Believe it or not, it's almost time for spring football practice to begin. The Hokies will take to the practice field on Wednesday, March 30 and participate in 15 spring practices, culminating in the annual Spring Game in Lane Stadium on April 23 at 2pm.

Here's a list of the days during which the Hokies will be practicing.

Virginia Tech generally holds two Saturday scrimmages during spring drills as well, and if that's the case again this year, they will take place on April 9 and April 16. Scrimmages are critical in determining depth chart positions.

Big question marks that the coaching staff hopes to get answered this year include:

• How well will Logan Thomas perform?
• Will Tech get quality play from their backup tight ends?
• Who will kick and punt for the Hokies this year?
• How will Tech's young defensive ends perform?
• What will the linebacker depth chart look like?
• Will there be any tweaks to the Virginia Tech defense?

Obviously all of those questions will not be answered, but it's probable that at least a few of them will be before the start of the summer.

Speaking of young defensive ends, one such player had an extremely impressive offseason in the strength and conditioning program. James Gayle finished the 2010 season with 6.5 tackles for loss and four sacks as a r-freshman, and showed flashes of a promising future.

His strength and conditioning numbers were even more impressive. Gayle measured in at 6-4, 251, and won the highest award an athlete can receive in the strength and conditioning program: the Excalibur Award. Here are a quick glance at his numbers.

• 420 bench press
• 420 front squat
• 341 push jerk
• 366 power clean (defensive end position record)
• 38 inch vertical jump
• 4.45 in the 40 yard dash

We always knew that Gayle was a very raw athlete, and just needed to put on size and learn technique. However, those are incredible numbers. His explosion and speed are exceptional for a player his size, and his lifting numbers show how strong he is. If he can play football at the same level this season, he has a chance to have an exceptional year.

He'll have to step up, because Steven Friday's career is over, and Chris Drager has been moved to tight end. Fellow r-sophomore J.R. Collins will see time at defensive end and defensive tackle this spring. That means r-freshmen Zack McCray and Duan Perez-Means are going to have to shoulder a big load as well. One of those r-freshmen may be called upon to start, if Collins ends up seeing substantial time at defensive tackle.

It will be interesting to see how much help Gayle gets from new coach Cornell Brown. Brown's official title will be outside linebackers coach and assistant defensive line coach. Tech's only outside linebacker is the whip, which is a completely different position than defensive end. Exactly how much time will Brown spend with the defensive ends? Will any of those ends be used in a stand-up outside linebacker role at times? That would make sense, considering Brown's coaching title, and the fact that the defensive coaching staff just visited Ohio State. The Buckeyes are known for using standup defensive ends.

In a couple of weeks, we'll begin to hear some of the answers to those questions.

Virginia Tech Shower Curtain

Mesh dazzle shower curtain with printed VT logo. 72" x 72", 100% polyester. Made in the USA.