I really just needed to know if Im the only one that feels Tyrod Taylor deserves to have his name and number on one of those flags above the student section honoring past Hokie greats.
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I say they should go for it. Tyrod is one of if not the most beloved Hokie in Virginia Tech history and stayed all 4 year he had eligibility. It would be nice to see that #5 Taylor flag blowing in the wind atop Lane.
Amen
Well, let's apply the oft-debated criteria for induction. No significant national awards, but...he was ACC POY (2010), ACC Offensive POY (2010), and is a two-time ACC Championship Game MVP (2008, 2010). Led us to three BCS Bowl Games (starter/contributor on three ACC Championship teams), and holds the Tech career records for Total Offense, Wins by a Starting QB, Rushing TD's by a QB, and TD passes in a season. Removing MV7's two-year accolades and MNC appearance, given Tyrod's body of work and imprint on Tech's record books, he is by all-intents-and-purposes the most accomplished quarterback in Tech history.
Totally agree. They should put the Blacksburg Nebraska finale, the Stanford Orange Bowl BeastMode touchdown, and 3rd-and-31 on repeat on the new scoreboard.
And this image...
I love how you can see Ryan Shuman in the background about to crush a Cincy defender that he has, apparently, already crushed.
let's add his 2010 ACCCG against Florida State...what did he have like 12 - 3rd down conversions in a row?
Something like that...
...and Danny Coale is still wide open...
http://www.hokiesports.com/retired/
Tyrod was a great leader and a great Hokie, but I don't think we will be seeing his jersey retired. He had a great body of work, but I don't believe he ever won any major national award.
I believe the way he helped the team rebound after the start of the 2010 season, is reason enough.
That's what I was going to say. He was a great leader.
He won my heart. Isn't that enough!?
He won my heart too Horse.
He is probably in my top 5 of favorite Hokies. I was even more excited the day Tyrod picked us over Florida then I was the day Kevin Jones (#1 recruit in America) picked us over Penn State. He was the next big thing out of the 757 - and he lived up to expectations - leading the team with great play for a better part of 4 years.
Thankfully, the VT athletic dept came up with a policy that makes the line pretty clear on who gets retired and who misses the cut. You have to win a major national individual award to be considered. Heisman, Walter Camp, Maxwell, Nagurski, etc. In other words, you have to be the elite of the elite.
The only other VT QB up there is Michael Vick. Heisman Finalist, ESPY player of the year winner, National Championship Appearance. And my favorite stat - 20-1 as a starter.
Tyrod is in that 2nd tier of great Hokies along with TD Lee Suggs, Kevin Jones, Shayne Graham, Vince Hall, Macho Harris to name a few. Great careers and great Hokies - just not elite.
Agreed, and to look on the bright side of that: we will have more numbers and names put up there. There will be more elite of the elite coming through this program in the future. That'll be fun.
Agree to disagree.
Quarterback is far and away the most important position in sports, as well as the most difficult. I refuse to believe that an All-American Tight End is as important as an All-conference Quarterback. I understand the desire to put up benchmarks to decide who qualifies but there's no need to write those qualifications in stone. It's not like we're talking about tax policy. We're talking about putting a number up on a banner in a stadium for purely sentimental reasons.
We are talking about an honor being extended to a player which exhibited all the qualities we look for at Tech throughout his FOUR YEAR career. What he accomplished in his four years at Tech was probably more physically, emotionally, and intellectually taxing than anything I'll ever do in a similar time frame.
TL;DR Tyrod deserves to have his number retired.
Hokiefan,
I agree on your take of the importance of QBs. Although football is the ultimate team sport, they can add more value to a team than a good TE.
I guess where we differ is the significance of the banner. The banner is more than sentimental. There are other ways to honor players for sentimental reasons. The banner is part of Virginia Tech history. The banner will in be Lane Stadium forever. The banner is seen be every student, athlete, alumni, opposing team for as long as college football is played. When someone sees a banner of a former player 30 years from now - and has no emotional attachment to that player, that team, that era, they will want to know more about that player and why they were so deserving.
Tyrod had a chance in 2010 to put together that special season that would have left no doubt about his inclusion on one of those select poles. He had the supporting cast and schedule to boot. What happened? He went up against two All-American QBs of his era (Kellen Moore and Andrew Luck) and whiffed - went 0 for 2. And then there is JMU.
Actually, Tyrod Taylor's career reminds me a lot of EJ Manuel's at Florida State. Both highly touted QBs out of high school. Both split time with co-starters their first two years - Tyrod and Glennon, EJ and Ponder - often times outperforming their starting competition. They both led their teams to bowl wins, BCS bowl wins and ACC championships (Tyrod trumping Manuel in their head to head). Both put up similar career TD and total yard numbers. Worthy comparison to the first round draft pick?
They had GREAT careers!
But know this - Manuel is not going to see his jersey retired at Doak Campbell. He is not joining this star studded/select list http://www.seminoles.com/trads/fsu-trads-retired.html
I guess my point is, there will be other ways to honor T Mobile. He had a great career - just not banner worthy. I know this is not a popular opinion - so I will brace for the down arrows :-)
I live in State College, PA, and the fans up here who actually pay attention to recruiting (and are old enough to remember Kevin Jones going to VT) absolutely hate that he became a Hokie. Seems like that feeling will last forever (they shake the angry fist at me for it. Shake harder, boy!)
FWIW, I fully believe Tyrod could have led the 2011 team to a National Title game if it hadn't been for a certain former quarterback being incapable of succeeding and forcing the coaches to burn Tyrod's redshirt.
I believe we would've handled clemson for sure
i cant believe i never thought of this before...my dislike for glennon as a quarterback was just renewed, especially remembering standing in the cold and rain and watching logan self destruct in the Clemson game at home when the crowd had been electric pre kick off and into the start of the game.
Tyrod Taylor will be a first ballot hall of famer at Virginia Tech, but I don't think we need to retire his jersey. Retiring jerseys needs to be reserved for the most elite of accomplishments. I mean... he was never even an All-American.
We really don't even retire jerseys we just put their name on a flag and I haven't seen a Tech player lately more deserving than Tyrod.
I agree that we haven't seen a Tech player lately more deserving than Tyrod. But that doesn't mean he is deserving. We don't HAVE to retire a jersey every five or so years. The most recent player was Jake Grove, who won the Rimington as the NATION'S top center. Before that, Michael Vick and Corey Moore, who both won awards as the NATION'S best at their respective positions. If we retire Tyrod, then why not Lee Suggs (NCAA record holder)? What about Vince Hall, who led the team in tackles for, I dunno, 10 straight seasons. Tyrod is a top five (3? 2?) QB in Virginia Tech history. Hell of a player, and a fan favorite. You know who else was? Bryan Randall (the guy who owned all the school records Tyrod broke). Just a thought.
To add onto that, Logan should easily take over some of the Career marks this year.
Ha that's another whole debate in itself. He was supposed to do great last year. I'm not getting greedy with my expectations for him this year.
I came in here about to say that yes, he is worthy, based on the 3 ACC championships, ACC POY and 2 ACCCG MVPs. But honestly, I kind of lean the other way now if the most common argument to his individual excellence is that "he was such a great leader" -- a totally subjective assessment that, let's be honest, we watching in the stadium or on TV have very little way to judge.
Tyrod is the most accomplished QB in Virginia Tech history. That might have to be enough.
I might have missed some, but after a quick glance at the record book on Hokie Sports, I expect Logan to take over the top spot in all of these catagories. He is:
11 behind career TD passes (37 to Brian Randall's 48)
921 behind career passing yards (6,096 to Tyrod Taylor's 7,017)
74 behind career Passes attempted (846 to Will Furrer's 920)
29 behind career passes completed (466 to Tyrod Taylor's 495)
2,102 behind career total offense (7,111 to Tyrod Taylor's 9,213)
187 behind career plays (1179 to Tyrod Taylor's 1366)
All that said, Logan hasn't lead us to an ACC championship or major bowl win like Tyrod did. This year is his last chance to avoid becoming our Dan Marino.
Well he got Finkled out of a major bowl win in the Sugar Bowl...
IT WAS A CATCH!
You'll get no argument from me on that
One argument in favor of Taylor is career wins/winning percentage as starting QB. He's 1st in total Wins, and at least among recent starters, 2nd to Michael Vick in winning percentage:
Tyrod Taylor 34-4 (0.895)
Bryan Randal 27-12 (0.692)
Michael Vick 20-1 (0.952)
Sean Glennon 18-8, (0.692)
Logan Thomas 18-9 (0.667)
Marcus Vick 11-2 (0.846)
Grant Noel 10-4 (0.714)
I wasn't able to find the actual numbers listed anywhere, so i had to compile them myself, if anyone notices any problems, please point them out. I know that there is at least one QB between Bryan Randal and Sean Glennon in Total Wins, since the article I pulled Glennon's Win/Loss record from said he had the 5th most wins of any QB under Beamer And Tyrod broke Randal's career wins record.
Michael Vick did not start against UAB in 1999 (injury) or against Miami and Central Florida in 2000 (injury). In 1999 he was 10-1 as starter and in 2000 he was 10-0 for a record of 20-1 (0.952)
Thanks, I fixed it above
Grant Noel won 10 games?
I wouldn't necessarily say that he won them, but he did start them. 8-4 in 2001, 2-0 in 2002 getting credit for Bryan Randall's win against LSU
Tyrod Taylor - 5-0 as starter in 2007. 8-2 in 2008 (First loss of career @BC - he had won his first 9. Why were we ever starting Glennon??? The other loss that season for him was vs FSU - he only played the first snap). 10-3 in 2009. 11-3 in 2010. 34-8 record as a starter.
Trying to redshirt him at the beginning of his Freshman and Sophomore years and high ankle sprains towards the middle of both years.
OK, I'm not sure why, but Wikipedia has Tyrod's record listed as 34-4 in the intro paragraph, but mentions that he was 23-5 at the end of his Junior year. That would put him at 34-8 (0.810), with the 2010 season factored in. An article on Gobbler country says, "In three years, he’s compiled a 28-6 record as a starter; in one of those losses he was injured on the game’s first play." Factoring the 2010 season into that number yields a 39-9 record (0.813).
I think that the discrepancies are a combination of games that Glennon started and Tyrod played in and Bowl games. I know that the 4 losses in my original post was wrong, since he was 21-6 in his last two years.
The 23-5 after his junior year is correct.
Tyrod had Swag.
I admitedly wasn't the biggest Tyrod fan (not because he wasn't a great kid and leader, because he was, but because he didn't improve his passing until very late in his career.) Now I attribute that failure to improve on his coaching, but imagine how much more effective the offense is during that stretch if he adds three step drop and throw sharply into his arsenal? I am not sure if I would retire anyone else right now, but if they did, this is my order for who deserves it:
1) Tyrod Taylor
2) Antonio Freeman
3) Brandon Flowers
4) Daryl Tapp
5) Ryan Williams
Honorable Mention:
Nick Marshman or Jon Dunn, because hey, don't the guys who finish last get prizes too?
Pretty solid list. Glad you included Freeman on there. I think most would agree that Tyrod is probably the closest former player to making it. I would go
1) Tyrod Taylor
2) Kevin Jones
3) Shayne Graham
4) Antonio Freeman
5) Lee Suggs (for the NCAA record for most consecutive games scoring a touchdown)
Just missed: Andre Davis, Daryl Tapp, Vince Hall, Jimmy Williams
Jimmy Williams vs Brock Berlin in 2004 might be the single best game played by a VT defensive back in my lifetime, but I take Flowers 1, Williams 2.
Jayron Hosley would be in the discussion as well (although his stretch towards the late part of 2011 hurt him prior to his terrific Sugar Bowl.)
Nic Schmidt. Biggest dude on the field.