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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)
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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!
Jim Weaver
- Weaver has never been associated with a finish like the Nebraska game.
When you have a guy like Tyrod Taylor, you always have a chance. - Weaver thanked the Tech fans for their hospitality to Nebraska fans. All
the comments he received from Nebraska fans were positive. - In the late 1990s, Weaver began to upgrade Tech’s non-conference schedule.
They scheduled Clemson, Texas A&M, Nebraska and LSU. The Hokies went 7-1
in those games. - There is no “VT” at the 50 yard line as of now. The summer
wasn’t good for growing Bermuda grass. At the recommendation of the grounds
crew, Tech is waiting until either this week or next week to paint the
“VT” on the field. - Coach Beamer wants to have natural grass in Lane Stadium. Weaver doesn’t
see Tech switching to a synthetic turf like other teams are doing. - Weaver thinks having students rush the field is a positive. They aren’t
going to try to stop them. - Since 1972, only Penn State, Washington, USC and Virginia Tech have beaten
Nebraska in both games of a home-and-home series. - Tech is much better prepared to beat Miami because they’ve played a tough
schedule so far. Miami is very good, and they have great speed. - Former All-American defensive end Corey Moore will be in Blacksburg on
Saturday. His jersey will be retired before the game.
Bud Foster
- The Tech defense hung in there and didn’t allow any touchdowns. If you
don’t let them score touchdowns, the team has a chance to win each and every
game. - Tackling is poor right now, particularly on the perimeter. That’s where
you miss a guy like Brandon Flowers, Macho Harris, and even Stephan Virgil
who has missed the last two games. - The Hokies are playing good opponents. They have played some really good
programs in the first three weeks. - Foster told the players on Monday that they can’t allow the opponent to
think they can establish a running game. The Hokies have to have an
attitude, and they have to practice that way. - Tech got spoiled with experienced players like Xavier Adibi, Vince Hall,
Brett Warren and Purnell Sturdivant. There is a learning curve with these
new linebackers. - Barquell Rivers has played very well over the last two weeks. He is
improving at a faster pace than the other linebackers. - Graig Cooper and Javarris James of Miami have very good speed and change
of direction ability. They are different backs than Mark Ingram and Roy Helu,
Jr. The ‘Canes haven’t had good quarterback play recently, but they do this
year, and that is the difference. - Tech’s problems are mental errors and missed tackles. They are both very
correctable problems. - Jason Worilds has been getting held quite a bit this year. Officials
finally called one on Nebraska’s touchdown pass. - Tech still has a young football team. They have to work hard and grow
every single day. - Foster is friends with Nebraska offensive coordinator Shawn Watson. They
are going to talk to each other and give each other scouting reports on each
other. - Stephan Virgil practiced on Monday, and he was running stride for stride
with a wide receiver on a take off route. That was good to see. - Eddie Whitley played well as a replacement to Stephan Virgil. Rashad
Carmichael has been very good, with the exception of one tackle attempt
against Nebraska. - Nekos Brown has always been consistent with his play. He never changes
speeds. He has taken a great role as a leader. - Corey Moore was one of the great competitors Foster has ever been around.
Everybody loves to win, but not everybody hates to lose. Moore hated to
lose. His attitude was contagious. He practiced how he played. He was a
dynamic player. He was a little embarrassed that his pro career didn’t work
out, but he was a great college player. - Miami has exploited man-to-man coverage against FSU and Georgia Tech. The
Hokies are a more multi-coverage team than those two programs. Miami is
doing a lot of max protection, so it’s like beating your head against the
wall when you try to get to the quarterback. The Hokies can’t give up the
big play.
Danny Coale
- Life after “the catch” has been pretty hectic. He’s heard from a
lot of people, some that he hasn’t heard from in awhile. - Coale was supposed to run an out, but if he saw Cover 2 he was supposed to
take it up the field. He took it up field, Tyrod pump faked left, looked
back right, and there was a hole between the corner and the safety. - The ball was in the air a long time, and Coale was thinking the same thing
everybody else was thinking: “I hope he catches it.” - Did he think he was going to score when he caught it? “That was the
plan,” Coale joked. - It was a very frustrating day offensively. You have to be patient at the
same time, and wait for the big moment to come. The defense put them in
position to make those plays. - Coale prefers the all-white throwbacks with white socks. He thinks it
makes the players look faster. - Coale’s favorite place to play outside Lane Stadium is the Georgia Dome.
The atmosphere was incredible. - The Alabama cornerbacks were very good. They were very sound
fundamentally. They are the best corners Coale has played against. - Coale’s father is the strength and conditioning coach at VMI. He was
exposed to athletics at a very early age. His brother played lacrosse at UVA,
but he’s a big Hokie football fan. - There is a huge mental commitment to football that most people don’t
realize. The learning curve is huge. You have to be good mentally to get
anywhere in this game. - Coale tries not to pay any attention to the internet and what fans are
saying. His mom takes care of that for him. - Coale expects a great atmosphere for Miami. It’s going to be 60 minutes of
football, and the team with the least amount of mistakes will win. 
The offense has to take care of the little things and fine tune them in
practice. They have to take advantage of opportunities.
Nekos Brown
- There wasn’t much to think about on Nebraska’s last drive. The Hokies
needed stops, and they got them. - Out of all the great backs the Hokies have played this year, Brown thinks
Mark Ingram of Alabama is the best. He’s a threat in the running game and
passing game. - Javarris James and Graig Cooper of Miami are probably the best tandem of
backs the Hokies will see all year. They are every down threats. - Tech needs to be more consistent stopping the run. They have to make teams
one-dimensional. - Tech is more prepared to play Miami because they’ve played Alabama and
Nebraska. They are all very tough teams. - Brown’s father is Chuck Brown, a music legend. He went to sleep to music,
woke up to music, and he doesn’t really feel right if he doesn’t hear music
when he goes to bed at night. - Nekos is different from his father, because he always has stage fright as
a performer. Football is easier in that regard. - Brown’s favorite uniform combination is the orange jerseys with white
pants. - Like Coale, Brown likes the Georgia Dome. He has played in it twice,
against Georgia and Alabama. - The best tackle Nekos Brown has played against wasn’t in a game, it was in
practice against Duane Brown. - Football players have a very tight schedule. It’s hard to just jump into
being a student athlete. It’s tough on freshmen. - Tech needs to pressure Jacory Harris. He is very comfortable in the
pocket. FSU and Georgia Tech didn’t get to him much. He’s a tall quarterback
with good vision, and he sees the field well. Getting pressure on him is key
to winning the game. Harris is a totally different quarterback from last
year.
Jon Jeffries
- Jeffries scored the first touchdown of the Frank Beamer era on a kickoff
return. - Jeffries works a job that requires a lot of travel, but it’s rewarding. He
helps find jobs for people who are at a disadvantage. - Jeffries talks to Billy Hite, his running back coach, about every other
week. He’s done that ever since he graduated. - Because of his current job, Jeffries understands that getting everyone on
a team to believe is really tough. - Jeffries stays in touch with a lot of the players he played with at Tech.
He also stays in touch with some of the younger players who came after him. - Jeffries thinks Miami will feel a little different after coming to
Blacksburg. The Hokies are going to be well-prepared as usual.
Frank Beamer
- You have to have great players to pull off a rally like Tech did on
Saturday. Tyrod Taylor made great throws with guys hanging off his jersey.
The defense made great plays to keep them in the game. - Beamer is proud of the way Tech played when things didn’t look good. They
kept playing hard. He told the team after the game that he was proud to be
associated with them. - Tech has to be better offensively, there’s no question about it. They
missed some assignments, and there’s no reason for that. They have to hit
some more big plays. They had several opportunities, but they didn’t take
advantage of them. - The question of whether they wanted to run Dyrell Robert on the first play
after his long touchdown return was discussed before the play. They decided
to use him because he is the guy who had practiced it. In the end, Nebraska
played good defense on that play, and that’s why it didn’t work. - Before the two-point conversion attempt, Beamer told Tyrod Taylor to take
care of the football above anything else. - Tyrod Taylor had some plays on Saturday that he’d like to have back. And
he threw some good ones that the receivers dropped. It was a lack of
execution. - Beamer is not pleased with Tech’s offensive consistency, and he’s not
pleased with how they “don’t get the flow going.” They will keep
working hard at it. - Playing good teams helps you become better down the road. On the other
hand, sometimes it’s better to schedule to get wins so your team gets
confidence. Beamer feels good about being 2-1 considering the schedule so
far. - The whole football team needs to get better. The defense needs to tackle
better and stop giving up big plays. All three phases of the game need
improvement. - If Dyrell Roberts had caught that fourth down pass on a dead run, things
could have been interesting. He may have had a chance to score. That was a
good play by Tyrod Taylor. - Beamer thought it was possible that Nebraska would go for it on fourth and
one. They probably made the right decision, with the way the game had gone
up to that point. - The win has a chance to be a real confidence builder for Tyrod Taylor, as
well as the team. They could have played a lot better, but they still got
the win. - When a quarterback at Miami plays well, it’s the same Miami of old. They
have a lot of good players, and now their quarterback is finally playing
well. - Stephan Virgil’s status will be determined after full practices in pads on
Tuesday and Wednesday. - The Nebraska players knew Virginia Tech’s codeword to snap the ball on
punts. Nebraska players were yelling it before snaps, trying to draw a false
start. Bo Pelini probably talked to Nick Saban during the week.
Monday was Day 1,759 of Virginia Tech’s continuous possession of the Commonwealth Cup.
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