PINEHURST, N.C. -- Offensive tackle Duane Brown and defensive tackle Carlton Powell were Virginia Tech's player representatives at Sunday's 2007 ACC Football Kickoff.

Neither had ever stepped foot on the grounds of Pinehurst Resort before, but both seniors knew exactly where some 250 national media members were coming from. The inquiries, as expected, started with the April 16 shootings on Tech's campus.

"Oh, I figured it," Brown said. "I'm prepared to talk about it. Everyone knows that it's something that shocked the whole U.S. ... It's not just something that happened in Virginia. Everyone is prepared to talk about it and knows that it will be on everyone's mind when Virginia Tech comes up.

"It's not a distraction. We're using that as motivation and encouragement, really. Everybody in Blacksburg was affected by that, people outside of Virginia Tech were affected by that, and everyone is using this football season as a way to get back in the groove of things and a way to bring Virginia Tech back to what to what it used to be ... as a joyful reminder of what Virginia Tech is all about.

"We want to make them proud and have a successful season."

Powell, one of eight starters back on a defense that has led the nation in total yards allowed the past two seasons, noted the Hokies had big plans for this fall long before that tragic Monday on campus.

Tech is a veritable lock to be the favorite to win the 2007 ACC title -- the preseason media poll will be released today -- and is considered by many a legitimate contender for the national title.

"This is definitely going to be the season for us right here," Powell said. I mean, we've been talking about this season since [the seniors] first got here, the redshirt year we were together. It's our last year and we've got to go out and play our best football ever."

"It's definitely added pressure because of how we think about it, but we've always had the pressure on ourselves to do well. And just having somebody else wanting you to do well doesn't add that much pressure."

The Hokies open the season Sept. 1 against East Carolina in Lane Stadium. Frank Beamer's squad can't wait for what figures to be the most emotionally charged home game in program history.

"I can't even explain that [scene], man," Brown said. "I get chill bumps just thinking about it. Our fans are so ready. Everyone I've talked to is going to be at that game and they're talking about it, man, and they can't wait. Our fans are going to be ridiculous, man. Any other home game would be the same way, but this one is going to be ... I don't have words for it."

Ready to rumble

Brown, who is moving from right to left tackle this season, said Tech fans shouldn't be so concerned about an offensive line that returns one player starting in the same spot as last season. Brown said he and the big boys up front have grown nasty and mean.

"In some games [last year] we were soft, to put it frankly," he said. "So we went into this spring with a different attitude and a different approach, and I think we did a great job handling that going against our defense in the spring. Any other time in practice it was manslaughter, our defense would crush us. But we moved the ball against them and we had chemistry up front, and we're really excited to see what we can do this season."

No two-a-days

For the first time in Beamer's 20 years as Tech coach, the Hokies won't engage in two-a-day practices in August's preseason drills. Is Beamer getting soft in old age?

"No, it's just because of summer school," Powell said. "Summer school is going later this year. It usually ends around time that camp starts but this time it's not [ending] until two weeks into camp. There were going to be a lot of class conflicts, a lot of people missing practices if we had two-a-days."

Is Powell going to miss the twinbill workouts?

"No, I can handle that," he said, smiling.