french60wasp's blog

National Signing Day certainly turned into a festival atmosphere for Hokie fans, with tons of positives coupled with some negatives to give both the most ardent homer and the most disaffected crumudgeon plenty to talk about.

The Hokies were able to secure two of their top three remaining targets in multi-talented athlete Joel Caleb and bruising defensive end prospect Ken Ekanem. Meanwhile, Koren Kirven disappointed Hokie fans by joining Nick Saban's NFL machine down in Tuscaloosa. Finally, the Hokie blogosphere and twitterverse went crazy as MARGINAL linebacker prospect Ja Wand Blue decommitted and headed down to the Harvard of the South in Coral Gables.

Despite these ups and downs, I think most Hokies are very satisfied with the recruiting haul, which addressed some areas of need while adding additional depth to strength areas, especially the defensive front seven (where the quality of recruiting had dropped tremendously following Jason Worilds signing.) Shane Beamer and the other young coaches have made a positive impact, and hopefully the Hokies can continue to make inroads out of state while building a fence around the top Virginia prospects.

A quick analysis of the day's highlights:

Top of the weekend to you fellow Hokie fans. We are knee deep into recruiting season, and as always, it is time to get excited about the new faces of the Hokie program. Today, I have watched some video on two commitments for the Hokies next season, Trey Edmunds and Woody Baron.

Trey Edmunds

Edmunds is a 6'2 210 linebacker/running back from Dan River High School in Ringgold, Virginia. With a deep running back class already committed, the Hokies are projecting Edmunds to play linebacker, by most accounts at the backer position. Edmunds was a Parade All-American whose production from both sides of the ball was outstanding (similar to Darren Evans, who was a 3 star recruit but was also a Parade All American. Edmunds is ranked as a 4 star by Rivals.

I woke up this morning with teeth gritted, brain throbbing, and my heart aching. The Hokies played their collective asses off last night, and for the outcome to be what it was just makes you sick to your stomach for those kids. The defensive line, perhaps for the first time since the injury to Antoine Hopkins, completely dominated the line of scrimmage. The Hokie secondary (after a couple of hickups early) was a ballhawking unit. The linebackers did all that was asked to make Denard Robinson look like a freshman without a clue. Logan Thomas and his receivers had an outstanding game. If you told me all those things happen, I would assume you would have a huge bowl win for the Hokies, even in the eyes of someone like me who completely minimizes the importance of bowl performances in non-title games.

And instead, both the players and the fan base are left to mutter over what might have been.

Some days you are the hammer. Some days you are the nail. On Saturday, the Hokies were the board. The Hokies faced a perfect storm of an offense that utilized misdirection to completely counteract the Hokies "gap-scheme" defensively, coupled with a Clemson defensive line that completely manhandled the left side of the Hokies offensive line and their center all night. When VT did have time, their playmakers didn't make plays. It is easy to be upset with the final score, play calling, officiating, or whatever the gripe. I have tried very hard to remain calm and analytical both during and after the game.

Well folks, our long journey has brought us full circle. The Hokies arrive in Charlotte prepared to face a Clemson team which dominated them in Blacksburg several months ago. The Hokies have improved their level of play since that loss, as several key receivers have returned to health, Logan Thomas has gone from a question mark to THE ANSWER, and the defense has seen growth from their young players standing in for injured defensive stalwarts. Clemson however, stumbles into this game as losers of 3 of their last 4, including being dominated at the hands of South Carolina (who was without several top offensive weapons including Marcus Lattimore.) Vegas has established the Hokies as solid favorites, despite Clemson's win in Blacksburg.

Damn that was satisfying. I will write that again. Damn that was satisfying. Following our festive consumption of succulent turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, and a tall glass of Avery Brewery Joe’s Pilsner, we nervously spent our time with family and friends nervously awaiting perhaps the most important football game to take place between Virginia and Virginia Tech in the last decade. I know I did. I ground on my teeth while I slept envisioning Logan Thomas running away from UVA’s pass rush. I woke up at 6:00AM Saturday morning in a cold sweat after a nightmare where UVA successfully bled the Hokie defense with short passes and power off tackle runs. I won’t lie to the readers of The Key Play. I was a nervous wreck.

Here it is. One big game that has implications on Commonwealth bragging rights, recruiting supremacy, an ACC championship, a BCS bowl, and a long shot at playing for a national championship. Any Hokie football player, whose focus is not 100% on not only winning in Charlottesville on Saturday, but making an emphatic statement of dominance, should be punched right in the dick.

From a matchup perspective, UNC provides Virginia Tech with a pretty good "scout team" look for what UVA does and does not do. UVA uses a multiple pro-set offense and a base 4-3 defense, both very similar to what we saw from UNC. I have only watched one UVA game this season (the debacle against Florida State) and I saw the following tendencies.

Good afternoon folks. I hope your hangover and frostbite has been as minimal as possible. I for one am dealing with elevated bloodpressure and a sour stomach after what at best can be called an "uneven" win over the Tarheels on Senior Night at Lane Stadium.

I anticipated that this game would be a unique challenge, a classic trap game against a team with a high talent level that has underperformed coming off a bye week after the Hokies won a brutally physical and emotional game in Atlanta. North Carolina presented an additional challenge in that they featured by far the best defensive front seven talent the Hokies have faced all season. I however, retained a high degree of hope because of the high stakes for the Hokies coupled with UNC's near utter failure to compete against NC State in a rivalry game their last time on the gridiron. I went into the game focused on three matchups. 1) How would the Hokies offensive line, which looked dominant against GT, respond to the challenge presented by large, athletic defensive tackles and a likely top 10 NFL draft pick at DE in Quinton Coples. 2) How would the Hokies defensive line stand up to a huge UNC offensive line one week after Derrick Hopkins, James Gayle, and JR Collins played without a single substitution against the hard driving cut blocking GT option attack? 3) Could Jaron Hosley bounce back and have a good game against a NFL prospect WR.

Happy Monday everyone. I have reviewed the full film, and I had completely reviewed the 2nd half for both the Hokies O and D. Unfortunately, I lost my first draft and rather than re-watch the play by play for the full second half, I will just focus on the offense. Some quick notes on the defense first.

Virginia Tech continued to emphasize stopping the Georgia Tech inside running game in the second half. Much to many a Hokie fan's chagrin, this resulted in several big plays on the outside, especially running counter option and quick pitch. Georgia Tech ran their triple option series, working mostly to James Gayle's side of the field. Georgia Tech was successful at running counter option, quick pitch, mainly because of poor run support by the Hokie corners (specifically Jaron Hosley, who was dominated), the coaching decision for the Hokie safeties to play the passing threat first and have the option man almost exclusively take the pitch man.

First Hokies Offensive Series:

1st and 10- One TE, 3 WR, DW at tailback. Line is 72-75-74-68-62. Bootleg on first down. Not a great ball fake by Wilson or Thomas, but plenty of time. LT3 looks a bit tenative and doesn't find anyone downfield. Scramble and gets back to the line. Good blocking, but Drager lost his man late to make Thomas scramble.

2nd and 10- Behind the sticks early. I formation. They run a slow developing power play to the right. There is a good initial hole, but the play takes so long to develop that Wilson gets tracked down backside. Second watch, Al Groh brought both the backside LB and the corner on a blitz. If Wilson could have gotten to the line quicker and cut off Phillips lead block, there was a HUGE hole. That is not Wilson's fault. Just not a great playcall against that defensive playcall. But, there was a monster hole.

3rd and 11- GT brings four men, all standing. The left defensive end stunts to the middle, across the formation as Logan does a short waggle to his left. Lainer is in postition to pick up the stunt but gets picked by the traffic between him and the stunting end and whiffs. Logan gets smacked, but makes a tough throw to Boykin for a big play.

1st and 10- Straight zone play left. Nosal gets a little push, but loses his feet. Wilson hits a small hole with authority and gets 3 yards. Not poorly blocked, but well defended. Hokies still using 1 TE and 3 WR.

2nd an 7- One back, two tight ends right. LT3 audibles. Power play to the right, with Brooks pulling and Wilson going off tackle. Again, tough positive yards on a well defended play.

3rd and 4- Straight drop back. Lainer gets beat on a speed rush and it looks like the GT OLB got close enough to Thomas to force a high throw. Probably his worst throw of the game. It looks like Coale might have been open on a deep post, as the Boykin route where Thomas threw drew the safety. Hokies

punt goes into the end zone, netting about 15 yards.