Tech Sports Blog

• There’s an excellent recap of Saturday’s win over Duke over at HokiesFullCourt.com. Read it during your next coffee break.
• At the time of this writing, the Hokies are ranked 34 according to RealTimeRPI.com. This means that the win over Duke has nullified the loss to Marshall.
• Which VT basketball team will show up in Greensboro on Wednesday? The one that played Marshall? Or the one that played Duke? Smashed between Duke & UNC, this has all of the markings of a trap game.
• My bowl picks for this year are not very good. 17-14 with one game left. At least I’m over .500.
• I can’t make up my mind on what’s going to happen in tonight’s BCS championship game between Ohio State and Florida. After the regular season, I thought Ohio State would destroy Florida. Recently I began thinking that Ohio State would win, but Florida would keep it close. I think I’ve been letting the media get in my head. I’m going back to my initial feelings – Ohio State will win by at least 10 points.
• Regardless of your feelings about Ohio State, you have to respect Jim Tressel. The man won a number of national championships at Youngstown State, and he’s 4-0 in bowl games at Ohio State. Three of those bowls were BCS bowls. Tressel is a great big-game coach.
• By now I’m sure you’ve heard that Louisville’s Bobby Petrino is going to be the next head coach of the Atlanta Falcons. Petrino is certainly an interesting hire. He is an offensive-minded coach who has built up Louisville’s program into a BCS contender. I’ve heard there is still a question of whether or not the Falcons will keep Michael Vick. In my opinion, they keep him. I think Petrino is looking forward to building an offense around Vick (rather than making Vick run his offense).
• Will Bobby Petrino buck the current trend of college coaches who bust in the NFL? (eg: Steve Spurrier, Butch Davis, Nick Saban)

Update: Here are some YouTube videos of highlights of some of the recent VT-Duke basketball games:

• ESPN highlights of Virginia Tech’s win over Duke in 2004: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kb52JSGReHM
• Dockery’s miracle 3-pointer to beat Tech in 2005: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuQ-dlhyfNc
• ESPN’s College GameDay highlights of VT’s recent win over Duke: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPTSyI11U30
• Deron Washington hurdles Greg Paulus: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbSWimbJ0OY

I just saw this article on the Roanoke Times website reporting that Bryan Randall has signed with the Atlanta Falcons. Randall is the Falcons’ #4 quarterback and will likely stay on the practice squad this year. However, Ty Detmer doesn’t have too many years left, so Randall might be able to move up the depth chart in the next few years. They also report that …

• Jim Davis signed with Jacksonville,
• Jared Mazzetta signed with St. Louis,
• Mikal Baaqee and Mike Daniels signed with Washington,
• and Travis Conway signed with New England.

Vincent Fuller was the 7th pick in the 4th round (108th overall), picked up by the Tennessee Titans, and Jon Dunn was selected in the 7th round by the Cleveland Browns. Jon Dunn joins Andre Davis, Lee Suggs, and Ben Taylor as Virginia Tech Hokies turned Cleveland Browns. Fuller, Dunn, and Eric Green were the only Virginia Tech players chosen in this year’s draft, leaving Jim Davis, James Griffin, and Bryan Randall to enter the NFL the hard way – as undrafted free agents. The big surprise to me was that Jim Davis wasn’t a late round pick. I hope that all three up get their shot in the NFL.

With Jon Dunn joining the Browns, that means there will be 4 former Hokies in Cleveland. Atlanta has 5 former Hokies, and there are a number of teams with 2 former Hokies. So, that makes the Atlanta Falcons the Hokies South, and the Cleveland Browns the Hokies North.

As the 75th overall pick in the 2005 NFL Draft, Eric Green was selected in the 3rd round by the Arizona Cardinals. I figured he would have gone in the 2nd round, but he was the 11th player picked in the 3rd round, so that isn’t too bad. As expected, no other Virginia Tech Hokie was picked today.

Was it just me, or was today’s draft a letdown? The first round was incredibly long, lasting nearly 6 hours. I ended up just watching the first 7 picks, the end of the 1st round, and a few picks at the top of the second round. I probably should’ve found something to occupy me while the ESPN analysts tried to fill the time in between picks. There weren’t any blockbuster trades in the top 10. I guess that isn’t too surprising, given the lack of blockbuster players at the top. That said, there are some tidbits from the draft that I’ll comment on …

• San Francisco had a great day. They picked the best quarterback available (Alex Smith – Utah), a solid center from which to receive ball (David Baas – Michigan), and a good running back to hand the ball off to (Frank Gore – Miami FL).
• My NFL team, the Cleveland Browns, also had a good day one. They picked arguably the best wide out in the draft (Braylon Edwards – Michigan), they helped out their defense (Brodney Pool – Oklahoma), and picked up the quarterback they wanted (Charlie Frye – Akron). Edwards is the kind of player who should make an impact his rookie season. It’ll be interesting to see how he fits in, as Andre Davis, Dennis Northcutt, and Antonio Bryant are already established. I have a bad feeling that in the long term, Andre Davis will get the short end of the stick.
• How about Auburn tearing up the first round! Three players picked in the top nine, four selected in the first round. While they have a few holes to fill, that’s going to be great for their recruiting.
• Maurice Clarett was picked by Denver as the final pick of day one. Denver used a compensatory selection on him – obviously they felt they could take a chance with the extra pick. Personally, I would’ve waited to see if he was around in round 5 or 6. I don’t think he deserves to be a 3rd round pick due to how slow he was at the combine and his attitude at the combine. However, I am glad he is getting a chance in the NFL. I don’t really like him, but I feel like he deserves a second chance. Now he’s got that second chance with the Denver Broncos.
• Last, but not least, if I were a Green Bay fan I would be excited about Aaron Rodgers. I think he’s an excellent value at the 24th overall pick, he gets to play behind one of the best in the business for at least a year, and you know he’s going to have a chip on his shoulder when he does start playing. I think that’s a great fit.

Tomorrow is day 2 of the NFL Draft, and hopefully we’ll start seeing some Hokies selected. Vincent Fuller and Jim Davis should be picked up in the early part of the day. Where will they go?

Here we are, roughly 12 hours away from the 2005 NFL Draft. There aren’t very big names at the top, so the the top 10 this year will be very interesting. No one really knows who the 49ers are going to pick. They might even trade down. There is alot of uncertainty in this draft, and the first round should provide much drama.

Unfortunately, there is one thing that is certain for Hokie fans – there won’t be very many Virginia Tech players chosen on Saturday. At this point, only one player will be chosen on the 1st day, and that will be Eric Green. As reported by Kyle Tucker, of The Virginian-Pilot, Vincent Fuller looks to be the second Hokie picked in this year’s draft. However, Kyle is reporting that Fuller is going to be a fourth round pick. The biggest question for me is whether or not Bryan Randell gets drafted. While Randall had a great year last year as Virginia Tech’s “general”, he will be very lucky to even get drafted.

The lack of Hokies at this year’s draft tells us alot about the 2004 Virginia Tech football team. The term “overachievers” has been used over and over again, but I think that is too strong a word. The phrase “team united” has been applied to them, and that is definitely the best description. Having a true, honest-to-god team with no individual standouts playing as one unit can bring you much more success than just a group of great players. This is demonstrated by the difference between the 2003 and the 2004 teams.

While I won’t be able to celebrate very many Hokies getting drafted this weekend, my lack of celebration will only make me more proud of what the Tech football team accomplished last season. Their success came through a hardworking, blue-collar attitude that made me proud to be a Hokie.