Beamer: Players shouldn't worry about football now

	Virginia Tech's campus mourns after the deadliest shooting rampage in U.S. history. AP
	RELATED • MANDEL: Incident shatters Va. Tech's image • Virginia Tech shooter identified

By Stewart Mandel, SI.com

Virginia Tech's football program has canceled its final four days of spring practice, including Saturday's scheduled spring game at Lane Stadium, in the wake of a campus shooting-spree Monday in which 33 people were killed, Hokies coach Frank Beamer said Tuesday.

"It's the right thing to do, out of respect for the families [of the victims]," Beamer told SI.com. "It's not our season, it's practice. And for the players, too. I think this thing has a burden for everyone here and around it, and I'm not sure they should have to be thinking about football and practice right now."

Beamer, a Virginia Tech alum who has been the school's head coach since 1987, said, "Our hearts our down to our toes right now" over Monday's tragedy, the worst shooting rampage in American history in terms of fatalities.

Police on Tuesday identified Cho Seung-hui, 23, a senior English major, as the gunman who killed 30 people at Norris Hall, an academic building on campus. Names and pictures of the victims were beginning to be released Tuesday morning.

"When they started to put those pictures up ... they're Virginia Tech people," said Beamer. "One guy [Ryan Clark] was in the [marching band], played at every one of our games. They're such beautiful people. Our hearts go out to their families.

"It seems so unreal because it's so different from what this school and this town are all about -- a place that's respectful of others," said Beamer. "We're such a close-knit group. For one person to come through here and go and do exactly the opposite of what I think about when I think about Blacksburg and Virginia Tech, what we have to do right now is make sure one person does not destroy what goes on here every day."

Beamer said he and his assistants were in a staff meeting Monday morning when they heard about the second shooting. Due to cell-service interruptions, he said it took several hours to track down every player but all were eventually accounted for. Only one player had a class at Norris that morning but it was scheduled to begin after 10 a.m.

Beamer said his team was dispersed right now, with many players returning home to be with their families. Their next team meeting will take place Monday.

While the spring game may be canceled, Beamer acknowledged that the football program will eventually play a role in helping Virginia Tech's campus heal.

"There's a time for that," said Beamer. "When we pick it back up, it's a time for everybody to come together and everybody to go in the same direction and have a purpose together. I think Virginia Tech will be closer together than ever.

"I've spent a lot of my years here. I really know what Virginia Tech and Blacksburg are like. It's time more than ever that we're like that -- respectful to others, take care of each other, the family atmosphere. It's time we do that now more than ever.

Also Tuesday, Virginia Tech's athletic department announced the baseball team's home series against Miami on Friday, Saturday and Sunday will be played as scheduled. The lacrosse team will host Maryland on Saturday and the softball team will host Maryland on Saturday and Sunday.

Five teams scheduled to compete at various ACC championships - golf, men's and women's outdoor track & field, men's and women's tennis - will still compete as scheduled.