You could tell things were getting warmer colloquially speaking as the north endzone scoreboard was lit up and the
temperature was on the rise right along with the scrimmage #2 intensity down in the New River Valley on Saturday afternoon as numerous back-up jobs and 2011 playing time were very much on the line in this one. And yet one theme stands out thus far…
As someone said on the pay message board last that very nite:
“If you ask me to sum it all up in two words and 3 mathematical symbols or less: in short:”
offense>>>defense
Yah pretty much.
However, what is that really code for?
Ahead by how much and how much has each unit improved (or not) respectively?
And how odd is that with only ~10 days of preparation for another season opener for our beloved Hokies? Raise your hand if you can name the last time that happened not named Mike Vick?
That said, the team may have a well-earned day off (Sunday); however the Eye in the Sky never sleeps. So let’s take a look at a few players and a few brand spanking new sets that really stood out on this move-in weekend down in the 24060.
In short: the correct answer to why the Virginia Tech offense is ahead of the Virginia Tech defense is found in someone who is 5`10“in height; and yet someone who has a talent level that is nothing shy of Kareem Abdul Jabbar tall. This is also the very same someone who turned in nothing short of a truly remarkable Catch of the Day in the pre-game warm ups when a graduate assistant coach threw a ball behind him that #4 somehow reached back and caught one-handed with his left-hand turned complete bassackwards. Not a textbook thumbs up one-hander … this was what I can only describe as a rather a non-sequitiur looking left thumb pointing towards the turf backhanded grab that would have ruled as a palming violation in the N.B.A. Four of course is my boy David Wilson, who was finally tackled on a first-contact for the first time in sixteen days of camp this summer. That of course is an off day for him and an epic day for any mere mortal reading these words. This kid ran through over 26 contacts on Saturday for bonus yardage –pound for pound, has there been a tougher guy to tackle at Virginia Tech this side of Cyrus Lawrence? Although Mr. Tariq Edwards merits consideration for bringing #4 down all by his ownself.
- DeChris
- Cole
- D.Roberts (left the field pre-scrimmage; yet did return to catch one pass)
#3, one Logan Thomas is starting to look closer and closer to being a 50% passer than he is to becoming a 60% passer and he also has the look and feel of a guy who gets picked 10+ times to me. His
accuracy is very much a work in process. Remember someone saying last week that a smart Fs would float around out in Centerfield and eventually run down an errant deep ball and pick L.T. off? Well Whitely did just that on Saturday as he read L.T. like a book. Ditto #8 Derrick Bonner who was fully literate on L.T.’s initial throw on a 5-yard sideline out pattern that he (eight) just missed. Saturday also saw L.T.’s first ever grounder on a well protected sit-down route to a wide open Drager over the middle that L.T. simply javelin’ed right into the dirt. Three is 2013 away from being truly great. Right now? I’ll go good for a C+, give or take with an A+ potential based ceiling for 2013. That said he did execute the first scrimmage throw-away I’ve seen in a while. That’s good; and L.T. did put 43% of his throws right on the money. No real in-between with this kid right now. Either he makes you gasp with a textbook or SportsCenter ‘esque breathtaking throw. Or things simply get mucked up and as he misses the mark and typically badly misses the mark at that. He still needs reps or reiteration. Be patient and he will be all-A.c.c. in 2013. Be impatient and trip out 1-3 games this year for it. Right now what this kid needs is a good start. L.T. got off to a bad one on Saturday and reverted back to his 2010 form of scrimmaging up and down like a yo-yo. If it were me, I’d get L.T. 2-3 easy throws to begin any game this year which would give his confidence some time to warm-up. Let him feel this flow and find his groove before you ask anything beyond a r-sophomore throw outta him. I do not wanna see this kid chasing on the scoreboard (trailing in the contest) or tightening up early on after getting off to a suspect or downright inaccurate start. Stop crowing #3 with Messiah like expectations and give the kid some room to breath and he will resuscitate some very dynamic life into this 2011 offense; once he settles into the position and begins to actually catch is breath at real live game-speed with a quartet of stud Wr’s. Presuming all goes according to script, L.T. looks poised for this to happen anywhere between the fourth and eight game of the 2011 seasonal campaign.
Van Dyke still looks like a pin-ball to me in run-support. Which makes it odd to me that we are trying him at Rover first as opposed to Fs; which still needs love as well and is a less physical position in-and-of itself.
Got a good looksee at #72 Lanier; and I really liked what I saw. The one thing that has held seventy-two back is the fact that he has been more parts Te and less parts fully-converted Ot as physical play in general and run-blocking in particular goes in the past. That said, Lanier is much stronger at the point of attack this season; just ask #42 Collins whom Lanier mugged single-handedly when Lanier slung Collins into the Worsham Field turf early on in the scrimmage. Presuming that seventy-two can keep this weight on as the season rolls along, he is a much better looking Ot and possibly a fringe Arena prospect.
Really like the el toro bull-rush move by #99 James Gayle who simply stampeded #64 getting’ after L.T. Gayle did Arkema no favors as potential 2011 playing time goes on this day.
Josh is having –what I can only describe as- a rather ineffective August that culminated with an ugly looking aerial fumble that never touched the truf and therefore was not blown dead along the way to a 94 yard fumble return for six points by Mr. K.Fuller. Josh averaged 4.8 feet per carry on Saturday; that’s feet folks, not yards. As two’s next good carry this August will be his first.
Speaking of Kyle Fuller, has anybody at the Human Genome Project contacted his family yet? Vincent is only a 7th year N.F.L. player, Kyle was one of only two true-Freshman good enough to play last year, older brother Corey is a back-up Wideout with a very impressive Track-n-Field resume; and youngest brother A.K.A. Kendell Fuller could possibly be the #1 Cb prospect in American next year. Geez! Talk about a double helix riddle with stud D.N.A –nuff said.
Leal’s running style has caught my eye a bit this summer; as there is something about him that resembles that of a Bryan Randall, albeit it with a few less shakes and equal if not superior straight ahead speed. Game-speed that is, not testing day red-lining on a 4o-yard dash. Leal is not a Houdini down field, nor is he a bona-fide escape artist in the pocket. However, he does run better than is reputation suggests and he does run fearless and rather hard on top of that.
I’ve seen lottsa single-back sets this summer, and by lottsa I empirically mean more than last year in implicit terms. Such only helps Wilson and his new found patience for reading blocks in terms of affording him a better line-of-sight as he nearly instantaneously hits a given hole. Additionally, the vernacular for using our Fullback this season is: “Pro”. That said, how odd was it to see the VT Fullback working the middle of the field, and all the traditional underneath routes as the revamped O’Cain passing attack goes? Show-n-tell is my tag-line for that. As either we are wearing a poker-faced tell and we will actually be using the Fullback more in the passing game; or we are showing all the visiting eyes in the stands a little something-something to bogusly go home and tell their respective camps.
I liked what I saw outta #33 C.Drager as seal or hook blocking goes outside the C-gap or beyond. Such is a most difficult block to execute indeed as the very first step must fully stride outside of the outside edge of the opposing De’s or OLb’s outside heal to even have a shot at being successful. You’ve really got to bust a hump as a Te to get there unless the De/OLb slants down the LOS (line-of-scrimmage) and does your dirty work for you. Such is also rather important in terms of getting a good seal on the edge for any outside rushing by David Wilson this year and we all know that nearly nobody outside of Usain Bolt is gonna beat #4 in a footrace to the edge.
Did any of you notice the massive left-shoulder brace that legacy #76 David Wang was sporting on the day? That’s a new looking brace as well as our training staff spares no expense in terms of attempting to protect or rehabilitate your beloved Hokies. When comes to football, their approach is safety first, safety second and safety third.
As new 2011 wrinkles go: … see the above kickoff return diagram from my 1980’s Commodore-64 era football play editor? Good looking kickoff return –ain’t it? Except for the caveat that that is actually one of our new punt return looks with no less than 3-return men deep to field the opposing punt.
Lottsa options with a 3-deep triangular return alignment folks. You have a traditional “Riddell” call for a right-handed return and a “Lucy” call for a return to the left. You also bring just about any and all trickeration into to play that you are creative enough to dream up; and last time I checked our Special Team’s coach was pretty dang creative as Pride and Joy goes. Above you will see a play for #20 Hosely to return the ball to his left on a “Lucy” call and then reverse the ball to #? Kyshoen Jarrett (#23, who may or may not r-shirt, meaning: this returner could change) moving left to right which sets up a potentially devastating crack-back angle for #1 Exum who ain’t exactly contact shy. You additionally have the potential for a so-called Qb-pass back across the field to Exum from Hosely, you have the potential for any number of fake reverses and so-forth and so-forth and so-forth. Further, do bear in mind that Exum was nothing short of electric as a kickoff return guy in high-school and that Jarrett doubled as a Rb back in his own right just last yea . This of course makes for ease of substitution as Hosely and Exum are already out there as starters on defense –and this is prolly a hint regarding Jarrett’s immediate future as well. So in effect, you have three dangerous return guys out there and you also gain the ability to field a shorter punt with two guys closer to the line-of-scrimmage instead of Hosely just letting the ball roll. What you do not have is our normal 10-men along the line-of-scrimmage to defend a possible fake, and you also have two less Hokie punt return team guys to jam opposing Gunners at the line-of-scrimmage itself.
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You tell me, how many Option calls have you seen from O’Cain this August? I’ve seen between zero and two. No more, no less; as we saw Leal get the call on a Option run towards the press-box sideline later on in the afternoon on Saturday. That says to me, that in the classical risk reward argument, it is the risk or fear-factor of getting L.T. hurt that has us opting out.
Any of you catch the ring-tone from the VT sideline telephone on the north endzone end of the bench right on the
45-yardline? Have you ever heard a bat-phone that jacked up volume wise? I could just see poor Alan Napier as Alfred the butler firmly pressing both hands over his ears while spinning in circles in the bowels of the bat-cave and then having to sneak a sip or two of some bat-cognac for that one when nobody was looking. Man that thing was loud. Speaking of communications, did you notice the liberal use of Timeouts in getting the play call down from the press box from Coach O’Cain and out onto the field? Yah; there are a few kinks in our T-mobile, ‘droid or whatever plan we currently subscribing to play-calling system … which has me on the lookout for a few Delay of Game calls early on in the 2011 season.
How good is my boy David Wilson? With all apologies to the all-American otherwise known as Jayron Hosely, who is having a fine August mind you, I was incorrect. As I had previously stated that David Wilson was worth 2 full games all by himself; when in point of fact Wilson is now worth 3 full games, maybe even 3 and change.
offense>>>defense:
This 2011 VT offense has the chance to be very dynamic, proving David Wilson and Logan Thomas both remain good-to-go solo. David in particular has the ability to score from anywhere at anytime on the field. Last year #4 
had seven carries of 25 yards or more and 5 rushing TD’s to go with 5 receptions that went for 25 or better and 4 TD’s. That as less than a half-time contributor mind you. Ergo, I expect that four should have eclipsed those 2010 benchmarks well before we reach the halfway point this season. In fact, He might even topple those marks before the month of September has expired. Yes, it’s true, L.T. is gonna make a few mistakes while he cuts his 2011 teeth. Too much green or unseasoned wood on his fire not to; that said, it is also true that L.T. is gonna make some plays and some of them will be of the sizzling or jaw dropping highlight reel variety. L.T. is gonna nail some home-run throws, L.T. is gonna knock the taste right outta an opposing Cb’s mouth. My word for all of this is: ”explosive” and it should be your word too. This 2011 VT offense may misfire and go 3-n-out a few times here and there; however, it is also gonna rife some Iowa Class 16“ radar-controlled shells and I doubt that many defenses we face have the belt-armor to absorb that kinda firepower for 6o minutes.
The 2011 VT stop-unit is not quite so “explosive”; at least not beyond a few positions that do enjoy some genuine star-power. Namely: Mike, ‘backer, Hosely (wherever he lines up), and our De’s, at least when it comes to pass rush
or hard charging up-field in run-support. The rest of Bud Lite is not quite so dynamic when compared to the 2011 VT offense head-to-head or at least not from top to bottom in one through eleven terms as the respective offensive and defensive starters go from first to worst. The key here however is not the overall lack of 2011 defensive dynamite, of which there is some laying around here and there. Rather the key here is the retarding or outright elimination of 2010 big-play mistakes that artificially skewed the 2010 stop-unit downward in no small way. Why? Because our 2011 Turnover Margin will suffer a few 6`6“ Logan Thomas inspired growing pains.
In negotiations or collective bargaining, sometimes no-deal is the best deal and last year the 2010 defense dealt poorly with: entry-level tacking, use of sideline or hash-mark leverage and pure Euclidean or geometric pursuit angles anywhere on the field. Such misQ’s made average opposing players look good, and such made good opposing ballers look great. Just ask Josh Harris of Wake Forest who torched us for a record breaking 241 allowed on the ground and then went on to average 34 yards per game vs. everyone else. Ditto the less than fleet of foot J.M.U. Qb who singularly upset our 35 point favorite wagon thanks primarily to us. Be clear on this point, the 2010 VT mistakes on special-teams and from Bud Lite had a whole helluva a lot more to with Virginia Tech beating Virginia Tech than it did with the Broncos and Dukes beating Virginia Tech in and of itself.
If Bud Lite can just cut those self-inflicted elongated bad-plays out; and if the 2011 special-teams are indeed special; that will have every bit as much to do with our 2011 success quotient as will the “explosive” big-play capability of the 2011 VT offense all by itself. By my count that’s two parts substance and one part style and if proven true; that should count for more than enough to win 10+ times this season.
(Editorial Note: be back with part II of scrimmage#2 in a few days)
“LET’S GO!”
“HOKIES!”
b’street
good stuff bstreet!
Thank you fortpayne!
b’street