Inside HOKIE SPORTS | Vol. 11 No. 4 | March 2019

24 Inside Hokie Sports to, and we’re excited about him as an inside-type guy. We played him early in the season with the thought of trying to help get him ready in case we neededhim.We think he’ll be a guy that will get in there and compete for one of those inside jobs. T.J. Jackson is a guy that … it’s time. It’s time for him to come on. He’s a guy that didn’t play a whole lot of football in high school, and so he was more of a developmental guy, but he continues to get better every single week that he’s here. He’s a guy that needs to find a role, and it certainly could be as a guard. He’s a guy that has played guard and tackle, and so him being able to move inside can give us some depth. Then you’ve got your young guys. You’ve got three or four young guys coming in, and we’re going to throw them in there at those inside spots. We should have a really competitive offensive line room as a whole. It’s really exciting when you’re around that group. You can feel the excitement and the focus of that group and how competitive they know it’s going to be. It’s a really encouraging group when you’re around them, with the guys that are here and the guys that are coming in. Whoever fills those spots inside is going to be … we may have to overcome an experience factor, but I feel really good about that spot as a whole. I feel like we’re on the brink of having a deep and dominant offensive line, which is exciting. Q: I asked you this last year. Who are some younger players whom you’re anxious to see this spring? Guys who are participating maybe in their second or third spring practices, but have yet to make an impact on the field? BC: Kaleb Smith [a receiver] is a guy that was here last spring. He had a good spring, but not as good of a fall. He redshirted, and now he’ll be in his second spring. He had a good bowl prep at the end of the season and looks good. We’re excited about him. Caleb Steward is a guy that’s into his second one, and we need big things out of him. Certainly, 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? Drake is one of those guys that gets a little bit better every week. He gets bigger and stronger and has a huge ceiling that we’re excited to see how he progresses. We want to find a role for him. Silas Dzansi is sort of in that role in that he’s still young. He played quite a bit last year, and we’re excited about him, but he’s still on the front end of his potential and the progress he can make every single day. [Christian] Darrisaw is the same way. You think those guys are older because they’ve played already in a significant role, but they’re still young guys. He is a true sophomore, and the sky is the limit. He continues to get better. Then there are some guys going through their first spring—Quincy, DeJuan Ellis, Darryle Simmons, Luke Tenuta, Walker Culver … we want to see them develop after being with us in the fall. Q: Where do you hope this offense will be at the end of the spring game? BC: We’re going to have some guys that don’t go through spring that had minor surgeries, minor procedures and won’t be full go all spring, and you are trying to develop so many young guys. This is still not a first-unit returning group that is going to be ready coming out of spring to go and play the season. For us, it’s going to be more about just developing fundamentals, developing our bread and butter, our base package, and really getting guys better—getting young guys better, so we can go have a good summer and piece it all together during fall camp. Really, two years ago, we lost so much experience and so many players at a lot of different spots. Two years ago, I felt we were at our youngest and least experienced. It was a little bit better last year, but it’s only going to get even better as we keep going. We certainly lose a few guys that made a lot of plays for us and played a lot of football for us and were good leaders, but we have a lot of good components coming back—guys that are excited to get better individually and see this unit get more consistent. Be able to take over and dominate a game, not just a quarter or a couple of drives here and there. We need to do it on a more consistent basis, and that’s what we’re hoping to do. FOR Continued from page 23