Freshman WR Isaiah Ford Seizes a Starting Spot

After Virginia Tech's top three receivers combined to catch 136 passes for 1,941 yards last season, it wouldn't seem like the Hokies were in the market for a new starter at the position.

Yet thanks to Demitri Knowles' nagging injury issues and true freshman Isaiah Ford's stellar play in fall camp, the depth chart looks a little different at receiver for the 2014 season.

Knowles certainly has the edge over Ford in experience, playing meaningful snaps for the last two years now, but the freshman's consistently dominant performances in camp made it impossible for the coaches to keep him off the field.

"You're going to play the best two or three guys as starters, and he's definitely in that group and he deserves it, period," said wide receivers coach Aaron Moorehead. "If you go out and do what you're supposed to do and uphold your end of the bargain, then as a coach you have to hold up your end of the bargain, which is put the best guys on the field and right now he's deserving of that."

Ford dazzled during the team's final scrimmage of the preseason, catching touchdowns of 26, 27 and 35 yards, to lock down a starting spot opposite Josh Stanford.

"Before we went out there, Coach Moorehead told all the receivers 'put everything together that we've been working on all camp and make plays' and the plays presented themselves and I tried to make them," Ford said.

Most people thought that Ford would spend this year redshirting due to his light, 174-pound frame, and while the speed of the college game took him a little time to get used to, he's quickly adapted.

"From the first day we put on full pads, it was a transition. I had to get used to the physicality," Ford said. "Everyone's bigger than at the high school level, but I feel like I transitioned pretty well. I'm used to doing things I've been doing my whole life, making plays, attacking the ball."

From the moment he stepped on the practice field, the coaching staff couldn't help but notice his playmaking abilities.

"He's a guy that as soon as he stepped on campus you heard from the DBs that he had a chance to be really good, and in the first couple days of camp you noticed him," said offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler.

One defensive back that likely had the most to say about Ford's abilities is star corner Kendall Fuller. The two have frequently been matched up against each other in what's become one of the marquee battles of fall camp.

"The past couple days, he and I have been going at it really, really hard. But it's amazing to go against him," Ford said. "You don't see too many corners with his talent and his IQ at his position. In the game, it won't be that tough."

While you might expect the ACC's Defensive Rookie of the Year to regularly get the better of a true freshman, an Instagram video has been making the rounds showing Ford sliding under Fuller to make a tough catch.

Yet Moorehead cautions that the competition has been very even over the last few weeks, regardless of what social media shows.

"Kendall's done a good job of going against him in practice and pushing him, but don't get me wrong, Isaiah beat him on the one time that everybody got the video, but there's plenty of times that Kendall beat Isaiah when they've both could've made the play," Moorehead said. "But that's what practice is about, when you can go into practice every day and feel like your guys at wide receiver are making the DBs better and the DBs are making your receivers better, you almost get to the point where the games are easier than practice."

Ford admits that he does savor the plays when he's able to beat Kendall a little more than the average catch.

"I remember those plays," Ford said. "When you get Kendall he'll say 'hey man, good job.' But we've got a really battle going on, it's a lot of fun though."

But as intriguing as the Ford-Fuller battle may be, just 11 months ago, Ford had a better chance of facing off against Kendall in a game than on the practice field.

He committed to Louisville last May when Charlie Strong was still the head coach for the Cardinals, but then things changed.

"I took an official visit here when I was committed to Louisville. After my visit, I was completely 50-50, so I just prayed about it," Ford said. "Then Coach Strong left, so it was kind of the answer to my prayers. Once he left, I knew what I was going to do."

It wasn't just Strong's departure that swayed Ford to come to Blacksburg — he also credits Moorehead's straightforward approach as a major influence.

"When he was recruiting me, he told me 'you're going to have a chance to play' but he did tell me 'I'm not going to give you anything, you're going to work for it,'" Ford said. "And that's how I wanted it. That's how in high school it was. So I really appreciated that he was really honest with me. That's one of the biggest reasons I came, that he told the truth."

Now, Ford is hoping he can get one of his former teammates to undergo a similar change of heart about the Hokies. Cornerback Kevin Toliver II of Ford's Trinity Christian Academy in Jacksonville is verbally committed to LSU, but he's still headed to Tech for an official visit on September 19.

"I've been working on him really, really hard," Ford said. "He's taking a visit here. We're not going to talk about it too much, hopefully we can get him."

In the meantime, Ford will focus on what he can bring to the offense.

"I can make plays down the field or with the ball in my hands, and when we need a big play, I can make one," Ford said.

While Knowles might've excelled at midrange crossing routes, it would seem that Ford has earned a starting spot for his vertical explosiveness, and that has Moorehead and the rest of the staff excited.

"We've got some playmakers out there," Moorehead said. "You can kind of take a breath as a coach and realize that you've got a lot of options out there."

With the team still trying to find an offensive identity around new starting quarterback Michael Brewer, the presence of talented newcomers like Ford should make things infinitely easier on the new signal caller.

"We relied on Logan (Thomas) so heavily last year. If he played well, we won and if he didn't play well, we didn't," Moorehead said. "That's a lot of pressure for anybody. I think this year will be a little less pressure on that quarterback."

But for all the accolades being extended Ford's way, the veterans caution that the freshmen haven't fully proven themselves quite yet.

"They have a lot to prove because they are freshmen, they've only been here for a couple of months," said quarterback Mark Leal. "But what they have proven already is that they are ready to play. And they're only going to get better."