Odds and ends from today’s scrimmage
Darryl Slater
Aug 21, 2010
** We’ll start with something bigger picture: Frank Beamer’s contract extension. His deal was going to expire at the end of 2012. Now it goes through 2016. As much as anything, this is a message to recruits that Beamer is going to be at Tech for a while. He said he plans to coach at least through 2016, when he will be 70 years old.
“As long as my health stays good and we’ve got good players and players that can win, I enjoy this,” he said.
** Three injuries during today’s scrimmage. Backup wide receiver Xavier Boyce sprained the medial collateral ligament in his left knee and had to be helped off. He will have an MRI this week. So will backup whip linebacker Lorenzo Williams, who sprained his right foot. Punter Brian Saunders bruised his right ankle when cornerback Cris Hill blocked his punt. He should be fine.
** Fifth-year senior kicker Chris Hazley hit from 43 and 47 yards today. He continues to impress as he prepares for his first season as Tech’s kicker.
He was 4 for 4 in last week’s first scrimmage, including a 43- and 48-yarder. Hazley did miss from 48 today, but that was partly because wide receiver Danny Coale was holding for him. The usual holder, Saunders, was on the sideline.
Beamer, who supervises the kickers, was asked afterward what Hazley’s range is.
“Chris, what’s your range right now?” he shouted across the room to Hazley.
“Feel good 50 and in,” Hazley said.
“Fifty?”
“Fifty-five.”
So it’s 55, eh? That’s pretty long.
Hazley later said that he had hit from 55 when unopposed in practice. “I’ve hit them in practice,” he said. “There’s no reason I can’t hit them in a game. I don’t want talk too much before I go out there. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.”
** Backup cornerback Jacob Sykes, a fourth-year junior, broke up two passes and is giving the Hokies depth in their secondary. It is remarkable progress for Sykes. Not long ago, he was “a guy who I’m not sure if you ever felt comfortable putting him out there on the field,” said defensive backs coach Torrian Gray.
“You’ve got to give Sykes a lot of credit because Sykes was a guy who always had the tools to do it,” Gray said. “He didn’t have the mental makeup or the toughness, in my eyes, to do it. He’s been challenged on those things. Some kids will go one way or the other. For a kid of his psyche to really take the steps that he’s taken and really turn his psyche around, I give the kid a lot of praise for that.”
Gray saw changes in Sykes during the Hokies’ 6 a.m. workouts in the winter.
“That was a situation there where: Sykes, if you don’t really want to do this, you don’t really have to do this,” Gray said. “The kid, really, from that point kind of sent the message. He did great in those morning workouts and took that into spring. Really has been a pleasant surprise.”
** Sykes is getting more time because starting field corner Jayron Hosley remains sidelined with a hamstring injury.
“It’s a two-way street, because you want to get him out there practicing,” Gray said. “But at the same time, if you get him out there early and that thing never gets healed, he’s gonna be not healthy. So you’re not getting the same player. With the [opening] game being two weeks away, right now I’m not worried. If we had to play [Boise State] next week, maybe I’m a little concerned.”
The flip side to Hosley’s injury is more experience for Hill and Sykes
“Whatever point we do get Jayron back and healthy, we’re gonna be that much of a stronger secondary,” Gray said. “That’s the perspective I always look at those things with.”
** Inside linebacker Bruce Taylor will replace Barquell Rivers (quadriceps) for the opener against Boise State. That much we know. But what about when Rivers returns?
Defensive coordinator Bud Foster said Taylor might slide over from mike linebacker, Rivers’ spot, to provide depth behind Lyndell Gibson at the backer spot. “Because I have concerns about that position,” Foster said.
Right now, true freshman Chase Williams is the No. 2 backer, but he has missed time this month because of a hamstring injury.
** Tailback David Wilson is doing his best to not redshirt this season. He played sparingly last season as a true freshman and has the option of redshirting. But he continues to impress as the coaches decide if they can get him on the field enough to make playing him worth it.
Today he ran six times for 38 yards and 12-yard touchdown, on which he cut right, then ran left and accelerated around the edge, taking advantage of receiver D.J. Coles laying a vicious block on rover Davon Morgan at the line.
“That play wasn’t designed to go that way,” Wilson said, adding that it was supposed to go up the middle. “When I got the ball, I saw the play break down. I guess I’m getting to that point where I’m kind of comfortable and I made the cut all the way to the outside to use my speed. I did a good job, I think. [Coles] told me that he didn’t realize I was cutting back.
“Once I start getting comfortable, I’ll be more comfortable with making my own decisions without running and saying, ‘Oh, I hope the coaches are gonna agree with this.’ The more I get comfortable, the more I just turn into my own player.”
Is there anything else he feels like he can show the coaches to convince them to give him the significant action he wants?
“One thing I feel like I haven’t done since I’ve been here is I’ve never run full speed in a Virginia Tech uniform,” he said. “Most of the time when I get the ball, it’s in traffic. I’ve never got to that point where I could just turn my speed on and show my full speed. If I can show them more speed on the game field, then I feel like I will have done everything I could.”
