The Week That Was: Pep Hamilton and the UMD Debacle

One of the worst times in a student's life is at the end of any given semester. It's not the exams, but rather the waiting after them to finally figure out your final grades.

In terms of the Virginia Tech offseason, this is what it has been like. The period between the Hokies' 13-10 offensive funeral defensive victory over Rutgers in the Russell Athletic Bowl, and the (allegedly) inevitable announcement of a change within the offensive coaching staff has been one of the longest in recent memory.

It was reported Mike O'Cain had been in the running for the Appalachian State gig. During the bowl it broke that Kevin Sherman had allegedly already accepted a job at Purdue. After it, Curt "#FINESSEBLOCKERS" Newsome reportedly has a job waiting for him back at his old stomping grounds at James Madison.

Then, there was nothing. I mean NOTHING. Zero Dark Thirty 2's plot is going to be about the week in which everyone within the program disappeared and didn't even give us a scrap of a rumor.

To say people were starting to get antsy would be the early understatement of this short year, as fans started wearing out the refresh buttons on their computers, staring at a frustratingly blank screen.

And hen there was this:

Hearing Stanford OC Pep Hamilton meeting w Va Tech today. It'd be a lateral move but VT may make substantial offer for more $$— Bruce Feldman (@BFeldmanCBS) January 7, 2013

HOLY SHNIKES.

As I was writing this, I saw that tweet and immediately waited to see if anything came of it to include in the column...it didn't. And now the waiting game continues.

But that being said, it's not the only news that recently broke.

Things are looking up. Heard over the weekend that maroon pants will return to the VT uniform selection.— Clark Ruhland (@Hokie20) January 7, 2013

#ALLMAROONEVERYTHING. Needless to say the athletic department read Joe's column about beating Alabama being the goal. The first two steps naturally need to be a change in the offensive coaching staff and the addition of maroon pants.

The third step? Ensuring that your three juniors come back for their senior seasons. Cornerback Antone Exum has all but said that he's coming back, leaving it up to defensive end James Gayle and quarterback Logan Thomas. My guess without seeing their draft grades: Gayle strongly considers leaving, but ends up staying because of the strength of his position in this class. Thomas on the other hand strongly considers staying, but leaves because of the weakness at his position.

Obviously I could be wrong, but if I was a GM at the beginning of the second round and had a coach that could develop quarterbacks (looking at you Andy Reid/Kansas City) wouldn't you take a chance on a player with a very high ceiling/very low basement instead of someone with an average ceiling/average basement (like Mike Glennon)? I think general sentiment of about 60% of the GMs in the NFL say yes (and that those 40% are just trying to not lose their jobs).

Players have until Tuesday to declare, so this will be an INCREDIBLY interesting week for the program.

In other, non football related news, the basketball team lost it's third consecutive game by over twenty points, losing to Maryland 94-71 in College Park. Take it from someone who was at this game...it wasn't that close. Here are a few notes about the team:

• C.J. Barksdale never even took his sweats off, despite only having seven scholarship guys. JJ told reporters after the game that other players (read Christian Beyer, aka white thunder to Will Johnston's white lightning) were giving more effort. "Playing hard is one thing. If I've got a starter that's going out and playing 20 minutes and getting one rebound, that's not feasible to the program. That's not what I'm looking for at that position." He then dropped the mike and walked out.
• Teams have been looking to basically let Erick Green get his points, and focus most of their defense to getting in Robert Brown and Jarrell Eddie's heads. It's working, as the two are currently shooting enough bricks to build Curt Newsome a house in Harrisonburg.
• JJ also went big to start the UMD game and started both Cadarian Raines and Joey van Zegeren. It was interesting, but after Raines' second travel the experiment never saw a bulk of minutes together. The lack of a power forward hurts with Marshall Wood out with a foot injury, and Barksdale out emulating Jeff Allen.
• In my opinion, this team just looks like it needs a spark. Personally, I want this to come from Cadarian Raines. I want him to develop a Kendrick Perkins scowl, make opposing players regret coming into the lane and telling opposing center's that their girlfriends taste like Honey Nut Cheerios.

On that note, let's move on to national news.

• Alabama beat, destroyed, dismantled, turned Manti Te'o into Brian Bosworth, embarrassed Notre Dame 42-14. I am convinced Saban saw Texas A&M's Cotton Bowl score and wanted to best it by a point, just for motivation. The man is insane stating after the win he'd enjoy the national championship for a day, then get to work on next season. This game hurt non-SEC folk more than RGIII hurt his knee. Come on, it's not too soon! Okay...it may be a little too soon.
• After a 41-13 route of Oklahoma, pictures and reports have come out of College Station reporting that...well basically that Johnny Manziel likes to party (if you don't know, just Google "Johnny Manziel Likes to Party"). Can you blame him? Scooby Football (also, just Google it) can pretty much do anything he wants to in a small college town. Hey Aggie fans, last time the Hokies had a quarterback like that he was kicked off the team twice, stomped on a future NFL linebacker's leg and held up a McDonalds. Gig 'em.
• Florida State won their first BCS game since beating the Hokies in the national title game after the '99 season. After beating "Cinderella" Northern Illinois, the Seminoles want to think that "they're back." But then reports surfaced that 'Noles running back James Wilder Jr. was arrested for the third time in less than a year. NOW they're officially back.

That's all for this week, hopefully I'll be back next week with Peppier news (amirite???).