Hokies' Keeping Major Decisions Close to the Vest in Last Scrimmage

With the amount of secrecy surrounding Virginia Tech's football team right now, you might confuse one of the Hokies' practices for a covert operation.

Not only was Tech's scrimmage closed once again today, but the staff is staying tight-lipped on hot-button subjects like which running backs will play this year, who will start at kicker, and of course, who will start under center against William and Mary.

"We need to talk and we'll be picking someone. I think we need to talk with Scot (Loeffler) and the offense and then talk with you guys," said Frank Beamer. "We're going to move forward here pretty quick. They've made it hard, both of them playing real well."

Beamer hinted that an announcement could come as soon as tomorrow, or it might come out Monday when the team meets with the media once more.

"Mark (Leal) and I don't really know anything yet, but we'll know soon," said Michael Brewer.

Leal does seem to have fought his way back into the mix with Brenden Motley still nursing an injury, and he combined with Brewer to have a big day on offense.

Leal threw a 55-yard score to Bucky Hodges, while Brewer threw a pair of long touchdowns to freshman receiver Isaiah Ford.

"Brewer and I, I think we're both great quarterbacks, and whoever coach wants, that's who he's going to call," Leal said.

While fans and the media obsess over who will start at QB, Loeffler warns that the backup will have an important role to play now that the durable Logan Thomas is NFL-bound.

"This league is a league where you're one snap away and the luxury that we had over the last three years with Logan is he's 6'6", he's 250 pounds, that's not our luxury this year," Loeffler said. "Regardless of which direction we go, they're both going to be very, very important."

The one area where there was some clarity after the scrimmage was at receiver. Isaiah Ford was the breakout performer with his two long scores and a total of 94 yards on the day.

"He's a guy that as soon as he stepped on campus you heard from the DBs that he had a chance to be really good, and in the first couple days of camp you noticed him," Loeffler said.

While it should be noted that his best plays came against the second-team defense, wide receivers coach Aaron Moorehead talked frequently about his potential to start alongside Josh Stanford early and often.

"You're going to play the best two or three guys as starters, and he's definitely in that group and he deserves it, period," Moorehead said. "If you go out and do what you're supposed to do and uphold your end of the bargain, then as coach you have to hold up your end of the bargain which is put the best guys on the field and right now he's deserving of that."

That would displace last year's starter, Demitri Knowles, who's been struggling with an ankle injury in camp and has fallen behind the talented freshman.

"Demitri got banged up early in camp and didn't practice for a while and that kind of put him back, but guys step up and were able to get in position for playing time," Moorehead said. "But Demitri is going to come back and is going to fight for his playing time. Right now, he's got to prove he deserves to be on the football field for more than a couple plays a game. He's got to earn 10 snaps, 15 snaps, or getting back to being a starter."

While the injury certainly played a role, it would seem that Ford's ability to stretch the field vertically is what's heard him such early accolades.

"I can make plays down the field or with the ball in my hands, and when we need a big play, I can make one," Ford said.

Freshman Cam Philips also caught a touchdown from Motley while playing against the first-team defense, but Moorehead cautions not to forget about a veteran like Stanford.

"He's been a guy that quietly probably had the best camp of all the guys," Moorehead said. "He's running great routes, he's catching the football, the inconsistency issues he had last year are pretty much gone."

For Moorehead, the explosiveness the group has displayed has been a relief compared to the rigors of last year.

"For a first camp, just looking at the difference between this year's camp and last year's camp, it's like night and day," Moorehead said. "You can kind of take a breath as a coach and it's a reminder that you've got a lot of options out there."

The young talent has also been on display in the running game, with freshman Marshawn Williams returning to full contact and running for 54 yards in the scrimmage.

"It was nice to see him out there for the first time in a long time, so it was good getting him out there and knocking the cobwebs off, was a really good thing," Loeffler said. "You saw some fresh legs. He's done a really, really good job of getting his weight down while he was injured, so it was good that he was in there."

It's lucky that Williams seems fully healthy again, because Beamer still sounded a little bit concerned about Trey Edmunds' progress working back from his broken leg.

"To me, he doesn't look like the same guy," Beamer said. "He's working hard to get there but I don't see that burst right now. But he can keep working and getting back. That's probably part of that tailback discussion we're getting ready to have."

The staff stayed mum on who would be playing and if any redshirts were a possibility, but, like the quarterback decision, it seems to be coming soon.

"Scot and Shane and I met a little bit this morning about the situation, and we're going to talk about it in detail after we watch this video," Beamer said.

There was less of a focus on defense today given the offense's big numbers, but Beamer says that's no reason to worry.

"As a head coach, you worry about 'good things happen offensively, what about defense,' or 'good things happen for the defense, what about the offense?'" Beamer said. "But I thought there was good on both sides to go around today."

Because the second team defense spent a fair amount of time working against the first team offense, it likely explains some of the offensive fireworks. But it was also the case of the offense responding effectively to what they were given.

"We were successful running the football on our first scrimmage and they tried to take away the run and did some things a little bit different, so we had to throw the ball a little bit more," Loeffler said.

The defense still came away feeling positive, particularly when it comes to defensive line depth.

According to DT Corey Marshall, the backup defensive ends seem to be playing well enough that he won't have to slide over to DE any time soon.

"Coach Wiles and I haven't discussed that, but I'm sure if it was ever to get that thin, we'd have a conversation," Marshall said. "I'm already in some of the 30 packages, but right now, we've got full confidence in the guys that we're already out there, and I'm sure they'll be able to step up when their number's called."

Marshall also notes that one young guy is really jumping out to him — Ricky Walker.

"Ricky reminds me a lot of Skip. I don't know if it's just because he's wearing that 98, but he's got a lot of quickness, a lot of twitch," Marshall said. "Ricky's going to be a good player, I'm curious to see what they do with him this year, but he's got a lot talent, the sky is the limit with him."

However, he did seem him get a little banged up during the scrimmage, even if he's not sure what quite happened.

"I don't know exactly what happened, you can defer to Mike (Goforth) and those guys, but he had some ice on his knee," Marshall said. "He got chopped, apparently, something happened."

And like everything else as camp wraps up, the coaches aren't spilling the beans on what, if anything, that means for Walker.

Now fans have to wait with bated breath as the coaches get ready to spring some very big news on the public very suddenly.

"We're getting closer, it's probably all going to happen at once," Beamer said.