After breaking huddle at the beginning of today’s practice—the first of the preseason—Virginia Tech’s players yelled in unison, “A journey of 1,000 miles begins with one step.”

The goal of that journey, of course, is to contend for a spot in the national championship game and/or make it and/or win it. But this is a long season, and there’s no sense getting ahead of things here. We’ll just take today for what it was—a no-pads practice and essentially an orientation for Tech’s freshmen.

The Hokies have four practices without pads—today, tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday. The pads go on Monday. What follows are a few observations from today. We media mongrels were allowed to watch the first six periods of practice. We’ll get to watch the first six periods again on Saturday, which is media day. But for the rest of the preseason and season, our access to practice is limited to watching stretching and the first two periods—only on Tuesdays.

You obviously can’t see much during six periods, let alone two. But since we had a chance to maximize our viewing today, here’s what popped out ...

- Duan Perez-Means, a freshman defensive end from Highland Springs, will have shoulder surgery and enroll in January. This will let him retain full eligibility. That much we knew. But Perez-Means was out at practice today, doing some stretching. He is finishing summer school before he heads home. (Final exams for the second summer session end Aug. 15.) In the meantime, he can stretch with the team and be at practice. But he can’t participate in drills.

- You surely remember Tech using tight end Greg Boone at quarterback last season in its Wild Turkey formation. Though Boone isn’t practicing at quarterback this preseason, before his senior year, he did throw some balls alongside the quarterbacks before practice. It was just an informal thing, but it’s probably not a bad idea for him to keep his arm in shape.

- Doing a story for tomorrow on the improvements quarterback Tyrod Taylor must make in his passing game. He certainly throws the ball with a lot of zip. Just ask trainer Mike Goforth, who tried to catch one of Taylor’s passes during a drill and ended up with a stinging finger.

- The follow players returned punts at the beginning practice: Davon Morgan (Varina), Cris Hill (Highland Springs), Antone Exum (Deep Run), Brandon Dillard, Patrick Terry, Jerrodd Williams (freshman cornerback) and Tony Gregory (freshman wide receiver).

- Some observations from the receiver vs. defensive back one-on-ones (take these in context, because it’s just one drill on one day) ...

* Jarrett Boykin reached high to make a nice grab over Hill, who is battling Rashad Carmichael for the field corner spot.

* Dyrell Roberts caught a quick slant and outran Eddie Whitley, the backup boundary corner.

* Freshman quarterback Logan Thomas hit Marcus Davis—who played quarterback in the spring—for a pass on which Davis beat Carmichael.

* Terry reached back over walk-on Germond Oatneal, who, if nothing else, has a terrific name.

* Exum, a freshman free safety, broke up Taylor’s pass to Dillard on one play. On another, freshman Nubian Peak beat Exum, but Exum recovered, reached up and broke up the pass.

Virginia Tech begins its “journey of 1,000 miles.”