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With all the concentration on the quarterback and receiver positions this spring, very little has been said about a player who is having a great spring thus far: placekicker Carter Warley.

Warley will be a redshirt junior in the fall. As a redshirt freshman in 2000, he was named second-team All Big East, when he scored 77 points on 7-9 field goal kicking and 56-57 extra points. The highlight of his 2000 season was a 27 yard game-winning field goal against Pittsburgh with 16 seconds to go that gave the Hokies a 37-34 win.

As a redshirt sophomore in 2001, Warley duplicated his 77-point freshman season, but not in the same fashion. He hit all 44 of his extra points, but he struggled on field goals, making just 11 of 21, including one stretch in which he missed 5 of 7. He was a dismal 5-14 from 30 yards and out.

For his two-year career thus far, Warley has 154 points, and barring anything unusual, will not threaten former placekicker Shayne Graham's Tech career scoring record of 371 points. It's not out of the question for him to break Graham's record, but it's not likely.

Part of Warley's difficulties stem from a chronically bad back that has plagued him during his Tech career.

In the fall, Warley will be challenged by Jon Mollerup, who will be a redshirt senior and has pushed Warley in the past. They will be joined in the kicking competition by recent signee Nic Schmitt from Salem. But for now, Warley is by himself this spring. Mollerup is out rehabbing a knee, and Schmitt, of course, is still in high school.

Warley has done very well this spring. His name was not mentioned in Tech's first couple of scrimmages, but in the last two, he has been a perfect 7-for-7 on field goals, making kicks of 24, 25, 27, 34, 37, 43, and 45 yards. His 4-for-4 performance from 30 yards and beyond is encouraging, after his struggles from long range last season.

Also encouraging was a recent BeamerBall.com article that told of a kicking battle between Warley and Graham, who visited a Tech practice the other day. Just for fun, Graham and Warley held a little "kickoff" in which they moved around between the hash marks and between the 15-25 yard lines (32-42 yard field goals), matching kicks in a tit-for-tat competition like a game of H-O-R-S-E in basketball.

The players made field goal after field goal, each hitting 18 in a row before Graham missed kick #19 and Warley made his.

The article didn't say if the players were kicking from tees or from holds, but in either case, 19 made field goals in a row is impressive. The mere fact that Warley was allowed by Coach Frank Beamer to line up and kick the ball 19 times in a row tells Hokie fans that his back must not be too bad off. Warley took most of last spring off, in an effort to help his back improve.

Many Hokie fans worry that the Tech offense won't be very potent this fall, but if the Hokies can count on Warley to be more successful from long distance than he was last year, that'll mean more points on the board -- and hopefully, more W's.

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