The honors continued to roll in Wednesday night for Virginia Tech senior quarterback Bryan Randall. Two days after collecting an $18,000 post graduate scholarship and a day after being named 1st Team All-ACC by several sources, Randall was named the Dudley Award winner, which is given annually to the top football player in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

With the type of year that Randall has enjoyed, it is not surprising that he won the Dudley. However, it is a little surprising that the voting was so close. William and Mary quarterback Lang Campbell finished a close second to Randall in the voting. Randall finished with 61 points and Campbell was close on his heels with 56 points.

The voting for the Dudley Award is done by 15 sportswriters and broadcasters from throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia. Each voter submits a 1st place, 2nd place and 3rd place vote. A 5-3-1 points system is in place, meaning that a player receives five points for a 1st place vote, three points for a 2nd place vote and one point for a 3rd place vote. Randall received eight 1st place votes and seven 2nd place votes, while Campbell had seven 1st place vote, six 2nd place votes and two 3rd place votes. Virginia’s Alvin Pearman finished a distant 3rd with 16 points, while Hampton wide receiver Jerome Mathis had 3 points. Here are the full results:

With Randall winning the Dudley Award this year, a Virginia Tech player has now won the award for the 3rd year in a row. It is also the 5th time in the past 6 years that a Hokie has won. Since 1999, only UVA wide receiver Billy McMullen in 2001 was able to keep the award out of Blacksburg.

Virginia Tech’s remarkable run at Dudley domination began during the 1999 season. That year the Hokies had a dominating player that was the best at his position in college football, and he collected the Dudley Award that year. No, not Michael Vick. Corey Moore became the first Virginia Tech player since 1995 to win the award after posting 17 sacks in 1999. Moore finished his Virginia Tech career with 35 sacks and collected the Dudley Award to go along with the Lombardi and Nagurski Awards.

In 2000, the obvious choice for the Dudley was tailback Lee Suggs. Nicknamed "TD Lee", Suggs ran for 1,207 yards in 2000 and scored 27 touchdowns on the ground. He also caught a touchdown pass. Because of that magical season, Suggs owns the NCAA records for most games scoring a touchdown in a season with 14. He also broke the Virginia Tech record for most rushing touchdowns scored in a season. He became only the second unanimous selection for the Dudley Award. (The first was Virginia quarterback Shawn Moore in 1990.)

Suggs only played in one game in 2001 because of a torn ACL, but he returned to his old form in 2002, becoming the first player ever to win the Dudley Award twice in his career. Suggs rushed for 1,325 yards and scored 22 touchdowns on the ground. Suggs broke the Virginia Tech record for most rushing touchdowns in a career with 53. Suggs broke an NCAA record as well, scoring a touchdown in 27 consecutive games.

Kevin Jones picked up right where Suggs left off in 2003. Jones set a Virginia Tech season record with 1,647 yards last season. Jones also scored 21 touchdowns. After the 2003 season, Jones ranked 2nd on Virginia Tech’s all-time rushing yardage list, despite leaving a year early and sharing carries with Lee Suggs his second year.

Before Corey Moore, two Virginia Tech players won the Dudley Award. The first was Jim Pyne in 1993. Pyne played center for the Hokies and was regarded as the best center in the nation. He was also the first player in Virginia Tech history to be named a Unanimous All-American. Pyne went on to play for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Cleveland Browns in the NFL.

In 1995 defensive end Cornell Brown won the Dudley for the Hokies. A consensus All-American in 1995, Brown had 14 sacks and 25 tackles for loss. He also made 103 total tackles, a mind-boggling number for a defensive end. Brown was also named Big East Conference Defensive Player of the Year.

They Dudley Award is named after former Virginia standout "Bullet" Bill Dudley, and has been given to the top football player in the Commonwealth of Virginia every year since 1990.

All-Conference Honors Announced
By Stefan Adams, TechSideline.com

Eleven members of the Virginia Tech football team took home All-Atlantic Coast Conference awards on Tuesday. Seven of the eleven Hokies honored were named to the First or Second teams.

Senior Bryan Randall earned the spot of First Team Quarterback by a convincing margin with 167 points (out of a possible 200 points). Senior Brock Berlin earned second team honors, earning 100 points. This season, Randall has thrown for 1,965 yards on 149 competitions and tallied a career-high 19 touchdown passes. Randall has added 466 yards of offense with his feet and put the ball in the end zone three times via rushing.

Randall is also considered the top finalist for the ACC Offensive Player of the Year. The results of the ACC Offensive Player of the Year voting are expected to be announced by the end of the week.

Also receiving spots on the First Team rosters were junior defensive end Darryl Tapp, junior defensive back Jimmy Williams and sophomore place kicker Brandon Pace.

Tapp was also the leader in points for defensive linemen, with 142. Maryland junior Shawne Merryman was second behind Tapp with 138. This season, Tapp has racked up 55 tackles (third on the team). He leads the team in sacks with 8.5, tackles for a loss with 16.5 and quarterback hurries with 23.

Williams finished second behind senior Antrel Rolle, a Thorpe Award finalist, given to the nation’s top defensive back. Williams had 118 points, while Rolle earned 160. Williams is tied for the conference lead with pass breakups (18) and has pulled in four interceptions this season, one of which went back for a touchdown. Williams made the switch from safety to cornerback before the season began, and he now leads Tech’s secondary with 50 tackles.

After the kicking woes Tech suffered last season, Pace came in and remedied the situation. Pace is 21-for-26 on field goal attempts this season, which is the second-highest total in the country. His 1.75 field goals per game average is good enough for eighth nationally. Pace has converted 42 of 43 extra point attempts this season, the only miss coming last weekend against Miami when the Hurricanes blocked his second extra point attempt. The former walk-on is two field goals away from breaking the single season record for field goals and is just three points away from the season point total record for kickers.

Receiving Second Team honors were junior tight end Jeff King, senior offensive tackle Jon Dunn and senior defensive tackle Jim Davis.

King is second on the team in receptions with 22 and has pulled in four touchdowns. He finished second behind All-America candidate Heath Miller form Virginia. Dunn finished fourth in votes behind three premiere tackles in Alex Barron from Florida State, D’Brickashaw Ferguson from Virginia and Chris Meyers from Miami, respectively.

Davis finished sixth in voting. His stock went up with his performance against the Hurricanes. In the 16-10 win, Davis batted down two passes on Miami’s final possession to win the football game.

Earning honorable mention honors this season were senior safety Vincent Fuller, junior defensive tackle Jonathan Lewis, junior offensive tackle Jimmy Martin and junior center Will Montgomery.

Seven players selected to the top-two in the first year of Atlantic Coast Conference play is not too bad, considering Tech was predicted to finish sixth in the conference. The players on the Virginia Tech football team were not given much credit before the season was underway.

In the days of the Big East Conference, Tech had a stretch of several seasons where a high number of Hokies were selected to All-Conference First and Second Teams.

Here is the breakdown since 1991:

Many reading this can decipher why the totals are the way they are. Tech did not perform the way it has recently in the early part of the 1990’s, therefore it is natural the totals are significantly lower. As the ’90’s wore on, the overall talent level improved, and the number of selections increased, peaking in 1999, Michael Vick’s redshirt freshman season and Virginia Tech’s last trip to a BCS Bowl.

It is interesting to think how the numbers will pan out in the years to come. Is the overall talent pool in Blacksburg better or worse than it was back in the hay-day of players being tabbed for as all-Conference selections? Could it be the Atlantic Coast Conference has more talented players, or less?

Conference comparisons are tough. Both the Big East and the ACC have had a number of talented players come through over the years and every season when the teams are released, half of them can be titled as "Who’s Who in College Football."

What is certain is that the players that received recognition from the conference and the members of the media who are affiliated with it should be honored. The amount of talent, both at Virginia Tech and elsewhere, that is on the All-ACC teams is astounding.

Friday, December 10th is "Pin a Hoo" Day
By Will Stewart, TechSideline.com

This Friday night, the Virginia Tech wrestling program takes on Virginia in Cassell Coliseum in the first of five ACC dual meets that the Hokies will have this year. With new coach Tom Brands, who is recruiting some of the best wrestlers in the nation, the future for Hokie wrestling is bright, and the VT athletic department is getting behind the program with some promotional efforts for this Friday's meet.

Virginia Tech, in an effort to break the wrestling attendance record of 1,631 set against Minnesota in 2001, is giving away free Inaugural ACC T-shirts to the first 300 fans, and Inaugural ACC commemorative coins to the first 100 fans.

Two VT students will also be the lucky recipients of two tickets to the Sugar Bowl (four tickets total). Students registering before the first bout will be entered into a drawing to give away two pairs of tickets to Virginia Tech's clash with Auburn in New Orleans. To win, students must be present for the announcement, prior to the final bout of the evening.