Aug. 4, 2004

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2004 Virginia Tech Football Preview

Virginia Tech finished 8-5 overall and 4-3 in the Big East Conference in 2003. The Hokies started the season 6-0 and climbed as high as No. 3 in both national polls. Virginia Tech also snapped then No. 2 ranked Miami's 39-game regular-season winning streak with a 31-7 victory in Blacksburg.

Three of the five losses were by seven points or less, including two by three points. Tech has posted eight wins or more in each of the last six seasons and in 10 of the last 11 years. The Hokies dropped a 52-49 decision to California in the Insight Bowl ... Tech (101) and Miami (105) won more games than any other Big East team since the start of the 1993 season.

Over the last decade, a player at every position on Tech's defensive unit has produced at least one touchdown and 24 different players have scored touchdowns while playing on Tech's special teams. The defense and special teams have combined for 88 touchdowns since Beamer arrived in 1987.

Beamer has averaged nine victories a year over the last 11 seasons and finished the 2003 season -- his 17th season in Blacksburg -- with a 125-74-2 record. The winningest football coach in Tech history with 11 consecutive bowl appearances and three Big East titles, Beamer was the consensus National Coach of the Year in 1999.

Offensively Beamer must replace split end Ernest Wilford, the school's all-time leading receiver with 126 career receptions, tailback Kevin Jones, who smashed Tech's single-season rushing record with 1,647 yards and 21 TDs in 2003, and center Jake Grove, who was just the third unanimous All-American in school history.

QB Bryan Randall started all 13 games in 2003 and was two-time Big East Offensive Player of the Week a year ago. Randall is second among all ACC quarterbacks with 25 career starts. He has thrown for 4,130 yards and 27 TDs and leads all current ACC quarterbacks with 911 career rushing yards. Randall holds the Big East Conference single game record with 504 yards passing against Syracuse as a sophomore in 2002.

Five starters return on defense, including three who recorded 100 or more tackles in 2003, from a unit that allowed 367.5 yards and 23.0 points per game. Headlining the returnees are DT Jonathan Lewis, FS Jimmy Williams and a pair of two-year starters at linebacker -- Mikal Baaqee and Brandon Manning. Lewis had 69 tackles, including seven tackles for losses while Williams had two interceptions and is the team's leading returning tackler (114). Baaqee was third on the team in tackles with 109 while Manning, a former walk-on, was fourth with 104.

ACC Football Preview Schedule | More Virginia Tech Info From ACC Media Guide

QUOTES FROM 2004 ACC FOOTBALL KICKOFF

Frank Beamer, Head Coach, entering 18th season
"We've started out the last couple of years good and then we didn't do as well down the stretch, but I think the reasons were different. One year, we had some injuries and we were probably lucky to be where we were (before the late-season struggles). Then last year we had some expectations there, we were right there where we could reach them, we had a chance to have a special year, and then you lose a couple of games and all those expectations are gone a little bit and now how you react to that becomes an issue, and I don't think we reacted particularly well."

2004 Virginia Tech Football Schedule
Aug. 28	(Landover, Md.) Southern Cal
Sept. 11	Western Michigan
Sept. 18	Duke
Sept. 25	NC State
Oct. 2	West Virginia
Oct. 9	at Wake Forest
Oct. 16	Florida A&M
Oct. 28	at Georgia Tech
Nov. 6	at North Carolina
Nov. 18	Maryland
Nov. 27	Virginia
Dec. 4	at Miami

"Bryan (Randall) has worked hard to be a good quarterback, to throw ball well, make good decisions and run the football team. But the other things about him are what make him really special -- his leadership, how he's thought of within the football team, he's a very unselfish guy. He may be the most respected guy I've ever had on a football team."

"Last year, when we were going back and forth a little bit (between QBs), I don't think we communicated with Bryan as well as we could have at times, but the way he handled that whole situation, I gained so much respect for him myself. It was always team first, it was never him first, it was never his feelings, it was what was best for the football team. I don't think he always understood it, but he was a team guy and in today's world sometimes that's hard to find."

"(Our wide receivers) may be as talented as we've ever had as a group. But they're all young for the most part. All of a sudden, if those guys get hot and get a little confidence, here we go."

"We'll bring a lot of people. We'll sell out our place and we'll sell out your place ... The ACC is going to enjoy our fans."

Bryan Randall, Quarterback, Senior
"Over the last couple of years we've played opponents that weren't really all that strong in our first game, so starting out with USC will be a big test for us. A big test in the beginning is not necessarily bad. It'll show us a lot about our team, what we need to work on and whether or not we're getting to where we need to be."

"Through it all, I've strived always to be the best player that I can be. Things that are going out of my control, I have nothing to do about it. I'm definitely looking forward to leading this team this year and being consistent for the guys on the team -- someone they can look to as a leader."

Vincent Fuller, Free Safety, Senior
"Something that promotes rivalries a lot is the recruiting wars that go on, and in the ACC, there are a lot more universities that are packed in tight geographically. It's going to have a big effect on recruiting at games."

OFFENSE - Returning Starters
QB Bryan Randall, Sr.
T Jimmy Martin, Jr.
T Jon Dunn, Sr.
G Will Montgomery, Jr.

OFFENSE - Starters Lost
TB Kevin Jones (Consensus All-American)
WR Ernest Wilford (2nd-team All-Big East)
WR Chris Shreve (4 career starts)
FB Doug Easlick (27 career starts)
TE Keith Willis (19 career starts)
G Jacob Gibson (28 career starts)
C Jake Grove (Unanimous All-American)

DEFENSE - Returning Starters
DT Jonathan Lewis, Jr.
DT Kevin Lewis, Sr.
LB Mikal Baaqee, Sr.
LB Brandon Manning, Sr.
FS Jimmy Williams, Jr.

DEFENSE - Starters Lost
DE Nathaniel Adibi (2nd-team All-Big East)
DE Cols Colas (13 TFLs, 6.5 QB sacks)
LB Vegas Robinson (2nd-team All-Big East)
DB Garnell Wilds (31 tackles, 1 INT)
DB Michael Crawford (2nd-team All-Big East)
DB DeAngelo Hall (2nd-team A-A in `03)

Frank Beamer Bio

Frank Beamer enters his 18th season at Virginia Tech and his 24th year as a collegiate head coach ranked fourth among active Division I-A coaches in victories with 167. His Tech teams have posted a 101-33 (.754) record over the past 11 seasons and have appeared in a bowl game during that span, a feat equaled by just six other schools.

Beamer guided the Hokies to three Big East Conference championships and in 1999 coached Tech to the national championship game against Florida State. Beamer's Hokies have earned the highest national rankings in the program's history, spending 57 weeks in the top 10 of the Associated Press poll over the last five seasons. During one stretch that ended last season, Tech was ranked in 84 consecutive AP polls.

For his part in the Hokies' title run in 1999, Beamer earned eight national Coach of the Year awards. He also was named the Big East Conference Coach of the Year for the third time. When Big East Conference football celebrated its first 10 years of existence in 2000, Beamer was voted the Coach of the Decade by the league's media. Following consecutive 10-2 seasons in 1995 and 1996, Beamer was voted Big East Conference Coach of the Year by the league coaches. He was one of five finalists in the voting for the 1995 National Coach of the Year.

Beamer's overall record at Tech now stands at 125-74- 2. Counting six years as head coach at Murray State prior to joining the Hokies, Beamer's overall 23-year record is 167-97-4. The 57-year-old Beamer, the first alumnus to guide the Hokies since the 1940s, took over the Tech reins from Bill Dooley in January 1987. During his undergraduate days at Virginia Tech, Beamer started three years as a cornerback and played on the Hokies' 1966 and 1968 Liberty Bowl teams. He received a B.S. in distributive education from Tech in 1969 and a master's in guidance from Radford in 1972.

Beamer began his coaching career as an assistant at Radford High School from 1969 through 1971. Then, after one season as a graduate assistant at the University of Maryland, he went to The Citadel where he worked five seasons under Bobby Ross and one year under Art Baker. His last two years at The Citadel, Beamer was the defensive coordinator. In 1979, Beamer went to Murray State as the defensive coordinator under Mike Gottfried. He was named head coach at Murray State in 1981.