As a Tech fan, it’s almost embarrassing to hear season after season.
Whenever the Hokies play on TV, which is pretty much every week, the television
announcers gush over Frank Beamer’s special teams, giving BeamerBall glowing
praise and saying the Hokies have the best special teams in the country. But do
they?

Obviously the Hokies are known for their kick blocking, but for the most part
they are still living off their reputation from the 1990s, particularly 1998,
when they blocked eight punts, two PATs and two field goals. From 1990-98, the
Hokies averaged 6.8 blocked kicks per season. Let’s take a look and see what
they’ve done since then.

VT Blocked Kicks Since 1999
Year	Number
1999	2
2000	8
2001	7
2002	7
2003	4
2004	4
2005	3
Total	35

In the past seven seasons, the average has dropped to five blocked kicks per
year, and the last three years have been the worst three-year stretch in kick
blocking in the Beamer Bowl Era. The Hokies were very close to blocking a
handful of punts last year, and the result no doubt left a bad taste in Beamer’s
mouth, who handles Virginia Tech’s punt blocking teams.

Virginia Tech also posted below average numbers in other special teams
categories last season. Tech averaged 8.87 yards per punt return, which ranked
62nd in the nation. In kickoff returns they were even worse, coming in 88th
nationally at 19.04 yards per return. The Hokies were never known for their kick
returning, but when you look back and remember Andre Davis and DeAngelo Hall
returning punts, the numbers are disturbing.

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