It appears that at least a few players on the Hokie football team don’t get
the message. Four games into the 2006 season, the Hokie coaching staff is still
stamping out fires related to player behavior, both on and off the field.
Monday, the coaching staff had to hand out a couple of suspensions to key
players. Pay attention fellas: mess up, and you sit. Well … yes and no. The
message has been a little mixed so far, but Monday’s suspension of Chris Ellis
and Josh Morgan was the right move.

I received a few emails after the first three games, wondering why Xavier
Adibi and Aaron Rouse weren’t pulled from the game after each accumulated a
couple of personal fouls, Adibi against Northeastern and Rouse against Duke.
Valid question, I thought, and Frank Beamer seemed to be sending a mixed
message: There’s punishment waiting if you mess up, but first I’m going to
review the tape and make sure I agree with the officials. Till then, keep playin’.

Into game four we went, and by the end of the first quarter, the Hokies had
accumulated two more personal fouls, one on Josh Morgan for pushing and shoving
after the whistle, and another against Rouse for, well, pushing and shoving
after the whistle. Morgan’s was offset by a Cincinnati player — golly, does
that make it okay? — but Rouse’s wasn’t. And for the first time all season,
Beamer yanked a player from the game, chewed him out, and sat him.

Perhaps Beamer actually saw the Rouse infraction live. Rouse was blocked by a
Cincinnati player towards the end of a play, then Rouse tracked him down, jawed
at him, and pushed him. Silly, ridiculous stuff, and the refs threw the flag on
him.

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