The bad news about Tech’s offense heading into spring practice was the lack of experience at most of the positions.
The good news was that the position with the most experience happened to be the quarterback position.
Logan Thomas spent the better part of spring practice getting acquainted with new linemen, new receivers, new tailbacks and a new tight end. But he and the offense came around toward the end of spring practice, particularly in an April 14 scrimmage in which Thomas threw four touchdown passes. The performance came despite the Hokies not playing with projected starting receivers Marcus Davis (hamstring) and D.J. Coles (knee) and despite numerous dropped passes.
The spring served as a lesson in patience for Thomas, which should be beneficial next fall.
“You only do what you can control, and that’s what I talked to him [Thomas] about,” quarterbacks coach Mike O’Cain said. “You can’t protect for them, you can’t catch the ball yourself, you can just do what you do and let the chips fall where they may. It’s just young, inexperienced guys.”
Unfortunately for O’Cain and the Hokies, Mark Leal missed a big chunk of spring practice. During the first part of spring, he spent most of his time running for his life behind Tech’s young second-team offensive line. Then the latter half of spring, he sat out while recovering from a respiratory illness.
Leal’s absence left a lot of reps for walk-ons Trey Gresh and Brian Rody, who missed a scrimmage with an injury. Gresh had his moments, but rest assured, Tech’s 2012 fate rests in the hands of Thomas and how quickly he and the rest of the offense mesh together.
“It’s just taking time,” O’Cain said. “We’ve got a lot of inexperience, and some guys that have played a little bit, but nobody other than Logan has played an awful lot. We’ve gotten a little bit better every day, but we’re still a long way away and real rough around the edges.”
2012 QUARTERBACKS SPRING DEPTH CHART
3 Logan Thomas (6-6, 262, r-Jr.)
6 Mark Leal (6-0, 212, r-So.)
12 Trey Gresh (6-1, 213, r-So.)
Brian Rody (6-6, 221, r-Fr.)
T.J. Shaw (6-0, 170, r-Fr.)
