Thanks to some quick work by Virginia Tech sports information czar Bryan Johnston, I was able to obtain the player-by-player snap counts for Virginia Tech’s offensive linemen the past two seasons. OK, so it’s not a public-records request that unearths some government conspiracy. But here is what I gathered from the numbers ...

- In 2008, the five starters accounted for 93 percent of the line’s total snaps. There were 947 snaps during the season. 

Starters ...
Ed Wang: 945
Sergio Render: 943
Ryan Shuman: 907
Nick Marshman: 863
Blake DeChristopher (Clover Hill): 749

Backups ...
Richard Graham (St. Christopher’s): 177 (got three starts when DeChristopher was injured)
Jaymes Brooks: 82 (got one start when Marshman was suspended)
Beau Warren: 44
Greg Nosal: 21
Barrett Mears: 2
Hivera Green: 2

Starter snaps: 4,407
Backup snaps: 328

- In 2007, the five starters accounted for 82.9 percent of the line’s total snaps. There were 959 snaps during the season. 

Starters ...
Sergio Render: 898
Nick Marshman: 897
Duane Brown: 883
Ryan Shuman: 722
Ed Wang: 575

Backups ...
Richard Graham: 274 (started six games when Wang was injured)
Beau Warren: 233 (started two games when Shuman was injured)
Matt Welsh: 196
Brandon Holland: 63 (started the first quarter of a game when Render was suspended)
Aaron Brown: 48
Barrett Mears: 7

Starter snaps: 3,975
Backup snaps: 821

The Hokies’ coaches say they want to play them more this season.