Tech’s Thomas watching and learning

BLACKSBURG — Watching and learning, that’s basically what Logan Thomas is doing this season at Virginia Tech.

The first-year quarterback from Lynchburg is a spectator during the Hokies’ games, though he gets to dress out and experience the action from the sideline, unlike the rest of the team’s redshirting freshmen. And his snaps are limited in practice.

Thomas is taking it all in stride, though. He knows the waiting game is often a necessary adjustment to playing big-time college football, though it seemed he was so close to earning playing time in the preseason.

“It happens to most first-year players,” the 6-foot-6, 233-pound Thomas said. “Of course, every player wants to move along faster than they are.”

According to Tech quarterbacks coach Mike O’Cain, Thomas is moving along pretty rapidly.

“He adapts very quickly. I’ve been very pleased,” O’Cain said. “I think that’s one of the most pleasing things, and I saw that very early. He really caught on to what we were doing very quickly.

“He’s a smart young man. He knows the game of football. He asks good questions. He pays attention. From that standpoint, I’ve been very pleased with the progress he’s made.”

O’Cain estimates Thomas is getting about 10 pass skeleton reps and about 10 plays during a typical week of practice. And on Saturdays, the former Brookville standout watches and absorbs as much as he can.

“I do the same thing the team does all the way up to game time, and when the game starts, I just watch,” Thomas said. “I’m over there getting a feel for how the game is played.”

Thomas is third on the depth chart behind starting quarterback Tyrod Taylor and backup Ju-Ju Clayton. He spends most of his time watching those two take snaps in practice, and he tries to make the most of his few plays.

He also sits in on the weekly quarterback meetings, which are helping him learn the playbook.

“We put in new things for the week during the meetings, so just learning that stuff will prepare me for the long run,” Thomas said.

Thomas could take snaps as the scout team quarterback, but he wouldn’t learn as quickly that way, O’Cain said. Even though he’s getting limited practice snaps, Thomas is taking in all the nuances of Tech’s offense, which will benefit him down the road as the Hokies groom him to be their quarterback of the future.

For now, Jeff Beyer gets most of the scout team reps, but O’Cain said Thomas could see some practice time there sometime this season, depending on his development.

“He’s our third quarterback, and we didn’t know what our situation was going to be, so I wanted him around and learning as much as he could, and being on the scout team would probably help him physically a little bit, but it would hurt him mentally,” O’Cain said of Thomas.

“He’s not getting reps, but he’s getting mental reps. He’s standing back there with me. He knows the play. He sees what the play is being run against. He’s watching Tyrod go through the procedures, and he’s learned quite a bit just from that standpoint, seeing how it’s done by having an older guy in front of him doing it.”

Things might be moving slowly, but Thomas is still learning.

“I feel like I’ve progressed a little bit … slowly. That’s just how it is the first year,” Thomas said. “I’m starting to learn some things and just getting into the flow of how our offense works, more so than at the beginning of the fall.”

Another important factor in his development is experiencing big-time college football on a weekly basis. Though he’s only watching the games, and sometimes sending in signals, he still gets to be with the team and travel for road games.

“It’s been awesome, just the experience out here with these guys and going through what they go through and experiencing the fun that they’ve had and the fun I’ve had with them,” Thomas said.