Did you think Virginia Tech could be this resilient despite its youth?
Darryl Slater
Dec 04, 2008
So here Virginia Tech is, in the ACC championship game again, on the verge of making the Orange Bowl again, despite having to replace 12 starters from last season. Are you surprised at this team’s resilience?
A bunch of us hacks posed that question this week to fifth-year senior defensive end Orion Martin. He said he wasn’t, citing the toughness of younger players during summer workouts. “Those guys, they never backed down,“ he said. “I knew that would carry onto the field.“
Martin was impressed with a few younger guys—sophomore rover Davon Morgan, sophomore defensive end Jason Worilds, redshirt freshman tailback Josh Oglesby and sophomore cornerback Rashad Carmichael—during the Hokies’ annual summer conditioning competition, which includes enough odd events to make even this suberp athlete blush.
There’s a run up Lane Stadium’s steps while wearing a weighted vest, then an obstacle course that involves pushing a blocking sled across the field, pulling a role with a weight tied to the end and something called The Farmer’s Walker that involves a wheelbarrow filled with weights. Oh, and the players also must push an old pickup truck 70 yards ... up a hill.
“It’s crazy,“ Martin said. “You want to throw up when you get done. Most of the time, the younger guys are the ones struggling a little bit. But this summer, you could see that the really pushed through it. It gets easier the older you get because you know what to expect more.“
Maybe not. But Orion Martin did.
Dec. 10, 2008 at 01:19 PM
Ed hit the nail on the head reference our OC! The reason our freshman were not trusted is that Stinespring is worried about appearances…which ultimately is his motivation for extremely conservative play calls (not talking the stupid calls, as mentioned w/ ECU). Having spent enough time recruiting these outstanding guys and seeing them perform in practice…heck, I would also think you would want to DEVELOP them in gametime situations. At the very least…let us remember that the VT offense played only 3 quarters in the BC/ACC Championship Game. There was a lot on the line, but the score allowed for some developing in the 4th. There was little danger of momentum swing due to Foster’s stellar defense, as mentioned so many times before. Stinespring is worried about damage control….having made ill-thought decisions in the past when the game was really on the line.
Dec. 6, 2008 at 12:03 PM
I am not surprised by the players but I continue to be amazed at the lack of confidence shows in the young players especially on offense. I do not hear BC coaches, UVA coaches NC State Coaches or others continually talk about limiting the offense because of in experienced receivers, lines or whatever. That dumb Florida coach sure failed to understand that Percy Harvin could not be counted on because he was a freshman - oh that’s right he wins national championships -my bad.
VT can only win today if the !. defense plays its heart out and makes no mistakes or stupid PF penalities, 2. Special teams play error free, 3. Offensive coaches stop making bad play calls such as those that cost the ECU and probably Miami games and almost vs UVA.
In the ECU game why in the world would the coaches all of a sudden decide to pass with 4 minutes or so in the 4th quarter, 2nd and 6 from about the 40 when passing had not worked all day. Even if two runs were stopped ECU would have had to use their timeouts and a punt would have changed ECUs options totally as they needed two scores.