Bruce Taylor

The Key Play.com was greeted by an unpleasant email from a source informing us Bruce Taylor will have season-ending surgery on his foot that he injured in the third quarter against Boston College on Saturday. Our source was unable to confirm the severity of the injury or the rumor that it is a Lisfranc sprain.

Bruce Taylor's 2011 Stats

Taylor led the Hokies with 53 tackles. His leadership and presence anchoring the defense at Mike linebacker cannot be represented by a statistic, nor be overvalued. He will be greatly missed.

Barquell Rivers, who suffered and has been working to return to form from a ruptured quadriceps tendon in 2010, relieved Taylor and shined on the field. Look for Rivers to be Taylor's permanent replacement. And if you're keeping track at home Bruce is our 3rd starting defender sidelined for the season (G-W, A. Hopkins).

Well wishes for a speedy recovery Bruce.

As camp starts today, we're waiting for so many questions to be answered. This year seems so different, doesn't it? Last year's camp had one of the most celebrated Virginia Tech players of all time leading our offense. We had the utmost confidence in our 1,600+ yard running back. We had John Graves, who was the latest installment of Bud Foster's defense personified. Those are the kind of guys that had you feeling at ease when you thought about leadership and production.

The next generation of those cornerstones are taking the field today, and we have a pretty good idea of who they are, but it's not 100%. Nothing is 100% right now.

And that's why today is so exciting. Logan Thomas takes over as QB1. David Wilson takes control of the backfield. Jayron Hosely is going to show us how agile he is on ESPN Sports Science.

But, again, there are so many questions to be answered the next 30 days.

Here are some Hokies we should be keeping an eye on this month, as their development could pay big dividends this fall:

The Hokies were tagged with a preseason ranking of 6th and 7th by the coaches poll in 2010 and 2009 respectively. The charge, same as it's always been, was to win the national championship. A familiar blueprint laid out the plan. A made for television game against a top ranked opponent to offset a weak conference schedule and... run that table. Things didn't quite pan out.

2011 was supposed to be a rebuilding year. Same goal, just not realistic to achieve. New quarterback, running back, an offensive line that's never really clicked and a young thin defense still licking its wounds and searching for an identity after an uncharacteristic campaign last year. I thought because of the uncertainty at some positions, and turnover of superstars at others, this would be the year we'd escape the lofty expectations of a championship from the media, prognosticators, and fans alike. Take a break, go play some football, and see and appreciate what goes down.