We would like to cut back on the hype, because there's been plenty of it already, but reports out of Virginia Tech's football practices continue to be too positive to dampen your enthusiasm. "Once again, a very good practice today," one of our insiders reports. "I've never seen a VT team put together a string of this many practices to open the season. It appears the team has good leadership and they are staying focused."

In addition to heaping praise on the 7th-ranked Hokies, practice observers have noted some interesting moves on the depth chart which may or may not be simple experimentation. And while freshman rarely have much of an impact on a season, our observers have their usual fall fascination with the 18-year-olds. In this case, it's warranted, because at least one of them (Macho Harris) will play a key role this fall, and others (Sergio Render and William Wall) might.

Here's the rundown on what we're hearing.

Throwing and Catching: One of the pieces of news coming out of Blacksburg that has drawn the interest of the fans is the fact that there's still a battle for the #2 quarterback spot. Cory Holt has been slowed by injuries in his short Tech career, and Sean Glennon won the backup job and got some playing time last year. But yet Coach Beamer has said that they're "battling it out" for #2 this fall. Why isn't Glennon clearly ahead?

"Cory Holt threw the ball very well today," we were told. "His arm is much better than Glennon's in every phase. Stronger, more accurate, better touch. I really hope he can pick up the offense effectively, because he has the physical tools to be a very special player."

So don't punch Glennon's ticket so quickly, or Ike Whitaker's for that matter, or Greg Boone's. Holt's not done.

As for the guys who catch the ball, we got a report that includes an amusing image, if you use your imagination. "Duane Brown is just a mismatch. At one point, he was going up against Cary Wade, who had man coverage. Brown ran the seam route up the middle, and Wade had decent coverage, but Brown's body is just too big to get around to make a play. Glennon completed it for a big play."

Not to make light of Wade, who has come on strong to be a contender at the rover position, but the thought of 5-10, 184-pound Cary Wade covering 6-5, 280-pound Duane Brown is kind of amusing.

Freshman Notes: Among the true freshman, Victor "Macho" Harris is drawing the most attention and has been thrust into the limelight early, because of his own ability and because of hamstring injuries to Brandon Flowers and Theo Miller. Macho (it's about time to officially drop the Victor and the quotation marks around Macho) has been compared to former cornerback and uber-athlete DeAngelo Hall, about whom Bryan Stinespring said after recruiting him, "DeAngelo Hall will be the best football player to ever play at Virginia Tech."

Funny we should use the phrase "football player" (Stinespring was clear on that point years ago, emphasizing FOOTBALL PLAYER), because one of our practice observers said something similar about Macho. "Macho is playing pretty well at corner. He seems to be playing with a lot of confidence, which you love to see in a young corner. Not arrogance...Macho is a nice kid. But when he steps on the field, he knows he can get the job done and he expects himself to play well. He also looks like a natural fielding punts. I haven't seen him drop one yet. He is definitely a natural athlete, but he also might be the most natural true freshman FOOTBALL PLAYER that I've seen come through here."

Meanwhile, one of the more interesting depth chart moves is that of defensive tackle Sergio Render to offensive line. Render originally committed to Florida State as an offensive lineman, but he reneged on that verbal and eventually signed with VT, in part because the Hokies promised him a shot at defensive tackle.

Render's shot at DT lasted just a few days, because he has been moved to offensive line, where he is currently slotted at second string right guard, behind Jason Murphy and co-#2 with Tripp Carroll.

We are told that Render played offensive line in the Georgia North-South High School All-Star game last year, and that his coach in that game raved about him and called him the best offensive lineman in the state. The state of Georgia cranks out some good players, and that's high praise for Render, who is already mega-strong (410-pound bench press) and according to one observer: "He looks physically ready to play right now. He just has to adjust to the speed and strength of college players. I'm sure the coaches would love to redshirt him, but that is contingent on the development of Tripp Carroll." Indeed.

William Wall, after spending a year at Hargrave, looks ready to go. "I was ready to see how William Wall looked in full pads," our source said, "and I wasn't disappointed. He really fills out his uniform. He'll play this year. Orion Martin proved in the spring to be a very good player in space, but he really needs to bulk up in the upper body before he can be trusted in more than spot situations." So it looks like Wall vs. Martin for the fourth defensive end spot, with Wall more physically ready.

The Defense: Some interesting things are going on on the DL, where the Hokies have riches in Darryl Tapp, Jonathan Lewis, Noland Burchette, and Chris Ellis. The coaches are experimenting (as expected) with Tapp at defensive tackle, which would allow them to get the four players listed on the field at the same time.

"Also, it looks like Barry Booker could be working as the third defensive tackle," we were told. "For one series, Jonathon Lewis wasn't in there with the first team, and Booker was. Probably just a break for Jonathon, but notice it was Booker and not Sandidge or Robertson who took his place. I'm not sold at all on any of our backup defensive tackles, but it looks like Booker is ahead of all of them. They didn't tackle today, so it's still too early to tell."

As a side note, one observer of last weekend's practices told us that he thought Lewis had a little bit of a gut. He only weighed in at 296, though -- we think anything under 300 is good for Jonathan -- and in the team photo on BeamerBall.com, he didn't look heavy. Lewis really came on strong last year and is a vital cog in this year's defense, so we hope he's in shape.