Practice report: Hokies running back David Wilson mum on NFL future, will announce his decision after Sugar Bowl
Virginia Tech running back David Wilson said he still hasn’t made a decision about his NFL future, and he won’t be letting anyone know until after the Hokies play Michigan in the Sugar Bowl on Tuesday.
Wilson, a projected first-round pick by some draft gurus, also said he hasn’t gotten feedback yet from the NFL draft advisory committee, which he sent paperwork to several weeks back.
In the meantime, the junior has gotten advice from a number of people, including former Virginia Tech standout and first-round NFL pick Kevin Jones, who is back in Blacksburg getting his degree.
Wilson said his teammates bring it up in a joking manner.
“They don’t try to persuade me either way,” he said.
“I don’t really say anything to him, because he has enough pressure as it is,” quarterback Logan Thomas said. “I know how it feels to have that pressure on himself. I don’t really say much to him. I’d love to have him back of course, because it makes my job easy. I definitely wish he would come back, but if he were to go, I wouldn’t blame him whatsoever.
Wilson said his focus in on the Sugar Bowl and bouncing back from the ACC championship game debacle against Clemson. Wilson, the ACC’s leading rusher, had 11 carries for 32 yards, season lows on both fronts.
What’d the Tigers do to slow him down?
“I really don’t know,” Wilson said. “Whatever they did, they did it well. … It seemed like there was an extra guy everywhere I went.”
Virginia Tech offensive coordinator Bryan Stinespring said the Hokies will make a concerted effort to get him the ball Tuesday against Michigan.
“Obviously when you have someone like David, you want to get the ball in his hands,” Stinespring said. “We didn’t do a very good job early in the [Clemson] game of doing it. … We probably needed to force the ball into his hands a couple more times early on, regardless of the situation. We just needed to do a better job of getting him involved.”
Wilson, whose 1,627 rushing yards are 29 shy of breaking Ryan Williams‘ single-season school record, said he still hasn’t shown everything he can do on the field this year.
“I think I’ve left off a lot,’” he said. “I think I’m playing just as good I did my junior year of high school. Then my senior year of high school, I was just dominating almost every defense I went against. Getting three and four touchdowns a game and six carries, 160 yards.”
Is it frustrating that he can’t do that in college?
“I can,” he said. “I just haven’t.”
- I’ll have more on Wilson in a feature story I’ve got running in Monday’s paper. Here’s one more quote from him today: “I don’t know if it’s the turf or the long break we had, my body getting back to 100 percent, but I definitely feel faster this week and a lot stronger and more powerful.”
- OK, one more Wilson quote about the game: “The media says that one team shouldn’t be here. So making a statement and coming out and winning this game, that’d be powerful.”
- The battle up front will be key in the game. That’s actually what I’m writing about for Sunday’s paper. Michigan’s defensive line is a strength, and it plays as physical as anyone Virginia Tech will face this year. “I really don’t think any offensive line can stand up to our physicality,” Wolverines defensive end Craig Roh said. “If our d-line plays the way we know how to play, I don’t think anyone in the country can.”
- Roh, who is 6-foot-5, 269 pounds, on what it’s like going up against a 6-foot-6, 254-pound quarterback like Thomas: “There’s just more to hit. So I guess you just hit it harder.”
- Most of the teams Virginia Tech has played this year are speed teams on the line. Michigan is a change of pace. “They want to get inside your chest and try to push you back,” Hokies right tackle Blake DeChristopher said. “So we’ve been practicing that this week a lot in pass [protection]. It’s going to be a good challenge, but it should be fun.”
- Thomas said he made one trip to Bourbon Street. “It’s definitely wild,” he said. “It’s definitely how they described it, I guess.” He said he didn’t wear any Virginia Tech gear because he was trying to fit in. Good luck with that.
- ESPN draft guru Mel Kiper Jr. has said in the past that Thomas is a future top-10 NFL draft pick. That could be next year as competition for USC’s Matt Barkley. “I didn’t see it, but people told me what he said,” Thomas said. “I just kind of chuckled, because I think I’m a long way off to where I need to be. I’ve got a lot of work to put in between now and next year is what they’re projecting. But I’m extremely excited about it, extremely blessed about it, but that means I have to work that much harder. It’s a good thing it happened, but that means I have to step my game up.”
- Receiver Danny Coale said he’s preparing as though he’ll be the team’s punter Tuesday. He’s on the punt block team too, so he alternates reps on the different units during practice. “It’s high school all over again for me,” he said. “It’s just fun, flying around, kind of doing those dual roles.”
- As for field goals, the former high school kicker said he’s not in the mix, although just fooling around in practice he kicked an extra point, missed a 30-yarder and made a 30-yarder. ” It’s not something that I’m focusing on right now,” he said.
- Stinespring recalled the ’95 Sugar Bowl win against Texas and what head coach Frank Beamer said afterward. “We’re going to be back and we’re going to be better,” Stinspring said. “And I was in the back thinking, ‘Whoa, slow down little fella, enjoy the moment here. You’re a little giddy, I understand.’ And he was right. We were back here. We were able to play for the national championship in a terrific ballgame. And then we were able to come back again and play Auburn, undefeated Auburn team, and go face mask to face mask with them for four quarters. And now we’re back again and we’re facing a Michigan ball club that is the winningest ball team in all of college football. And since 1995 we’re the winningest football team in college football in Division I-A. So like I said it really means a great deal to us to be here, it’s special to be here, and because as I had said, I think the footprints of where we are in college football are stamped within the city of New Orleans and this Bowl.”
UPDATE, 6:00 p.m.: A few more notes and quotes from Virginia Tech’s practice at the Superdome.
- Beamer still anticipates Justin Myer being his place-kicker, but he hasn’t come out and said Myer is the starter yet.
- Wide receiver D.J. Coles (ankle) and cornerback Cris Hill (knee) were both back in normal jerseys during Saturday’s practice after wearing blue, limited-contact ones Friday. Linebacker Nick Dew (ankle) was in blue Saturday.
- Stanford handled Virginia Tech in last year’s Orange Bowl, especially on defense, sacking Tyrod Taylor eight times. Vic Fangio was the Cardinal’s defensive coordinator last year. He was a defensive assistant for current Michigan defensive coordinator Greg Mattison in 2008 and ’09 on the Baltimore Ravens’ staff. “I think there will be some similarities,” Hokies offensive line coach Curt Newsome said.
- My story tomorrow, as mentioned before, is on the Hokies’ offensive line matchup up with Michigan’s defensive front. To get used to the physical play, Virginia Tech had some extra physical work in a practice earlier this week. “I don’t know if they were real excited about it,” Newsome said, “but we knew that we needed to get some extra work for these guys.”
- Count running backs coach Shane Beamer as someone excited to see how fast Wilson is on the Superdome turf. The Hokies have had only two games on artificial turf this year. “At Wake we played on this surface, and he had a big night that night as well,” the younger Beamer said. “So I’m looking forward to it. We’ve got great team speed and the more we can get the ball to our guys and out on the surface all around the field, the better off we’ll be. But David is one who has been practicing fast this week, and hopefully he’ll be fast in the game.”
- One quick bit of color: Shane got the team worked up by fielding a kickoff at the end of one drill. He darted up the field as Tech’s players hooted and hollered at him from the sideline. He finished the run with a stutter-step juke of Wilson after running down the field about 30 yards.
- Virginia Tech moves to the Saints’ practice facility in nearby Metairie, La. The Saints play at home against the Panthers on Sunday, so the Superdome is unavailable.
- Another reminder: I’m doing a LIVE Virginia Tech chat Sunday at 5 p.m. ET. If you can’t make it but would like to ask a question, post something in the comment section below or email me at andy.bitter@roanoke.com or andy.bitter@pilotonline.com.
December 31, 2011 - 12:36 PM
My personal feeling is that there is about an 80% chance that Wilson goes pro. Having said that, if there is one thing that we have learned about Mr. Wilson, it’s that he is the consummate showman. From catching rabbits on the drill field to leading the band, from multiple backflips to his GQ classroom attire, David has shown that he loves the spotlight. From that angle announcing that he is going to the NFL would be an anticlimax. Face it, we all figure that he is going pro, so to announce such would shock and awe exactly no one. I’m guessing that there is a sneaky chance that David is playing it close to the vest to create a “shock the world” moment when he announces his return to the Hokies for next season. That would leave us all just as wide eyed in amazement as those defenders trying to tackle him.
No, Wilson is gone, for certain. He just wants the rushing record first. He’s nothing left to gain by staying at VaTech. Please, folks, let’s not pretend he would have a shot at the Heisman, either. Nor because he isn’t capable of putting up the numbers, but because Beamer’s offense won’t cooperate and the VT Ath Dept couldn’t market its’ way out of a wet paper bag. Look at the promotion done for him this year – zero. Even after his sizzling start to the season, you heard nothing coming from Bburg in terms of hyping Wilson.
I think Beamer doesn’t ‘get’ Wilson, in that he doesn’t understand his personality, and oddly will not miss him when Wilson is gone. Beamer is aflutter over Logan Thomas. Watch the hype machine start rolling for Thomas next fall, in the antiquated way VT does it, at least.
FTR, good luck to Wilson and thanks for the great memories. He came to VT to help get to the NFL, so best wishes to him.
Did a Tech player tipoff, the clemson defense in both games this year?
Virginia Tech needs to win this game for many reasons. At this point in time Tech needs to win this game to establish themselves as a serious program all over again after the loss in the ACC championship game and after the loss in the bowl game last year. Tech has lost too many high profile games, too many, to be considered a top tier team, and a win in this game would help to establish that for Tech. Sooner or later losses in high profile games on national television will catch up to Tech and others will not take Tech seriously as a powerful team or powerful program. Tech can not afford to have that happen, it would be a deep hole to climb out of.
Let’s go Hokies !!!
A question for you: If this Martin is such a terror why is the highest honor that he received only second team on the conference team?
If you remove the fan perspective and look at the two teams, it is exceedingly probable that Michigan will crush VaTech as badly as Stanford did last year. Of course, Brady Hoke won’t go all Jim Harbaugh and start putting the punter in motion, etc. on plays just to be an arse. I do expect, however, Michigan to dominate.
I’ve got to say this – not as a Hokie, but as a college football fan, Harbaugh’s deliberate attempts at humiliation of VT were offensive. I’m an old school guy, that’s a given, and I believe that if you can beat a team 77-0, you do it. But what you don’t do is distort the game in an effort to showboat. Ray Leonard was an arse for taunting Roberto Duran and Jim Harbaugh was an arse for doing the same last year in the Orange Bowl. Both won, but that is NOT the point. You can win with class, or you can show your azz. Leonard and Harbaugh are two people I’ll never respect.
The thing I’ve yet to understand is – why? Harbaugh obviously never had any interaction with East Coast football, much less VT. The only conclusion I’ve derived is that it was his way of thumbing at all of college football. That he felt so superior to it all that he would do such. Why the need? I still don’t understand that. If you are indeed superior, then why bother? Obviously, Harbaugh has enjoyed one successful season as a head coach in the NFL, but it will be interesting to see if karma visits him again.
Just some random New Year’s thoughts for you…
One thing that I remember from the orange Bowl last year was the attitude of the Stanford fan base on all of the blogs and websites. The prevailing thought seemed to be that the Cardinal had been snubbed and that they were in a “no win” situation playing the Hokies. I remember many Cardinal fans complaining that if the lost to Tech they would look bad, and that even if they won, people would just say “well, you beat a substandard Virginia Tech/ACC team, so what?” I would imagine that a lot of this attitude had filtered back to Harbaugh (or perhaps filtered down from him) and that is why he felt the need to play cat’s paw with the Hokies in the second half. Kind of like saying “Look how easily we trash these nobodies, you should have given us a better test” or something to that effect. Frank had to be seething. I think it’s a tribute to his class and a backhanded indictment of Harbaugh that he had nothing but praise for Harbaugh and Stanford after the game. Happy New Year everyone!!
Pardon the spelling errors, I just got up and still blurry
One more thing I have to say, since Andy posted the pic above of Wilson and Josh Oglesby. I remember when Josh Oglesby first gave Tech his verbal commitment back in 2007. He was a Rivals 3-star I believe out of North Carolina. I remember him mostly because he was one of Tech’s earliest verbals that year and in interviews just kind of gushed over being able to play for the Hokies and seemed to really dedicate himself to the team from the start. That was something that I noted then and haven’t seen from many recruits, most seemingly go through the process as if it were a shopping spree. Since then, Oglesby has watched Darren Evans, Ryan Williams, and now David Wilson come through and take the reins at RB for the team. This whole time he has waited patiently, played his role (even fullback for a season) and basically just brought his lunch pail and gone to work for 4 years. While we always lavish praise on the stars and the big names that come through Tech, I think we need to look at the above picture and realize that it’s players like that guy on the left who really make the Hokies who they are. Congratulations Josh on a great career, good luck in the future and we will miss you!
Good post Dan, and thanks for 4 good dedicated years Josh.
As I said in my original post, there is a difference in dominating a team and in trying to humiliate a team. Dan’s post did not address at all the efforts by Jim Harbaugh to humiliate the Hokies, nor the reasoning by Harbaugh for doing so.
I’ll repeat, for Dan and any other Harbaugh apologists or any who thrill themselves by attempting to humiliate opponents, Jim Harbaugh is an azz for his behavior in the last Orange Bowl. It wasn’t enough for Stanford to merely be in a BCS bowl, which was a miracle in itself, considering how sorry the STanford program has been over the last several decades. No, Harbaugh seemed determined to use his unique opportunity to show himself as an azz and try to backstab all affiliated with college football.
Jim Harbaugh is the kind of azz that makes one almost – ALMOST – like Pete Carroll. If the weight of that statement doesn’t resonate with you, then you don’t understand anything at all about college football, and your participation here is irrelevant…