The Hokie Hotline (football and basketball season)
When: Every Monday from 7:00-9:00 during football season, 7:00-8:00 during basketball season.
Where: Click here for a list of radio stations, and to find the link for listening to the show on the Internet (look to the right on the hokiesports.com page that loads when you click the link). You can also watch the archive on hokietv.com.
Mike O’Cain
- O’Cain has been very impressed with Glennon. Since the beginning of
spring practice, it’s almost impossible for a quarterback to improve as
much. He has improved from week to week and game to game. - What has Glennon done best so far? Run the football team. Glennon has done
a “magnificent” job in running the football game. He has gotten the
offense in the correct formations and into the right plays, and he throws
the football where it should be thrown. - Glennon has been a bit cautious. He went into the first two games afraid
to make a mistake. He told O’Cain after the UNC game that he was not
having fun and that he didn’t feel like he did in high school. He was afraid
to make a mistake because he felt like the “whole Hokie Nation”
would come down on him. - The thing Glennon needs to improve the most on is continuing to better
understand what’s happening on the defensive side of the ball. He
understands the offense, now he needs to work on understanding defenses
better. - O’Cain said the Georgia Tech defense is the best the Hokies will have
faced, and that they “never sit still”, meaning they like to blitz from
all over the field. They are predictable in the secondary with regards to
the coverages they run, but overall they are very good. - A lot of the blitzes Georgia Tech runs are to disrupt blocking schemes in
the running game, not necessarily the passing game. Cincinnati did the same
on Saturday. - The Hokies made some major halftime adjustments against Cincinnati. They
changed some of their blocking schemes, going from man blocking to outside
zone blocking. They wanted to stretch the Bearcat defense and let Ore use
his tremendous cutting ability. (Editor’s note: it worked.) - They also changed their pass blocking scheme to a zone scheme. They had
much better success on offense in the second half after these adjustments. - O’Cain said Glennon is a perfectionist, almost to a fault. He coaches
Glennon a little differently than Ike Whitaker. Glennon is too hard on
himself, so O’Cain backs off a bit. Whitaker isn’t hard enough on
himself, so O’Cain pushes him a little more. - Missing the first half of spring practice really hurt Whitaker. He didn’t
get enough reps, especially competing with three other guys. He is making
progress taking all of the second string snaps in practice. - It would be nice to get Ike Whitaker more reps to prepare him in case he
is ever needed, but it’s difficult to find time. Glennon needs as many
snaps as possible to continue to mesh with the rest of the starters. - O’Cain is fine with the new clock rules, he just thinks that they should
be different when there are less than two minutes left in the half or game.
Mike Gentry
- It’s very rewarding to see players develop over their career. The
strength coaches actually get to work with the players more than the
football coaches, and it’s a lot of fun. - Players will become faster naturally as they become stronger. However, the
strength program does a lot of work with the players on their speed.
Primarily, they try to teach them the proper mechanics of running. - Pregame meals vary, but they are always four hours before kickoff. So at
noon games, the team is eating meals of spaghetti, chicken breasts, etc., at
eight in the morning. - Gentry said he has the best job in the country. There aren’t that many
strength coaches who are happy, but he is very happy because Coach Beamer
doesn’t micromanage. - The strength department can see what a player is made of as soon as they
walk through the doors. They work with them every day, and they can judge
their work ethic.
Frank Beamer
- Coach Beamer did not discuss the suspensions of Chris Ellis and Josh Morgan, other
than to say that the Georgia Tech game is the only game for which they’ll be suspended. - Cincinnati quarterback Dustin Grutza has good vision when he is rolling
out. He made some plays against Ohio State, and he made some more plays
against the Hokies. - The Bearcats really tried to establish the run against Tech, and they did
a good job. The Hokies helped them out some, but Cincinnati executed very
well. They felt like they had to run the ball if they wanted a chance to
win. - It was good to see something good happen to Macho Harris. He’s a good
kid who has worked very hard. He earned his nickname on Saturday. - Beamer said he didn’t go for a two point conversion when the Hokies went
up 11-10 because it was too early. He doesn’t believe you should try a two
point conversion until the fourth quarter. If you don’t get it, it could
come back to haunt you. - The Hokies need to continue throwing the ball downfield. They have taken
some shots in the past two games, and they need to continue to do that. They
are averaging 9.3 yards per pass, and that leads the league. Clemson is in
second place at 7.8 yards per pass. - Glennon has done well so far. He’s worked hard and made good decisions.
He watches a lot of film, and he’s done everything he can do to be a good
quarterback. - Beamer said the team needs to respect authority on and off the football
field. He’ll be up early again on Wednesday, and $200 richer, Beamer
joked. - They would like to get the backup running backs some more reps, but they
were just trying to win the Cincinnati game. That was the most important
thing. Kenny Lewis and Jahre Cheeseman will get a lot of carries in the JV
games next week. - George Bell’s leg felt a lot better after a week off. He talked to Coach
Hite and decided to take another week off. Roland Minor practiced on Monday
and looked “nifty”. This will be an important week of practice for him. - Orion Martin will move into Chris Ellis’ starting position this weekend.
William Wall will be the primary backup. Nekos Brown will get a lot of work
this week as well in case he is needed. - Georgia Tech has a lot of good players. They do a great job recruiting.
Reggie Ball is healthy and playing as well as he’s ever played. They will
want to get revenge for last year’s 51-7 Tech victory. - The coaching staff has talked about the no huddle offense, and changing
their offensive tempo throughout the game. That is important. There is
something to the no huddle. - David Clowney got some practice work in on Monday. He says he will be
ready to play on Saturday against Georgia Tech. - Reggie Ball is very experienced. He is playing his best football, and it’s
obvious that he’s put a lot into this season. The Hokies need to keep him
contained. Tech needs to stop the running game and make them one
dimensional, as usual.
Monday was Day 667 of Virginia Tech’s continuous possession of the Commonwealth Cup.
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