Playing to Vinny Mihota's Strengths in Virginia Tech's Pass Rush Scheme

Former Virginia Tech defensive end Dadi Nicolas now resides in Kansas City where he is trying to stick as an outside linebacker for the Chiefs. Nicolas had lofty expectations for his senior season with the Hokies. Although, those expectations went largely unmet. Nicolas struggled with injuries and opponents game planned to attack his limitations. Nicolas repeatedly got too far up field in both pass rush and run defense situations and the Hokies were not good enough at other positions to make up for it.

During the offseason, Bud Foster repeatedly talked about how the Hokies weren't changing their defensive scheme. He has repeatedly said that he wants his front seven to be more gap sound up front. Physics, specifically getting bigger, seemed to be an off season mandate for several of the smaller Hokie defensive linemen.

"Dadi, he was a dynamic guy coming off the edge, but I think I'd like to find some guys that are a little bit more firm at the point of attack," Foster recently told The Key Play.

It appears that the guy who will be asked to replace Nicolas and be firm at the point of attack is gargantuan redshirt sophomore Vinny Mihota. Foster said of Mihota, "[he's a] big, physical kid who has some experience and plays extremely hard and extremely smart."

At 6'5", 264 pounds, the Massaponax product played effectively against Virginia and Tulsa to close Tech's 2015 season. He brings a size and strength that will be tougher for the opposition to move in the run game.

Traditionally, the Hokie defensive coaches seem to favor "twitchy" defensive ends. Mihota has a terrific first step. Still, defensive line coach Charley Wiles and Foster have both indicated from time to time that they have concerns about Mihota's edge speed at the defensive end spot. In order to maximize Mihota's effectiveness, Wiles and Foster concocted some interesting scheme adjustments.

Twisting the Night Away

When the Hokies played a four-man front on passing downs against Virginia, Mihota lined up at the normal stud end position over the right offensive tackle. However, rather than attempting to contain rush around the edge, Foster regularly chose to execute a twist stunt to Mihota's side.

A twist stunt involves two defensive linemen criss-crossing on a pass rush. The first defender draws the attention of the blockers, and the second loops behind the first to have an unabated bath to the quarterback. Sometimes, the blockers do not get drawn away, but the stunt effectively shields the blocker, creating a rush lane.

Mihota didn't register a sack against the Wahoos, however he constantly put pressure on quarterback Matt Johns and drew two holding penalties during the game. The twist stunt allowed Mihota to bend inside and have a short rush path right into John's sight line. This caused several inaccurate throws.

During this play in the first quarter against Virginia, the Cavaliers show a passing formation and the Hokies execute a twist stunt to the bottom of the screen. Luther Maddy shoots through his outside gap and draws the attention of both the center and the left guard.

Mihota initially rushes up field like a normal pass rush. Once Maddy has widened a gap, Mihota stops his forward momentum and cuts sharply to his right. Essentially he uses Maddy as a pick.

As Mihota turns up field, Maddy has the guard and center tied up. The right offensive tackle has dropped into a normal pass pro posture and can't recover back to the inside. Mihota forces Johns into an inaccurate throw. This is fortunate for the Hokies because then corner Terrell Edmunds had fallen down on the play.

Mihota's big size makes him very effective at stunting to open lanes for Tech's linebackers.

In the play above, Mihota stunts hard to the inside. This time he draws the right offensive tackle inside with him. Deon Clarke then twists outside into the space vacated by the left tackle. Clarke has a free lane to the quarterback. Unfortunately, this time Donovan Riley can't stick with Smoke Mizzell and Johns gets the throw off before Clarke arrives. Even so, Mihota's stunt still created an effective pass rush with no escape lanes inside for Johns to scramble.

Mihota and the Bear

Foster made another adjustment that echoes Hokie defenses from the mid-90s. Against Virginia, if Mihota was in the game and the Hokies aligned in a Bear front, Mihota dropped down into a three-technique. In addition, he always aligned to the boundary side with Deon Clarke as the edge player. If the field side was over right tackle, Ken Ekanem would flip flop and play on the opposite side as he normally aligned.

This change allowed Mihota to generate interior push and added more edge speed from the boundary.

On this play, Mihota uses his power to attract a double team. Meanwhile, Ken Ekanem is blocked one-on-one on the blindside.

Ekanem beats the blocker and forces a quick throw from Johns for a minimal gain.

Mihota's size and strength inside adds an element that the Hokies didn't have when Nicolas or Ekanem were forced to play the three-technique in the Bear regularly last season. Even the twist stunt was effective for Mihota from the Bear alignment.

With five men on the line of scrimmage, the Bear makes it more difficult for the offensive line to roll pass protection. The two offensive tackles have to account for the two edge defenders. Here, Mihota gets pressure off a twist stunt inside, and the right offensive tackle can't slide inside to help because he has to account for Ekanem. Ekanem isn't rushing. Instead, Ekanem is jamming the slot receiver and defending the flat.

Mihota uses Nigel Williams as a screen and has a clear route to the quarterback. The UVA center prevents the sack by tackling Williams, who inadvertently trips up Mihota. The pressure forces a bad throw from Johns and the UVA center gets called for holding.

The proof ultimately is in the pudding. Mihota may not have been a dynamic presence, but as a whole the defense was more effective with Mihota in the last two games than they were with Nicolas. Against Virginia and Tulsa, the offenses didn't score a point on a series where Mihota and Nigel Williams were both on the field. Mihota also came in to replace Dadi in the second quarter when Tulsa was in the red zone to force a field goal attempt. At that point, Tulsa's field goal pulled them to 45-24 so the critical nature of the play may have escaped many. As the game progressed, those four points ended up being the difference. If Mihota can improve the run defense while being used properly as a pass rusher, I expect Mihota to upgrade the Hokie defense this season.