“Sloppy” or “ouch”.
Those were my two words to describe scrimmage#2 on the Pay message-board Saturday night.
4 dropped passes; three of which hit the intended Receiver right between the hands — note not just right between the proverbial numbers.
4 fumbles. (no less than two by D.Evans who never got started on what can only be called a bad day)
3 blocked punts.
3 consubstantial hurts.
2 minor dings and dents.
2 INT’s.
1 Dt who got tweaked no less than three times.
1 muffed pass on a FGA.
Not a pretty day; might have even been a bit of a regression from Scrimmage#1 what was surprisingly serrated. Or just what the O&M Doctor ordered; as Frank can surely crack the whip a bit in practice this week after he does film-study on Scrimmage#2. So lets take a look at what RATT stood out — be that Pro or Con…
(Editors Note: there is no game-clock in Lane Stadium for a Scrimmage; ergo, the official time-stamp is unavailable)
Most impressive to see Cody Journal crush a 57 yarder off the mechanical tripod holder during warm-ups. Cody can kick it from here to Kentucky; though it occasionally might land in Tennessee. Also of note is our Kicker(s) preference for kicking into the North Endzone. File that one away for future 4th Quarter reference.
Nice simulated touch by adding the Marching Virginia’s to scrimmage#2; they are all too happy to make some noise or some music in an attempt to create a real live gameday atmosphere.
Not only did my home slice David Wilson run over (12 YAC – yards after contact); around (beating Roc’ and his team-wide best 10 yard speed to the edge for 6 points); he also helped conduct the band and coached Gregory (who is lightening jitterbug quick) and #24 Berio up severing as Coach Hite’s shadow. In fact one can make an argument that D.Wilson is having a better August than D.Evans and that he also might be out-rushing R.Will. Just ask the opening kickoff return that D.Wilson would have likely taken back for 6 points in a real game had the return not been whistled dead. (pic below)
Really starting to like Battle as a purified run-plugger; my sources are testifying to this as are my eyes. Battle may not get a lotta Sacks or Qb Hurries or Qb pressures – though he won’t be moved very far off the line-of-scrimmage either.
Winslow finally made a move; from simple non-mistake maker; to at least a modest play-maker. Looks like the game is slowing down a bit for Winslow and or he is feeling a little heat from a 75% Lucket who would very likely be the starting Whip if his blown to bits knee was good-to-go. Hopper forced a fumble from his Whip spot as well; not bad to still not have Tweedy out there on the playing-field as Tweedy might still yet prove to be our best play-maker at Whip.
After Saunders (Punter) got the football sammwiched between his foot and Hill’s forearm, D.Coale took over as PAT and FGA holder. D.Coale muffed one pass from the Snapper which broke Hazely’s heretofore perfect kicking streak. Hazeley is the most improved Kicker I have ever seen at Virginia Tech. You can now see why JoePa and Penn State were so hot and heavy for this kid. Though you also now have verification regarding my slow-release foible by Saunders when Punting. Watch him get one or two blocked this season. (he did injure his kicking foot as well)
#75 Nosal is a quality Fold-Blocker – meaning he gets to the second level (Linebackers) rather well off our various Zone sets. Gets there with some mean in his pocket as well; gotta love that.
Hit of the Day was the brutal forearm shiver upstairs straight outta the Ray Nitschke Green Bay Pakcer play-book from the 1960’s. Acree rung Ju-Ju’s bell as if he wanted to put another crack in the Liberty Bell itself. I am impressed that Ju-Ju managed to scrape himself up off of Worsham Field after this savage hit upstairs. Acree is raw, needs to live inside the Chute trainer to learn to stay low. However, he is also a fraeaking beast at the point-of-attack. It takes a man’s man to take Acree on; dood is stronger than Paul Bunyan multiplied by his Ox (Babe).
DeChris just looks plain ole heavy; all the more so when operating out in space on Outside-Zone or Zone-stretch running plays or when pass-blocking. DeChris was beaten several times on both running and passing plays. Stay tuned is the best I can do here folks.
Watch our new 5-point-stance along the Goaline by the VT Dt’s. We virtually had Graves and Battle alighted with their facemask touching the grass. Tough to move them and it is virtually impossible for them to mount a pass-rush off of a play-fake or pursue in a bootleg situation.
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Gibson (#63 Lawrence) sure plays to the echo of the whistle, if not beyond. Just ask Hooper who got stolen by Gibbo downfield along the west-sideline late in the afternoon. Gibbo is a good deal ahead of legacy Shuman at Ot. In fact I’d have to take a cold hard look at moving Shuman inside; presuming Via moves to Ot when he gets to go Blue or all the way back; hopefully next week
#37 Jacob Sykes sure has made a major move thus far this August camp – and he sure has had C2 and I buzzing about suddenly coming to life for the last two weeks. Sykes basically did nothing during his first three seasons at Virginia Tech. Now, suddenly, he is providing a measure of a physical presence at Cb out there and unexpectedly is excelling at man-to-man coverage. “Adhesive” would be my word for Jacob right now as he has been super-glued to our Wideouts since we broke August Camp.
Will and I were conversing regarding the number of Fullback passes we have called so far this August. These (to me) are what old-school coach’s call “cemetery plays” as you show them during public scrimmages for deception purposes just in case any visiting eyes are watching in the stands; and then you bury them in the back of your play book. Tough for me to think that Younger and Phillips and Call are gonna catch many passes this season; if they do; we are in big trouble. Though at least Call sure looks the part of a throwback Fullback – a rugged low-center of gravity bowling ball of a Fb.
Highlight of the scrimmage –subtle though it may have been- to me was watching TT use the proverbial eyes in the back of his head to perform a see-saw move on Gayle who was in hot pursuit as T-mobile rolled-out to his right. TT jab-stepped forward; Collins took the bait and overshot TT in pursuit as TT quickly back-peddled for two strides and gunned a strike to Boykin who broke his route off to comeback to the ball. This is indeed a matriculated play that typically only a senior or 5th year Qb can make; and it was very very impressive; even if it does not show up in the stat-sheet.
Note the top play diagram with the revamped newfangled Jumbo 2-Te look for 2010. Do you see what I see? What I see is Martin taking over as the second Te. I also saw us run (as the diagram shows) away from Martin or towards Smitty’s side every single time we went to our 2-Te look. What I did not see was a true Fullback and the prototypical single Wideout. This season I am seeing 2 Wr’s which gives our twin-Te set a bit of a sneaky chance to pass as historic film-study of the previous VT Jumbo looks would strongly suggest that you should key the run. Watch for play-action to R.Will and a couple of throws downfield off of this set this year.
Ha-ha-ha!
I gotta give Coach Hite credit; he finally pulled one over on me. No sooner was I asking Will where our Broken-T formation 1960’s UNC goaline signature play was –the one where you follow our Up-Back going in motion to find out where we have run all but three times since 1998- and guess what happened? We motioned D.Evans to the right-hand side and then ran back behind the motion to the left-hand side. What the hell is up with that and what will they think of next? I don’t know about you; though I am still cautious regarding this new thing called television. Not sure if this invention will stick or not? Gonna wait a while and see what happens to all my 8-track tapes as well. Kudos and felicitations to Coach Hite; mea copula, I did not see that one coming.
“LET’S GO!”
“HOKIES!”
b’street
I think you meant *Hopper*.
I wonder why DeChris is so out of shape? We need him to step up big time this year (especially with Becton hobbled), I hope he gets to 100% playing shape quick!
oh, and not to be over corrective B-St because you do a great job of course, but it was JR Collins (#42) that TT side-stepped before hitting Boykin.
What did you think of LT? He had some great looking runs and a very nice TD fade to Marcus Davis. That could be a killer combo down the road for us (2011-2012).
TT also had another nice scramble play where Coale came back for the ball and out-dueled Whitley.
The INT by Bruuuuce Taylor was a thing of beauty. I absolutely can not wait to see him let loose this year. He is a certified STUD!
I feel much better about WHIP now. So how do you figure pt will go this year? Split 3 ways between Luckett, Winslow and Tweedy or just two ways. It seems like there is no clear cut winner, but we also have 3 very viable options. I wish Luckett was 100%, I’d love to see him go out a good note his last year in B-burg.
Thank you hokies_04.
Hopper it is.
Good Collins reset as well.
Scrimmages are odd without the replay buttons here at the office.
L.T. sure does run better than advertised.
Not the big boy plodder like Holt was.
That rightfully said; to me — L.T. is 2011 away from being right as a full Qb; or at least as a passer. His reads of a given defense are slow. Not necessarily incorrect; just slow. Stiney and O’Cain have said as much this Camp.
Whip=Winslow + somebody?
Be that Tweedy or Luckett.
b’street
late-
b-st.