Who's Your Dadi?

Against Pitt, Dadi Nicolas tied with Jack Tyler for a team high 7 tackles, and he led the Hokies outright with 3 sacks. Nicolas lined up in his traditional defensive end position, and at Whip. The latter was the latest twist by Bud Foster to his dominant defense filled with versatile playmakers. After the game Frank Beamer said of Nicolas, "He's a talented guy and we're moving him around there, getting him to pass rush from different positions, and he showed up there." Beamer continued, "He's a force back there, and got a real talent for rushing the quarterback." Indeed.

I rewatched the game on Sunday focussing only on Dadi, and by my count he played 16 snaps at Whip when subbed in for Josh Trimble, and 11 at end when spelling J.R. Collins.

On Saturday Dadi made plenty of highlight plays to "Ooh" and "Aah" over, like this one for instance.

Dadi bursts off the line like a jungle cat. His dip-and-rip is smooth, perfectly timed, and gets him underneath the tackle's block. His two cherry pickers for arms help him get a sack.

Or here's another sack. (Dadi had to be pleased there because on the previous play he got put on his butt. Good football players dust themselves off.)

Those were fun. However, the 3 plays I really want to point out are ones in which Dadi didn't make a sack, or even a tackle.

Those are plays I miss when I watch a game live. Coaches often speak in cliches, but when they say something like, "give 100% each play", that's what they mean. Few people watching on TV, or in the stadium, see the guy hustling from the other side of the field, then flying in at the end of the play.

Here's a quote from team captain Jack Tyler on Dadi's breakout game.

"When he started, you couldn't get him lined up, you couldn't get him to do anything, because he's only been playing for so long," said linebacker Jack Tyler, whose duty it was to get him lined up properly Saturday. "And now he's kind of found his niche. You can see that he's a heck of a player."

I'm not sure what Dadi's niche is. He's an aggressive pass rusher. In a blink of an eye he closes down the line and back doors the run. Bud Foster trusts him to play Whip, one of the most demanding positions of his defense. Scot Loeffer has created packages for him on offense. Maybe I'm overcomplicating this, perhaps his speciality is more generic. Simply put, he's a hard working football player that makes plays. He's perfectly qualified to play for the Lunch Pail Defense.