Corey Fuller, Demitri Knowles making move at receiver
The latest Virginia Tech depth chart has movement at the wide receiver positions, with Corey Fuller and Demitri Knowles elevated to co-No. 1′s with entrenched starters Marcus Davis and Dyrell Roberts.
While head coach Frank Beamer said it’s a reward for Fuller and Knowles, wide receivers coach Kevin Sherman told Beamer’s website that it’s a motivational tactic too.
“It also sends the message that you better be busting it all the time,” Sherman said. “If any of our guys think they can relax because they’re arrived, they’ve got that dead wrong.”
Statistically, Davis and Fuller have been the Hokies’ top two receivers. Davis has a team-leading 33 catches for 643 yards and four touchdowns, on pace for the first 1,000-yard receiving season in school history.
Fuller, whose role expanded when D.J. Coles was lost for the year with a knee injury, has 25 catches for 503 yards and four touchdowns, with four starts.
Roberts, who missed most of the North Carolina game with a concussion, is next, with 22 catches for 280 yards and a score. Knowles has 10 grabs for 152 yards and a touchdown.
Davis and Roberts have started every game, although their blocking effort hasn’t been its best in recent weeks. Sherman has routinely brought up consistency being the one thing holding Davis back from putting everything together.
Beamer wants to foster competition at practice and balance things out to get maximum effort.
“I think there’s a possibility we’re playing some guys too much,” he said. “We want good competition and we want to get Knowles in the ball game because I think he can do things. Corey Fuller has been very, very good all year long. He’s been exceptional. I think trying to have a fresh receiver in the ball game and have good competition at that wide receiver position cause competition makes everyone better. That’s the big picture.”
Quarterback Logan Thomas doesn’t see it as too much of a difference.
“I definitely think that they’re pushing them,” he said. “I mean you can already list Corey as a No. 1 for as much as he plays anyway. They’re pushing up on those guys, but it’s not to say Marcus and Dyrell aren’t doing their own thing. They’re doing a great job as well.”
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- I’m a little later than normal with this update because columnist Aaron McFarling and were recording our debut podcast, something we’re going to give a try for the next couple weeks, I think. I’m by no means a spoken word expert — I have a voice for print, let’s say — but I think it’ll be a different way to talk about Virginia Tech in a casual setting. I’ll have a link up tomorrow sometime. Be sure to give us your feedback.
- I’m doing a story on the offense for tomorrow’s paper and wanted to get Beamer’s opinion on what ESPN’s Todd McShay said last week about the Hokies’ offense being out-dated. Beamer asked back, “Do you know what he based that on?” I said I didn’t, since I didn’t have a chance to follow-up with a question on McShay’s teleconference. “Me neither,” Beamer said sharply.
- Overall, as you’d guess, Beamer didn’t think much of McShay’s remarks. “I think those guys stay on the air by being controversial,” he said. “We’re doing a lot of things that you see, you turn on the TV, a lot of stuff. And then I think he made some reference about Logan and I think he was one that had Logan up there pretty high as far as an NFL quarterback. He wasn’t talking about our offense when he had Logan up there pretty high as an NFL quarterback. I don’t know quite where he’s coming from, but guys have got to stay in the business.” (Sidenote: Beamer suggested going back and asking McShay what he meant specifically. I have tried, but efforts to reach McShay through ESPN in the last week have been unsuccessful.)
- Miami isn’t exactly a raucous atmosphere. Sun Life Stadium isn’t anywhere near campus. It’s an NFL stadium in Miami Gardens that is routinely close to empty on gamedays, even though the Hurricanes have a historically strong football program, or at least have since the early-80′s. “It’s a big stadium for any team and it’s, I guess because the U is the way the U is now and not the old age, it’s not as full as it has been and used to be,” Thomas said. “I don’t know how to put it up against another stadium, but it still has some sound to it, but it’s not what you would expect a team that has a legacy like Miami to have.”
- Safety Kyshoen Jarrett explained what the defense needs to do like this: “We have to go out and perform and just having each team match our intensity, and just match our mojo when we go out there, instead of us trying to match their mojo, and then, you know, they’re already rolling.” I’m guessing that’s a way of saying they have to energy early.
- Thomas’ step-dad is a big Miami fan. He grew up there. How does that work out? “It’s not a problem,” Thomas said. “I’ve been living with it for 12 years now or whatever it is, so it doesn’t really bother me.” Sounds like they don’t bring it up much. Logan doesn’t know who he’s rooting for. “Couldn’t tell you,” he said. “I don’t ask. Don’t ask, don’t tell.”
- The injury report is due out later today, but Beamer said center Caleb Farris (ankle) is going to play. “I don’t think he’s totally 100 percent, but I tell you, he’s really toughed it out,” Beamer said. “Wants to play very much. I think he’s going to be able to play, but what percentage healthy, I couldn’t tell you exactly.”
- The winner of this game has a pretty good chance of winning the division, although for some, that won’t make up for Tech’s early-season struggles. “I don’t think anything would make up for it, but it would definitely be something that would make us feel better about the season,” Thomas said. “We’ve kind of got a sour taste in our mouths and we don’t like it, but getting to the ACC championship would be something huge for us.”
- Beamer thinks there’s a precedent for a team having a down year turning it into something good by the end. “I take it back to Florida State in 2005 when we played them in the ACC championship and they were coming off of a tough year,” he said. “They lost three ACC games and obviously ended up going to the Orange Bowl. Again, I don’t think so much what’s happened in the past. We’re doing everything we can to beat this Miami crowd.”
October 30, 2012 - 3:23 PM
1. Marcus Davis and inconsistency…Marcus Davis is a handful of games away from the end of his college career, for crying out loud. And we’re still talking about him “putting everything together”? Says a lot about his self-discipline and his football IQ.
2. When Beamer “thinks there’s a precedent for a team having a down year turning it into something good by the end,” how ON EARTH does he not remember the more recent example…VT being 6-4 in 2008 with an offense even worse than this year’s edition but then reeling off four straight wins including the Orange Bowl
3. VT’s situation reminds me of the Philadelphia Phillies, who had an awful year yet were still in the wild card chase much longer than they would have been in a normal year. I could easily see VT still flopping like the Phillies in the end. But certainly, it ain’t over till it’s over. See point #2.
4. To be blunt, Kansas State is what VT hoped to be but isn’t (great leadership at QB leading a run-oriented, ball-control offense that isn’t spectacular but that is physical and moves the chains; physical defense getting after the ball; making the most of the players they have)
5. Hey, did I mention that Kansas State is what VT hoped to be but isn’t?????????????????????????
Todd McShay is hardly controversial. He’s isn’t Stephen A. Smith, Skip Bayless or Colin Cowherd – those guys, they are controversial. McShay is about as vanilla as a bowl of ice cream.
Frank needs to focus on coaching, he’s making a couple million a year to do that, not on analyzing ESPN personalities. He needs to worry about scoring points, and keeping the other team from doing the same. Things aren’t going that way this year, not with any consistency.
Baxter is pretty much on the money – K State is what Tech wished it was, but is not. Bill Snyder did a nice job cleaning up Ron Prince’s pile of puke he left behind. He turned around K State 2x, not just once.
I am still at loss at what’s going on inside the coaches’ heads, especially on offense, and why all the sudden this week they are elevating Fuller and Knowles to the #1 spot? Oh sure, they might try to motivate Davis to pull his act together, but that’s something that they should have done in SEPTEMBER!
It was Corey Fuller who dove on a Marcus Davis’ fumble, keeping the drive alive, and it was Corey Fuller who converted a key 4th and 10 to keep the final drive alive in the waning seconds of 4th quarter against the Bumble Bees. If anything, Fuller has exceed expectations, and he gets thanked by being #1 with the season just about to wrap up? Come on, I don’t buy that BS by Frank Beamer or Kevin Sherman.
Knowles is raw, I’ll give him that, but sometime, it is those athletes who are raw that tend to want to play more, to prove themselves, and know who else is doing the same thing? Dadi Nicholas.
Frankly, I am very amused with Beamer’s ire about McShay’s comment. If nothing else, Beamer’s response is reinforcing crooked road’s assertion that Beamer is emotionally protecting Stinespring, and nothing more.
Comment about Kansas State. I recall reading an article about Bill Snyder’s recruiting. He basically has a checklist of what he wants in players, and he recruits players to FIT his system, not the other way around. Doesn’t that sound familiar? I seem to recall Beamer once was that way.
McShay’s comment is totally wrong…our O is not 10-15 yrs out of date, it’s a mish mash of every offense of the past 15 yrs with no identity. The coaches don’t know what we want to be on offense, so it’s obvious the players will look confused. We have no identity offensively
“It also sends the message that you better be busting it all the time,” Sherman said. “If any of our guys think they can relax because they’re arrived, they’ve got that dead wrong.”
Isn’t that closing the barn door long after the horse has left the barn? Two thirds of the season is over, but only now are they using the possibility of more playing time for Fuller & Knowles to “motivate” the entrenched starters. That’s a bunch of horse hockey.
And I love the statement that player A or player B needs to get in there more. How many times have I heard that before. For years, Beamer would say player X or player Y needed to play more, yet 3 games later, he’d be saying the exact same thing. Beamer is the head coach. If he believes player x or player y needs more playing time, just tell the OC or DC. That would make it happen.
Re:Beamer’s emotional reaction to criticism of Stinespring – I’ve been trying to tell you guys. Folks don’t like hearing any ill spoken of Frank Beamer, I get that. The problem lies here – in Tallahassee, folks once didn’t like hearing any ill spoken of Bobby Bowden. In Happy Valley, folks didn’t like hearing any ill spoken of JoePa.
Even the Ming dynasty ended at some point. Frank Beamer has a huge blind spot when it comes to Stinespring. You can’t address a problem until you at least admit there is a problem, and Frank Beamer hasn’t completed step one. He won’t complete step one as long as he has influence over the program, which will be for several more years. My estimate is 7-8 more as head coach, then his five as the shadow lurking over the program at $250K annually.
This problem isn’t going away any time soon, folks. Get used to the ride.
I’m sitting here laughing trying to imagine any of the top coaches in the nation – Saban, for example – making the public statement in trying to excuse his team’s weak offensive performance:“I think there’s a possibility we’re playing some guys too much”
Gee, head coach Frank Beamer, what in the world could be done about that 2/3 of the way through the season? I dunno, give it another 3 games or so before you make any rash moves.
I mean, really, how gullible are we supposed to be?