The Hokies style and profile in South Florida!

    The Drive:
    I have to be honest, I was a little concerned about Virginia Tech’s new approach to the bowl game. Not from a game plan and coaching standpoint, obviously—I’m not an expert..and it was clear Coach Beamer and company felt pretty good about the extra competitive work they did in Blacksburg and putting in the game plan earlier.
    What concerned me was the overall tenor, or mood of the two teams. Virginia Tech was businesslike, for sure—-focused, serious. But at least to me, not very happy. There didn’t appear to be a lot of joy in the camp. I say this only because Cincinnati was the polar opposite, and it was glaring. They were a team that exuded confidence and were clearly enjoying the moment. I attended both team’s beach parties, both team’s practices, and both team’s interview sessions. Cincy was clearly the team that was loose, almost giddy to be there. 
    Now that I have some distance, I see it all more clearly. Cincinnati had already won by advancing to this grand BCS stage. Virginia Tech was still hungry. The Bearcats were already celebrating a great season. The Hokies didn’t consider it a great season—UNTIL they won. But at the time, it didn’t feel that way. It really didn’t.

  The Fairway:
    Cincinnati’s players were spewing some quotable stuff. Mardy Gilyard had no problem explaining to us how he lived out of his car after he was booted from school for grades. He told us at home time in his life, a bottle of water and a toothbrush would have made him happy—and now…he was staying at a five star South Beach hotel, the Fontainebleau Beachfront.  He told me Macho is “that guy” that he wanted to prove himself against, and then finished with “Mardy’s gonna come to play.“ For the record, he did. 7 catches for 158 yards and a score. He did come to play.
    Defensive end Connor Barwin had no problem suggesting the Hokies play Sean Glennon, because he didn’t really want to chase Tyrod around to try and record a sack. He qualified the remark by saying it’s always more fun to play a drop back passer because you know where you can find him. Fair enough. After watching I’m thinking Glennon would have torched that secondary regardless.

  The Green:
  I also heard some interesting tidbits about the future. At least one Tech defender told us the quickest running back the defense has faced all year might be Ryan Williams. Yes, the Ryan WIlliams from Stonewall Jackson High in Manassas, who was redshirted this season.  For the record, the 5-10, 200 pounder was a Superprep All-American, and ESPN had him as the 4th best RB prospect in the nation.
  Another prominent Tech starter warned us that the Barquell Rivers hits like a ton of bricks, and Cincinnati’s quarterback found out the hard way on the 4th down play at the goal line. Yikes.
  Also, I thought Eddie Whitley did a nice job when Kam left the game to have his foot looked at. That’s a tough spot for a true freshman to find himself in, but he stood tall against the spread offense.

  The Jar:
  Both myself and photographer Jeff Perzan followed a group of Hokies around at the DiMaggio Children’s hospital visit in Hollywood, Florida during bowl week. Defensive End Jason Worilds was there, the day after it was announced he would miss the game and would be undergoing surgery on a shoulder he’d been dealing with almost all season. What I thought was most impressive was Jason’s demeanor with the children that day. He was super. He had to be dealing internally with his own disappointment, but you would have never known it. Afterwards we talked briefly about the days events and he was right on point, all about the kids and giving them a little joy, a smile, anything to help.
    I know the surgery he’s scheduled for is not an easy one, but should pay dividends down the road. How many of us would keep playing if our shoulder just kept popping out? The pain associated with that is mind boggling. Consider the Jason Worilds you watched this year was maybe 60 or 70 percent. Imagine him at full speed, with two arms instead of just one. That glare you are experiencing isn’t your computer monitor, it is Bud Foster, smiling.