With the win over Temple, Coach Beamer said he thought the VT players and coaches made a statement last week. They had great practices even after their emotions were down. They went into a stadium setting that’s not conducive to getting fired up, and they played well for the most part and got back on track. He heaped praise on the many VT fans who were at the game to back the Hokies.

Rickey Bustle said the team had been through some tough weeks but continued to play hard. The Hokies haven’t played like they hoped, but they never gave up on each other, he said. He thought some of the new guys would come along faster than they did this year – they just haven’t performed consistently.

Bustle thought some of the offensive adjustments worked well against Temple. Different running backs see different things, he said. The staff had tried to force them into a power running game, but last week decided to hand the ball off deeper in the backfield and let the backs make their cuts and "go where they see it." It seemed like that fit them better, he said.

Grant Noel was solid, but they didn’t ask him to do too much. Anytime there’s confusion in what you are doing, you’re probably trying to do too much, Bustle said. Two interceptions at Pittsburgh came because Tech receivers didn’t run their routes properly, he said.

Beamer said Virginia is coming off a great confidence-building win over Georgia Tech and is a different team from the one that lost five straight. Womack’s return makes a difference, and Spinner has played well in his past six quarters, Beamer said. He thought he could see from the film how UVa had settled on Spinner as its QB, and then he saw film of Schaub, whom he said is also a good quarterback. Beamer said he understands the Hoos’ dilemma over which guy to play. He compared Spinner to Syracuse’s Anderson, but more accurate a passer than Anderson.

On the injury front, five guys will see limited work in practice this week but are likely to be able to play Saturday: Wincek, Owens, Houseright, Pugh and Ferguson. Larry Austin saw limited action on special teams only at Temple, and should be available for the UVa game.

Someone asked how much weight the outcome of the Tech-UVa game has on recruiting. Beamer said he’d never heard a recruit base their decision on who won this game. Maybe a trend by one team over several years would have some bearing, but not the one game. The personalities of the two schools are different and, for the most part, a kid growing up is a VT guy or a UVa guy, the coach said.

A caller nominated Kevin McCadam as the team’s most improved player and Beamer was asked who has impressed him most in that regard. McCadam would be one of them. He’s found a position that fits him and is attracting some interest from pro scouts. Beamer also mentioned Deon Provitt as a player who was making "great strides as a difference maker" at Whip until he got hurt. He said the young OL Dunn and Miller are going to be good.

Expect to see the Hokies stick with their scaled-down offense and focusing on executing what they have, Beamer said. The offense had evolved away from play-action passes but is now back to it. KJ will get the start at tailback.

Bill Roth asked him if VT can throw it well enough to burn a defense that sells out by stacking everybody against the run. "I think you’ve got to try," Bustle said. The offensive coaches spent Monday working on "making sure our protections are good."

Bustle said Emmett Johnson is someone who needs to come through, now that Witten has been lost to injury. WR Richard Johnson is at about 85 percent and still trying to come back completely from a hamstring injury.

Will there be a quarterback battle in spring practice? "I’m sure there will," Bustle said. He described the redshirting Will Hunt as an athletic young guy who hit the wall in preseason with all they were throwing at him to learn and execute. He mentioned that redshirt Chris Clifton is getting work at receiver and QB.

Virginia Tech will take two signees at quarterback and has several offers out, according to Bustle. But he also said something about "if you get the right one, you move on." He said that when Vick was in the program, it was very hard to persuade a quarterback recruit to come to VT.

That’s the extent of the news. It was a rather dull show, considering that it’s UVa week.

Monday was Day 772 of Virginia Tech’s continuous possession of the Commonwealth Cup.

-- GalaxHokie

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