With the Hokie Hotline taking two weeks off and not broadcasting again until December 29th from Jacksonville, this week's "Hokie Hotline Notes" are instead "Tech Talk Tuesday" notes. TTT airs every Tuesday in Richmond on AM 910 from 7:05-8:30.

The show opened with the announcements from Bud Foster and Frank Beamer. Bud said, "Thanks but no thanks," to the Hoos. Frank Beamer told Snyder, "I was not a candidate but I’m not interested anyway".

Jeff called and said we’d better beat Clemson by a lot. He noted that we are a top five team, was snubbed by the BCS, have a million dollar coach so we should win big. The hosts, Big Cat and Hokie Steve, replied that Clemson is a much better team than VT was when we played the BCS snubbed UNC in the ’97 Gator.

Miami Roberto called and said he was glad FB quickly squashed the rumors linking him and the Skins. He was also happy UVa didn’t get Richt.

A caller asked what recruits had committed to VT. The hosts ran down the list, but I will not repeat it here since that info is available on TSL's Football Recruiting Page.

Dodger Greg called and gave his congrats on the 10-1 season. He was also asked what he’s hearing about the new Hoo coach. His answer was Sandusky has been most mentioned, with possibly the ex UVa player (Tenuta) who is coordinator at Ohio State. After the Richt thing, Dodger Greg’s not sure he’d believe any name until it’s announced.

Jack called and asked it there was any news on a preseason game for next year. The hosts said those games will probably not be arranged until after the bowl season is finished.

Gary Criswell was a guess for the last thirty minutes or so. He said the top 12/15 on his Top 25 list nearly matches Doug Doughty’s list for maybe the first time. Criswell said his Top 25 is published in the preseason and he doesn’t change it.

Criswell said his major mea culpa is Blackstock. He is a marvelous athlete and his best years are ahead of him. Heritage had so many great athletes they just put their best athletes out on the field and let them make plays. He’s getting national attention but his transcripts may cool off some teams. VT is definitely in the running.

Concerning Bryan Randall, UT has changed their focus. They’ve noticed that VT is recruiting him as a QB. Randall could go all the way out to the signing date before deciding. Since he is the heart and soul of his basketball team, he will make any of his official visits when they do not interfere with his basketball games. Criswell feels that Randall will ultimately come to Tech.

He said most of the time a kid will go with the feel he gets at the school, how he thinks he will fit in. Potential playing time is also very important. And most of these guys will be told they will get lots of playing time.

Criswell said if we get Murphy to go along with Dubose we will have two good ones for DT. Said Dubose will be a good one.

Criswell was asked how good or reputable are high school times. He said they are not faked as much as many people think. Aaron Alexander has never had a high school time under 4.7, but was timed under 4.5 at PSU. He noted that VT times are laughed at a lot, but it really doesn’t matter, as long as Tech keeps winning.

Asked about BE recruiting, he said Miami is poised to be a pain in Tech’s backside for some time to come. Said BC has 15 commits, Pitt has 13, WVU has 10, including three QB candidates, and Temple has 17 already. He joked that is more than all the Big West teams combined. Criz also said someone had recently told him that Temple has only 68 scholarships. He’s going to check that out. He did say that Bobby Wallace could stretch 38 scholarships farther than anyone he knew. Twice a Bobby Wallace coached team from North Alabama manhandled a Virginia Div II team for whom he coached.

Criswell was asked about Blake Warren. In the beginning he was looking really great. However, in the one game he saw Warren play, he didn’t really stand out that much. Criswell always looks for the player who sets himself apart in a game. Warren was playing in a game that featured a lot of very good players, including several who were VT verbals. Warren does have a great frame. Criswell did say that until VT’s early evaluations start failing, he figures we are doing it right, including Blake Warren.

Mike Harris checked in briefly. Said he was leaving for Jacksonville tomorrow morning. There will be a feature on a player each day for the next three days. Wednesday's feature will be on Andre Kendrick. Harris said this piece was as much fun to do as any he has ever done. Andre is just a very happy go lucky fellow, always smiling. The rest of the time there will be at least two articles. These will be in addition to a Tech notes section. The day after the game will have five articles, including one by Lipper. Coverage of course, will not approach last year. The Sugar was special, since VT was playing for the national championship.

That’s it for tonight. There will only be one more TTT this season, and that will be sometime in January.

-- Atlee Hokie

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