Collegiate Times

No, not again. Anyone but Matt Ryan.

This was the general thought spread amongst the orange and maroon-dominated Alltel Stadium crowd, as Boston College's quarterback hit Kevin Challenger in stride beaming toward the end zone.

Just as it seemed the Hokies would squander the second and somehow even more painful late-game lead at the hands of the hated Heisman hopeful, Virginia Tech's rover appeared seemingly out of nowhere, like the man at this position has in many years past.

Kam Chancellor would save the game-tying touchdown and spare quite a few cardiac arrests as the Hokies eventually reaped sweet vindication in the form of 2007 Atlantic Coast Conference Championship hardware.

Now Chancellor returns to anchor Virginia Tech's last line of defense, but - like much of the secondary - from a new position.

Chancellor, a 6'3" rising junior, moves to the free safety position vacated by the graduated D.J. Parker, where he'll - understatedly - need to worry about far more than covering and tackling.

"The free safety position is a leadership position," said defensive backfield coach Torrian Gray. "As far as (Chancellor) communicating and lining everybody up, it just helps bring out more of the leadership ability that he does have along with his athletic ability."

"The farther you move back, it's more thinking," Chancellor said. "I feel like I can play almost any position on defense except for defensive line, just because of my size and my ability and my speed."

With Brandon Flowers entering the NFL Draft as a projected first round pick, the cornerback position has become even more vulnerable to change.

Victor "Macho" Harris, who considered following suit with Flowers, decided to return and claim Foster's perennially formidable boundary corner position.

Flowers' two consecutive All-American nods seem like a tough act to follow but, amidst heavy speculation, Harris came back for a reason.

"I kind of felt like my job here at Virginia Tech was unfinished, so I'm coming back," said Harris, who has intercepted nine passes at field corner over the past two seasons. "Boundary corner is made for playmakers, so I'm going go out there and make plays."

Foster is counting on it.

"He's a physical player and he's got a lot of abilities," said Tech defensive coordinator Bud Foster. "You can kind of protect the field corner a little bit with underneath coverage ... Our boundary corner plays a lot of man and gets matched up one-on-one."

There is currently a three-man race to fill the void left by Harris' move to boundary corner. Redshirt sophomore Rashad Carmichael, redshirt freshman Chris Hill, and junior Stephan Virgil seem to have equally impressed the coaching staff thus far.

"Some guys have one strength over another, but nothing to a glaring point," Gray said. "All of them are kind of the same speed, all of them tackle well, all of them are still learning, and each has a long ways to go to get better. It'll be interesting to see how it shakes out."

Carmichael added, "It's just a great opportunity for me to go out there and show everybody what I've been here for, what I redshirted for, and how much I've learned from watching Macho and Flowers play last year."

Either way, Chancellor and his comrades feel that the position turmoil will ultimately magnify their greater skills.

"I'll be playing a lot of one-on-one coverage and checking people man-to-man, which will probably bring those (skills) out," Chancellor said, before alluding to a talent that that's made Tech fans exhale countless times. " ... And open field tackles. I'll probably have a lot more this year."