Qb1 part IV hooked on Fu’phonics… and a Kingly Rb?

Quarterbacks part IV (and some newbie VT Rb love):

Coach Fu’ has had it up to here with this off-season (SIERRA)!

Virginia Tech football (finally) breaks pre-season camp after *the* seminal off-season from hell in just a few days time.

The Hokies are set to begin some Seminole prep’ and you could easily tell last week at media day that one Atlantic Coast Coach was surely most eager to get back to some real live tinkering, puttering, X’s and O’s, and practice-field work. After what is already the worst off-season of his still pretty youngling hepta coaching career thus far. As the spotlight shifts away from a philanderer staffer, off-field charges and GradeGate 2018, to the delicate though necessary imbalance of Hokie on Hokie on-field crime later this week. Accordingly, here is the rest of the backup Qb skinny | and then I went back into the film-room and broke tape(s) on our new Rb signee who may just ultimately surprise… as a very quality Fu’fensive fit.

Hookin‘ ain’t easy

6′4″, 222 lb., Hendon -the HenBoss- Hooker enters his (redshirt) second season at Virginia Tech as a likely Qb3 when one has to suspect he probably thought that by now he would have a very decent look at winning Qb1.

Hendon Hookier, he of the 35″ vertical and a 40 best of right at 4.65. He of the 4.44 20-yard shuttle time, the 38′ power throw and he also of the in need of some real live weight-room work. As his bench and a couple of other lifts are still at least a little scholastic looking for this power-conference D-1 level of scrumming. Although he too of the high school dunking highlight reel fame, where Hendon scored more than 1,000 points in basketball as a senior and was a named a three-time All-Metro Conference selection. He too of the prolly never be fat frame; as it is always bikini season, per his entirely naturally lean B.M.I. (body mass index). (in point of fact he looks like he could hang another 5-10 lbs. of right-mass; easily/healthy enough).

I still do not know what this is code for? (a previous injury?)

He also of the absolutely bulletproof textbook precisely 12 o’clock Roger Staubach looking release {sic: point}; and yet he also of the entirely askew off-hand (left in his case); totally oblique wrist-cock down at the bottom of his throw game wind-up motion.

As in more ways than none, this #2 is quite the passing contradiction as he sojourns into season no.2 attempting to at least unseat Joshua Jackson for Qb1— or at the very least dislodge the Kansas transfer understudy pivot for Qb2.

Hooker passed for 6,027 yards and 55 TD’s and rushed for 2,975 yards with 48 TD’s in two years and change as the Dudley High School (Nc.) starting Qb1. And oh, by the way, he only won back-to-back State Championships to close out his possibly underrated high school gridiron career. What with a meager 36 points his own self in his final title tilt. Or in other words, this kid is a winner as he wears no less than two title blings to prove it. He of the national champion Clemson and Oregon and a mess of other big-name schoolie offers prior to signing with Virginia Tech mind you.

In film study… Hooker has the look and feel of a guy with good stopwatch speed, although not quite a Usain Bolt or truly dynamic electrifying speed guy. “Game speed” as some old-school coaches were want to call it; or Emmitt Smith+ or JAX+++. Not quite a greased lightening Qb— and even if a real speed merchant Fs catches him from negative field position (our side of the 50); you probably won’t be catching him from 40-50 yards out, let’s put it that way. Lowest possible B+ scoots though not a Hokie 100m T&F crossover threat— to mix my sporting metaphor. And yet he is an RPO or dual threat Qb, make no mistake on that.

Then, however, I learnt a lot more about this Hooker, as someone heard a lotta grapevine things that went something like this… apparently; he did not come up in the most sophisticated scholastic offensive attack. More of a ½ field or a pointy or narrow isosceles old-school passing triangle throw-game look if you will. An acute Archimedes passing game of single passing game read or no more than two reads with the third read being his very own ad-lib “GO!” when jettisoning the pocket. And he was in more of a pure pocket offense -not a spread set- in the first place. Or in other words, he’s nearly still playing his semi sandlot or pick-up backyard game of high school football right now in college. And if nothing else we now realize the reason(s) for his seeming lack of Fu’fense passage. As he never really uppercase matriculated through a legitimate 2018 high school offensive throw-game literacy program in prepping for V.Tech. As Hooker was playing high school checkers while Jackson (and Willis) were both playing throw-game chess.

As to my chagrin, I did not realize that Hooker’s H.S. passing attack was this raw or undercooked. A rarefied or botulism type of come-up in the modern basketball on grass throw-game era. Or to put it a different way, Hooker is best at the versions of Fu’fense passing that require less, processing. Like scripted roll-outs, half-rolls, sprint-outs, screens, hitches and field-placements that amplify his rather creative impromptu. Whereas being held captive in anything short (bad pun) of the Fu’fenisve quick-hitting passing pocket screams of emancipation. Nevertheless, Hendon does do a very good job of extending plays, keeping things alive —and therefore probably anxietizing his head coach when he (Hooker) does his helter-skelter variety routine adlib best work. And as we all read in part III; that’s just not a “safe-word” for a by the numbers, measured or homebody Netflix type of head coach. An ex-pocket Qb turned big whistle whose favorite word probably is stricture; and if it ain’t stricture it is surely: “structure”.

Hommie may be undercooked, though how much time does he have left on the Owens Dining Hall grill?

The whispers say that Hooker throws a pretty mean horizontal deep ball and that he has the most arm talent (read: strength) on the team. We will call that the lowest possible A— caliber arm.

Spies also say however that Hooker needs to work on “throwing on time” (i.e. not late, or overthrowing) which makes perfect sense as the multi Fu’fense throw game reads probably have yet to head-game fully “slow down” for him. I do however really like his throw-game mechanics; not named his left wrist. He has a very loose 1960’s-1970’s type of throwing motion. Like an old-school thinner/leaner Qb who was banned from the weight-room by the very same old-school throw-game Qb coach. (the old-school paradigm was that you preferred a loosey-goosey more 12 o’clock arm than a modern all knifed-up, striated, over the top arm-wrestling 24″ pythons gun-show arm). Accordingly, Qb circles have drawn comparisons to Hooker reminding them of Clemson’s Zerrick Cooper, or basically to that of a more parts pocket Qb who can truly run.

Therefore, more and more Hooker really does remind of the fictional Friday Night Lights urban streety Qb played so credibly by a near lookalike or the other Michael Jordan. As they look alike, they carry/comport themselves alike, and their gameday styles could not be more similar if they actually… tried. Likewise, both seem to be a bit on the bashful or retiring side or refreshingly not such Kodak hounding divas. As neither one seems truly spotlight comfortable, perhaps even just a scosche, downright shy. Then we come to the fact that at the end of spring, sources seemed to think that Hooker seemed a bit flustered with his depth-chart location -i.e. Qb3, a distant Qb3 at that- and the noticeably less than Qb1 and Qb2 attention/coaching it inherently receives. Now enter the most jacked-up V.Tech Qb candidate this side of a Mary Shelley sponsored successful LT3 and Kam hybrid. And the very instant that QVT (Quincy Patterson) gets to campus… all a sudden this is a very very important August camp for Hooker… and hence the section title up above.

     As this is the deepest Hokie Qb quadratic ever; although only one Qb1 can play at a time. And that means that two Qb’s (Qb3 & Qb4) won’t be getting that much attention for the rest of the season -barring injury- in another 30 ‘ish odd days give/take. That means that the current Qb3 (Hooker) who has found a whopping virtual 34 lbs. since he got to Tech has gotta start pounding away in depth-chart terms. All the more so with the newfangled 4-game participation r-shirt rules.

As Hooker for all his intrigue and athletics is about to experience a depth chart push-pull. QVT will push him from beneath -if he is not already- and if Hooker is not really careful JAX and Willis are gonna pull away.

Or in final words… the O&M Future is Now for Hendon Hooker.

QVT:

So, in theory, at least, all-world Quincy Lamar Patterson II can sit for 8 games, then play 16 quarters of ‘ball and still get fitted for the shirt that he is said to approve of, if not actually solicit.

Still yet, in the social media, participation trophy, no one keeps score, everyone plays and every single girl online is: “beautiful and/or pretty” era… how could that possibly be?

A 27 on the ACT, a slew of AP courses and a weighted GPA now hovering right around a 4.7; that’s how! That and he dropped an egg, yes, a design-project freakin’ real live egg from a second-story window and it, did, not… break! WoWoW! Can you say: “just CLEP’ed at least three hours of CAD or EF 1006?!?” Yah; big 10-4, or me three as the Dr. Teskie of Randolph Hall fame would have me say.

That’s what time it is.

This kid is gonna give majoring in engineering a go and by my 36 hours of McBryde Hall calc’ and stats… fulltime schooling (at least 12 hours) + fulltime major D-1 football (at least 25 hours per week) = a lot of lot lot-lot lot.

(while pointing to one’s head) this is the largest muscle of them all.

And possibly even more than that. As this is a kid who perfect score aced his high school entrance exam after coming up in an elementary school that promoted fights… not kids from grade-to-grade. And this particular elementary school got condemned and eventually shut down for what Chicago authorities euphemistically labeled as: “poor academic performance”. Yah; think?

And as some of you already know… you do not poke the loving, dedicated, defensive urban momma-bear. As momma Q went Marvel Comics and did superheroine things behind the Patterson family scenes to rescue Q (and his older sis’) from a brutal K-6 school when they actually had their rental building sold out from under them and literally had no place to live.

Again… you do not poke the loving single parent urban momma-bear!!!

So while everyone else will write to you about QVT and his: 33″ vertical, his 4.34 20-yard shuttle, his year ahead of everyone else or 17 years young (absurd) 505 lb. back squat, his nifty 290 lb. power-clean, or his 33′ power-throw with a diesel looking 4.69 forty at a mutually 220v 236 lbs., fast-twitch slung on a possibly still growing 6′5″ frame. His Quarterback MVP Award at Nike’s The Opening camp | his admission into the entirely much sot after and much vaunted Elite 11 (Camp), the nation’s premier quarterback competition… me?

LOL… no kidding; right?

Well, I’d rather write to you about how QVT was the winner of the 2018 Watkins Award, given to the Nation’s top African-American high school senior male student-athlete in all of the scholastic ball playing land; any sport; at any level … or how he made the Presidential honor roll all four years in a row!


     As methinks you should get to know the kid, the background, the most pious maternal backing and the person that is as close as it gets to courting our very own LeBron James in cleats; first. As this kid packs a valedictorian body and mind alike. And as we all learnt from the truly epic A River Runs Through It Norman Maclean WW I early 20th century Montana family saga book…

"The body fuels the mind."

Now, what you wanna know is what will QVT do for VeeTee in 2018? I for one am hoping it is actually not all that much; beyond punching at least 12 engineering credit hours right in the 4.0 face. As I am far more interested in what a graduate r-Sr. QVT can do to w.v.u. in 2021 and 2022.

So let’s all stand back, give this shiny of a kid some room to VT.edu breathe and then let us all agree to reconvene and ask the first couple of seasons of the next decade how QVT.football… tastes?

Rb: a new King is… crowned?!?

One #4, Keshawn King:

  • (listed between) 5′10″ and 5′14″, (looks closer to the lowercase height metric upon breaking-tape FWIW) and yet 185 lbs. everywhere less one spot I looked. (go fig’ on this…)

    A natural fan favorite…
  • 40-time: 4.45.
  • Squat: 450 lbs.
  • Deadlift: 405 lbs.
  • Bench: 285 lbs.
  • Clean: 275 lbs.
  • 20-yard shuttle: 4.25 seconds.
  • Vertical: 37″.
  • Power Throw: 34′.
  • Recruiter(s): Zohn Bruden (P) and Charley Wiles (S).
  • 48th player in Florida per ESPN.com.

No matter how tall -or not- this princely Rb really is, or really is not, one thing is for sure right away in film study… and that is that K.King is fast. Speedy, quick, darty and has some credible real live athletics to his run-game matrix. He also has a number of (22, in point of fact) sunbelt to mid-Atlantic D-1 football offers. Nebraska, Miami, Arkansas, Ole` Miss., South Carolina; just to name a few.

Now mix in 2,871 yards rushing with 32 ground-game TD’s in a mere 22 career games. Additionally, K.King has tallied a very impressive 29 receptions for 325 yards receiving or more ypc (yards per catch) than he has ypr (yards per rush)! Don’t see that too much this side of Roger Craig or Joe Washington way back when. With two receptions >61 yards and six grabs >29 yards overall great for 18 pass catching points. This married to two scoring gallops of 71 yards or more and five total jaunts of 52 yards or better and suddenly we might just have an HR threat on the field for the final two w.v.u. games after all. (that: plus he keeps a fresh twist-top ‘do, so I doubt he has many she troubles off-field)

 ***

     In terms of truly dissecting his game-tapes overall… Keshawn King looks smaller than listed and yet his plays bigger than that. As in he does not get a metric ton of touches in a Florida football factory setting with numerous fellow future college athletes all around. Nevertheless, even with touches parsed out among at least a handful of next level guys; King averaged a first down per catch or per rush, in each year less the one season when he only managed eight YPR. As you have to wonder where his totals would be if he truly were a showpiece or featured ‘back?

Nonetheless, this is a kid who is surfing just under a bicentennial savvy or 200 total yards per game down in the Sunshine State at AAAAAAA or seven-A caliber ball. Further, 34 yards on average per kickoff and a phenomenal 41 yards per punt return does not suck; and neither does housing two kicks as you might wanna just kick it out of bounds as opposed to letting Keshawn queen your coverage teams’. And if you do not savvy what I am saying (yet); King scores on an absurd 33.33% of his special teams returns no matter what! No wonder he pocketed 75% of his school’s Play of the Game award game-balls last season. (Bonus: plus, King ran down and made two score saving tackles from behind as a Rb after Oakleaf H.S. offensive turnovers!)

Bouncy, willing, game-changer 1o1 on film.

In terms of video-room specifics… King appears to deploy precocious balance and plays with an explosive initial burst. As he accelerates and gets up to his top-speed before you can get up to your pursuing top-speed and this is most impressive indeed. As he routinely enjoys a multi-yard separation from the nearest defenders whilst still existing inside the proverbial Ot-box itself.

This allows King to merely coast home later on downfield as he already has such a broken containment advantage built up straight away right outta the blocks. King at least tries pretty hard when assigned to block although I’m not sure how often you D-1 assign a Rb his size to block. He has several slips and (shoulder) dip moves downfield in traffic. And King was basically unscathed or nearly untouched on most of his scoring runs, receptions and/or returns. So, I’m not available to say how well he runs in terms of how well he can handle impacts or contacts as his uniform is a training staff’s dream; (i.e. clean).

Finally, King excels at trick-plays (hook-n-laterals, reverses, he even throws P.A.T.’s for 2-point conversion scores on jump-passes; et al); and he runs with a really high knee kick on the inside or he simply skirts contact and sparingly ducks outta bounds. The one unknown/concern is how well will he handle major power-conference D-1 contact vs. the big boys in the A.c.c. | and therefore how many touches can he endure in the Fu’fense per game? I could not glean this as he did not have that much YAC (yards after contact) due to the superlative lack of scholastic contact(s) itself.

Overall: to me, Keshawn King has the look and feel of a smaller/slighter Atlantic Avenue man’s Gale Sayers on film. There is a lotta “burst” or wiggle to his game and he’s a Darryl Strawberry HR hitter in a singles/doubles hitting frame. And quite frankly I found him to be a rather pleasant surprise for a kid who ain’t exactly Cedric Humes sized. Nevertheless, this is a kid who brings a real live catch-game threat plus some more traditional run-game north-south icing velocity to the 24060 or Blacksburg, Va. As this is surely an RPO, multifaceted or dual-threat Rb signee.

FuPhonics 1o1…

So coach Fu’s sure seemed pretty brio and upbeat after such an Amtrack trainwreck of an off-season for his scandalized Staff and his quarrelsome personnel (ballers, plural) alike. Nevertheless, why was he so happy to be back? What was your read on all that enthusiasm and/or bravado at the made for TV feel-good Atlantic Coast Conference media day with all 14 teams currently tied for 1st-place last week?

The Coach Fu' pump we just witnessed after such a brutal off-season at media day was R.A.T.T. code for... what???

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#wimps!
Flordia State= approx. 30 sum more days!!!

LETS GO!

Hokies!

 bourbonstreet**

 

 

10 Responses You are logged in as Test

  1. Data doesn’t lie…” H^2 passed for 6,027 yards and 55 TD’s and rushed for 2,975 yards with 48 TD’s in two years and change as the Dudley High School (Nc.) starting Qb1. And oh, by the way, he only won back-to-back State Championships to close out his possibly underrated high school gridiron career.” The Deuce’s ceiling is higher than both MI or KS contributions to the QB room. Combined with the new transfer rules it’s time to play or watch him shine elsewhere.

    Let’s Go…Hokies!!!
    Beat F$U!!!

    1. I kinda thought so… re: higher ceiling…

      Though now?
      Why is Hooker not ascending?
      At least showing some signs of a ladder, stairs, or an escalator.

      Whatever might move him in the direction of said “ceiling”.
      I dunno?

      b.street

  2. As always, great info., l hope Hooker moves to a new position or transfers. I like the kid but l see no Fu QB here..

    1. Someone did hear he is 1,000% Qb; only.

      So that would suggest he’s a Qb only; no matter where (he is; geographically).

      b.street

  3. As entrenched as JJ seems to be, if the light comes on for Hooker, with his talent, he may still overtake JJ. Please remember that he’s only a redshirt freshman this year. It’s possible that we finally actually have multiple QB1 level QB’s on the roster. Here’s hoping that’s the case.

    1. Yah; I do buy that.
      2.5 maybe even 3 Qb1’s.

      Good point Glenvar.
      +1.

      b.street

  4. Affairs are sordid, not sorted.
    Without further ado, not adieu.
    Do you agry? 😎
    Personally, I like your writing.

    1. I actually like/prefer sorted there (as in needing sorting, out).

      Ado I did mess.

      thank you,
      b.street

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