Tech Talk Live Notes for August 20, 2012

Jim Weaver

Every time Tech has played an opener like this in the past, it has been away from home.  It will be great to be in Lane Stadium for this one.

Labor Day is a work day at Tech.  Class will be in session that day.  The athletic department is trying to work with the administration and parking services to try and create as flexible a situation as possible for fans.  Weaver said fans will be able to get in the parking lots at 4pm, but it might be 4:30pm, too.  Things should be a little easier and earlier for folks in RVs.

Weaver would be interested in doing a two-for-one with ODU.  That would be two games in Lane Stadium, and one game in Norfolk.  That’s a big recruiting area.  Beamer, John Ballein and Weaver have talked about it.  That’s why the Hokies are interested.

The average price for a buy game these days is around $750,000.  The Big Ten and the SEC have big stadiums and more revenue, and they have driven up the bidding wars for buy games.

Jim Weaver has known Jim Miller, the Richmond AD, for awhile.  Tech will host Richmond in 2021.

Tech will start to play an Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan, Wisconsin, etc. every year because strength of schedule is going to be part of the formula in the National Championship race.   Last week Weaver called schools such as Michigan, Auburn and Arkansas about possible home-and-home games for 2018/19 or 2020/21.  Weaver wants the Big Ten or SEC because they are closest in proximity.

Weaver reminded fans not to rip the barcodes off their tickets.  Tickets are scanned electronically.  Tickets are still available for the first three games of the season.

Weaver is looking forward to the Notre Dame-Miami game.  He wants to see how far back Miami has come. (Editor’s note: that might have been a joke from Weaver!)

Bryan Stinespring

The coaches are pleased with where the offense is right now, but there is a difference between being pleased and being satisfied.

Stinespring loved the tempo and how the offense played on Saturday.  They played fast for a long period of time.  They worked better as a group up front than they had in previous practices.

Playing an up tempo offense fits in well with where the Hokies are as an offense.  They spent a lot of time in the offseason putting in this offense, not just in the coaching offices, but they visited other staffs as well and had people come to them.  Any time you can change the tempo, it’s good.  It’s another element that has to be defended, as long as you don’t shoot yourself in the foot.

The Pistol formation allows you to run the ball inside and outside from the same alignment.  It also helps to disguise your protection.  It gives you the benefit of being in the I-formation while also being in a shotgun set.

The offense needs to play with a chip on their shoulder.  Everybody is knocking them because they lost so many good players from last year.

The coaching staff has discussed redshirts.  It’s been a part of every staff meeting.  In a nutshell, they haven’t made any final decisions.  They are going to wait through Wednesday’s scrimmage.

Tech began practicing for Georgia Tech on Monday.  The staff spent a quite a bit of time in the offseason looking at Georgia Tech.  Their scout period on Monday was all about the Yellow Jackets.

Georgia Tech runs a 3-4 defense.  The Hokies faced a 4-down line in the spring and all of the preseason, so it will be a bit different playing the Yellow Jackets.  There’s a big difference up front.

There’s a chance we could see J.C. Coleman and Michael Holmes lined up in the backfield together.

Stinespring thinks there is a legitimate chance we could see a couple of freshmen on the field at wide receiver, and that includes r-freshmen and true freshmen.  Kevin Asante will play.  They are really pleased with his progress.  Demitri Knowles is going to be out there in the first game.  Joshua Stanford is a true freshman who is in the mix.  He hit that true freshman wall a few days ago, but then he bounced back.  They are trying to get him over that hump.  Joel Caleb is still in the mix.  The more spread you run, the more receivers you are going to need.

Joel Caleb is a very talented guy and a tremendous person.  He’s making the transition from high school quarterback to college receiver.  That’s very hard.  He’s trying to get more comfortable with the spot.

Joshua Stanford has really impressed Stinespring.  He’s got a lot of talent.  His maturity level is very high.  He approaches things very well.  If you get a chance to talk to him, you’ll understand his maturity level and the way he conducts himself.  He doesn’t act 18.  He’s very much like J.C. Coleman in how he approaches the game.  Nothing rattles them.  A broken hand didn’t even stop Coleman.

Tech has a lot going on at tight end.  They want to get away from specific roles, for example a pure blocker or a pure receiver.  They want a tight end that can do both well, and Ryan Malleck is a guy who has that kind of ability.  Eric Martin has been steady.  He does his job and he’s a good blocker.  Randall Dunn is very good in the passing game.  He causes defenses problems, but he has to be good in all facets.

The offensive line has been good this preseason.  Andrew Miller is in control and he deserves a lot of credit.  David Wang has been very good.  Brent Benedict has really stepped up his game.  He lost weight and he’s moving a lot better.  Matt Arkema had his best career scrimmage on Saturday.  Laurence Gibson probably played as well as he’s played since he’s been here as well.

Logan Thomas has made progress with the little things, such as balance and footwork.  He put in a lot of hard work over the summer.  That should help his accuracy.

Dyrell Roberts

The highlight of his career was catching the game-winning touchdown against Nebraska.

Roberts feels great physically.  He feels like he’s in great shape, and so far he’s been injury free in camp.  It’s not easy to sit out and watch like he had to do for most of last year.

Roberts was back home for the first summer session, and was back in Blacksburg working for second summer session.  There’s nothing really to do back in Smithfield except eat.  He worked out with several of his old high school teammates.

The young receivers are doing well.  Asante and Knowles have come a long way since they arrived a year ago.  He likes Josh Stanford and Joel Caleb.  They have a lot being thrown at them, but they are catching on and they are going to be good players for Tech.

Roberts feels like 2012 will be a successful year for the offense.  They are more up-tempo this year.  They want to throw more stuff at the defense and make them react.

As of now, it looks like Roberts will be returning kicks again this year.  He doesn’t know if it will be for every game, but right now it looks like he’ll be doing it again.  Both of his injuries in the past came on kickoff returns.

It’s a big season opener, but at the same time it’s a big conference game.  Tech is used to big openers and big conference games.  They’ll be ready.

Jeron Gouveia-Winslow

There are a lot of things to clean up following Saturday’s scrimmage, but there are a lot of good things to take out of it as well.

Gouveia-Winslow’s foot feels much better.  The lisfranc is a mid-foot sprain where the ligament separates.  It’s very uncomfortable.  He’s back to 100% now though.

He’s very excited about what he sees on defense.  All the young guys have another year under their belts.  They have the potential to be very good.

Over the years, probably the best running back he has faced was Ryan Williams.  He was the toughest to get a hand on.  He was the toughest to tackle.  On the current team, Marcus Davis probably is the toughest guy to take in the open field.

Coach Beamer likes to bring in speakers to talk to the team.  They’ve had the police talk to them, compliance officers, academic folks, Joel Segal (the famous agent), etc.  Segal told the team not to worry about agents or the NFL until after the season is complete.

Jack Tyler will have a big season this year.  He’s really good.  He’s taken it to another level.  Offensively, he is excited to see guys like Michael Holmes and J.C. Coleman.  He thinks they can be dynamic for Tech.

Gouveia-Winslow graduated in the spring.  Of the 16 seniors on the team, 13 have already graduated.  He decided to declare Sociology as a second major this fall.  He’ll take a lighter load so he can focus on football.

Frank Beamer

Beamer feels like the preseason is going well.  The scrimmage was good.  He saw good things on both sides.  He told the players afterwards that it was a good scrimmage to learn from.  A couple of the long plays by the offense came at the expense of true freshman defensive backs.

Beamer was pleased to see the way J.C. Coleman ran the football.  He put on some weight over the summer and it helped him.  He looks much more comfortable this August.

There are two or three true freshmen who might not play right away, but the staff might elect to keep them practicing with the varsity squad, attending position meetings, etc. rather than moving them to the scout team.  There is a chance they could start helping a few weeks into the season.

Beamer thought Logan Thomas played well on Saturday.  Mark Leal is a valuable guy to the team.  He’s a very capable quarterback with a lot of ability.  Trey Gresh played well as the #3 quarterback.  He’s very valuable, as the #3 quarterback and the holder.

Beamer likes Andrew Miller a lot.  He thought the offensive line played very well on Saturday.  Tech hasn’t had two guys as big as Becton and Painter who are that athletic.  They did a good job on Saturday.  Caleb Farris has good feet, and a lot of “want to”.

Tech is in a better punting position right now than they were a year ago at this time.  A.J. Hughes is a little bit in front right now.  He’s got a little more poise.  Hunter Windmuller has a big leg, and he can be a great punter.

Beamer thinks the injuries to Dyrell Roberts in the past were just freak plays.  Roberts is probably one of their punt returners right now as well.

D.J. Coles will get some rest this week.  Hopefully he can get some scrimmage work in on Saturday.

Zack McCray has good athletic ability from the defensive tackle position.  He can also get reps at defensive end.  In pass rush situations, it helps to get more speed inside.  In a drop back situation, it’s the shortest route to the quarterback.

Randall Dunn had a couple of big plays on Monday during practice.  A few practices ago, he had a few drops.  He needs to be more consistent.

Beamer thinks this is a good looking football team.  Mike Gentry gets a lot of credit for that.  Beamer also thinks recruiting has picked up.  Whenever you’ve got guys leaving early for the NFL, that means you are recruiting well.

Tech has probably done more hitting this preseason than they’ve ever done.  They want to make sure they’ve got the toughness they need.

The Wednesday scrimmage will be a situational scrimmage.  They will work more with the first and second group.  The third group won’t get as much work.

Right now Beamer is really focused on helping the team improve, and watching the chemistry develop.  Two weeks is a long way away.  But at the same time, it’s not so long either.  It’s exciting that game week is close at hand.

Tech is only actively recruiting a few more guys for the 2013 class.  They are in very good shape at this point.

Beamer feels like they have some guys at tight end who can catch the ball.  Ryan Malleck and Randall Dunn can do things in the passing game.  Tech will throw to the tight ends, as long as they get down the field and get open.

Monday was Day 2,824 of Virginia Tech’s continuous possession of the Commonwealth Cup.