An outstanding Bryan Randall article...

[Bluefield_Rules 46]

He may not have been the most talented player ever at VT, but he was the most well-respected and upstanding player ever. I salute that guy for character, heart, determination, and his commitment to his faith.

 

I sat in the stands for nearly every home game in 2002 and 2003 and had to hear with each incomplete pass, minimum gain, or bad decision: “Put Vick in. Randall cannot get it done, we cannot win with him as QB.†I believe he shut up nearly everyone this season and I’m happy for him. He’s a winner on and off the field.

 

Now for the article, enjoy...

 

http://www.roanoke.com/sports/vtfootball/16428.html

 

Randall offered a touch of class

Commentary by Aaron McFarling

The Roanoke Times

 

NEW ORLEANS - The heart of the Hokies stood in front of the team Monday night, his emotions running a fade route.

 

One by one, the Virginia Tech seniors had spoken after a 16-13 Sugar Bowl loss to Auburn, and now it was Bryan Randall's turn. But what do you say after all this? What are the right words after four years of highs and lows, four years of hugs and tears, four years of wins and losses?

 

Youngsters, everywhere. Eddie Royal and Josh Morgan and Josh Hyman and David Clowney and on and on, young men touched by Randall's compassion and responsibility, young men coming back next season for another run, young men hanging on his next words.

 

"Enjoy it while you're here," Randall said.

 

"It goes by so fast."

 

"Don't take anything for granted."

 

He's right, you know. That last part?

 

None of us should.

 

• • •

 

You can take all your statistics and stuff them in a locker somewhere. Give me snapshots. Give me moments.

 

And when it comes to this fantastic season, nobody provided more than Bryan Randall.

 

Randall, sprinting through holes in the USC defense in the first game, alerting the nation that Tech might be better than people thought.

 

Randall, walking into the postgame interview room with grass clinging to his whiskers, the battle scars of 10 N.C. State sacks.

 

Randall, leading his first game-winning drive against Wake Forest.

 

Randall, pumping his fist after a fourth-quarter rally against Georgia Tech.

 

Randall, holding Mardi Gras beads aloft in Miami after helping the Hokies win the ACC.

 

And finally, this: Randall scrambling, throwing, doing whatever he could against Auburn, but coming up short, seeing the final pages of a Cinderella story get ripped from their binding.

 

And Randall, his head down, walking out of the locker room for postgame interviews, barely noticing all that was going on around him.

 

Tech fans had waited for him, by the dozens.

 

They had come to cheer him, loudly, one last time.

 

 

• • •

 

A few weeks ago, when conducting a silly survey of 15 Tech players, I asked the Hokies to name one person they'd like to switch places with for a week.

 

Thirteen of them said Bryan Randall.

 

The other two just wanted to be different.

 

"He's so straight-edge," punter Vinnie Burns said that day. "I want to be like that for a week. I wonder what that'd be like, to always be nice and polite. He's just a people person."

 

Perfect? Of course not. Nobody is, and Randall is quick to remind everyone that he has faults in his personal life, a long list of moral incompletions that if you only knew about, well, maybe you wouldn't feel the same way about him.

 

Or maybe we would.

 

• • •

 

Has there ever been a Tech player more respected for his character than Bryan Randall? There's his community service and his spirituality and no-nonsense leadership on the field, but it's the personal moments, the eye-to-eye encounters, that stick with people.

 

When Tech returned from its ACC-clinching win against Miami, thousands of fans waited in Cassell Coliseum to celebrate. The team signed autographs and gave hugs and handed out high-fives.

 

Hours later, after the rest of the team had gone home for a well-earned night's sleep, Randall was still signing.

 

In New Orleans last week, silver-haired women screamed when he left the team hotel. He stopped and draped his arms around them. Kids shouted, "Bryan! Bryan!" He smiled and signed.

 

"Where would we be without Bryan Randall?" a Charlottesville Tech fan named Jeff Bromm said last Friday during a party at the team hotel. "He goes down, we're not anywhere. I have so much respect for that guy. I just want to see the team succeed for him as much as everybody else.

 

"He epitomizes what this team is all about and what I like to think Tech's about, too, the characteristics of people that go there."

 

That's the ultimate compliment any athlete can receive. He's truly a regular guy.

 

And regular guys don't always have storybook endings.

 

• • •

 

Randall sat at the main podium of the postgame interview room Monday night, staring straight ahead. Real men take the stage win or lose, high or heartbroken.

 

To Randall's left, Tech coach Frank Beamer answered questions about missed opportunities and penalties and tough luck, about Auburn and USC and the BCS.

 

For once, nobody asked about Randall.

 

It was getting late.

 

"Any more questions for coach Beamer?" the moderator said.

 

Silence.

 

"Thank you, Coach."

 

Beamer got up to leave. But before he did, he turned to the senior quarterback and offered some unprompted commentary, 11 little words that proved he understood exactly what Bryan Randall meant when he cautioned against taking anything for granted.

 

"This guy right over here is special," Beamer said one final time. "I'll tell you that."

 

We hear you, Coach.

 

Loud and clear.

[BigD4VT 11]

Great article! Bryan is one of a kind. Truely a special human being.

 

After the 2003 Spring Game I took my nephew on the field for autographs. Randall was backed into a corner by the tunnel between the sez and west stands. He anounced that he could only sign a few more because he needed to get going, but he never stopped signing, and he never stopped smiling. He just wouldn't walk away from kids waiting for him to sign their football, hat, roster card or whatever they had. It wasn't until someone shouted "Marcus Vick is on the other side of the field" that he was able to get away. Everyone (and I do mean everyone) ran over to where Marcus was supposed to be...but once they got there he was nowhere to be found. He had seen the incoming hoard of adoring fans and ducked back into the locker room.

 

Bryan Randall may not have Marcus Vick's (unearned) GOD status, or Michael Vick's (earned) GOD status, or Jim Druckenmiller's cannon for an arm, but he has more heart and determination than any Hokie I've ever seen. I can't wait to see #3 displayed above the north end zone.

[BigBlue02 11]

I'd love to see him scrambling around on Sunday's somewhere even if it was the arena league hes just that special.Heres to Bryan Randall may you succeed in what ever you chose to do. you are a truely blessed man.