If I were a football player, I’d be an offensive tackle

And not because I’m that big……

I just finished taking the Wonderlic test, the test given to NFL draft prospects at the Combine, and I scored a 32.  According to ESPN.com, average scores by player stack up like this:

Offensive tackles: 26
Centers: 25
Quarterbacks: 24
Guards: 23
Tight Ends: 22
Safeties: 19
Middle linebackers: 19
Cornerbacks: 18
Wide receivers: 17
Fullbacks: 17
Halfbacks: 16

Average scores in other professions are as follows:

Chemist: 31
Programmer: 29
Newswriter: 26
Sales: 24
Bank teller: 22
Clerical Worker: 21
Security Guard: 17
Warehouse: 15

I’m not a chemist, either.  I guess I’m just really, really smart.  (Actually, I’m pretty surprised I scored as well as I did.)

And, just because I had that kind of time on my hands today, I poked around a little and found out some scores of former Hokies:

• Marcus Vick-11
• Bryan Randall-19
• Michael Vick-20
• Kevin Jones-15
• Ernest Wilford-19
• DeAngelo Hall-23
• Josh Morgan-19/26 (the site I found these said these were ones who took it twice)
• Duane Brown-29/32
• Chris Ellis-14/22
• Xavier Adibi-13/20
• Vince Hall-14/23
• Orion Martin-23/47

(Meh.  It was a way to pass some time.)

Oh, and just in case you don’t have enough bracket groups to enter, here’s another one.  This one is pretty cool, though, cause you can win a Virginia Tech t-shirt.  I know I’ll be entering.  I won’t win, of course, but it’s good to dream.

Well drat. Freaking Duke.

Missed it by that much. ~Maxwell Smart

VT turned in yet another low scoring percentage from the field (38%) and Jeff Allen found himself in foul trouble early yet again, as the Duke Blue Devils went on to win 67-55.  Duke didn’t shoot great from the field either (only 29% to be exact) but were much more proficient at 3 pointers, successfully shooting 10, as opposed to the Hokies 2.  Malcolm Delaney led with 19 points, but it wasn’t enough. 

A few times during this game, I thought we just might have it, but Duke was stronger where they needed to be, in offensive rebounding and at the line. 

I do this every year.  I try not to pay attention to Hokie basketball, then end up all wrapped up in it by February.  In some ways, basketball is even harder to watch than football.  All is not lost, though.  The Hokies play BC on Wednesday, then have an opportunity to go undefeated at home (yep, you read that right) by beating NC State and Maryland in the next two games.  Now wouldn’t that be cool? 

 

VT’s chances for making the tourney

As Will Stewart pointed out on Tech Sideline yesterday, the Hokies are an astounding 20-4 this year, and, wait for it cause it’s going to be all kinds of awesome……..7-3 in the ACC.  Yep.  Or as my seven year old son would say, “holy shoot”.  (We keep the curses to a minimum in the Football Girl household). 

Gobbler Country has a good article about the bracketologists and where VT falls thus far.  Wonder what you have to do to become a bracketologist?  Is there a degree for that?  A specialty?  Because I’d like to be one.  Not because I know crap about how the bracket system works.  I don’t.  I just think it’d be cool to have a job that ends in -ologist.  Makes me sound impressive.  But I’m getting off track, aren’t I?  Anyway, they also have this article on what the Hokies can do to ensure selection into the tournament. 

Here’s what we’ve got left:

Tue,2/16	Wake, 7:00, ESPN2
Sun,2/21	@Duke, 7:45, FSN
Wed,2/24	@BC, 7:00, ESPNU
Sat,2/27	Maryland, 4:00, Raycom
Wed,3/3	NCSU, 7:00
Sat,3/6	@GT, 4:00, Raycom
Thu,3/11- Sun, 3/14	ACC Tourney Greensboro

Winning some or most of these games is crucial.  If we fall off down the stretch, the only hope of getting into the tourney would be to actually WIN the ACC Tourney or else go awfully far.  I’d like to see some consistent play from boty Malcolm Delaney and Jeff Allen.  And, our shooting percentage the last several games has been just awful.  (Kind of like winning football games with the 100th ranked offense).  Although the Hokies have been winning ugly, at some point you have to be able to shoot.

What’s going to happen?  Time will tell, but I know I’m looking forward to the ride. 

2010 VT football schedule is out

And here it is:

Date		Opponent	Time/Result	TV	Location
Spring Game
Sat., Apr 24, 2010		White vs. Maroon	2 p.m.		Lane Stadium
Mon., Sep 6, 2010		vs. Boise State	8 p.m.		FedExField, Landover, Md.
White Out
Sat., Sep 11, 2010		James Madison	TBA		Lane Stadium
Sat., Sep 18, 2010		East Carolina	TBA		Lane Stadium
Sat., Sep 25, 2010		at Boston College *	TBA		Chestnut Hill, Mass.
Sat., Oct 2, 2010		at NC State *	TBA		Raleigh, N.C.
Sat., Oct 9, 2010		Central Michigan	TBA		Lane Stadium
Sat., Oct 16, 2010		Wake Forest *	TBA		Lane Stadium
Sat., Oct 23, 2010		Duke *	TBA		Lane Stadium
Thu., Nov 4, 2010		Georgia Tech *	7:30 p.m.		Lane Stadium
Sat., Nov 13, 2010		at North Carolina *	TBA		Chapel Hill, N.C.
Sat., Nov 20, 2010		at Miami *	TBA		Miami Gardens, Fla.
Sat., Nov 27, 2010		Virginia *	TBA		Lane Stadium
ACC Championship
Sat., Dec 4, 2010		Atlantic vs. Coastal	TBA		Bank of America, Charlotte, N.C.
What do you think about the Boise State game being the “White Out” game?  Do we want all white stands for an ESPN night game?  Just wondering….

Signing Day 2010

I have never really been huge into Signing Day, kind of falling along the same lines as the guys at The North End Zone that ranking recruiting classes based on the high school playing ability of 18 year old boys is kind of stupid.  The guys at the NEZ listed the top 5 recruiting classes LAST year.  Hmmm.  Didn’t seem to work out so great for those guys.  (And I know all you recruiting people are going to lecture me on how it takes a few years for a class to develop.  Yeah, yeah.)

1.  Tennessee  2.  Michigan  3.  FSU  4.  Georgia  5.  Oklahoma

But, the Hokies did seem to score a pretty solid class.  While only landing one ESPNU 150 guy, safety Nick Dew, they did land seven of Virginia’s top 13 players, and 10 of the top 25, including defensive end Zach McCray and offensive lineman Mark Shuman. 

The Hokies also continued the trend of having signing siblings of either current or former players.  This year, four players, Kyle Fuller (brother of former player and current Tennessee Titan Vincent Fuller), Mark Shuman (brother of former player Ryan Shuman), Tahrick Peak (brother of current player Nubian Peak), and Derrick Hopkins (brother of current player Antoine Hopkins) will begin their Hokie careers. 

The class will probably end up ranked somewhere in the mid twenties, but the Hokies have a history of doing very well without the flashy recruiting.  The Hokies had the 23rd ranked class last year according to Rivals.com, and the 18th in 2008.

If you want to see the entire roster, click here.

Some Hokie football and basketball news

I was pleased to see that Jason Worilds has received an invitation to the NFL Combine next month.  A Combine invitation means that he is on the radar, so to speak, and thus has some draft potential.  As of now, Mel Kiper does not list him as one of the top 5 at his position, but does include Sergio Render as the number 5 OG.  I love the draft.  I think all professions should choose their employees this way. 

Tech Sideline has a great feature article right now about the top 10 VT stories of the decade.  It’s paid content, so I won’t link it, but if you get a chance, check it out.  Included are changes in football recruiting, the hiring of Seth Greenberg and resurgence of Hokie basketball, the Vick brothers (Sigh.  All that wasted potential..), Frank Beamer’s near move to UNC, and ACC expansion.  What do you think would be the biggest story of the decade?

And, what the heck, let’s talk a little basketball.  The Hokies came through big time last night with a sweet overtime performance against UVA, despite Jeff Allen’s ejection for elbowing some guy with 13:41 left in the game.  This is a team that is looking way better than I thought they would before the season started.  I fear I may be on the verge of beginning a basketball obsession as well.  Be on the lookout for my name to change to The Football/Basketball Girl.  (Or something more catchy, perhaps).  I am really digging Dorenzo Hudson right now.  He is playing at an amazing level. 

And finally, I wasted quite a bit of time here yesterday, listening to Bill Roth and Mike Burnop’s favorite plays.  Thanks to Virginiatechfan.com for finding this.  “From the blue waters of the Chesapeake Bay to the hills of Tennessee, the Virginia Tech Hokies are on the air!”  Some of these I could listen to over and over, particularly number 4, Shayne Graham’s field goal at Morgantown; number 14, Deron Washington’s layup OVER TOP OF Duke’s Greg Palus; and the last one, Tyrod’s touchdown to Dyrell Roberts during the Nebraska game.  “Tyrod did it Mikey,  Tyrod did it!”

Another one of my favorite plays

Well, VTPhreak has narrowed the plays down to ten.  All are killer plays, but if you want to vote for which is THE best, go here. 

I am kind of partial to this play at the Chik- fil- A Bowl.  It occurs at the 8:41 mark, and you get a great look at 8:49.  By this time, the score was 27 to 14 and victory was certain, so the play actually didn’t have a lot of bearing on the outcome of the game, but it scores major cool points with me for the most subtle hand-off ever.  Taylor to Roberts.  Just watch Tennessee try to figure out who actually has the ball.  Funny stuff.

There you have it.  Super cool.

2009 Roundtable Season Wrap-Up

Sigh.  Yet again, I have been left out of Gobbler Country’s Roundtable discussion.  Alas, I cannot be stopped that easily, and have taken it upon myself just to answer the dang questions.  Here goes:

1.  Do you think the 2009 season was a successful one for Virginia Tech?

Well, I guess you would have to define success.  At the beginning of the season, success would have been 1. Beating Alabama, then 2. Winning the ACC, followed by 3. Winning our BCS bowl (probably Orange).  So, if you look at it in strictly those terms, then no.  We were not successful. 

But, you can also define success this way:  finishing strong despite disappointment.  We didn’t beat Alabama.  We didn’t win the ACC (although we were the best team at the end of the season.  Look no further than GT’s bowl showing), and we didn’t go to a BCS bowl.  But, look at what we did do.  Produced a defense that didn’t allow a second half score in their last 5 games, dating back to October 29th.  Produced a running back the caliber of which had not been seen since the Kevin Jones years.  Bounced back from two very tough to swallow losses, and just kept going.  Finally got the SEC monkey off our proverbial backs. 

I’m pretty pleased with the way the season ended.  I wanted a BCS bowl, but playing Iowa wouldn’t have been any fun anyway, right? 

2. Did Bryan Stinespring and the Hokie offense finally turn a corner in 2009 or are you still pessimistic about the future of the offense?

Um, I don’t think that “turned a corner” is necessarily accurate.  The offense was improved this year, but I put a lot of that on both Tyrod Taylor and Ryan Williams, plus some improved line play.  The talent just began to gel this year, which it had not, say last year.  I still think our play calling is far too predictable, and that will hurt us against teams with real talent.  I’m not pessimistic necessarily, but I don’t think it’s going to be all cookies and chocolate milk from here on out either.

3.  Can the inconsistency of the defense this season be blamed mostly on youth at linebacker and injuries to key players like John Graves or were other factors at play?

Maybe somewhat.  It would have been nice to see what a healthy John Graves could have added.  Our defense finished extremely strong, and ended up ranked 12th nationally in total defense.  What hurt us was the inconsistent play when we desperately needed consistent play, like the Georgia Tech game and the (sigh) UNC debacle.

4.  Which player was the biggest surprise to you in 2009, good or bad?

I’m going to go with Tyrod Taylor on this one.  And, I don’t think he really began to surprise me until around the Miami game.  Up to that point, I still closed my eyes and flinched a little every time he went to throw.  2008 was just such a horrible passing year, and the beginning of 2009 seemed to be a repeat of that same movie.  But, as the season moved on, Tyrod seemed to really grow into the position.  (Stupid football cliche, I know, but it fits.)  He became a much more accurate passer and a legitimate threat in the air.  I’m not sure I remember our last legitimate threat in the air QB.  I might even be crazy enough to say Marcus Vick.  (Okay, I just went to cfbstats.com, and sure enough, since 2004,  he was our best passer in both yards per game and QB rating.  Wow.)  Tyrod had some beauties this year, and our receivers finally began to realize how to get themselves in position to catch them. 

5.  If the Hokies could go back and replay one of their three losses, which one would you replay?

I’m actually not going to say the UNC game, even though that was the loss that hurt the worst.  I’d go back right now, and play Georgia Tech again, especially with the momentum the Hokies had at the end of the season.  I will guarantee a different result, triple option be damned.  Plus, if we would have won that game, then the loss to UNC wouldn’t have mattered nearly as much as it did.  We’d be Coastal Champs, heading toward an ACC Championship game with Clemson, who would roll up in a fetal position at the mere sight of Ryan MF Williams. 

Bonus question: Write a haiku about Ryan Williams.

Is a haiku 4-6-4? 

Dreadlocks are cool

Running fast is cooler

RW is both

(Yeah, that sucked.)

So, thanks for reading.  Enjoy answers from other Hokie blogs that Gobbler Country seems to like here at Beer Control Offense, here at Fight for Old DC, and here at The North End Zone.  One day I’ll be as famous as them, you’ll see…..

Great moments of 2009

(One at a time, cause I’m too lazy to do a long post.)

So, VTPhreak, home of some amazing Hokie football videos, held a “Vote for the Top 10 Plays” of 2009.  Because I’m such a slacker lately, I forgot to actually vote, but I was watching some plays the other day, and, even though this will be the sexy choice, a strong argument can be made for this one.

I really like two parts of this video.  At 7:20, I just love Bill and Mike’s commentary.  “Tyrod did it, Mikey, Tyrod did it!”  And, I like the perspective from about 7:48 to 8:03.  It’s what Tyrod is seeing and I have a new respect not just for his ability, but for Dyrell Roberts for never giving up on the play.  He was all over the place, and made some amazing moves to get open.  Good stuff.  Plus, Taylor made that throw with Ndamukong Suh all over him.  Good stuff part 2.

What do you think?  What was your favorite play of the year?

Jason Worilds. Bummer.

So, yeah, Jason Worilds announced yesterday that he will forgo his senior season and see what the NFL holds for him.  While I’m bummed, I’m not as surprised as Kyle Tucker seems to be.  There was talk just before the bowl game, and although Worilds got all Ebby Calvin Laloosh-y,”Y’know, I’m just happy to be here and I hope I can help the ballclub.  I just want to give it my best shot and good Lord willing, things’ll work out….gotta play ‘em one game at a time, you know….”, it just kind of reminded me of the stuff MV said before the Gator Bowl when everyone knew he’d be leaving. 

It’s a big blow to the returning defense, though.  But, Bud Foster has made himself a legend by turning any and all lineups into defensive juggernauts, so, why not once more? 

Best of luck, Jason.  Hope it all works out like you’ve always dreamed.