Here at Virginia Tech we take a certain pride in our special teams when most football fans consider it an afterthought. Our head coach coaches the special teams and always says "As long as I have a good quarterback, a good kicker and my health is good, I am going to keep on going." After some questionable years I think he has found his kicker in Joey Slye. Yes he missed 46-yarder in the fourth, but to put a true freshman out there in that situation speaks to Beamer's confidence in him. But there are other reasons, mainly, as Oceanfront Hokie said "That's a bad bad man." You don't think a kicker can be a badass?
I saw this when someone (probably Joe) retweeted it and I know 4VPISU put it in another post. That's a form tackle. That's a guy who isn't afraid of anything. That's not your typical kicker.
Well consider this: Slye played linebacker in high school. And he was good. So good in fact he "Earned all-conference, all-region, all-state and all-area honors as a kicker and linebacker...Named The Free Lance-Stars male high school athlete of the year" according to his HokieSports bio. You're looking at a guy who wants, hell it seems like he needs, to get a hit in during a game. He had at least one tackle in the opener vs. William & Mary. And the last kick-off after Riley's interception, he sprinted downfield and pushed the pile over. You don't just get to be all-state as a kicker even if you can hit 50+ yarders, which he has done in practice and was why Beamer put him out there at the end. He was a hell of a Linebacker. His high school highlight video, while not well done, shows mostly him making tackles, hard tackles. Did I mention he also played Running Back?
OK so Joey Slye is as tough-nose Hokie as they come on the football field. But off the field, well I'll let him tell it
Thanks everyone for the love and support! I play 4 #6 @slyefootball6 love you bud! Got the first tackle of the season for you!— Joey Slye (@Joey_Slye) August 31, 2014
And those around him
@Joey_Slye and I Play 4 #6 pic.twitter.com/Seb8CC32E5— Darnell Parker (@ChiefScooter46) August 31, 2014
This February, Joey's older brother AJ lost his battle with leukemia just months before Joey would move to Blacksburg and become the first freshman to start at kicker since 2000. Joey wears number 46 because he plays for his brother, who used to wear #6 when he played football. Joey Slye plays 4#6.
This...This is a guy I can root for.
Comments
This February, Joey's older brother AJ lost his battle with leukemia just months before Joey would move to Blacksburg and become the first freshman to start at kicker since 2000. Joey wears number 46 because he plays for his brother, who used to wear #6 when he played football. Joey Slye plays 4#6.
I did not know that story, but now I'm pulling for him more than ever.
His FG attempt still looked better than either of Ohio State's. He looked solid against W&M. I'm way more comfortable with our kicking situation this year.
I just fucking love this entire team. From top-to-bottom.
Going back to what French said after the game, THIS is what Hokie football is all about - finding and developing talent with good character and work ethic. If you put in the work and show the coaches that you can do what they ask of you, you'll play - scholarship or not.
Seeing the players' stories makes the fact that they're in M&O that much more meaningful. I love this school.
EDIT: "character and work ethic"
Is Slye on scholly now? Did Santamaria lose his?
They may RS Santamaria. Just my wild unfounded guess.
He'll get his chance again. I believe the next time he'll be clutch.
So we have the most badass kickers in all of NCAA football.
We gotta change this to #kickerswag.
Should we start referring to them as "The Foot" or "The Footclan"?
An OSU fan sitting in front of me at the game said "What the F***. I think that was the kicker," after that tackle. That made me smile.
Even Slye's 46 yarder was a solid kick. Barely missed, but had plenty of distance. I'm very glad he's our kicker.
Dude seems to be a solid individual. He embodies truly what it means to be a Hokie, couldn't be happier.
That kid's got a lot of heart, but apparently he wants more. He's trying to rip 'em out of opponents' chests!
He keeps making plays like these and he'll be paired with Nic Schmitt as my "Favorite Hokie Special Teamers of All Time"!
I haven't done one of these in a while and had planned to do an update this year with a new style, so apologies that it's the same concept but I thought it just had to be done.
New T-Shirt, please???
I think a better t-shirt would be, "We specialize in Kicking and Hitting." People might not like the "your ass" part on a t-shirt.
Yeah, good point...or how bout, "We specialize in Kicking the shit out of you."
Beween Slye and the 4th-down-QB; our kickers could be starting linebackers at LOLUVA
How dare you! Slye and Hughes actually tackle people.
Great post! This is another great example of a guy playing with heart - and it clearly shows! We have great leaders on this team, which is why it is special and different from other years.
As with everyone else on this feed and this site, I am pulling for Joey Slye!
Keep Kicking Ass!
I would like to see more kickoffs go into the back of the end zone. Maybe if our special teams continue to excel, I won't be so concerned about the short kick-offs....
Kinda hard to hit the back of the endzone when you're starting 15 yards back due to an excessive celebration penalty. There's a risk/reward component to kickoffs. Good kicks have great height and drop around the goal line, forcing the returner to take it up field. You stop him before the 25 and you've done your job. If your coverage can't hit the guy before the 25, you should aim for the endzone next time.
I liked how he put them all in the corner...but not out, allowing more time to cover. That was intentional, right?
He's got the leg for it. He had a lot of touchbacks in high school. I think they're having him kick it shallower because they believe that the kickoff team can stop the returner before the 20.
And if they don't stop him, it's Slye's job to go AJ Hughes on the returner and knock him into next week. Oh and cause a fumble.
Definitely pulling for this kid even more now. Love his heart and fearlessness.
Side note. How many teams are going to have our kickers on the scouting report? I know Miami will.
#punterswag
#Swaglegs ?
Before AJ & Slye graduate, every ACC return man's pre-kick ritual is going to be like "Dear God, please let one of my blockers pick up the kicker".
Should Slye ever falter and be supplanted by Santamaria or Wise, don't be surprised to see him on Kickoff coverage and even down on the LB depth chart.
I agree, this kid has heart and fire. And this line "You don't think a kicker can be a badass?" made me think of Jimmy Kibble.
In the 98 uva game, Kibble hit some guy hard enough to send him flying through the Tech sideline. Monster hit. The only problem was that they were out of bounds at the time.
Point is, when the kickers get so fired up and start taking guys out, it's impossible to not get amped.
Found an article that talks about the hit:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/sports/colfoot/longterm/preview99/a...
Hah. Great find. Brings back memories.
I think Jared Develli did something similar a few years later. When the refs threw the flag and the call was "unnecessary roughness, number 98 on the kicking team," the whole crowd was like "wait, what?"
I watched VTPhreak's highlight reel for this game to see if I could find the kickoff. It wasn't on there, but the next kickoff was and Kibble almost got in ANOTHER fight. Beamer had to drag him off the field by the collar on that one. In Kibble's defense the UVA player started it.
For anyone that wants to know a little more about him, here are two great articles about his journey.
http://www.freelancestar.com/2014-07-13/articles/40535/boys-athlete-of-t...
http://www.collegiatetimes.com/sports/article_5131e1de-2d72-11e4-9393-00...
And he behaves... so far...
He won't get out of line. He's worked too hard to get where he is. Plus, playing in his brother's memory, I doubt he'll screw up with the police.
Kickers are frequently the leading scorers; what would be a good tackles-per-game for a kicker? He's at least 1.0 right now; hopefully someone else can get there before him.
Thing is, at least in this vine video, is that it looks like he's right there at the point of attack. He's not doing the usual kicker thing and hanging back and playing safety valve. He is booting that ball, regaining his balance, and then booking it as hard as he can towards the returner.
It seems to me like he's not getting blocked because he's unaccounted for in the opposing team's game plan. And honestly, who game plans for the opposing teams kicker being a tackling threat? But you see a whole lot of blockers blocking their blocking assignment, and then Joey Slye out of motherfucking nowhere. Sadly, I think this trend will slow soon, as teams figure out that Joey Slye is a scary individual.
Yep agree. When I posted the Vine video on the other thread, I mentioned that Slye had a 'coverage man first, kicker second' mentality- if he is going to be a tackling threat, then other teams may adjust their blocking (I still doubt they will).
At the very least, if Slye forces people to block him, it could open up big hit potential from other members of the coverage team.
I definitely agree. I also want to point out that the Hokies are undefeated in games where Joey Slye has at least one kicker tackle.
Whos is going to be assigned to block the kicker?
Each team has 11 players.
All 10 of theirs are assigned and 1 guy to run the ball.
We have 10 guys assigned to killers and lanes and a kicker, who then becomes another killer.
With a kicker that hunts, you essentially have an unblocked blitzer.
Bingo, another mismatch.
That's math.
I stand corrected.