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.
TSL Welcomes Bull and Bones as Sponsor of our Tech Talk Live Notes
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
As a special treat for TechSideline.com readers, each
week we’re giving away one $50 gift certificate to Bull & Bones
to the reader who wins bourbonstreet’s weekly football game score prediction
contest. Just watch the TechSideline.com football board for bourbonstreet’s
weekly prediction thread, and you could have a shot at dinner on us!
Bud Foster
- Foster has been very pleased with the way the team has practiced. They
were challenged to pick up where they left off in the spring, and they have
responded. - The Hokies are tired of beating on each other, and it’s time to go hit
somebody else. It’s a great opportunity to play a team like Alabama. - Foster is very pleased with Kam Chancellor. He is much improved and he’s
taking a leadership role. He is playing much faster. Demetrius Taylor has
also had a great camp. The staff feels like they have three starting
defensive tackles. - Jason Worilds has really come on in the last 10 days. He was coming off
shoulder surgery, and he’s back to looking like the player he was last year. - John Graves has really helped the development of Cordarrow Thompson.
Graves has been a great mentor. - Foster really likes Barquell Rivers and Jake Johnson. They are
self-motivated players, a lot like Vince Hall and Xavier Adibi, Ben Taylor
and Jake Houseright, and Michael Hawkes and Jamel Smith. They are
inexperienced, but their work ethic is amazing. 
Cam Martin had major knee surgery after the Orange Bowl. He’s got some
bone exposed, so it’s very tender for him. He’s progressed well. Cody Grimm
is an outstanding football player, and so is Martin, but Foster isn’t sure
Martin can go full speed as much as he used to. Pound for pound, Grimm is
probably the best player on the team.- Grimm is such a tough competitor. He beat Ed Wang in a sumo wrestling
match in the Iron Man competition over the summer. - The boundary corner has to be good in run support, he has to be a good
tackler, he has to be tough and he has to be the best man-to-man defender on
the team. Stephan Virgil fills that role this year. Tech’s last four
boundary corners have been All-Americans: DeAngelo Hall, Jimmy Williams,
Brandon Flowers and Macho Harris. Virgil has had a great fall camp. - Jayron Hosley is a great prospect at cornerback. He has really come on in
the last couple of weeks. He has the “it” factor. At some point
this year, Foster thinks he could be the third or fourth best corner on the
team. - Tech has a lot of depth at rover. Davon Morgan and Dorian Porch are both
considered starters. - Tech’s offensive line is better this year, and the receivers have
experience. Xavier Boyce and D.J. Coles can become outstanding football
players. Tyrod Taylor has made a lot of progress. He has improved in the
passing game, he’s bigger, and he’s assumed a leadership role. Tech still
has good backs, even with the loss of Evans. David Wilson has a chance to be
special. - Alabama is a tough team. They are going to be tough and physical. The
Hokies will be playing themselves, from an offensive standpoint. Foster told
his players that they aren’t Clemson, they are Virginia Tech. They are known
for toughness. They have to hit from the opening whistle. - Utah got Alabama down on the scoreboard, and that forced the Tide to pass
to try and come back. That’s not Alabama’s game, and that’s why Utah won.
Jim Weaver
- The Hokies will be wearing maroon jerseys on Saturday, and the Chick-fil-A
people request that Tech fans wear maroon to the game. - College Gameday will be set up at Centennial Olympic Park, and the show
starts at 10am. It will be a great chance to showcase the Hokie nation. - It has been six years since two Top 10 teams faced off in the opening week
of the season. - Baseball coach Pete Hughes was offered the job at the University of
Washington over the summer. Tech couldn’t compete with what Washington was
offering, but in the end they were still able to keep him. - Marshall and UNC sent back their unsold tickets of the visitor’s
allotment. Tech put them on sale on Friday morning, and they were all sold
by lunch. - The officials for Saturday’s game will be SEC officials. ACC officials
will be in the replay booth. Last year’s game between Alabama and Clemson
had ACC officials.
Tyrod Taylor and Stephan Virgil
Virgil: The move to boundary corner has been a good experience. He didn’t
get a lot of action sometimes at field corner, but it will be different at
boundary because you are out there on an island by yourself and opponents
like to attack the backside of the defense.- Virgil: He learned a lot from the guys in front of him. Brandon Flowers
had great technique, and Macho Harris was a playmaker. - Virgil: “I’m going to show yall Saturday what it’s going to be for
the whole season.” - Virgil: Jayron Hosley is progressing quickly. He’s going to be a great
corner before he leaves Tech. - Virgil: Rashad Carmichael will do well at field corner. He played some
boundary corner last year, so they’ve basically switched positions and they
learn a lot from each other. - Virgil: Playing for Bud Foster is great. He’s always wired and he has a
lot of enthusiasm. The players think he is one of them when they are on the
field. - Taylor: Taylor is ready for this game. “It’s what I signed my letter
of intent for.” - Taylor: “Every game is big, but this one coming up is nationally
televised and highly anticipated, and I’m ready to play.” - Taylor: He is playing with more confidence and trusting his receivers.
That was the big thing he didn’t do last year. - Taylor: Knowing that he’s the #1 quarterback rather than part of a
competition isn’t a big deal. He has always prepared himself like he was the
starter. - Taylor: This is a very talented offense. He can throw to anybody and they
can make big plays. The backs can make plays. - Taylor: Xavier Boyce had been working hard all summer and he’s starting
against Alabama. It’s not a knock on Jarrett Boykin, because he’s a great
receiver. The Hokies will play a lot of wide receivers this year. - Taylor: Darren Evans is a tough loss, but the team is going to fight for
him. - Taylor: He talked to Michael Vick recently. Vick told him not to try to
follow in anyone’s footsteps, but to be his own man. - Taylor: He participated in the Manning quarterback camp over the summer.
He was a counselor for the high school kids. It was a chance to get better
and learn from the best. - Taylor: The Alabama game will come down to who wants it more. They are a
very tough team, and both teams will be well-prepared. - Virgil: It will be a hard fought game on both sides of the ball. Tech just
has to go out and play their game. It’s going to be a dogfight. Both teams
have talented athletes. - Virgil: “We are ready. We are ready.”
Al Clark, the only Tech quarterback to beat Alabama
- Clark is living in Northern Virginia and working as a personal trainer.
- The thing Clark remembers most about the Music City Bowl was the weather.
It was very cold, and it was sleeting and raining. - Clark told Ike Charlton before the game that he might not have much left
in the tank because he had been banged up all season. It would be important
to get Alabama down early, and that’s what they did. - Clark wasn’t surprised that the 1999 team was as good as they were. They
had some very talented young players in 1998 that just needed another year.
Even the 1998 team was just a few plays away from being undefeated. - Advice to Tyrod Taylor and Stephan Virgil: “Just go out and play
football. You’ve been doing it your whole life. Treat this like any other
game. Don’t turn the ball over in this game. If you protect the ball and
play hard, the Hokie way will prevail.” - Clark tries to go see Coach Beamer every spring. It’s a great feeling as a
former player to come back and see so many familiar faces. Coach Beamer is
so successful because he keeps his staff in place.
Frank Beamer
- The preseason was pretty good, with the exception of the Darren Evans
injury. Other than that, Tech is healthy. - All three tailbacks will work this week, and then they’ll decide who will
start. David Wilson and Josh Oglesby didn’t get as much work as they needed
because of their injury, so it would be nice to get them another week of
preseason practice. - Alabama has most of their starters back on defense. They were really good
against the run last year, and now they are trying to generate more of a
pass rush. - Greg McElroy will be a good thrower. They’ve been throwing it a lot during
the preseason. Julio Jones reminds Beamer of Calvin Johnson. - Big plays are key, particularly in an early season game. Both defenses are
very good. - Tech is representing the ACC on Saturday night. ACC teams should be better
this year. Most teams were young last year, and most teams have their
starting quarterback returning. - If Tech wins this game, it won’t be the end of the season. There are many
more games to be played. It will be the same situation if Tech loses. There
will be a lot of football left to be played either way. - Jayron Hosley is the second punt returner right now. He has played very
well. He has a good knack for football. - Xavier Boyce has a chance to be very good. He has gotten stronger and
faster in the offseason. He has a bright future. - The coaches are thinking about David Wilson for the kick return team. He’s
got great speed, which is what you need back there. - Tech is taking 67 players to the game. They are only taking players who
truly have a chance to play. They don’t want to take guys who won’t be in
the game mentally because they know they aren’t going to play. - Last year the Hokies had all freshmen receivers on the team. They didn’t
know where they were going, and the quarterbacks didn’t know where they were
going. If they completed a pass, it was a miracle. Beamer feels a lot better
about where they are this time around. - Recruiting good players helps to recruit other good players. If guys like
Tyrod Taylor, Logan Thomas and David Wilson are coming to Tech, then it will
make other guys consider Tech as well. - Tech has more athletes on the offensive line, and they’ve got toughness.
Now they have to play as a unit. They will be tested by Alabama, because
they are a very tough defense. - Alabama gives you a lot of looks defensively, but the players make it
work. They have outstanding talent. - Beamer is an advocate of playing a scrimmage against another college team.
It would help athletic departments from a monetary standpoint, and it would
help teams get ready for the regular season. - This is a great way to start out the year. It’s time to finally play.
Monday was Day 1,738 of Virginia Tech’s continuous possession of the Commonwealth Cup.
Tech Sideline is Presented By: