Beamer Looking At VTs Positives
Advertisement
There were mistakes made on both sides of the ball for Virginia Tech in Saturday's 27-24 loss to Cincinnati at FedEx Field.
But coach Frank Beamer doesn't place the blame on any of his players. Just like defensive coordinator Bud Foster's heated interview with reporters last night, Beamer defended his players at today's weekly press conference.
Beamer, though, was far less heated in his thoughts and said he hadn't seen or read about Foster's responses.
"We've got good players, we've got great kids," Beamer said. "We're gonna coach 'em up. They played hard Saturday and we didn't play perfect at times, play well at times, but we're gonna take care of our kids."
One of those kids is junior quarterback Logan Thomas, who's had his struggles in five games this season. Thomas got going in the second half Saturday, but still missed a number of his receivers high or was off with his throws.
Beamer said he and the Hokies' offensive coaches have checked routinely with Thomas to gauge what he's seeing during the game and get his thoughts on plays.
"I think Logan, he's very into being the best football player he can be," Beamer said. "He really works at it, competitive. I think the people around Logan, last year we had veteran guys around him and this year we don't. Sometimes when you're not quite sure what the guy's gonna go, that causes you to be inaccurate a little bit."
One area that Beamer said he sees as a bright spot is the late burst by redshirt freshman Michael Holmes, who had just 12 yards rushing in the first half. He finished with 60 yards and a touchdown. Freshman J.C. Coleman also added 32 yards for the game.
"(Holmes) and J.C. both took a step forward in this ball game and it was great to see," Beamer said. "J.C. ran very hard and ran very tough on a couple of plays and we've just gotta build on that. I said at the beginning of the year, I thought we could be a good football team but we're not there right now. Whoever is our running back is gonna be a young guy, hasn't had many carries. We're working our way there and I think we took a step there Saturday against a good football team."
Virginia Tech was without junior Tony Gregory against Cincinnati, who was resting a knee injury, as well as junior guard David Wang. Beamer said Gregory looks better this week, but was more mum on Wang's status.
Beamer said he believes the Hokies have a very tough task Saturday at North Carolina, its first road ACC game, but a divisional opponent. He's focusing on the positives his players have shown, including in Saturday's loss, that can help going forward.
"Every area has been good at some point in time," Beamer said. "You can talk about our defense, you can talk about our offense, particularly in the second half the past week. You can talk about our kicking game."
Note: Not including Rivals' premium sites, do not copy/paste and or repost this column outside of Rivals.com, particularly on message boards, chat rooms and e-mails, as it is a direct violation of copyright laws. Thank you.