VT adds honor to tunnel

From the sidelines
Marty Gordon
NRVsports@ourvalley.org

Frank Beamer has meant a lot to Virginia Tech and really helped to build the foundation of the Hokie football team that we have come to love today. The 25-jersey is just another way to honor Beamer while recognizing outstanding play.

The first 25-jersey took place last week, and LB Anthony Shegog earned the distinction of wearing Frank Beamer’s No. 25 for the No. 21 Hokies’ season opener vs. No. 22 West Virginia.

Sunday’s game was the Stafford, Virginia, native’s second time wearing the honorary number in his career. His first time wearing No. 25 came in Tech’s 37-16 Thursday night victory over Miami at Lane Stadium on Oct. 20, 2016.

Shegog turned in a career performance vs. Arkansas in the Belk Bowl where he posted six tackles, a sack, his first career interception and a forced fumble. He finished the season with four passes defended, 22 tackles and 3.0 tackles for loss.

At the beginning of last season, head coach Justin Fuente announced that a special team’s player of the week would be selected to wear the No. 25 as a tribute to Coach Beamer and his legacy of special teams’ excellence he spawned for the Hokies.

To honor these players even more, the university has added a name board to the tunnel that the team enters through for each ball game. Each of the players’ names are now listed on a panel before they reach the Hokie Stone.

There a couple of Virginia and Tech connections with today’s Hokies opponent, Delaware.

Delaware defensive coordinator Chris Cosh is a 1984 Virginia Tech graduate and was a three-time letter winner at linebacker from 1977-79 for head coaches Jimmy Sharpe and Bill Dooley. Cosh cut his teeth in the coaching ranks when he served under Dooley as a student assistant in 1983, the first coaching stop in his 32-year career.

Head coach Danny Rocco enjoyed outstanding success at NCAA Division I FCS members Liberty University and University of Richmond over the last decade.