Chick-fil-A Bowl.
The popular fast-food chicken chain sponsoring the game has vowed to keep players from Tech and Georgia full of its products during their bowl stay.
"Those guys probably won't want to see a Chick-fil-A for a couple months after they leave Atlanta," cracked CFA Bowl president Gary Stokan, who was in Blacksburg on Wednesday.
Sounds good to the Hokies. Shoot, early scouting reports indicate they may be as good at putting away chicken as they are at stuffing opposing offenses.
"Yeah, I'm a Chick-fil-A fan!" said senior defensive Noland Burchette, who did his share at damage at the sandwich and nuggets buffet offered at Wednesday's bowl news conference.
"I know plenty about Chick-fil-A. I can't wait to go down there and they give it to me. Shoot, I'll going to have a carry-on of Chick-fil-A [on the plane trip home]."
The Hokies will arrive in Atlanta on Christmas Day and return home on Dec. 31. So that's six consecutive days of fill of Chick. When asked to set a personal over/under line on how chicken sandwiches he'll have on the trip, Burchette broke into a huge grin.
"Probably 30, 40," Burchette said.
"I'm going to have to because I know Carlton Powell, one of our D-tackles, is going to eat about 60 of 'em. Powell could go through 100 of those nuggets easily. I mean that's one of his favorite restaurants, so I can't wait to see him go at it. If he was here today, I don't believe there would too much food left because he'd still be back there eating."
Burchette got a good tuneup at Wednesday's spread. "I was the last one back here, so believe me, I got plenty of it," he said.
The senior then duly noted that CFA is a not a regular ticket for him and some of his teammates.
"I mean Chick-fil-A ... it's an expensive place and we are broke college students," he said. "So that's a lot of money to us. I mean they've got the $8 combo! Man!"
POSSIBLE RESOUNDING EFFECTS: The Chick-fil-A food may be aplenty and free of charge, but there will be a price to pay. Burchette is already concerned about how clean the air will be around his buddy, Powell, at late night in the hotel room.
How rough will that be?
A grinning Burchette sniffed his nose and replied: "Yeah, you right! Because he's a big guy and he's going to let everything go in there."
Kicker Brandon Pace said the guy rooming with 360-pound offensive tackle Brandon Gore drew the short straw in the deal. Gore is affably known as "Big Stinky" to many of his teammates.
"Gore is sort of notorious for it," said a laughing Pace, refusing to specify exactly what "it" means.
Man. Anybody smell something? Who sliced the cheese?
NICE CHRISTMAS GIFT: Offensive tackle Brandon Frye, who joined fellow seniors Brandon Pace and Burchette at Wednesday's gathering, decided to some investigative work after his vigorous workout at the buffet. Frye pulled one of the CFA officials on hand and pumped him information on what's going to be included in the players' bowl goody bags.
"The guy told me we're getting a ipod nano," an excited Frye reported. "Those are really cool. They're probably worth about $250, $300."
There was no immediate speculation as to whether the ipods would come loaded with a chicken theme song ... bock, bock!
ONE-MAN GANG: Tech's director of football operations, John "Henchman" Ballein, was in Atlanta recently checking out all the logistics that will be involved in making the stay and bowl-week preparations much easier for the players and coaches. It's obvious that Ballein left quite an impression on Stokan.
"Normally, we have about 10 people come down from a school during this week after we make the announcement," Stokan said. "We take them through the [Georgia] Dome, the Marriott Marquis [Tech's team hotel], etc.
"Well, Virginia Tech had one guy come down. John Ballein. We've never had that. Someone who handles everything just like that. John was wonderful."
Bock, bock, bock ... certainly nobody can call Ballein "Chicken Little."
