Tech Talk Live Notes for October 21, 2013

Jim Weaver

Weaver was happy to hear that the Duke game will be a 3:30 kickoff.  There will be a flyover with a B-25 bomber from WW2.  The Virginia Tech racecar that was unveiled at Bristol will also be in Blacksburg.

The NCAA will finally announce their sanctions against Miami on Tuesday.  Weaver doesn’t think they will get any more sanctions than what they’ve already self-imposed.  That’s his gut feeling.

The ACC has no rules about strobe lights or piped in music as long as it’s stopped when the offense breaks the huddle.

Eight ACC women’s soccer teams are ranked in the top 20 nationally, so it’s very impressive that the Hokies are ranked in the top five.

Chugger Adair

Adair’s women’s soccer team is ranked as high as #5 in the country.

Women’s soccer in the ACC is very tough.  It’s easily the toughest conference in the country.  Eight of the final 16 teams a couple of years back were from the ACC.  It’s a big challenge, but it’s fun.

#3 Florida State visits Blacksburg on Thursday night in possibly the biggest soccer game in VT history.  FSU is a very good team.  Tech has met every challenge this year, and he feels like his team will be ready to play.

Adair hopes all the fans will come out on Thursday night and make it a great homefield advantage against Florida State.

Jeff Grimes

Tech is a great place for Grimes.  It fits him and his family very well.  It’s a great place to live for his wife and four children.  It’s also very special to coach at Virginia Tech and under Frank Beamer.  He really enjoys the guys he works with every day.

Coach Beamer is a very consistent guy, win or lose.  You get the same guy every day.  The Hokies operate with the same routine every week.  It makes the coaches and players feel like they are always improving and building.  There is never a sense of panic.

Grimes also appreciates Beamer’s willingness to hire coaches and let them work.  It’s good to not feel like someone is always looking over his shoulder.

The offensive line is a work in progress.  They have made some improvements, but they still have a long ways to go.

Against Alabama, Tech had one really long run that made a big difference in their numbers.  They haven’t had that since then.  Typically teams with great offensive numbers make a lot of big plays in each game, and the Hokies haven’t had that.

Recruiting is a lot of projection, but even more so with offensive linemen.  You have to find guys who are big enough, fast enough and strong enough.  After that, Grimes looks for intangibles like toughness.  Is he going to finish blocks and win games in a blue collar fashion?  He always wants dependable guys off the field.  He wants smart guys who are easy to coach, because those guys develop faster.

Grimes has a lot of respect for Andrew Miller’s toughness and his willingness to work hard every day.  He always gives his best, regardless of how he feels physically.

Parker Osterloh is doing a good job and he’s developing.  Wyatt Teller and Kyle Chung are also very promising prospects.

Alston Smith is a great kid.  He has all the intangibles that Grimes is looking for.  He’s still a little bit raw, but he’s made progress every week.

Grimes knows the Hokies need to build the OL back up, and build their numbers back up.  He hopes a couple of true freshman can have a chance to contribute next year.  He wanted to sign five guys for sure, but there’s a chance they could end up adding a sixth recruit to this year’s class.

Grimes doesn’t think you can count on converting tight ends to offensive linemen.  Those guys often make the best linemen, but you can’t rely on that.  You have to recruit enough true offensive linemen, and if any tight ends make the conversion successfully, then that just adds to the talent and depth.

Grimes wants to improve the running game against Duke.  That was the focus of the coaches during the off week.  He hopes his linemen got healthy, too.  He has had to limit the reps of some players in practice just to get them healthy for the actual game.

Duke has big, physical defensive tackles who can fill up the gaps, and they’ve got athletic defensive ends who can make plays on the edge.  They will be a challenge.

Kalvin Cline

Cline doesn’t wear any Calvin Klein clothing at all.  None.

The best thing about his name is that everyone always remembers it.  Nobody ever forgets it.

Cline’s father played football for Arkansas State.  Cline didn’t play football until his senior year of high school, but he fell in love with it.

Jeff Grimes saw Cline’s film, and he passed it along to Bryan Stinespring.  Cline could have played at smaller schools, or mid-major basketball, but he picked Tech because Scot Loeffler’s offense is perfect for him.

Cline grew up in a city setting, so Blacksburg is different.  He likes it because all the fans love the team.

Coaching has a lot to do with where Cline is now.  He wasn’t ready when he got here in the summer, but Mike Gentry and Bryan Stinespring have helped him a lot.

His first career touchdown against Pitt was great.  He saw he had one-on-one coverage when Willie Byrn went in motion, and he knew it was a battle he could win.  Logan Thomas put the ball on the money.

In one year, Cline went from playing at a small private school to a top 20 college program.  The time management is much different.  Playing college football is a full-time job.  The academic support is great.  They have two study halls a day.

Cline is majoring in human development.  Coaching or teaching could be things he might be interested in one day.

Kyshoen Jarrett

Jarrett is impressed that Kalvin Cline has so little football experience.  He’s got a lot of athletic ability.  Jarrett started playing football when he was 10 years old, to put it in perspective.

Jarrett had a bit of a hand injury, but the bye week helped a lot and he’s fine now.

The confidence and the camaraderie in the lockerroom is very strong this year.  Guys like Logan Thomas and Kyle Fuller are great leaders.  Bud Foster and Scot Loeffler bring out a lot of energy, and that helps a lot.  It was a different atmosphere all the way back to the spring.

Tech is allowing just 2.5 yards per rush.  Bud Foster gets his guys ready, and the front seven guys are playing great.  There are great leaders on the defense this year.  If every player does his job, it comes together as a unit.

The defensive line is helping the secondary a lot because they don’t allow the quarterback to get comfortable.

Kyshoen Jarrett played against Pitt’s Devin Street in high school.  They know each other personally.  There was some friendly talk before the game, but Jarrett knocked him out towards the end of the game.

With the new targeting rules, the Hokies practice the correct technique each week.  He thought he might get flagged for his big hit against Street because it was so violent, but he didn’t.

Jarrett doesn’t really like to fair catch punts, but he’ll do it if he has to.  He’s been working with Aaron Moorehead on his returns a lot recently.

Tech has to come out and be physical against Duke.  They have to play fundamental football.  If they do that, they’ll be fine.

Jarrett’s brother is disabled with cerebral palsey and blindness.  Jarrett and his siblings helped his mom raise his brother.  He got to go to the ECU game, and he had a blast.

Frank Beamer

The bye week went well.  The team got rested, and the coaches went recruiting.  Beamer celebrated his birthday with Bryan Stinespring while recruiting.  He’s very happy with where the football program is right now.

The Hokies had some nagging injuries, and they had a chance to get healthy in the bye week.  Tech practiced twice last week, and they were short, fast practices.

Duke is “for real”.  They had a great win this past weekend.  They are averaging 36 points per game and 450 yards per game.  In their last two games, they haven’t allowed a single second half point.  David Cutcliffe has done a magnificent job.

The Hokies have to take another step forward in the running game.  The OL has been banged up, so Beamer hopes the bye week helped those guys up front.

You have to play to your strengths, and Tech has a veteran quarterback who has been taking care of the football.  Logan Thomas is a major strength.

Duke has the most efficient offense on Tech’s schedule since Alabama.  They use their personnel very well.

A.J. Hughes is having an All-Conference type of season.  He’s been great with his distance and his height.

Kyshoen Jarrett is due to bust a punt return.  They were close a couple of times against Pitt.  Duke is very good at returning punts, so the Hokies will have to be good on special teams this coming week.

The Clemson-FSU game surprised Beamer.  FSU got all the momentum early and Clemson couldn’t overcome it.  FSU looked very good.

Tech is down to their “last couple” of scholarships available for 2014.  They are really happy about their recruiting for 2014.

Tech will evaluate Antone Exum this week.  They’ll see on Thursday whether or not he’s ready to come back.  Duke can throw it, so he needs to be full-tilt when he comes back.

Duke is a balanced team.  They get about 180 yards per game out of their running game.  They can run it and throw it, and those are the types of teams that really make it tough on defenses.  That’s another reason that they are very efficient.

Tech has a bunch of recruits scheduled to be in town on Saturday.  They need to see the real Lane Stadium atmosphere on Saturday.  Beamer thinks it might be the most recruits Tech has ever had at a football game.

Monday was Day 3,251 of Virginia Tech’s continuous possession of The Commonwealth Cup.