The day is winding down here at ACC media days in Greensboro, N.C. Just filed a story for tomorrow on Virginia Tech free safety Kam Chancellor, which I have pasted below. But first, a couple interesting tales from tight end Greg Boone and Chancellor that simply weren’t going to work their way into the paper but seemed noteworthy nonetheless ...

1. Colleague Norm Wood of the Daily Press asked Boone what he remembers about the 1999 Tech team that made the national title game. This season, of course, is the 10-year anniversary ... and many people are talking Tech and national title again. Boone, who grew up in Chesapeake, was 13 back in ‘99. “I didn’t really have much knowledge of it,” he said of that Tech squad.

But Boone did mention that he wore No. 7 for the Oscar Smith Middle School team. And because he ran around a lot—I’m presuming he meant as a quarterback—his teammates started calling him Michael Vick. “Who?” Boone asked.

“I never knew who he was,” Boone said today. “From that point on, I kind of figured it out.”

2. Someone started talking to Chancellor about how Tech’s defense chanted “Thaddeus, Thaddeus” at Duke quarterback Thaddeus Lewis when the Hokies and Blue Devils played last season. It happened on the first play, Chancellor said, adding that the Hokies’ defense does this with other opposing players, too.

I thought that was amusing. And for some reason, I immediately remembered how Tech defensive end Orion Martin said after last season’s Western Kentucky game that some Hilltoppers had grabbed his crotch after a play. So this got me to thinking. On a basketball court, almost everything is evident to fans and media and, for the most part, people watching on television. Not so for football. What else would people be surprised about if they heard or saw on the field?

“You’ve got people biting,” Chancellor said. “If your hand get stuck under their face mask, they’ll bite you. If you’re under somebody’s face [in a pile] you’ll get spit on. They’ll just like pinch you, twist your ankle.”

Chancellor said he got bitten by a Boston College lineman on his right forearm, but not hard or for long enough to leave a mark. “I kind of caught it real fast and once I felt it, jumped off,” he said, adding that he had never been bitten on the field before. “I was mad. I knew stuff like happens in football. I just went on and played the rest of the game.”

As for the spitting, Chancellor said that happened two seasons ago at Clemson. “But you know I wear the shield on my face [mask], so I just threw some water on there and wiped it off,” he said.

With that, here is the Chancellor story for tomorrow ...

BY DARRYL SLATER
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Kam Chancellor rose through Norfolk’s youth football ranks as one of the biggest kids and best athletes – certainly no target for opponents to single him out as a weakness on the field.

A quarterback and free safety in high school, he came to Virginia Tech, played cornerback as a freshman, moved to rover – Tech’s version of strong safety – as a sophomore and slid over to free safety last season. With each position change came adjustments, including coping with getting picked on by opposing offenses.

Chancellor still remembers his introduction to this stinging feeling. In the second game of 2007, Louisiana State, he misread a play and thought a run was coming instead of the pass that ended up burning him for a touchdown. In last season’s first game, East Carolina, he missed several tackles.

Despite all those years of growing accustomed to not being targeted, “I’m used to it now,” Chancellor said.

He is anticipating a better start to his senior year. He will remain at free safety – the quarterback of a defense that will be more experienced in the Sept. 5 opener against Alabama than it was for last year’s ECU game. The Hokies began last season with seven new starters – plus Chancellor at a new position for the third time in three years. This season they will introduce four new starters.

Despite their inexperience, the Hokies finished seventh nationally in total defense last season, after ranking in the top four the previous four seasons. Chancellor’s role in furthering Tech’s defensive reputation this fall?

“I think I’m gonna be a major part because I know a lot of teams are gonna try to come at me, just because they think I can’t tackle, I guess,” he said yesterday at ACC media days.

He began to prove otherwise during the second half of last season. One difference between rover and free safety in Tech’s defense is the type of tackle a player is required to make – an adjustment that Chancellor struggled with at first.

The rover is responsible for one gap on the line for each running play, so if the ball carrier runs through that gap, the rover will most likely tackle him head-on. But the free safety must often pursue ball carriers from an angle – a tricky task for a player already responsible for aligning the defense before the snap and changing the alignment depending on the offense’s formation.

Chancellor playing free safety “demands so much more than rover did,” said Tech defensive coordinator Bud Foster. “At rover, he didn’t have any responsibilities other than to go make plays.”

After his embarrassing missed tackles against ECU, Chancellor watched film with his position coach, Torrian Gray. They noticed flaws in Chancellor’s technique and approach. His feet were too close together as he prepared to tackle, resulting in an unsteady base. Too often, he tried to make a big hit but instead ended up over-pursuing the ball carrier.

Chancellor focused on open-field tackling in practice, remembering to stay low and keep his feet wide. He wrapped up running backs even after a play ended, just to force good tackling habits on himself. The result: “The the last half of the year he played the way I expected him,” Foster said. “He’s going to be a lot better player, I think, this year, just because he’s gonna be more comfortable and at ease.”

Chancellor considered leaving early for the NFL but was discouraged, though not surprised, by being projected as a third-round pick. Though he might play strong safety as a pro, he still believes free safety is his best position and said, if he could replay his college career, he would’ve been a free safety from the beginning.

But when Chancellor closes his eyes and ponders the potential this season holds, he thinks not about regret but about how much more prepared he feels as a free safety and what results that might yield in the Alabama game.

“I meditate about it,” he said. “I’ve visualized a couple big plays that I think I’m gonna make that game.”

Greg Boone talks about not knowing who Michael Vick was, while Kam Chancellor remembers getting bitten and spit on during a game.