The 12th-ranked Virginia Tech Hokies took care of business today blowing out William & Mary 62-17 in what was an offensive showcase for the Hokies. The Hokies had lots of strong performances on both sides of the ball, but Josh Jackson and Houshun Gaines stood out to receive this week's Hokies of the Game honors.
Offensive Hokie of the Game: QB Josh Jackson
Virginia Tech's offense played quite well, but Josh Jackson stood out above the rest with one of his best performances in a Hokie uniform. Overall, Jackson was 12-for-16 for 217 yards and a touchdown while running for 21 yards and a touchdown on 3 carries. Jackson looked more than comfortable leading an offense that was consistently productive and scored on a touchdown on all but 2 of his possession. Of those 2 possessions, one ended with a field goal and the other ended via a Deshawn McClease fumble after some solid gains. Even though the competition wasn't the toughest, Jackson looked the part making accurate throw after accurate throw whether on play action slants or his long touchdown to Damon Hazelton. Steven Peoples also was under consideration for this honor after having a big game with 55 yards and 2 rushing touchdowns on 6 carries while catching 2 passes for 34 yards. Terius Wheatley had his first career rushing touchdown and finished the game with 58 yards on 7 carries. Damon Hazelton led the receivers with 4 catches for 107 yards and a TD in what was his second 100-yard game of his career. Hezekiah Grimsley made a difference in the passing and running games with 3 catches for 68 yards and 3 carries for 18 yards.Defensive Hokie of the Game: DE Houshun Gaines
Houshun Gaines played well against Florida State and had another big game today making multiple big plays. On the day, Gaines finished with 2 forced fumbles, 1 fumble recovery, 1 sack, and 2 total tackles with his strip sack in the first quarter coming almost immediately after the Hokies' only turnover of the day. Since gaining significant playing time as a backup at first and then as Vinny Mihota's replacement during the latter half of last season, Gaines has developed into one of the ACC's breakout defensive linemen. Bud Foster also praised the development of Gaines after the game including how he has become a playmaker on the defense. While Trevon Hill stole the headlines in week 1 on the defensive line, Houshun Gaines stepped up this week to lead the defensive line. Reggie Floyd had a strong performance leading the Hokies with 7 tackles including 2 for loss. Khalil Ladler also played well with 4 tackles including 1.5 for loss while Dax Hollifield spent some time with the first and second team defenses and did well finishing with 5 tackles including 1.5 for loss.Photo Credit: Harley Taylor
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