Tech Tidbits: Replacing 'Rell, and Assessing the Miami Hangover

Because TKP is a space for frank conversations about the Virginia Tech Hokies, this here website has featured plenty of explorations of what went wrong the last two weeks — I will do my best to try not to be repetitive.

We are all acutely aware that Justin Fuente did not have his finest week helming the Hokies in Atlanta on Saturday (to say nothing of the week before in Miami). Suffice it to say that I largely agree with much of what's been written here before, and let's leave it that.

Instead, I think it's worth searching for some perspective on where we stand with two weeks left in the regular season.

Most of us at TKP, myself included, predicted that the Hokies would go either 8-4 or 9-3 before the season. That seemed pretty reasonable to me, considering we had no idea what we'd get out of Josh Jackson, and the rest of an offense full of newcomers at the skill positions.

So now we find ourselves staring at a team that will quite likely end up at those very records, assuming we have not entered the darkest timeline where the Hokies lose to both Pitt and fail to continue the decade-plus of dominance against UVA.

I'd definitely allowed myself to hope that maybe Jackson was ready for prime-time right away, and that the defense was good enough to cover up for the offense's flaws. We found out that wasn't quite true against Miami, and the GT game added insult to injury.

The team only has pride left to play for, and perhaps the coaches could've done more to avoid the outcomes we saw the last two weeks, but it is worth stressing that expecting a trip to the playoffs in just Fuente's second year probably wasn't realistic. I told just about everyone I knew that I was worried that playing the Miami and GT games back-to-back would either launch the team to the next level or sink its season, and I don't know that it's right to freak out too much just because we saw the latter and not the former.

It will be quite interesting indeed to see how the squad responds to close out the season, particularly with a road matchup against an improved UVA team looming on Black Friday.

But I am all the more curious now to see what this program looks like in Fuente's third year after the way this season has played out, when the rubber truly starts to meet the road for any new coach.

Terrell Out: Who's Next Up?

The big news to break Tuesday was the revelation that the message board rumors about Terrell Edmunds were indeed accurate, and that the safety would miss the remainder of the year with a shoulder injury.

In a release Tuesday afternoon, Fuente said that the older Edmunds had been been battling left shoulder troubles "for much of the season without missing playing time," but finally opted for surgery now.

It's a tough way to end the year for the redshirt junior, particularly because I'd imagine that a jump to the NFL draft was looking pretty tempting for him. Now, Edmunds faces the unpleasant prospect of gambling on playing another season (and avoiding another injury) or diving into the draft with some bumps and bruises on his record.

Matt Miller, NFL draft analyst at Bleacher Report, is out here speculating that both Edmunds brothers might stay for one more year partially as a result of all this. I'm not sure I believe that given the plaudits Tremaine has earned this season (often from Miller himself), but it's worth noting nonetheless.

Word on the street is both Edmunds brothers will return to Virginia Tech for 2018 season https://t.co/0Mtcz8epFr— Matt Miller (@nfldraftscout) November 14, 2017

So, what does this mean for the Hokies' secondary? Well, we don't have a ton of clarity on that because (for some reason) Bud Foster only told reporters that Edmunds is "dealing with something" at Tuesday's press conference, then the team followed up just a few hours later with the release making it official.

Maybe this means the team wasn't sure that Edmunds was going to opt for season-ending surgery and didn't want to jump the gun — maybe it means Foster and company didn't want to answer questions about how the depth chart might change with Edmunds out. In any case, all we can do is speculate.

On that front, it seems to make the most sense that redshirt freshman Khalil Ladler will get his first real shot at starting here. He hasn't played a ton this year (with the bulk of his experience coming in garbage time against ECU), but he would seem to be the natural next man up.

Foster could also opt to shake things up a bit more extensively, should he be hesitant to simply hand things to Ladler, per Andy Bitter of the Roanoke Times:

Word out of practice is that Mook Reynolds worked some at safety alongside Reggie Floyd at rover, with Deon Newsome stepping up to be the first-team whip. That'll also continue to give Tech options at the whip, with Anthony Shegog an option against bigger fronts.

This also further dispels rumors that Mook would miss time with injury issues himself, so that's a small bit of good news for the Hokies.

So, LB Mook Reynolds did indeed practice today. No problems. No injury. Rumors about him being injured were false. #Hokies— Norm Wood (@normwood) November 15, 2017

I'm sure there will be plenty of clamoring to see Devon Hunter more as well, considering that the team chose (pointedly) not to redshirt him. But given his status as a freshman and the fact that Foster has yet to deploy him much on defense beyond special teams, it's fair to wonder just how much he'll see the field. Any recruit as highly touted as Hunter will naturally be harder to keep on the bench, but, then again, Ladler himself received a good bit of hype before an injury late in his senior season derailed things a bit. Something to keep an eye on, in any case.

This is where it really hurts that Divine Deablo is out for the year, because he looked so promising in the early section of season, and could've given the team a lot more options in this shuffle. The secondary has given up its fair share of big plays the last few weeks (both in the run and pass game) and Foster has quite the task ahead of him in sorting all this out.

Crossed Wires Over a Miami Hangover

As I said off the top, I hesitate to do too much looking back on the last two weeks (the past being the past and all) but let's take a minute to figure out what exactly is going on with how the team is talking about the past two games.

In the immediate aftermath of the loss to Georgia Tech, Fuente rejected the notion that the Miami loss somehow hurt the Hokies against the Bees.

"They did recover from last week, I don't want to hear anything about they didn't recover," Fuente told reporters. "They played their tails off."

Hey, fair enough. It's an emotional moment coming off a tough, last-second loss, you want to push back on the premise of the question, you go for it.

Fast forward to Tuesday, where the narrative was a bit different. Not only were Foster and Jackson willing to contradict Fuente on this point, but they went a step farther and detailed exactly how the Miami loss might've affected the team.

Jackson said he felt like the Miami loss may have bled over into the Georgia Tech game for the #Hokies a little bit, but not too much. Said Hokies had a bad Tuesday practice last week.— Norm Wood (@normwood) November 14, 2017

#Hokies DC Bud Foster agrees the team let the Miami game affect the Georgia Tech game. Also said team had a bad practice last Tuesday.— Norm Wood (@normwood) November 14, 2017

So, what do we take away from all this? Well, I'm certainly more inclined to believe Jackson and Foster on this count.

It strikes me this is Fuente getting a bit testy in the moment, and perhaps not willing to be introspective so soon after a painful loss, because there is every reason to believe that the Miami game had some impact on the Georgia Tech game.

Preparing for Paul Johnson's offense is hard, and there's no shame in admitting it. It's tripped up plenty of other VT squads in the past, not to mention the rest of the ACC, and I'm sure it will again.

There's also no shame in saying that it's hard motivating a team once a division title gets taken off the table by one of your biggest rivals!

I'm glad Foster and Jackson were able to admit as much. I wish Fuente had been more willing to do so.

My Left Foot

Even with all the online clamoring for the Hokies to make more use of A.J. Bush, I was pretty surprised to see him play so early and often against the Yellow Jackets.

But in subsequent days, I think we've gotten a better idea of just why Bush got a bit of playing time (and why Jackson has cooled off a bit since his hot start).

#Hokies QB Josh Jackson said he was banged up last week, but he's feeling better this week. Said he did injure his left foot against Miami, but it's getting better.— Norm Wood (@normwood) November 14, 2017

Jackson added that he's "feeling a lot better" this week, but this is definitely worth flagging for the end of the year. Fuente suggested after the game and then again on Monday that giving Bush some playing time was about "trying to lighten the load on (Jackson) a little bit," so I don't think it's much of a leap at all to assume that Jackson is dealing with something here.

I'm still not sure I love exactly how Fuente chose to rotate in Bush — he stressed that throwing in the backup immediately after Jackson's threw a ball that bounced off two defenders before WR Eric Kumah corralled it wasn't to "reprimand" the starter, or an overall "indictment" of Jackson's performance, yet it all still felt a bit odd.

In any case, this definitely helps explain add some context to Jackson's recent performance, particularly as he's had to deal with a diminished offensive line without starting LT Yosh Nijman.

The good news; Pitt is coming to town! Nothing can help out a healing QB like the nation's 111th ranked pass defense that also happens to be 84th overall in total sacks.

UVA is another matter, but for next week, at least, Jackson won't be getting his feet back under him against the toughest opposition, necessarily.

I'll conclude these Tidbits with a bit of self-promotion. Proofreading: it's fundamental!

Either Bud got really lit at today's press conference or I think I found a typo in this #Hokies transcript... pic.twitter.com/xiyxHJksou— Alex Koma (@AlexKomaVT) November 15, 2017