Blacksburg, VA - On a day where Marcus Vick and Bryan Randall produced similar passing numbers, Vick was the one who was able to lead his team into the end zone, and his White squad shut out Randall's Maroon squad 20-0. The crowd was estimated 30,000 on a beautiful, sunny day for football. Justin Hamilton and David Clowney each scored on short runs, and John Hedge had two field goals to account for the White team scoring.

Vick was 9-of-17 (52.9%) for 110 yards, and Randall was 7-of-18 (38.9%) for 107 yards. Neither player threw a touchdown, with Randall tossing the only interception of the game. Vick was working with the two most experienced receivers available for the game, David Clowney and Chris Clifton, who combined for 6 catches for 86 yards. Randall, meanwhile, was throwing to rising redshirt sophomore Robert Parker, walk-on John Thibodeau, redshirt freshman Josh Hyman and true freshman Justin Harper. Vick also worked behind an offensive line that featured two returning starters from last season, center Will Montgomery and tackle Jon Dunn, while Randall had just one returning starter, tackle Jimmy Martin.

The two teams passed more than they ran, putting the ball up in the air 39 times and running it 44, with 11 of the 44 rushing attempts being sacks. With the quarterbacks wearing yellow jerseys and the play being whistled dead whenever they were touched, Randall, Vick, and third-stringer Cory Holt were ruled sacked for 69 yards in losses. This dragged down the combined rushing total of the two teams to 30 yards, against 226 yards passing.

The White scored three times in their first four possessions, starting on the Maroon side of the field the first two times. Randall was intercepted by Eric Green on the Maroon's first possession, and Green returned it to the Maroon 17. After the White team lost four yards in three plays, Hedge came on and kicked a 39-yarder.

Two possessions later, the White scored in two plays from the Maroon 42. Vick hit Clowney on a 36-yarder, the longest completion of the day, and then Justin Hamilton ran it in from six yards out untouched on a nifty cutback run.

On the next possession, the White mounted the longest drive of the day, a 13-play affair built on Vick's passing and George Bell's running. Vick completed three passes for 43 yards, including a 25-yarder to Chris Clifton, and Bell ran it four times for 12 yards. A sack forced the White into a fourth and 14 from the Maroon 27, and Hedge booted a 44 yarder from there to put the White up 13-0.

In the third quarter, Vick was flushed from the pocket and scored on a nifty 48-yard run, but he was called down at the Maroon 20 yard line when the officials ruled that Mike Daniels had touched him. Vick said after the game that no one touched him, but David Clowney rendered the point moot when he scored on a reverse from the two-yard line three plays later.

As is common in spring games, the two defenses ruled the day. The 11 sacks were spread out amongst eight players, with the biggest surprise of the day being three sacks registered by cornerbacks Roland Minor (2 sacks) and Jimmy Williams (1 sack) on rare corner blitzes.

Minor, a freshman who redshirted this past season and played for the Maroon team, had the strongest outing of all defenders. He had 10 total tackles (James Anderson was a distant second with six), with two of them being sacks. Two of his Maroon teammates, Brandon Manning and Jim Davis, also had two sacks apiece.

For the White squad, James Anderson led them with six tackles. Five White players had one sack each: Carlton Powell, Barry Booker, Darryl Tapp, Noland Burchette, and Jimmy Williams. Powell added another tackle for loss in a strong performance that included four total tackles, tied for second best on the team.

Hedge wasn't the only kicker who had a solid day. Nic Schmitt, playing as punter for the White team, boomed his first two punts 60 and 55 yards, and he averaged 52.6 yards on five punts for the day. He also kicked his first two kickoffs into the end zone for touchbacks and landed his other three kickoffs at the Maroon six, three, and five yard lines.

The tailbacks for the two teams ran for 74 yards on 25 carries, less than three yards a carry, as the offensive lines had trouble opening up holes for the running game. Bell led the way with 24 yards on eight carries for the White, and Mike Imoh led the Maroon with 15 yards on eight carries. Imoh also caught one pass for 20 yards.

While the receivers struggled at times, three of them caught passes of 25 yards or more. Clifton (White) snared three for 40 yards, including a 25-yarder; Clowney (White) had 3 for 46 yards, with a 36-yarder; and Justin Harper (Maroon) caught 3 for 41 yards, with his longest being a 27-yarder. Richard Johnson did not play due to injury.

The 20 points scored by the White team were the most since the 2001 Maroon team, led by Keith Burnell's 182 yards rushing, scored 24 points.

The game concludes 2004 spring practice for the Hokies. They return to action against Southern Cal in the BCA Classic at FedEx Field on August 28th.

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