Monday, September 6, 1999

Some topics of the night:

• INJURY UPDATE, VICK'S REHAB
• HOKIES AT #11 IN BOTH POLLS
• DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR BUD FOSTER'S COMMENTS
• A LOOK AT THE UAB GAME, WHICH IS SOLD OUT
• COACHES COMMENT ON PERFORMANCE VS. JMU
• BEAMER ON "THE NIKE FACTOR"

THE VICK/QUARTERBACK SITUATION

Whether by design or not, Coach Beamer didn't really tip his hand on the status of QB Michael Vick and whether he will play this week vs. UAB. He commented about the Vick injury three times during the show:

"He has to be questionable," Beamer said. "We'll just have to leave it at that."

Vick got along "fairly well" Monday, although he didn't practice. "We'll have to wait and see."

At another point, Bill Roth asked Beamer to clarify himself after he apparently used the word "doubtful" to describe the QB's status. Would you say he is doubtful or questionable, Roth asked. "Questionable," Beamer said.

He also said it would not be fair to expect Vick to play if he isn't able to practice and prepare.

Meanwhile, backup QB Dave Meyer looked good in practice Monday, and he and #3 QB Grant Noel "have got to get ready." If Vick can't play, fifth year utility man Greg Shockley, a walk-on from Blacksburg High School, would be third on the depth chart.

Vick is receiving treatments at 6:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. daily with trainer Mike Goforth. Roth went over a description of the treatment, which was too technical to report here. Suffice to say that it includes whirlpool, stretching and exercise reps.

OTHER INJURIES

Linebacker Brian Welch will have an MRI on his knee Tuesday. It appears he has a torn ACL.

DL Nathaniel Williams' knee injury is not as bad as initially thought. Bud Foster said Williams is probably doubtful for UAB and to expect him back for the Clemson game.

Linebacker Jake Houseright practiced Monday and will play this week. Foster said Houseright looked good in practice.

RB Andre Kendrick has a sprained shoulder but should play.

Whip Tee Butler has an ankle injury and probably will play.

DE Jim Ferugio missed last week with a hamstring pull and TE Greg Myers has a knee injury.

Foster talked about how it had appeared at one time that the linebacker position would be stocked for VT this year, only to suddenly be very thin. Two were lost with the departures of Travis Turner and Lorenzo Ferguson, Ben Taylor was moved to whip, and then Brian Welch goes down with the knee injury. He said that Benny Wolfe has stepped up his play and will be a backup at LB.

Foster and Roth noted that even though Houseright is ready to return, he hasn't played one snap yet at linebacker in college. Foster said they have Taylor "to fall back on" -- apparently meaning he could be moved back to LB from whip in a crisis.

EVERYBODY LOVES A WINNER

The Hokies enter the week at #11 in both major polls. And with #10 Georgia Tech facing #1 Florida State this week, VT has a chance to crack the Top 10.

The Tech ticket office announced Monday that the UAB game is a sellout.

Tech has a chance to sell out its first five games if the nationally televised Clemson game sells out, Roth said.

Beamer said this is a great statement about VT's fans and said the growing demand will drive up season ticket sales and bring about the needed stadium expansion that he says AD Jim Weaver "has a good plan for."

He recalled his days as an assistant coach in South Carolina in the early 1980s when Clemson won a national championship and everybody wanted to be associated with a winner.

One caller said the tailgaters are arriving earlier to stake out their spots. He said a friend who went to the JMU game was amazed to find he had to park in an overflow parking area.

Roth said he knows VT is attracting new fans, based on the nature and volume of letters and e-mail he's receiving.

Ticket sales for Clemson are suspended until Sept. 16, two days after student ticket pickup. If the JMU game was any indication, there won't be any more public tickets for Clemson. Ticket sales for Syracuse and Miami also are suspended pending student pickup.

Boston College is the only home game for which public tickets are available.

THE JMU GAME

Seventy-four players dressed for the JMU game and all but true freshman Garnell Wilds played. Beamer indicated there's a preference for Wilds to redshirt.

The 47-0 win was Tech's ninth shutout in 45 games.

About 120 of JMU's yards came on two plays and the Dukes had only 88 yards on a total of 50+ other plays, Foster said.

Roth talked about the many mistakes he had seen in some other early season games and complimented Beamer on Tech's overall play in its opener. Beamer said that's a testament to a very good coaching staff and an experienced team.

He agreed that there were no substitution problems of 10 or 12 men on the field, no excessive penalties, no delay of game penalties, no blocks in the back on kick returns. Upon review, he said a couple of holding calls were questionable.

Foster said the defense was prepared for everything it saw from JMU. He said the fall practice prepares for the full season and what to do against all formations, such as one-back, two-back, motion, etc.

In explaining the signal-calling system for defense, Foster said he signals the basic defense to the Mike linebacker to call in the huddle. Then there's another signal that goes in for defensive line twists and personnel groupings. He said the defense knows to anticipate certain plays by the offense's personnel groupings.

Foster said: 1. Nick Sorensen played well except for one play -- he overpursued on JMU's early long run. 2. Cory Bird "had a heckuva game" that included a long rundown to make a great play on a blitz that Foster called and was questioning himself about on the show. 3. Ben Taylor showed that he can "play in space" outside at whip.

Two callers asked about Ronyell Whitaker's play and the fact that he got beat in one situation. Foster said Whitaker didn't play good technique on one play and said he just needs to learn to play within the scheme.

He agreed with a caller about the good play that Larry Austin made with the tackle on a JMU screen pass and said he has confidence in Austin's abilities.

The offensive line "graded out well, really," Beamer said. The performances included: Short, 95%; Redding, 86%; Kadela, 85%; Nihipali, 86%; Schnecker, 83%. True freshman Anthony Davis had 24 plusses and 13 minuses. Not bad for his first game, said Beamer, who said Davis will get better week by week and grow in agility through strength coach Mike Gentry.

In commenting on Vick's performance, Beamer said "There are only so many guys who can take over a game. He's one of those guys." Vick has a strong supporting cast, and "the ingredients are there for us to be OK."

NIKE MATTERS

Why the black shirts on the coaches this year and last, a caller asked. "Those aren't the school colors."

The black shirts bear the Nike logo, and this call got Coach Beamer going on the importance of Nike's role in VT athletics.

"Our association with Nike is very important and gets into recruiting," he said.

The shoes you wear and the shirts you wear are a factor: "The kids out there are very in tune with that."

So it's a factor in the living rooms of recruits, Roth asked? "No question," Beamer said emphatically.

VT is fortunate to be aligned with Nike and it has meant a lot of money and equipment for the program, Beamer said.

He said he regards black and tan (khakis) as neutral colors. And he added something to the effect of, if it's black shirts we get from Nike for now, it's black shirts that we'll wear!

ALABAMA-BIRMINGHAM

UAB lost its opener 31-28 at Missouri, a team that was 8-4 last year and beat West Virginia in the Insight.com bowl. UAB returns 15 starters. Ten starters return on offense, including the quarterback.

Foster said the Blazers have more speed and are bigger and more physical than JMU. They have changed from a 3-back wishbone attack to a more balanced 2-back attack.

The new offensive coordinator is former TCU head coach Pat Sullivan. The defensive coordinator is Billy Clay, a former VT assistant under Charley Coffey. Beamer knows coach Watson Brown well from their days as coaches in the Ohio Valley Conference. UAB is a member of Conference USA.

IN GENERAL...

• The VT football show airs Tuesdays on HTS at 3:30 p.m.
• UAB will be the last game this season for which there isn't some television coverage, Roth said. He mentioned the likely kickoff times for a few games: Pitt at noon for Big East Game of the Week, Temple at 1 p.m., Rutgers at 6 p.m., Syracuse at night, time TBA.
• Jim Druckenmiller was traded by San Francisco to the Miami Dolphins Monday for a draft choice.
• Roth and Beamer commented on the passing last week of Coach Joe Moss, who was a caller to the Hotline every week. Moss was an assistant to Jerry Claiborne when Beamer played at Tech.
• Beamer was asked about Miami's chances against Penn State. He said the humidity in Florida early in the year can be a definite factor for a northern team to contend with. Roth suggested that Miami needs to watch out for its game at East Carolina that is sandwiched between its Penn State and Florida State games.
• Any team has a shot at the title game if it can go undefeated in the regular season, Beamer replied to a caller. Given where VT is starting the season in the rankings, if the Hokies run the table, "we have a chance." That's tough to do because there's so little separation between teams these days, "and we've got to slow down on the injuries."

-- GalaxHokie

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