Hokies Sift Through Stable of Now-Healthy Running Backs, Develop Continuity on the Offensive Line

Frank Beamer insists he's learned his lesson.

After earning his fair share of criticism over the last two years for working too many running backs into the rotation, the head Hokie says this season will be different.

"I think we've got to limit ourselves," Beamer said Tuesday. "Shane (Beamer) learned from that, I certainly learned from that. Just trying to play too many and you've got to get in there and get settled and get into a rhythm and we never allowed that to happen, so we're aware of what needs to take place."

But with five tantalizing options at tailback, that's easier said than done. Beamer says he expects J.C. Coleman, Trey Edmunds and Travon McMillian to earn the bulk of the carries this season, yet the recovering Shai McKenzie and Marshawn Williams could figure into the mix as well.

But with both dealing with the residual effects of ACL tears last year, it remains to be seen how much either one can contribute this year. Many have speculated that one or both could end up redshirting, yet the younger Beamer says the staff hasn't seriously considered that contingency just yet.

"It's nothing we've really discussed as a staff or with either one of them," the running backs coach said. "I think we all know at the back of our heads that it's a possibility. We don't want to play either one of them before they're ready to play."

Yet Shane believes both are rapidly nearing the point where they'll be back at full strength once more. McKenzie is a few months ahead of Williams in his recovery process, simply because he got hurt earlier in the year last season, but both still have some work to do.

"Shai did have his injury earlier than Marshawn, so Marshawn's a little bit farther behind, not just from a health standpoint, but a conditioning standpoint too, being in shape," Shane said. "They both put on some weight, not being able to run a whole lot, so we've got to get their weight down, got to get in shape, so there are a lot of factors at play."

But the position coach does note that he thinks both backs have cleared the mental hurdles inherent in catastrophic knee injuries.

"Shai told me the other day that he feels better than ever, his confidence in his knee is better than ever, that he can tell the difference in the strength of his knee this year right now to last year at this time before he even hurt the knee," Shane said. "I think they're past those mental blocks. The first time that Shai carried the football in a pad situation, we had shoulder pads on the other day, he couldn't wait to get in the huddle and was rearing to go and had a look in his eye that showed he was ready to roll. And the same thing with Marshawn. So I think they're ok from a mental standpoint and they're beyond that, they've attacked the rehab, they were both awesome at the rehab that year in the training room. They're two mature kids, that's for sure."

Yet, for all their progress, the elder Beamer insists that redshirt years are very much on the table for both players, but the team won't make a final decision for a few weeks yet.

"I think we get through preseason and before it's time to play that first game, make a decision at that point the direction you want to go," Frank said. "But you never know about injuries between now and then, things change. And they changed last year on us. But the week before that first game, that Wednesday or Thursday, I think that's when we make decisions."

That sudden change in the RB rotation Beamer alluded to from a season ago remains very much a factor on the coaches' minds. Shane notes that last year's series of RB injuries has the staff wary of taking any player out of the mix too early.

"I think about it all the time, how you handle it," Shane said. "Travon, our staff was probably split going into the first game, do we redshirt him or do we not redshirt him? And we decided to redshirt him, but hindsight being 20/20, he probably would've been our starter if we'd played him."

But the RBs coach has to balance that type of thinking with the chance the staff inadvertently wastes a year of eligibility for a player who ends up marginalized.

"I don't want Shai or Marshawn or J.C. or Trey or Travon standing next to me on the sideline playing two or three plays a game and wasting a year," Shane said.

Even with at least one redshirt in the backfield looking likely, Shane hopes last year's lessons in the "next man up" ethos also trickle down to the backs themselves.

"You're sitting at fourth or fifth today and the next thing you know you could be starting," Shane said. "Jerome Wright was on the scout team then two weeks later he's got a bunch of carries against Miami in a two week span, so that was a good lesson for all those guys and I think more than anything it gave that room confidence."

If Edmunds can return to his 2013 form, that'll go a long way to keep Tech's rotation much shorter this year. So far, Beamer says all signs point to Edmunds returning with a bang this season.

"I think Trey is better than Trey ever was right now," Beamer said. "People ask me 'is Trey back to the Trey of old?' To me, Trey's there and way beyond that. Granted, we're in four days, so temper those expectations, but I think he's looked better than he ever has."

His enthusiasm stems from Edmunds' bulked up new frame.

"He's put on weight, I think he's about 15 pounds heavier than he was in 2013 when he was the starter, I think he's 225 right now, he was around the 210 mark when he got hurt," Beamer said. "He had a great summer, and he's stronger. He's muscled up, he's got a better feel for the running back position."

A new and improved Edmunds will also free up fullback Sam Rogers to move all over the field this year. QB Michael Brewer noted at the ACC Kickoff that the slew of RB injuries forced the Hokies to press Rogers into service as a tailback last season, limiting where the versatile player could see the field.

Shane doesn't think that'll be the case this year.

"We've always used him in the passing game, but I think (OC Scot Loeffler) would always limit him to this, limit him to that," Beamer said. "But now I think with some of the things we're doing in practice, we can put him different places because he's a matchup problem for linebackers and some of our defensive backs, if I'm being honest. He catches the ball really well and you have some flexibility from a personnel standpoint. Is he a fullback, is he a receiver, is he a tailback? So he can do a lot for you and that comes with his knowledge of the offense and his development as a player."

While Rogers didn't get a chance to practice his craft on the field in spring practice due to an elbow fracture he suffered in the team's Military Bowl win, Beamer says much of that aforementioned development happened in the work he did while lending a hand to his position coach during practice.

"During spring practice I'd just let him signal to the running backs," Beamer said. "We signal everything because we're no-huddle, so he'd signal every single play of every practice to the running backs. So it kept him involved, number one, it kept him from a mental standpoint hearing stuff, and it allowed me to go out on the field and stand behind the running backs instead of staying on the sideline throughout practice. If anything, during scrimmages he was able to get on the headphones and hear Lefty in the press box, so that was a good experience for him to hear what we go through on game days."

With that experience under his belt and his injury fully healed, Rogers is ready to apply his vaunted leadership skills on the field once more.

"It's great to have him back out there, being able to help the younger guys, being able to take Steven Peoples and talk him through certain techniques," Beamer said. "He knows the tailback position, so being able to take DeShawn McClease or Travon McMillian or whoever and help them out there as well, there's so many things he brings to the table from a football standpoint and a pure leadership standpoint."

But all of Rogers' efforts will be for naught if the offensive line can't capitalize on the continuity that has many excited about the unit's capabilities this fall.

"There's a lot of continuity," said right tackle Wade Hansen. "We're working hard every day, trying to stay together as an offensive unit, and it all starts with the offensive line up front for the offense, so we're just trying to make sure that we have a solid base because we're the foundation of the offense, just making sure that we're good."

Hansen was among the bigger question marks on the line heading into the spring. Since then, he's solidified a starting spot on the right side after he radically reshaped his body to add the bulk that OL coach Stacy Searels covets.

That work hasn't stopped this summer, even if his diet doesn't near the 10,000-calorie per day meal plan of the past.

"I maintain my weight, I'm about 300 pounds, give or take," Hansen said. "With the amount of lifting and running and cardiovascular work we're doing, we're burning a lot of calories, so we've got to make sure we're able to maintain our weight and still build that muscle that we want and so I don't if it's 10,000, but it's pretty close."

Hansen's counterparts on the defensive line say they've noticed the difference in his physicality, as well as the progress of the line as a whole.

"Since last fall, they've taken some great steps forward and I think depth was an issue with them, but the backups seem pretty good," said defensive end Ken Ekanem. "There's (Yosuah) Nijman, he's looking really great, really athletic in space, Jon's great, Parker (Osterloh), Wade's really progressed a lot since last season, I'm really impressed with the offensive line. They have a great chemistry and a really good bond, I'm really excited to see what they can do with our running game and passing game."

The mention of Nijman's name among the OL standouts may seem surprising after the freshman struggled mightily with the transition from DE to OT in the spring, but Ekanem says he can personally vouch for Nijman's improvement.

"I go against him a lot, so I'm really impressed with what he's done, just being switched over in the spring," Ekanem said. "He has really long arms and he's good at replacing him. Because my thing is I knock down the hands and go around them, but when I knock his down, he replaces him them really quickly, he does a really good job with that. It's really interesting to see how he'll progress in his time here."

Hansen attributes some of that progress to the unit's tireless work in the offseason. While linemen may not be able to do the same sort of seven-on-seven drills that preoccupy the rest of the team, the RT says the line still spent plenty of time working to get sharpen their skills this summer.

"It was a great opportunity to have this indoor facility and come in here and work our footwork together, make sure we're getting our calls together," Hansen said. "Just making sure we're all on the same page when it came to the different looks that we got from a defensive standpoint."

Hansen confesses that he's spent so much time on campus getting in extra work that he's barely made it back home this summer, with the exception of one week after the spring semester's exams wrapped up.

In fact, he's been so consumed with football that he even seems to lack the time necessary to shave his prodigious beard.

"I need to trim it up a little bit, the sideburns are getting a little furry on me," Hansen said with a chuckle. "I'd like to keep it, I don't know if Coach Beamer likes it all that much."

Hansen says his coach hasn't given him a straightforward talk about shaving just yet, merely tossing a few snarky comments his way like "'see you're missing your razor.'"

But it seems a sure bet that, like the similarly outrageously groomed lineman Wyatt Teller, Beamer's concerns about Hansen's fashion choices will fall away if he can open big holes for the running backs this fall.

"Regardless of who we play against, we're gonna give it everything we've got, we're gonna watch the film, do the homework, it doesn't matter who we play," Hansen said.