The weather was perfect, the temperature comfortable. The sky was crystal clear and blue. The grass was greening up nicely. Leaves were making an appearance, azaleas were blooming to rival those at Augusta National. Dogwoods woke up and said a colorful hello.

The view from the deck was exceptional. A variety of birds skittered to and fro, gathering the necessary material for their first nests. Bluebirds scanned the yard for competition, then went about their business of selecting the perfect box from among the many scattered around.

What a great time to sit back and think of � Hokie football?

Sure, why not? Is there a bad time to think of Hokie football? What better time than a glorious Easter, the faithful mutt by your side, a cool drink � water, thank you � nearby, the grill getting hotter and hotter, to sit and wonder about the many aspects of the upcoming season.

Yes, spring just got here. So let�s think about fall and what we might have learned during Tech�s spring practice.

These are just a few of the thoughts that crossed this mind. Not all of them are positive, however. If you�re one-a them who gets bothered by a worried thought or two, skip those parts. Most of it is good. Some of this is opinion, some of it is based on observation (we�re sneaky) and some of it is based on conversation with people who know a lot more (which is almost everybody).

Veteran quarterbacks: I�m OK with Grant Noel.

Let�s remember that no one knew much about Lee Suggs a year ago when he was called on to fill in for Shyrone Stith. He had impressive credentials in high school indeed, but who doesn�t? He hadn�t shown a lot in limited duty.

Seem to recall ol� Lee did just fine thanks, set a few records along the way and made himself into a legitimate candidate for Mr. Heisman�s trophy.

That said, there�s no reason to think Noel will turn out like Suggs. There�s no reason he has to be that good. He may not be as good as Miami�s Ken Dorsey or Pitt�s David Priestley. That�s OK. You don�t have to have the all-conference quarterback to win the conference championship (though it sure don�t hurt).

The best thing about Noel is his attitude. He didn�t go into spring ball thinking, "Oh, man, oh man, I have to prove I can be the quarterback." He went in thinking, "I am the quarterback. I�ve waited for this, I�ve worked toward this and now it is MY turn."

Forget the scrimmage numbers that have trickled out. This ol� memory seems to recall that one Michael Vick had some seriously butt-ugly numbers from scrimmages and spring games and no one minded. You just don�t know the situations.

Noel is showing leadership qualities. The coaches are loving that.

Noel is taking command. Coaches are loving that, too.

Noel will be fine.

As for Jason Davis, I sure wish I could be as positive. It seems every newspaper story that appeared about him � quarterbacks after all were the story of the spring � had him saying he needed to improve his reading of defenses. Yeah, that�s a good trait for a quarterback to have. The strongest arm in the world won�t do you a lick of good if you don�t have a clue what those dudes in the other jerseys are doing. They are the enemy. They want to hurt you. You better be a step ahead.

He may make a fine backup, at least for a year. Because that brings us to:

Freshman quarterbacks: It would be so ideal not to have to use a year�s eligibility on one of the three new guys coming in, would be so outstanding to get through the year with Bryan Randall, Will Hunt and Chris Clifton all holding on to four more years in their backpacks.

The Hokies start practice Aug. 11. First game is Sept. 1. It is unrealistic to expect even the smartest freshman to absorb enough in that time frame. Normally, their heads haven�t stopped spinning by then.

This is just plain exciting. Three guys, all of them reputed to be excellent. I can�t wait to see how it all shakes out.

One will emerge as the No. 3 quarterback this season, to play only in case of emergency. If Noel goes down short-term, Davis will need to handle the load. If Noel is out long term, all bets may be off with the freshmen unless Davis figures out those defenses in a hurry.

Someone told me when Michael Robinson jumped onto the Penn State bus that he may one day down the road be a better quarterback than Randall. The same someone said Randall was much more likely to be ready to play immediately. That doesn�t mean he can�t use the extra year.

Clifton is the wild card in the whole picture, a guy who was recruited as an athlete and then had a monster senior year as a quarterback. He comes in without the hype of Randall and Will Hunt. That, too, may work in his favor.

Eventually, one of these dudes will be No. 1.

Here�s a guess as to how it will work and it is only that, a guess: Randall, Clifton, Hunt.

But that�s a couple years away.

Noel will be fine.

Remember that.

The best development of the spring?: Keith Burnell. He�s a tailback who will be a junior and he�s changed some thinking.

The conventional wisdom since national letter-of-intent day has been that Suggs would be the No. 1 tailback (like, duh) and Kevin Jones would be No. 2 (which means plenty of action in Tech�s system).

Jones was the universally-regarded top recruit in the country. If most of those rating services agree on that, he must indeed be special.

Well, how about Suggs at No. 1, Burnell at No. 2 and Jones joining the quarterbacks with a redshirt?

The rule of redshirting: If Michael Vick can do it, anybody can do it. There�s no one out there who wouldn�t benefit from an extra year of strength and conditioning � not to mention the extra football knowledge � gained from a redshirt season.

Heck, yeah, Jones is good enough to play right now. Well, he�s not going to get worse. A redshirt year could help him as much as it helps the team.

I know I said to ignore scrimmage stats, but Burnell�s 100-yard-plus effort in one of them bears at least a little attention. He�s running like he means business. It shouldn�t be that much of a surprise. The guy did average 6.5 yards for 17 carries last season (those numbers are a bit skewed because he had 59 of his yards on one carry). That long jaunt against Rutgers was the best by a Tech tailback all season.

Jones may come in and be just so darn good that he absolutely has to play. If so, PLAY HIM! If not, Burnell can more than ably handle being the second head on that two-headed tailback monster Billy Hite loves so much.

Wonder if Suggs will head on out early if he has another big year?

I can�t wait to see Richard Johnson in action: Santana Moss comes to Blacksburg? This redshirt freshman receiver has tongues hanging out, has receivers coach Tony Ball so excited he can barely stand it.

Johnson was Bryan Randall before Randall was Randall. As a prep junior, Randall became the first prep player in Virginia history to rush and pass for 1,000 yards in a single season. Johnson did that, too. And, yes, he�s a receiver. Seems they didn�t have anyone good enough to get him the ball consistently, so they let Johnson get the ball to others and run with it. Sometimes they�d line him up at receiver and let someone chuck it up and he�d go get it. He also played defense, returned kicks, drove the bus, washed the uniforms and maybe repaired them, too. The guy is versatile.

Ball saw receiver, big-time receiver. Johnson had an 89-yard touchdown catch in a spring scrimmage that witnesses said was 1/3 catch and 2/3 run. Johnson is still learning things like proper running of routes. He has the hands, the speed and the "shake and bake" to handle the job. It�s said the real show starts once he catches the ball.

He still has to show his stuff when it counts and the Moss/Peter Warrick comparisons that people are making are a lot for a young guy to handle. But no one who has seen him has said it�s too much.

Frank Beamer has been on record as saying this is potentially the best crop of receivers at Tech in a long, long time. Andre Davis and Emmett Johnson are back, Ernest Wilford (we hope) has gotten a bit better. Now there�s R. Johnson along with guys like Ron Moody, Shawn Witten and Terrell Parham.

Noel won�t be without options.

As for Emmett Johnson, let�s say this: The guy did have the dropsies sometimes. A few touchdowns slipped out of his grasp. But he did end up as the leading receiver thanks to Davis� injury. And the single biggest catch of the season belonged to him.

Surely you remember. Pitt game? Long drive late? Good ol� Deep Ball Dave didn�t get it quite deep enough on third-and-long and Emmett reversed direction and made a terrific sliding catch for a 29-yard gain and first down. Monster catch, just monster.

The defensive line ought to be nothing short of excellent: Can six players go into four starting slots? That�s about the only way to look at it, with solid starters David Pugh and Chad Beasley at tackle and the four young dudes at end. Nathaniel Adibi and Lamar Cobb remain the starters, but Jim Davis and Cols Colas are at least as good.

Colas has had a head-turner of a spring and may end up a starter. Either way, he�s going to play a whole, whole lot. Colas, Adibi and Davis are sophomores. Yow.

Getting our kicks: This back thing with Carter Warley is a worry. He had a terrific freshman year with a bum back and keeping him out this spring may be nothing more than a precaution. Why risk anything?

But those backs are funny (and not ha-ha funny) and you just never know. Jon Mollerup and Matt Felber haven�t knocked anybody down with their spring numbers. Maybe they can do the job, but if they were as good as Warley they would have kicked last year. Mollerup did hit a 50-plus kick in a scrimmage. That�s good. What�s needed is a guy who almost never misses inside 40 and makes a good percentage of the longer ones.

This is going to be one of those keep-your-fingers-crossed kind of things.

As for punting, I wouldn�t know Bobby Peaslee if he walked onto the deck and did a Three Stooges Moe thing on my eyes. Nyuk nyuk nyuk. He may be the world�s nicest guy and hardest worker. This is not a knock on him personally.

He was not effective last season. This should be the year when Vinnie Burns replaces him and shows why he earned a scholarship out of high school. If that doesn�t happen, then it�s safe to say someone missed the boat on Mr. Burns. Peaslee�s 35.3 average of a year ago just won�t cut it, and the Hokies are fortunate it didn�t end up hurting them too badly. You sure can�t blame the one loss on the punting.

Beamer hates low, line-drive punts, and that�s been the knock on Burns. Word is he looks much better this spring, but still needs to get �em up there more consistently. He�s a strong, impressive kid who surely put his year off to good use.

We could go on (and on and on and on) but the coals are ready and dinner needs to be cooked. After dessert, we may try to figure out that offensive line.

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