Inside HOKIE SPORTS | Vol. 11 No. 5 | May 2019

inside.hokiesports.com 23 RYAN WILLIS 13 Jalen Holston (5-11, 219, Jr.) 24 Terius Wheatley (6-0, 197, r-So.) 30 Caleb Steward (5-11, 215, r-Fr.) 33 Deshawn McClease (5-9, 197, r-Jr.) 38 Nashun Overton (5-6, 152, So.) Running Backs Celebrating 50 Years of serving the New River Valley and surrounding areas! If you want to cook with the best, come buy from the best! Come in and see the new Traeger grills with D2 technology! Elevate your craft with Traeger and G&H! Nobody Does It Better! 1290 Roanoke Street, Christiansburg, VA 24073 • 540-382-7500 • www.gandhappliance.com Find us at G&H Appliance A season ago, the Virginia Tech offense rushed for 174.3 yards per carry, which ranked ninth in the ACC, and Tech’s staff wants to improve on that number this fall. Doing so means getting better in a lot of areas, and it also means finding a replacement for leading rusher Steven Peoples, who graduated after leading the Hokies with 786 yards rushing in 2018. He also rushed for six of the team’s 19 rushing touchdowns—and no other tailback on the roster rushed for more than two scores. The Hokies concluded spring practice without a definitive replacement for Peoples, but they also concluded spring practice bullish on the potential of four returning options. Deshawn McClease, who finished second on the team with 433 yards rushing last fall, entered spring as the most experienced of the bunch, though he spent part of spring practice on the sidelinewith an injury. TeriusWheatley, who showed flashes at the beginning of last season—mostly on jet sweeps—missed the entire spring with an injury as well. Those injuries allowed Jalen Holston and Caleb Steward to get plenty of touches, and the staff remains intrigued by that duo. Holston resembles Peoples in terms of body structure and running style. The 220-pounder finally looked healthy this spring after dealing with injuries each of the past two seasons, and he appears ready to jump into a more prominent role. He rushed for 94 yards combined in the Hokies’ final two games of 2018, and hopefully, that is a sign of things to come. “Jalen finally has had a full offseason,” Virginia Tech head coach Justin Fuente said. “He was hampered last year, and I thought it hurt him, and I think he realized that, which is a credit to him that he realized how important the offseason is to his development.” As for Steward, the 215-pounder made progress in his second spring practice—he enrolled in January of 2018 and took a redshirt season this past fall. He played well in the SpringGame, rushing for a touchdown and showing an ability to make people miss in the openfield. Perhaps just an importantly, Steward showed some toughness. He played a portion of the spring with an injury. “I see him competing for playing time,” Fuente said. “He is a little bit banged up. He’s got a little bit of a wrist issue, and hopefully we will get that healed up. When he was out, we were down to one scholarship running back. We are trying to manage those reps and not overwork those guys. … It’s fun to see Caleb making some progress.” Fuente and the staff hope that McClease gets healthy and stays that way. He showed glimpses of greatness last season, rushing for 77 yards against Florida State, 75 against ODU and 102 in the bowl game loss to Cincinnati when he averaged nearly 8 yards per carry. He just needs to be more consistent, which probably comes with staying and remaining healthy. This is a big summer for him. “We’ll see how it all shakes out, but I was really pleased with McClease, even though he came out towards the end of spring,” Fuente said. “He did practice—I don’t know what the numbers were—a good portion of spring and looked good as well.” The staff adds Florida native Keshawn King to the mix this summer. King, who signed with Tech out of Oakleaf High School rushed for more than 2,000 yards and 30 touchdowns as a senior—part of a career in which he rushed for nearly 5,000 yards and 92 touchdowns. He could add some juice to the Hokies’ rushing attack, too. The competition will continue throughout the summer and through August practices. The staff likes the combination of talent and experience. Hopefully, that equates to more production this fall. JALEN HOLSTON