Are You Ready for Some Football?

I know I am! I've been busy this summer with wedding preparations and the like, but I hope to get in a few posts about VT football before the season begins. We face a huge challenge in our opening game against Alabama in the Georgia Dome. The crowd is likely to be mostly Alabama fans, so Hokie supporters need to show up in numbers! I write that knowing that I won't be able to make the game... not enough free cash... but I know there are plenty of you out there who can afford to go, so make it happen. Tech will be sporting a more experienced offense and a vastly similar defense, which leads me to believe that this team should only get better from the Orange Bowl-winning team of last season. In the past the Hokies have been unable to cope with the pressures of a high ranking... will this year's team be any different? I think that they will... this season's team is loaded with "character guys" who will work hard and push each other to play their best. This year's team generally likes being around one another and they feed off of each other in a positive way. Being a Hokie fan, it is easy to get my hopes up and think that we are going to challenge for the national championship this year, but the reality is that it all starts with this first game against Alabama. A win in Atlanta will set the Hokies on a downhill course to reach their first national championship since the 1999 season. A loss in Atlanta virtually eliminates us from contention (meaning it's still possible, but the chances are minute).

I noticed while reading a story by Darryl Slater, that the VT coaches have decided to give redshirt junior Zach Luckett another shot:

Tech's top two whips are fifth-year seniors Cam
Martin and Cody Grimm. The whips practice with the rovers, Tech's version of
a strong safety. Fifth-year senior Dorian Porch is currently listed as the No. 1
rover, ahead of junior Davon Morgan (Varina). Foster hopes the experienced whips
and rovers will positively influence Luckett, because, Foster said, "they're not
gonna put up with any [nonsense] when it's all said and done. Where you get a
young group of receivers, sometimes they don't know. Some guy coming in and
being a loose cannon so to speak -- I don't know if that's a good fit for that
group."
… He was projected to start last season, but his career stalled in
August, when he was arrested for driving under the influence and driving with a
suspended license. It was the second DUI charge for Luckett, who turned 21 on
Dec. 8. Tech coach Frank Beamer suspended Luckett indefinitely, and he served
five days in jail. Luckett was not on the team during spring practices, but
Beamer decided to give him another chance this season.

Zach Luckett is a big and talented athlete who had a lot of promise coming into the Virginia Tech program, but he wasted his first two strikes with bad decisions involving alcohol. Tech's coaches will give Luckett one more strike, but another mental error on his part would result in expulsion from the team. Personally, I am okay with the move. DUI's are nothing to scoff at, but Luckett served his penalty, lost a year of eligibility, and should be given another shot. It'll be an uphill battle for Luckett as it is seeing as how he hasn't tackled anyone in over 2 years, so it's possible this is the last we really hear of the guy as he might ride the pine for the rest of his college career.

In about a month Lane Stadium will be filled with the sounds of cheering gobblers and the smells of turkey legs and snow cones (can you smell snow cones?), and I for one am starting to get really jacked up. Football season is almost here, everybody. God bless us... every one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nE4tbW0Fuzo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2U2HWT9ZNE&feature=related