August camp 2012: a sneak-peak of coming attractions (part II):

The 2012 Virginia Tech defense is slated to be pretty good, rain is rumored to be wet and the Sun says it’s warm.

Or in otherwise, to describe the 2012 Virginia Tech stop-unit in “pretty good” terms is an exercise in futility and likewise an exercise in understatement itself.

This is a very good 2012 Virginia Tech defense, and it might even be an epic one –Top-11 health providing.

#99 James Gayleis a difficult man to discourage.

He is the kinda man that you’d rather fight with him than against him.
You don’t wanna take 2 of his to land 1 of your own with this guy just to see if your beard can live to tell the tale. Don’t believe me? Just as the loquacious one, #99– I’m sure he’d be more than happy to tell you.

And this just in … he’s bringing friends!

As in about 8-deep worth of bona fide D-1, B.C.S. caliber friends upfront as Coach Wiles is surely the happiest coach on the Virginia Tech football coaching staff right about now.

By my always genuine and never in-authentically P.A.T.T. or N.A.T.T. count as things stand right now, you have no less than 8 ballers who could start upfront for Coach Wiles and that could actually end up being closer to 10, or maybe even 11.

Or to put it another way, this is the deepest Virginia Tech defensive front-wall since at least the 1999-2000 era, and it could very well be the deepest Virginia Tech defensive line ever!

Yes, it all does begin with the superfluously verbose James Gayle upfront. He is indeed on track for an all-A.c.c. football season and he has been rightfully named to three post season award watch lists thus far. He benches a sixth best team wide 400 lbs. and he enjoys a forth best on the football team 40“ vertical leap as he will dunk on you off the edge on defense if you let him. His ears love his mouth, most of you do too, and he is certifiably a red-line R.P.M. baller who only plays the game at one speed … fast-forward– as an XY chromosome paring this kid simply is not. The whispers suggest that James is even bigger/stronger and yet he has maintained his signature speed which is only surpassed by his on-field intensity in throwback gridiron demeanor 1o1. If a kid like James Gayle balls for your team you love him and if he balls for a uva you love to hate him. He brings it during the play and he brings it again post-play alike. My only caveat here is that during your first cycle through the A.c.c. Refs as a rookie year starter, you are also cycling through the A.c.c. officiating crews nearly sans any and all overlap. That means they are all getting a first-taste of your lips. Ergo, I for one will be most curious to see if any of the Atlantic Coast zebras have grown weary of 99’s mouth this season. Thus said, this kid does play with his “hair on fire” and nobody will ever question his burning desire to conquer all foes. Don’t believe me? This is the kinda kid who has a dog named: Crom and enjoys hearing “the lamentation of their women.” Just ask his Twitter account motto: “There are no pacts between lions and men.” </woof!>

#42 J.R. Collins was someone’s pre-season pick to outperform James Gayle last season and J.R. did not disappoint. 57 total stops on 9 TFL (tackles for a loss), with six sacks does not suck. Neither does a whopping 29 Qb hurries, a 44o lb. front-squat  and one INT of all things thrown in for good measure. Recall as well that this is one strong like bull De folks. Playing inside at Dt vs. Georgia Tech says so although I for one prefer Mr. Collins’ Iron Hokie award winning strength out on the run-fighting strong-side edge at End-De. Mr. Gayle may be the style here and that surely makes Mr. Collins the substance. As this is something of a thunder (Collins) and lightening (Gayle) combo indeed. And just think, they have 24 odd games left to play for all of you at mighty Virginia Tech.

Behind those two all-conference caliber starting stalwarts we see a smaller blend of big-time athletic play-makers along with one prototypical De. Presuming that Dadi Nicholas has allegedly given up peddling other peoples bicycles for keeps, you have at least two starting caliber De’s behind Gayle and Collins which might just be code for three.

#90 Stud-De Dadi Nicholas (pronounced just like: “daddy”) is a truly fascinating prospect –presuming he gets his legal eagles all in a row at is. If that is the case, he might just enjoy the greatest potential fueled ratio of ceiling-to-current level on the entire football team as no one really seems to know just how good this kid could actually get? The all seem to agree that this kid has the tools, the motor, the toughs and the raw physical metrics to become something special at Virginia Tech before 2015 is all said and done. Be aware that Dadi nearly won the most improved baller award this past spring and then recall that this is primarily as basketball player by trade who is now wearing cleats instead of sneakers. As this is only Dadi’s third season of football in his entire life whereas most other r-freshmen are in their 13^th season of competition at debut or varsity level by this time; or to put it another way, this kid is only beginning to scratch the proverbial surface of his numerous talents, plural. That’s pretty solid for a kid who scores a 10 on the Mohs Scale of Hardness as a proverbial “…diamond in the rough” goes. Dadi possess a fifth best 38“ vertical and a 4.63 forty. Now imagine all of that with some real-live repetitions and playing-time under his learning-curve belt. That being the case—who knows just how high this kids ceiling truly is? Although I may not rightfully know the answer to that question, truth be told, nobody does. Nevertheless, I do know that I’ve not been this high on an orange and maroon youngling since a certain year ’round tie-wearing kid set foot on the VT campus; and all he did was break the single-season all-time rushing record at Tech. To be direct –as some of you asked for in part I- Dadi is freaky good even if it takes until 2015 before he really freaks you out.

Also at Stud-De for Virginia Tech is one #66 Ty.Wilson. Ty is the kid who looks a tad small at first glance though he plays much larger than he appears when given a second look. Ty is one of the pound-for-pound kings of the team just as Floyd “money”Mayweather is in professional boxing. A 450 lb. back squat at a mere 22o lbs. soaking-wet is borderline obscene folks. That’s lifting 204% more than he weighs to give you some prospective on that movement when taken in ratio math terms. My terminology for that is “absurd” and or “unreal”. Maybe both –take thy pick. Recollect additionally that this kid was really a Florida H.S. linebacker by trade when he arrived at Virginia Tech. That means he is a naturally highly versatile player in zone-blitz terms or when assigned to back off of the line-of-scrimmage proper; be that in run-support or in pass-defense. Or in other words Ty.Wilson plays some damn good ball in space. Now understand that that also means that Ty.Wilson is learning the De in position on the fly and that his 2012-2013 game is set to take off indeed. Ty recently tied for the position lead as front-squat goes with nothing short of a downright sturdy 44o lb. lift. That means that this kid can take on most Ot’s or Te’s at the point of attack despite being outflanked by them by between 40-80 lbs. on average. Why you ask? Because Ty.Wilson plays with tremendous “leverage” upstairs and he is quick enough, fast enough and absolutely tough enough to make up for all the rest. The only caveat I can find here is that Ty has a history of hamstring problems and a series of dings and dents. If the other or remaining Mr. Wilson can just get beyond all of that he will be one of the smartest back-up De’s in the entire A.c.c. this season or next and he is quite possibly the most multipurpose De in relief on the entire Atlantic Coast. You could go ahead and say that you have my word on that because you do.

6`5“ #95 Zach McCray is a tallish specimen at End-De who may have very well been the most ballyhooed incoming De of the whole entire lot a couple of years ago. Although Zach has yet to fulfill all of that hyped up potential; he does enjoy the potential to final turn the corner and develop into something of a mini-me Ted Hendricks “stork” style strong-side End-De at Virginia Tech. Don’t forget that Zach is the first-cousin of none other that one LT3 or Logan Thomas. That tells you right there that Coach God has engineered this kids double helices (or D.N.A.) in Prometheus style order. Being named the 13^th best football player overall coming outta high school in the country by the Sporting News speaks to this, and a virtual consensus top-7 player in-state only serves to further confirm the same. Zach is athletic enough to have warranted some consideration in terms of being repositioned to the offensive side of the ball at Te– as he was a 2-way star in high school in Brookville. Zach has a reputation as that of being a play-maker as one who can flat-out disrupt an opposing backfield; albeit it as one also in need of more consistency overall on a play-to-play basis. That’s what we call feast or famine as there will be no brunch served here. Zach has posted a 38o lb. front-squat and he played a little Dt this spring where it was said he improved smartly without a doubt. The interesting part here is that it is said that Zach needs to get more physical at the point of attack. Such is an odd thing to say regarding a kid with the ability to side down inside where the game is more physical in and of itself. All the same, the key thing to remember here is that Zach has actually and factually improved sine he got to campus. And that brings your beloved Hokies dangerously close to going a legitimate 6-deep as D-1 starting caliber De’s go on the balance.

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Coach Wiles embarrassment of riches continues at Dt where he is full invested in going 5-deep and all five are fully capable of starting or platooning on a rotating basis.

Where to even begin this section indeed? How about on a comparative basis? As De and Dt alike both run 5 deep right now and both are a single developmental or breakout player away from being able to deploy three full front-lines of four unique guys apiece.

Only difference is that there is just a bit more dispersion from first to fifth in De terms when compared to first to fifth at Dt. Or to put it another way, there is less drop off at Dt as Dt will field more homogenous guys will overlapping as opposed to interchangeable skill sets.

“Hop, skip, and jump.” Set to start upfront, would be D.Hop or Derrick Hopkins or “skip” in the Hopkins family ordering scheme. Along side him may or may not be older-brother one Antoine Hopkins who is the “hop” in the nepotistic driven nomenclature –and yes there is a younger brother named “jump” on the way. If A.Hop does not reclaim his starting roll this August football camp; it will be because Luther Maddy held onto it after having started at Dt this spring. Behind them we have very highly touted Kris Haley, long-armed Corey Marshall

Recall two years ago this time when someone told all of you that so-n-so was eleventh best on defense? Hokie feathers were ruffled; right up until number eleven got benched and effectively became number twelve. I don’t come in here and tell you that Ryan Williams would have scored vs. UNC had he not fumbled just to gain credibility, nor to make you feel better. So you can make bank on the fact that when a man like me tells you that we have 5, that’s f-i-v-e all-conference caliber kids upfront at Dt we really truly do. In fact, we might just have six as I’m hearing good things on the legacy Barron (Woody by way of Jim) kid already, even if he does need a year of prep. And likewise on the Ekanem kid who might be first best in his recruiting class. Those said, and in the interest of limiting this to a three part series; let us consolidate this Defensive-Tackle section with some bullet points on each kid for a change.

• #98 true-Jr. D.Hop: said to be the better brother despite being the younger brother. 5 TFL, 3.5 sacks, 1 FF (forced fumble) 1 FR (fumble recovery) 12 Qb hurries, 1 pass broken up (deflected) and 1 pass defended (in zone blitz drop) on 51 total tackles. Shew, all that from a kid who admittedly got physically beat-up and therefore wore down a bit last year to close the show in November due to overuse as the season wore on. D.Hop does posses an eighth best team-wide push-jerk of 341 lbs. So one is want to believe that his voltage or power has been tuned up a bit for the 2012 regular season in order to avoid shorting-out in late November; however, per always, there is more. D.Hop also hung up sixth best power-clean of 336 lbs. and a third best front-squat of just a hair under 500 lbs. (or 490 if you are keeping score at home). Yah; I’d say this kid has strengthened himself a bit this off-season; wouldn’t you? That and the fact that D.Hop basically never makes a mistake –even when he does not make a play he is rarely outta position upfront. That’s what we call a solid Dt who is poised for a rock-solid final two years at Virginia Tech.
• #56 r-Sr. A.Hop: If Derek has gotten stronger Antoine remains strong like bull. A ninth best 380 lb. bench press says so. Likewise his 500+ lb. back-squat and his 330 lb. push-jerk; well at least they did before the knee injury. More on that below … as does his 318 lb. human bowling-ball on two legs worth of a Dt run-plugging prototypical frame. That might even be just a tad heavy as no doubt A.Hop’s pulmonary conditioning waned a bit this past spring that he spent quietly dressed out in blue (i.e. no contact). That’s the not so good news; the good news however is that A.Hop and his torn A.C.L. were cleared to go full from the word: “go” to begin August Camp a few days. Do watch to see where A.Hop weighs-in in a few days as that will only provide further clues to the stability and self-confidence that A.Hop possess in his surgically rebuilt right-knee. Also watch and grade what level of bracing (or lack thereof) that you see wrapped around his right-knee this August at the two pubic scrimmages. No brace or just a pure open or closed sleeve would be most encouraging; a fully hinged knee-brace and not so much. Thus said, I am told that A.Hop was playing at a very high level last year prior to his knee injury –even a higher level than had been previously forecast mind you. That too is the good news as A.Hop is more of the prototypical run-fighter than his younger bro’. A.Hop is a very reliable 1-gap defender who won’t be pushed off the 2012 line-of-scrimmage, often, if at all. As this is surely the most downhill defender of any of the Virginia Tech Dt’s upfront this campaign. And oh by the way, this is a rather likeable happy-go-lucky Hokie who just so happens to already have his V.P.I. & S.U. diploma firmly in hand. So here’s hoping that his knee holds up and that the senior Hopkins is allowed to end his Vah.Tech career on a fully deserved masterful high-note indeed.
• #97 r-freshmen, Kris Harley: Kris was the one to watch this time last year as nearly everyone (self-included) thought that this very highly touted Indy (Indiana) native was the one to play right away upfront for Coach Wiles. Well, actually he was, right up until he was not –as conditioning, preparation (i.e. lack thereof) and high school strength training (i.e. again, lack thereof) limited Kris once he matched up with the D-1 B.C.S. big-boys on campus and found out the hard way that he needed to put in some hard-work. That’s not hateration on my part; so no need to reach for the hollerade on your part; as Kris actually did what a real man does when really faced with real adversity. He bucked-down, anted up, and kicked in. And by the end of the season he had nearly kicked the door in on Coach Wiles playing-rotation at Dt. That’s quite a rally for a kid who was underwhelming at best and disappointing to most this time last season. However, it is also a testament  that the Kris Haley honks were perfectly right in their praise of #97, even if they were off by one red-shirt season in the final analysis. So far as a raw football player goes, Kris is a 380 lb. bench-press kinda guy, he is a 410 lb. front-squat kinda guy. If it were me –I’d go ahead and add a few plates to each of those totals before Kris leaves in 2015; as he is only now learning how to train, consume (diet) and therefore perform at a B.C.S. D-1 level. Or in other words, nobody really knows just how high Kris ceiling truly is? We only know that he is nowhere near it at this point in time. All fingers point to that and everything from this past spring points to Kris becoming a vertical (up field) play-maker of a Dt down the road. This kid was the 12^th ranked Dt outta high school in the country for a reason folks; and the reasoning here says that Kris could very well become our best pass-rushing Dt in quite some time.
• #92 t-sophomore, Luther Maddy:Luther may be listed fourth in this particular listing; however he could very well be first-string for Georgia Tech after being named the defensive M.V.P. for this past spring. Why would that be? I’m told that no defensive-lineman made larger strides this spring than one Luther Maddy. In point of fact, Luther Maddy is *the* reason that Brent Benedict has not locked up the right-G spot just yet on the offense. Maddy is the surprise bell-cow in waiting from Florida where his High School staff told Virginia Tech point blank that they were getting a steal of a sleeper pick in one Luther Maddy by way of Delray Beach Florida last year. Luther is well known for his work ethos and hustle as this kid comes with two speeds. Stop and full, take your pick. Luther is also one of the rare Dt’s who plays bigger than he is listed at per se: only 6` 288 lbs.; as he understands getting low and therefore getting under an offensive players’ pads. In effect, this kid plays so low his nose has carpet burns from hugging the ground. Or in other words this is a southern hemisphere player who carries a lotta right mass downstairs although he is unexpectedly nimble for such a squat looking football player. The only question here is will he fully unseat pre-injury incumbent quasi Nose-Dt A.Hop’, as Bud Stout rather quietly deploys one Dt cheating over a bit inside-eye to outside-eye (offensively) or in a 1 or 2-technique as opposed to head-up as a true old-school Ng (nose-guard) used to play. Against Georgia Tech I expect A.Hop to get the nod just to help fight the signature “belly-play” to the B-back right up the gut. However, after that, you might just have a 3.5 year starter on your hands at left-Dt for Virginia Tech.

  

• #96 t-sophomore: Corey Marshall: 45o lb. front-squat, 319 lb. power-clean, 37“ vertical an all-time Defensive Tackle position record mind you! Dangnation, all of that from a guy that some say is a rightful S.E.C. De playing outta position at Dt. That does not suck, nor would it suck of Corey who is one of our most athletic Dt’s in many a year could slide over to De from-time-to-time. Now, all that to say, not only is Corey a vertical or up-field play-maker who can and will play in the opposing backfield this season. He is also one other understated thing, Corey Marshall has the best defensive-line hands I’ve seen since the days of Tommy Beasely back in the mid-70’s no less. Why is that? That would be because Corey Marshall has Jim Marshall ‘esque long-ass arms with enough wingspan or reach that can get to you before you can get to him. Don’t’ believe me? Check this one out, last year, 23% of Corey Marshall’s total tackles were sacks! That’s what you call a pursuit oriented Dt machine folks. In fact Corey runs better than any of our Dt’s in many a year. This kid is sideline to sideline and you will see him get more than a few tackles downfield in backside pursuit as his VT career wears on. To take all of that a step further, I’m higher on this kid than I am any of our other Dt’s right now. When you consider the other guys that line up at Dt, that says more than a little bit regarding the prowess of one #96 Corey Marshall. Be that as a play-maker on the inside or as a De buttressed on the outside, or lined-up as an internal De in our new quad-De pass rushing max look; this kid can flat out play the game as play-making is his thing.

Executive Summary:
Am I snowing ya’ll on just how epic this starting defensive front-wall could be? It is August, although I ain’t Marry Poppins and I ain’t got no spoonful of sugar either. So leave the fully white stuff to Scout and Rivals and the namby-pamby maudlin feel-gooders alike.

However, and to wit, go ahead and feel pretty damn good about this 2012 defensive rampart of a front-line. This bunch only has one rival inside the A.c.c. and that of course is Florida State who prolly fields ~6 N.F.L.’ers in their three-deep defensive front. Either way, the Virginia Tech stop-unit downlinemen are 1 or 1a best in the whole darn A.c.c. And in this particular season, that just so happens to make them Top-10 in the nation overall. Possibly even closer to the Top-5 than you think.

2 wrongs my not make a right, though 3 rights make a left and I am perfectly correct in all of this.

 

“LETS GO!“

“HOKIES!“

bourbonstreet**

More on the 2012 Hokie Defense tomorrow @5pm on ESPNRadio 102.3 fm!