Donaldven Manning’s status with team up in air; freshman cornerback to meet with Beamer on Wednesday
Freshman cornerback Donaldven Manning was not at practice Tuesday and will meet with head coach Frank Beamer on Wednesday to discuss his future with the program.
Rumors began Tuesday afternoon that the true freshman had left the program. Assistant coaches who were available for interviews Tuesday night would only say what the school confirmed earlier — that Manning will meet with Beamer.
A 5-foot-9, 155-pound true freshman from Miami, Fla, Manning was a four-star recruit who enrolled last January to get a jump on playing time this year. Although he showed promise in the spring, he’s been slow to catch on to Bud Foster‘s defense this fall and has played sparingly.
His most lasting image this year might have been the Cincinnati game, when he replaced an injured Kyle Fuller in the third quarter and was beaten on consecutive plays for 57 yards, the second going 29 yards and a touchdown by Kenbrell Thompkins.
Manning played in seven games and registered four tackles this year, with one interception.
Online court records show that he was arrested in May and charged with possession of marijuana, although the charge was later dropped. The case was finalized in July, when he was found guilty of misidentifying himself to a police officer, a misdemeanor. He was given a 60-day suspended sentence and received one year of probation.
With Manning not at practice, sophomore walk-on Carl Jackson got second-team reps. Starter Kyle Fuller has been banged up and hasn’t practiced the first two days this week, meaning a larger role for freshman Donovan Riley, who notched his first career interception against Florida State last week.
“I’m going to pray that we can stay healthy, but those guys have got to be able to go if you need it,” defensive backs coach Torrian Gray said.
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Here are some more notes and quotes from Tuesday’s post-practice availability …
- A late addition to the notes: Beamer’s website updated the depth chart late Tuesday, putting Corey Fuller and Demitri Knowles in the starting receiver spots over seniors Marcus Davis and Dyrell Roberts. “It’s a production driven business, so, you better produce,” wide receivers coach Kevin Sherman told the site. “You just turn the film on. It’s no secret. … Nobody gets blindsided around here.” Davis’ lack of blocking has been in the news this week.
- Foster said there’s been one common thread in the team’s two-minute problems on defense this year: “Busted coverage. That’s it.” The game-winning touchdown by the Seminoles came on a play when Virginia Tech was supposed to be in man coverage. From the looks of the replay, Fuller turned his receiver loose to the inside when he wasn’t supposed to (9:06 on the video). “We’ve got to execute and we’ve got to finish, man,” Gray said. “It’s frustrating from the standpoint that you play Florida State all game and you’ve got two great, end of the half drives that we can’t execute in those situations. So we’ve just got to look at us in the face and say, ‘Hey, we’ve got to man up and execute and just really perform in those situations.’”
- Foster continued to be aggressive, blitzing and playing man coverage near the end because he knew how good FSU kicker Dustin Hopkins was (he made 52- and 45-yard field goals earlier in the game). Freshman safety Desmond Frye, who was in the game for the injured Michael Cole, was the one free man on the play but couldn’t close quick enough to take down Rashad Greene, who caught the ball across the middle and out-raced the entire Hokies defense to the end zone. Frye, who got in for six plays, had repped that defense in practice during the week. “[FSU] made a good throw and catch,” Foster said. “He was in position. But I think the [Frye has] got great upside. I’m excited about his future, and his reps and him practicing with us this fall is only going to make him better for next fall.”
- Foster said he went with Alonzo Tweedy at whip linebacker last week because of what he brings to all the different blitz packages the Hokies were planning. “And I just felt better about his ability to do that more than Ronny [Vandyke's],” he said. “Ronny is a little more robotic right now, where Tweedy is a little more fluid from that standpoint.” Foster thinks Tweedy can continue to be a factor going forward. The senior was working with the first team near the end of practice Tuesday (although Vandyke was listed ahead of Tweedy on the depth chart on Beamer’s website). “I’m pulling for the guy,” Foster said. “I always have. And so I’m hoping he can be an impact for us the next couple ballgames.”
- Did Tech consider putting Tweedy in earlier this season? “Yeah, we have, but there are a lot of factors that go into it than just ability,” Foster said. “And those are some things that maybe some of the mental part of the game for our package sometimes has held him back. But at the same time, we found some things that he can do in his role and he has done them very well for us.”
- Cornerback Antone Exum has taken his fair share of criticism this year for his play, particularly for the pass interference calls, but teammates and coaches continue to say he’s had a strong year. “If you look at film, he’s in man coverage against the best receiver every game with no safety help,” defensive end James Gayle said. “So [his critics] obviously don’t know what they’re talking about. I guess they take the pass interferences to heart.”
- The prospect of going 6-6 isn’t very appealing to many fans, but the Hokies take the bowl streak to heart. Get to six wins and Virginia Tech will be in a bowl — albeit a third-tier one — for the 20th straight year. “Everyone wants to go to a bowl game,” Gayle said. “That’s the dessert of the season. It’s fun. We definitely have to beat Boston College. Just worry about them first.”
- If Virginia Tech makes a bowl, it’ll probably be one low on the totem pole. “As long as we don’t end up in Alaska, we’ll be fine,” Gayle said.
November 13, 2012 - 8:34 PM
Yes, by all means keep a bowl streak going when some of the bowl games were nothing to be proud of to begin with, as any bowl game will be this year if the team is in a bowl game.
It is a hollow streak that all of our detractors and opponents know for what it is, as do many of us as loyal Tech fans.
Still, I say ” Go Hokies “.
I had to laugh about the last two posted items. If the Hokies make a bowl game it will ‘probably’ be one of the lower ones? Umm, yeah, probably, since they will be 6-6 to finish the regular season.
I know, I know, we’ve got to allow for the lottery long shot of them making the ACCCG & miraculously upsetting either Clemson or F$U. So we can’t ‘assume’ anything in the 99.99 percentile and below is a given. Please, child…
The interesting part of a Hokie bowl trip is how much the players and coaches assume they are deserving of that privilege, and how many/few Hokie boosters will attend such a bowl game.
My goodness what a coincidence. A YouTube video of Marcus Davis laziness on the field go viral nationwide, and Frank beamer just ‘happens’ to decide that it is time to play the two reserve WRs that have outplayed him all season long, in terms of effort and full involvement in their responsibilities? I mean, it’s just GOT to be happenstance that with the season essentially in the toilet and the remaining games virtually pointless, Beamer FINALLY says, ‘we’ve got nothing to lose by playing these young guys who leave their hearts on the field, instead of the lazy diva senior’.
If only the fan base could strike the same chord with him on his offensive philosophy.
Who did Manning say he was when he was busted by the law?? Ray Lewis??
These coaches/players would really go ‘bowling’ with a 6-6 record??
That sends another positive message.
Go Hokies!!
But….go where?
Hopefully the coaches/players will get nice digital watches as ‘bowl’ freebies……
I think the fans know what time it is.
Crooked Road, do you have nothing else better to do than whine about all of the shortcomings of VT football? I don’t have time to read all of these blogs, but whenever I do, I see your name and you are most often complaining about someone else’s comments! Then five minutes later, you criticize a third, then a fourth person. This is all in response to one blog! Seriously, what is wrong with you? Take a break, go for a walk or something.
Crooked Road, are you aaying a Hall of Fame college coach would make a depth chart decision based on the whims of a message board?
I have never been a fan of “win half of your games and you go to a bowl game” scenario but, as disappointing as this season has been, I am ready to accept it especially if the team continues to perform like they did against FSU (a really tough loss for as hard as they played)!!
Ten games into the season and we’re just now realizing that Fuller is a better option than Davis and Tweedy can make plays at whip. When the coaches finally end up doing exactly what us dumb fans have been saying all along it can be quite validating. Just wish it had happened a little bit earlier in the season.
As far as a lower-tier bowl goes, I would not be so certain. If FSU and Clemson both make the BCS, the Chick-fil-A Bowl is going to have to take somebody with a 7-5 or 6-6 record. There’ll probably take who ever finishes 7-5, but you never know. If the Hokies put it all together against BC and UVA, we could end up in a better bowl than anticipated. @gtbowyer
Yea Tech could go to a bowl game, but who cares, other than the players and coaches who have always looked at bowl games as just a vacation to have fun. Forget about trying to win the game to maby help recruting for next year. I am so sick of the attitude of this coaching staff, I will just be glad when it is over, and hope I live long enough to see the administration at this school finally have the balls to clean the house of the offensieve side of the ball. And yes that includes FRANK BEAMER, and no Shane is not ready for a head coaching position.
I say let’s go to the acc championship. We still have our hotel reservations. Tech played well enough to beat fla state. Having to play them twice, I would rather loose the first one, and win the second. It starts by winning this weekend and having duke beat gt. We got em right where we want them! Yea that’s the ticket! It’s almost too easy. The short coach
Good one, pete. I would be interested in learning the semantical arguments posed by Esquire Turk on this one. Like always, there’s been a black hole of info about Manning’s legal problems coming from the VT athletic department and the media covering them.
I actually don’t care about Manning’s legal problems. I’m just so excited about this titanic clash we have coming against BC that I can hardly focus on anything else.
On the serious side, what I would like to do is pose the questions – Can you guess which bowl the Hokies will make, and the actual number of tickets purchased by Hokies? Not the ones the VT athletic department commits to buy and eat, but the actual number of tickets.
#4 Marcus Vick
VT is going to play really well the rest of the season.
Anyone have predictions on which bowl game we’ll make (I predict we win the next two, FTR), and the ticket purchase by actual Hokie fans, not the VT athletic department? let’s go on that tangent, if you like…
I guess the most realistic highly ranked bowl is ChikFilA, typically reserved for 3rd best ACC team – assuming Clemson does indeed go to the Sugar, then Orlando, then El Paso, then Charlotte, and finally Nashville.
How many fans will attend each of those bowls? Which would everybody prefer?
Crooked
I’m going with a sell out by the Hokie faithful in the re-inaugural “Black Diamond Bowl” against WVU! Game will be played at Graham High and televised by WVVA.
Whatcha think?
Crooked Road…as always, you fail to see the big picture. Playing in a bowl game is a huge deal because it allows our young team a few more extra weeks of practice and it is such a huge marketing bonus for our program to be in all of these consecutive bowl games. Forget about the Athletic Department having to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars on bowl bonuses to coaches/staff, eating unsold tickets or the thought of another losing bowl game…you have to look at the big picture. It may cost us $500K-1M in losses but its worth it!
Who wants a 5’9″ 150# CB in the first place. With the WR’s in the college game today he’d better have a 50″ vertical leap.Really good small CB’s are few and far between.
I say the Hokies win the last two games and end up in Orlando. The coaches and players will be happy to get their “reward” in sunny Florida. Never understood why D1 football is the only college sport that feels it needs a glorified 6-day, all-inclusive vacation at the end of the season. It’s just another way to pay the players without actually paying the players. I’m guessing when the playoff starts in 2014 the semi-final games played on January 1 will be considered the bowl experience and the NC game played around the 10th will be more of a 3-day business trip. @gtbowyer
Hstud, I hope you didn’t bite off your tongue, as firmly planted in your cheek as it was, lol. nicely played…
Our bowl streak is ‘almost’ as memorable to recruits as Frank’s cliched ‘TEN WIN SEASON’ streak. In other words, the typical response from recruits would probably be – ‘Huh?…’
When you feel the need to brag about the number of Gator Bowls & Peach/ChikFilA bowls, tied together by Emerald Nut Bowls, well, that pretty much says it all…
Graham does not have a football stadium and it would be called the Coal Bowl. Unless Obama gets the EPA to cancel it while they revue the permits for 4 or 5 years.
Predictions are if Tech does qualify for a bowl it would be the Music City Bowl in Nashville. ACCC will go to Ga.Tech if they beat Duke this weekend.
oops not ACCC, but Coastal Division champ.
The M. Davis video confirms something I’ve been saying all season. The problem is not the offensive philosphy, it’s the execution.
CR, you forget, there are a lot of programs that WISH they could say they have a streak of 20 bowl games and 8 ten win seasons. Regardless of what you think, it is a recruiting tool. Hokiestud is correct. I’ve heard many coaches say that they feel the most important part of going to a bowl is the extra weeks of practice it allows.
Hey, bob & HTud, either of you want to chime in and explain why it took Frank ten – TEN – games to realize that Marcus Davis was a lazy diva who didn’t want to dirty his uniform? Feel free to provide rebuttal, or just continue to ‘whine’ – to use bob’s word about people realizing that Frank’s locked in on cruise control…
bob, feel free to post something other than a complaint about another poster. Pot, meet kettle…
proof, that’s an ironic twist, because typically, the WINNER of the GaTech/Hokie game is the Coastal champ. This time it would be the LOSER.
Personally, it would be funny to see Duke win the Coastal, just because everybody knows how badly they’ve… uhh… ‘stunk’ for the last several years.
My interest lies in how University Travel & the other Hokie-based travel companies are going to ‘sell’ people on going to a lower tier bowl.
Hokie fans may make a one day trip to Charlotte or Nashville. Any bowl they have to spend the night on and the AD may as well mail the tickets to the other team.
Bowls are for the cities that host them – hotel rooms, restaurants, name on TV. The exposure is more bang for the buck than advertising in a magazine or on the internet. The schools chosen usually lose money unless they are the big BCS bowls. Most schools have to eat tickets they are forced to purchase and the other expenses like paying for the band members expenses. Again, schools wantto go to get publicity and the extra practice time. It is a business. Maybe all of VT’s players have not earned a bowl reward but must have played hard and deserve the trip.
If you complainers don’t want to see them in a bowl game, don’t watch.
ron mexico
CR, Ironic is right.
Marcus Davis is trifling and of course Beamer tried to defend his lazy a..
Bowl games, unless they are near-BCS level or higher, are financial losses for schools, and by a large margin. The phony excuse of – ‘But… but… the players get extra practice for next season’ is easily refuted by understanding that no coach places next year’s starters ahead of this year’s starters when a bowl game hangs in the balance. The younger reserves don’t get any more practice than they do during Sept-November. As far as a ‘reward’ for players & coaches? Well, the coaches get hefty bonuses for going to even pitiful bowl games. The players? When they go 6-6? And expect a bowl trip as a reward?
All I can say is – I can’t wait until you join the real world.
Crooked, “real world”? You don’t know the meaning of the two words. It is about money and exposure. Do you not understand what other people write on this blog? I think facts get in your way.
What makes you think that the coaches took their bonuses last year?
Forever, silly boy. Show me where they refused them or donated them to charity. It seems your blind allegiance to the shield gets in your way, again & again…
Before you scramble, make sure to understand that Frank & his guys get bonuses only for qualifying for bowls, essentially, not for winning them. Just another clarification that will stick under your skin…
Forever, I still desire your foundation for why this year’s team & coaches ‘deserve the trip’ to a bowl game. Don’t stray from the tangent, tell me why they deserve it, when they’ll be 6-6 at best. Explain to me how the team & coaches should be ‘rewarded’ for such a season.
The only thing I remember Frank Beamer doing with his bonus was declining it and have it put back into football operations. That was it. I don’t recall what the other coaches did with their bonuses.
I don’t think a 6-6 record should be allowable to go bowling.
Honestly, there’s so many bowl games it just takes the fun out of it. The only thing it does is give Vegas plenty of things to gamble on, and for fans of respectives schools to “show up.” Also, bowl games are a robbery of college football in term of revenue and they don’t pay a dime in taxes! That just boggles my mind how the bowl enterprises are getting away with all those money that Congress would love to have their greasy hands on to help with the economic crisis this country’s facing with.
Hmm..sound like I need to write letters to the senators and resprenstatives and demand an explaination why they tax us to death, but allows the bowl games get away with murder.
Here’s another kicker…
The bowl games get to give players spending cash, trinkets like free iPod, iPad, etc, etc, and the NCAA does absolutely nothing about the “impressible benefits” that they would otherwise howl if a generous booster gave that to football players.
Hyprocrite, anyone?