Editor's note: This post started as a thread in the forum, but I bumped it up. StLHokie, mikey4vt, and tonkaberlin were at the scrimmage, and left a ton of excellent information below. Credit to them, and anyone else who posts after them. If you were at the scrimmage, we want to hear from you in the comments!
The Frankinator continued to praise Holmes, who has all but locked up the starting running back job coming out of spring. "He's learning, but when he gets out there, he's running away from people. People can't catch him. He's a big body. He runs with power. I thought he could cut it loose a little more at the line of scrimmage, but overall, I think you've got to be impressed with Michael Holmes."
Right before the start of spring ball Stinespring said of Randall Dunn, "We would like to get Randall Dunn in a position where he will help us every down, that he will be a catalyst in our offense." Those are great intentions that must be followed through on. Dunn could be a difference maker, cause all sorts of matchup problems, and needs the opportunity to contribute to this offense. With and inexperienced receiving core, this is the year we need to get the tight ends more involved in the passing game.
Dyrell has been "fighting through a hamstring". Yo Football Gods, hasn't the STRAIGHTBURNER been through enough injuries?
We all know Beamer is a leg man, and Ethan Keyserling showed off his stuff.
Keyserling made a 44-yard FG and missed from 32 yards while showing off a powerful leg Saturday. "He's really come along," coach Frank Beamer said. "I'd say he's probably the leading contender for kickoff guy right now. I think he's probably got the strongest leg overall of anybody out there."
As for the rest of the kickers, Branthover had a decent morning and Goulding was consistent.
Ethan Keyserling and Michael Branthover averaged 44.6 yards on five punts. Best effort of the spring for those two. Conor Goulding 3-3 on FG— Andy Bitter (@AndyBitterVT) April 14, 2012
Here are the full stats courtesy of Andy Bitter.
- Rushing — Holmes 8-89, TD (60), Scales 4-17, Coleman 14-16, Daniel Dyer 2-12, Dyrell Roberts 1-5.
- Passing — Thomas 9-23-2 91 yards, 4 TDs (18, 23, 8, 1), Gresh 7-16-1 31 yards, 1 TD (8).
- Receiving — C. Fuller 4-34, 3 TDs (18, 8, 1), Dunn 2-31, 2 TD (23, 18), Roberts 2-15, Willie Byrn 2-14, Ryan Malleck 1-17, Justus Hoffman 1-6, Riley Beiro 1-5, Coleman 1-2.
- Punting — Keyserling 2-90, Branthover 3-133.
- Field goals — Goulding 3-3 (made 42, 27, 25), Keyserling 1-2 (missed 32, made 44), Branthover 0-1 (missed 49).
- Tackles — Williams 6, Bonner 6, J.R Collins 6, Jack Tyler 5, Exum 4, Donaldven Manning 4, Ronny Vandyke 4, Harley 4, Boye Aromire 3, Josh Trimble 3, Derrick Hopkins 3, Cole 2, Theron Norman 2, Alonzo Tweedy 2, Tyrel Wilson 2, Luther Maddy 2, James Gayle 2, Nick Dew 1, Jarrett 1, Derek DiNardo 1, Brian Laiti 1, Dadi Nicolas 1, Justin Taylor 1.
- TFLs — Williams 3.5, Harley 2.5, Collins 2, Gayle 2, Tyler 1.5, Exum 1, Bonner 1, Norman 1, Tweedy 1, Vandyke 1, Maddy 1, D. Hopkins 1, Manning .5.
- Sacks — Harley 2, Williams, Collins, Tyler, D. Hopkins, Gayle.
- Interceptions — Jarrett, Exum, Caver.
- Fumble recovery — Dinardo.
Comments
I'm here. Providing commentary on my twitter if anyone is interested I'll post more later when I'm not on my phone. Quick notes: Exum hits hard, Coleman is struggling at blocking, and our punting is inconsistent.
Before I forget
Just got back from the scrimmage, things I noticed.
1) We were running a good amount of plays out of the Pistol formation today. At first it was mostly just second team, but as the scrimmage went on, the first team started using it a bit more. Seemed like most of the plays coming out of the various pistol formations were runs.
2) We ran a TON of misdirection today. Similar to how Clemson seemingly starts every play by faking a handoff to a reciever on an end around, we were doing a lot of the same. Probably a good 1/3 of the plays we ran today involved WR misdirection.
3) The misdirection and reverse plays that we were running were decent, however I don't recall seeing a single pass play after one of the fakes. Every time we ran misdirection, it was a run play, and I think the defense started catching on because by the end of the day, the offense was getting stuffed no matter who they handed the ball off to.
4) LOTS of drops by the WRs today. Marcus Davis also wasnt playing, so most of the first team snaps went to Knolwes and Fuller. Corey Fuller had probably 3 drops, but also had a nice TD catch later in the day on a fade route.
5) Martin Scales is a BEAST. He didnt get too many reps today, maybe 8 or 9 carries max, but he was breaking tackles ala David Wilson and he was also putting some moves on guys in the open field.
6) The offensive line is still struggling. Or maybe its that the lffensive line is getter better at the same rate as the defensive line.
7) Connor Goulding had some really nice field goals today, I think he made every one that he kicked and that included two that were 35+. I think he'll be getting the nod at kicker. Punting, Branthover had a bomb they went probably 55-60 yards, but there were also a few shanks. Nowhere near the 20 yard shanks of last year, but hitting a 35 yard punt isnt the best thing in the world.
Thoughts and Observations
In no particular order
1) Dunn needs to be incorporated as much as possible in the passing game. I don't care how bad of a blocker he is he needs to be on the field.
2) Saw some pistol, a few of the big runs came from the pistol look.
3) #ALLOFTHEDROPS, you could tell we missed our 1 and 2 receivers out there.
4) I'd guess around 50 percent of the snaps were from some sort of spread look.
5) Vinston Painter was pretty solid today, especially when going up against Gayle. On one pass play he easily pushed Gayle backwards about 3 yards.
6) I saw a fair amount of pre snap motions from the offense Including changing from an I formation to shotgun. As StLHokie said, there were a bunch of misdirection plays. More than I've ever seen from this offense before. Dyrell was involved in a lot of misdirection.
7) It's clear Holmes is the starting back. The backups aren't really stepping up. JC is good in space but he is not meant for between the tackles play. Drew Harris could easily take Coleman's number 2 spot in august.
my thoughts
Okay so before I begin, let me warn you that I don't claim to know anything about line play (especially not to the extent that french does). I'm just going to tell you guys what I saw (or thought I saw, at least). First: Dyrell Roberts looked like he'd put on some good weight. Still looks like a #STRAIGHTBURNER but with a little more mass. That's a good thing. Our offense struggled with the run game for the most part except for a solid run up the middle by Martin Scales and a long (60 yd TD) by Michael Holmes after he bounced to the outside. Holmes doesn't have the speed of David Wilson, but looks like he's fast enough to make it to the end zone if someone can spring him free.
Speaking of springing someone free, Laurence Gibson absolutely manhandled a defender (2nd stringer, didn't see who it was), pushing him back about 30 yards. French expects big things from him and I agree that he's certainly capable of domination. And we're going to need some domination on the O-line in order for JC Coleman to be effective at all. The only time I saw him rush for more than a yard, it appeared to be on a missed assignment on the defense where there were no defenders to the left and he ran for about 15 yards. However, every time he was touched, he was brought down easily. He does not possess the strength and balance of DW4 so far. Also, I noticed him getting manhandled a few times as he tried to protect the quarterback. I want him to excel, but I'm not sure how effective he will be this year.
With a few of our receivers sitting out today, Corey Fuller was in the spotlight several times. He struggled early on with losing his balance and/or dropping balls, but then had a pair of TD grabs later on. Towards the end, the last play I noticed him on, he appeared to trip as Logan tried to throw the ball just out of bounds, allowing Exum to pull it in. Speaking of Exum, that kid hits hard. As I noted on twitter, if you try to carry or catch the ball around Antone Exum, you're gonna have a bad time. He was all over the place and looked fast, strong, and smart.
Our tight ends were utilized quite a bit with Randall Dunn being the target a couple times. He and Ryan Malleck each had a nice reception (Dunn may have had one more). Malleck looks big and athletic. Hopefully we see a lot of him this year.
The quarterbacks (Thomas and Gresh. Not sure where Leal was.) lined up in what appeared to be 50/50 center and pistol. I don't remember seeing any shotgun and that ratio may be way off. I just seemed to notice it was about 50/50, changing as drives progressed. Logan seemed to be doing fine. Pretty much every incompletion was the fault of his receiver. I guess without Coles and Davis it's natural to see more drops, but a lot of receivers kept losing their balance. Not sure what that was about. Thomas did have two INTs. One was just a ball that should have been a little further out of bounds. The other was thrown into too much coverage and the receiver fell down if I recall correctly. His accuracy seems to be very good though. Hopefully our receivers really pull it together.
4th and Logan works even when Logan is in a no-contact jersey. Easiest 5 yards ever, even when our own defense knows it's coming.
The D-Line was dominant as usual. After one TFL, Kris Harley could be heard screaming so menacingly that I feared for my life. That dude is big and mean. Remind me to never mess with him. Ever. While the sack stats will always be skewed when the QB is in a yellow jersey, know that the defense was in the backfield almost every play, especially against the second team offense.
The kicking situation was hit/miss. The kickers weren't wearing the right numbers half the time so I can't identify who was who. I guess Beamer is still deciding if they are going to be on the roster. Demler boomed a couple in the warm-ups but I don't remember seeing him punting in the scrimmage. Half the punts went for about 30 yards, but a couple had some decent distance on them. One punter in particular bobbled the snap more than once, with one getting blocked. Kyshoen Jarrett returned one for a couple yards and looked like he was one block away from having a big return. Our field-goal unit was decent at best. One kick was blocked, at least one miss from short. Not too excited there.
That's about all I can think of right now. Again, take all this info with a grain of salt as they are just my observations/opinions/recollections.
Highlights
Some of the highlights are up on hokiesports.com
http://www.hokiesports.com/videos/football/#
The touchdown by Holmes was a great example of the misdirection we were seeing with Roberts and Knowles.
Booner. BOOM.
As nice as that hit was
Antone Exum had one twice as hard on Dimitri Knowles on an end around.
Nice hit but it would be more comforting if he wrapped him up and nailed him instead of throwing a shoulder tackle, too many times they bounce off and get additional yds
Thoughts
- Love the speed and hitting of the defense on all sides. They flew to the ball all scrimmage and delivered some serious pain when they got there.
- LT started off in a serious funk, badly sailing the early passes. The first two easily could have been picked off. On a side note, it's an absolute blast to watch Coach Grey lose his mind coaching the secondary on every play.
- Kris Harley came to play for this scrimmage. Was getting great penetration against the first team o-line and blew up a couple deep handoffs in the backfield.
- I wasn't impressed with the receivers. Granted we didn't have Davis or Coles out there, but there wasn't any consistency. Fuller's 3 TDs were paired with a couple unsightly drops. Even Dyrell has some wide open passes fall through his hands.
- The 1st team offense seemed to run a lot of no-huddle. I like it. Especially when you consider the motions and counters being used too.
- Chase Williams will provide some solid linebacker depth this fall. Seems like an instinctive, heady guy with a knack for finding the ball. Randall Dunn impressed too, he lined up a lot as the offset back in the I-form.
Is there any other video floating around besides the Hokiesports highlights?
Very quick thoughts- I can see why they have concerns about Benedict in space. I can't imagine pulling, because he struggles on any block that requires lateral movement, but he is a road grader inside. Painter has horrendous technique in pass blocking. He strands straight up and sort of arches his back forward, which would be a red flag against bullrushers, yet he was very effective once he engaged the defender and looked sharp in all blitz pickups. I thought Nick Becton looked outstanding and was quick off the ball. There wasn't enough footage of Wang and Miller where you could see them to get a read.
It was the only play on tape with the Hokies running "pistol", but I can't get exceited about the big Holmes run. Everything looked slow. It wasn't very well blocked except for an outstanding hook block and drive by Becton. Foster had a stunt that had the backer go outside and McCray go hard inside. McCray would have blown up any inside run, but Laiti (I think) got crushed by Becton and DiNardo took a bad angle and lost gap control. The safety play was really brutal there and it looks like Michael Cole is playing himself out of a chance to play. He also took a horrific angle on the Fuller screen TD and then quit on the play as soon as Fuller passed him (on a play where Nick Becton threw a nasty cut block on the Million Dollar Man Corey Marshall.)
Exum looks smaller and quicker. Jarrett got a fumble recovery, but he isn't moving like a guy who is completely confident yet. It will come.
On the Fuller block/Exum return, poor Duan Perez Means looked absolutely clueless at wingback. He wasn't responsible for Fuller, but he didn't get Dadi Nicolas either. Not a good way to get into the tight end rotation.
On the Dunn TD from Gresh, a terrificly explosive play action "pee hole block" to sell the run by Laurence Gibson. Dunn had a nice catch against a walk-on (#35).
On the Chase Williams safety, whoever the right tackle was (can't tell) bit on the left DE's diversionary stunt to the inside. It was a simple stunt, and the guard was there to pick up the end, and the tackle turns out on the blitzing backer (especially on play action where the back is plunging into the line and can't get an outside blitz.) If that blitz is working against an ACC starter, we are going to whip that team bad. I can't get a number on the tackle, but it wasn't Shuman or Goins so I am guessing it was Darian Fisher, who is unlikely to be a factor up front. Of greater concern (offensively) and optimism (defensively) was Derrick Hopkins absolutely mauling Matt Arkema on the play straight up. If Williams was picked up, Hopkins would have gotten Gresh.
On the Dunn TD from Logan Thomas, it is an excellent blitz pickup (helped by Theron Norman colliding with a teammate), especially by Painter. Benedict sort of loses his guy (Nicolas) at the end. Maybe it was the angle, but I didn't like the decision by Thomas here. It looks like he is throwing into almost quadruple coverage, while the Hokies had two guys blitzing and two DL dropping back in short zones. Someone else had to be open. Dunn made one hell of a play, but again, those are not guys who are ACC caliber starters that he is making it against.
OK, the fumble with the Jarrett recovery had Gresh in the pistol. My bad. Not a great play design, as it was a pop pass where they tried to get the linemen out, but Knowles had three white shirts ready to great him before blocks get there.
Last TD, nice pitch and catch on a simple out to Fuller. Well blocked up front. Did Dew change positions again? Why would a whip be covering a WR in a deep third?
While I saw some good individual things, it looks like the exact kind of offense I was worried about. It is a total hodgepodge hot mess of a scheme. The motion doesn't look sharp. The backfield mechanics look slow. The running back play development looks slow. They need quick hitting veer running plays from the gun look with a young line.
I see you, Holmes
not sure who was playing who (1 vs 2, ect..) but that stat line by Holmes is promising. Any thoughts on the pistol maybe getting JC in space? I've always thought he's too small to play our running game between the tackles, but it'd be beneficial to utilize plays that might give him some room, right?
Also, I'm really excited to see what Drew Harris brings this summer.
Holmes pulled that big run against the second team D, but it was a solid blocking effort on the left side of the line from what I could see.