Spring Fling: scrimmage no.2 (part II)

EDITOR’s note: (I spent an ordinate amount of time studying the Loeffler/Grimes/Morehead offense on Monday. Hence a minor brevity of Bud Stout takes here in part II)

Chicken or the Egg???

Here are the two hyper main things I took away from Monday’s public football scrimmage number one, not named Mark Leal out-playing LT3.

1. Is the oLine really that bad?
2. Or, and conversely, is this simply an all-time Bud Foster dLine? Because the Foster trench fighters basically kicked coach Grimes revamped and outta position oLine good and hard. And that was just during play number one mind you; as things generically became even more lopsided from there. Things other than Trey Edmunds and a couple of jump-balls that the offense managed to come down with mind you.

Surely some of this has to do with not (yet) knowing who will play which position upfront; as this 2013 Virginia Tech offensive line is a living 5-man symposium of Chaos Theory brought to life all by its ownself. Helter-Skelter, Charlie Manson, Clockwork Orange, and Altered States all rolled into a deck that is even now being reshuffled as I type.

That’s a bad game of 52 card pick up to play folks and yet the forecast –just like this week’s weather- is encouraging enough. As this 2013 oLine really only has one way left to go … up. As things can and will only get better from here; though go ahead and expect the sorting out process to last a bit longer. Don’t die of shock if said sorting extends through August training-camp, probably into September all of that could realistically be code for October itself. Further, don’t die of shock if a rookie or someone off the contemporary orange and maroon radar scope makes a starting offensive line push. Grimes will play rookies, if need be. That being said, Center looks good enough to me –no matter who eventually hikes the ball to Logan Thomas. Benedict is good enough by me, when his knee and drop-foot hold up that is. Gibson is actually a surprisingly good fold-blocker in terms of scraping and sealing on the second-level (i.e. vs. Linebackers). And after that, it’s a real live crap shoot or what the sharps in Vegas call: “…trying to make your point the hard-way.” As right now there is no easy out for Coach Grimes and company; this is an uphill battle and the one thing I know about uphill battles is that uphill battles take time. However, let’s try viewing that through the defensive-line prism and avoid any unnecessary offensive front-5 myopia or blood-letting if we can.

As I see it right now, Coach Wiles Dt’s look great; and his De’s look even better than that. De is not only better, it’s deeper as well, by about +2 or maybe even +3 if you are keeping score at home; providing the Ekanem kid continues to develop and providing that his surgically reconstructed right-knee continues to hold up. Or to put it another way; the 10 sacks recorded by Hokiesports.com on Monday for the Bud Foster defense is low, if anything. As the Foster De’s simply abused the Grimes Ot’s on Monday and I do mean serially abused folks. As Dadi, Gayle and Ekanem routinely blew right on by whatever Ot combination that coach Grimes elected to deploy as if they were planted like a tree or as if they were simply standing still. Gayle is a one man terror committee, and my boy Dadi is noticeably faster than that! I realize that’s hard for some of you to purchase, though there are forest fires that never quite get torched as badly as the Virginia Tech Ot’s did on Monday. Fast, faster, fastest, that’s how the Coach Wiles De’s are playing right now in three words or less.

The Coach Wiles Dt’s however are only about two and change deep in all-conference caliber talents, whereas De is somewhere in the neighborhood of five all-A.c.c. kinda ballers on talent alone. However, and that being said, the Dt’s were two main things on Monday. First of all at their very worst, they occupied blockers, and therefore they kept bodies off of Chase “I look like a super-model and I finally started played like one” Williams at Mike (or MLb). At their best they simply punished the give A-Gap on either side of our four starting Centers and therefore disrupted –if not lived- inside the Virginia Tech offensive backfield. Their north-south explosion has remarkably improved from last year; as this oLine basically had nothing for the human bowling-ball otherwise known as #98, D.Hop (Derick Hopkins) and his tag-team partner in crime, one #92, my man Luther Maddy. There may be a minor drop off behind this bell-cow (D.Hop) and this bull-of-the-woods  (Maddy); though it’s not a plummet or free-fall either and I’m hoping that Kris Harley will finally get around to narrowing that gap. Because if he does not improve in a hurry, the legacy baller otherwise known as #6o Woody Baron has the look and feel of a multi year starter who just so happens to have tree trunks attached south of his torso that he calls legs. Sixty is the real deal at Dt folks, and he may very well be the steal of the 2013 recruiting class. As he is listed at 260 lbs. right now, and I swear 259 of them are located in his legs. This kid is all-conference people, not if, when. And if we can just somehow coax Williams and Haley into developing; and with the hard-charging sleeper otherwise known as Woody Baron, this front-wall has the look and feel of a Top-10 rushing defense to me. To tie the opening header back in … they are eggzactly that good, and they are (almost) that deep. Or, the sky is falling on poor chicken Little’s head as this offensive line is simply that bad; as I see no middle ground here. Experience, resume’, being settled into your home position (or not), and playbook and/or schematic familiarity all agree.

Second Layer:
At Linebacker Tariq moved rather well, if not effortlessly, in pure lateral or east-west terms; and that was really all I needed to see outta him. Self-trust 1o1, as this kid is a bulked up James Anderson playing ‘backer and a very handsomely long-armed one at that. I’m told that Tariq finally began to heal in full this off-season and it showed. He is a fringe all-conference caliber ‘bakcer just so long as that leg does not get all stressed out. As I said above, Chase Williams finally held his ground and played a more physical brand of football right at the point of attack. He could stand some work on shedding blocks though the Mike or MLb position will only get better with Jack Tyler taking over at one of our inside twins Linebacking positions from here on out. At Whip, Ronny Van Dyke has all the vitamins. He surly looks the part and easily passes the eye-test, 20-20 hands down in fact. He could stand to play in-position or where he needs to be a bit more as his game is all about the old-school real estate adage, “location, location, location.” Make no mistake, when this kid is properly located he is gonna bring some pain in 2013. I’ve been told that his mind was tying up his feet a bit last year and that this year the intent is to simply unleash him and let R.V.D. play off the chain at all costs. That’s all fine in dandy, although R.V.D. needs to attack Kentucky when tasked to do so, as opposed to accidentally invading and subsequently conquering Tennessee. Though do be clear, once this human tomahawk missile uploads a few more guidance algorithms and gets himself on target, this is gonna be one impacting Whip linebacker folks, as his 211 lbs. of sinew that is just jam packed with fast-twitch fiber says so.

If you were not there on Monday, what I saw outta Bud Stout appeared to be more of a 4-2-5 attacking hybrid look, with a punishing decision matrix upfront and what was really only one brick shy of a load behind all of that. That one brick however is named Boundary-Corner. As someone has to step it up and hold down the fort until Exum returns over on the near-side. Right now I’m not real sure if I ever saw Exum’s replacement on Monday or not? His replacement may be prepping for his High School prom over in Olney Maryland. And yes, that is indeed code for one Kendall Fuller coming in and stealing the Boundary-Cb show in four weeks of August Training camp or less. I’m told that Kendall is that great; and that he is a certifiable play-right-away kinda talent. He may need to be, as Facyson looks like a blend of Rover and Fs to me, Manning –though bigger- is still small at 177 lbs, and Riley is a year away, possibly more. All three Corners had coverage issues regarding use of sideline-leverage, technique, and hip-turn and footwork alike on Monday. And all three had all of that magnified all the more downfield in deep-ball coverage at least a handful of times Monday afternoon. Hence, I am still wondering if someone can make a Safety (or Rover) depth-chart move and therefore free one of our natural Cb’s up to substitute at Boundary-Cb in the meantime? Desmond Frye is the one name I’d really like to namedrop here, as he has the physicality to play in the middle of the field; though it was actually Der’Woun Green who surprisingly showed me something at Fs on Monday; and it was D.Bonner who was all over the place as his conversion process from Cb to Fs now appears to be complete.

Tough Juice:
These peeps drink from the tough-juice keg and they drank a lot indeed…

• #99 J.Gayle: James Gayle is a colorful kid, and he may be color-blind as well, as he went ahead and blasted Leal and LT3 alike on two different gold-jersey clad Qb sacks after the Umpire had protectively blown the play dead.
• #23 Der’Woun Green may have recorded the hit of the scrimmage as he really blasted Malleck over the middle on a curl pattern on a textbook hi-lo hit. In fact, and to take that a step further, note that it was Green who was second on the defense in total tackles and that right there might just make him the surprise player of the day.
• Just like the movie Apocalypse Now, the other #8 (I don’t think this was Bonner) ran a long damn way as a Pride and Joy blocker for our punt return team late in the afternoon. No opponent to hit? No problem, as #8 simply unloaded on his very own punt return teammates for good measure along the home-side sidelines right at the end of the scrimmage. That’s my kinda headhunter and any headhunter like that “…can drink from my canteen any day.” That’s my kinda special team’s nut job as this version of #8 likes to hit and keep right on hitting.
• #40 Deon Clarke completely stole big ole #69, 6’7’’ 313 lb. Mark Shuman as Mark released off the line-of-scrimmage and was lightly jogging downfield at half-speed on about a 20 yard pass completion. Yes, this was a perfectly legal hit, as football ain’t called band for a reason; although this is something I’d almost rather see happening to oh say wvu, or a uva later next year. I won’t call this unnecessary; though it was pretty close to being Hokie-on-Hokie crime. However, it does paint a picture of some degree of toughness at the ‘backer position for Clarke, who has a salty disposition to begin with. And it likewise paints the picture of a kid who could stand to toughen up a bit at Ot, or so the whispers say. (READER’s note: McLaughlin took over at starting left-Ot after scrimmage no.1)
  
• #35 Dahman McKinnon also plays with a little bit of “boom boom pow” as he violently opposed whichever Fullback came busting through his A-gap time and time again on Monday afternoon. Don’t believe me? Just as #25, Jerome Wright who actually out-sizes Mr. McKinnon in no small way and who got knocked on his ass for his Wham-Play troubles. McKinnon and Clark probably won’t play a whole lot this year –as Bud Foster rarely rests his starting Linebackers in the absence of injury. Though they both play the game with some measure of physicality and they both play the game in something worse than a bad mood; and that’s good medicine to me.

Remaining odds and ends:
Is #89 Cody Journell practicing abstinence from the weight-room, or from protein itself, or from both? As he looks like he has cut a good 20 lbs., none of which even remotely ever appeared to be bad-weight. Make note of this on any FG-attempt beyond 40 yards folks; or on any 4th and short play-call where we might just have to go for it in 2013.

I may not know who the new #7 is? Though this Wr is lucky to still have his right leg attached after an ugly looking and dreaded no-contact slip going outta bounds where his right foot got caught up in the turf and it sure looked like his knee was 100% blown-out.

Coach Grimes ain’t rated PG-13 and nor is he Disney Channel savvy; as I heard him conjugate a few four-letter words in ways I’ve never heard them conjugated before.

I swear to God, I really did see some Wr blocking in this one! No really folks! I may not have seen Yeti, or the 3o4’s very own Mothman (yet); and I could not quite make out what the barking dog down the street was saying. Though I am sure I saw #18 D.J. Coles dumptruck a couple of Db’s on Monday. I am also sure that I saw our Te (routinely Malleck) helping out as an additional pop-in-release blocker out in the flat on what very few screens that we did throw. That’s a neat new wrinkle as Malleck, plus D.J. plus Stanford gives us a whole lotta bonus blocking from our pass-catches when on the field together. In fact, there is a fair to middling chance that Dee.Jay is the best blocking Beamer era Wr … ever!

Loeffler has a new Flair or Hitch pattern drill off a 3-step drop. So go ahead and look for some of this this season outta our revamped offense.

I’m told the Wang ankle sprain is Isiah Thomas game#6 of the 1988 N.B.A. Finals bad. I’m also told that Acree has possibly injured his knee for the third and final time. God Bless and Godspeed to each.

 

“LET’s GO!“

“HOKIES!“

bourbonstreet**