Steve Helber / AP

Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer will lead the No. 9 Hokies into Death Valley for a date with No. 2 LSU on Saturday night.

Then again, this freshman could change everything. Taylor moved from fourth to second on the depth chart in just two weeks of fall camp and forced backup Ike Whitaker -- who had made strides this offseason and had been pushing Glennon -- to wideout.

Beamer doesn't want to force too much too soon on Taylor, and his perfect scenario is redshirting the player Tech's all-world linebacker, Vince Hall, calls The Prodigy. But if Glennon continues his erratic ways, Beamer soon will have to address the inevitable: Is he doing his team a disservice by not playing Taylor?

With Taylor, the offense can become more multiple and run the zone-read play that has overtaken the college game -- the same play the Vicks and Randall used to win so many games. And though Taylor has Vick-like talent, he has no Vick-like baggage.

The night of the shootings, as rumors already swirled about athletes potentially leaving the school, Taylor called Beamer at home. Beamer and his staff had landed Taylor only two months earlier, winning a heated recruiting battle with national champion Florida for the nation's No. 1 dual-threat quarterback -- a player one Florida assistant calls "a program changer."

Who could have blamed Taylor if he'd had second thoughts about coming to Blacksburg? After all, one Tech basketball player eventually transferred and another incoming recruit told coach Seth Greenberg he couldn't follow through on his commitment.

"Coach," Taylor said softly into the phone that night, "Is everybody OK?"

"I've never been around anyone like him," Beamer says of Taylor. "A unique young man." A unique player who, recent freshman history be damned, is going to have to play at some point this season. Tech can't afford to waste another big season on the other side of the ball -- the Hokies led the nation in total defense in 2005 and '06 -- because the offense can't find its stride.

This is a team with a national championship-caliber defense, and an offense that's missing one piece -- one defining piece.

The staff hasn't ruled out using Taylor as Florida used freshman phenom Tim Tebow last year: for situational down and distance plays. But Beamer doesn't like to play two quarterbacks and will do almost everything he can to will Glennon to success.

Bottom line: Taylor will play because Glennon will struggle.

"I want to help this team any way I can," Taylor says. "I'll wait my turn."

Listen closely to those inspirational lyrics of "Walk Humbly." The song that has helped a community heal also has words of wisdom for this young quarterback.

Walk humbly, son. And store your pride when you need strength later on.

"We need something to shake things up," Ore says. "We'll go to work this week and we'll find it."

It's already right there in front of them.

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