For Hokies to enjoy big season, smaller issues will be key

BLACKSBURG At 4 p.m. today, Virginia Tech's football players and coaches will jog onto their practice field, in the shadow of Lane Stadium, and begin a season whose end everyone already is trying to forecast.

Five months separate today's start of preseason practice and the Jan. 7 national championship game at the Rose Bowl. The Hokies don't even open their season for another month -- Sept. 5 against Alabama in Atlanta's Georgia Dome.

That will be a spectacle in its own right, a likely matchup of teams ranked in the top 10 of preseason polls. Then there is a tough nonconference home game against Nebraska. Then an eight-game ACC schedule, against a league that will be older, and ought to be better, than it was last season.

But the questions many Tech observers want answered remain, for now, unanswerable: Will the Hokies make the national-title game? And 10 years after their only appearance on that stage, can they win it?

They won't worry about that today, because today they will start addressing dozens of smaller questions that could determine their fate five months from now. Here are five of the most important:

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1. Will quarterback Tyrod Taylor continue to develop and, perhaps more important, remain healthy?

Above all else, Taylor must avoid injuries that rob him of playing time -- something he didn't do during his first two seasons. His backup last season was senior Sean Glennon, a former starter. Taylor's backup this season is redshirt freshman Joseph "Ju-Ju" Clayton, a Hermitage High graduate who remains unproven.

Taylor is a dangerous runner (1,167 career yards and 13 touchdowns), but his biggest improvements must come with passing. In two seasons, he has thrown seven touchdowns, 10 interceptions and averaged 85 yards. Those numbers should improve because all of Taylor's receivers and three of his five offensive linemen are back.

Better overall offensive numbers wouldn't hurt Tech's pursuit of a national title, either. The past three seasons, the Hokies have ranked 99th or worse in total offense. Last season's 22.1 points per game were their fewest since 1989.

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Will the offensive line be better in pass protection?

It should. Then again, everyone thought this about the line before the past two seasons.

The Hokies allowed 42 sacks last season and ranked 111th of 119 teams nationally in sacks allowed per game. The previous season, they allowed 54. Over those two seasons, the Hokies have allowed 3.4 sacks per game -- most in the ACC, ahead of Duke's 2.8.

The line returns sophomore right tackle Blake DeChristopher (Clover Hill), senior left tackle Ed Wang and senior left guard Sergio Render, who is moving from right guard.

But the five backups on the preseason depth chart include two sophomores and two redshirt freshmen. At right guard, senior Richard Graham (St. Christopher's) is tied with true freshman David Wang, Ed's younger brother.

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How will Tech divide its backfield carries?

The coaches want to use a two-man backfield, because they want sophomore Darren Evans to get more rest and because they have enough talent to make it happen.

Evans last season carried 287 times. Over the past 57 years, no player who led the Hokies in rushing carried that many times in a season except Cyrus Lawrence, who carried 325 times in 1981. The next year, Lawrence's senior season ended prematurely because of a knee injury. He was never the same again.

Billy Hite, Tech's running backs coach then and now, still blames himself for Lawrence's workload and subsequent demise. Hite vowed never ride a back like that again.

This decade, the Hokies have used two-man backfields in 2001, 2002, 2004 and 2005, but not since. That likely will change because of redshirt freshman Ryan Williams, a star recruit who impressed during spring practice.

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Can the new linebackers catch on quickly?

In 2007, Tech started seniors Xavier Adibi and Vince Hall. Adibi was in his third season as a starter, Hall his fourth. Last season, the Hokies had new starters, but they were fifth-year seniors Purnell Sturdivant and Brett Warren. They finished first and second on the team in tackles.

Now, Tech turns to sophomores Barquell Rivers and Jake Johnson. Rivers started last season's Orange Bowl in place of the injured Warren, while Johnson played mostly on special teams last season. Can they carry on Tech's tradition of strong linebacker play?

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Who will emerge as the kicker?

Fifth-year senior Matt Waldron will contend with sophomore Justin Myer and true freshman Cody Journell.

If Waldron gets the job, recent history bodes well for him, even though he has never attempted a field goal in a college game. The past two seasons, the Hokies used fifth-year senior kickers who never previously kicked in a game.

In 2007, Jud Dunlevy kicked 21 field goals -- one shy of tying the school record. Last season, Dustin Keys broke the record, with 23.

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Notes: Virginia Tech senior running back Kenny Lewis Jr., who suffered a season-ending Achilles' tear last year, will miss the beginning of preseason practices -- which start at 4 p.m. today -- because he will again have surgery on that left Achilles'. Also, true freshman defensive end Duan Perez-Means, a Hermitage High graduate, will have shoulder surgery. He will enroll in January, at which point he will still have five years to play four seasons.