Mostly good.
That’s how I’d describe things in two notes or less on Saturday down in an unusually cool New River Valley.
Saw a lot of things I liked — for instance the antique car show and the extremely vintage fire-truck parked along Spring Road. Saw just enough young wimminz in their always fetching summertime Sun dresses. Saw all kinds of construction downtown and along Prices Fork Road. Good luck on that if you are moving in next week. If I were a betting man -and I am- I’d be hitting the over on traffic, congestion and S.N.A.F.U.’s associated with the return of VT students in the next seven days.
Also saw this little thing called Public Scrimmage#1.
So let’s get down to your very first hardcore O&M pigskin news for the 2010 season!
(Editorial Note: VT did not use the scoreboard game-clock; ergo, I have no time stamp to reference a given play or overall take)
Darren Evans:
Very good. What I’d call low to mid-90’s on a percentage basis based upon where he left off in 2008; though with more right-mass
upstairs. Really liked his hybrid Larry Csonka running style or perhaps more directly stated his Csonka esque choppy steps. Shorter, choppy steps do two good things for a Rb; first up, the stride itself is shorter (less wide) with more footfalls. This only aids and abets change of direction as the next stride is always closer to making contract with the turf compared to a normal width stride. Secondly, it also helps a Rb maintain his balance. We saw this in the 17 yard Evans run along the West-side sideline when D.Evans broke three tackles and had at least 12 or so yards after contact (Y.A.C.). Also note that Coach Hite and company were not shy at all about giving D.Evans a lot of touches. Evans did take some contact as he had three carries that went for three yards or less. In Sports Psych terms, this is a good thing folks; in that it taking said punishment will only increase self-trust in that surgically rebuilt left-knee, because D.Evans did take a fair amount of contact and he did live to tell the tale. So many reps and so much contact will also serve as a training-room litmus test to see how that repaired knee responds today (Sunday) in terms of pain, swelling, stiffness or any other lingering symptomoloty. Better to find out early on in August, and then conserve D.Evans a bit in order to ensure fresh-legs for Bo.State. Darren did appear to tire just a bit as the scrimmage wore on, as his physicality dropped a notch or a notch-point-five on the final series. Some of this no doubt is rust, be that mental or physical or very likely a rustic combo of both. Some of that is just not being in pure game-shape; which is not the same as raw cardio-conditioning. Believe me, any contact sport works like that. You must get contacted in order to maintain that highest possibly level of mental toughness which of course is always next of kin to physical toughness. Overall I’d give D.Evans a very high A- on the day; and yes, a decent amount of my pre-season D.Evans concerns have been belayed.
V.Painter: (i.e. the Paint-shop)
V.Painter surely looks more and more the part of a SyFy Channel monster in cleats. Much trimmer, leaner and meaner looking guy this August – if V.Painter can only learn to stay low, he will hurt more than just opposing feelings this fall.
N.Becton:
Green jersey, right foot in a soft-cast, did not participate. Looked like Nick had found a few lbs. as well to me; at least a handful too many.
Catch of the Day: T’mobile’s: sensational (right) one hand grab on a flare pattern in the south endzone during warm-ups. Yes, it was indeed Tyrod with the snag of the day. Note TT’s new throwing sleeve as well, borrowing a page straight outta fellow Tidewater alum’ Allen Iverson’s book.
David Wilson:
Got several reps on the starting Kick Off return-team – which could be a hint in and of itself. If D.Wilson r-shirts, that will put D.Morgan back there. If there is a better third string Rb in all of D-1, I’d surely like to know who the hell that would be? D.Wilson’s acceleration rivals that of the Hadron Particle Collider. Dood may be listed at a 4.29 in the 40-yard dash in cleats; I’d say he is closer to a 4.2 flat under ideal track-n-field conditions. Wilson had the shank-n-bake move of the day when his spin-move along the sideline drew a chorus of “ahhhhh’s” from the Lane Stadium faithful. I realize some of you have a difficult time believing this, nevertheless, I know one source that suggested that David has a better Heisman chance at VT than R.Williams does. Believe it or not; dude is that freaking good.
B.DeChristopher:
Big, bigger, biggest. i.e. too big! Dood is a wide-body deluxe out there, no, make that a doublewide body deluxe. This however may indeed help Blake in pure drive-blocking or one-on-one run-blocking terms. It will not however make Blake a better pass-blocker and DeChris has struggled with speed-rushers and their associated outside moves in the past. File that one away for Bo.State, UNC and Miami who all boost no less than 2 all-conference candidate De’s apiece.
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B.Taylor:
Very vocal team leader in the defensive huddle and during the play itself. Smack talk is normally reserved for post-play verbal confrontations (which I can not stand). However, B.Taylor is telling you what he is going to do to you during the play itself! I’m not one for woofing, or S-talking, or any of that verbal diarrhea. I am impressed however by the vociferous nature of someone who talks the talk and then walks the walk. B.Taylor is a noticeable physical upgrade over ‘Quell Rivers in the middle of the field. Dude does not mess around, and dude will let you know that he is there.
Liked the speed I saw outta McCray: at De. More than I expected outta a guy who nearly goes 250 (lbs.)
Z.Lucket:
If not for bad luck, poor Zac would have no luck at all, as a self-described 75% healthy player re-injured his completely detonated left-knee midway through the scrimmage. Zac did return, and he did play very smartly near the Line of Scrimmage at the Whip Spot. I have zero doubt that a 100% good-to-go Lucket is our starting Whip this season; though the still unhealthy Lucket did appear mechanical and stiff when covering on the Kickoff team or having to run full speed across the field on defense. That said, Lucket however may just be the best pure tackler that we have.
Multiple Sets:
Note the newfangled single-back set this year with a Fullback lined up behind our Qb. Yes, I did say a Fullback. Look for a resurrection of the so-called iso-Wham-play up inside this season accordingly.
Loved the D.Wilson Fly-Pattern work from our Pony set; as there are just not many people in all of college football who can run with D.Wilson stride for stride on a Go, Streak or Fly pattern for 40 yards plus.
Kicking:
Breakout your stop-watch and time the amount of time a given C.Hazely FG or PAT spends in the air. Now time a couple of other D-1 games to establish the scientific method’s so-called “control”. See what I mean? Note that Hazey’s kicks have a higher arc and therefore spend more time airborne. That may be good if you enjoy yelling “Currahee” or just can not watch enough Band of Brothers as any red-blooded American rightfully should. That may not be efficacious on a windy day or even worse in a stadium where endzone wind patterns tend to swirl. File that one away for future thinking; though do give Hazely credit where credit is due; as he is the most improved FGK I’ve seen at VT ever.
oLine:
Looked good, other than pass-blocking. My best take is we improve to 70th to 75th in such this season … we were 87th in in Sacks Allowed in 2009 – which is still below average. We struggled with Loops, Twists, and Stunts, yet again; which lead to three Qb sacks on the day. The Zone run-blocking was however better. Best job of I’ve seen of so-called Fold-Blocking to the second layer (i.e. Linebackers) in a long long time. Also, expect more Pulling and Trap-Blocking with a mild shift to Outside-Zone or Zone-Stretch running thanks to a mostly Jenny Craig’ed, lighter, and consequently more nimble oLine.
Pony Set:
We (surprisingly) saw every combo that there was from our split-Twins backfield look. Max power with Younger and Evans, max talent with R.Williams and D.Evans, a blended look with Josh and Evans or R.Williams, and even D.Wilson with R.Williams for a truly dynamic backfield and than some. Also saw lottsa pre-snap shifting and motion from our Pony set, especially as it related to the shifting of whoever was in at H-back (Dunn or Josh). We even got a look at a version of a weak-side (no Te) classical old-school Belly-Play to D.Evans (dash line in diagram); though I do not like that all that much with the smallish and less than strong Lanier manning the blindside-Ot spot. (might work fine with Becton)
B.Warren: did not have a very good day snapping the football; I consider this to be an anomaly more so than an outright concern. B.War however has improved his technique and become more of a legitimate D-1 major conference starting Center.
J.Oglesby:
Much improved blocker from 2008-2009 folks. Josh may not look the part of a prototypical Fullback; though he is starting to block like one.
Exum:
Very talented and very physical player; the only baller north of a slight 196 lbs. in our secondary two deep. Exum needs to find a spot on the field, if L.T. is too good to just stand around on the offensive sideline; than so is Exum. Exum got knocked outta the scrimmage when he got his bell rung by D.Evans on a stop at the 10 yard line when the Back Judge inadvertently got in his way and D.Evans caught Exum off-balance as Exum was trying to avoid colliding with the Back Judge. A dangerous play as such; as Exum was defenseless as he slid to the ground when D.Evans freight-trained him. Exum did however prevent a touchdown while giving up his body; though he and his Mohawk did suck it up and return later on.
Qb’s:
If I had to come up with one word to describe Ju-Ju and L.Thomas (L.T.) respectively I’d go for “flat” for Ju-Ju and “matrix” for L.T. Ju-Ju has really not improved much at all as a Qb in my book at VT. He remains a flat-C as letter-grades go across the board. It’s not that Ju-Ju is awful, it’s just that he is not good. L.T. however has a Neo look and feel to his game. You almost expect L.T. and his dazzling metrics to stop bullets or at least say “Woah” after an effortless 45 yard wrist-snapping fling of a throw. L.T. still sails the ball which will lead to some picks as missing a target high keeps the football potentially in play where it can be intercepted further downfield on a given overthrow. This is due to having such an awesome wingspan (low 80’s in inches) and therefore the associated tall release-point. That said, L.T. did (finally) settle down and notch what my sidekick Chris Coleman described as his best scrimmage ever. L.T. is still at least undercooked –if not raw- in some quarterbacking ways and means. The physical skills are there, and I am told that the mind is willing (i.e. good football I.Q.) Given time, L.T. should be at least a decent D-1 Qb, and I do (now) consider decent to be his worst-case scenario. The only question is, how good would L.T. be if he became the full-time starting Qb shy of the year 2011?
Arcee:
Needs to stay low, though he did have two crushing stops along the line-of-scrimmage vs. the 3’s (third-string) offense. Given time, reps and the realization that as Magic Johnson once said: “You can’t have fun without the fundamentals” — Nick should eventually become one bad-ass dLinemen for Coach Wiles.
One of the kids who really impressed me from off the radar way #57 Telivon Clark; Mr. Clark is not afraid to bring the pain despite being a bit undersized for a Inside-Linebacker at 217 lbs. His 565 lb. front-squat and 38“ vertical along with nearly a 400 lb. bench are anything except undersized. That and the fact that this kid is a naturally explosive hitter, a Philo Beddoe in cleats — gotta love that!
A.Fuller: recorded the only steal of the scrimmage when he knocked D.Perez-Means: right on his wallet late in the afternoon.
Speaking of Duan, Mr. Means clearly embraces his surname as he unconditionally plays with a rather broad mean streak out there. Twice Means cracked the back-up VT Qb’s good and hard as they released the football, one may have even been a Roughing the Passer call if VT were the visitor in a real live game. Means is fast, and he has a very high revving motor in pure want-to R.P.M. terms. Tough to not like this kid; well, unless you are a back-up VT Qb.
VT is taking Sunday (the 15th off); their first day off in a whopping 10 consecutive days of practicing. Can you say tired legs?
Attendance: 4,000
“LET’S GO!”
“HOKIES!”
b’street