OL loses tip of finger, keeps playing

Virginia Tech left guard Greg Nosal earned tough-guy points on Saturday, postponing the reattachment of a torn-off tip of his left pinkie to keep playing.

The school says Nosal lost the finger tip when it got caught between two helmets in the first half Saturday against Central Michigan. After a brief search, team doctors found the severed finger tip inside his glove and determined that it could be reattached.

Team surgeon Mark Seigel gave the 6-foot-6, 293-pound redshirt junior the option of having the finger repaired on the spot, or having the hand bandaged and the tip put on ice to be reattached later. He chose to keep playing, took pain medication and went back in.

The finger tip was stitched back on in the fourth quarter, after the pain medication had started to wear off. The Hokies led 31-7 and were substituting liberally in a 45-21 victory.

''You talk about a tough guy,'' Hokies coach Frank Beamer said Monday. ''For him to continue to play, it says a lot about him and what his effort for this football team is.''