Defensive end James Gayle tweets that he’s coming back for his senior season
Two down, one to go.
Hokies defensive end James Gayle tweeted Thursday afternoon that he plans to return for his senior season at Virginia Tech, one day after cornerback Antone Exum announced the same.
“After much thought I have decided to postpone my NFL ambitions to complete my degree and work towards another championship,” Gayle tweeted.
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That leaves quarterback Logan Thomas as the only underclassmen the Hokies are waiting on for official word about whether he goes pro or not.
Gayle, a 6-foot-4, 269-pound defensive end from Hampton, was a second-team All-ACC pick for a second straight season after finishing with 43 tackles, 11 tackles for a loss and five sacks. Those numbers are down slightly from the 12.5 tackles for a loss and seven sacks he had in 2011 and less than the double-digit sack total he set out as his goal. He did have a team-high 27 quarterback hurries, though.
Gayle, who might have had a tough time being selected high in a draft flush with top-end pass rushers, said last month that he still wanted to get first-team All-ACC honors before he finished college.
“I want to gain more accolades,” he said prior to the Russell Athletic Bowl.
Defensive line coach Charley Wiles wanted to see Gayle be more productive as a pass rusher before moving on to the next level.
“I think he’s very, very capable of being a first-, second-round draft pick and having a great year [if he comes back],” Wiles said late last month. “That’s what I’d like to see him do is reach his potential here at Virginia Tech. … He’s been good, but he could be better.”
Gayle’s return is yet another boost to a Virginia Tech defense that, after some rough patches early in the year, finished the season ranked 18th nationally. With Gayle and Exum back, the Hokies will return nine defensive starters in 2013, only losing linebackers Bruce Taylor and Alonzo Tweedy (although 2011 starter Tariq Edwards, who missed almost all of this season with a knee/leg injury, returns to the fold).
The defensive line is particularly deep. The top seven tacklers from this year’s group — Gayle, Derrick Hopkins, Luther Maddy, J.R. Collins, Tyrel Wilson, Corey Marshall and Dadi Nicolas — are expected to return. Those seven accounted for 47 tackles for a loss and 22 sacks in 2012. The only departing player who got significant playing time is senior Antoine Hopkins.
January 10, 2013 - 1:53 PM
LT has his degree so he can move on to NFL and get some GOOD coaching !!!!!
Good decision for Gayle, a lot more to lose than win going pro. He is not ready, neither is Logan Thomas.
Pep is the next offensive coordinator!!
Win a championship? So he isn’t returning to VT then?
#1 Yeah you’re right OT, VT’s D coaches don’t know what they’re doing and have a horrible reputation. Don’t know why the guy would even want to play D at VT, should have gone straight to the pros from high school.
Tony, sounnds like you might be a WHA WHO? – Guess you all have had enough of Lo0gan Thomas!
Hope you stay around Logan – Would be good for you and the Hokies!
Defense should be stout – won’t go out on a limb like last year.
LT still our best option and I think he can be a top QB next year, but make no mistake he was a very mediocre passer this year.
Still not sure what a Pep Hamilton is, but a lot of you seem to think this is a seminal moment for the VT offense. I’m not so sure…
we need a oc fast or ticket sale will go down!!
For what it’s worth David Teel is saying that Pep Hamilton will not be VT’s next OC.
Thomas needs to come out this year. With McCarron, Murray and Boyd all passing on the draft this year, this is his best chance to go high. All three of the above will go higher based upon their performance and their ability to lead their teams
That’s what I’m hearing too. Pep could end up being the OC at the 49ers.
Possibly, Baylor’s OC could be Beamer’s next target. That’s a completely different offense…but very explosive.
Only way to win is get draft ready guys come back for last year of eligibility and perform for a paycheck at the next levels
Now we wait for Logan Thomas to come back and we get ready for the TIDE!
Back to my earlier prediction; no on in their right mind would come to VT as an OC unless they are a high school coach. The Hokie ship is sinking fast.
This month is rough. No NHL, basketball isn’t something I waste my time with, NASCAR is still in the off season, spring training hasn’t started yet and Beamer is dragging out the announcement that he will not be making any changes for way too long. Anybody up for cow tipping?
no one cares what you think or say Barry.
An announcement to be made very soon concerning the new OC, possibly before January 15th. Word out of Atlanta indicates Al Groh is the man. This means that I will need to regress and root for the Hokies once in a while.
This whole OC deal has been a catastrophe. The arrogance of the Weaver and Frank to not even comment…..this is PennSt and FSU all over again. No accountability and complete arrogance. There is and has been no plan, and nobody like Hamilton wants to work for a dying program and two out of touch 65 year olds. From this Hokie fan and former season ticket holder……best of luck. Oh wait, everyone said they were going to celebrate their bowl win and had no comment, guess they are still celebrating!!
Palmetto- it remains to be seen how good of a hire Beamer makes but please explain how Beamer not telling YOU what is going on displays a lack of accountability and arrogance. I’m anxious to hear the changes too but stop being ridiculous.
Chuck Long? CHUCK LONG??? Are you kidding me??? This program has had a pitiful offense for at least 5 years, and the succession plan (when There is no choice but to make a change) is a coach who has been fired by San Diego State and Kansas??? Unbelievable……clean house now, fire Weaver and Beamer and give Bud the reigns. What an absolute joke.
Hamilton probablywill not come but for those who may not know, he is from NC and palyed ball at Howard in DC,plus coached there. Maybe he would like to come home. We can only hope plus we know he loves a challenge and where in the world could he find a better challenge that a place where the head coach does not like change or offense success? Remember you can blame th OC Coordinator and other OC coaches all you want to but if a head coach allows that to go on as lonfg as he has it is all on him.
Chuck Long! NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
Those whining about the lack of announcements on the offensive staff….blow it out your tailpipe. It will be announced when it is. The new guys will be better or not. One season like this every 20 does not make for a dying program. I happen to like the fact that Beamer is not drama queening everything up and down the state.
The way that this possible coaching change is dragging along is an indication of how the entire football program is dragging along.
Weaver needs replaced, and Beamer should think about retiring soon also.
Chuck Long is currently coaching wide receivers at the high school level. Coach Beamer better think this hire through very carefully, because the credibility of this program is on the line. I am concerned that if he hires Coach Long that he may not be accepted by the fans and I myself will be extremely disappointed as a fan. I wonder if this is because Coach Beamer waited too late to look for someone? We don’t know because he has left all the fans in the dark. Very disappointed!!!
It hasn’t been mentioned, but couldn’t LT transfer to any other D1 school to work on his masters…and play for a team that can actually coach?
Why is this even an issue for Logan to figure out? VaTech’s system does NOTHING to develop its skill-position players. We’re talking about a guy who was the #1 TE in the country coming out of high school that Stinesprain and Obrainless looked at and said “Let’s figure out how to make him into a QB. Duhduuuuhy!” Logan, leave VT in your rearview mirror and go join the pro ranks of NFL greats like Tony Gonzalez, Shannon Sharpe, Antonio Gates and Jason Witten. VT has screwed you up long enough.
I love the people that view this down season in 20 years as a fluke to disregard. There is a pervasive satisfaction in just winning 10 games, having a solid defense, beating all the teams you should and none of the ones you need to. Look at Clemson. They’ve gotten to the stage, their seniors and leaders are returning because they are HUNGRY for respect and expect to win an NC. Will they? Who knows but the attitude of winning and pursuing excellence is driving them into being a powerhouse and not a fluke. VT is just comfortable and satisfied w/ being above avg on their best years but never excellent. It’s crazy but as much as I’ve loved this team for 20 years, I’m rapidly growing to dislike everything about ‘em. This program defines insanity. I’m done.
Steve, frank doesn’t need to tell me anything. But as the leader of a program with as many loyal fans as Tech has and as much influence as he has, he owes it to AT LEAST acknowledge whether they are evaluating the program for changes. Maybe he isn’t, in which case he surely owes it to his coaches to make that known as well. The impression he and Weaver are giving by hiding is that they are clueless and have no plan, which is becoming more painfully obvious by the day. Coachingsearch.com listed the Tech OC situation as the number 1 interesting situation to watch in the offseason and Frank and Jim have not said a word about it in any way, shape or form. Arrogant and untouchable!!
The VT football new coaches hiring process appears to be running in a slow motion speed, kinda like the offense this year.Both can be timed with a sun dial.
Thank you Hokie95 (#15). Loser from Ivy really needs to go away. Maybe i should be a loser like him and go on a GT website and talk trash. Lord knows there’s plenty of ammo with that pathetic program. USC USC, blah blah, they didn’t want to be there, there’ was nothing significant about beating USC. VT owns GT, deal with it.
Just as a sidenote…many many folks think LT was a tight end in high school, but they are wrong. LT played WR as a sophomore at Brookville. His Junior and Senior year, he played QB, leading them to the state title game his senior year. All of our wonderful recruiting services etc, projected him as a tight end, which his size coincides with. I understand that he wanted to play TE or WR in college, but to say he had no experience at QB coming in is completely wrong. I don’t care who was behind that line this year, there wasn’t much time for decision making. 2 and 3 star O-line guys just aren’t cutting it anymore.
I think I might have been a little bit hasty in my last post. After reading more about Coach Long he may be a good o coordinator for VT. I read that he decided to coach his son’s high school team this year, so that is probably why he is coaching at the high school level. He also coached at Oklahoma. Coach Long seems to be a good quarterback coach too. The article I read said that he has coached a couple of Heisman winners at Oklahoma. I don’t know. Long may turn out to be a good hire. If he is the one Coach Beamer chooses.
Well, obviously the delay in situation is that the Pep Hamilton prospect didn’t work out. That was Beamer’s #1 guy he was seeking and it didn’t materialize.
So, now he’s having to explore his other options and that’s taking time too. Don’t know anything about this Chuck Long guy that people are saying could be hired. Sounds like he doesn’t have a very successful resume, although, he has a fair amount of coaching experience.
Patience, my friends. As the illustrious Crooked Road would say “This is a marathon, not a sprint”. Beamer wants to make the correct hire so he can fill that empty trophy case that Crooked Road is worrying himself to death about.
You snooze you lose and while we were snoozing since the end of the regular season other programs were being aggressive and making moves thus we have to hire a high school coach with a losing history hell if that’s the case he should hire a local high school coach who is winning maybe Christainsburg’s coach smh jus sayn!!!!!!
I will say it one more time i Don’t think Beamer really wants to change the current staff and its a shame cause us loyal fans will just have to deal with it if we wanna call ourselves true fans!! Weaver and Beamer dropped the ball on not only Pep but other good hires that were snatched up 3 weeks or a month ago!!!!!!!!!!
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How do any of you know what is going on?? Inside spies, speculating media,
your uninformed opinion???
No business and football is a business, has to keep the public informed as negotitions are going on. Being a fan lets you vent your frustrations.
So vent away.
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