In addition to senior wide receiver Danny Coale, Virginia Tech’s other representative here at ACC media days in Pinehurst, N.C., was senior free safety Eddie Whitley, one of the chattiest members of the team.

Whitley was his usual candid, insightful and amusing self as he talked about everything from college football players getting more scholarship money to memories of the devastating Orange Bowl loss to Stanford to his shoddy record as an amateur wrestler.

The possibility of increasing the value of an athletic scholarship – to essentially give players more money for things like bills and food – has been a hot topic in college sports circles this summer.

Does Whitley think this is a good idea? Has he ever felt like his scholarship doesn’t cover enough of his living expenses?

In answering the first question, he said, “I guess it depends on what school you go to. A couple schools, their apartments are campus-owned. At Virginia Tech, you’re basically out there in the real world. They give us our scholarship money and you go out there and look for an apartment after your freshman year. It gets tough for guys with the money issue here and there. Everybody would love more money. I don’t know if we’re under-privileged, but at the same time, I think we should get something. Everybody’s paying to see us, so I think we should get a little more.”

Does he think it will happen?

“Not while I’m here,” he said. “I don’t know. I hope it does because it’s been times where guys have to really stick together, like, ‘All right, dinner at your house, because right now, my money is kind of low. Tomorrow, I got you.’ I hope it changes so guys can be more financially stable and don’t have to worry about financial things and can just worry about playing football and going to school.”

Whitley, who lives off campus, said his scholarship gives him about $3,000 per semester for living expenses such as rent, bills and food.

“You have to pay your cable bill if you want cable, and you know every college guy wants good cable and all the premium channels, so you get all that,” he said. “And your lights and your gas bill. So it gets hectic.”

How much money do most players on the team have left from that $3,000 after paying the bills and rent?

“Some guys get Pell Grants*,” he said. “But most guys get on that phone and call Mommy and say, ‘You’re not paying for my school so can I get a couple more hundred dollars here and there?’ But I have like $1,000 [leftover] to spend on gas and food. A lot of guys don’t cook, so you’ll learn how to cook in college, I’ll tell you that much. You’ll learn how to grocery shop, too.”

*Pell Grants are money ($5,500 maximum last school year) given to students from low-income families.

Whitley was asked if his mom hands over the money when he calls to ask. He grinned.

“Mama doesn’t surrender,” he said. “Mama’s got tough skin.”

—

Some other things Whitley talked about …

** Don’t expect the Hokies to underestimate Division I-AA Appalachian State in their opener. Not after losing to I-AA James Madison at home in the second game last year.

“That was a lesson learned and that’s a lesson we’ll never be taught again,” Whitley said.

** The past two years, Tech played a marquee opponent in the first game – Alabama in 2009, Boise State in 2010.

“It’s always fun to have a marquee game at the beginning of the season,” Whitley said.

It also gave the Hokies something to look forward to during the sometimes-tedious days of August practices. How will they go about making August intense this year without a marquee opener?

“Everybody says we have an easy schedule,” Whitley said, acknowledging that non-conference foes Appalachian State, Marshall, East Carolina and Arkansas State aren’t exactly imposing. “So for us to go undefeated, we cannot take no team lightly at all. So our team camp is going to be intense because we want to get ready for App State and we want to get ready for the rest of the season.”

** Whitley still hasn’t forgotten about the 40-12 loss to Stanford in the Orange Bowl – a sour way for quarterback Tyrod Taylor, one of the best players in school history, to end his career. To this day, when Whitley sees Taylor, he often tells him, “I’m sorry for what we did.” Taylor’s response: “Go out there and win the natty.”

(He is talking, of course, about the national championship and not a 12-ounce can of Natural Light beer, though you’d have to imagine a good deal of the latter would be spilled if the former happened.)

** Just how mad was defensive coordinator Bud Foster about the Orange Bowl, in which Tech allowed 534 yards?

“I don’t know who was more [ticked] – me or him,” Whitley said. “Just from a communication standpoint, we weren’t clicking. A lot of things [were] happening and a lot of different formations that they had with tight ends. We had so many different checks that guys thought this was the tight end or guys thought this was the tackle. Some guys were calling checks here and some guys on the other side were calling checks there.

“I feel like I played horrible, just because our defense was so out of synch. At free safety, I make the calls and I feel like it’s my defense. It’s kind of hard to talk about it. They confused us pretty good. Just communication. That was the biggest thing – communication. It’s always in our minds and we don’t want that to happen again.”

** Tech played a lot of nickel defense last season, which forced freshmen Antone Exum and Kyle Fuller into playing a lot in the secondary. Getting all those guys organized was a challenge for Whitley in his first year as the starting free safety. He felt like things went smoother in the spring, when the Hokies got back to playing more of their base defense.

“I just made a call and everybody knew what they were doing,” he said. “It wasn’t like I was talking to him one-on-one and then I had to turn around talk to him one-on-one, then talk to a linebacker one-on-one.”

** As for the personal improvements he wants to make, he said, “Just being more comfortable making plays – ball’s in the air, I need to look at it like it’s mine. Last year, I would hit the receiver and try to knock it out. Coach [Torrian] Gray got on me and said, ‘Your tackling is good and your leadership is good. I need you to make more plays.’ There were some plays out there last season that I keep looking at and I could have made. Just try to improve my ball skills.”

Whitley made two interceptions last season. One was an amazing, over-the-shoulder, no-look grab in the end zone at North Carolina. And while Gray admired that play, he saw others where Whitley missed opportunities.

Said Whitley: “There were a lot of plays like, ‘You could have went up there and got it. You were already in the air and you tried to catch it with your body. Go up with your hands.’ That’s what I’ve basically been doing, trying to catch a lot of balls high with my hands instead of letting it come to my body. I’m not even wearing gloves right now in the summer [in 7-on-7 workouts]. I’m just trying to get back to the old basics, just catching the ball with no gloves.”

** Whitley today thought back to his freshman year, when he learned plays in his dorm room by lining up pennies and nickels to simulate the alignments. Now, he is trying to groom a young guy – redshirt freshman of Theron Norman of Hermitage – to perhaps replace him in 2012.

“He calls me every other day, like, ‘When are we getting in the film room?’” Whitley said. “He’s learning, like when I was younger and would go over to [Kam Chancellor’s] house and watch film with him, pick up little tips that he did. Because I tell [Norman], ‘Look, this is my last semester. This is your show come January. You should be ready to go.’”

** What has Whitley noticed from new starting quarterback Logan Thomas?

“A lot more poise,” he said. “The pressure’s coming, he’s still staying in the pocket and getting the ball where it needs to go. I feel like he’s got more confidence in his arm now. Instead of trying to throw off the back leg, he knows he can step into it and get the ball in. I’ve seen it.”

** Whitley was randomly asked about Tech’s new center, sophomore Andrew Miller, a former wrestler. And Whitley came through with a funny story about the time he tried to wrestle Miller.

“He dropped me in like three seconds,” Whitley said.

It wasn’t the first time Whitley challenged a bigger teammate to wrestle.

“When I first got here, I was like the smallest guy in our recruiting class,” he said. “I was like, ‘Look, I might be small, but I’m not no punk. Y’all ain’t gonna try to punk he around here. I’ll wrestle anybody.’”

Whitley said he wrestled bigger players such as offensive tackle Nick Becton and inside linebacker Bruce Taylor – with predictably unproductive results. His career record in these informal matches?

“About 2-7,” he said with a laugh.

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