The tailback position does not concern me as much as the QB race. We still have two talented runningbacks in Josh Oglesby and Darren Evans, both redshirt freshmen. Plus, we have Ryan Williams, the nation’s No. 3 high school runningback, coming in August. And if all the things we’ve heard about this kid are true, then he’s the type of player that will make an impact immediately.

I’m still not sure what is going through Frank Beamer’s mind with regards to the QB battle. Glennon is entering his fifth season with the program, but has never played consistently. Taylor was thrust into the starting role after a game and a half into last season and played spectacularly, especially for a true freshman. This kid is a true talent that only comes along once every decade or so, and going back to a dual QB rotation would be a complete disaster for the Hokies and Taylor.

Taylor has more talent and natural athletic ability than Glennon and can make more things happen. I, for one, am willing to live his occasional mistakes because his play-making ability and big-play potential far outweighs the “steady as she goes” mentality with Glennon.

The coaching staff has to look at the bigger picture in addition to the obvious talent differential. I hope they are just entertaining the illusion of a QB battle and will name Tyrod the full-time starter before the season begins. Perhaps they assured Glennon that it would be an open competition to appease him. Whatever is going on behind the scenes, I sincerely hope that the coaching staff is keeping their future recruiting efforts in mind. What happens the next time a talented QB like Taylor comes around and Tech recruits him? The other schools will tell the kid, “Yes, Virginia Tech is a good football program, but look what they did with Tyrod Taylor – they made him share time for two seasons with someone who was clearly less talented. Come play for us and you’ll be THE guy.” If I were recruiting against the Hokies, that’s exactly what I would say to my QB recruits who were considering VT.

If Tyrod is as electrifying as everyone says he is, and we saw glimpses of it last season before he hurt his ankle and missed 2 1/2 games, then why don’t we let him prove it on the field? Platooning isn’t going to give him the experience he needs to develop. Glennon has a lot of experience and I’m sure the coaches are rewarding his four years of service and how his attitude did a 180 following his benching last season. But he’s not the starting QB for this team.

He had one statistically good season and while the team did well, the majority of the credit goes to Bud Foster’s defense, which was often times more of a threat to score than the offense. Last season, he struggled and got benched early. He threatened to transfer and cried and whined for a couple of days following his ousting. Then, he laid low before coming back as the starter when Taylor sprained his ankle. He stunk it up at home against Boston College, leading the Hokies to just one offensive touchdown. Though, he did play perhaps his best game as a Hokie in the next game at Georgia Tech.

My feeling is that Glennon had his shot. It’s Tyrod Taylor’s time. We lived with the mistakes and growing pains of the Glennon era, now it is time to do the same with Tyrod – he is our QB for at least two more seasons, so let him make this his team. Glennon will be a good backup.

Read more about Taylor and the Hokies’ chances of landing the guard.

With the untimely collapse of the All American Football League, Randall is looking for another shot at playing professional football. Randall was the No. 2 overall pick in the January AAFL draft and was slated to compete for the starting QB job with Team Tennessee until the league unceremoniously “postponed” its inaugural season until 2009 so it could secure more investors.

Randall, the 2004 ACC Player of the Year, has bounced around NFL training camps for three years, but has yet to make an active roster and play a single regular season down. Though, he did look impressive in the Atlanta Falcons’ camp in 2006, but was the odd man out for the third QB spot, losing to hometown favorite D.J. Shockley from Georgia.

My impression of Randall has always been that while he does have certain athletic abilities that allow him to compete at a high level, he is just below the threshold needed to sustain an NFL career. However, his athleticism is not what led to his success at Virginia Tech, rather it was his intelligence and knowledge of the game. He is an extremely smart young man, on and off the field, and can read defenses very well. I think he would make an excellent fit in the CFL where Randall would have plenty of room to roll out, creating time to see plays develop and make something happen.

Even if the Blue Bombers sign Randall, he would still come in as the third-string QB and would have to compete for playing time behind incumbent start Kevin Glenn and Grey Cup (the CFL’s version of the SuperBowl) starter Ryan Dinwiddie. Apparently, Winnipeg has been following Randall since his playing days at Tech. According to the article, Bomber GM Brendan Taman said that Randall plans to explore his options with the Arena Football League, though that is not likely because their season has already started, and the NFL. Stay tuned!

Read more at HokieSports.com.

Read the TSL article for more reasons to be excited about this kid.

Here are some YouTube highlights:

As a sophomore

As a junior

I’m reading today’s Roanoke Times looking for the local write-up on the Hokies’ beatdown of the UAB Blazers last night. I come across the headline “Va. Tech torches UAB’s Blazers.” OK – great! Although, “Va. Tech” is not the correct reference, but no biggie. Then I get to the first sentence (a.k.a. the lede) and find the following:

“Stephen Curry, the standout guard who has led Davidson into the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament, is Seth Greenberg’s big recruiting blunder.”

Are you serious? The Hokies just crushed their opponent in the second round of the NIT in front of one of, if not THE most raucous crowd the Cassell has ever seen and you lead with “Greenberg’s big recruiting blunder?” I don’t know Mark Berman, but I’m guessing he loves being Greenberg’s doghouse because I can guarantee that this will make its way back to Seth and I don’t think he’ll look kindly on old Berman after this little stunt.

This was Berman taking a shot at Greenberg. I know this because as a journalist, I’ve taken an indirect shot at a coach before, too, and it looked exactly like this. You throw in a fact or stat about the coach that has nothing to do with the game you are writing about. The fact/stat obviously reflects negatively on the coach, but is still factual, which is the basis for the writer’s argument when confronted.

No matter what Berman’s argument is for throwing out the Stephen Curry lede, it had absolutely nothing to do with last night’s game. This was Berman’s way of taking some of the shine of an amazing evening. Hope life’s good in the doghouse, Mark!

Read the entire Roanoke Times recap.

Long live Aaron McFarling!

The game was tight for the first 10 minutes. morgan state led 16-14 at the 11:57 mark thanks to sharp shooting and out-rebounding Tech 8-3. But then the Hokies started to break away by going on a 26-9 run to close the half. The bears just couldn’t find a defensive scheme to cool down A.D. morgan state switched from zone to man-to-man back to zone, but nothing worked as A.D. scored 19 of the Hokies’ 40 first half points. Vassallo, my player of the game, shot 11 of 14 from the floor including 3 of 5 from behind the arc. He easily would have topped his career high of 29 if he had played his normal minutes, but Coach Greenberg pulled him early given Tech’s large lead.

Read more at TechHoops.com.

Following the horrible events of April 16, 2007, the New York Yankees donated $1 million dollars to Viriginia Tech’s Hokie Spirit Fund and announced they would play and exhibition game in Blacksburg against the Hokies’ baseball team. That game was played yesterday and the Yanks won 11-0 in the seven-inning exhibition game.

For a great recap of the day’s events, check out the Roanoke Times article.

Read the release.

Update: ESPN is reporting that Ore was kicked off the team because “Hokies coaches grew weary of player’s attitude.” While ESPN summarizes that this will hurt the Hokies 110th ranked offense, I think it will help the team because there is one less player who isn’t giving 100 percent to the team and it opens the door for some fresh legs to show us what they can do.

ESPN Article