Inside HOKIE SPORTS | Vol. 10 No. 4 | March 2018

20 Inside Hokie Sports Proud Supporter of Virginia Tech Athletics 99 Bradley Drive Christiansburg NRV Mall 540-381-8100 www.holidayinn.com/cburgnorth Full Service Restaurant Bar & Grill Game Day Catering, Dine in or Room Service Looking for a “HOKIE HOME” away from HOME? hoping he could be. He’s still got a long ways to go. You’d certainly have loved to have started the year the way he finished the year, and I think he could have helped us with that inexperience at receiver, but we were definitely encouraged by the way he finished the season.” Q: You played two young tight ends quite a bit last year in Dalton Keene and Chris Cunningham. Did you like how they progressed, and do you expect improvement from them? BC: “Absolutely on both. They’re both really, really hard-working kids. Chris has been here it seems like a lot longer. He continues to get better. He continues to get bigger and stronger and is starting to develop into a guy that isn’t trying to get thrown around up there, but a guy that can move people. That’s the kind of athlete he can be. “Dalton came in and showed us some nice football intelligence. That’s a tough position, that hybrid H-back position. It takes some savvy, some intelligence and toughness. It takes the right type of skill set to do all those things that we ask those guys to do. He was an early grad out of high school, came in and put some weight on. He really gave himself a chance to make it through the season, and that’s really what happened. He’s got to take another stride physically to ensure that he finishes the season stronger. As the year wore on, it physically wore on him, but I love what we’re getting out of those two guys. We just have to add to it. Drake [Deluliis] is a guy that is going to add to that. He has a different type of skill set, but he can certainly add to that position.” Q: Deshawn McClease was outstanding in the bowl game. Do you see him emerging as a lead tailback, or do you see more of a committee approach with Steven Peoples and others? BC: “Looking back at the cut-ups, McClease had a really good year. He made some mistakes. He busted in protection a couple of times. But just top to bottom, taking care of the football, being productive, making big plays, breaking tackles just because he’s running harder than they were trying to tackle him … we were really pleased and excited about him moving forward. “Steven [Peoples] was the same way. Really, since we startedmessing with him at tailback two years ago, he’s been the most explosive guy. You hand the ball off and there is nothing there, and he still gets you two or three yards every time. That’s kind of an invaluable part of an offense. He was still banged up at times this year, but I think both of those guys, what we’ve seen and what we saw … I still think it’s going to be by committee. There are still some young guys, with Jalen Holston, and we’re excited about him and the things he can do. “I don’t see it being us going into the season saying, ‘Here’s our tailback that’s going to get 30 carries a game and the other guys are going in when he’s tired.’ It didn’t feel that way going into the season, and after evaluating the season and what we’ve got going forward, I expect all those guys to contribute. I really like how they work, what kind of upside they have, and we’re excited about using them all.” Q: The offensive line appears to be in solid shape with three starters returning and quite a bit of depth, but Eric Gallo departed, leaving that void at center. As a coordinator and quarterbacks coach, how closely will you be watching the center position this spring? BC: “You lose a lot of experience with Gallo—a lot of snaps and a guy that really maximized his ability. The thing about Gallo is that you knew he was going to be there every day. You knew that he was going to be ready to go. He was always going to be 100 percent into it and knew exactly what to do. That accounts for a lot, so finding more of those guys is going to be critical. “[Kyle] Chung is a guy that really came on for us last year that we’re excited about, and he’ll go compete with Zechariah Hoyt at center in Continued from page 19 ON LAST SEASON’S SUCCESSES