Notes and a couple game graphics from today
Darryl Slater
Sep 12, 2009
These also will appear in the paper, but you can find them here first. Lucky you.
HOSLEY SHOWS PROMISE: Perhaps the most relieving long play for Virginia Tech yesterday in its 52-10 win over Marshall came from a player most Hokies fans are just getting to know.
In the second quarter, true freshman cornerback Jayron Hosley returned a punt 64 yards for a touchdown, giving the Hokies a 21-0 lead. Nobody touched Hosley as he ran down Tech’s sideline, except Marshall punter Kase Whitehead, who dove at Hosley near the 15-yard line. But Whitehead’s hands only grazed Hosley’s feet.
“I felt it,” Hosley said. “But I was like, ‘There’s no way I’m gonna let this guy tackle me at this point.’”
Redshirt freshman tailback Ryan Williams began the season as Tech’s punt returner. But he fumbled away his first punt last week in the season-opening loss to Alabama. On the sideline after that, Williams asked the coaches to relieve him of the duties.
Hosley took over and returned one punt for 11 yards. He finished yesterday with three returns for 88 yards.
He is the 17th player to return a punt for a touchdown in Tech’s 270 games under coach Frank Beamer – and the first since Justin Harper ran one back against Kansas in the Orange Bowl after the 2007 season.
Beamer called returning punts “the toughest thing in college football” and said of Hosley, “It’s very natural to him. He’s dangerous when he gets the ball in his hands.”
HOKIES HONOR LORIA: For the second consecutive season, the Hokies wore all-white uniforms and most fans wore white – they did it against Furman last year – to support Herma’s Readers, which is head coach Frank Beamer’s non-profit organization that promotes literacy in Virginia. It is named for his late mother, who was a teacher.
Yesterday the Hokies also wore replica helmets that Frank Loria wore while playing at Tech from 1965-67. He was a 23-year-old assistant coach at Marshall in 1970, when the team’s flight back from a game at East Carolina crashed, killing all 75 people aboard, including 37 members of the team and 25 boosters. Loria’s No. 10 is one of four numbers that Tech has retired.
TWO STARTERS MISS GAME: As expected, two of Tech’s senior starters did not dress because of injuries: tight end Greg Boone (sprained joint connecting breastbone and collarbone) and boundary cornerback Stephan Virgil (sprained left knee).
Andre Smith started for Boone. Rashad Carmichael, who usually starts at field corner, started for Virgil. Cris Hill, a sophomore from Highland Springs High, got his first career start, at field corner.
—Darryl Slater
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QUICK KICKS
Score: No. 14 Virginia Tech 52, Marshall 10
For starters: The game was essentially over at halftime, when Tech led 35-7. The Hokies gained 346 yards, compared to 155 last week against Alabama. Tech’s defense held Marshall to three-and-outs on five of its nine first-half drives. Hokies tailback Ryan Williams had 12 carries in the first half for 139 yards and ran for touchdowns of 28 and 57 yards – the longest touchdown run by a Tech player since Branden Ore in 2006.
Turning point: Tech broke the game open with 12:10 left in the second quarter, when true freshman Jayron Hosley returned a punt 64 yards for a touchdown, giving the Hokies a 21-0 lead. Hosley replaced Williams as the punt returner against Alabama after Williams fumbled away the game’s first punt.
Star of the game: Williams – The redshirt freshman is off to an impressive start. He carried 13 times for 71 yards and two touchdowns against Alabama. He diced Marshall’s defense, which is much worse than Alabama’s, for 164 yards and three touchdowns on 16 carries before yielding to true freshman David Wilson after the second half’s first drive.
Big picture: Tech’s offensive players surely gained confidence they needed yesterday, even if Division I-AA Southern Illinois dropped 28 points on Marshall in Week 1, and even if Marshall’s defense has ranked 103rd, 107th and 101st nationally the past three seasons in total defense, allowing 420 yards per game over that span.
Go figure: 8 – Number of times in Frank Beamer’s 270 games as Tech’s head coach that the Hokies scored 35 points in the first half.
Next: Tech gets a bigger challenge Saturday when it hosts Nebraska at 3:30 p.m. on ABC. Nebraska (2-0) entered yesterday ranked 22nd in the nation. Its two wins have come at home against overmatched opponents: Florida Atlantic and Arkansas State.
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GRADING THE THREE KEYS
OFFENSIVE DOMINATION: The Hokies gained 605 yards – their most since they had 606 against Connecticut in 2001. Tech’s offense needed some positive results after gaining 155 yards last week on just 51 plays against Alabama – the third-fewest of Bryan Stinespring’s tenure as offensive coordinator (now 96 games). Against Marshall, the Hokies established themselves from the outset, gaining 191 yards in the first quarter and 346 for the first half.
GRADE: A
RASHAD CARMICHAEL’S PLAY: He usually starts at field cornerback, but he started at boundary cornerback because senior Stephan Virgil was out with a sprained left knee. Carmichael, a junior, had practiced at boundary during his first two seasons. He broke up two passes yesterday and had two quarterback hurries. “At the beginning, the first couple series, I was a little shaky,” he said. “After I got the hang of it, I think I played pretty well.”
GRADE: B+
KAM CHANCELLOR’S CONFIDENCE: A week after getting beat by Alabama for passes of 35 and 48 yards, the senior free safety seemed to play much better, albeit against a weaker opponent. Tech’s coaches will determine just how well he played after they grade the video, but Chancellor didn’t allow any long plays. He also is partly responsible for aligning Tech’s defense before plays. The Hokies held Marshall to 252 yards – 121 of which came on a 61-yard touchdown run and a 60-yard pass. Besides that, Marshall gained 131 yards on 59 plays – a 2.2-yard average.
GRADE: A
Early peek at the copy for tomorrow’s newspaper.
