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No team in college football has won four titles in the span of 5 years. Alabama however, may be the first to do so if things go right again for the Tide. Take away the mishap that was the Oklahoma State- Iowa State game in '11 or the two missed FG's between Oregon and Stanford last season and this year's talk of a three-peat is possibly nullified. There is no denying that Alabama was good enough to get to- and subsequently win all three of their titles over the last four years, yet, without a little luck to boot they could have very well not have made it onto the national stage as many times. Maybe famed Yankees pitcher Lefty Gomez was right when he'd say, "I'd rather be lucky than good."

The RVD news is very, very disappointing. We're going to miss him this year.

Losing Mark Schuman really stings, as he was a guy that could play both tackle and guard positions. At least he'll be back by the end of September. Wyatt Teller makes me feel better about OL depth - - I don't think he redshirts this year.

And of course, JCC with two sprained ankles probably won't be back for several weeks. Can Jerome Wright and Chris Mangus replace him for Alabama?

Also of note - with Jerome Wright moving to RB, that pretty much guarantees that our top two fullbacks will be Fuller Hoepner and Sam Rogers. Me likey. I'm looking forward to watching Sam Rogers literally beat up a linebacker.

If after this video, you are digging around the basement for pads and a helmet, you've got no pulse #football http://t.co/Xgmv0zm0C0— Wright Thompson (@wrightthompson) August 15, 2013

Maybe it's just me (and I'll delete this thread if it just me), but I'd like just one thread regarding the rest of the 2014 class so I don't have to flip through several different threads to figure out what's going on. Unless there are objections, I'm going ahead and making this the official thread for the rest of 2014 recruits. I'll update it regularly when we get new information.

Here are some the targets that we're going after, position, their rating according to 247 sports, their hometown, and VT's status with them:

A video contest was recently launched on the VT Athletics Facebook page that gives us, the fans, a chance to deliver our best pep talk to the Hokies. The winner will have the opportunity to lead the team out of the tunnel and into Lane Stadium prior to the Marshall game on Sept. 21!

I stumbled upon this story about how we #BEATBAMA this year. Just thought it was funny and wanted to share it. It even includes TKP in the story!

http://college-football.si.com/2013/08/13/alabama-virginia-tech-fake-ora...

Phil Steele's bowl projections are out today. He has the Hokies coming in 2nd in the ACC with FSU in the Orange Bowl and Alabama/Ohio State in the NC game. At least Phil believes in our comeback, which is more than I can say for most sportscasters:

" Chick-fil-A Bowl (ACC vs. SEC)
Dec. 31, 2013 -- Atlanta
Projection: Virginia Tech Hokies vs. South Carolina Gamecocks

After being a huge disappointment last season, the Hokies get back to their winning ways with 15 returning starters and win the ACC Coastal for the fifth time in seven years. The Gamecocks win 10 regular-season games for the third consecutive year but miss out on the SEC championship game again thanks to an early-season loss to Georgia."

I was at the open scrimmage/football scrimmage yesterday and here's what stood out to me:

Alabama gets my vote as the worst fan base in America. I'm hoping to change my mind with your help. College football is cyclical along with my tolerance for teams who climb up and down the ladder and Alabama has held the #1 worst fan base in my view since 2009. Its not just their dominance that fuels this--other teams in the past have dominated and not managed to piss me off so much. While in Atlanta in 2009 it didn't take long for the first person to approach me and make a bad impression. I wouldn't let one person or a few people, or even a few groups of people cast a generalization for the entire Bama empire. I was willing to let many things slide. But it didn't end with just a few.

Interesting responses, felt like sharing.

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/9543856/college-football-...

I got into a little debate with one of my friends about this and I wanted to bring it to TKP to see what the overall response was.

Imagine it's four years from now. Frank Beamer decides it's time to hang it up after winning his first and only national championship. Virginia Tech decides to make Bud Foster the new head coach of Virginia Tech. Because of Bud's promotion, VT needs a new defensive coordinator.

After going 32-61 in his tenure, that school in Charlottesville decides to let Mike London go. Like a little puppy dog lost in a snowstorm, he comes to Blacksburg in hopes of securing the vacant DC position.

My question to TKP: Under this scenario, would you want Mike London as our new DC?

ICYMI, EG will be playing in Italy for the upcoming season. After some offseason free agent signings and an already crowded backcourt, I guess this will be a good thing for him (get faster, stronger, etc.). He would not be getting much tick as it is.

http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-07-31/sports/40904063_1_erick-gr...

I'm not going to comment on the picture, I'll let it speak for itself.

Football's back. The players reported to camp yesterday, got all of their new gear, had a team meeting, and the most important part for us, got weighed again. The first practice is later today, but for now, let's overanalyze their weights. As always, some come into camp a little too heavy and we speculate, but we never actually know. The tables below show players weights at each weigh-in for the past year. If there is a / with two weights, the first weight is what was listed a few weeks ago, before the weigh-in (freshmen only). Keep in mind, if a player remains roughly the same weight, that doesn't mean they didn't gain muscle. They could have gained 10 pounds of muscles but also lost 10 pounds of fat.

The 2013 Spring Depth Chart is out...

http://www.hokiesports.com/football/depth/

OFFENSE
QB: Logan, Mark Leal, Rody
Split End: DJ Coles, Stanford, EL Smiling
Flanker: Demetri, Charley Meyer, Joel Caleb
Tailback: Trey / JC, Tony Gregory
TE: Malleck, Zach McCray, Duan Perez Means

LT: McGlaughlin, Jake Goins, Ross Ward
LG: Benedict, Shuman, Kyle Chung
C: Caleb Farris, David Wang, Arkema
RG: Andrew Miller, Adam Taraschke, Marcus Mapp
RT: Gibson, Augie Conte, Parker Osterloh

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4SYExOAVXY

Last year I was fortunate enough to make it to all but one home game in Blacksburg...just by lottery luck. As the season progressed, I acquired clips at each game and made a few montages. At the end of the season I put together a compilation of all of my favorites, which I now share with you (link is at top)! I hope it's enough to add to your growing excitement for this coming season! GO HOKIES!!

Mike Denham

Sorry I've been away from posting for so long, but I saw this topic come up in some other posts and I thought it better to have it's own place for discussion so here it goes.

My proposal to the lottery solution is below. It admittedly has some flaws but you guys will get the general idea.

You come in as a Freshman with zero points. For every VT athletic event you go to, they scan your Hokie Passport. This happens EVERYWHERE, so if you go to a volleyball game, great, have a point. Same for wrestling, baseball, soccer, etc. You must also have your Hokie Passport scanned as you leave each event, if you dont do this, then you get no points.

I am really excited about this year.

After years of frustration watching Virginia Tech football lose it's identity on offense (and special teams), and losing games that could have been won, significant changes have finally been made.

The reaction to the new coaches was 'thank GOD' at first; then 'who are these guys?' and then 'I was expecting a little bit more at the Spring game....'
But slowly, as we have gotten some looks from recruits that we never would have before, and have expanded our recruiting footprint with apparent success, the Hokie faithful are starting to develop some love for the new staff; and hope that the new inspires the old to get back to Hokie football.

Has anyone received their tickets yet?

I got mine today along with my season tickets, I am in Section 132 Row 1. I'm kind of concerned about being so close making it hard to see. This is my first time going to the Georgia Dome so I wanted to see if maybe I should try to sell these and try to get some in a different section. Any feedback would be great!