Tech Talk Live Notes for 11/1/10

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.

Note: Lester Karlin also appeared on this show, but we were unable to record his full segment, so it has been left out of these notes.

• Prices have changed for the ACC Championship Game, the Music City Bowl and
  the Sun Bowl. Prices are different for those games than they were on the
  order form that was mailed out to Hokie Club members. If you have any
  questions, call the ticket office at 1-800-VATECH-4.
• The University releases their employees at 4pm on Thursday. Fans can get
  to their parking spots at 5pm.
• Tech will have two representatives from the Orange Bowl, the executive
  director of the Chick-fil-A Bowl, representatives from the Champs Sports
  Bowl, the Meineke Car Care Bowl, as well as three representatives from the
  Independence Bowl for the game on Thursday night.
• Dave Brown from ESPN will also be at the game. He sets up all of ESPN’s
  big games, such as Virginia Tech-Boise State.
• All of Virginia Tech’s video personnel are certified to work the lift, in
  light of the death at Notre Dame. They know that it can’t go up in winds
  higher than 28 mph. Tech put in a new, permanent tower in the middle of the
  practice field about a month ago, and that eliminates the need for two of
  the four lifts. Tech has eight students in their video department, as well
  as five full-time people. Coach Beamer always uses caution when there is
  windy weather.
• The wrestling team is ranked #13 in the country. They have a new facility
  on the third floor of the new football locker room building.
• Weaver thinks the schedule is set for next year. The Hokies plan to open
  with Appalachian State. They have not replaced Kansas State on the future
  schedules yet. The ACC is talking about playing nine games in the future,
  and Weaver doesn’t want to replace that game until he has a better idea of
  what the ACC is going to do.
• Weaver had a meeting with the new WVU AD, Oliver Luck. He’s the father of
  Stanford QB Andrew Luck. They actually didn’t talk about renewing the
  Tech-WVU series.
• Weaver isn’t sure the timing is right to resume the VT-WVU series. He
  doesn’t want to start it on a neutral field at an NFL stadium, since those
  stadiums sell alcohol.
• There will be fireworks for the Georgia Tech game on Thursday.

• Greenberg is flattered that Tech is ranked, but it means nothing. Every
  team in the country is excited about the season. They have to work hard like
  everyone else.
• Practice has been good, for a M.A.S.H. unit. They haven’t had J.T.
  Thompson, Allan Chaney or Cadarian Raines, so they are small. They’ve had
  good energy in practice, and the starting group is experienced, but they
  don’t have much size on the inside because of the injuries.
• Allan Chaney is as good as he can be. It was tough for him to watch the
  VT-Georgetown scrimmage on Saturday. J.T. Thompson knows that he’ll be
  healthy next year. Chaney has no idea about his future. It’s a tough thing
  to go through.
• Cadarian Raines is getting his foot scanned next week, and they are
  anticipating good results. He hasn’t been practicing full speed so far.
• Tech scrimmaged Georgetown on Saturday, though Greenberg couldn’t say who
  they scrimmaged on the air. Jarell Eddie was better defensively than
  Greenberg thought he would be. He is very gifted offensively. Terrell Bell
  played a little bit of power forward and did a nice job. Victor Davila did
  some nice things as well.
• Jeff Allen has been the best player in practice for 14 straight days. He’s
  bringing it every day. He’s rebounding, playing hard and cutting hard. Jeff
  Allen’s always been a good player, but he’s playing even better right now.
• Terrell Bell and Jarell Eddie have to be versatile this year. They have to
  be able to play the “3” and the “4”, or small forward
  and power forward. Bell has long arms. He’s longer than he is tall. He’s a
  very good rebounder. Tech needs him and Dorenzo Hudson to rebound well this
  year.
• Tech is eight practices and one scrimmage away from playing a game, which
  is sort of scary right now. The Hokies are really short on bodies in the
  post.
• Erick Green has taken a step forward in the offseason. He’s matured. He’s
  been shooting the ball with confidence. He made 42 three-pointers out of
  about 50 in a two-minute span recently in practice. When he’s in the game,
  Greenberg wants Malcolm Delaney playing off the ball. That will give Delaney
  and Hudson the ability to run the court in transition, which puts a lot of
  pressure on the defense.
• When Seth Greenberg made Tech’s schedule for this year, he was thinking he
  would have Allan Chaney, J.T. Thompson and Cadarian Raines. Now two of those
  are out, and another is not healthy. The Hokies have a very tough
  non-conference schedule, and they play a lot of good teams in a short period
  of time. Greenberg did it because he felt like his seniors would be more
  ready than other teams’ young players.
• Normally Tech would be really competitive in practice right now, but they
  can’t afford anymore injuries. They are going with contact practices one
  day, and non-contact the next day.
• There was talk of eliminating July recruiting, but that would be bad for
  the schools. All the major recruits are at a few specific events in July. If
  college coaches weren’t allowed to see those events, then they’d have to
  spend a lot of money traveling around to see those players individually. It
  doesn’t make business sense to get rid of July recruiting.
• It can be improved, however. If they can somehow lessen the influence of
  the shoe companies, that would be a good thing. The shoe companies have a
  vested interest in getting the best recruits to go to their colleges.
  Greenberg would also like to shorten the recruiting period in July. It’s too
  much traveling in too little time.
• Not everything is negative about summer basketball, however. It keeps kids
  off the streets, it gives them something to do. It gives them a forum to
  play and get exposure.
• Because of their injuries, the team needs the fans more than ever this
  year. They have one of the best environments in the country in Cassell
  Coliseum.

• Thursday night games are very exciting. The players are ready for it.
  Coach Beamer is very focused on this one.
• John Graves is a guy that is standing out as a strength athlete this year.
  He is exceptional in all the lifts. Blake DeChristopher is another guy has
  been a great leader in the strength program. Fullback Kenny Younger is
  another guy who is off the charts, and Tyrod Taylor has done a great job.
• Gentry likes the 2010 class that is currently redshirting. Their attitude
  and work ethics are very good.
• The bench press, the squat, the push jerk and the power clean are the four
  major lifts. Those lifts give the staff a good idea of players’ upper and
  lower body strength, and how explosive they are. Tech tests those four
  lifts, but they do a lot of other lifts as well. There is a science to it.
• Gentry and his staff even choose the type of music to play during lifting
  sessions. They pick upbeat, positive music. He joked that the team probably
  thinks he’s a huge disco fan, but he picks it because it’s upbeat and
  positive.
• Gentry gets a lot of questions from high school coaches about things he
  does at Tech. Some things they do are appropriate for high school athletes,
  and some things aren’t.
• Until an athlete is 12 or 13 years old, Gentry doesn’t recommend a lot of
  strength and resistance training.
• Gentry hires high character people. Terry Mitchel is the director of
  strength and conditioning for Olympic sports. He’s a world record holder in
  the bench press for his age group. He’s benched over 500lbs. He’s excited
  about converting one of the back gyms in Cassell into a new Olympic sports
  weight room.
• Jarrett Ferguson is Gentry’s right hand man in football. He’s the director
  of strength and conditioning for football. He brings a lot to the table. The
  players look up to him. He has great character and he’s a great strength
  athlete. He’s currently ranked #13 in the country in the dead lift. He has
  dead lifted 705lbs.
• David Jackson is the strength and conditioning coach for the basketball
  program. He used to play basketball for the Hokies, and he does a great job
  with the current teams. He’s one of the best hires Tech has had. He can also
  go out on the court and still play the game. The players respect him.
• Keith Short, a former football center, is also a part of the program. He
  does a great job. Megan Evans was a record holder in softball, and she
  assists with the Olympic sports.
• Ryan Shuman and Carlton Weatherford are back as grad assistants. They play
  a big role. Terrance Vinson assists David Jackson with the basketball
  program. Taylor Parrish, a former volleyball player, also works with the
  Olympic sports.
• Gentry likes to hire ex-Tech players because he knows them and knows their
  work ethic and character.
• Gentry has been at Tech for 23 years. He thought he’d be in Blacksburg
  five years tops. It’s been a real pleasure to be a part of the program as
  it’s grown.
• Gentry’s son Bo is a center on the football team. It’s been a great
  experience. Gentry isn’t any easier or harder on Bo than he is on anyone
  else. He’s a really good football player, but at 5-8 he just doesn’t have
  the height.
• Amy Freel is Tech’s dietician, and she’s done a great job. She designs
  diet programs for individual athletes. She’s a great part of the program.
• Dr. Gary Bennett is the sports psychologist. His role is very important,
  because athletes go through the same things as other young people.
• Tech will be fine in November, but they have to start now. Gentry thinks
  they’ll be ready, and they’ll play well.

• Tech is fortunate to have a really good organization. From Mike Gentry, to
  Lester Karlin, to all the doctors and nutritionists.
• Tech has had some good practices this week. The attention to detail can be
  good. The practice on Monday was very sharp.
• Georgia Tech runs a very different offense, which makes them very tough.
  You only face it once a year. The fullback hits the hole quickly, they
  change up their blocking schemes quite a lot, and they do a number of
  different things like that. You have to prepare for it in a very short
  period of time.
• Georgia Tech got the Hokies on several perimeter runs last year. That’s
  going to happen with that offense. You just have to limit them to no
  exceptionally long runs.
• Josh Nesbitt does a great job for Georgia Tech. He’s faster and quicker
  than he looks. He’s a physical runner, and he has a knack for falling
  forward and picking up that extra yard.
• Tyrod Taylor is playing great for the Hokies. He’s accurate, he’s making
  plays, and he’s making all the right calls at the line of scrimmage. He
  worked very hard to get where he is today. He deserves all the credit that
  he’s getting.
• Beamer thinks there are fewer illegal blocks in the Georgia Tech offense
  this year. Beamer is all for cut blocking, in fact he encourages the VT
  offense to do more of it. But when it’s illegal and it puts players in
  danger, he’s against it. Right now, it’s time to go play, though. There’s no
  reason to talk about things in the past.
• Paul Johnson is very knowledgeable, and he’s been running this offense
  forever. The different blocking schemes make the offense so dangerous. He’s
  also great at in-game adjustments.
• Last year against the Hokies, Georgia Tech had -7 yards in their first
  four possessions. In their next seven possession, they had 347 yards. They
  are very good. VT has worked hard and studied hard, and they hope to be
  ready on Thursday. Just like any other game, you have to be ready to adjust
  during the game.
• If Tech can get up early, it would be big. GT isn’t as good when playing
  from behind. The Hokies had a chance to do that last year, but didn’t get it
  done.
• Defensively, Tech has to be ready to play all four downs. Georgia Tech
  will go for it on fourth down a lot, especially when they cross the 50. With
  the type of offense they have, they have a great chance to pick up the first
  down on fourth and short.
• Beamer is hoping that Bruce Taylor will be okay. This isn’t a game where
  you can be hopping around. Eddie Whitley looks good to go, and so does Ryan
  Williams.

Monday was Day 2,165 of Virginia Tech’s continuous possession of the Commonwealth Cup.