By Nate Warters

Published: April 17, 2008

BLACKSBURG — The Virginia Tech football team said goodbye last season to four of the most accomplished wide receivers to wear a Hokies uniform.
This spring practice, Virginia Tech is working to replace them with a group that includes, among others, a former walk-on, a converted quarterback and three freshmen who haven’t played a snap.
Zach Luckett, a high school All-American from New Jersey, and Brandon Dillard, a former walk-on from Martinsville, sit atop the depth chart at split end and flanker, respectively, but haven’t nailed down the starting jobs.
Ike Whitaker, who played quarterback the last two springs, is battling for one of the spots. So are redshirt freshmen Danny Coale, Patrick Terry and Ervin Garner.
And don’t forget about all-ACC cornerback Victor “Macho” Harris, a Highland Springs High School graduate who has his sights on pulling double-duty this fall.
There are plenty of candidates.
“I feel good about them,” Hokies wide receivers coach Kevin Sherman said. “The only thing they’re lacking is experience. When you throw in experience, you know, being in those big games and making big plays, now you gain confidence. The more and more we get reps, the more we see ourselves on film and the more we’re out here in the stadium scrimmaging, the better we’re going to get.”
Luckett, a 6-foot-3,
212-pound physical specimen, and Dillard, a 5-11, 180-pound burner, have the physical talents to be impact players.
Luckett’s muscles have muscles, and the rising sophomore’s been known to make a jaw-dropping catch or two in practice.
Dillard, who will be a junior in the fall, has the breakaway speed to be a deep threat. He was a special teams ace last year, often beating everyone down the field on punt coverage.
Whitaker, a junior to be, is an inviting target at 6-foot-4, but he’s only a year removed from playing quarterback.
“It’s a lot harder than people think,” Whitaker said. “Just because you can run and you’re tall and you’re fast, that doesn’t necessarily mean you can be a wide receiver. It takes a lot of work.”
Coale, a 6-foot, 203-pound Lexington native, has been the best of the three redshirt freshmen so far this spring. He languished in relative obscurity last season but has emerged as a viable candidate to play one, or both, of the spots.
Tech’s looking for consistency all the way around from its receivers. Sherman has been encouraged by their blocking, which is a must in the Hokies’ run-heavy offense. He’s seen improvement in their route running.
Where they’re lagging is in the deep game. They’ve yet to show the ability to consistently make the big play, which was something last year’s receivers did well.
“I think it’s just timing. None of us got experience on the field last year, with our four top receivers being seniors,” said Whitaker, Tech’s leading returning receiver with two career catches for 17 yards. “We never got a chance to time up with (quarterbacks) Tyrod (Taylor) and Sean (Glennon), so I think it’s big on just timing, getting the route down. They’re going to take five steps and let it go. We’ve got to be able to run and go get it.”
The quarterbacks and wide receivers have worked with each other outside of practice to get that timing down. Before spring practice began on March 26, they convened on the practice field two to three times a week, with no coaching supervision, and ran routes.
They still get together after practice a couple of days a week, Coale said.
“We know they’re going to bring their best and what they’re capable of,” Coale said of the quarterbacks.
“It’s just a matter of us getting used to them and getting up to speed with where they are.”
Last year’s group did a lot of things well, and breaking from its shadow is something that will be difficult to do in the early going for the replacements.
Justin Harper, Josh Hyman, Josh Morgan and Eddie Royal accounted for a combined 406 catches, 6,075 yards and 43 touchdowns in their careers. Tech’s current group has five catches for 35 yards.
“I’m excited about these younger guys, because they want to be just as good as those other guys were,” Sherman said. “They’re preparing themselves. They’re working hard.
“We’ve got a good foundation. We’ve got something to build on this spring, and we’ll continue to work this summer.”