** UPDATE: Trainer Mike Goforth said the four-to-six week recovery window for Blake DeChristopher is a conservative estimate. Goforth does not expect DeChristopher to miss any games. He said DeChristopher strained his pectoral muscle recently during max-out weight lifting. Goforth isn’t sure right now when Greg Nosal will fully return to practice, but he does not expect Nosal to miss any games.

Virginia Tech’s offensive line was supposed to be a stabilizing factor this season as the Hokies debut a new starting quarterback, sophomore Logan Thomas. And it still very well may be. But the Hokies’ line is once again off to a less-than-ideal start to preseason practice.

Senior left guard Greg Nosal, a returning starter, isn’t ready to return yet to full participation after undergoing shoulder surgery before spring practice. He will be practicing in a limited capacity when practices begin Thursday. It is uncertain when he will fully return.

More importantly, senior right tackle Blake DeChristopher of Clover Hill High – a three-year starter – is expected to miss four to six weeks with a strained left pectoral muscle.

A four-week recovery window would bring DeChristopher back the week of the Sept. 3 opener against Appalachian State. Six weeks would bring him back the week of the third game, Sept. 17 against Arkansas State. Tech heads to East Carolina in Week 2.

Sophomore David Wang got all the No. 1 work at left guard during the spring and was expected to return to the backup spot once Nosal was healthy. The No. 2 right tackle is junior Vinston Painter, a former highly regarded recruit who is a physically impressive player (6-foot-6, 296 pounds), but has played just 43 career snaps.

Painter is also Tech’s strongest player, at least as measured by weight lifting. He bench pressed 465 pounds during offseason testing – ninth-best in team history and 35 pounds better than the next player, defensive tackle Nick Acree. Painter also had the team’s best front squat during this offseason – 485 pounds, a guard position record. (Defensive tackle Derrick Hopkins of Highland Springs also put up 485.)

Junior Michael Via also doubles as the No. 2 center and a backup right tackle.

Nosal still being limited and DeChristopher’s injury are just more early season headaches for a line that knows those all too well.

Before the 2007 season, new starting right tackle Ed Wang broke his left ankle when a teammate rolled onto it during the fourth preseason practice. The Hokies had to shuffle their line for the first six games, moving left guard Nick Marshman to right tackle, though he was better physically suited to play guard, and elevating Richard Graham at left guard.

And you know how the early part of that season went for the line. Its lack of protection for quarterback Sean Glennon forced the coaches to play their more mobile true freshman, Tyrod Taylor, who they wanted to redshirt.

In 2008, the line’s injury didn’t happen in the preseason, but instead just four plays into the opener against East Carolina, as DeChristopher took a vicious hit that bruised his thigh and kidney. He missed the rest of that game, the next two and was limited in the fourth game. Graham played in his place.

Injuries are going to happen on the line, of course, and there were a couple minor ones in 2009 – DeChristopher missing Game No. 4 with a sprained ankle, center Beau Warren missing three games later in the season with a sprained knee. But the August/early season injury bug didn’t bite the Hokies’ line that season.

Then last season, within the first week of practice, Tech had lost new left tackle Nick Becton to a turf toe injury. Becton missed the first two games, as Andrew Lanier replaced him and ended up starting every game at left tackle. Becton wound up playing 236 snaps, Lanier 629, as Becton’s injury lingered longer than the coaches hoped it would.

Lanier is one of Tech’s four returning starters (all seniors) – with right guard Jaymes Brooks, a two-year starter, being the fourth guy in addition to Lanier, Nosal and DeChristopher. Since Becton is back to full speed, he was expected to contribute much more at left tackle.

Now, it should be emphasized that Tech’s line might end up being completely fine. Nosal and DeChristopher could both return and play all of Tech’s most challenging games, as the Hokies are widely expected to get through September with a 4-0 record after closing the month with a trip to Marshall.

But these injury issues are just a couple more annoyances for a line that is trying to put it all together this year.

Consider Tech’s national rankings in sacks allowed and rushing yards per game in the past five seasons (stats that the line has a good deal, though not everything, to do with) …

SACKS ALLOWED (national rank is in sacks allowed per game)
2006 – 28 sacks, 76th
2007 – 51 sacks, 112th
2008 – 38 sacks, 111th
2009 – 31 sacks, 87th
2010 – 34 sacks, 87th (eight sacks in Orange Bowl against Stanford)

RUSHING YARDS PER GAME
2006 – 113.38, 91st
2007 – 113.64, 82nd
2008 – 174.36, 35th
2009 – 208.15, 14th
2010 – 198.71, 23rd

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