Armed with 6 Screws and a Plate in his Collarbone, Michael Brewer Discusses His Return to Practice

Select Hokies' players and coaches met with the media Tuesday evening and spoke about Virginia Tech's Friday night battle with N.C. State.

Michael Brewer Nears Return

• Brewer split reps in Tuesday's practice, his first practice in pads (non-contact) since he broke his collarbone against Ohio State.
• Brewer still needs official clearance from doctors and trainers before he can play in a game.
• Brewer will test collarbone by taking a hit and falling on a mat. He will be x-rayed afterward.
• Was running and throwing 10 days post-surgery.
• Brewer broke his collarbone in three places. Surgeon repaired it with a plate and six screws.

Torrian Gray

• Young guys (Adonis Alexander, Terrell Edmunds) are making a lot of mistakes a game, not just one or two, but the only way to learn is through experience.
• Nickel Mook Reynolds is further along in his development than he was at the begining of the season, so it makes it a little less painful replacing nickel corner turned wideout Greg Stroman.
• Adonis Alexander is inconsistent, things may need to be simplified for him.
• North Carolina State has a lot of explosive skill players on offense.

Wade Hansen on OL Struggles

Starting left tackle Wade Hansen didn't mince words on the offensive line's dismal performance against Pittsburgh.

"Seven sacks and nine rush yards, it gets me kinda sick to my stomach, to be honest," said Hansen. "That's unacceptable as an offensive line unit."

The main culprit? Execution.

"There was some things that just technique that wasn't executed properly," said Hansen. "The left side executed something right, but the right side didn't. The whole play is going to be botched. Every single position from left tackle to right tackle has to be on the same program when it comes to our play."

Hansen was seemingly the lone bright spot throughout the offensive line, and Stacy Searels noted as much at Monday evening's Tech Talk Live.

"I was just trying to be as consistent as I could," said Hansen. "Especially, I've been struggling a little lately in the run game. Being able to sustain my blocks all the way through finishing people to the ground. I felt like I was able to do that very efficiently on Saturday. But it's not gonna all fall on one person. Everybody has to be able to do that."

Seven sacks — an astronomically high number for any offensive line in a single game — seemed to upset Hansen the most.

"I take it personal. It hurt me a lot," said Hansen. "When I see the ball get thrown, I see the ball going through the air, I typically look back and Motley...I looked back to make sure he was alright and when he's on the ground, I try to go over and help him up because he shouldn't be on the ground."

And with the potential for Michael Brewer to return in time for N.C. State, the offensive line could be under an even more intense microscope come Friday. But according to Hansen, the offensive line sets out to protect every quarterback just the same.

"To be honest, it doesn't matter which quarterback's back there," said Hansen. "They can not get hit as many times as it happened on Saturday. Whether it's Brewer, it's Lawson, or it's Motley, they all need to be protected. We just wanna make sure that they don't get hit."

Despite a disappointing Saturday that contributed to the Hokies dropping to 2-3 on the season, Hansen remains confident that the front-five can bounce back.

"We just need to be collective and pull ourselves together and move past it," said Hansen. "That's a game that we don't wanna dwell on and look back on. We just need to keep moving forward and execute as a group."

Trey Edmunds Dishes on the RB Rotation

The roulette-style running back rotation has been a hot topic in Blacksburg over the past few weeks, and I asked Trey Edmunds if he's had trouble getting into a rhythm with a limited number of carries each game.

"Oh yes, definitely, definitely," Edmunds replied. "But at the end of the day, like I said, I have no control over that. All I can do is just go out here throughout the week and just practice hard and at the end of the day it's the coach's decision."

Frank Beamer addressed the issue on Monday and said, "There's always so many touches in a game and percentage-wise you better have the right people touching the ball."

But with three running backs receiving a similar amount of carries, it remains unclear if Edmunds stands to be one of the beneficiaries of a narrowed running back rotation.

Greg Stroman to WR, Mook Reynolds to Start at Nickel

First-year wide receivers coach Zohn Burden has been on a never-ending search for a 3rd WR since arriving in Blacksburg, but with yesterday's news of Greg Stroman's switch to offense, that search may be over.

"Greg brings value, brings depth. Speed factor. Make you miss factor. Big play abilities. That's what I just acquired," said Burden.

Stroman, who got some burn on offense in the 2014 Military Bowl against Cincinnati, said he was approached by Frank Beamer about a potential move to the offense. Stroman says he took the request in stride.

"I don't think I would pick one," said Stroman when asked if he preferred offense or defense. "It's just a team game. I feel like if Coach needs me to play this, I'll do it. That was something I told him coming out of high school."

Stroman's transition leaves the starting nickel spot open for the taking, and true freshman Mook Reynolds appears poised to take it.

But Reynolds isn't all new to a first-team role. Over the past few weeks, Reynolds and Stroman have essentially swapped out each series, so Reynolds is confident that he'll be comfortable in his first "real start."

"It's college. Competition is pretty much the same. You just got to show up on Saturdays and execute what you're taught," said Reynolds. "It's not gonna be a big difference. I played a little bit, me and Greg. ECU was my first start. I got a lot of experience that game. So ever since then, me and Greg have just been swapping back and forth each series. I've kind of been prepped to be put in this situation. Now it's just time to step up really."

Reynolds nearly had his first career pick against East Carolina, but the referees ruled the play a fumble, much to the chagrin of the young cornerback.

"At the end of the day, it's still a stat," lamented Reynolds. "I wish it could have been a pick, but it's alright."

But should it have been an interception?

"Oh, it was a pick," laughed Reynolds. "The refs that game, they weren't on it, so i just gotta live with it."

Additional Quotes

Michael Brewer

ON THE PROGRESS HE'S MADE IN HIS RECOVERY:

"Basically, I've just been trying to push the envelope as much as they would let me with this whole deal. They've had to pull me back, take away the reigns a couple of times on me. But I feel good with it. I felt good throwing today. I felt like as practice went on I got better with it. I feel like I'll be back to 100% here pretty soon."

ON TONY ROMO'S BROKEN COLLARBONE:

"Yeah, that was a bad deal. Big Cowboys fan. Hopefully Tony can get back out there soon. Hopefully I'll be before him (laughs)."

ON IF HE'S LEARNED MORE ABOUT THE OFFENSE WHILE HE'S BEEN SIDELINED:

"Yeah, absolutely. You get to see it from a whole different perspective. Obviously it's a lot easier to have the headsets on and play quarterback that way than it is to be out there. But it's been good. Just studying the game plan every week and then having to think like a coach rather than a QB, it's been cool. I've gotten a couple of times to be up in the box with Loeffler, helping out with things, with the pass game. Identifying coverages and what not. And then sometimes I'm on the sidelines helping out Motley. It's been good. Like I said, just trying to do whatever I can to help the team."

Mook Reynolds

ON FRANK BEAMER SEEING A LACK OF EMOTION AGAINST PITTSBURGH:

"I know what he's talking about. It's just frustration with everybody right now, but I mean we're a team, so we're gonna get closer together. We're gonna figure this thing out."

Greg Stroman

ON WHERE HE NEEDS TO IMPROVE AT RECEIVER:

"It's a ton of things that you can always work on, but just little things. Just getting better at route running. Coming off the line. A lot of thing you can just get better at."

Zohn Burden

ON IF HE'S DISAPPOINTED A 3RD WR HASN'T EMERGED:

"I wouldn't say I'm disappointed. I think it's on me to get those guys prepared and just find roles. Right now, I'm trying my hardest to find a role. We are as a staff evaluating where we can fit them in and those guys have actually played. Kevin Asante has played more snaps the past couple games. So we're gonna build on that."

Trey Edmunds

ON IF HE'S CONCERNED ABOUT A FULL SPEED PRACTICE ON THURSDAY:

"No, not at all. I can think back to last year when we played UVA on a Friday. It was a sort of similar situation...Of course you wanna look at, are the players gonna have their full legs and things like that. But I feel like the coaches aren't doing too much to us. I feel like we'll be able to go out there and go 100% Friday night."

ON THE EDMUNDS BROTHER'S DANCE APPEARING TO BE CHOREOGRAPHED:

"It did. It did. I promise it wasn't choreographed (laughs)."

Wade Hansen

ON IF HE WAS SURPRISED BY POOR PERFORMANCE AGAINST PITTSBURGH:

"I felt like we were getting together as a unit. Especially going on the road against Purdue. I felt like that was a great turning point for us after Furman. But, I can't really explained how that (Pittsburgh) happened, to be honest. I know there's just misexecution. That was the biggest issue. We need to be able to turn the corner if we want to be a competitor in this ACC. We need to make sure that we do execute because that was our biggest problem."

ON WATCHING THE PITTSBURGH FILM:

"It was tough to watch film and see that we were struggling. They're gonna coach us up the best they can after watching film. There's gonna be critiques and you gotta be able to take that the right way. You can't feel sorry about yourself. You gotta be a man and you gotta harden up."