Sean Glennon spent an hour Saturday afternoon watching video of the previous day's scrimmage, studying the footage along with his fellow Virginia Tech quarterbacks, Tyrod Taylor and Cory Holt, and their position coach, Mike O'Cain.

When the film session ended, O'Cain asked Glennon to stay in the room and told Taylor and Holt to wait outside. Glennon knew he was about to hear the decision for which he had waited six months, the answer to the biggest question surrounding the Hokies: Glennon or Taylor?

"We're going to redshirt Tyrod," Glennon remembers O'Cain saying. "You're the guy. Go do it."

Glennon sat there in silence, absorbing the words.

Later in the day, O'Cain met with Taylor and his father, Rodney, to discuss redshirting and Taylor's future. Though O'Cain didn't mention redshirting to Taylor until Saturday, Taylor already had considered it a possibility and consulted his parents Friday about it. Had Taylor not agreed to redshirt, he believes he and Glennon would have split time for the second consecutive season.

But Taylor OK'd the move, and Tech head coach Frank Beamer publicly revealed it yesterday, saying, "I think for the overall long-term good of the program, this is a good thing."

It means Taylor will have three years of eligibility remaining after this season. However, Taylor would play if Glennon, a fifth-year senior, suffered a serious injury during this Saturday's game against East Carolina in Charlotte, N.C., Beamer said.

Otherwise, fifth-year senior Cory Holt will be the backup and receive second-team snaps during practice. He played wide receiver from last preseason through this past spring.

Taylor, his father and O'Cain set a loose time frame during their meeting Saturday for how deep into the season the coaches would burn Taylor's redshirt year, if Glennon was injured. "We said no later than game four or five," Taylor said.

Though Glennon was relieved to learn he would start, he isn't focusing on proving to anyone that the decision is correct, especially not in what could be his final fall playing football. "I'm not going to waste it putting the weight of the world on the shoulders," he said. "If I go out there and wet the bed, it doesn't mean anything what I did this camp."

Glennon credited the offensive line -- with four of five starters back from last season -- for helping make him the starter. When the line was shaky last season, Beamer replaced Glennon with Taylor because Taylor could evade a pass rush better.

Glennon and Taylor ended up rotating for last season's final five games, leading to the competition between them that began in spring practice and ended Saturday.

O'Cain has long advocated redshirting Taylor at some point, and he said Tech's coaches talked in the spring about how they'd like to do it this season if Taylor and Glennon were neck and neck. Taylor said he wanted to redshirt before he came to Tech and hoped to do it last year.

But he found himself splitting reps with Glennon, who even in his first season as a starter, 2006, didn't truly own the job, at least in the eyes of some teammates who doubted his ability. Those players are gone now, Glennon said, and he believes he has won over this team, which, at long last, is his to lead.

"Sean's a stable guy," junior tailback Kenny Lewis Jr. said. "Whenever Sean's in there, you know nothing's going to go wrong. He's the director of the orchestra."

THIS AND THAT: Cornerback Victor "Macho" Harris (Highland Springs High) did not practice the past two days because of a sprained left foot suffered in last Friday's scrimmage. Tech is following the new ACC guideline of not announcing a player's status for a Saturday game until after practice Thursday. Harris is scheduled to return kickoffs and punts.

Lewis is listed as the starting tailback, ahead of redshirt freshman Darren Evans. But the pecking order is fluid, Beamer said, and most of Tech's six tailbacks could play Saturday.