Thursday, October 30, 2008

Cory, meet Dave. Dave, Cory.

I refuse to hit the panic button over our quarterback situation. Not because I think either Tyrod or Glennon will be healthy by the Maryland game. No, far from it. I expect neither to be ready and I'm not at all hopeful for the Miami game.

No, I'm calm because I trust Cory Holt. He's a redshirt senior, so this is his fifth season in the Hokies' offense. I thought he played well against Florida State. He didn't freak out and make a mistake that cost us the game. He simply ran the offense to the best of his ability.

Holt has a decent arm and completed his first three passes, including a touchdown to Andre Smith, against FSU. He's more athletic than Glennon and was able to scramble out of the pocket when he needed to, although he did have one play where he held the ball too long and took a sack.

Also, we've been here before. In 2000, another fifth-year senior was called into action and performed admirably. Dave Meyer had experience in relief of Michael Vick in 1999 when Vick was injured in the first game of the season.

But in 2000, Meyer replaced an injured Vick during the Pittsburgh game and led the Hokies to a come-from-behind win. Tech was undermanned against a good Miami team the next week. After that, he was the quarterback for a win over UCF in which the Hokies attempted eight passes, again without Vick.

While Meyer's stats may not have been spectacular in his three games as Virginia Tech's quarterback, he was effective and was a leader as a fifth-year senior. For all you need to know about Meyer's career, click here and here to read an interview Will Stewart did with him shortly after his career was over.

I think Holt will do fine and think the Hokies will beat Maryland. The Miami game is a completely different story, but I think Holt is a good enough quarterback to manage the offense to a win next Thursday.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

If I remember right, in that Miami loss the coaching staff attempted to start an injured Micheal Vick over a healthy Dave Meyer and by the time they realized their mistake and put Meyer in we were already behind.

furrer4heisman said...

Meyer started and struggled the first few possessions, then they brought Vick in, he hobbled around for a couple possessions and before you knew it we were down, 28-0. Meyer finished the game.