Tech Notebook: Cornell Brown made it cool to be a Hokie

BLACKSBURG — Former E.C. Glass star defensive end Cornell Brown could have gone to just about any college he wanted, but he chose Virginia Tech. That decision was one of the seminal moments in the long, successful run the Hokies have enjoyed under coach Frank Beamer.

Tech won two games in 1992, the year before Brown arrived in Blacksburg. It went 9-3 his freshman season and played in its first bowl game under Beamer. The Hokies went to a bowl game all four years of Brown’s career, including a 28-10 win over Texas in the 1995 Sugar Bowl during his junior season.

“I think when he committed to Virginia Tech, it made a statement that we were doing the right things, but we needed some time there to get this thing right,” Beamer said of Brown, a former All-American at Tech who is now an assistant coach for the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League.

“We were treating people right. We were doing things the right way academically. We just needed some more football players, and I think he made a huge statement by his signing with Virginia Tech. I think that was huge as far as what’s happened since then.”

Since Brown’s signing, the Hokies have averaged more than nine wins a season and gone to 16 straight bowls (and qualified for a 17th this season).

“By him coming, others came, and all of a sudden, it got turned around and it’s been a good run since then,” Beamer said.

Hokies stayed away from Hall

Virginia Tech didn’t offer Vic Hall a scholarship, but that’s not because it wasn’t interested in the former Gretna quarterback. Virginia received an oral commitment from Hall during his sophomore season of high school, and after that, the Hokies stayed away.

“He committed early to UVa, and it’s our policy — and a lot of people aren’t like this but I think it’s right for college football — is if you commit somewhere else, unless (the player calls) us, unless someone says, ‘Wait a minute, this guy made a mistake and wants to come to Virginia Tech,’ then I’m going to let their commitment be their commitment,” Beamer said.

“To me, that’s the way it ought to be. I think he committed like spring of his sophomore year. That’s the way we do business. I wish more colleges would do this, because we’d all be better off. If a guy commits, he’s going there. Don’t get a guy to try to break his word. There’s too much of that.”

Hall, who has played cornerback, wide receiver and quarterback during his UVa career, will play his final college game Saturday against the Hokies in Charlottesville.

More on recruiting

Virginia showed interest in running back Ryan Williams before any other school. The Cavs were the first to offer the ACC’s leading rusher a scholarship, and for a while he thought Charlottesville was where he was destined to play.

Williams, now a redshirt freshman at Virginia Tech, said UVa assistant coach Anthony Poindexter, a former star player at Virginia and Jefferson Forest, visited Williams’ high school in Manassas one day during his freshman year, and that’s when he started thinking about his college future.

“I was real excited when those guys, especially coach Dex, told me how good I was as a freshman and things of that sort,” said Williams, who has rushed for a Tech freshman record 1,355 yards this season and is one touchdown from breaking the ACC’s freshman record of 16.

Before the scholarship offers started rolling in, Williams said he just assumed he would play at UVa.

“I just thought that was going to be the only offer I was going to get coming out of high school. But yeah, I was real excited. They were recruiting me pretty hard,” he said.

JMU added to 2010 schedule

According to a news release, the Hokies will open next season on Sept. 11 with a home game against Football Championship Subdivision opponent James Madison.

The Dukes fill a spot on Tech’s schedule previously held by Western Michigan, which asked for its game to be pushed back to 2016 so it could accept an offer to play Notre Dame.

Tech and JMU have played six times since their series started in 1980. The Hokies beat the Dukes 43-0 in their last meeting in 2003.

Extra points

Tech linebacker Cody Grimm was named ACC defensive back of the week and guard Sergio Render was named ACC offensive lineman of the week. It was the first weekly honor this season for Render and the third for Grimm. … Tech will continue its tradition of providing a Thanksgiving brunch for players, coaches and family members Thursday. The team will practice an hour earlier than normal that day, and it will have its normal Friday walk-through, Beamer said.