Recent Comments
I don't think Exum will be moved back to Safety this season (probably not next year either unless Kendall shows up and is a complete stud) but I'm going to hold onto this pipe dream:
If Antone could be the safety he was last year and we could switch him and Bonner, then we would have an absolutely lethal combo at the safety spots with Exum & Jarrett.
I really hope 'Tone can work everything out and we can have the 2 shutdown corners (Kyle & Tone) we all thought we were gonna have before the season started.
I'll continue to hope.
LONG LIVE THE TERRORDOME
Stick it in was banned 5 years ago, freshmen at tech now were in 8th grade at the time and may not really know what it is. They are probably too afraid to ask anyone as to not look like you know a freshmen. Upperclassmen need to set the example (and they are probably the highest percentage of people leaving early) and show underclassmen its unacceptable to leave early while taking the initiative to teach the underclassmen what it means to be a tech football fan, including teaching them things like what stick it in is.
Look, Im not trying to say Beamer needs to be Nick Saban. Saban's commanding approach is effective, but his anger gets the best of him and he ends up being a raging asshole most of the time. For that reason I cant stand the man.
That being said, a stricter approach if used to target the right areas of development could more effectively cause players to make less mistakes during games. VT had the capability and athleticism to beat Cincy and Pitt, but it was mistakes like missing tackels and throwing the ball without accuracy that let us down. That is the kind of problem that Nick Saban's coaching style fixes quickly.
Please pass this on. It is a major issue. I used to come to games as a kid and get to see how wild Lane was by sitting in the student section with my brother, so when I finally became a student and went to the games every week, I didn't always see the same hype and passion. I just thought I had built it up in my head or had a different perception as a kid. BUT this has helped me to realize that THERE IS a problem with the students, and that it is growing. Everyone seems to have become more occupied with 'going hard' before and after games or care more about their fraternity or sorority, etc. One of the biggest reasons I never joined one was because people let it become all they cared about and take precedence over the school. With that being said, I am not against them and definitely don't think they are the only issue with students being 'True Hokies' but don't let it or anything else make you miss out on the bigger picture of what Hokie Nation really is all about. This is VIRGINIA TECH and we may be a lot of things now with all our growth but FOOTBALL is our trademark and is what has helped shape this great, family-like community into what it is today. We have to turn it around and soon so we don't lose that and because our players count on us to inspire them to go out there and play hard. So we need to ALL step it up. And I have many friends that are not the problem this article discusses, but then I have some that are. I'm not calling any of you out as a person, but I certainly am as a HOKIE.
Thank you for reading.
I know I may care too much, but I'd rather care too much than not enough.
Whatever happened to the mascot mock!
Another tradtion goes down in flames!
When they banned Stick It In, I was livid. All in the name of "Hokies Respect" just ridiculous. The valiant few who have tried to keep it alive in North grows smaller every year and that makes me sad.
I'm really sorry it offends the really old alumni and those with kids but I really feel it gave the offense a little more juice to well do what the damn chant says.
I learned all the old VT game traditions from my sister and her friends who went to Tech before I got there and I thought they were awesome.
So thanks Weaver for helping to erode our gameday experience.
Long Live The Terrordome
This probably deserves its own post, but most students will only show up for the Duke and UNC games if that. They only want to go to the best games so they can say they were there or have an excuse to get wasted. There's no real investment in the team. Last year I went to the Penn State game, which was a weekend game, and granted it was before exam week, but there must've been 200 students there. It's just plain embarrassing. If I was a prospect there's almost no way I'd come here if I had other offers. Why wouldn't you go to a VCU or somewhere where the students actually care about the games.
....and, inexplicably, both start at CB. Jarrett was recruited as a lockdown CB, put him back there and deal with the pain. Bonner is in the mold of previous VT Field Corners. Manning is young, but skilled...deal with his mistakes and get him reps. He might supplant Bonner by the end of the year. Cole is a Rover, get him reps backing up Exum.
I've always thought Fuller and Exum to CB was about beating GT, getting our two best tacklers containing the edge. But for the rest of the year, it's completely opposite of where you want those two guys playing. fuller is the QB of this defense, put him at FS.
It is very simple, the youth of today are spoiled and don't understand hard work.
I will show my age, something a lady is not supposed to do!! My freshman year at Va Tech was Bill Dooley's final year. Therefore, like so many others, I have seen the program grow and prosper under Frank Beamer. Even as a freshman, with Bill Dooley coaching, we went to each and every home game and stayed for the duration, no matter the weather. Why? Because Tech notoriously plays 55 minutes of ball. You never know when during the game that 5 minutes of inactivity is going to come, but it will. Hell, that 5 minutes may be split into 5 one-minute segments, but inevitably, it will come. Years after leaving Va Tech, I moved to the Gulf Coast of Mississippi. And, yep, that's where I lived when Va Tech met FSU for the national title. Me, a stalwart Hokie fan, deep in SEC country. I'm pretty sure you can imagine. (And, yes I know, FSU is not SEC, but at the time Tech was Big East, so ACC, SEC, no matter, I still got chided all season about "real football".) But, I am still and always have been proud to be Hokie. It is all about tradition, a tradition that is strongly tied to VPI&SU being one of 6 Senior Military Colleges. That is a very select group, second only to the service academies.
In the past years, you can read any number of blogs about “Hokie Respect”. This is what being a Hokie, be it a student, alumni or a fan, is supposed to be. RESPECT. And, well, in my opinion, that is what is happening. Our children and young adults (and, being a grandmother, I can use that term) aren’t being taught respect as we were when I was growing up.
Since Weaver doesn't control the Highty Tighties, we tend to play it every once in a while, not that it can be heard very well. That said, if we want people to learn the cheer, the best way is to bring it back for real. And the best way to do that is for people to ask for it. The current drum captain, who tells drumline what to do, is pretty susceptible to peer pressure.
it would be Justin Harper
It seems like we hit the perfect storm this year. Over the last 13 years there were two sure things at VT; a great running back and a great secondary. We don't have a great running back this year, and that's not something anyone in or around our program is used to.
As for the secondary, I completely agree that we aren't as good. I feel like I would watch Tech games and always see one future NFL safety. There was Kam Chancellor, Aaron Rouse, Vincent Fuller, and that's just naming a few. Now we don't have a great safety, and Exum clearly isn't a great man-to-man corner. He needs to go back to safety, I wouldn't be opposed to Manning getting a lot more time, he has to figure it out eventually. Bonner just is flat out bad.
Bonner to Corner and Exum at Safety, Jarret has been one of the surest tacklers thus far and is making big plays in the run game while not getting totally burned in coverage.
And for that matter Stinespring is pretty intense during practices but how is that working out? If you ever caught some of the behind the scene stuff on ESPN, you'll see VT has got it's share of intense coaches. Frank Beamer just isn't one of them. It's not his personality and to expect otherwise is not reasonable. People can't change their personality. I'm sure Beamer is aware of his leadership at this point in his career. Any good leader knows this and will surround themselves with people that make up for their own deficiencies. Even Shane is pretty intense. Now he said the major issue of the slow starts was discussed at length in today's meetings. What was said is being kept confidently, which doesn't surprise me. I'm sure other teams would want to know just as much as some of the fans. We all need see what happens next.
Correct. I've seen it all over the place as a joke, but I think our school has an encapsulated context that can never be ignored. Thus, I don't think it was a baseless accusation.
But it was rude, and an intentional attempt to be rude. I probably should have taken 30 seconds and let it go. I'm sorry
Not saying it's the answer but has anyone else had the thought of Jarret at corner and Exum back to safety?
I remember having to line up and wrap ourselves around the Drill Field while we wait for the Ticket office to open up first thing in the morning to get our Miami tickets in 1999. We had to do for the Syracuse game that year too. That will separate the fair weather fans from the hardcore fans. Hand them out a first come first serve basis. It requires some sacrifice that only the devoted fans will follow through on.
Hokiespider, you hit the nail on the head!!!! I agree, if the students want a tickets to the games they should have to work for them. The sooner they nix the lottery the better off our athletic program will be!
I remember standing next to you and Danny at the end of the Nebraska game. Everyone else had deserted us when they thought we lost the game. That night we (rightfully so) told them all about what they missed. I have never left a game early and never will, but I'm afraid I'm in the minority.
My point is...All the problems on the field aside, we as fans need to get our friends' acts together. Why would players try hard every play when they don't have support in the stands? Isn't it wise to think ahead to their careers if people are leaving at halftime? Hokie Nation is awesome. We need to show it.
Great article, jcace!
I am not 100% sure that the 10-win sound byte will go away...if we get 10 next year but not this year, people will just say "9 of the past 10 years"...
I did go to Tech. And I said, I was really too harsh there. But it bothered me to the point where I couldn't not say something
In the context of remembering those who were lost I've seen it as #neVerforgeT.
I've seen it as a joke in a thousand other places on the Internet, from
to #neverforget.
Again, that wasn't his intent, and the conclusion you made is extremely illogical based on the subject of the post (Virginia Tech students and their indifference to the game).
I would agree with you on that. Maybe everyone should decide to be that much more devoted to showing others what a REAL Hokie fan is. Not next gameday but everyday?
Fuller is a Corner, plain and simple. I don't think anyone needs to go into the details. He IS a cornerback. We've had other CBs be the 'QB of the Defense' in the past.
Taking Fuller off the CB spot and moving him to safety completely decimates the corner position.