LINCOLN — Virginia Tech has turned to three underclassmen to replace tailback Darren Evans, who suffered a season-ending knee injury last month.
Freshman David Wilson rushed 12 times for 165 yards, and freshman Ryan Williams had 16 carries for 164 yards in Saturday's rout of Marshall. The week before, Williams gained 71 yards on 13 attempts against Alabama.
Sophomore Josh Oglesby also has been getting work.
Nebraska linebacker Blake Lawrence said he figured the Hokies would find a way to minimize the damage of losing Evans, a 1,200-yard rusher in 2008 who gained 72 yards and scored two touchdowns in last season's 35-30 win over the Huskers.
“No matter who's carrying the ball, their offensive line has the ability to break open holes and make sure the guys with the ball run through them,'' Lawrence said. “So whatever the name is of the guy carrying the ball, I think there's going to be opportunities for that running back and the team to succeed.''
Jones is facing another tough foe
Nebraska offensive tackle Marcel Jones saw one NFL draft prospect Saturday (Alex Carrington of Arkansas State) and will see another this week (Jason Worilds of Virginia Tech).
Carrington got one sack but just two tackles against NU, and Jones called the work “a good way to see where I'm at and see what I have to do to make sure I get ready for Virginia Tech.''
Worilds has one sack and a team-high seven quarterback hurries through two games.
“It's always good to go against the best competition, because to be the best you've got to go against the best,'' Jones said. “It'll help me later on in the long run.''
Tech's ‘physicality' impresses Pelini
Nebraska coach Bo Pelini was quite complimentary of Virginia Tech and its coaching staff, saying Tuesday that he'd like to model some parts of his program after a few Hokie football principles.
“I love their physicality by which they play,” Pelini said. “They do a lot of things in that program that anybody who's in this profession would want to take a good hard look at and say, ‘I'd love our program to be about some of the (same) principles.'”
Pelini said he respects head coach Frank Beamer and defensive coordinator Bud Foster for the powerhouse program they've built at Virginia Tech.
The Hokies deserve all of the attention they receive, Pelini said.
“It's not been a year here or a year there, they've done it for a long period of time,” Pelini said. “That's something to be proud of from their standpoint.”
Lineman Render has Suh's attention
When asked about Virginia Tech's offensive line, Ndamukong Suh immediately brought up the Hokies' starting left guard.
Apparently, senior Sergio Render wasn't an easy guy for Suh to maneuver around last year.
Speaking Tuesday, Suh didn't mention Render by name, only by number, but he said that the 6-foot-3, 313-pound lineman is talented.
“A great player, very strong and very athletic and (he) likes to run downhill,” Suh said of Render. “It's going to be another challenge to go against him again.”
Nebraska's star defensive tackle had six tackles against Virginia Tech in 2008.
— Rich Kaipust and Jon Nyatawa
Copyright ©2012 Omaha World-Herald®. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, displayed or redistributed for any purpose without permission from the Omaha World-Herald.
RSS Feeds