Virginia Tech football players are confident, not boastful

Virginia Tech’s players could have strut into the conference room at the Grandover Resort and Conference Center on Sunday and proclaimed to everybody in attendance at the ACC’s Kickoff media gathering that they were still champions of the league.

That would have been much more entertaining than what actually happened, which probably bodes well for the Hokies’ 2009 prospects.

Tech’s players – the two who showed up for Sunday’s event, at least – are confident heading into preseason practice, but not boastful.

When asked if they thought they “owned” the league, tight end Greg Boone and free safety Kam Chancellor both were quick to extinguish such a thought.

“No, I wouldn’t say it’s our league,” Boone said. “There have been teams in the ACC that have beaten us. Until you prove you’re the dominant team and win all the games and don’t let anybody beat you, then that’s when you can really hold your head up high.”

The Hokies lost three conference games last year en route to the championship, and there are still certain teams in the league – ahem, Florida State – that have had Tech’s number over the years.

The Hokies will have plenty of opportunities this year to build on their success. They open the season Sept. 5 against Alabama at the Georgia Dome.

Who needs to boast when you can do your talking on the field?

“We really don’t care what people think. We’re the ones playing the football game. We’re the ones who have to live with the wins and losses,” Chancellor said.

Larger than life

Three names are sure to dominate the preseason Heisman Trophy conversation: Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford, Texas’ Colt McCoy and Florida’s Tim Tebow, but Clemson is already banking that one of its own could play himself into the race by the end of the season.

The Tigers have printed life-sized posters of running back C.J. Spiller to kick start a campaign for the senior, who will need more than publicity to match the hype and monster numbers of the aforementioned quarterbacks, all of whom were Heisman finalists last year.

So far, the promotion has generated the desired effect. Clemson distributed some of the posters to media members Sunday, and they were a popular talking point in conversations with Spiller and other players.

“There’s a lot that goes into (a successful Heisman campaign). Of course, your team has to be successful,” said Spiller, who rushed for 629 yards and seven touchdowns last season. “If I’m fortunate enough to be a finalist for that trophy, everything will come down to my offensive line and my defense. They really go out there and do most of the work.”

Some would argue that Spiller isn’t even the best running back in the ACC. Georgia Tech senior Jonathan Dwyer rushed for 1,395 yards and 12 touchdowns last season and was named all-league first team.

When asked why he didn’t have a poster, Dwyer laughed and said, “I don’t know. You’ll have to ask Dean (Buchan, Georgia Tech’s assistant athletic director for sports information) about that one. I think it’s pretty cool, though.”

According to The State newspaper, Clemson printed only 4,000 of the posters to be distributed to fans and another 700 to be distributed to the media. Demand is high. One of the posters was available on the Internet auction Web site ebay.com Sunday evening for $51.

Cutcliffe always coaching

Even a three-time NFL Most Valuable Player isn’t immune to David Cutcliffe’s criticism.

He’s still correcting Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning, more than a decade after coaching him as an assistant for the Tennessee Volunteers.

“(Manning) sent coach Cutcliffe this tape and coach Cutcliffe showed it to me,” said Duke quarterback Thaddeus Lewis of his head coach. “He rewinded it and said, ‘See how he dipped there? I don’t like that dip.’

“I was like, ‘Coach, that’s a 12-year veteran right there,’ and he was like, ‘Yeah, I’m going to call him and we’re going to correct that.’ He’s still coaching him up and he’s 12 years in the league.”

Lewis kidded Manning recently about the exchange. The Blue Devils signal caller was a counselor at the Manning Passing Academy earlier this month. He said he, Peyton and Eli Manning, both of whom played for Cutcliffe in college, had a good time telling stories about him.

“Peyton still has jokes about coach Cutcliffe saying hells bells every time he gets mad,” Lewis said. “It was fun down there. At the end of the day, it was all good things said about him. They love him to death, and he’s been a great impact on their lives.”