Athlon Sports puts Hokies in their top 25

By Nate Crossman  |   Saturday, May 06, 2006  |  Comments( 0 )

Virginia Tech Hokies
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It used to be that college football fans could relax after spring practice and not worry about their teams until August. But that was before college football magazines started pumping out their previews in June. Now there's no time to relax when there's position battles to assess and strength-of-schedule statistics to pour over.

If you think it's a little ridiculous to preview a team in the beginning of the summer when it hasn't practiced yet and its star quarterback could blow out his knee playing pick-up basketball, you're probably right. But that's life, so you might as well get used to it.

Athlon Sports, however, has taken the art of prognostications to obscene levels.

To drum up excitement for the June 5 release of its preview issue, Athlon is currently counting down the top 25 teams on its web site. On Friday, Athlon unveiled the Virginia Tech Hokies as the No. 21 team, predicting they'll finish second in the Atlantic Coast Conference Coastal Division.

But Athlon didn't stop there. It also chose All-American and All-Conference teams, picking Hokies linebacker Vince Hall as a first-team All-America and All-ACC selection.

As if predicting one All-Conference team isn't hard enough, Athlon went one step further and picked a second- and a third-team. According to the good people at Athlon, cornerback Roland Minor, who's in danger of losing his starting job, will nonetheless be an All-ACC second-team selection, along with punter Nic Schmitt, kicker Brandon Pace and punt returner/wide receiver Eddie Royal. Offensive lineman Duane Brown and whip linebacker Aaron Rouse will make the third team.

I guess this is why Athlon does things like pick an All-ACC second team, because people like me will read them, scratch their heads and be forced to makes sense of them.

I see nothing wrong with ranking the Hokies No. 21. They have a great defense, an offense that could be good if they sort out the quarterback situation, and a favorable schedule. Picking Vince Hall to be a first-team All-America is a bit of a stretch. Hall did lead the team in tackles last year and the Hokies have a nice track record of putting players on All-American teams, but there are a lot of good linebackers in the country, and I'm not sure Hall is among the best of the best. And what's the point of picking a second- and a third-team. Brown will probably be an All-ACC first-team lineman, and who knows what's going to happen at corner back.

I say relax and wait until August, better yet, September. We should know a lot more by then, when teams have actually practiced a few times. Regardless, here are a few tidbits from the source:

Athlon Sports predicts Virginia Tech to finish second in the ACC Coastal.

LB Vince Hall is named a First-Team All-American and First-Team All-ACC.

CB Roland Minor, K Brandon Pace, P Nic Schmitt and PR Eddie Royal are
named Second-Team All-ACC.

OL Duane Brown and S Aaron Rouse are named Third-Team All-ACC.

Virginia Tech's defensive backs are rated No. 1 in the ACC.

Magazines will hit newsstands on June 5. The ACC regional edition
cover will feature LB Xavier Adibi.

Magazines are available for pre-order at www.athlonsports.com.
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