Tremaine Edmunds Bounces Back and Reggie Floyd Spotlight

The Hokies' defense blanked Delaware on Saturday after struggling to limit West Virginia and its potent Air Raid offense. However, the Blue Hens posed a different challenge, heavier personnel packages with more bodies in the box and limited sophistication in the passing game. In years past, similar schemes (e.g. Pitt and Boston College prior to 2016) put pressure on Virginia Tech's defensive front to be sound with its gap responsibilities while the alley defenders needed to be sure tacklers. When the Hokies' alley defenders made tackles, the defense performed well. When those alley defenders couldn't put the running back on the ground in space, ball carriers were all too often spotted gallivanting to the end zone.

The Blue Hens didn't have the same level of talent as those past ACC opponents. However, the Hokies' alley players answered the challenge brilliantly throughout a 27-0 shutout. Delaware only sustained two extended drives (7 plays 64 yards, 12 plays 65 yards). On those possessions, the defense was bailed out by a missed field goal, and a Tim Settle deflected a pass to Terrell Edmunds for an interception. Otherwise, after giving 592 yards against West Virginia, the Hokies limited Delaware to 223 yards.

Tremaine Edmunds bounced back from a subpar effort against the Mountaineers in which he frequently did not play play with the proper leverage. For example, on this WVU 2nd-and-7 Edmunds took on an isolation block with the wrong shoulder. In doing so, Edmunds and Andrew Motuapuaka fitted the same gap and Justin Crawford rumbled through the unfitted gap for a 42-yard gain.

Against Delaware Edmunds delivered 14 tackles and 4 tackles for a loss. He made a number of highlight reel plays using his speed and athleticism.

However, his sound positioning and technique on simple plays were even more encouraging in my eyes.

On first-and-ten, the Blue Hens run a power off the left side. Mook Reynolds is disguised as the edge defender. At the snap, Reynolds blitzes off the edge. He takes a very flat angle. This exposes Mook as the edge defender with a "spill" (bounce the runner outside) responsibility.

Up front and to the field-side, DE Trevon Hill (7-technique) and DT Ricky Walker (3-technique) slanted hard to their left, DT Tim Settle (1-technique) slanted right to the A-gap, and DE Houshun Gaines (5-technique) dropped off to the flat. Motuapuaka and Edmunds scraped against the flow. Reynolds spilled the back and Motuapuaka was quick enough to get to the edge so the RB Kareem Williams couldn't bounce outside. Edmunds fitted squarely in the space between Motuapuaka and Reynolds.

Once in position, there is no hesitation from Tremaine. He delivers a perfect form tackle and puts Williams on the ground. This is beautiful scheme and the three Hokies linebackers executed it perfectly. And Reggie Floyd (more on him in a second) is in perfect position as the alley defender if Tremaine misses the tackle.

Floyd's positioning and tackling has belied that of an inexperienced sophomore and has been a positive surprise early in the season. It seemed like every time the Blue Hens ran to the boundary, Floyd was in perfect position to fill the alley and put the runner on the ground. The next play was a carbon copy of a handful of beautiful alley plays Floyd made over the course of the game.

Delaware runs a split zone read accentuated by the H-Back coming across from left to right to wham block DE Vinny Mihota off the edge. Hill has a force call, he has to stay outside and force RB Thomas Jefferson to cut into the lane. With Hill executing the force call, Floyd knows he has to fill the alley inside of Hill.

If Hill doesn't keep contain, Floyd will be out of position. Hill does his job perfectly. He gets slightly up field and keeps his right shoulder free. Motuapuaka and Edmunds fill the bubble in between Walker and Settle. Floyd rockets up to the line of scrimmage and rocks Jefferson right in the hole. Floyd absolutely sticks Jefferson, and Settle gets all the way across from his three-technique alignment on the back-side of the formation to get a piece of Jefferson too. Watch every defensive snap and you will see Floyd make this play at least a half dozen times. The 6-0, 218 pound former 3-star recruit has been solid so far in 2017.

The Lack of Depth and Sloppiness

Unfortunately, Bud Foster made little progress towards his goal of building depth up front. Gaines got more work at defensive end with the top group and generated some pressure. Emmanuel Belmar had a nice play where he kept contain and made a beautiful tackle (despite the back grabbing his facemask). However, when Delaware moved the ball, it generally happened when the second-team d-line was in the game.

As result, the starting defensive line group had moments where they started to wear down. Tired legs often produce poor execution. In a one-gap scheme like Foster's, an execution breakdown in a gap can produce a big play.

Delaware's best run of the game came on a simple outside zone play. How did such a big hole open up? As you can see, instead of slanting through the inside shoulder of the right guard, Settle swims through his outside shoulder. While he gets off the guard unscathed, the swim move opens a big cutback lane for the back inside of Jarrod Hewitt and Andrew Motuapuaka.

Settle's freelancing likely drew the ire of Charley Wiles in the film room on Monday. Still, Settle is a huge difference maker when he's not fatigued. The Hokies desperately need depth inside to limit Settle and Walker's snaps and keep the single-digit duo fresh. With Hewitt and Jimmie Taylor not producing, Foster moved Vinny Mihota inside on regular rushing downs. Mihota's presence made a difference as he repeatedly drew false starts on the Blue Hen's offensive line. However, with Gaines still feeling his way into the rotation, moving Mihota inside creates depth issues at defensive end. The Hokies desperately need better output from that second defensive line group against East Carolina. Otherwise, the Hokies' top DL group may potentially be worn down by the time Virginia Tech begins ACC play.