Quick piece of news before we get into the recap of today ...

Backup junior fullback Kenny Younger (Mills Godwin High) injured his right knee during a one-on-one blocking drill in today’s practice. He was diagnosed with a grade-two sprain of his medial collateral ligament. His anterior cruciate ligament seems fine, according to team trainer Mike Goforth. Younger is in a brace and will be reevaluated on Thursday, when Tech’s medical staff will determine his status for Saturday’s game against Georgia Tech.

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BEAMER HANDS REPORTERS A STORY ON A SILVER PLATTER AGAIN

OK, now let’s pull a Marty McFly and go back to the past two Tuesday press conferences here at Virginia Tech ...

Tuesday No. 1—Tech head coach Frank Beamer announces that Sean Glennon is his starting quarterback and that Tyrod Taylor will redshirt.
Tuesday No. 2—Beamer reverses course and says Taylor will play in order to help Tech’s sputtering offense.

And now, today ...

Tuesday No. 3—Beamer calls out fans who have blasted Bryan Stinespring, the coordinator of said sputtering offense, telling them that if they think they could do a better job than Stinespring, go ahead and stop by Beamer’s office and prove it. (And he did this in the opening statement of his press conference, no less.)

So we know a couple things about Beamer based on all of this. One, he’s not afraid to change. Two, he isn’t going to change his loyalty to his assistant coaches.

Beamer made it clear today that Stinespring is his guy. He attempted to support Stinespring by noting that four of the past five seasons rank among the top eight in school history for total points and touchdowns scored.

He chose to leave this part out: The Hokies have played at least 13 games for each of the past six seasons – something they never did before that. So of course you’re going to score more points when you have more games. In terms of season scoring averages (the only fair way to compare seasons), two of Stinespring’s seasons rank in the top eight in school history: 2003 and 2005. And the past two seasons, during which Tech has averaged 28.7 and 25.8 points, rank 13th and 15th among Beamer’s 21 seasons.

Beamer also acknowledged that he doesn’t expect his offense to always carry his teams, which it certainly hasn’t. “I think part of being a good coach is looking at what you’ve got and, OK, what’s the best way for our offense to help our defense win?“ he said. “Sometimes, it’s to be conservative, take care of the ball, punt it, play good defense, get field position, score. And that’s happened to us a little bit.“

The bottom line remains that Tech has won a lot of games over the past decade-plus. Since 1995, only Ohio State (130) and Florida (127) have won more games than Tech (126).

Now, the question observers ought to ask themselves is: How much leeway does that buy the Hokies for this season? Everybody agrees that the offense is struggling and almost certainly has to improve, as it did over the course of last season, if Tech wants to win 10 games in the regular season for the fourth straight year.

Remember that last season, Tech suffered two devastating losses—among the most devastating of Beamer’s career—to Louisiana State and Boston College, yet still came back to beat the Eagles in the ACC championship game. And in 2006, the Hokies lost the fifth and sixth games of the season before winning six straight. So this team has closed well, save for the fact that it lost its bowl game the past two seasons.

“You’re not usually judged on how you play your first couple games,“ Beamer said. “You’re judged how you play your last five or six.“

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BUT HE DOESN’T DO ANGRY VERY WELL, DOES HE?

I have no doubt that Beamer was pretty peeved when he came to today’s press conference. He clearly came to deliver a firm message—just as he did Monday night when a caller suggested, on Beamer’s weekly radio show, that he overhaul his offensive staff. (The show’s host is play-by-play man Bill Roth, who has been at Tech since Beamer’s second season, 1988. The call wasn’t the most confrontational Roth has heard. He recalls several from Beamer’s early years, when Tech struggled mightily, that were just as contentious.)

Anyway, here’s the thing about Beamer: He’ll never be a Mike Gundy, standing behind a podium, puffing out his chest and preening as he berates reporters. That’s just not Beamer. He’s too understated, too humble. He has never struck me as the kind of football coach who—like plenty of other coaches I’ve dealt with in the past—feels the need to seek out confrontation to prove his machismo.

Even today, he didn’t seem to relish challenging the fans. After his three-and-a-half-minute opening statement—by far the most eventful I’ve heard him give during my brief time covering the team—he exhaled and said, “Let’s get off of that. I feel better now.“ Beamer’s soap-box moment seemed as cathartic as it was uncharacteristic, something he knew he probably needed to do, but almost certainly won’t make a habit of.

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AND NONE OF THE ABOVE EVEN ADDRESSED THE QUOTE OF THE DAY

That didn’t come until the end of Beamer’s press conference, after he already set a pretty high standard for good quotes. Longtime Roanoke Times beat man Randy King, the veteran of the Tech media corps, asked Beamer if he hears complaints from the fans when he goes to Kroger. Beamer paused for a moment and said, “I don’t go to Kroger. I send my wife to Kroger. Hear people scream at her a little bit.“

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LOOKS LIKE RYAN WILLIAMS IS GOING TO REDSHIRT AFTER ALL, BUT WHAT DOES THAT MEAN FOR TECH’S FUTURE RECRUITING?

I made a big fuss during the preseason in this space about whether true freshman tailback Ryan Williams was going to play this season. Running backs coach Billy Hite said that he told Williams he would play if he was ready.

It now appears as though Williams will redshirt if he doesn’t play on Saturday against Georgia Tech. Hite and Beamer will make an official decision next week. Williams thought he might play against Furman, but Hite wanted to get a look at redshirt freshman Josh Oglesby and junior Jahre Cheeseman. Plus, Hite said, “If I put him in in that ball game and get him 40 snaps the rest of the year, it wouldn’t be worth it.“

I asked Hite if he’s concerned that other teams might use Williams’ situation to recruit against Tech, by telling other recruits that Tech’s coaches backed out on their promise to play Williams. “I don’t care if they do,“ he said. “I sat there in that house with him, too, and I said, ‘Yeah, if you’re ready to play, you can play this year.‘ ... We can say what we want, but it’s up to that player. They have a responsibility, too.“

Posted by Darryl Slater in • College Sports • Virginia Tech
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