Friday, November 15, 2013
The Collegiate Times’ comprehensive guide to Virginia Tech Football
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FINDING HIS VOICE BY ALEX KOMA | sports editor
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fter piling up 278 yards over the Hokies’ last two games, Josh Stanford knows he’s the flavor of the month at receiver. But despite the sudden deluge of accolades, the soft-spoken redshirt freshman refuses to get carried away in his newfound success. “You guys are interviewing me now, but if I go out there and have a bad game, I’ll be in the locker room and you’ll be interviewing someone else,” Stanford said. “It’s just the nature of the business, so I try to stay level so I don’t get too high or too low.” Yet, coaches warn that it would be unwise to mistake this humility for a lack of confidence. Instead, wide receivers coach Aaron Moorehead attributes Stanford’s recent success to a burgeoning sense of poise in the receiver. “He’s playing with a lot of confidence,” Moorehead said. “He wants to put his name in that hat. We have a really big competition in our (meeting) room all the time and he’s feeling like ‘Hey, I’m part of this deal too,’ and he’s gone out and proved it the last couple weeks. He’s going to be a heck of player in this conference.” Thanks to this newfound confidence, Stanford has even been able to reveal some of his personality around the rest of the team. The receiver might be primarily focused on football now, but music is another one of his passions. “He’s actually pretty quiet. You’ve got to bring it out of him a little bit, but when he’s playing with confidence and everything’s going right with him, off the field, you’ll see (him rapping) coming out of it a little bit,” Moorehead said. “It’s fun, Josh is a good kid and it’s a passion of his, the music, and he’s pretty good at it.” The grind of the season hasn’t allowed much time for Stanford’s other interests, but he’s still committed to music, even freestyling in his appearance on the Tech Talk Live radio show. “I have a SoundCloud account, YouTube and I’m planning on putting out some other musical endeavors later on,” Stanford said. “I’m really focused on football, but that’s definitely one of my passions.” But Stanford is hardly the only player with musical inclinations. Cornerback Antone Exum has already posted some of his efforts on YouTube, and Stanford has discussed working with the senior
see STANFORD / page 2 BEN WEIDLICH / SPPS
RUN GAME REVITALIZED
AFTER HEARING THE CRITICISM, THOMAS RESPONDS IN HUGE WAY
MIKE PLATANIA sports media manager
The Hokies’ ground game, which had been dormant for over two months, finally came back to life in Miami. In what was Tech’s biggest win of the year, the Hokies controlled the clock, moved the ball at will and finished drives in the end zone. All of that was made possible by winning the battle in the trenches. “I give the guys a lot of credit for continuing to work through a frustrating couple of weeks,” offensive line coach Jeff Grimes said of his unit. “You don’t just go out there and all of sudden decide you’re gonna play better on a Saturday and play better. It only comes because you work hard and keep working to get better at the details and fundamentals.” Obviously, the run game goes as the offensive line does, but some of the finer details were executed with greater proficiency last week. Nearly an exact calendar year after Marcus Davis was embarrassed nationally for his apathetic blocking efforts in
PLAYER TWEETS OF THE WEEK
BEN WEIDLICH / SPPS
The Hokies are 15-0 with Logan Thomas as a starter when he does not throw an interception.
Logan Thomas threw for 366 yards and two touchdowns last week against Miami. JAMES O’HARA contributing sports reporter KEVIN DICKEL / SPPS
Trey Edmunds (14) runs the ball through the line scrimmage. Tech’s game against Florida State, the entire Hokies receiving corps put on a clinic on how to block downfield. “All those guys, to quote my dad, were ‘gettin’ after people,’” said running backs coach Shane Beamer, laughing. “D.J.
(Coles) was getting after people. Willie (Byrn) was, Josh (Stanford) was. You could kinda see everybody gaining confidence. It was a physical
see RUNNING / page 2
STOPPING THE RUN
No player heard more criticism leading up to the Virginia Tech game against Miami last weekend than quarterback Logan Thomas. Thomas, who had eight turnovers in consecutive losses to Duke and Boston College, bounced back in a big way against the Hurricanes, lead-
SECONDARY DEPTH Virginia Tech’s defensive tackles have led the team’s fourth-ranked run defense.
Curious about what players have to say on Twitter? see page 2
see page 2
ing the Hokies to a 42-24 upset of the then-No. 11 Hurricanes. “I told the team we can all learn from Logan,” said head coach Frank Beamer. “The flak and what he went through the last week, he didn’t panic, he kept his focus straight ahead and came back and played a really great football game. I’m really proud of him.” Thomas had perhaps the best game of his career against the Hurricanes, passing for 366
see THOMAS / page 2
ONLINE Detrick Bonner and Der’Woun Greene have been called on to step up in the absence of injured seniors Kyle Fuller and Antone Exum.
see page 8
yards and two touchdowns while adding another 42 yards on the ground. It was just the third time he has thrown for over 300 yards in a game, but what really stood out were his zero turnovers on the day. The Hokies’ offense as a whole scored the most points against an FBS opponent since 2010 and captured its first win over a top 15 opponent since 2009. After the game, Thomas
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