Marty Gordon
NRVsports@mainstreetnewspapers.com
Almost an hour delay in Saturday’s Spring Game kickoff at Virginia Tech is not what first-year coach James Franklin had planned.
A skydiver bringing the American flag to the 50-yard line met a changing wind, which forced him straight into the stadium’s scoreboard. He hung there as the Blacksburg Fire Department worked to free him.
The rescue took time and put everything on hold. The team sat in their locker room. Franklin and players did not know exactly what had happened.
“So first of all, happy that the skydiver is okay. You guys obviously were able to see that a little bit more than we did. But most importantly, he’s okay. I want to thank all the first responders for how they handled it, too,” Franklin said after the game.
“For us in the locker room, it was an opportunity to be honest with you, to talk about how I’ve been a part of the three-and-a-half-hour weather delay. So, you focus on the things that you can control. That wasn’t one of them. To be honest with you, it was an opportunity for us to practice on something like that that may come up, whether it’s weather or whatever it was,” he said.
While the skydiving accident took the headlines, there were plenty more things going on Saturday. The Run for Remembrance bought back memories of the most tragic events in the history of the university -a 2007 spree shooting and mass shooting. Thirty-two people were killed and another 17 wounded.
“I thought the entire weekend was phenomenal, starting with the [Run for Remembrance] run this morning,” Franklin said.
Players and staff greeted runners and walkers as they entered Lane Stadium as part of the final leg.
On the field, the White squad earned a 30-21 victory. The second half featured stout defense from the White team which held Maroon to a total of 220 yards for the afternoon and zero second half points.
White’s two touchdowns came via the air as Kelden Ryan connected with Chanz Wiggins on a 20-yard score in the third quarter and Cam Sparks hauled in a two-yard pass from Bryce Baker to secure the victory.
On the defensive front, the White team secured seven sacks, with Jason Abbey‘s 1.5 leading the way. Amauri Polydor had seven total tackles, with three of those being solo efforts. For the Maroon squad, both Antwone Santiago and Joshua Clarke made seven tackles.
The defense finished with 10 sacks on the day in scrimmage style as the quarterbacks were still not tackled.
“There are times where I blow the whistle that may not have been, may not have been sack, and there may have been a few that would end up sack that I didn’t call sack. So, it’s hard to totally interpret that until we go completely live and get into the season. But, yeah, we’re going to need to be disruptive up front with our defensive line,” Franklin said.
Franklin said the team took some bumps and bruises. “But the feedback that I’ve gotten already, it should not be significant. So, we’ll kind of go from there, but alot of work to do between now and training camp. But very, very pleased with our 15 days, very pleased with what we were able to get done today, and very appreciative of the fans and the type of support that we got for our program,” he said.
A high point of the game was the offensive outbreak of the team’s tight end group, who combined for 16 catches and 190 yards.
“Yeah, we like our tight ends. We’re going to feed them. We got to get our wide receivers more involved on a more consistent basis.
Luke Reynolds led the group with five catches for 32 yards, while Grey Peterson had seven for 25 yards.
Onlookers were also wondering about the quarterback situation and Saturday’s action might have that door still open.
Ethan Grunkemeyer, a transfer from Penn State, seems to have the forerunner title at this point. On Saturday, he finished 13-17-1 for 136 yards and one touchdown. Freshman Troy Huhn finished 5-8-0 for 64 yards, and North Carolina-transfer Bryce Baker was 15-27-0 for 140 yards and one touchdown. Redshirt Freshman Kaiden Ryan had a 9-14-0 for 88 yards game.
“We’re very, very pleased with all four of those guys in that room and their ability to manage our offense. Obviously, there’s some guys that are getting a little bit more reps than others, and have earned that. But this will be a competition, really, at every position, all the way through training camp and probably a couple weeks before we get into the season. But I like our quarterback room,” Franklin said.
In his final report from the game, Franklin believes there are which needs improvement.
“We have made tremendous progress in a short period of time, but we still have to improve, really, in every area. When you talk about having high expectations and standards, which we do, that will never change. But this is just the start. We laid a foundation in the spring. Very pleased with how the guys have approached it and bought in. I’m very pleased with how the coaches have responded. And we’ve just got to continue,” he said.
Virginia Tech opens the season Sept. 5 at home against VMI.
