Hokies Hoping Mix of Old and Young at Skill Positions Can Lay 2015 Foundation

Injuries and attrition have forced Virginia Tech to play its freshman skill players and flip its two-deep upside down, then right side up.

J.C. Coleman (No. 4) stiff arms a Duke defender. [Michael Shroyer]

The Hokies' offense has had its ups and down this season, but if the unit has truly accomplished anything this year, it's that the unit has made the life of the person updating the team's online depth chart a living hell.

Coming into the year, it was clear that there were young players on the roster that could push for playing time, and any football team expects to deal with the occasional injury here and there, but the speed at which the skill positions have cycled in players is a bit mind-numbing to comprehend.

Take, for example, the wide receivers. Any preseason observer of the team figured the position was in the best shape it was in years on the strength of its three returning starters in Willie Byrn, Demitri Knowles, and Josh Stanford.

Now, the group looks wildly different.

"Every single guy with the exception of Willie is a sophomore or freshman," said wide receivers coach Aaron Moorehead. "We've got a bunch of babies out there."

Yet freshmen Isaiah Ford and Cam Phillips haven't played like toddlers, but grown men deserving of their spots on the field, while injuries and off the field issues have hamstrung older players like Knowles and Stanford.

"We just need to keep developing those guys, and I think the future of this position is really, really bright," Moorehead said.

At running back, the exact opposite is true. While most people figured redshirt sophomore Trey Edmunds would be back to lead the group at the start of the year, as his injuries lingered, it seemed natural that Tech would turn to a pair of talented freshmen in Shai McKenzie and Marshawn Williams to fill the void.

Now, they're both done for the season with ACL injuries and junior J.C. Coleman is the lead back all of a sudden.

"Injuries are going to happen, you see it with Todd Gurley at Georgia, you just hate that it happened to two great kids, two true freshmen, same injuries in the same season," said running backs coach Shane Beamer.

Yet tight end is another youth movement. Fans were hoping for a three-headed monster of veterans Ryan Malleck and Kalvin Cline to go with tantalizing freshman Bucky Hodges.

While Hodges has undoubtedly been beastly, injuries have hampered Malleck and essentially cost Cline the season, leaving a guy who's played the position for only a few months to become the team's primary TE.

"He's still a guy that's just been a tight end since February, and I think sometimes we forget that," said tight ends coach Bryan Stinespring.

So headed into the team's final two games of the season, as the Hokies' coaches examine the depth chart, they have to be scratching their heads a bit about how they got to this place.

But will this mix of young and old be enough to simultaneously save the program's vaunted bowl streak and lay a foundation for 2015?

Last Man Standing

For the few Hokies running backs left without injury, it must feel a bit like they're marked men.

Tech's RB rotation had already been battered by bumps and bruises headed into the Duke game, making Williams' season-ending injury just seem like the football gods were needlessly piling on to the position group's misfortune.

"With Marshawn, they brought a guy off the edge that we couldn't account for, they brought pressure and he put his left foot down to cut and his right leg was up in the air, his left leg was planted and the guy came in from the side," Beamer said. "It breaks your heart."

But Shane isn't the only member of the Beamer family torn up about Williams' injury.

"I don't know if anyone's more upset than my six year old daughter, she's crushed, drawing him pictures every day, wanting to invite him to dinner each night at our house when I'm not even there," Beamer said.

The younger Beamer noted at last week's media session that Williams was his daughter's "first crush," or at least tied with Michael Brewer, so her anguish is understandable. But her dad isn't feeling too pleased about the news either, given that Trey Edmunds seem doubtful to make it back from his broken clavicle this week.

"He's hopeful, he was kind of asking me in practice kind of what we thought and right now he's doing all my individual work, he's doing drills. He's not having any contact right now, which obviously is the key if you're going to play on Saturday," Beamer said, "I'm not planning on it, but we'll see where we are on Saturday."

So it seems like a pretty safe bet that this week's matchup will be the J.C. Coleman show once again, with possible cameos from Sam Rogers and Joel Caleb, considering the injury bug has bitten yet another runner. Jerome Wright is now out for the season as well.

Strangely enough, the team is now counting on Coleman. His 95-yard performance against Duke resuscitated his career with the Hokies after languishing in obscurity for large portions of the season.

"I think he was probably more ticked off at me and the coaches more so than down, I don't think he ever lost confidence," Beamer said. "I don't think he was happy, nor would I want him to be. I told those guys, him and Joel Caleb, I told them during the season on more than one occasion 'hey, you should be really mad that you're not playing, as a competitor I want that.' Let's handle it the right way, don't be downstairs in the locker room complaining and moaning to everybody else about how you've been treated, but they've been good."

Beamer kept an eye on Coleman throughout the process to see how he was handling the demotion.

"I can think of maybe two days where he didn't have great practices," Beamer said. "Even when he wasn't playing, he may have been fourth or fifth on the depth chart, but during pregame warmups before games, and when the running backs get together to have their final break, J.C. was typically the guy talking. He still tried to be a leader throughout that entire time."

But nobody's perfect. Coleman certainly felt some frustration every now and again, but turning to one of his old recruiters in Bryan Stinespring helped ease his mind a bit.

"One day there was a look on his face that I didn't like, so I just told Bryan, 'maybe pull J.C. aside and see where his mind is right now,'" Beamer said. "And they had a good conversation and J.C. actually came to me, three weeks ago, just to say 'heart to heart, what's the deal? Why am I where I am right now and what do I have to do to get out of this position?' And we had a long talk in my office and he was good."

Beamer even feels that Coleman's demeanor earned him consideration for playing time even before Williams' catastrophic injury.

"Whether Marshawn had gotten hurt or not, J.C. was going to play a lot last week," Beamer said. "We wanted to get him in the game more last week from a speed standpoint. We felt like we had an advantage if we could get our skill guys in space on the outside against what Duke was doing defensively. And J.C. is the fastest running back we have."

He made those extra carries count, and Beamer thinks he's silenced some of his doubters, at least for the moment.

"I heard a lot about 'J.C. Coleman can't break tackles, J.C.'s not this, J.C's not that' and he ran hard Saturday," Beamer said. "He had 33 yards after contact. He competed and was able to get into the flow of the game and he did a good job."

Now he'll be the lead man once more, and Beamer feels just fine about that.

"We've got a lot of confidence in him, he's a smart guy," Beamer said.

Bucky Gets Better

At 6'6" and 244 pounds, there was never any question over whether or not Bucky Hodges at the physical tools to excel at TE.

The doubts about shifting him over from quarterback came about how quickly he could learn the new position.

With the speed at which his game's evolved, those doubts seem silly in retrospect.

"It's definitely come around more for me," Hodges said. "I'm getting better every week, I feel, and I'm just going to continue to get better."

Stinespring points in particular to the savvy that Hodges showed on his highly praised touchdown reception against Duke.

He notes that the Hokies have run that particular play before on the goal line, immediately before Tech's blocked field goal against GT on the 15-yard line.

"That time, he rushed the route, he didn't attack the leverage enough, he probably just got ahead of it and that's what young guys in those situations do," Stinespring said.

It's hard to find many problems with a guy that has six touchdowns on the year already, but Stinespring thinks he's had just as many disappointing plays in that area as he has exciting ones.

"In the red zone, for every big play he's made there's been some times when he's probably let an opportunity go too," Stinespring said. "Because the red zone is where some of that inexperience really shows up, especially because the area gets condensed, you don't have the same amount of room and sometimes you rush things."

But in almost the exact same scenario against the Blue Devils, a second and goal on the 15-yard line, Hodges executed the route to perfection.

"He really attacked the leverage of the defender on it, he knew what he needed to do and he did it with tremendous speed," Stinespring said. "Once he attacked he didn't allow any recovery from the defensive back, so you just saw the growth and the maturation of a young man in the same situation five games later...It was really good to see, really rewarding to see."

Hodges says it all stems from the coaches knowing exactly what was coming from Duke, particularly his offensive coordinator.

"We had worked all week on that concept, that play," Hodges said. "Coach Loeffler worked real hard with me on attacking that defender's leverage. We knew he was going to be playing like that, and the way I attacked his leverage, the play just worked out perfectly."

Hodges' development couldn't have come a better time for Tech. With Cline effectively out for the year, and Malleck's role diminished as he's dealt with injuries of his own, the Hokies have needed to lean on Hodges.

That's not to say that Malleck hasn't been involved in the offense at all; he's actually eclipsed his receiving yard total from his redshirt sophomore year by two yards already with 176, but he's had three games this year that he's started and not caught a single pass.

This is due in some part to Hodges' emergence, but he's also been dealing with an ankle injury all year. He first hurt it against ECU, tried to come back against Georgia Tech, and re-aggravated it just a few plays into the game.

"The first time he got hurt a couple weeks ago, he tried to go back in and probably magnified that injury, cost him a week," Stinespring said.

When he tweaked the ankle again against Duke, the staff wasted no time in getting him out of the game.

"This time we were able to get him off the field and get him treated right away and I think it's gotten him back on the field quicker," Stinespring said.

He noted that Malleck was a full participant in Tuesday's practice, so Hodges might have more help sooner rather than later. Nevertheless, the Hokies are surely glad he's broken out so quickly.

Youth Movement Tested

If the Hokies' staff is pleased with Hodges' development, they must be blown away by the rapid production of their freshman receivers.

"I've said it all year long, I'll take those kids over everyone in the conference," Moorehead said.

The duo of Isaiah Ford and Cam Phillips have been excellent, especially so quickly.

In particular, Ford has been a revelation in every regard. Not only has he set a record for TDs by a freshman, he's also top 10 in the conference in receiving yards, receptions per game and receiving yards per game.

But for all his success, Ford credits some of the older players he's displaced for his development.

"I'm with Willie a lot, and he does everything the right way. He shows you how it's done on the practice field," Ford said. "Off the field, he hangs with us a lot, me and Cam Phillips, the freshmen, and that means a lot. Because I know some seniors would be like 'what are you doing freshman, get out of here' but he really took us in under his wing as like little brothers."

It seems that Byrn has put a special focus on being a mentor to the younger players as he's seen his own playing time fluctuate, much like Coleman did a few weeks ago.

Byrn does have 40 catches on the year, after notching 51 all last season, but his yardage is very different than a season ago.

He's at 324 yards so far, compared to 660 in 2013, and that's largely due to his yards per catch. Last year he averaged 12.9 YPC, but he's down to 8.1 this year, speaking to how his role in the offense is changed now that he doesn't have to run the deeper routes from the slot he did a season ago.

He didn't have a single catch against Duke, a move that shows how the Hokies have gradually relied on two tight end sets more and more and that could explain his diminished numbers.

"From week to week, with what you think you have to do and feel like what you have to get accomplished, sometimes roles change," Stinespring said. "It's not anything you wouldn't want to throw him the ball, or get Willie out there, it's just what you're trying to get accomplished and how you have to do it."

Since returning from his leave of absence from the team, Josh Stanford has similarly struggled to match his production from last season.

Headed into the year, Stanford was a popular pick to take a big leap on offense. Yet an early injury combined with his month-long absence from the program meant that he's still playing catch-up in many ways.

"I just think that from the time that Josh was away from the team, Cam grew up a whole bunch and the end of the day, you're going to put your best guys out there," Moorehead said. "I think he's grown so much from last year as a player that I think he's way ahead of where he was last year. Now he's just trying to catch up to Cam and Isaiah and he's done a great job."

Stanford only has seven catches for 64 yards this year, but Moorehead said he thinks he can really start to get into a groove if he finishes these last two games well.

"When he hones it in and gets it going on football, he can be good," Moorehead said. "You saw that catch he had on the sideline on Saturday, it was spectacular, it's not an easy catch to make. To get your feet down while falling down, that's big time and we need more plays like that out of Josh."

His 14-yard catch was indeed impressive, and he caught a similarly important pass against BC for 15 yards. It's not the same as his big season in 2013, but it's a start.

However, it won't exactly be an easy road for Stanford and company to have a big day against the Demon Deacons' secondary. For all Wake's offensive woes, their pass defense has been excellent this season. They're allowing just 180.3 yards per game through the air to put them at 10th in the country (just .3 yards ahead of the Hokies at 11th, funnily enough).

"Their secondary is maybe the best we've seen in the ACC," Byrn said. "I really like the challenge we have this week in the receiver room to take on these corners that might be playing in the pros."

Moorehead is similarly convinced of the group's talent.

"You look at their corners, you look at their safeties, they've played a whole bunch of football, all four of these guys," Moorehead said. "But those two corners they have outside are really good football players."

From Frank Beamer on down, the staff seems enamored with the duo of Merrill Noel and Kevin Johnson, a pair of redshirt seniors that they seem to think could make life difficult for Tech's receivers.

"(Johnson)'s as good as you're going to see all year in my opinion," Moorehead said. "On the other side, (Noel), he's a senior, he's played a lot of football, he's a Florida kid which means he's competitive."

That all means there will be little margin for error when the Hokies head for North Carolina.

"We've just got to continue to do the little things well. Because against a lesser corner, the little things don't make the difference all the time. But against a great corner, they make a difference every single play," Moorehead said.

But the Hokies aren't so scared of the Wake secondary that they won't try and test them a bit.

"We've got to make sure and we're taking our shots against them and not being conservative, we just need to know what they're capable of," Moorehead said.

The players seem particularly excited for the challenge, especially because it's yet another road game, where this team seems to thrive.

"Me personally, I really like going on the road," Byrn said. "I love playing at home, obviously, in front of the fans, but when you're playing in front of 66,000 Tech fans, everyone's on your side. But I really like the idea of going on the road and going up against thousands of people and playing against them."

Some of the younger guys hope they can keep up their streak of road success, if for no other reason than to help the seniors reach a bowl.

"We need to win both (of the remaining games), not just for the season, but more so for the seniors. Send them out the right way," Ford said.

That's pretty much the season in a nutshell right there. All may be lost from the perspective of re-joining the national conversation, but there is a potent foundation of youth and experience in place going forward, and it shows in the way both the young guys and veterans have learned to play for each other.

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"Our job as coaches is to influence young people's lives for the better in terms of fundamental skills, work ethic, and doing the right thing. Every now and again, a player actually has that effect on the coaching staff." Justin Fuente on Sam Rogers

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"Our job as coaches is to influence young people's lives for the better in terms of fundamental skills, work ethic, and doing the right thing. Every now and again, a player actually has that effect on the coaching staff." Justin Fuente on Sam Rogers