Collegiate Times

Tryod Taylor looks for a receiver during the annual spring game on Saturday.

Virginia Tech's spring season concluded on Saturday afternoon with the Maroon team edging the White team, 13-7, in the annual spring game at Lane Stadium.

While the game wasn't filled with the intensity of a mid-season ACC matchup and the Hokies still have months to go before they play a game that counts, the excitement of Tech football was definitely back on Saturday. That excitement happened early on.

In the first quarter, redshirt freshman quarterback Ju-Ju Clayton hooked up with redshirt freshman tailback Ryan Williams on a screen pass, which Williams took 56 yards through the White team's defense for a Maroon touchdown.

"That play right there was the best feeling I had so far," Williams said.

Williams sat out last season, serving his redshirt and playing on the scout team. For him, it was a great feeling to see his mother in the stands and to be a regular on the roster.

"It made me feel like I'm back to being me, back to being Ryan Williams on the football field," he said.

Williams led the Hokies by rushing for 86 yards on 10 carries and reeling in two receptions for an impressive 66 yards and a touchdown.

"I thought Ryan [Williams] showed a lot of explosiveness," head coach Frank Beamer said. "Explosiveness is the word with him. He runs with quickness, but the pile kept moving there a couple times. One guy doesn't usually bring him down."

The White team responded quickly, however, with a scoring drive led by junior starting quarterback Tyrod Taylor. The junior capped a nine-play, 80-yard drive by hooking up with sophomore wide out Dyrell Roberts in the corner of the end zone for a three-yard touchdown.

Taylor finished the day completing 16 of 33 passes for 188 yards and a score. He also rushed for 39 yards on nine attempts.

Taylor and Roberts connected three times for 52 yards - including the touchdown - and gave fans hope for a possibly electrifying passing combination this year.

"(Dyrell's) playing faster, playing with more confidence and just going out there and getting better and better," Taylor said.

"Last year he came here as a running back and we moved him to wide receiver and it was just a learning process," Beamer said.

Roberts looked on Saturday like he had learned plenty since coming into the 2008 season as a freshman and being thrown into the starting role.

"He's always had ability and you knew that the way he could run the football in high school," Beamer said. "But, I think now he's turning that into a threat."

Roberts also used some of his ability on special teams, where he returned a kick 41 yards in the first quarter and also had a nine-yard punt return, showing the quickness that Beamer has praised.

"I'm comfortable with it but I know I still have a whole lot more to learn and I'm going to have to do some things - do some different things," Roberts said. "But overall, I'm comfortable with the position."

In the third quarter, though, the Maroon team scored what would be the game-winning touchdown when redshirt freshman Antoine Hopkins picked up a fumble by freshman tailback Zac Evans and returned it 20 yards to put the Maroon team up 13-7.

That was all the Maroon team needed, as the White team couldn't find the end zone in the fourth quarter, despite a valiant effort by Tyrod Taylor, who came just yards from tying the game as time expired.

An estimated 41,000 attended the game, much due in part to the high expectations that surrounds this team.

The Hokies have one of their most promising groups in years and coming off an Orange Bowl victory, the next logical step to aim toward is the national championship.

"We talk about it non-stop," Williams said. "We feel like we have the team to take this there and we have a shot at the national championship. I think our team is kind of tired of going to the Orange Bowl, so we want something different."