Mark Leal lost his starting position as Field Goal/PAT Holder, now hes giving starting QB a real shot making the QB competition closer than anyone thought it would.
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I think most of us here think/know that it is going to most likely be Brewer. Besides the two interceptions during one scrimmage, (I think one or both were made of Kendall, one being silly.) there has only been good reviews on him. Plus I think the coaches need to decide pretty soon, we are less than 2 weeks away from the opener and we still haven't tagged someone as the starting QB. Just my .02
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Right. For all we know a WR ran the wrong route or he fell down.
We have no idea if it was a bad decision by Brewer or not.
I really think it'll be Brewer. The fact that Chad Morris raved about the guy gives me some confidence, he came from a pass oriented offense at TT, and it sounds like he generally takes care of the ball. That's what we need since we had way too many INTs last season.
It also sounds like Leal has really stepped up, which is good to hear. We might not know who the #1 guy is right now, but maybe we have pretty good depth at the position this year.
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That's always the thing with these things. We have a stellar defense. Like, a world beater defense. Like, a "if the offense would get it's life together, we would win national championships" defense.
I know we're not very deep at corner right now, but I'm guessing that Chuck Clarke isn't much of a slouch if Torrian Grey listed him at the number 3 spot on the depth chart at DBU.
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If our O was able to play as well as our D, I would expect us to be national championship contenders. That's how good our D is. Our general philosophy has been, "Let's go in there and let's give them the D. It doesn't matter if they don't want the D, let's give them the D anyway. I bet they don't want the D. Even more reason to give them the D. This D is a pretty fearsome D. Not a lot of people can handle this D."
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Frank Beamer says on Tech Talk Live that #Hokies will go through one more scrimmage on Wednesday before deciding on a starting quarterback.— Andy Bitter (@AndyBitterVT) August 18, 2014
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I see that VTGuitarMan, like myself, is taking the first of many steps in college offseason recovery - slowing down our F5 spamming. To be honest, he's doing better than I am.
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So basically, it comes down to who performs better today? It's gonna be real awkward if Brewer has an off-day today and still gets picked as the starter...
Edit: I guess Beamer would also make into account their growth potential too. So even if Brewer is slightly worse today, he could still start? Basically he's looking to see if Leal is somehow leaps-and-bounds better today?
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I'd say yes, the big question would be if one is leaps-and-bounds better, especially when it comes to making good decisions and taking care of the football. They'll have film of two game situations by the end of today, and I'm sure there are certain aspects of each guy's game they'd like to see improvement on from scrimmage 1 to scrimmage 2. It very well might be that whoever proves he can learn from his mistakes and not repeat the same one twice will get the job.
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And even if we do see Leal trott out there and start the Bill & Mary game DOES NOT mean we won't see Brewer in my opinion. Yes, not ideal but could be used as the last "test"... they do have a talented defense
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I am sure the players are being told where to improve daily and neither will be surprised if he does not get it.
I have been worried that the long competition is a sign of two mediocre performances so far, but recent comments by the coaches have me thinking that Leal took a major step this summer. I do think the starter will have a shorter leash than Logan but believe that it won't be so short that the player is worried about getting pulled after a few bad plays.
Look at other schools and you will find that an extended competition is not unusual. At UNC, Marquise Williams started the 2nd half of the season and played really well (when he wasn't facing our defense, of course) but is in a tight race to be starter with a RS-Fr. with no current timeline for the decision. Just saying that this stuff happens a lot and there is value in getting both guys as ready as possible.
As for me, the QB has become less of the focus and I am looking forward to all the young skill players who will be taking the field for the first time as a Hokie (Hodges, Ford, and McKenzie are 3 for which the sky is the limit).
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I also believe that they want the #2 guy to be as ready as possible so that if he has to come in the offense can continue without missing a beat. Having two good quarterbacks at #1 and #2 is not a bad problem to have....as long as you manage it correctly.
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So "we need to decide on a guy quickly" is now "we will name a guy AT BEST a week before the season and give him all of a week with first team reps"....AND..."we cant play more than 3 RB's" is now "we got 17 backs and we aren't redshirting any of them"....so frustrating. Give me Brewer or Motley (not LEAL) and a RB trio of Edmunds, shai, and marshawn. use JC in the slot. Done.
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Except two of your three RB's selected are still recovering from huge injuries. Shai is still tentative at times and feels his knee, and Edmunds might miss the first four games. So you are now going to rely on Marshawn alone?
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Ok, let's have a nice little collective calming of the tits. Yes, they want three backs to get carries, but the problem is, as pointed out above, we don't know who's healthy or who will stay healthy. Also, get over the Sun Bowl. Lefty has been very strong on his position that Leal has improved immensely since December and the spring. If he's good enough to push Brewer, great. I'm pretty confident one guy will be getting reps heading into game week. With today's scrimmage being cancelled, I think that's why they moved Saturday's up to Friday. It will give them an extra day to look over the film and name a starter. You can forget about Motley contributing this year unless things go downhill in a big way with the first 2 guys.
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It would be very interesting since that was never on our radar of a possibility entering the Fall. It would save a year for Durkin when Motley would be losing the year anyway on the bench, but is Motley as effective as Durkin? I don't know. I think Motley ran a Wing-T offense in high school similar to GT style so one would think he would do pretty well in that role.
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True, and Motley might actually be a better fit for what we can do with our current RBs. With Motley, we can have a bruiser like Shai or Williams hitting the hole as the inside option off of a zone read, with the quicker Motley as the outside option. That might work better than having 2 bigger guys as both inside/outside. Plus, Motley ran that little speed option stuff very well during the spring. Y'know, the more I think about this, the more I'm really OK with it.
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Yawhooo!!! Laurence Gibson's X-rays came back negative.. is just a mild foot sprain but they were worried due to the initial swelling.
In another topic could Travon McMillian be our own version of Percey Harvin? Blazing speed will be returning kicks/punts and is being classified as "offensive weapon"!! Oh I'm so excite!!!!!!!
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I think the injuries have complicated the RB situation, but that one still frustrates me a lot more than QB. I really hope it is between those 3 guys but won't be surprised if JC is still in the mix due to health. The good news is that the overall talent level is way higher. If Shane hasn't learned from past RB debacles, it's squarely on him. I, however, think he's a sharp young coach and believe there will only be 2 primary backs vs William & Mary (and the other guys will just be for special packages).
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#Hokies AD Whit Babcock among those anxious to know VT's starting QB: "I want to ask so bad. Next week, I might pull executive privilege."— Hokies Journal (@HokiesJournal) August 20, 2014
Looks like Whit can't wait either! Love it!
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Breaking news: in a surprising turn of events, CFB names sophomore TE Kalvin Cline starting QB. "Given the success we had with Logan, I thought, 'Hell, might as well give Kalvin a shot.'"
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I see this more in the negative light. The fact that we haven't named a starter tells me that neither is good enough to blow the other out of the water and rather than having 2 great qbs that are game ready, we've got 2 just alright qbs that one will have to be thrown into a game situation and hopefully step up big time. Maybe its just all the limited review we have for Leal and Brewer, but I haven't been very impressed with either beyond high school film.
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but I haven't been very impressed with either beyond high school film
That's because, as you mentioned, there isn't a who lot of film of them beyond high school. At Texas Tech, Brewer looked very good pre-injury, and we haven't seen much at all from Leal since the Sun Bowl. There's nothing wrong with the coaches trying to rep and evaluate two unknowns during the preseason. Even if they already have a good idea of who is leading, keeping the competition on makes everyone better and ensures everyone involved is going forward 100% and getting better in every practice.
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Given the improvement in the talent around the QB, being "alright" might be OK for us. The growth from the WRs last year is encouraging. The backfield is deeper and more talented. Hopefully the OL is picking up good skills after having two years of good (albeit different) coaching. We had a lot of problems last year and leaned on LT3. That likely won't be the case this year.
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All kinds of this. The importance of the QB position diminished immensely when LT3 graduated and with the emergence of guys like Ford, Williams, McKenzie and Hodges. I'm expecting us to look quite a bit like 2013 Michigan State this year: Solid if unspectacular QB play, a decent running game, and a defense that can cover a multitude of sins.
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Would there be any advantage if the staff did NOT name a starter right away? Are our QBs different enough that OSU would have to have a different D gameplan for them?
I'm still under the impression that Brewer is going to be the starter, if so, why not continue letting him take the first team snaps in practice and just not announce him as the starter until you absolutely have to? - OSU is already having to gameplan for an option offense week 1, Wouldn't the shorter amount of time they could gameplan for our QB make it really tough to come up with 2 gameplans on our QBs with limited film?
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I don't think the style of play between Leal and Brewer is that different to cause meyer to change his gameplan much if any. And just like us facing GT, I'm sure they'll have no problem shifting their preparations from defending the spread to defending our style of offense.
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Comments
Mark Leal lost his starting position as Field Goal/PAT Holder, now hes giving starting QB a real shot making the QB competition closer than anyone thought it would.
So, the answer is no....but it's still early today...
You laugh but my Raiders had serious kicking issues last year and a big part of that was an all new holder...
I think the Raiders' issues go much further than kicking.
You gotta love that this image looks like the dude is a Wahoo telling you the Raiders suck.
I think once a QB is decided upon, you won't have to ask on this forum
I think most of us here think/know that it is going to most likely be Brewer. Besides the two interceptions during one scrimmage, (I think one or both were made of Kendall, one being silly.) there has only been good reviews on him. Plus I think the coaches need to decide pretty soon, we are less than 2 weeks away from the opener and we still haven't tagged someone as the starting QB. Just my .02
Only the silly one was a Fuller interception. The other was made by Chuck Clark.
Thats what I thought, wasn't too sure though
Right. For all we know a WR ran the wrong route or he fell down.
We have no idea if it was a bad decision by Brewer or not.
I really think it'll be Brewer. The fact that Chad Morris raved about the guy gives me some confidence, he came from a pass oriented offense at TT, and it sounds like he generally takes care of the ball. That's what we need since we had way too many INTs last season.
It also sounds like Leal has really stepped up, which is good to hear. We might not know who the #1 guy is right now, but maybe we have pretty good depth at the position this year.
That's always the thing with these things. We have a stellar defense. Like, a world beater defense. Like, a "if the offense would get it's life together, we would win national championships" defense.
I know we're not very deep at corner right now, but I'm guessing that Chuck Clarke isn't much of a slouch if Torrian Grey listed him at the number 3 spot on the depth chart at DBU.
If our O could consistently play as well as the defense does year in and year out we would routinely be in the top 10 every year.
If our O was able to play as well as our D, I would expect us to be national championship contenders. That's how good our D is. Our general philosophy has been, "Let's go in there and let's give them the D. It doesn't matter if they don't want the D, let's give them the D anyway. I bet they don't want the D. Even more reason to give them the D. This D is a pretty fearsome D. Not a lot of people can handle this D."
The decision is coming soon...
This. I think we know by noon on Thursday.
Me on TKP and Twitter on Thursday:
I see that VTGuitarMan, like myself, is taking the first of many steps in college offseason recovery - slowing down our F5 spamming. To be honest, he's doing better than I am.
The struggle is real.
Whew. Finally. Man the best QB win the job
Ha! I wish I had a dollar for every time I pushed the F5 button on this site.
Sounds like a decision may be made after the scrimmage tomorrow.
So basically, it comes down to who performs better today? It's gonna be real awkward if Brewer has an off-day today and still gets picked as the starter...
Edit: I guess Beamer would also make into account their growth potential too. So even if Brewer is slightly worse today, he could still start? Basically he's looking to see if Leal is somehow leaps-and-bounds better today?
I doubt the coaches are going to base their choice on a single day's performance.
I'd say yes, the big question would be if one is leaps-and-bounds better, especially when it comes to making good decisions and taking care of the football. They'll have film of two game situations by the end of today, and I'm sure there are certain aspects of each guy's game they'd like to see improvement on from scrimmage 1 to scrimmage 2. It very well might be that whoever proves he can learn from his mistakes and not repeat the same one twice will get the job.
And even if we do see Leal trott out there and start the Bill & Mary game DOES NOT mean we won't see Brewer in my opinion. Yes, not ideal but could be used as the last "test"... they do have a talented defense
I am sure the players are being told where to improve daily and neither will be surprised if he does not get it.
I have been worried that the long competition is a sign of two mediocre performances so far, but recent comments by the coaches have me thinking that Leal took a major step this summer. I do think the starter will have a shorter leash than Logan but believe that it won't be so short that the player is worried about getting pulled after a few bad plays.
Look at other schools and you will find that an extended competition is not unusual. At UNC, Marquise Williams started the 2nd half of the season and played really well (when he wasn't facing our defense, of course) but is in a tight race to be starter with a RS-Fr. with no current timeline for the decision. Just saying that this stuff happens a lot and there is value in getting both guys as ready as possible.
As for me, the QB has become less of the focus and I am looking forward to all the young skill players who will be taking the field for the first time as a Hokie (Hodges, Ford, and McKenzie are 3 for which the sky is the limit).
A good running game and reliable receivers will make a new starting QBs job a lot easier.
I also believe that they want the #2 guy to be as ready as possible so that if he has to come in the offense can continue without missing a beat. Having two good quarterbacks at #1 and #2 is not a bad problem to have....as long as you manage it correctly.
Unlike the Browns who have two clowns at QB.. <-- see what I did there?
So "we need to decide on a guy quickly" is now "we will name a guy AT BEST a week before the season and give him all of a week with first team reps"....AND..."we cant play more than 3 RB's" is now "we got 17 backs and we aren't redshirting any of them"....so frustrating. Give me Brewer or Motley (not LEAL) and a RB trio of Edmunds, shai, and marshawn. use JC in the slot. Done.
Except two of your three RB's selected are still recovering from huge injuries. Shai is still tentative at times and feels his knee, and Edmunds might miss the first four games. So you are now going to rely on Marshawn alone?
Ok, let's have a nice little collective calming of the tits. Yes, they want three backs to get carries, but the problem is, as pointed out above, we don't know who's healthy or who will stay healthy. Also, get over the Sun Bowl. Lefty has been very strong on his position that Leal has improved immensely since December and the spring. If he's good enough to push Brewer, great. I'm pretty confident one guy will be getting reps heading into game week. With today's scrimmage being cancelled, I think that's why they moved Saturday's up to Friday. It will give them an extra day to look over the film and name a starter. You can forget about Motley contributing this year unless things go downhill in a big way with the first 2 guys.
For the record, Motley has also been taking snaps in the Wild Turkey with Durkin and Hodges.
Hmmm.... The only way I'm ok with that is if Durkin redshirts. If so, that could definitely be interesting.
It would be very interesting since that was never on our radar of a possibility entering the Fall. It would save a year for Durkin when Motley would be losing the year anyway on the bench, but is Motley as effective as Durkin? I don't know. I think Motley ran a Wing-T offense in high school similar to GT style so one would think he would do pretty well in that role.
True, and Motley might actually be a better fit for what we can do with our current RBs. With Motley, we can have a bruiser like Shai or Williams hitting the hole as the inside option off of a zone read, with the quicker Motley as the outside option. That might work better than having 2 bigger guys as both inside/outside. Plus, Motley ran that little speed option stuff very well during the spring. Y'know, the more I think about this, the more I'm really OK with it.
FYI-no scrimmage today. Moved to Friday..thus my one week of reps comment.
Yawhooo!!! Laurence Gibson's X-rays came back negative.. is just a mild foot sprain but they were worried due to the initial swelling.
In another topic could Travon McMillian be our own version of Percey Harvin? Blazing speed will be returning kicks/punts and is being classified as "offensive weapon"!! Oh I'm so excite!!!!!!!
I think the injuries have complicated the RB situation, but that one still frustrates me a lot more than QB. I really hope it is between those 3 guys but won't be surprised if JC is still in the mix due to health. The good news is that the overall talent level is way higher. If Shane hasn't learned from past RB debacles, it's squarely on him. I, however, think he's a sharp young coach and believe there will only be 2 primary backs vs William & Mary (and the other guys will just be for special packages).
Looks like Whit can't wait either! Love it!
Breaking news: in a surprising turn of events, CFB names sophomore TE Kalvin Cline starting QB. "Given the success we had with Logan, I thought, 'Hell, might as well give Kalvin a shot.'"
Is it THAT bad that the QB race is apparantly so close?
How often in VT's recent history have we had a starting QB AND a backup that was game ready?
I'm gonna take this recent tight competition as a good sign.
I see this more in the negative light. The fact that we haven't named a starter tells me that neither is good enough to blow the other out of the water and rather than having 2 great qbs that are game ready, we've got 2 just alright qbs that one will have to be thrown into a game situation and hopefully step up big time. Maybe its just all the limited review we have for Leal and Brewer, but I haven't been very impressed with either beyond high school film.
That's because, as you mentioned, there isn't a who lot of film of them beyond high school. At Texas Tech, Brewer looked very good pre-injury, and we haven't seen much at all from Leal since the Sun Bowl. There's nothing wrong with the coaches trying to rep and evaluate two unknowns during the preseason. Even if they already have a good idea of who is leading, keeping the competition on makes everyone better and ensures everyone involved is going forward 100% and getting better in every practice.
Given the improvement in the talent around the QB, being "alright" might be OK for us. The growth from the WRs last year is encouraging. The backfield is deeper and more talented. Hopefully the OL is picking up good skills after having two years of good (albeit different) coaching. We had a lot of problems last year and leaned on LT3. That likely won't be the case this year.
All kinds of this. The importance of the QB position diminished immensely when LT3 graduated and with the emergence of guys like Ford, Williams, McKenzie and Hodges. I'm expecting us to look quite a bit like 2013 Michigan State this year: Solid if unspectacular QB play, a decent running game, and a defense that can cover a multitude of sins.
Would there be any advantage if the staff did NOT name a starter right away? Are our QBs different enough that OSU would have to have a different D gameplan for them?
I'm still under the impression that Brewer is going to be the starter, if so, why not continue letting him take the first team snaps in practice and just not announce him as the starter until you absolutely have to? - OSU is already having to gameplan for an option offense week 1, Wouldn't the shorter amount of time they could gameplan for our QB make it really tough to come up with 2 gameplans on our QBs with limited film?
I don't think the style of play between Leal and Brewer is that different to cause meyer to change his gameplan much if any. And just like us facing GT, I'm sure they'll have no problem shifting their preparations from defending the spread to defending our style of offense.