The Players' Tribune published a tribute for former Virginia Tech head coach Frank Beamer from the perspective of players who played for Beamer. Michael Vick, the Fuller brothers, among others contributed, but the most interesting detail to me was from DeAngelo Hall.
From the very first time I met Coach Beamer as a 15-year-old kid attending VT summer football camp, I felt a special connection with him. As the years passed, we stayed close, and when I graduated from high school, I enthusiastically signed my letter of intent to become a Hokie. Coach Beamer said that my recruiting class had the talent to play for a national championship. Looking back, he was right. Though I didn't stay in school for my senior year (which is one of the biggest regrets on my life), that Virginia Tech team that I would have been on ended up winning the ACC in their first year in the conference. They lost to an undefeated Auburn team 16-13 in the Sugar Bowl, but I'd like to think that if myself and Kevin Jones were on the team, we would have delivered Coach Beamer the national championship he so very much deserves.
Honestly, that still haunts me to this day. I feel like I let Coach Beamer down, even though I know he would never tell me that. When I met with him and the other coaches to tell them I was forgoing my senior year to enter the draft, Coach Beamer was very supportive, and encouraged me to go for it. He knew as well as anybody that I might have been able to help our team, but he wasn't thinking about the team. He was thinking about me. That's just the kind of person Coach Beamer is, putting aside his own wants and needs in order to make sure each and every one of his players had the best chance to succeed on and off the football field.
Comments
{recalls late 2003 attitude}
Nah, you made the right call, D'lo.
Yeah. A lot of people were sad to see KJ walk out but not so for Hall.
A reasonable argument could be made that 2004 happened because of DLos absence. He was a wonderful player but he really started to think highly of himself in 2003.
The Deangelo Hall I see right there in those quotes is the one I understand. He's a good guy and a great Hokie. I've always been a big fan.
Edit: Hate to post under a downvote...so..upvote for him 'making the right decision".
Damn...feels....ninjas....onions....need alcohol
Somebody show this thread to Bucky stat!!!
Ummm how about Kendall! Has as much talent as DHall, but none of the attitude.
I upvoted but...
Bucky has already switched positions and has done a lot for the team rather than himself. He was recruited as heir-apparent to Logan Thomas, and well-suited as a dual-threat QB. Probably not a great fit for Loeffler's complicated offense and saw himself way down the QB depth chart, but switching to TE was already a pretty mature and team-first move.
I think it would be mutually beneficial if Bucky came back. He could use another year to polish his game and I could see him going in the first two rounds of the draft. He could improve his blocking strength and his route running and needs to show he can consistently make the catch. He looks like he will be more of a pass catching TE in the NFL, but he hasn't shown a great set of hands or vision to high point the football, he shows that next year and NFL GMs will wet themselves.
Yet it should be noted that of all the non QB players that have thrown a pass in a game Bucky is not one of them. That should tell you something about his passing skills. Everybody expects a run with Bucky is under center. Can you imagine if we actually passed. Bucky needs another year. His production has been down this year and I thought that was due to Brewer being out, however, his re-emergence with Brewer back was not impressive.
There was a TE sweep pass called in the bowl game and Bucky smartly tucked it and ran.
I wish some people could know the D-Hall I used to feed at the dining hall every night. Or the one I had a great conversation with at Sharkeys before the spring game a few years ago. He's a great guy and I wish him nothing but the best.
My dad and I were having a conversation about how he thinks Hall's an asshole while watching the Skins game after ours. I think Hall gets wrapped up in his own on-the-field persona. I told him that, out of the players I've met, he's been one of the most down-to-earth and is genuinely a good dude.
Agreed. Cornerbacks have to have supreme confidence in themselves to be able to bounce back after allowing a big catch or TD which will always inevitably happen. The best always have had that confidence, and a level of edginess to get in a recievers head provides a competitive advantage.
D'lo is a great Hokie and has been a good ambassador for VT, imo. He's always said great things on ESPN about Coach Beams and the program and mentored other young Hokies.
This. As a soccer player growing up, I hated the guys that always thought they were better than everyone all the time. But I'll tell you from experience, I want on my team a striker and a goalkeeper with exactly that attitude. It just fits with the way they play best. I might not like 'em all that much, but I'll take them on my team any day of the week.
Truthfully I wish we had more guys like Hall. Nothing wrong with a guy with an on-field persona like Hall's but good off the field maturity. I don't want a whole team of them, but I've felt that we've lacked a bit of that ferocity and generally ballsy-ness.
Its funny, I never met him but every story I hear about him off the field are pretty similar. Good dude, willing to take time to meet with fans, sign things, take pics et al. I remember someone posting a media day pic waaay back on TSL with DLo holding their (the fan's) baby. Seemed like a good dude.
I think a lot of Hokie fans don't realize how mentally taxing it is to be a cornerback, especially one that's asked to play a lot of man coverage.
I'll never know what it takes to get oneself mentally prepared to spend 4 quarters chasing around another teams most talented athlete. Nor will I know what it's required to psyche myself back up after getting burned for a long touchdown on a previous drive. There's no hiding for cornerbacks. Deangelo Hall is an athlete, a very succesful one. I don't know enough about that life to even pretend to judge his attitude on the field. However, I've never heard a single story about him being anything less than a great Hokie off the field.
But if you want to look down on him, that's fine. He certainly wasn't perfect. However, this is an article about the impact that Frank Beamer had on the lives of the athletes he coached. Shouldn't we focus on that and not spend time taking shots at a guy who is just communicating how much he loves his former coach?
Exactly. Imagine having people talk about you the way many of the people here talked about Stroman after he got beaten a few times against ECU where he was in position and just got outmuscled/outlucked for some balls. Can happen to anyone. It's a reactionary position, the receiver knows where they are going, the corner doesn't.
Another very recent example, Facyson played Garrett pretty tight on his late touchdown catch and even successfully hit the ball as it arrived in Garrett's hands, he simply had enough grip to hold on and complete the catch. He played proper technique and sometimes it just isn't enough.
How bout that scoop and score by dhall last night to seal the division!? #DBU #beamerball
I know everyone's hindsight is 20/20, but there's no way he thought he was making the wrong decision in 2003. He thought he was ready, and he was right. And him leaving was good for the team. Win-win.
Hall was picked in the top 10 right? So it was the right decision.
Him and Jones on the team in '04 probably would have been enough talent for us to win a national championship, but I dont think it would have worked out that way. We may not have won the ACC with them there, its just how it goes. '04 was special and a great team. I feel we may have tried to rely too much on Jones and Hall if they were there. Who knows what would have happened, but you cant mess with those memories!
The games we lost in 2004 were due to a lack of offense. In our 3 losses, we scored 13, 16, and 13 again. Had KJ stayed, I think we could have won a national championship.
Delo leaving helped the team if anything. There's an old article on TSL talking about how our secondary towards the end of 2003 was a free-for-all. Players did whatever they wanted on the field without any regards to their assignments whatsoever. The only position with a decent backup was free safety, and when Jimmy Williams got benched against Boston College, he ran up and down the sidelines, cussing and carrying on. I feel as if the other players looked up to Delo because of his talent, and as a result, it lead to the secondary playing selfish. Couple that with the subpar linebacker play and it makes for a disastrous defense.
After Delo left, the players, in my opinion, looked up to Vinnie Fuller. He made several huge plays that 2004 season, and was a great leader as well. The linebackers were better as well, and the team did way better than anyone thought they would.
Delo is a good guy off the field. As stated above, you have to have a lot of confidence to succeed at defensive back at the college and professional level. This sometimes gets misconstrued as him being a dirty player and whatnot. This isn't true, and I'm not biased just because I'm a Redskins fan. One cannot deny that he was a little too much his final year in Blacksburg, though. Ultimately, him being suspended for the Pitt game after fighting Antrel Rolle during the Miami game was when the season was dropped on its head and dragged. The defense lost all its swagger after that Miami game.
Guys (and gals),
I think D-hall made this statement PURELY as a gesture to Frank Beamer. That's it. Him leaving and being a top 10 pick shouldn't be up for debate....
Here's my question...
If he and KJ stay, we obviously beat USC and NC State.
BUT do we even get into the NC game over Auburn (who would also be undefeated)? I think so.
If it's and's and butt's were candy and nuts, lol........Well, I added them in NCAA '04...lemme tell ya, you'da thought Rick Flair was hangin out at my apt. WHOO!
DLo's whole quote put tears in my eyes. Goes to show what Frank really means to these kids/men.
Unless he had that "come to Jesus", D'Angelo leaving was more a plus than a negative on the 04' team; which is probably my favorite VT team of the Beamer era. I think KJ staying for his senior might have helped us win another game and the dropped TD by Jesse Allen could've won us that Sugar Bowl...so yeah a national title might not have been out of the question. Regardless, that was still an awesome year!
I've cheered for Deangelo all through college and the pros. He's a freak athlete and ultimate competitor (that admittedly can do stupid things on the field). He catches way too much heat for that '03 year. There is a reason Bud changed his defensive philosophy after that season.