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 see the show in person at Awful Arthur’s in Blacksburg.
Charley Wiles
- The team had a great practice on Monday. If they practice like that all
week, they have a really good chance of winning on Saturday. - It’s tough to prepare for an option team like Georgia Tech. The speed is
very fast. - It’s not quite a wishbone, it’s more of a multi-bone. They get into a lot
of formations. - Jonathan Dwyer is excellent. He is a big, powerful running back with good
speed. He can run over you or he can run around you. - Georgia Tech is putting in their offense a little bit at a time. They
haven’t installed it all at this point. - Georgia Tech doesn’t throw the ball a lot, and they won’t throw it on
third a long. They like to throw it in short yardage situations. - The defense improved a lot from game one to game two. The guys are playing
really hard. They missed 18 tackles in Charlotte, and just one against
Furman. - John Graves and Cordarrow Thompson are missing the game experience, but
they are playing really hard and they’ll have a good year. - Thompson lost a lot of weight. He was pretty solid against ECU, and he was
better against Furman. He has great quickness at the point of attack. - Jason Worilds has had a history of his shoulder popping out. It was a bit
stiff on Monday. If he’s not fully ready to play, then they aren’t going to
play him. This is going to be a very physical football game, and Tech needs
to play healthy guys. - Nekos Brown would start if Worilds can’t play. Stephen Friday and Bruce
Taylor would have to step up. - BC shut down Georgia Tech, except for three plays. They allowed three
plays of over 40 yards. - The offense is still a work in progress. They are getting better.
- Tech must tackle and be physical on Saturday. The defensive tackles need
to get some penetration through the A gaps and not allow their fullback to
get rolling. The defense has to stay on their feet on the perimeter. They do
a good job of chopping the perimeter. - They don’t have much film on Georgia Tech, because they’ve only played two
games under Paul Johnson. - The coaches are calling recruits right now. With so many guys committing
over the summer, there are fewer guys to call during the season than there
are now.
Norm Wood, Newport News Daily Press
- This is a team that is still trying to find its identity. Certainly on
offense that’s the case. They probably felt like the offensive line would be
further ahead than they are. They still have issues with pass blocking. 
Wood
thought playing Tyrod Taylor was the right choice from the beginning. He was
a little surprised when they decided to red shirt him.- Over the next week or two, they will probably phase Sean Glennon out and
phase Tyrod Taylor in. - Nobody ever accused Sean Glennon of being glib. If he stops playing, the
media guys will miss him from a quote standpoint. He certainly doesn’t have
a problem speaking his mind. - Bud Foster said the Georgia Tech offense is a throwback offense. It will
be assignment football. You can’t get caught out of position. - The defensive tackles are going to have to be more active this week. They
need to get into the backfield some. - Seth Greenberg has some bigtime recruits considering the Hokies. Josh
Selby is a guard from Maryland, and Josh Hairston is a forward from
Virginia. Both are ranked in the Top 20 nationally in the Class of 2010.
Jim Weaver
- Weaver spent the first part of the show addressing booing. Sean Glennon is
a member of the Tech family, and you never boo a member of your family. - Tyrod Taylor took himself out of the game after his long run. Glennon came
on the field to replace him, and he got booed. - It will be important for the Tech defensive tackles to get off the ball
and get penetration, so Georgia Tech’s chop blocks don’t have as much of an
effect. - If the Hokies had played Beamerball before the half against East Carolina,
they probably would have gone into the half with a 14-0 lead. They probably
would have won that game as a result. Tech can’t get into style right now.
They have to do what they need to do to win. - The basketball facility is coming along great. The artist’s drawing doesn’t
do the size of the building justice. It will be a big, impressive facility. - The VT-UNC game time will not be announced until Sunday. It will be either
at noon on Raycom or 3:30 on ABC. - Fans should continue to get to the gates early, because tickets will
continue to be scanned, slowing down entry to the stadium. - There is going to be a special recognition pre-game on Saturday, before
Enter Sandman. Everyone should be there for that. You might be sorry if you
are not.
Frank Beamer
- The kickers kicked the ball better. That gives them hope in the special
teams area. Justin Meyer did a good job with his kickoffs. - The first team defense played really well. The offense made some plays,
but they have consistency issues. - He told the team on Monday that the best way to get better was to practice
better, and they had a great practice on Monday. The scout team gave the
starters some great looks on Monday. - They haven’t blocked consistently well. Beamer told the team there is a
sense of urgency. They talk about getting better all the time, and now they
need to do it. - The Tech offensive line will keep seeing twists and stunts. They have an
opportunity to get good blocking them, because they’ll see them quite a bit. - They have talked a little bit about getting Beau Warren in the game at
center, and playing Shuman some at guard. The line has made improvements,
but they aren’t playing consistently. - Georgia Tech is a very good team. They just went up to Boston College and
won. They are a very enthusiastic team, with the new coaching staff. - It’s Orange Effect on Saturday. Roth asked if they were going to be
wearing anything special. Beamer said everyone will just have to check out
the game. - Tech is still trying to find themselves offensively. In high school and
the pros they have preseason games, but not in college. They know a lot more
about themselves after two games right now. - They won’t make a decision on Ryan Williams until after the UNC game.
There is a lot to learn for such a young player. Tech has a lot of other
young tailbacks in front of him. The jury is still out on whether or not he’ll
red shirt. - The offensive production isn’t what Beamer likes through the first two
games. It’s no fun being average, and they don’t plan to stay that way. - Tech’s freshmen receivers blocked pretty well. Particularly Danny Coale,
and Jarrett Boykin did well also.
Jason from Arlington called in next, and his comments, along with Beamer’s
response, caused quite a reaction on the message boards last night.
Jason pointed out that Tech’s offensive problems don’t go back to the ECU
game. They go back seven years. When are we going to start looking at who is
leading the troops, rather than the troops themselves? Is it the Beamerball
philosophy with offense coming second, or is it Coach Stinespring? It seems like
something needs to change. We’ll never achieve our goal of winning a National
Championship with the offense of the past seven years. Foster does a great job,
but he can’t give us a top 10 defense every year. Jason hopes we haven’t missed
our opportunity of winning a National Championship. Beamer has brought Tech to a
very good place, but to get to the next level they are going to have to get an
offense to go with the defense or the ACC title is the best they’ll ever get.
Beamer’s response was as follows:
“I think you’re all wrong. When you go back seven years, some of those teams
have been some of our better scoring football teams. We haven’t talked about
inexperience for all seven years, that hasn’t been the case. If you can’t look
at us and tell what’s going on right now, then I’m not sure you know a lot about
football. We’re going to get better. When we win two ACC Championships and play
for a third….I’ll be the first to tell you that a couple of those offensive
teams weren’t as talented as we wanted. The talent on our offense hasn’t been as
good as the talent on our defense. We got behind in a couple of areas and that’s
just a fact. We put together two ACC Championships and played for a third one,
and I think you’re getting it out of whack when you start talking about…and we
want to win a National Championship. And I can assure you that we’ve got good
coaches, and the coaches and players are going to get better, and we’re going to
continue to win. And I think you’re out of whack.”
After that exchange, the show went to a scheduled commercial, and then
resumed as normal.
- Georgia Tech runs the option, they put guys in motion, and they use Dwyer
very well. Josh Nesbitt is their quarterback, and he does a good job running
the ball. He’s good in that offense. The coaching staff certainly knows what
they are doing. - You can’t turn the fullback loose. Dwyer is one of their best players.
Normally you like to swarm the football, but this week Tech must play
disciplined and play assignment football. - Georgia Tech won’t blitz as much now, but they show different fronts and
they are really good defensively. - It’s now ACC play, and it’s time to raise the level of play. It’s time to
play better. They are doing more tackling drills and preparing the players
for their assignments.
Monday was Day 1,381 of Virginia Tech’s continuous possession of the
Commonwealth Cup.
Tech Sideline is Presented By: