In a little over two years from now, on September 8th, 2007, Virginia Tech will travel to LSU to face the Tigers in what will likely be a nationally televised game on ESPN or CBS. College football fans, bored by the offseason, will have been pointing to this game all summer as the top early out-of-conference matchup of the season. The Hokies will have a chance to make a statement on the road on national television.

Virginia Tech will travel to Baton Rouge with a team loaded with talent. The young freshmen that we saw on the field in 2004 will be seniors. The defense will be headlined by senior starters Xavier Adibi, Vince Hall, Carlton Powell, Chris Ellis and Roland Minor. Brandon Flowers will be on the team, as will D.J. Parker, Kent Hicks and the highly touted Victor “Macho” Harris.

The offense will be stacked with playmakers. The starting quarterback will be a tall gunslinger with a strong arm, whether it’s Sean Glennon, Cory Holt, Greg Boone, or Ike Whitaker. Tech will have juniors George Bell and Branden Ore in the backfield, along with sophomore Elan Lewis. Duane Brown will be a senior tight end. And did I mention the best wide receiver corps in America, with seniors Eddie Royal, Josh Hyman, Josh Morgan and Justin Harper?

What in the world can hold a team like this back? Poor offensive line play, that’s what. And it’s very possible that it will, unless some young players start developing quickly.

The starting offensive line in 2005 will feature four seniors and one junior. The starting group in 2006, assuming the backups in 2005 move into the starting lineup, will feature three seniors. That’s seven senior starters in two years from a group that currently isn’t very deep. Only six linemen played with any regularity in 2004 for the Hokies, and the only reason that a sixth played was because Reggie Butler didn’t perform very well, and Bryan Stinespring was forced to plug Jason Murphy, a converted defensive tackle, into the starting lineup. To Murphy’s credit, he did a nice job and line play improved.

But the point still stands. The Hokies don’t have much in the terms of quality backup offensive linemen. Check out the following chart (sorry for the small print), which breaks down the playing time of each player on the two-deep for each game.

You'll note that backups Brandon Gore, Danny McGrath, Mike Parham, and Brandon Frye played the large majority of their snaps against Western Michigan and FAMU, both of which were blowouts of massive proportions. Those four players took 231 of their 282 snaps (82%) in those two games alone and played very little otherwise.

Even Jason Murphy, the top backup, didn’t play much until the WVU game. Apparently that game was a big test for Murphy administered by Bryan Stinespring. He must have passed, because he entered the starting lineup against Wake Forest the next week.

The problems with having inexperienced and possibly subpar backups won’t be highly obvious until 2006 and beyond, unless of course there are injuries in 2005. If injuries happen, the Hokies' bid this fall for a second straight ACC championship will become a lot harder.

The Hokies will lose Jimmy Martin, Jason Murphy, Will Montgomery and Reggie Butler following the 2005 season. Stinespring is really going to be hard-pressed to find some linemen in 2006, and it’s virtually impossible to accurately project the two-deep for that season. First of all, let’s take a look at the members of the 2006 offensive line. Virginia Tech wants to sign five offensive linemen for the 2006 recruiting class, so that is taken into consideration.

Out of a projected 17 scholarship offensive linemen for Tech in 2006, only four will be juniors or seniors. There is going to be a lot of youth and inexperience for Tech in 2006 along the offensive line. And to be honest, we don’t even know if those juniors or seniors are going to be starting for the Hokies in 2006. None have seen significant action thus far in their careers. McGrath has been penciled in as the starter at center in 2005, but that could easily change with a strong showing in August by John Shuman.

I said above that it was impossible to accurately project the depth chart for 2006, but I’ll throw myself at your mercy and do it anyway.

I know I’ve got to explain those projections, so here goes. Marshman has drawn good reviews thus far in his career from the coaching staff, and I don’t see anyone else out there capable of manning the tackle spot. Brandon Gore was named Most Improved Offensive Player this past spring, so I see him sliding into the starting lineup as a senior. Shuman will slide out to guard because there is no one else capable of starting, and Stinespring likes to get his best five on the field. McGrath will return as the starting center. Brandon Frye will win the left tackle job because of the experience factor (not that Frye is experienced, rather everyone else will be inexperienced).

Before I get to the backups, there is the possibility that Marshman and Frye could switch positions. Marshman is the better player at this point, and the Hokies would probably prefer to have their best pass blocking tackle protecting the quarterback’s blindside.

As far as the backups go, I’m just guessing. I believe Tripp Carroll will move back to center to provide depth because Shuman will be playing guard. That’s a somewhat educated guess. But as far as the other guys go…yeah, I’m just guessing. But I doubt I’m the only one. Bryan Stinespring is probably waiting for things to shake out, as well.

Trying to project the 2007 offensive line is even worse, and this time I’m not going to even try. I see Ryan Shuman and Nick Marshman as definite starters, but nothing else is certain. The Hokies are going to be very young up front not only in 2006, but in 2007 as well, and youth along the offensive line leads to penalties and a lot of missed blocks. A good offensive line needs to have a lot of experience playing together. They need to be a cohesive, well-oiled machine, and right now it doesn’t look like the 2006 and 2007 lines will feature those traits.

The good news is that in 2008, Virginia Tech will have eight or nine junior and senior offensive linemen. If enough of these players develop into good players, the Hokies should have a pretty good offensive line. Unfortunately at this point, it doesn’t look like the star-studded 2007 team will feature such an offensive line, but we'll see. Players can develop and step up.

So what put the Hokies in this situation? It has a lot to do with some highly touted offensive linemen not developing as quickly as most people thought they would.

In 2002, Virginia Tech signed Brandon Gore to play on the offensive line. Brandon Gore was the highest ranked offensive linemen in the state, with reported offers from Florida, Tennessee, Florida State, UVa, Michigan, and Georgia, as well as a lot of other schools. Gore will begin his r-Junior season at Tech this year, and has yet to make an impact.

However, he still has an opportunity. He was named Most Improved Offensive Player during spring practice, and it is very possible that he will be the top backup at both guard spots this fall. The coaching staff would probably like for him to step up and show that he can start at left guard, allowing Will Montgomery to move back to center. Having an experienced center on the team can work wonders for an offensive line.

The Hokies signed Curtis Bradley in 2001, but Bradley never saw the field for Tech. He fell ill following a voluntary workout in 2002, and had to be hospitalized. He suffered swelling in his legs, and missed the 2002 season. He returned to the team for a brief period but left the program shortly thereafter.

The 2003 class of offensive linemen could potentially save the future of the offensive line. Or if things keep going as they have been, they will be a main part of the reason why it will be in such bad shape.

Virginia Tech signed three offensive linemen in 2003. Highly touted Matt Welsh was the best offensive line prospect in Virginia, choosing Tech over UVa, WVU and Tennessee. He enrolled at Tech in January of 2004 and redshirted during Tech’s inaugural ACC season. Sources say that Welsh has been slow in developing and needs to improve his work ethic. If Welsh makes progress and becomes a good linemen, his presence will greatly boost Tech’s future offensive lines. If Welsh doesn’t progress, Bryan Stinespring will be forced to dig deeper into his pool of young, inexperienced players.

Tripp Carroll was the other highly touted member of that class. One of the highest-recruited players to ever come to Virginia Tech, Carroll sported over 80 offers from schools across the country. Carroll, who will be a r-So. this fall at Tech, has bounced around from center to tackle, and now falls at right guard. His career has been injury plagued thus far. Like Welsh, sources say Carroll needs to improve his work ethic to become a contributor.

The other member of the 2003 class, Nick Marshman, was only rated as a two star player and was not heavily recruited. However, he has made very good progress and will continue to push Reggie Butler at right tackle this August. Go figure.

The Hokies signed Ryan Shuman, an unheralded center in 2004. Shuman looks like he is going to develop into a good player for Tech, but he was the Hokies’ only offensive line signee in 2004.

Overall, Tech signed nine offensive linemen from 2001-2004. A couple of other guys switched over from defense (Jason Murphy, Chris Pannell), but that was not the original intention of the staff. With the current situation along the line, Tech signed five linemen back in February, and are planning to sign an additional five for 2006, including recent verbal commitment Clark Crum. The good news is that the Hokies are in solid shape with some very good offensive line prospects in the early going.