2009-2010 Tech Talk Live Notes for 12/29/09 and 12/30/09

Tech Talk Live (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 see the show in person Bull & Bones Brewhaus & Grill in Blacksburg.

The
new Tech Talk Live show is broadcast from Bull & Bones Brewhaus and Grill in
the First & Main shopping center in Blacksburg, and TechSideline.com is
pleased to welcome Bull & Bones as sponsor of our Tech Talk Live Notes. Bull
& Bones Brewhaus & Grill is a brewpub with both an upscale dining room
and a separate sports bar with a casual dining area

• Call Ahead Seating: 540-953-BULL(2855)
• Hours: Sun.-Sat. 11am-2am, Sun. Brunch 11am-3pm

• The bowl week has fun. The players have had some time to have fun, but they have been preparing very hard. It’s like a little vacation, but they also realize what this game means.
• Tech has been doing a lot of hitting in practices. They have taken bowl games very seriously the last two years. They want to make sure they keep their timing down and don’t have any missed tackles against Tennessee.
  Anytime you lose a guy like Stephan Virgil, it hurts. But Cris Hill and Jayron Hosley are very athletic guys, and they’ve been preparing. They’ll be ready to go.
• Montario Hardesty is a good back and he runs behind a very good line. They’ve got four seniors up front.
• Tennessee tries to get Jonathan Crompton in open space. He seems like he’s better throwing on the run.
• Grimm has enjoyed his college experience quite a bit. He has to thank his teammates for that. It wouldn’t be as fun if you weren’t around fun people.
• Anytime you play a football game, there is pressure. But after the first few hits, you get lost in the game, and at that point it doesn’t matter if you are playing Alabama and Marshall.
• The field in the Georgia Dome plays very fast, and the stadium is very loud. There were times in the Alabama game when it was hard to hear on defense.
• Grimm is going to Las Vegas on January 7th. He hopes he’s luckier there than he has been when calling the coin toss in games this year.
• Grimm remembers feeling really good about the Georgia game at halftime back in 2006. But the second half was sort of a snowball rolling against the Hokies.
• His career has gone by fast. A lot faster than he thought it would be when he was a freshman.

• Martin felt better this week than he has all season. It hasn’t been fun recovering from those knee injuries, but it’s starting to come around. It’s been frustrating.
• He’s had a lot of great memories at Virginia Tech. He wouldn’t trade it for the world.
• The seniors spoke to the rest of the team on Tuesday. He just told them to enjoy college football. Whether you play 15 years in the NFL, or whether this bowl game is your last game, football is going to end one day. The things that you do right now prepares you for life after football.
• Orion Martin, Cam’s brother, is working in academics for the athletics department at Virginia Tech. It’s just an internship right now.
• Tennessee reminds Martin of Boston College, with a lot of their formations. They will try to pound you, and then they’ll take shots downfield.
• Bud Foster is a defensive genius. Some of his game plans seem like a lot on paper, but you get used to it. It’s amazing that he can come up with some of the things he’s done. Once you buy into it as a player, you see the results on the field.
• Since Martin has arrived, Tech has increased their focus on bowl games. They are big for offseason momentum and they help recruiting.
• Martin doesn’t think it matters if you are the underdog or the favorite. You forget about all of that once you get on the field. The players really don’t pay attention to stuff like that.
• Early in the season, Tech was giving up too many big plays. They’ve worked all season to correct those mistakes.
• The Georgia Dome is a great place to play. The facility is amazing.
• To win this game, Tech has to limit mistakes, not turn the ball over and tackle well. When Tech tackles well, they usually win.

• Weaver was at practice on Tuesday, and observed the offense and defense. He was impressed with how crisp the Hokies looked. They really want to finish off this season the right way.



• Between the Alabama game, the Georgia Tech game and the Chick-fil-A Bowl, Virginia Tech sold 56,000 tickets to games in Atlanta this year. Weaver could not be more proud of the Hokie Nation.
• The Chick-fil-A Bowl people do a great job. The logistics are set up perfectly. There are a number of great events for both teams. This is a BCS Bowl without being officially recognized as one.
• Tennessee’s purpose defensively is to force the Hokies to throw the football. They will load up the line of scrimmage and try to stuff the run.
• It’s very important for both offensive coordinators to be patient, because they are playing good defenses. You have to take what they give you, even if it might not be what you want. Ball protection will be critical.
• Weaver will take Tyrod Taylor at quarterback in this game. He has some foot speed, and that could be the difference in this game.
• The Hokies have more team speed and depth now than they did when they played Tennessee in the 1994 Gator Bowl. The program was very young then, and Tech will be better prepared that time.
• Jim Weaver used to recruit against Tennessee defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin in New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania 40 years ago when Kiffin was at NC State.
• Tennessee wasn’t far away from having a great season. They played Florida tough, and they were a blocked field goal away from beating Alabama.
• Special teams will be key in this game. Tech has excellent kickers and great returners. Weaver looks for special teams to play very well.

• Gary Stokan and the Chick-fil-A Bowl are doing a great job, as usual. The atmosphere in Atlanta is tremendous. This is a first class organization.
• Tennessee has no running backs coach or special teams coordinator because they took jobs at other schools. They also just got a brand new wide receivers coach who doesn’t know the terminology as well as the players do. That probably won’t change the game too much, since the players have already played 12 games.
• Billy Hite is the only starting tailback from UNC in the 1970’s who did not make it to the NFL. He did rush for 127 yards and two touchdowns in the Sun Bowl.
• Hite is a good chef. He has been cooking for years. Everybody who owns a beach house invites him to go each summer because they know he’ll cook for everybody all week.
• Darren Evans is a great individual. It was a non-contact injury. Hite has lost Evans, Kenny Lewis and Lee Suggs to non-contact injuries.
• Ryan Williams did something in each and every game that amazed Hite. He is the best running back Hite has ever coached, and that says quite a bit.
• Defensive coordinators have been blitzing on the side that Williams lines up on. That requires him to stay in for pass protection, so Tech can’t throw him the ball as much as they would like.
• David Wilson is a crazy athlete. Hite has seen him run all the way to the to of the arches on Cassell Coliseum, and then run all the way back down.
• Hite likes where Tech is at offensively and defensively. The Hokies need to control the football and keep Montario Hardesty off the field.
• Tyrod Taylor has done a great job checking at the line of scrimmage. He was perfect in his checks in the UVA game. That makes Hite feel better about picking up the Tennessee blitzes.
• Bud Foster is the best defensive coordinator in college football. Being a selfish guy, Hite hopes he never leaves. He means so much to the program.