BLACKSBURG – Virginia Tech's offense put up respectable numbers in 2017, finishing in the top 60 nationally in both rushing and passing offense, but the Hokies lacked big plays.
Damon Hazelton hopes to provide that this season.
Hazelton transferred to Tech last year and sat out the fall while meeting NCAA transfer requirements. The Baltimore, Maryland native signed with Ball State out of high school, and he enjoyed a stellar freshman campaign. Yet he found himself wanting more.
For starters, he wanted to be closer to home. Muncie, Indiana is roughly nine hours from Baltimore, which made things difficult for his family to come and visit with him.
"I thought I wanted to go somewhere far away from home," Hazelton said. "Then it was, 'not really.' So I could be focused on what I needed to do. I kind of guess what led me closer to home was being away from home, and then I wanted to go to a really big football school – a place where football was something people really took pride in around the community. That's what led me to Virginia Tech."
He later added, "I needed to change the environment I was in to make sure I was becoming the best player I could be. I wanted to be around a different culture, around a team that was going to challenge me."
Hazelton hopes to provide some sizzle to a group of Tech receivers who played well at times in 2017 and struggled at others. A year ago, Tech's receivers combined for just two receptions of 40 yards or more.
A ripped 6-foot-2, 225 pounds, Hazelton certainly looks the part, and he is the most productive receiver on Tech's roster even though he hasn't played a game at Lane Stadium yet. As a freshman at Ball State in 2016, he caught 51 passes for 505 yards – numbers better than any returning Tech receiver from a year ago – and led the team with four touchdown receptions.
Still, he felt unfulfilled after that season.
"I feel like it was OK," Hazelton said. "I didn't think it was that good. A lot of people said it was good, but I feel like it was just a decent year. I feel like I left a lot of plays on the field, and I need to work on a lot of things. That's what I focused on this offseason, just focused on the things I need to work on with my game, so I won't come up short."
Hazelton hopes to exceed those numbers this season, albeit in a different colored uniform. He gives the Hokies a combination of size and speed, something that they lacked last year. In fact, before Hazelton's arrival, only one receiver on the roster – Eric Kumah – weighed more than 215 pounds.
"Obviously, I have a unique skill set, but to this offense, I can be someone that the coaches can depend on, can rely on to make big plays," Hazelton said. "I hope to do whatever the coaches need me to do and just contribute to this team and win. That's the biggest thing. I just want to win. Whatever it takes to win, that's what I'm focused on – doing whatever it takes to win and giving everything that I've got."
Tech's coaches desperately wanted to see Hazelton this spring during spring practices. They wanted him to become acclimated to the offense and wanted to see him exhibit some big-play potential. But he missed spring practice with an injury, one that left everyone feeling a sense of disappointment.
"This spring was super tough," Hazelton admitted. "I sat out the season, and spring was the time for me to go. It was like, I finally get a chance to get back out there and unfortunately the injury happened. It was tough, but I've just got to trust the plan, trust God's plan for me and my life and stay positive every single day and make the best of every situation."
In spite of the injury and not being able to see him in action, Tech's coaches remain optimistic about Hazelton and his potential, along with the abilities of several other receivers. Sure, the Hokies lost Cam Phillips, the program's all-time leader in career receptions and career receiving yards, but collectively, they should be able to make up for Phillips' departure.
The group includes returners Eric Kumah, Phil Patterson, Sean Savoy, Hezekiah Grimsley and C.J. Carroll – all of whom played a significant amount in 2017. Savoy caught 39 passes for 454 yards and four touchdowns as a true freshman last season, while Kumah caught 28 passes. Grimsley caught 10 passes combined in the final two games last fall, and Patterson hauled in seven passes in the bowl game. Hopefully, Carroll – the lone senior among the receivers – can get healthy and make a difference as a slot receiver.
Tech's coaches hope big plays come with experience.
"That's one of the things that coaches tell you. They challenge you," Hazelton said of Tech's coaches. "They'll say, 'The offense failed to do this last year,' or 'The offense came up short too many times,' or 'didn't win 50-50 balls' … things like that.
"I take that to heart. I feel like whatever the coaches call, whatever they dial up, we should be able to do it. I don't like the feeling of not coming through for your team. I take the challenge head on and try to work on those things so we won't come up short anymore."
AROUND THE MIC 🎙️
— Virginia Tech Football (@VT_Football) August 7, 2018
More goodness from Monday's media session as @CoachFuente discusses @21Live_ and the teammates of @DaHazeltonJr gush about our transfer wide receiver
MORE ⤵️https://t.co/bFroWIzkHS #Hokies 🦃 pic.twitter.com/eOC7vqlhHa
For other tidbits, as the Hokies continued fall practice on Monday:
• Former Tech WR coach still helping Hokies
Tech's staff found out about Hazelton's interest in transferring from Ball State when former receivers coach Aaron Moorehead, who left Tech to go to Texas A&M and is now on the staff at Vanderbilt, called current receivers coach Holmon Wiggins. The two are good friends in the coaching profession.
"He said, 'Hey, this receiver that I've been talking to that I'd love to get to A&M, but we don't have any room for him. You guys should get on him,'" Wiggins said. "So we kinda got wind of it, kinda went to the archives, went and studied some Ball State film and got a chance to look at him and started to get the ball rolling."
• Losing the "Dad bod"
Tech quarterback Josh Jackson and several other players met with the media Tuesday afternoon and a funny exchange occurred when asked about guys posting photos of their bodies on social media after summer workouts. Jackson joked that he and Sean Savoy have the "Dad bods" of the offense, or bodies of middle-aged men as opposed to young men in their late teens or early 20s.
"I'm sure me and Sean want to lose the Dad bod a little bit," Jackson said. "You see guys like Dalton, and my roommate is Divine Deablo, and he looks like one of the mannequins basically. You've kinda got to put it in perspective and try to make yourself better and not focus on anybody else because a lot of that is just genetics, I guess."
• Patterson makes an impression
Jackson also was asked about Quincy Patterson, the heralded recruit from Chicago who certainly looks like a big-time player at 6-foot-4, 235 pounds.
"I think he said he threw it 80 (yards) before, or something like that," Jackson said. "Way farther than me, and that's quite farther than me. I think Ryan [Willis] can throw it about that far, too, but I think he'll [Patterson] just continue to develop."
• RBs focused on making more big plays
Tech averaged better than 170 yards rushing per game in 2017 and had eight games in which it rushed for more than 150. But the Hokies lacked big plays in the running game, registering just one run of more than 30 yards by a tailback. So this spring and summer, the staff placed an emphasis on getting more big plays from the running game.
"All in all, just making guys miss," tailback Deshawn McClease said as to the key for getting those big plays. "There were a lot of times when we [tailbacks] were one-on-one with linebackers or safeties and we just didn't make them miss. So this spring, we kind of over-emphasized making safeties or linebackers miss. Just winning those one-on-one battles."
• Taylor on HBO's Hard Knocks
The Cleveland Browns and former Virginia Tech quarterback Tyrod Taylor will be the subject of this year's 'Hard Knocks' series on HBO. No doubt, we'll see and hear plenty about Taylor and his relationship with the No. 1 overall selection in the 2018 NFL Draft, quarterback Baker Mayfield. The series premiere is Tuesday at 10 p.m. ET.