Hokies OL Must Improve at Identifying Blitz Threats and Setting Protections

The microscope will be on the offensive line this season, and Virginia Tech must improve its pass protection schemes.

[Mark Umansky]

This season the Hokies return an outstanding collection of skill position players, their best starting four along the defensive line since 1999, and an experienced, talented group of corners that will allow the Lunch Pail Defense to outnumber offenses at the point of attack. Quarterback Michael Brewer has a season as starter under his belt. 2014 was a rollercoaster for the gritty QB. He played magnificently in the road win against eventual national champion Ohio State, yet he often struggled with accuracy and decision making. Many will look at Brewer's level of play as a litmus test for Tech's 2015 performance.

Again, the spotlight will definitely be on the offensive line this year. Especially against a talented Ohio State d-line led by potential top overall NFL draft pick Joey Bosa. Last season, the offensive line struggled to protect Brewer, especially against blitzing, mobile defensive fronts. After close study, I wrote about how Wake Forest used a scheme which baited the VT offense to slide the pass protection one way, and then the Deacons would bring extra pressure away from the slide. The result of Wake's strategy left Tech's running back to block two players. In three key situations where the Hokies needed around 10 yards to sustain promising drives, Wake Forest used the same alignment. Each time, the Hokies slide their protection one way, and the Deacons brought extra pressure from the other side. They dictated how the Hokies would set their protection and then exploited it. This was most frustrating for me because it didn't appear that the Virginia Tech staff noticed the tendency in order to make an adjustment.

Wake Forest linebacker linebacker Brandon Chubb was also surprised that the Hokie coaching staff didn't adjust. "When I realized how easily we were getting to that quarterback, I knew we had a chance to win. (Wake Forest defensive coordinator Mike) Elko is a mastermind, so I knew if he kept calling those blitzes and the defensive game that he was calling, if he kept that up, we would win that game. I knew that by halftime. We were going with what was working. We had prepared that week that if they did a certain thing, we just audible from it. They kept during that certain thing and we kept audibling, and they never checked our audibles. It's one of those things that somebody says you stretch your arm three times before a game, you're going to throw for 300 yards, and you stretch your arm three times before a game and it works. It's kind of like 'wow, I can't believe it's that easy'. Not easy, but it's really working. Because nothing every really works how it says it's going to work. There's ups and downs with it. But with that, our coach said if they say this, if they do this, if they audible, we audible. The game plan is never perfect, but in that situation, it was pretty close. We were like, 'Wow, it's actually holding true for this long.' Even if it holds true at the beginning, usually a readjustment at halftime, or something. It was just one of those things where I wasn't mad and we were going to keep taking what they give us but at the same time, you were kind of wondering what happened," Chubb told WRAL's Lauren Brownlow at ACC Kickoff. (Her oral history of last season's Virginia Tech-Wake Forest game is a great read.)

Chubb didn't articulate exactly what the Hokies were doing to "tip" their slide protection. However, from what I watched on tape I would assume that against a balanced defensive front (meaning the same number of defenders in the box on each side of the center), the center or the quarterback would slide the protection based on either a particular player, or to the field or boundary. For our discussion, let's assume that the Hokies would roll the protection to the side of the mike linebacker. Then, all Wake Forest has to do is align their mike linebacker to one side, and then stunt him and other defenders to the opposite side. The Virginia Tech offensive line slides one way, the blitz goes the other, and the running back is left alone to block two defenders on the other side.

Once the pattern is noticed, the easy adjustment is to roll the protection AWAY from the mike linebacker. Then, blockers are going in the right direction and the defense is in a dangerous position because of their blitz.

Wake Forest was smart and disguised their blitzes by not overloading one side, and this created confusion. Little did I know that this issue of sliding protection away from a blitz was an on-going problem beyond just the Wake Forest game.

Miami, in true Miami form, didn't even bother to disguise their blitzes. Here, before the snap, there are two defenders to the left of center and three to the right side. Yet, for reasons only a conversation with Coach Searels and the players involved could identify, the protection slides to the left.

Miami compounds the issue by bringing a zone blitz with a left slant. The defensive end over left tackle drops back into a zone coverage, while the other defensive linemen slant one gap to VT's left side. Miami creates a numbers matchup advantage. Caleb Farris, Jonathan McLaughlin, and Sam Rogers are left to pick up four pass rushers, while the left side of the Hokies' line and David Wang only face one defender total. Wyatt Teller and Wang are left to block air. Rogers blocks the interior threat, as he should, and the Miami outside linebacker is unblocked for the sack.

When the offense is in slide protection, somebody must recognize the numbers and roll the protection the correct way. That will either be inexperienced center Eric Gallo (who received high marks for his protection calls in the spring from Coach Searels) or Michael Brewer. It is one thing to be physically beaten. It is another to beat yourself. That play was a textbook mental mistake. Furthermore, Tech's offensive players and coaches must keep on their toes and adjust to any defense that's caught onto a pattern.

Slide protection does have benefits. It allows the offense to get extra numbers against a blitz (if it slides into the blitz). A slide protection can also open up passing windows and influence linebackers and safeties into moving out of position. The weakness of a slide protection, even when executed properly, is that it often leaves the running back blocking a defensive end or pass rushing outside linebacker. Even the best blocking Hokie running backs lose that physical matchup more often than desired. Here is an example from the Pitt game. Pitt has the Hokies in a third-down-and-long situation, and only brings three pass rushers after feigning a five-man rush. The Hokies slide their protection to the left side, leaving Sam Rogers one-on-one with Pitt outside linebacker David Durham. The video speaks for itself, and Durham is no Joey Bosa.

I already noted my concerns over McLaughlin and Wade Hansen's ability to handle edge speed rushers. Now, at least three ACC teams have a key on the Hokies that allows them to manipulate the Hokie protection scheme and either create matchup advantages or confuse blockers. Eric Gallo's primary challenge will be improving the identification of blitz threats, setting the proper protections, and effectively communicating adjustments at the line in order to keep Michael Brewer healthy this season.

All offseason, Hokie Nation has heard from coaches over how well the offensive line performed in the spring, and how much continuity and communication had positively impacted their performance. Brewer echoed the sentiment at ACC Kickoff.

"The experience and knowledge, there's no substitute for that," Brewer said. "You look at a guy like Jonathan McLaughlin, coming back after the injury with all that experience, the leader of the offensive line, Wyatt Teller, not a freshman anymore coming back with about as much talent as any of them, Eric Gallo is probably the only guy with no experience up there, but he's a rare breed. He's smart, he knows what he's doing, he's able to get to the second level quick, especially in the run game. And of course Augie and Wade, both returning starters, so the knowledge and the experience, I think it will help the offensive line a lot."

Blitz identification, setting protections, and executing them will be the offensive line's biggest challenge this season.

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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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"We judge ourselves by our intentions and others by their behavior" Stephen M.R. Covey

“When life knocks you down plan to land on your back, because if you can look up, you can get up, if you fall flat on your face it can kill your spirit” David Wilson

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"My advice to you... is to start drinking heavily."-John Blutarsky

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Take the shortest route to the ball and arrive in bad humor.

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