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 Friday, December 13, 2002
Q&A with Frank Beamer
By Terry Bowden
Special to BCSfootball.com
Bowden's Weekly Chat Show
ABC college football analyst Terry Bowden chatted with Virginia Tech football coach Frank Beamer about life after Michael Vick, how this year's defense compares to 1999's and what it will take for Virginia Tech to reach the championship game again.
Terry Bowden:
How is life without Michael Vick?
Frank Beamer:
|  | | Michael Vick will be missed, but Virginia Tech is ready to move on. |
Michael Vick is going to be thought of at Virginia Tech for a long time. As a matter of fact, he's going to give us money back for our football program. He's already got a scholarship going. He appreciates what happened here at Virginia Tech, and we appreciate Michael Vick and proud that he is from our place. I know he's going to have a great pro football career.
Terry Bowden:
In the old days, you always knew Virginia Tech could win eight, nine, maybe 10 games. When Michael Vick came, it went to the next level. Is there any fear it was because of Michael, or do you think you have a chance to compete in the future like you have the past two seasons?
Frank Beamer:
We think so. There are six teams in the country to go to eight straight bowls. We're one of those teams. Of course, Michael took us to two of those, and took us to the national championship game. Certainly, it was because of him that we went as far as we did those particular years.
He's a great talent, but I like to think we have a program that has good talent. Last year, we felt was our best recruiting year ever, so we will see how that works out. You do not easily replace the best player in the country, and Michael Vick, without question in my mind, was the best player. We do have some other good players here and we expect to continue our winning way here.
Terry Bowden:
How is the quarterback situation shaping up without Michael? And how is the offensive line looking after losing four starters?
Frank Beamer:
Right now, Grant Noel would be our quarterback. He has been with the program for three years. He was our third quarterback last year. He knows what's going on. He did a lot of good things in spring practice: running the football team, managing the clock, being in control, knowing what's going on. The other players know he knows what's going on. He's very good in those areas. The area that he needs to improve, in my opinion, is consistently throwing the ball accurately. That's what he has worked on very hard this season, and hopefully we will see an improvement on that in the fall. I think he does the other things well.
Jason Davis is another kid in our program, who is a redshirt freshman. He had a good spring game. He was a little erratic during the spring, but his spring game was very good.
Then we have three quarterbacks coming in. Will Hunt is one kid from Arkansas. I just like the way he plays. Bryan Randall was rated the No. 1 player in our state. It's kind of interesting. He comes from the area Michael Vick is from, and Ronald Curry and Allen Iverson. All three of those were great quarterbacks in high school in that area. Bryan Randall did something they didn't do -- run and throw for 1000 yards in his junior and senior season. This kid has some talent too. We'll see how it all shakes out, but right now, Grant Noel would be our quarterback.
On the offensive line, we feel good. We're replacing four starters, and all four are going to pro camps. We think we have some talent there, and the guys who are moving up have played quite a bit in the past. Probably the key to our offensive line is Jake Grove. We think he's an excellent player for us. He's starting at right guard for us right now. He's had some back problems, but if he can hang in there, and be OK, he is the guy who keeps that whole offensive line together.
(Steve) DeMasi will start at center, and he is very reliable and very good. We have a couple of guys at guard, (Jacob) Gibson and (Anthony) Nelson, some guys we feel good about. Our two tackles, (Matt) Wincek is very athletic and Anthony Davis big-time. We have some good possibilities there. For an offensive line that we have four new starters, we feel pretty good about it.
Terry Bowden:
In your program, does your quarterback need to be able to run and pass, or is it pass and react? What you would like to see from your quarterback in your offense?
Frank Beamer:
It has been interesting. We have always talked about having an athletic quarterback, a guy who can get himself out of trouble. You kind of go back. Maurice DeShazo was a very athletic quarterback. Granted, he could run it as well as he could throw. Then Jim Druckenmiller comes through. People didn't think of him as much of a runner, but he picked up some valuable yardage, pulling that ball down and running. He is a big, old tough guy. But his time would be about 4.9 at best in the 40. Then we went through Al Clark. He's playing some Arena Football now, but he was a very athletic quarterback. Then we came with Michael Vick. It has always been for us that the quarterback needs to be able to run. You have to be able to throw the football, there's no question about that, but being an athletic guy to get yourself out of trouble.
And then our offense has basically stayed the same. We have basically been an (I-formation) football team. And always had some form of the option in there to keep coverages simple. We haven't really changed our offense in quite some time. The number of times we run plays changes according to who we have. But our offense has been pretty much the same.
Terry Bowden:
|  | | Andre Davis and the Hokies have a favorable schedule. |
If there was someone that was a Heisman candidate on your team, it would be Lee Suggs. And you also have a talented wide receiver, Andre Davis. What do they bring to the team?
Frank Beamer:
Lee Suggs is just quality. What a quality kid he is. A great back. Between he and Jarrett Ferguson, who plays fullback for us. I think it may be the best tailback-fullback combination in the country.
Andre Davis -- we sent into the NFL last year, trying to find out if he should come out or not. The NFL projected him as a first-round draft choice. I think he will be. He has height, can run, very smart and continues to get better and better. I think that he's big-time.
Terry Bowden:
People aren't talking about Virginia Tech as much this year because of Miami, but you have to be excited about your defense?
Frank Beamer:
We have most of the guys back. We ended up the year playing very well. The strength for us would be right there in the middle. Our two tackles, our two ends, our two linebackers. We have some good starters, and some good backups. More backups than we ever had. That is going to be the strength of our defense -- right up front. That's where you want it.
And then we have a couple of good performers in the secondary. Ronyell Whitaker, Larry Austin and Eric Green are all good corners for us. You need to have those corners that can match up and go one-on-one. And I think these kids can. And Willie Pile has done a good job for us at free safety. We have moved Kevin McCadam to take Cory Bird's place. Kevin was a free safety last year and we think he will be our rover.
We feel good about it. It's a defense that runs very well. I hope they can carry us. I am hopeful that it is going to be a good friend for our quarterback and that our defense can play well enough to give us some field position and take some heat off of our quarterback.
Terry Bowden:
Does the defense have the potential to be as good as the 1999 team that went to the championship game?
Frank Beamer:
We'll see. I do think that Nathaniel Adibi at defensive end has a chance to be special. All of our defensive ends -- they can run. They are kind of like your dad's guys. They can get to that quarterback really quickly. Then in the middle, we have a couple of guys, (Chad) Beasley and (David) Pugh, who have been there a while. They have started for Virginia Tech for a number of years. They are seniors this year and they have a lot of experience and know how to play. Then (Jake) Houseright, (Brian) Welch and (Ben) Taylor at the inside linebackers position -- they're good. Hopefully, if we can stay healthy and pick up where we left off, I think the defense can help this football team.
Terry Bowden:
Looking at your schedule, there is no one that could be favored over you heading into the Miami game. Why doesn't the Big East get any respect?
Frank Beamer:
Walt Harris up at Pittsburgh, you watch out for that team. Of course, we have to go up there and play this year. Barely, we were lucky to beat them last year. Coach (Tom) O'Brien at Boston College, that program is very solid. Syracuse will always have good athletes and are well-coached and present problems for you. Miami, they're back with some of the players they used to have. And there is new excitement at West Virginia, and they're doing some of the things that your brother is doing at Clemson. Coach (Rich) Rodriguez will do the same type of deal. You expect them to be better and better.
And Rutgers (has) a new coach coming in there. When they can keep the better players in the state of New Jersey right there at Rutgers, they are going to be a factor. And I don't expect that will be before too much longer. I think it's a good league, a tough league, a league getting better all the time.
Terry Bowden:
What is it going to take to have that special year this season?
Frank Beamer:
|  | | The play of Grant Noel could dictate Virginia Tech's success this season. |
The starting point always is your quarterback. I get very uneasy not knowing exactly what you have at quarterback. If Grant Noel is not the guy, it's probably going to be a freshman. You know what it's like to have a freshman playing great at this level or significant enough to get you through. That is a concern for us -- what is going to happen at our quarterback position. And then when you have four new starters on the offensive line -- we feel good (about them) -- but it's still four new starters and it's such a tough position. One of those guys messes up and your offensive play is wrecked. You can look real bad up in the stands.
We have some talent, we have receivers that can put some heat if they get too many people close to the line of scrimmage to stop Suggs or Ferguson. We have some receivers that if we get one-on-one, we better be going to them. I think we have some possibilities.
Our kicking game -- we had a guy, Vinnie Burns, who in his last 10 kicks in spring practice in a scrimmage situation, averaged 46 yards with good hang time.
Terry Bowden:
Do you have competition with your punters?
Frank Beamer:
Yes, (Robert) Peaslee punted for us. He had our moments, but Vinnie Burns will be the No. 1 guy going into fall practice. He was a freshman last year, and now he's ready to step in there. And Carter Warley had a great year, field goal kicking for us last year. He has a little bit of a back problem. That's our only concern there. But if his back is OK, we think our kicking is going to be good.
If our kickers are good, then our special teams will be good. We have a chance. It's kind of exciting to see if the pieces of the puzzle will fit and can we be good enough to get our quarterback some experience and get over some humps there. We have a chance to be good. That's all you can ask for.
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