In 1999, Virginia Tech freshman quarterback Michael Vick was a finalist for the Heisman Trophy, joining running back Ron Dayne of Wisconsin, and two other quarterbacks, Joe Hamilton of Georgia Tech and Drew Brees of Purdue. In the end, Dayne ended up winning the award, but that still hasn’t stopped Vick from saying that he should have won it.
Appearing on Johnny Manziel’s podcast Glory Daze, Vick still believes he should have won the award despite Dayne blowing away the three signal callers with 586 first-place votes.
“Yes, based on the way I played, I should have won,” said Vick. “I just know I was an underclassman. I was a freshman (and) Ron Dayne paid his dues. He was like, destined for it. Those guys probably deserved it more than me being a freshman, just breaking through, because they had been consistent guys.”
It was hard to argue against Dayne winning the award that year, but Vick’s numbers for a rookie were eye-popping. He threw for 1,840 yards, and 12 touchdowns while rushing for 585 yards and eight touchdowns. He only threw five interceptions and finished the season with a 59.2% completion rate. He did lead Virginia Tech to an 11-0 record that year and berth in the BCS Championship Game.
Vick is entering his first season as the head football coach at Norfolk State this fall.
Virginia Tech football hires new offensive assistant
When Brent Pry fired three assistant coaches in December, he wasted little time in replacing offensive line coach Ron Crook with West Virginia OL coach Matt Moore. This has the potential to be a home run hire as if there is a person who can quickly turn things around in that area, it’s Moore.
Pry is making an additional hire to assist Moore with Jens Danielsen joining Moore in Blacksburg after working in Morgantown as an offensive analyst.
Virginia Tech action on the field
- Fresh off taking two out of three games over this past weekend from UNC Greensboro to improve to 5-2, the Hokies baseball team will host James Madison in a mid-week game on Wednesday at 3 p.m. at English Field.
- Tech’s softball team, who won four out of five games over the weekend at the Bama Bash at Alabama to improve to 12-3, will also have a mid-week non-conference game Wednesday at Liberty at 5 p.m. Virginia Tech won the first four games in Alabama before falling to the Crimson Tide on Sunday to split the two games with the SEC contender.
- The Hokies women’s lacrosse team will look to improve on their 4-1 start to the season Wednesday with an early 1 p.m. non-conference game at Queens. Virginia Tech will host ACC powerhouse Boston College on Saturday.