He’s Not Driving, but He Helps to Steer Another Beamer

Shane Beamer, Virginia Tech’s long snapper on punts, can’t take much of the on-field credit for the Hokies’ 11-0 season, but he has played an important role as liaison between the players and coach.

Beamer, a senior, is the son of Virginia Tech Coach Frank Beamer.

“Obviously, I know what’s going on with the team and sometimes I have said things,” Shane said Sunday.

A couple of seasons ago, when some players complained after Beamer didn’t allow them to return to their homes during bye weeks, Shane stepped in and persuaded his dad to change his mind.

This season, at the behest of teammates, Shane persuaded his dad to eliminate practices on Mondays.

Shane needed evidence to support his cause. His research determined that the Hokies’ suffered more losses late in the season in years the team practiced on Mondays.

“I went to him and said, ‘When we don’t practice on Mondays, the following week we’re 9-0.’ I went back and looked at the stats. He said, ‘I didn’t realize that,’ and we didn’t practice on Mondays.”

And the Hokies didn’t lose a game.

So who’s really the brains behind this 11-0 operation, Frank or Shane?

*

Virginia Tech receiver Andre Kendrick hates to acknowledge how much he admires Florida State receiver Peter Warrick.

“I don’t want to see him running wild on us,” Kendrick says, “but you turn on SportsCenter just to see Peter Warrick.”

What’s so great about him?

“His run after catch,” he says. “It’s amazing. He’s a great athlete. It looks sometimes like he doesn’t have bones in his body the way he moves around.”

*

The three Florida State players who violated curfew have been identified as kicker Sebastian Janikowski, reserve defensive back Reggie Durden and starting defensive end Roland Seymour.

Florida State Coach Bobby Bowden says none of the players will be suspended for the violations, although Seymour may not start as a result.

Janikowski helped make amends with his coach by making a 45-yard field goal to conclude Sunday’s practice, the last before Tuesday’s game.

Virginia Tech will be hurt if receiver/punt returner Ricky Hall can’t play after breaking a small bone in his left foot in a weekend practice.

Hall is the Hokies’ second-leading receiver and the team’s punt returner.

*

Florida State got seven starters back from last season’s top-ranked defense but this season’s unit hasn’t measured up.

The Seminole defense, which faces the task of containing Virginia Tech quarterback Michael Vick in Tuesday night’s Sugar Bowl, slipped to 17th in total defense this season, allowing opponents an average of 304.6 yards a game.

“Last [season], we were No. 1 and No. 2 in all of the major defensive categories,” Florida State defensive coordinator Mickey Andrews said. “This [season] we’re not as good.”

Andrews said that his unit faced more talented quarterbacks, running backs and receivers this season.

“That’s not as excuse, that’s just a fact,” Andrews said. “But, that’s how we got here. We’re here to win.”

*

Just so you know: there is no such thing as a Hokie. The origin of Virginia Tech’s nickname dates to 1896, when student O.M. Stull won first prize in a cheer contest for his “Hokie yell.” Stull said he made the word up and thought it would be an attention grabber.

He was right about that.

*

Fancy meeting him here: Laveranues Coles, Peter Warrick’s accomplice in the infamous Dillard’s department store caper, is training this week in New Orleans, of all places.

Because of previous off-field incidents, Coles was kicked off the Florida State team after his arrest in October. The receiver, who was the fastest man on the Seminole roster, moved to New Orleans to train while awaiting April’s NFL draft.

He says he will not attend Tuesday’s national title game at the Superdome.

“I wouldn’t even ask for a ticket,” Coles told the New Orleans Times-Picayune. “I couldn’t go and sit there in the stands. It would just kill me.”