Some kind of controversy: Marcus Vick is ready to break into the lineup at quarterback, and starter Bryan Randall may not have much to say about it.(Big East)

Bryan Randall says he's the starting quarterback at Virginia Tech. His coach, Frank Beamer, says it too. There's just one nagging problem: A freshman named Vick isn't buying it.

"I want it bad," Marcus Vick says,

And that's enough to shake everything sideways. Maybe it would be different if his name weren't Vick, if he were just another antsy redshirt freshman detoxing from sitting and watching his first year drag by and talking faster than he's thinking. But this is Marcus Vick, brother of Michael Vick, who just happened to reinvent the position in two seasons with the Hokies. This is Marcus Vick, who, despite not having played a down of college football, already is legendary in Blacksburg, the small southwestern Virginia town his brother mapped a few years ago.

"They're brothers," Randall says. "It's only natural when you see the type of player Marcus is, you wonder. A Vick is a Vick, you know?"

Maybe that's why Beamer dances around the inevitable when speaking of his two quarterbacks. He insists there will be no controversy, yet follows that by saying Randall will have to bust his tail to hold off Vick every week of the season. Randall played well last season; he did, however, have problems with turnovers (11 interceptions, eight lost fumbles), leading many to believe that Vick would overtake him during spring practice.

Vick played magnificently in the 15 practices. But instead of falling away, Randall performed flawlessly (he committed no turnovers during scrimmages or seven-on-seven drills), strengthened his hold on the position and was the clear starter going into fall camp. But there are those Vick-esque signs that continue to breathe life into the controversy: a 35-yard darting, blazing scramble for a touchdown in a spring scrimmage and two perfectly thrown deep balls in the spring game that were dropped by wide-out Richard Johnson.

Again, Vick never has played in a game, and for all anyone knows, he'll play differently when the game jerseys are on. Tech knows what it has in Randall: an athletic, dual-threat quarterback who completed nearly 64 percent of his passes last season and twice ran for more than 100 yards in a game. Sure, he struggled some in the big games, but so did the entire team.