Football's here, ya'll! Players reported to camp today to get their heights and weights checked. I thought it'd be nice to see how much weight a player lost or gained, as well as any height changes. I compiled all of the heights and weights into a graph to make it easier on the eyes. I also sorted players by position so it would be easier to see how each position stands in the weight department.
Maroon shaded boxes denote a player has increased noticeably in height or weight, while orange shows a decrease. Projected starters are in bold.
Quarterback
Logan Thomas is 260 pounds. I can't wait to see more trucking and 3rd and Logan's this year.
Brendan Motley added 12 pounds. I would love to see him at safety instead of QB.
Running Back
J.C. Coleman put on some major weight in the offseason. 16 pounds to be exact. That's a lot of weight for someone 5' 7". Good to see he's putting a lot of effort in.
Chris Mangus is up 7 pounds, I really like him and would love to see him in the backfield this year.
#SCALES4HEISMAN lost 4 pounds so he should be able to juke people out of their socks now.
Full Back
Not much has changed but I find it amazing we have a 261 pound FB. That's like a freight train as your lead blocker.
Split End
D.J. Coles is up to 226 now. Is that good or bad? I guess we'll find out.
STRAIGHTBURNER added 7 pounds, that should help with breaking tackles.
Also good to see Josh Stanford up 8 pounds. My one issue with him when watching his film was he looked a little small. Now he might be able to pick up one of the last receiving spots for this season. We'll see.
Flanker
I don't have much to say here other than Joel Caleb is 211, I find that pretty good size for a freshman WR. Now we'll have to see how the transition to receiver is for him. Hopefully, smooth as can be.
Tight End
I was expecting Randall Dunn to have gained weight, but was surprised to see almost every TE lost weight. Dunn and Malleck lost 4 and 6 pounds, respectively.
Center
Andrew Miller gained 4 pounds. Can't wait to see him on the field this year.
Offensive Guard
Brent Benedict lost some weight this offseason. That should really help with the mobility issues he's been having.
Unfortunately David Wang was only able to gain 2 pounds. It must be all muscle though considering his weight room numbers.
Offensive Tackle
Nick Becton also dropped a bunch of weight. 317 seems like the perfect size for him. Good to see he's slimmed down.
Michael Via gained 21 pounds! He's now at 304 which sounds much more like OT size compared to 283
Defensive End
I'm going to write a bunch about the defensive line. James Gayle weighs in at 269. That's really really really big. I would be really happy to see him over 10 sacks on the year.
J.R. Collins is up to 261. If I we're a QB I would not want to see Gayle on one end and Collins on the other. Talk about scary. Those two alone could combine for 20 sacks.
French will like to hear that Corey Marshall is listed back at DE. Oh by the way he is 267 pounds. I'm giddy just thinking about this.
Zach McCray gained 11 pounds. I can't remember the last time we had this much size on the d line. I predict we'll see Marshall and McCray be hybrid DEs/DTs this year.
Tyrel Wilson gained 8 pounds. He's still small but that's a good gain.
Defensive Tackle
Everything pretty much stays the same with Alston Smith being the only one to gain more than 5 pounds. Maybe it's just me but I was thinking we would see Luther Maddy gain a few pounds.
Linebacker
For some reason Jack Tyler stayed the same when however he tweeted he was up to 236 from last year. I don't know what the issue is their.
Bruce Taylor lost 9 pounds, maybe his new weight will be easier on his foot? I don't know.
Outside Linebacker
Alonzo Tweedy gained a few pounds which should help in run support.
RVD stayed the same weight.
Rover
REALLY happy to see Jarrett up to 195, sounds like a safety now!
Michael Cole also moved from Free Safety to Rover.
Free Safety
Detrick Bonner gained 12 pounds! The one thing I've been worried about safety-wise is their size. All worries are gone. It's good to see the players have bought in and really focused on adding weight for the safety positions.
Cornerback
We have very large cornerbacks. That is all. I don't care who you are 224 is MASSIVE for a cornerback. Get ready for some big hits this year!!!
Unfortunately Manning stayed at 155. I hope that's just an error and he gained a couple pounds.
Other Notes
While I was looking over the roster I noticed that Conor Goulding was no where to be found. I wonder what that means.
Here are a few position changes as well:
Michael Cole FS to ROV
Marcus Mapp OT to OG
Detrick Bonner ROV to FS
Kyshoen Jarrett FS to ROV
Charley Meyer SE to FL
Greg Gaddell RB to FB
Corey Marshall DT to DE
Biggest Increase in Weight: Nick Acree, 22 lbs
Biggest Decrease in Weight: Mark Shuman, 15 lbs
So what do you guys think? What are you happy about and not so happy about with our guys? Hope you guys enjoyed this and it helps with analyzing everything!
Comments
potential starting corner at 155. yikes.
thanks for the research. loved seeing the dl get freakishly big as well as md and coles.
manning worries the HELL out of me @ 155...
27 mo days!
potential starting corner at 224. also yikes.
Have never seen Manning play but 155 is way too small. And Exum at 224 is way too big. Afraid he'll have trouble running with the faster guys.
I think Exum will be fine running with guys. His problem in coverage in the past is that he would run with guys fine, then not be able to make a play on the football (see the last Michigan touchdown.) He has had major trouble finding the ball despite being in perfect position, and the extra weight isn't going to help that.
I am guessing that they are going to try to play Exum like Jimmy Williams, where they would play man on the boundary and then roll their zone to the field (which gave Brock Berlin fits.) If that happens, expect teams to go deep repeatedly on Exum, especially Clemson with Watkins. Pass rush is such a huge key to protect the secondary this year. They must get to the QB with the front 4.
Great Work
Project starting o-line combined weight: 1,522 average 304.4 across. I like a slimmed down Becton, he's going to have to move at LT.
Nick Acree at 321... If it's all muscle, then damn I hope he picks up tackle real quick.
Smaller Bruce Taylor? Intentional, or did he drop some pounds while rehabbing?
Bigger defensive ends:
I saw Nick Acree a few weeks ago at D2. He was bigger than I remembered him being. So I hope it's muscle.
Bruce
Told he looks "cut up" and "athletic", if he's healed up, smaller Bruce is going to be flying around the field.
our
cornerback situation concerns me a lot .. and manning still at 155 doesn't help .. i have to wonder what the REAL backup plan is. i'd think jarrett or bonner would fill in at corner if need be with someone stepping in at fs or rover .. just no depth at corner at all really. who knows if tookes will be ready .. the rest of those guys ... hmm
Nick Acree
Do I remember correctly that Nick lost a lot of weight when he came in? Did he lose bad weight and put on good weight? I remember him just being a monster walking around D2.
I think there are more than a few
hidden stories in these numbers. Acree did lose a lot of weight his first year. With a stud like him the muscle/strength gains would not be as dramatic since he already possessed significant mass, but the conditioning might have been. The body can only do so much at a time...but with his new svelte physique he could focus on new muscle gains the past few years. I haven't seen him, just saying its possible when you have a guru guiding you like Gentry and a genetically gifted individual like Acree..
But it's worth noting that Wang came in a slab also at 310lbs and benching 390 as a true freshman. Genes? check: The Wang brothers' parents were Chinese Olympians in 1984. The bulk he lost (and did NOT regain) did nothing for his leverage or strength, which I will take anyday over being anchored by a few extra pounds.
For this reason I also feel good about Luther Maddy too, especially given all the extra conditioning he had from playing last year. My gut tells me he made great body comp changes despite not moving the needle. These young studs can't go through all they go through without something happening at the molecular level unless they completely lack work ethic, and I sincerely doubt Luther lacks work ethic. If he ain't gaining or losing then he's swapping.
Where are the specialists? I want to see if our new long snapper put on any weight.
I didn't know if anyone wanted to see those or not, so I left them off.
Here they are:
Thanks. Looks like our kickers entered a weight lifting competition or something. Has anyone else noticed that several of our incoming freshmen measured an inch shorter than before? I thought that was strange, and disapointing. J.C. grew an inch though!
J.C.
turned into Imoh over the off-season...that is awesome. The RB position battle just heated up a notch.
Yea
I think JC cleared up any notion that he will be redshirting this fall
Jeez, I hope he is better than Imoh. You are shooting low with that. Imoh was the worst regular starting running back the Hokies have had not named Lamont Pegues since 1993.
For those of you who don't remember Pegues, be glad you don't. If David Wilson made running to the sideline an art form, Pegues was the Picasso of the two yard and out of bounds toss sweep.
intended superficial analogy
based on size alone.
how about Ray Rice??
o jeez yes, I remember him...
Pegues was about as useful as the fullback in Dooley's off-tackle-for-three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust offense of the early 80's