2009-2010 Tech Talk Live Notes for 10/5/09

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.


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!

Kelly Cagle

  • It was a great win over #1 UNC. The Hokies have had a great start to the
    season at 10-2. They won at UVA for the first time ever. The players believe
    in themselves.
  • They have a great coaching staff with lots of good values. Even when they
    don’t win, the coaches always find something positive to fall back on.
  • The Hokies have to make sure they stay grounded. They are going to stick
    to what they’ve been doing. They’ve got Maryland next, who is ranked. They
    are a very good team. It’s important to stay humble.
  • Cagle has tremendous respect for the UNC problem, as she is a former Duke
    player. UNC has an amazing women’s soccer program.
  • (Editor’s Note: The Hokie women rose to #6 in the rankings following their
    win over #1 UNC.)

Mike Goforth

  • Being Tech’s trainer is a full-time job. The training room opens at 6:30
    in the morning and it closes at 7:30 at night.
  • Virginia Tech offers the flu shot to the entire football team, but they
    are fortunate if 75-80% actually come in to get the shot.
  • If any Tech player is diagnosed with the flu, then they are sent home for
    48-72 hours. They aren’t allowed to come back until they’ve shown no flu
    symptoms for 24 hours.
  • Goforth gets a lot of emails from Tech fans about health related tips.
    When Michael Vick sprained his ankle in 2000, Goforth was advised in one
    email to leave the ankle in a brown paper bag and soak it in turpentine.
    That’s just one example of some of the crazier emails that he’s gotten.
  • Darren Evans is doing a great job with his rehab. There is a rumor that he
    was playing basketball. He’s not playing, but he’s shooting a little. That’s
    a lot different than playing a game. Evans is a hard worker, and he’s a
    pleasure to work with.
  • Goforth isn’t counting on Darren Evans’ return for the bowl game. He’s
    already used up his redshirt year. If he walked in the room right now, you’d
    never know he had a knee injury.

Bryan Stinespring

  • The Hokies picked up an ACC road win, and that’s always big. The team
    could have played better, but a win is a win. In college football, you have
    to find a way to win on the road.
  • For the last two weeks, the Hokies have moved the pocket more, and they’ve
    adjusted the launch point for Tyrod Taylor. That’s helping him, and you can
    see that from his production in the passing game.
  • The Tech wide receivers stepped up and made some plays for Taylor against
    Duke. They made some impressive catches.
  • The Duke safeties were jumping the tight ends. The Tech wide receivers ran
    posts behind the safeties, and Danny Coale was able to exploit that for a
    big play.
  • The biggest challenge against Boston College is the physical play of the
    Eagles. They are always very physical up front, and they are very well
    coached. They have an outstanding team concept. The Hokies have to play with
    a sense of purpose.
  • Josh Oglesby has done a terrific job over the last two weeks at tailback.
    He is a very valuable backup. Andrew Lanier and Greg Nosal are also getting
    in the rotation. Lanier started for an injured Blake DeChristopher on
    Saturday, and he played well.
  • Tech spread the field a little more later in the game, and it gave them
    success running the football. They also had a couple of mental errors in the
    running game by the tight ends, and they caused negative plays.
  • Boston College has beaten Tech in three straight regular season games.
    Coach Beamer gave the Hokies a reminder of that in Monday’s team meeting.
  • David Wilson has to continue to learn. It takes time. It took Ryan
    Williams time. It’s tough on a true freshman to face a different opponent
    every week, with different blitz packages every week.
  • Stinespring is pleased about some of the strides the offense has made.
    They still need to get better.
  • The Hokies need to play at a high level this weekend, because they will
    get BC’s best shot. The Eagles are physical and tough, and Tech has to match
    their toughness.

Matt Waldron

  • Waldron began his career at Penn State. He was on the travel squad for
    Penn State when they won the Orange Bowl following the 2005 season. He
    didn’t win the starting job, so he decided to transfer to Tech because he
    knew guys like Brent Bowden and Brandon Pace.
  • The Tech and Penn State programs are similar. He has been yelled at by Joe
    Paterno and Frank Beamer, and not a lot of people can say that.
  • Coach Beamer spends a lot of time with the kickers. Paterno just sort of
    walked about practice and watched everybody.
  • Because of his time at Penn State and Virginia Tech, he has three Orange
    Bowl rings. He also has two ACC Championship rings and one Big Ten
    Championship ring.
  • Waldron has waited a long time to start, but he’s been well-prepared
    behind some very good kickers.
  • If Waldron had a kid, he would send him to Virginia Tech over Penn State.
    He said Tech should have won a couple of national championships by the time
    that decision is made.
  • Waldron likes the orange jerseys, and he’d like to wear maroon pants with
    them. The all-maroon looks good as well.

Josh Oglesby

  • Virginia Tech hadn’t been running the ball well in the first half against
    Duke. Things opened up late in the game, and it felt good to get in the end
    zone.
  • Oglesby considers himself to be a power back and a speed back. He has a
    good mix of both.
  • It was frustrating to sit on the bench so much last year. This year he’s
    starting to see the big picture. The Hokies have a great group of tailbacks.
    It hurt seeing Darren Evans go down with the injury. However, Tech has shown
    to have capable replacements, and Oglesby is there to do his part.
  • Oglesby’s father, Ike Oglesby, played with VT running backs coach Billy
    Hite at UNC. Throughout the recruiting process, Oglesby was pretty open, but
    he was leaning a little towards UNC. He came up to Blacksburg for a football
    camp, but he didn’t know anything about the school other than Michael Vick
    and Kevin Jones. Frank Beamer offered Oglesby a scholarship after the camp,
    and Billy Hite told him the staff was only taking two running backs.
  • Darren Evans and Oglesby ended up committing on the same weekend. Oglesby
    felt comfortable with his father knowing Coach Hite.
  • Football is like life. You aren’t going to be given everything. Sometimes
    bad things are going to happen. You just have to deal with it and work
    through it.
  • Every team you play is different. You have to be level headed each week.
    That’s how you stay consistent.
  • Boston College is going to play a great game. When you are back-to-back
    ACC Champions, you will get everybody’s best shot.
  • Oglesby grew up going to games at Keenan Stadium. The Hokie crowd at Lane
    blows Keenan out of the water.
  • Mike O’Cain recruited Oglesby to Virginia Tech. He knows the Carolinas
    very well, and he’s part of the reason Tech has had so much success
    recruiting that state recently.
  • Oglesby likes the white throwback uniforms, as well as the all-maroon
    uniforms. He prefers the regular maroon helmet. He would like to see some
    maroon throwbacks in the future.

Chad Beasley

  • When Beasley graduated from Tech, he was pushing 300-lbs. Now he’s about
    250.
  • He is currently working in Blacksburg. He played five years in the NFL
    after leaving Virginia Tech. The NFL was a lot of what he expected, and a
    lot of what he didn’t expect. Looking back at his college and NFL careers,
    the most important thing was the relationships he built with people.
  • The biggest surprise when he got to the NFL was the fact that he could
    actually play with the NFL players. He figured out pretty quick that he
    could mix it up with most of the guys he was going up against.
  • The run in 1999 is his favorite memory at Tech. In the NFL, his favorite
    memory is his first start as an offensive lineman. That was an interesting
    transition from defensive tackle.
  • Intensity is what makes Bud Foster so good. Beasley has been on the good
    and the bad side of that intensity. Foster is also one of the most
    knowledgeable football guys you’ll meet, and he’s got a great feel for the
    game.
  • Looking back at the 1999 team, that was a close group. All the players
    were good fits together.
  • Boston College has big, physical offensive lines. They play really hard
    against Virginia Tech. A rivalry has developed over the years. It will be a
    smash mouth football game.

Frank Beamer

  • The Tech defense played a lot of good snaps against Duke, but they had
    five bad ones that went for big plays. The Hokies have to work to eliminate
    those big plays.
  • The Tech passing game is much further along this year. Guys like Danny
    Coale and Jarrett Boykin are going up and making catches in traffic.
    Everyone is getting better.
  • If the Hokies can run the ball and throw the ball, then they will have a
    very good offense. That’s what they have to shoot for.
  • Zach Luckett and Alonzo Tweedy have done a great job as headhunters on the
    punt team. They are also good on the kickoff team. They have the size to
    break through blocks, and they have the speed to get downfield.
  • Beamer told the team on Monday that Boston College will play their best
    football game of the season against Tech, just like Duke did. The Hokies
    will get everybody’s best shot.
  • Beamer would prefer to kick the ball through the end zone on every
    kickoff. However, Justin Myer is better at getting hang time on his
    kickoffs, so Tech is concentrating on high kickoffs right now.
  • Tech’s defensive line is playing well right now. They are playing in the
    backfield. However, they did have three offsides penalties against Duke, and
    they need to clean that up.
  • Tyrod Taylor is in complete control of the offense. He’s throwing the ball
    well, and he’s played great ever since that final drive at Nebraska. He’s a
    great competitor.
  • BC quarterback Dave Shinskie is a 25-year old true freshman. He played
    minor league baseball for seven years. He gives BC the ability to throw the
    football and become a balanced offense.
  • Darren Evans will present Mark Herzlich with a check for $9,494.94.
    Herzlich wears #94 for Boston College, but he is missing this season because
    of cancer treatment.
  • Boston College looks pretty good, even without Herzlich. They keep
    everything in front of them on defense, and they are tough. They are playing
    very good defense.
  • The Hokies have to focus on what they can control. The only thing they can
    control is how they play against Boston College.
  • BC has beaten Tech three times in a row during the regular season, and
    four of the last five times during the regular season. Nobody else has been
    able to do that. Tech will have to be ready to play.
  • Beamer would like to get D.J. Coles and David Wilson more playing time. He
    can see them both helping Tech a lot before the season is over. Coles made a
    very nice play in the kicking game on Saturday.
  • Beamer thinks the quarterback position is the future for Logan Thomas.
    He’s very smart with a very strong arm.
  • The last time BC played in Blacksburg, Mark Herzlich’s parents wrote a
    letter to Virginia Tech saying how well they were treated at the game.
    Herzlich comes from a good family, and it’s important to give something
    back.
  • Beamer was pulling hard for Miami against Oklahoma. It was a great win for
    the ACC.
  • Beamer likes the white throwback uniforms. Tech is potentially going to go
    with the throwbacks as their full-time uniform. They are working with Nike
    to get that accomplished.
  • Frank Spaziani has a lot of experience coaching against Virginia Tech. He
    knows Virginia Tech very well, but the Tech staff knows him well too.
    Spaziani is a very good coach.

Monday was Day 1,773 of Virginia Tech’s continuous possession of the Commonwealth Cup.