A few news items - and yet another article about Druck - appeared last week.  First of all, former Hokie offensive tackle Jay Hagood was cut loose by the Jets (bad news), but was almost immediately picked up by the Miami Dolphins (good news).  Hagood, once called "the best pass blocker I've ever faced" by Texas All-American defensive end Tony Brackens, was added to the Dolphins roster to boost offensive line depth.

Meanwhile, The Sporting News reported about the San Francisco 49ers rookie camp, "All the quarterbacks reported with the rookies, including Steve Young. The 106-degree heat caused Jim Druckenmiller to bow out of an afternoon practice. Druckenmiller needed intravenous fluids to hydrate himself. As expected, Druckenmiller got most of the snaps in the early part of camp. As usual, his arm looked incredibly strong."

I'm still nervous about the fact that the relatively immobile Druckenmiller was drafted by a franchise known for its West Coast offense, which features scrambling quarterbacks (all of which has nothing to do with 106 degree heat and intravenous fluids).  And I'm still mad that Miami coach Jimmy Johnson passed over him in the draft a couple of years ago.  Druck would have been the perfect heir to Dan Marino.

It's funny, I'm so used to Druck shrugging off pressure and overcoming whatever is thrown at him that I never stop to ponder the situation that he's been cast into.  He is following two Hall of Fame quarterbacks whose hands hang heavy with the Super Bowl rings that they wear.  He has been anointed the future quarterback of one of the most storied franchises in the NFL, which is fine and dandy ... but what if he's not right for the situation?

He's a good quarterback, but what if he's been thrown into an offensive scheme that's not right for him, and he can't run it effectively?

Or more precisely, if it doesn't work out for him in San Francisco, what's it going to do to me, and thousands of Hokie fans, to find out that there's a mountain our hero can't climb?

Am I being silly here?  Probably.  For example, in his long NFL career, Don Strock never did much more than carry a clipboard, the historic 1982 playoff game against San Diego notwithstanding.  But this didn't taint the memories that many Hokies had of him rifling the ball around Lane Stadium and racking up gaudy passing yardage.

It's the same with Druck.  If his NFL career doesn't pan out, it won't change what he did while he was here at Virginia Tech.  We'll still have The Catch, the Sugar Bowl, and the Orange Bowl performance against Nebraska, among other things.

But I didn't mean to go on like this.  God knows we've beaten the subject of Druckenmiller to death here at HokieCentral, because he's a great subject.  As a matter of fact, in addition to HokieCentral's two main slogans, which are "All-Hokie, All the Time.  Period," and "It's the Journey, not the Destination," you could almost add "You Can Never Get Enough Druck" as the third slogan.

And in the spirit of that unofficial slogan, here's a link to an article that appeared on line a few days back, in the San Jose Mercury newspaper.  Other articles this spring have concentrated on Druckenmiller's past (last year) and his present, but this one talks a lot about the future, which has been unusual to now:

Druckenmiller Faces Major Exam - San Jose Mercury, 7/24/98

Jim Pyne articles are also showing up on-line, as well:

Lions newcomer Pyne has big shoes to fill on offensive line - Detroit Free Press
New team, old job for Lions' Pyne - Detroit Free Press

Sorry to be just linking to articles and fretting about Druck, folks, but man, it's slow right now.  I've had about all I can take of this summer, and I'll be glad when it's over.

I've been watching Channel 10 for sports news, and for a good month now, there's been nothing about Tech.  They've been covering NASCAR like a blanket, and the last week or so, they've been running almost nightly updates on a former Ferrum pitcher named Billy Wagner who now pitches in the majors and was struck by a batted ball about ten days ago.

Over in The Roanoke Times, they've been running daily Redskins training camp articles, and they have copied every article about Druck that has appeared in the San Francisco-area papers, but there has been almost no new Tech material.  Ditto the Richmond Times Dispatch, although Jeff White did post a nice "Tech notes" article shortly after the VHSCA All-Star game, and he gave the future Hokies that played in it some good coverage.

In recent years, our summers have been pretty busy.  Two years ago, we had the battlin' Hokies getting involved in brawls and being brought up on shoplifting and rape charges about, oh, every two weeks or so, so there was plenty to talk about there.  Then last year, Dave Braine resigned, plus the Hokies received some notable verbal football commitments, so there was material there, as well.

This year?  Nothing.  The good news is, there's no bad news, and the other good news is that August 4 is Big East media day, and on August 7, the freshmen report.   So the TV and newspaper will start hopping again, and we can start getting back into the flow.

In the meantime, I'll start working on a football preview, and I'll try to get one out to you before the season gets too close.

• Meanwhile, the final word on the injury that Tech recruit Jake Grove suffered in the VHSCA All-Star game is in.  He suffered a partial tear of his ACL.  Gosh, don't you just love all-star games?  Just ask FS Donald Harris, a 1996 recruit who tore up his knee in the Chesapeake Classic that year and was forced to delay his enrollment to Tech until early 1997.  I'll bet he wishes he hadn't played in that game.

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