Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, August 28, 1994 TAG: 9408260028
SECTION: COLLEGE FOOTBALL PAGE: FB11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
``He's so far inside my head right now,'' DeShazo said. ``I was talking in my sleep, and my girl said I said, `Shhh, Coach Tranquill's talking.'''
Tranquill, Virginia Tech's first-year offensive coordinator, chuckles at that thought. What began in April during spring drills as a vocabulary lesson - DeShazo had to learn Tranquill's offensive language - continues this month as the Hokies' senior quarterback tries to runs Tranquill's plays to the coach's satisfaction.
It's not a quiet alliance, and it's quite different from when DeShazo, then a quarterback at Bassett High School, first encountered Tranquill at off-season camps.
``When I knew him, he was kind of a laid-back guy. He wasn't coaching me,'' DeShazo said. ``Nothing like he is now. [At practice] you've got [defensive coordinator Phil] Elmassian hollering on one end, Coach Tranquill hollering at the other end. If you don't have a headache by the end of the day, something's wrong.''
The Hokies need everything right in this picture if they want another bowl bid this season. Worry struck shortly after Tech's Poulan/Weed Eater Independence Bowl victory last year, when first-year offensive coordinator Rickey Bustle - who recruited DeShazo and had been his position coach and friend for four years - left to join the staff at South Carolina.
Tech hired Tranquill away from the NFL's Cleveland Browns. The former Navy head coach and Virginia and West Virginia assistant brought to Blacksburg a love of the passing game and a perfectionist reputation that sometimes has broiled DeShazo.
Tranquill and DeShazo renewed their acquaintance with small talk that included Tranquill's expectations for his new quarterback, who set five Tech records and led the school's best-ever offense in '93. Now, you might say the 53-year-old Avella, Pa., native and his 22-year-old student are into loud talk.
``I think we have a good relationship,'' Tranquill said after a little more than a week of fall practice. ``I get after him. I yell and scream at him. If he's got a point, he should yell and scream back at me until we iron it out.
``If he does something wrong, I still get after him. It's becoming less and less. I don't think Maurice is one of those guys when you get after him, he goes in the bag. He's kind of one of those guys who say, `OK, I'll show you, coach.'''
Jerry Cannaday, DeShazo's coach at Bassett, figures the demanding Tranquill and the imaginative DeShazo are a perfect match.
``I just think they're going to get along fine,'' Cannaday said. ``Coach Tranquill is just what Maurice needs. [He's] not going to be satisfied [with last year].''
Those scrutinizing Tech's offense for Bustle-to-Tranquill evolution won't find a markedly different beast. The Hokies' running backs might be in more pass patterns (they accounted for 30 of 139 completions last year) and fewer pass-protection schemes, because Tranquill said he likes to get runners the ball in the open field. The offense may be slightly more complicated, because Tranquill likes to disguise plays with varying sets. DeShazo probably will make more line-of-scrimmage reads of defenses.
And Tranquill says he has a couple of different ways to get DeShazo, tailback Dwayne Thomas and others on the corners without using a sweep or the option. Tranquill maintains, however, that he won't have to force himself to use the option.
``When I've had a quarterback that could do it, we always did it,'' Tranquill said.
There's little question Tranquill's reputation has made it easier for Tech's players, including DeShazo, to accept change from their record-setting '93 season.
At the Big East's media day this month in East Rutherford, N.J., DeShazo was asked if he feared a senior season like that of Syracuse's Marvin Graves, a Heisman Trophy candidate who slipped from second in passing efficiency as a junior to 19th as Syracuse, a preseason Top 10 pick, went 6-4-1 in '93.
DeShazo said it wasn't Graves' fault, that his supporting cast stumbled, too. Questioners pointed to uncertainty about Tech's offensive line.
``If the line doesn't do what they're supposed to do, you just do something else to put the ball in [Antonio] Freeman's hands,'' said DeShazo, reminding reporters about the Hokies' ``great'' offensive coordinator. ``With Tranquill, we can attack about any part of the field.''
by CNB