There's straight line, no pads, 40 yd dash speed, and then there's "game speed". There's been a lot of guys that are fast straight line runners. However for "game speed" you gotta also have the athletism for change of direction, the head part right to know where to decide to go quick, and confidence to make that decision quickly.

It's been a while since I was a regular game attendee, so these names go back. But watching guys like D Hall, Kevin Jones, and of course Vick - they ALWAYS just seemed to be in a higher gear than everyone else. We had guys on defense at LB and rover that seemed to get sideline to sideline in the blink of an eye. I remember watching Brandon Semones of all people in the Sugar Bowl against Texas just seem to plug every hole and block everything the Longhorns tried to do. Another example - I'm remembering the way Fuller in one game was everywhere and flying over Paul Johnson's guys trying to run that triple option. He was literally everywhere all at once, and they couldn't outscheme his speed to get where he was going. For non-Hokies an example is Santana Moss. He seemed to be jogging while outrunning guys that were stumbling out of their sprints to try to keep up with him. Think of all those Miami defensive backs they used to trot out, I remember how fast they were in the Wilford drop game. That speed destroyed Nebraska in the championship game later that season.

I saw Georgia play Mizzou live this season. Georgia was huge, athletic, and clearly just outclassed Mizzou without much effort. What I did not see was the explosive game speed, though. They are big, well trained in the weight room, very well coached. But there wasn't the explosive separation speed on offense. They're wideouts didn't just run by those Mizzou guys. They beat the DB's, but there wasn't big separation purely based on speed. Their defense didn't fly around with closing speed like old school VT or even Miami defenses. They did it with being coached to be in the right spot and by beating their man on offense to make the tackle. They didn't have guys flynig sideline to sideline on defense in the blink of an eye.

You know who does have explosiveness? Alabama. And when Georgia met 'Bama, Bama showed what they have over Georgia. And that's why Georgia is gonna lose again in the playoff championship game. Alabama can match them up talent and coaching wise and has a few guys that are just more explosive. It won't be a Saban is better on game day thing, it will be that Saban won the game two years ago in the offseason by recruiting and training those explosive guys up. Clemson got their championships recently because they not only had great talent, but they had a few burners that could break a game open on those teams.

If we want to see Virginia Tech get back to the better success competing on the field, we need better recruiting, but we need speed. We need a guy or two on offense that make everyone else look like their in slow motion, and we need a guy or two on defense that can get anywhere and everywhere in an eye blink. In Virginia Tech's heyday, it was never everyone that was that fast, it was just a few key guys in key roles. We likely won't ever recruit like a top SEC team as long as we're in the ACC coastal, but I bet we can still find a few guys that can fly on the field and be those difference makers for us.