An Impromptu Trip to Blacksburg

I finished watching College Football Live at 9:58 this morning. Afterwards it became evident that I needed more of a football fix than listening to the ESPN talking heads. Solution, the Hokies' first public scrimmage was this afternoon at 4:45. I was in the car at noon, arrived in the 'Burg at 4:15 and was in Lane Stadium with 15 minutes to spare.

Fast forward to 8:00 pm. Sitting to the left of my laptop on this wobbly hotel desk are 3 notebook pages full of shorthand. It looks like English encrypted by an Enigma Machine. It's inexperience at its finest. I'll take better notes the next time, but for now here's my best decryption.

• We have a kicker! Hazley made four field goals in four tries. He hit a couple of chip-shots from about 30 yards, one from 43 and he hooked one in from 48.
• Early on, there were a lot of three and outs.
• Evans and Williams were on the field at the same time–100 Proof Backfield y'all. All their plays together came out of the shotgun, very similar to how Suggs and Jones were used. Both times they stayed in the backfield a read option was run for a few yards gained. However, RMFW also motioned out into the slot. I was kind of hoping to see them both in the I or Pro set. David Wilson and Josh Oglesby also lined up together.
• Evans, Williams and Wilson all dazzled today. Evans finished with 60 yards on 12 touches. He was running mean. There was one carry against either the 2^nd or 3^rd defense where he broke three tackles down the right sideline for a gain of 18 yards. RMFW busted out the spin move on a rush for about 12 yards. If football doesn't work out, he should take up ballet at Juilliard. Wilson was consistent on every carry finishing with 33 yards on six tries.
• Relative to his experience, Logan Thomas played very well. It took him a couple of series to get comfortable, but once he did he was a machine. His release point was much improved from the spring and because of that he was able to keep most of his passes down and on target. He looked comfortable in the pocket and took his time to set his feet before delivering the ball. Ju-Ju was struggling to keep it together. He was erratic on a couple of throws to Josh Oglesby in the flats and just never found a groove. In my opinion the backup job is going to be Thomas'.
• Zack Luckett recorded four tackles before being helped off the field with what looked like a knee or ankle injury.
• Tight end Andre Smith hauled in a 30 yard strike from Tyrod.
• Zack McCray is going to be a good one. He was in on a bunch of tackles and also had a sack.
• I have 100% confidence in Bruce Taylor.
• There were some penalties including a delay of game that had Coach Beamer hollering. On a 3^rd and about nine back-to-back snaps sailed to the right of Tyrod who was set back in the shotgun. There's clearly some rust that needs to be knocked off, work to be done, but this team has all the tools to make 2010 a special year.