Hokie Hotline Notes for 12/15/08

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.

• Greenberg is still excited about this team. They have a chance to be very
  good. They should get J.T. Thompson back this weekend.
• Victor Davila is developing well. Terrell Bell had a good game against
  Longwood, and he needs to keep it up. Jeff Allen had 21 rebounds against
  Longwood, and his goal should be to lead the ACC in rebounding.
• Tech has to defend a little more consistently. They have to start coming up
  with the 50-50 balls, and Thompson should help there.
• There is no doom and gloom right now. Greenberg really believes they have a
  chance to do good things. The schedule has been tough, just because of all the
  travel. Tech plays the fewest home games of any team in the ACC this year.
• Tech will still be playing six sophomores when J.T. Thompson returns, as well
  as a freshman. They are still very young, and they’ll get better. Seeing Jeff
  Allen dive across the floor for a loose ball on Sunday was a positive step.
• Greenberg thinks its ridiculous to schedule the game against in-state rival
  UVA over Christmas Break when the students aren’t in school. Greenberg and
  Weaver complained to the ACC about it, and they promised it won’t happen
  again.
• Greenberg believes that Deron Washington has the opportunity to play in the
  NBA in the future. He’s playing in Israel right now. He had a good summer, but
  the Pistons just didn’t have a roster spot.
• Tech really misses Washington. He could guard Sean Singletary, Jack McClinton
  and James Gist. No other player in the ACC has that type of versatility. That’s
  what makes him valuable at the next level as well. He made game changing plays
  at Tech, and the Hokies miss that.

• Foster is really proud of his players. They are a team that grew and matured
  as the year went on, especially on defense. They really took a step forward over
  the last four or five games of the year.
• BC’s quarterback was new for the ACC Championship Game. They weren’t able
  to run the football, and that put their quarterback in a bad situation. The
  Hokies played their most complete football game of the season.
• Tech let the last two bowl games slip away from them. Tech practiced full on
  Friday, Saturday and Monday. They’ll start practicing again on Thursday, and
  they’ll practice through Monday.
• Since this is such a young football team, the extra practice will benefit
  next season as well.
• Foster has already won a Sugar Bowl, and now he wants to win an Orange Bowl.
• Foster can’t pinpoint one guy on defense who stepped up, but he did single
  out Cody Grimm and Cordarrow Thompson. Thompson made great strides by losing
  weight in the offseason, and he’s done well in the classroom. He’s played
  better than Foster ever thought he could.
• Cody Grimm has great instincts and great quickness. He has a nose for the
  ball. He plays 30 or 40 plays per game on defense, and then he’s on all the
  special teams as well. He’s really valuable.
• Charley Wiles did a terrific coaching job this year. That was a completely
  revamped defensive line. Torrian Gray lost Brandon Flowers, and Kam Chancellor
  was moved to free safety. Gray had new players, but he still did a great job.
• It was a great learning experience for Tech to have so many close games this
  year. That will help them in the future, in football and in their lives.
• Tech will have a lot of youth at linebacker next year. Barquell Rivers will
  be a guy at mike, and he’ll be challenged by Jake Johnson. The backer spot
  will be wide open. Quillie Odom will have a chance, and so will Lyndell Gibson.
  Bruce Taylor could factor in at linebacker as well.
• Cincinnati will be tough to defend. They run a spread offense and they do a
  great job with it. They spread the field and get the ball to their top athletes.
  Georgia Tech was the toughest offense Tech faced during the season, but that’s
  a different type of offense.
• Cincinnati reminds Foster of Boston College. They’ll spread it out and
  throw it, and their quarterback is the guy who makes them go.
• Alonzo Tweedy is doing some good things. He hasn’t gotten as big as they’d
  like him to. He has to learn to play within the scheme of the defense. He had
  more of a free role in high school, but he has to accept coaching now. He has
  tremendous ability, and the spring will be big with him with Cam Martin out.
• Rashad Carmichael lost his father before the season, so it’s been tough for
  him. Cris Hill has a lot of ability, but he hasn’t been consistent thus far.

• Ticket sales are not very good and it’s very disappointing. They’ve sold
  about 4,300 tickets right now. The economy is bad. Plus Tech has played six
  games over the past year in the state of Florida.
• The ticket situation has changed drastically in the bowl business in the past
  few years. For example, Alabama fans thought they were playing in the National
  Title game, which is in Miami this year. The Orange Bowl people said if they
  want to buy a ticket to that game, then they have to buy a ticket to the Orange
  Bowl as well. Since Alabama didn’t make it, there are a lot of cheap Orange
  Bowl tickets floating around. Tech must charge $125 for the tickets they sell, and Hokie
  fans would rather get cheaper tickets elsewhere.
• There were 979 accounts of Orange Bowl tickets on eBay one day this past
  week. That could be one ticket, two tickets, four tickets, six tickets, etc.
  They were going for very cheap. One person got four club seats, a parking pass
  and four tickets to the Budweiser Tailgate event for $127 total. The schools can’t
  compete with the secondary ticket market.
• Weaver thinks between 8-12 thousand Tech fans will be at the Orange Bowl, at
  least. Tech fans are very savvy when it comes to getting tickets cheap. They can
  get them cheap, and in better locations than what Virginia Tech can provide.
• Overall, institutions can’t keep taking the money losses from ticket sales
  in these BCS games. It’s a lot better than a playoff system though. It will be
  like the ACC Championship game week all over again, with fans having just a few
  days to book their travel plans for the next game. It simply won’t work.
• The ACC turned out to be a great conference in terms of parity. It is not an
  offensive conference like the Big 12. The ACC plays great defense throughout the
  conference, and that has kept the scoring down.
• Weaver doesn’t understand why more minority coaches aren’t hired as head
  coaches. He has known a lot of quality minority coaches throughout his career.
  Turner Gill has done a great job at Buffalo, and he should get a quality job at
  some point.
• Weaver stated that he’s proud of the adversity that the football team
  overcame this year. They hung in there through tough losses. Three ACC
  Championships in five years is a great accomplishment.

• Beamer is very proud of the staff and players. They put out tremendous effort
  this year and did a great job.
• You never know from week to week how people are going to react. However,
  after losses Beamer always looked forward to seeing the players the next Monday.
  That’s always a good sign that it’s a good group.
• People were saying and writing that the team was divided, but they hung in
  there and the leadership came through. It all goes back to the players and what
  kind of people they are. This was the least penalized team Beamer has had at
  Virginia Tech. That’s a reflection of the quality of players Tech has.
• There were no fights in practice this year, and overall it was just a close
  knit group. They always practiced well and the chemistry was great.
• Beamer asked fans to get to the Orange Bowl if there’s any way they
  possibly can. Tech isn’t going to be in the Orange Bowl every year. It’s a
  tough business. Take every opportunity to get to a BCS game, because there are
  no guarantees that you’ll get the chance next year.
• Cincinnati has already sold 9,000 tickets. The game is obviously very
  important to their fans.
• In the ACC Championship Game, Cody Grimm was the defensive player of the week
  and the special teams player of the week. He’s a really good player.
• Last year, Beamer limited the amount of full speed contact during the month
  of December. The fact is, Tech hasn’t played as well in their last two bowl
  games as they did down the stretch of the season. It was time to do something
  different this year. They have had full speed, tackling work. They are going to
  have a two quarter scrimmage.
• Tech needs to represent themselves and the ACC in the Orange Bowl. They are
  certainly going to give it their very best.
• Bud Foster deserves a head coaching job. He would do a great job.
  Beamer would do all he can to help Foster get a job.
• Vince Hall was signed to the Buffalo Bills’ practice squad last week. He
  just needs a chance to be around NFL players. Once he gets on a football field
  he’ll take care of the rest.
• Cincinnati has 10 senior starters on the defensive side of the ball, and the
  11th starter is a junior. They are experienced and mature. They are also
  quicker and more athletic than the team Tech faced in 2006.
• Overall, their talent level has improved. Obviously the coaching staff is
  very good as well. They aren’t a fluke. They are very good.
• The Cincinnati program reminds Beamer of Tech’s program back in the early
  days of the Big East. The Big East really opened up the doors for Tech, and it’s
  doing the same thing for Cincinnati.
• Cincinnati has gone through four different quarterbacks this year. It’s
  amazing that they won the Big East with that much turnover at the quarterback
  position.
• Tech will practice for two hours on Thursday and Friday. They’ll practice
  again on Saturday, and they’ll scrimmage some on Sunday. They’ll practice on
  Monday as well, and then go home for Christmas on Tuesday.
• Tech is pretty close to being finished with recruiting this year. They’ll
  end up signing around 20 players. You can’t put an exact number on it. Many
  variables could change that number.
• Beamer really likes the recruiting class so far. There are a lot of good
  young players already in the program, and they are adding to it.

Monday was Day 1,479 of Virginia Tech’s continuous possession of the
Commonwealth Cup.