Virginia Tech running back J.C. Coleman has to be the feel good story of the year for the Hokies. During rough seasons, it's up to the fanbase to celebrate those shining stars, if only to make the season bearable. J.C.'s story has been told many times through many mediums, but it never ceases to put a smile on my face. Coleman went from starter, to off-the-depth-chart-afterthought, to backfield savor. I was just as guilty as anyone when I gave up on the gutsy player, believing he was too slow and too small to ever make an impact on the field. Coleman has forced me to eat crow over the last few games of this up-and-down season. Boy, is it delicious.
Regardless of how well the defense played on Saturday, the run game was going to have to show up if Virginia Tech was going to beat Cincinnati. J.C. Coleman was going to have to carry the load with Trey Edmunds' availability limited, and he was up to the task. He finished with 157 yards (a Hokie bowl record) and tacked on a touchdown for good measure. It was an impressive game, especially considering Virginia Tech didn't have to rely on any trickeration or abnormal game plan to get Coleman rolling. All Virginia Tech offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler had to do was rely on a solid display by the five guys up front, and a tailback who spent the day punching above his weight.
Back To The Basics
Loeffler relied on the simplest of run plays Saturday, frequently leaning on the inside and outside zones to open up holes for his new star back. It was clear early on in the game that Cincinnati wasn't going to respect VT on the ground, hoping to force VT into dinking and dunking their way down the field. In the first half it appeared to be working, but once the second half opened up Loeffler pounded the Bearcats into submission.
On the very first run play of the game, we see how Cincinnati is set up with two deep safeties. Their goal is to invite Loeffler to run the ball against a shortage of defenders in the box, then converge to the football to make the tackle.
Loeffler calls a simple outside zone here. The defense does a decent job rallying to the football, including the play side safety. The reason this play doesn't pick up much yardage is because of the back side pursuit by the defensive line. If the offensive line can do a better job cutting their men and getting them on the turf, then Coleman can cut it up field. Regardless of the result, we can see how Cincinnati wants to wait until they are sure it's a run play to get a safety involved in the run game.
This is Coleman's second carry of the game, and again it's nothing fancy. Just an inside zone with a Sam Rogers leading the way. Cincy is giving up plenty of breathing room at the line of scrimmage on this play. Counting the defenders tells us that they don't have enough bodies to stuff this run play, they're hoping that one of the defenders can make a play before Coleman picks up too much yardage.
Cincinnati is dropping a safety towards the line of scrimmage at soon as they get a run read. They are choosing which safety based on the alignment of the running back. If J.C. lines up to Brewer's right, they drop the safety to Brewer's left. The assumption is that Coleman will run away from the side he starts on the majority of the time. This does make the Bearcats defense a little predictable though, and Loeffler exploits that for a big gain later on.
Tech runs a pin and pull variation of the outside zone read, preventing the back side defender from getting involved in the play. The pin and pull is a perfect companion for outside zone runs because often the defense crashes directly into the offensive line's down blocks, giving the line a great angle. While blocking down with the tight end and tackle to seal the edge, the guard and center pull around to kick out the safety that's crashing and the linebacker thats scraping. The linebackers are slow with their outside pursuit because they are used to J.C. cutting back inside when their teammates secure the edge. Perfect blocking and good speed by J.C. lead to a huge pickup on first down.
The Second Half Takeover
In the second half Loeffler decided to just pound the rock. He kept it simple from a blocking scheme standpoint (using inside/outside/pin and pull blocking almost exclusively), but made one major change in his rushing attack. He started bringing both Bucky and Malleck in tight and aligning Coleman directly behind Brewer in a pistol. This made it much more difficult for Cincinnati to accurately predict which side Coleman was going to run. The Bearcats got caught bringing the wrong safety towards the line of scrimmage a couple of times. On this play we see the consequence of guessing wrong when the offense was in the pistol.
The safety to Coleman's left drops back into coverage and the defense has no free hitter to challenge J.C. until he is well into the secondary. It's no coincidence that most of Coleman's successful runs came behind the left side of the offensive line. Wyatt Teller was mashing all day and he got good help on his double teams from Farris. Bringing the tight ends in tight stretched Cincinnati's defense out in order to cover all the gaps, and when the offensive line started dominating the interior they had no answer.
Even when Cincinnati guessed right they weren't always able to stop Coleman. Here we see the effect of a brutal push by the interior of the line. Coleman has a huge hole to run through and is able to get his momentum going downhill. He ducks under the tackle of two defenders and takes on the last safety with attitude. J.C.'s ability to get small at the right times and use his leverage to fall forward has been the biggest difference in his game over the past couple weeks. This is probably the most promising thing about J.C.'s game right now, his ability to get those yards after contact. We saw time and time again on Friday that Coleman didn't need to have a huge hole to run through in order to get positive yards, he was able to see a crease and attack it with vigor.
J.C. Coleman has proven all of his doubters wrong over the last few games. He has turned into a tailback who can make explosive cuts, who is decisive when he sees a hole open up and who can take on defenders to get those valuable extra yards after contact. Coleman has been an absolute joy to root for, and I think he'll continue to play a valuable role in Tech's offense in the 2015 season.
Comments
I wonder what the change is. I mean there is no denying that prior to the duke game JC wasn't the best runner. Perhaps it's having to stick to one back and it let JC get into a rhythm. Obviously the line blocking was better in this game so that helps as well. Glad it has worked out for JC and the team. Glad he has been able to show his talents and his effort has paid off. Hopefully his efforts and ability will continue into next season and let shai and marshawn redshirt (although I'm still really excited to see them play more).
JCC was clearly less tentative starting with the duke game. Read French's write up on the BC game. He comments on how tentative JCC was playing. It lead to the fumble that appeared to cause JCC to free fall down the depth chart.
I think if you are going to be undersized you have zero room for tentativeness. I remember thinking that he was holding back and getting downright abused on some tackles...if all else is not equal (ie size) then that can lead to a bad feedback loop where you mind $@!& yourself.
JCC has run better than anybody we have on the roster all year. He's showed speed, vision, patience, and power and is a tremendous asset to the team. Great write up!
Really happy JC was able to show what he has at the end of the year. Coming in as a recruit I thought his strengths would be pure speed and making people miss, but that doesn't seem to be his game at all. If he can start breaking more tackles and making people miss 1 on 1 in the open field he could have a great senior year especially running behind wyatt.
It may be wishful thinking, but the OL appeared to be playing with more confidence, in the run game. They weren't dominating, but appeared to be attempting to drive defenders back. The past couple of years they looked like they were just trying to "hold their ground" instead of drive a defender back (lack of leg drive has been the most common criticism of the OL, in the TKP technical write ups, that we all love to read).
The OL has played much better in the run game the last few weeks. They have been pretty good when we run right at teams this year. We struggled with the outside zone until JC came back. He has done the best of seeing the hole and getting up field quickly. Marshawn struggled with that.
You can see that the experience is starting to show on the OL. Double teams are looking much better and they are getting a better push which has often been because they are in better position lately. The pass protection still needs work but a good number of breakdowns have been the RB missing his guy. I will be interested to see how the group gels next year with some new faces in there. Getting McGlock back will help a lot.
i don't think Loeffler's game plan was necessarily built for JC at the beginning of the year considering Marshawn and MCKenzie are bigger guys. There is a huge difference in the way we are blocking since the Duke game. Its allowing JC to get into space so he can use his speed, where as before the Duke game, we were getting beat one-on-one at line and running backs were getting stuffed. I think another play we ought to run is the outside pitch with JC, the same one he scored a touchdown against Duke his Freshmen year.
The blocking improvement definitely helped JC. He can't drive through defenders if they are in the backfield.
proud of JCC great game and great way to come back and stay focused and ready! curious though as to why we didnt see very much motley on saturday? was he hurt? suspended for the 1st half? he came in during the 3rd quarter for a series and that was it and we had bucky running the wild turkey in the 1st half which i thought was weird since that would have normally been motleys spot i would think at this point. i expected to see quite a bit of motley and havent seen much talk about it since we won and played pretty well but i imagine if we had lost there would have been alot of gripping about how we didnt see him enough.
Looks like the refs missed the hand up in Buckys facemask on the last replay
The guy was so worried about Bucky he took himself out of the play. Wasn't even watching JCC blow by him.
Great write-up. Just one thought; it's JCC not JC. JC=Joel Caleb.
Until Joel Caleb does something JC should be JC Coleman.
Second
Nope, it's JCC. Sorry, but thanks for playing.
This is a dumb argument
I think you have just distilled the entirety of the internet into five perfect words.
Applicable anywhere, anytime on the Internet.
Look, the fact of the matter is Joel Caleb is still on the team and until he leaves he should technically be referred to as JC (his initials). Coleman has an extra C in his initials so he should be appropriately referred to as JCC or if you're going the JC route then you have to add Coleman to the end of JC. Other variations for Coleman could be JC2/J2C. The only instance where Coleman would be the sole JC is if the actual JC (Caleb) leaves the program.
You can call him whatever you want but his name is JC so people call him that. He's the only one playing at this time, so when we are talking about "JC" it's most likely about Coleman. You could just as easily say Joel instead of JC anyways and it wouldn't cause confusion.
His name isn't JC. Those are just the initials of his first or first and middle name.
It's what he refers to himself as. Does Joel Caleb refer to himself as JC? Would be new to me.
His middle name is David.
Sooooooooooooooo JDC?
Actually no but that would be cooler than JCC: JC/DC
I'm down with JC/DC.
Doesn't technically make sense but I like it.
No, it does. Think about it
JC/DC
Back in black
Coleman's comeback season.
how about we call them coleman and igloo or something
When I was in high school, we had a new player named Alex Widener who the coaches nicknamed Root Beer (A&W) since We already had myself as the team's Alex and a lineman with the last name Widener.
Did you do your stretches today?
JC/DC is clever, so I'm assuming we were looking to see when JC Coleman and Deon Clarke were back in Blacksburg after the bowl game?
I'm not sure Joe Callas, the long snapper, is too happy with you thinking Joel Caleb is the true JC. Until Joe leaves the program you can refer to Joel as JCjr. Thank you.
I am sorry, Joe (I am assuming). You da real JC
I meant more that being that his initials are JDC, the JC/DC doesn't really technically work.
But again, dumb argument :)
This is how real journalism works. It's not Twitter with a character limit. TheKeyPlay isn't going to write "CFB" in an article about Coach Beamer (and rightly so). It's definitely not worth complaining about.
At least the author had the good sense to include Coleman at the end of JC in the headline. Otherwise this would've been about Joel Caleb.
Right, because the bowl game MVP is going to be confused with the guy that was only in on 2 special teams plays. Come on, this is getting into Bender territory here.
no doubt
I was just thinking that. You'd have to get his opinion on Turkey Legs.
this is getting into Bender territory here
what if I told you. . .
I've been wondering.
Let's set the trap...
Marcus Vick is an imbecile and the worst Hokie ever.
and ...
Who cares about that piece of shit and waste of talent? I'm just talking about JC Coleman (aka JCC, JC/DC).
AKA JC.......
WHY CANT ANYONE STAY ON TOPIC THIS IS SO FRUSTRATING! /sarc
TACO BELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
don't blow your cover buddy!
I'd say it boils down to J.C. Coleman goes by the name J.C.. I'd guess Joel Caleb goes by Joel. Considering the author wrote this as a legitimate article of journalism and there's no reason to use abbreviations (we're not on Twitter), it's appropriate to refer to J.C. Coleman as J.C. and if he was referring to Joel Caleb he would be Joel. It's ridiculous that this "argument" even happened though.
I agree it's ridiculous. So start calling him as JCC, JC Coleman, JC2/J2C and call Joel Caleb as JC. Get on board the JCC Train.
Why change someone's name because you prefer it? Will you start calling Sam Rogers "SR?" What about Isaiah Ford? We have two Ford's so is he now going to be "IF" and we'll also have "AF?" This is a really dumb thing to be that concerned about. Meanwhile, this is your JCC Train.
You can't pin that on me. I wasn't the one who came up with it. Someone or others coined it before I even came on here. Also, there seem to be enough folks on here that agree with the JCC abbrev.
Way OT, but this is something I have thought about all my life. We change names all the time. Look at countries:
Italy, nope Italia
Brazil, nope Brasil
China, nope Zhongguo
Germany, nope Deutschland
It's like meeting someone for the first time and they say "Hi, my name's Steve" and you say "Nope, I'm going to call you Jorge"... Never made sense to me.
Don't blame us for the British being arrogant assholes.
It's not just the British. Every country does it.
In China:
USA, nope MeiGuo
Germany, Deguo
and on and on in every country in regards to other countries. Why the hell is everyone changing pronouns for countries? Never understood it.
"Hello Mister Ambassador. I am from the United States of America, or USA for short"
"Phuck that, I'm calling you MeiGuo"
has always been strange to me.
That's true. I always find it strange how different some English names of countries are so different than the native name and vice versa. I still don't know why English chose to call Duetschland "Germany" and the romantic languages chose "Alemania." And then the English call the people of the Netherlands "Dutch," (the natives prefer Nederlands), and Germans call the Dutch "Hollanders."
Germany was called Germany by the Romans before the local riff-raff ever even considered stopping killing each other and calling themselves something else.
As for the Dutch, well, I don't hate anyone except...
well can we be blamed for making little effort to change anything since the revolution? It's not like the Brits were in charge last year...
I'm not pointing fingers at who's really to blame for this.
But his name rhymes with "gruesome."
Soo.... remember that time we had a good rushing attack in that bowl game against Cincy?
I love so much that this became a thing
It was a brilliant idea. I will use it whenever needed.
can also add a "stay on topic, you assholes" to this thread!
You mean UC?
Cincy just sounds so much more gentle and submissive. I thought it was perfect for how their run defense performed on Saturday.
You agree it's ridiculous but we should do it anyway? I'm sorry, what?
Exactly
Great analysis.
Football's more successful when everybody is doing their job: the O-line was run-blocking with attitude and opening some holes for Coleman. JC was hitting the holes with a burst and then, solely to his credit, he was scraping every play for the extra foot/yard, or two. I'd be curious to know what his yards after initial contact were.
Great adjustments as you highlighted by the coaches.
I thoroughly enjoyed watching this game. It really reminded me of the VT brand of football in the past. I was contented as my Uncle after Thanksgiving dinner.
Regarding the OL play - Why did we do so much better this weekend than earlier in the season? Did they just execute better, or did we employ a different game plan, or was it just a good matchup for us, or some other reason?
getting teller in there was a huge part of it.
Combination of matchup and simply executing better. I think Stacy's attitude is finally working its way into the big guys up front.
Also Teller. Wyatt Teller.
I'm really really glad we ran well at the game. I told my parents going into it if we can't run on cincy our run game can't do it on anyone and we really need to go back to the drawing board. Cincys run defense is awful and we executed well and ran for a bundle of yards exactly like we were supposed to. Its good to see our offense execute like it should against a bad defense
I think we have seen over the last four games what can happen when one back gets to carry the mail over and over and over again.
In short, please no more RB by committee!!!
Great job J.C. Coleman!!!!!
I was going to make this point, but I see you already did. Leg for you.
Also, I was a huge JCC doubter--my bad. I'm very glad he proved my wrong. Congrats to go J.C. not just for improving on the field, but for being such a team player and keeping his head up over what must have been a difficult season.
ITS EITHER JC OR JCC!!! PICK A SIDE!
I'm just gonna call him Joel Coleman and mess with everybody.
OH MY GOD HIS NAME IS ACTUALLY JOEL.
http://www.hokiesports.com/football/players/coleman_j.c..html
His father was also a Joel Coleman, so maybe he should be JC2. Or JCJR?
I have always called him JCC, so that's JC2, which mathematically expands to the same thing. The 2 can also indicate "second" or "Jr" (equivalent) and resolves the whole debate. Or it can be like a footnote or something, e.g. "JC2 blah blah blah..."
1 This number belongs to Isaiah Ford, move on.
2 Some awesome factoid about JC Coleman.
But then I have to do superscripting every time I write his name, and I'm lazy.
Laziness is the genesis of the whole thing. Any schmuck can write out Joel David "JC" Coleman (#4)
Superscripts ain't so bad on a windows pc.
Alt+0176 =
Alt+0178 =
Alt+0179 =
Don't even get me started on how Alt+0177 = instead of , which is Alt+0185
Apparently my characters are supported in this entry field but not when reproduced in a post. Ah well.
So yeah maybe superscripts aren't cool.
I'll admit, I typed them out myself to figure out what the heck you were trying to illustrate.
Joe doesn't like special characters.
Must be why he hates me.
perfect!
Hence, my reply.
I have been watching this thread grow and decided against letting the cat out of the bag, as i wanted to see where this would go. then i thought it might be the catalyst to one of the running jokes of TKP lore.
I was not a fan of JC because of the lack of production from him throughout the season. He seemed extremely tentative, not explosive, and prone to fumbling. What we saw the last few games was polar opposite. He was extremely explosive, not tentative hitting the holes, and held onto the football. He faced all the critics leading into the final stretch of the season as being the "4th string" RB as the starter, and took advantage of it. Good for him, it was great to see, hopefully he can carry this to next year.
It's hard to get production when you are rotating with four other RBs!
Yeah but, with that much rotation, no one guy gets overworked and gets a serious injury.
Agreed. But flip side to that coin is with that much rote how are we gonna get a 1k yd back? 1k rushing yds are kinda pretty to All-ACC, All-Americana, Heisman, NFL draft status, etc.
I'm of the opinion that Egbert was being sarcastic, considering that Tech used a ridiculously large RB rotation this year and still suffered tons of injuries.
Well I agree that there shouldbe a balanced rotation so no one back gets injured, but I'm pretty sure all of us want to see at least one of our backs break the 1k yd barrier.
I want to see the team win games. I want to see the offense score points. At appropriate times I want to see the offense help the defense by controlling the clock. I want to see the stable of RBs used in the way that maximizes their potential. I would rather see three RBs each with 600 yards than one with 1,000 and two with 250, assuming the additional 300 yards contributed to wins, points, and preventing the other team from scoring.
Mr. Mason
The real JC....
Yea, but he was the starting RB heading into the season and quickly lost it to the "other 4" (3 to be exact). He lost the starting job because of his lack of production, then when he got the opportunity again at the end of the season, he took full advantage of it and proved doubters such as myself, wrong.
Was is three or four or five? Let's not quibble.
The future is bright!
Sorry if my tone came off snarky, I was not trying to be snarky at all. I agree, future is bright!
It's all good. A leg for you good sir!!
I'm personally in favor of the all TE starting lineup!!!
Great stuff Mason.
I am just so happy JCC has finally started meeting his potential. Obviously happy for the team and as a fan, because it gives us another legitimate weapon in the backfield. The coaches have all got to be just thrilled with the prospect of getting Shai & Juice completely healed up instead of needing to worry about getting them up to game-speed by next Fall. We have a truly solid one-two now, with Reid tearing up the practice squad, a couple others healthy and waiting for a shot.
But as so many others have said, it just couldn't have happened to a better guy. Coleman had every opportunity and excuse to hang it up.
But he stuck with it. He took the demotions, and the injuries and the disappointments, and bounced back to become the star of these past few games.
Seeing these kinds of unexpected revelations on the field is a big part of what makes the game so much fun for me.
Could not be happier for or prouder of JC Coleman!
This young man epitomizes everything great about Hokie football. He showed amazing guts, character and class in hanging in there through set back after set back after set back. He never gave up, never gave in, never stopped giving the team his all and he truly earned this MVP award !
Great Job JC and great job Hokies in a great TEAM WIN !!!
I really think JC was trying to do too much when he got his turn earlier in the season. Not enough carries to go around and the make the most of what you get type of mentality backfired for him in this situation. And at the end of the day, he was finally fully dipped in dork magic. Ironic isn't it that he was the inspiration to the phrase! He is a muse as well! who knew?
I think a few things can explain JCC success.
First, actually keeping one back in for most of the carries so they get a rhythm.
Second, development of Teller on the line
Third, JCC actually getting healthy (he wasn't healthy last year) and experienced. He was a 4 star recruit.
We've been playing musical chairs at back for the last 3 seasons. This is what happens when you find a horse and stick with him.
I hope this means that we can sit Shai and Marshawn for the '15 and get their knees strong and healthy.
Nice write-up Mason. JC is an incredible story this year.
Did we stop making the large substitutions on offense that we struggled with so much earlier in the year? Or do I just not notice them now because it's working so smoothly? It appears that we have also simplified the offensive sets (at least the number of different formations used).
I'm just very proud of JC Coleman. He exemplifies what it is to be an ambassador of the Maroon & Orange. Have a banner senior year, my friend.
Every one of those plays, WT is dominating someone. All but the first one he is opening up the hole or making the key block to spring JCC. Watch those highlights again and again.
Wyatt just plays as if every single guy in front of him just said something really raunchy about his mother after kicking his dog.
Yeah, thanks to French's tutorials I'm beginning to see how good Teller's form is.
Cincy22 blocks the DT with one hand, uses the other hand to keep the LB from making the play (Holding? What holding?)
Cincy23 steps across the face of the DT, blocks with his back to the hole
Cincy24 begins the play with a cut block that drops the safety inside the 20 yard line. Ends the play chasing JCCC out of bounds ACROSS MIDFIELD.
Cincy27 pancakes!
Cincy28 crosses the DT's face, drives him away from the play, stays on the block until the whistle
To my untrained eye his form looks great on every play, and his effort is just exciting to watch. Can we have four more of him, please, in assorted sizes and skill sets?
I said this a few days ago, and I'll say it again. JC has true hoss potential for his senior season. Assuming he's planning on staying, which, why wouldn't he be.
Also, I reserve the right to call him JC OR JCC, depending on my mood.
If JC continues to play like he did the last few game and improves a bit next year, he might even have Darren Sproles potential.
Was super pumped to see JCC have the production I have expected since his first carry years ago. I always loved how JC hit the hole with reckless abandon when he first started out and was such a contrast to that other guy that ended up getting the boot (sorry can't remember his name to save my life). It seemed like JCC lost some of that edge earlier in the season, but it was great to see it again. Here's to hoping JC continues to get the opportunity and kills it next year...
Side note, here's to interchanging JC and JCC because it's just fun :)
The formation that Loeffler broke out in the 2nd half (Malleck on one end of the line of scrimmage and Bucky on the other) is one that I wish we had seen more of during the season. Without going back to rewatch all the tape (something I'll
probablydefinitely do this offseason), it felt like Tech had a moderate amount of success running out of that formation all year.I know that Bucky and Malleck (when healthy) are a pain to match up with in the passing game, but I think that Loeffler spent too much time spreading them out. I want to see more of these power looks in 2015, especially if Cline comes back 100%. Pound the rock, pound the rock, pound the rock... and then hit them with a playaction with Bucky or Ford.
My thought had always been that with them lined up tight, we could send one out and keep the blitzing defense guessing as to which side we would block and which side would be our dumpoff.
Games where Wake would send 2 blitzers on the same side and leave the RB with a poor choice might have been mitigated to some degree.
So the first thing I thought of after reading this was us being flagged for a false start or illegal shift. It's been a long season
That's why I like the formation, it doesn't hamper the passing game but it helps the run game. The only drawback is it takes away the option of a wide receiver screen, but that's easily offset with the addition of bootleg possibilities... IMO.
What scares DCs more, Bucky catching a bubble screen or going on a route on a bootleg play? I'd say the latter.
I want to see Loeffler try what Stanford was abusing Maryland with in their bowl game. Line both TEs tight, but both on the same side of the line. At the start of the play, they both go vertical, one right behind the other. About ten yards out they split in different directions. It always ended up with a wide open tight end way down the field. The defenders never knew which player was going which way and even when there were two defenders in the area, they invariably both chose the same TE to cover. It was beautiful. Imagine that with Bucky and/or Malleck and/or Cline.