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If you're the kind who puts off Christmas shopping until late, TechLocker.com has you covered with flexible shipping options and late delivery times. While other Hokie merchandise web sites have already shut down for Christmas, we're still open and ready to do business.

Here are the details:

HOLIDAY SHIPPING DEADLINES & SCHEDULE - For Christmas delivery, orders must be placed by the following times: 

• UPS Ground - We cannot guarantee delivery times. Cut off is NOON ET on Thursday, Dec. 19. We recommend that you ADD 2 BUSINESS DAYS to the expected transit times listed in the UPS shipping map linked here.
• UPS Second Day - Orders must be placed by NOON ET on Friday, December 20 for Christmas Eve delivery.
• UPS Next Day - Orders must be placed by NOON ET on Saturday, December 21 for Christmas Eve delivery. 

WE WILL NOT SHIP orders received after 12 noon on December 23, through January 1. Shipping resumes on January 2. However, orders may still be placed during this time.

Have Your Gift Shipped Straight to the Lucky Hokie Recipient!

Note also that if you want your gift shipped directly to the recipient, we can handle that, too. Just enter your information and credit card info in the Billing Areas when ordering, and the gift recipient's information in the Shipping Areas. We'll process the order and ship it right to them. We don't require you to email us separately, or give us a  phone call, like some online retailers do.

To get started shopping, just click this link: TechLocker.com.

In the last two weeks, Hokie longshot wide receiver targets Fontel Mines and Shannon Lane have committed to Virginia. That brings up the question of who the Hokies are recruiting at receiver, and how they're doing.

The Hokies already have a commitment from Josh Hyman, formerly of Deep Creek High School in Chesapeake. Hyman is prepping at Fork Union for a year, and if he gets his academics in order, is expected to be Tech-bound.

Still on the recruiting board for the Hokies is Lake Taylor's Terrell Golden (6-3, 215, 4.5 forty), who has narrowed his choices down to Virginia Tech and Penn State. Golden visited PSU last weekend and will check out VT on an official visit this weekend. Then he'll decide between the two.

Golden is rated as the #6 prospect in the state by The Roanoke Times, and #12 by TechSideline.com. To find out what Golden thought about PSU, what is important to him, and more, check out this week's TSL Extra recruiting update.

Another possible wide receiver target for the Hokies is Michael Hinton (6-3, 197), who currently plays in the defensive backfield for Hargrave Military Academy. Hinton could stay as a DB in college, or make the jump to wide receiver. In Hargrave's recent scouting combine, he ran a 4.41 forty and recorded a 36-inch vertical leap. VT is recruiting Hinton as an "athlete" (ATH).

Hinton, who will make trips to Louisville, Georgia, and NC State in January, will make his decision close to signing day. He is visiting VT this weekend with Terrell Golden, and scheduled to join them is defensive end target Chris Ellis.

Ellis (6-5, 230, 4.7), from Bethel HS in Hampton, used to be perceived as a heavy Tech lean, but the battle for his services has heated up between Tech and UVa. The Hokies are trying to sell him on being the next great VT defensive end, while Virginia is trying to convince him he could bulk up and be an effective DE in their 3-4 scheme. Ellis is rated the #2 player in the state by both The Roanoke Times and TechSideline.com. To find out Ellis' thoughts as he prepares for this weekend's visit, see his recent TSL Extra recruiting update.

(Note that Ellis might not make it to VT this weekend, due to weather conditions. If so, he'll reschedule his trip, most likely for late January.)

On the running back front, big-time prospect Tyrone Moss verballed to Miami, and one article quoted him as saying that he actually verballed to the Canes back in July. In the wake of that news, the Hokie coaches contacted record-setting Halifax tailback Alonzo Coleman (5-11, 185, 4.5) to express interest. To find out more about that, check out Coleman's TSL Extra recruiting update.

Tech's other running back recruiting target is Rodney Kinlaw (5-10, 185, 4.4) from Goose Creek, South Carolina, and sources tell us that the Hokies feel very good about their chances with Kinlaw, who impressed the VT staff (DeAngelo Hall-style) at Tech's 2002 football camp. The Hokies are battling it out with Penn State, Clemson, and South Carolina for Kinlaw's services.

To keep up with VT recruiting, subscribe to the TSL Extra, and we'll carry you through to signing day in early February. Also, click here to give the TSL Extra as a gift!

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Some Stats

As you know, we like to play around with stats in TSLMail, and here are some updates on how some Hokie offensive players did this season. With the NCAA counting bowl games in statistics this year for the first time ever, there's still "one game to go" statistically. And of course, this year's Hokies benefited from the first-ever 13-game regular season in Tech history, while other Hokie players have only played 11-game seasons. Having said that, here are some numbers.

Bryan Randall had 527 yards rushing and 1,957 yards passing, for 2,484 yards of total offense, second-best all time. Only Don Strock (3,170 yards in 1972) did better. Number three is Michael Vick in 1999 (2,425) and fourth is Strock, with 2,404 yards in 1971.

Lee Suggs had 1,255 yards rushing, second-best all time, behind Cyrus Lawrence's 1,403 yards in 1981. Lawrence toted the ball 325 times that year, and Suggs only carried it 238 times this season. If you take Suggs' 5.27 yards per carry average and extrapolate it out to 325 carries, you get an impressive 1,713 yards.

Ernest Wilford had 46 catches, tying Mike Burnop (1971) for best-ever in one season. Wilford's 875 yards receiving were second only to the 962 put up by Andre Davis in 1999. Wilford had 7 TD's, tied for third-best. Davis (1999) and Antonio Freeman (1993) caught 9 in a season. Ricky Hall (1998) and Sydney Snell (1980) had 8, and several other players, including Wilford, have caught 7 TD's in a season.

-- Will Stewart

Miami Game Analysis
by Will Stewart, TechSideline.com, 12/11/02, 2:35 pm
It was just three short years ago that Virginia Tech capped a five-game winning streak over the Miami Hurricanes by battering them 43-10 in Blacksburg. Click here
TSLX Supplement -- by Will Stewart
Bryan Randall, the Mad Scrambler; DeAngelo Hall's Long Day

Hokie Hotline Notes
by Joel Kelly, 12/11/02, 12:40 am
The regular season has come to a close and the Hokies went out in fine fashion. They didn't beat the Canes, but gave them all they wanted in one of the Hokies' gutsier performances of the year. With the bowl season, exams and the holidays looming, the Hokie Hotline was on the air.
in Hotline Notes

Hokies Going to Diamond Walnut San Francisco Bowl
by Will Stewart, TechSideline.com, 12/7/02, 11:55 pm
Virginia Tech will face the Air Force Academy in the inaugural Diamond Walnut San Francisco Bowl on December 31st. The game will be played at Pacific Bell Park in San Francisco. It will kick off at 7:30 Pacific Time (10:30 Eastern Time) the night of December 31st and will be televised by ESPN2.
in News and Notes

Canes Win Shootout Over Hokies, 56-45
by Will Stewart, TechSideline.com, 12/7/02, 11:55 pm
Miami, FL - Heisman candidate Willis McGahee had 205 yards rushing and a Big East record six rushing touchdowns, as the Miami Hurricanes won a wild one over the Hokies, 56-45, in the Orange Bowl.
in Football