Don’t know about you guys, but I’m just about ready for Virginia Tech to play an actual game. I’ve grown weary of all the prognostications about who will be good, who should improve, etc. But those are the storylines—flimsy as they are—during the preseason. Just 11 days until the season opener, thank goodness.

We scribes, as Tech basketball coach Seth Greenberg calls us, hadn’t been able to see the Hokies run around and into each other since Saturday’s scrimmage. Today and tomorrow are the only open practices before Friday’s scrimmage, and here’s a brief synopsis of what went on today (this is a little thin because I spent the first 15 minutes of practice talking to assistant strength and conditioning coach Keith Short for a story I’m writing for our preview section about the offensive linemen who cut weight in the offseason, with the help of morning conditioning walks up Lane Stadium’s stairs, supervised by Short) ...

- As I was walking into practice, I spotted fullback Devin Perez in the weight room. He was doing some kind of sit-down arm lift (if that makes any sense) while wearing a protective boot on his left foot. He injured it in the scrimmage. X-rays were negative, he said, and he’ll have an MRI tomorrow. But instead of just sitting on the sideline during practice, Perez, a weight-room fiend, was sitting on that machine, pumping iron, as a Lil Wayne song blared through his headphones.

- During practice, before we got kicked out, Tech ran through the Middle Drill, which pits the offensive and defensive fronts against each other, with a tailback in the backfield. Tailback Josh Oglesby, a redshirt freshman, looked impressive on his first run, breaking through the line for what would have been a signficant gain. On another run, Oglesby broke true freshman linebacker Bruce Taylor’s tackle attempt. Junior tailback Jahre Cheeseman got past true freshman end Isaiah Hamlette and drew praise from head coach Frank Beamer. “That’s a way to break a tackle,“ Beamer said.

- The first-string offensive and defensive lines only went against each other for a handful of plays. The second-string offensive line got destroyed on a few of its snaps by the second-string defense. Offensive line coach Curt Newsome has to be hoping none of his starters get injured.

- As for the defense, senior linebacker Purnell Sturdivant was the star during today’s Middle Drill. He burst into the backfield and dragged down tailback Darren Evans for a loss. He got to the line quick enough to help tackle Cheeseman. As most of you know, Sturdivant has the difficult task of replacing Xavier Adibi. He looks strong and capable enough to hold his own. I’m interested to see what happens come game time. (Also, keep your eyes peeled for a story on Sturdivant in next week’s print edition by our summer sports intern Mark Medina.)

That’s all for now. As for the rest of the week, I’ll have a story in Friday’s paper on fifth-year senior kicker Dustin Keys and something in Saturday’s paper from the scrimmage. Maybe we can even try to figure out who’s going to play quarterback.

Posted by Darryl Slater in • College Sports • Virginia Tech
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