Inside HOKIE SPORTS | Vol. 9 No. 5 | May 2017

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Spring practice reveals group
of tailbacks ready to improve
Hokies’ RUSHING ATTACK
by Jimmy Robertson
Virginia Tech’s offense ranked 55th
nationally in rushing offense in 2016, and
Tech’s staff has spent a large portion of this
spring evaluating schemes and players in an
effort to improve that number this upcoming
season.
Part of the equation means getting more
production from the tailback position—and
running backs coach Zohn Burden finds himself
optimistic about his group with spring practice
now over.
“I am,” he said. “Besides a couple of injuries
earlier in the spring [D.J. Reid and Terius
Wheatley] … Steven Peoples and Travon
McMillian got the load of the play at running
back, and I’m very happy with the progress
we’ve made. There is a lot of competition in
the group now, and that makes guys practice
harder, run harder and play harder. It’s good to
see right now.”
The Hokies averaged 183.1 yards rushing
per game last season—a respectable number.
But quarterback Jerod Evans led the team
in rushing attempts (204), yards (846) and
touchdowns (12). The 240-pound Evans turned
into more of a rushing threat than Tech’s staff
originally anticipated.
Whoever wins the quarterback job this fall,
though, will not be that big. So that realistically
means getting more from the tailbacks, and in
particular, McMillian.
McMillian rushed for 671 yards and seven
touchdowns in 2016, but his rushing total
was a 372-yard decrease from his redshirt
freshman season when he broke the 1,000-yard
mark. Some of that stemmed from the staff’s
philosophy to spread the carries around more,
asMcMillian carried the ball 55 fewer times. Yet
some of the decrease came about as McMillian
adjusted to a new scheme.
“Being a quarterback in high school, he was
getting used to playing the position [tailback],
and that takes some time,” Burden said. “It
takes some reps, but he’s working at it, studying
extra film. He asks questions in meetings.
“He’s very in tune as to what he needs to
improve on, and he’s turning his weaknesses
into strengths—ball security, patience, vision
and then running hard. Sometimes, there may
not be a great big hole, and you have to make
one. All those things come with the position,
and he’s got to get in tune with that.”
Peoples and Reid, given their size, figure to
have no trouble making a hole. Peoples weighs
220 pounds, while Reid is pushing 240.
Peoples spent nearly all of his first two
seasons working as a fullback behind Sam
Rogers, but he appears well suited for the
tailback spot. He rushed for more than 5,000
yards in high school and showed those types of
skills this spring.
“I’m starting to see how he did that,” Burden
said of Peoples’ high school numbers. “He’s
tough to bring down. The first guy never tackles
him. That’s a good thing at tailback.”
Deshawn McClease and Wheatley, a
freshman who enrolled in January, hope to get
into the mix in August. McClease was limited
this spring while recovering from an injury
suffered last fall, and Wheatley dealt with an
injury that limited him for most of the spring.
He finds himself behind the others because he
simply lacks the knowledge of the offense. Still,
Burden likes Wheatley’s potential.
Most of the spotlight, though, will be on
McMillian, who enjoyed a good spring and who
probably possesses the most natural talent of
the group. His size, vision and ability to make
people miss in the open field give the offense
that breakaway threat.
In the end, the staff plans on splitting the
carries—it’s just a part of their philosophy. But
Burden believes in McMillian and his talent,
and he also believes that McMillian put himself
in position to provide more production this fall.
“It’s going to be tailback by committee, and
whatever the yards endup, they endup,” Burden
said. “But I know that he is turning small runs
into longer runs. Something that may have been
two yards last year … he’s running harder right
now, and they may be five yards. He’s finishing
runs, which I think is going to equate to higher
numbers.”
2017(in numerical order)
16 Coleman Fox (5-11, 193, r-So.)
32 Steven Peoples (5-, 218, Jr.)
33 Deshawn McClease (5-9, 180, r-So.)
34 Travon McMillian (6-0, 205, r-Jr.)
41 Trey Skeens (5-11, 216, r-So.)
44 Terius Wheatley (6-0, 185, Fr.)
48 D.J. Reid (6-1, 235, r-Jr.)
Running Backs
TRAVON
MCMILLIAN