Virginia Tech played football today, and even if it was just a spring scrimmage it was good to hear those pads popping. The reigning national champions are coming to Blacksburg in September and Frank Beamer is in the midst of getting his team prepared for that battle. Coach Beamer is attempting to build depth and settle some positional battles this spring, and today's scrimmage was the first major opportunity for players to stand out and impress the coaching staff.
I arrived at Lane just as the team was finishing up stretching before practice. As the team split up into position groups and started running their drills, I turned my focus towards Torrian Gray's secondary group. The departures of Kyshoen Jarrett and Detrick Bonner and the injuries to Kendall Fuller and Brandon Facyson has opened the door for younger players to get lots of reps this spring. This is great for team depth but it meant that I spent a large portion of my day staring at my roster to figure out who was wearing which number. Mook Reynolds sent me scrambling to figure out who wore No. 6 after he hounded a receiver through a series of ineffectual moves before reading the receivers eyes, turning his head and intercepting the pass. It didn't take long for him to impress again. The very next time he was up, Mook ran the receiver's complicated route for him and wound up with a second interception. As luck would have it, the drill ended as it cycled back to Mook. I wanted to see him get one last rep in, but it looks like I'll have to wait till the next scrimmage.
Mook wasn't the only young secondary player who impressed me during that drill. Trey Edmund's brother Terrell was wearing No. 22 and he looked also very comfortable in man coverage, making it difficult for several receivers to get any separation. His coverage skills were displayed during the scrimmage portion of the day, as he got a chance to break on a pass and made the most of the opportunity. Once the ball was in Terrell's hands, he took off down the sideline and he might have scored if the play wasn't blown dead.
Another interesting note from the position group drills was that Bucky Hodges spent all of his time with the wide receiver group. I wrote a piece last week about ways Scot Loeffler can expand Bucky's roll on the team and it looks like Loeffler has made his decision. Bucky frequently lined up on the outside of the formation, either threatening the defense with vertical routes or exploiting the cushion that the corners gave him by breaking off routes to present the quarterback with a first down target. If Bucky keeps putting in the work and the offensive line can keep the quarterback upright, he could become Tech's first 1,000 yard receiver.
The coaching staff has been impressed with redshirt freshmen Travon McMillian, and after watching him play today, I see why. Travon ripped off a long touchdown run on a QB read play early in the scrimmage and made it look easy. He also looked comfortable running in between the tackles, displaying good vision and fighting for extra yards. He is still young and learning but there's no doubt that Travon McMillian is going to help the Hokies in 2015. D.J. Reid is another back who got a lot of carries today and impressed, although he didn't get the opportunity to run untouched for a touchdown like Travon did.
The most important position battle of the spring is unquestionably the one over the starting quarterback spot. Michael Brewer, the incumbent, didn't participate in any throwing activities today because of back spasms. Brenden Motley took the majority of the snaps with the first team offense, with Andrew Ford and Chris Durkin getting the remaining reps. From what I saw today, I would be surprised if anyone other than Motley ended up beating out Brewer for the starting job. Ford and Durkin are both young players with good potential, but right now both are lagging behind Motley's production. Ford doesn't have Motley's raw athleticism and Durkin doesn't have Motley's comfort in Loeffler's scheme. Neither have his experience.
The two advantages that Motley has over Brewer are his arm strength and his athleticism. Both were on display during the practice and scrimmage today. During passing drills Motley zipped the ball into the receiver on Square In routes, a throw that we rarely saw attempted last year after Logan Thomas made a living off it it in 2013. With Bucky Hodges moved outside, Tech will need it's starting quarterback to be able to make that specific throw or risk losing one of the biggest advantages of his transition to wide receiver. Motley can also help the rushing attack by being a home run threat on QB read plays. Defenses which don't respect Motley's speed will see him rip off long runs like the one he had today. The respect Motley will command from defenses will open up space for Tech's running backs, something Loeffler will have to consider when trying to get more production from his ground game. No, Motley isn't ready to beat the defending national champions tomorrow, but come September he might be.
Comments
All of this is very encouraging. Go Hokies!
Interesting day in Bburg. Scrimmage produces excitement, VT defeats GT in baseball to set up rubber match tomorrow for series, and the Softball team swept Louisville, a major kudo for them. A day like this makes me long for the days I lived close enough to be in the stands. Way to go, HOKIES!!
You left off the HokieBird Easter Egg Hunt. A few class of 2027 running backs were clearly visible, as were a couple capable of serious Go routes. By far the most creative scouting tool... But we need to offer more than tootsie rolls and Double Bubble... Great day to be in Blacksburg!!!!
Was Coach FML there handing out offers?
No, but Smoke Mizzell was there, trying to prove he can outrun competition that is more on his level.
LMAO. I had a tech that used to work for us and is a uva fan. All I heard was smoke this and smoke that. He's running out of time.
it wouldn't be the first...and probably won't be the last...time that a wahoo has blown smoke
How about petebuddywilson? We need to lock up some of this talent.
Motley also has like 4 or so inches on Brewer, which cant hurt
And 30 pounds or more, to take the hits..
And greater foot speed, to avoid them.
To be fair, Brewer can take hits with the best of em.
No truer words have been spoken. Brewer has his moments, both good and bad, but the dude is tough as nails.
Good opening article. We are all full of hope but it has been a long time. Do yourself a favor and watch this for 10 minutes. Go Hokies!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msjghvuflYo
Terrell's wearing 22? Given the injuries to its last two inhabitants, think we can find him another one?
Maybe #22 just affects RBs. I've never seen a defender wear it, or at least I can't recall one.
Hope you're right. Poor Tony Gregory. He suffered, what, four knee injuries?
One every year, it seemed.
Virgil wore 22, there is some hope.
James Griffin?
Peter Griffin?
Nah, he was 68.
I've been pleasantly surprised with Motley this spring. He still has a ways to go in terms of being a passer and command of the system (Brewer may be the best QB Tech has ever had in terms of anticipating and throwing a guy open. See just about every 3rd down against OSU), but he's looked to me much more comfortable this spring than he ever did last year. I really hope we see Brewer healthy the next couple of weeks so we can see that battle really heat up and who comes out on top.
Yes to this.
The difference is the amount of competition that is present. We legitimately don't know who our starting QB, RB, Safety, etc will be.
But I don't see it as half-empty because we have some quality depth that we didn't have in some positions before (yes, I know we are thin at other spots.)
But I also think/feel that this is a significant change that Loeffler has brought to the Offense: He will let the best guy play regardless to seniority. This, to me, is a change from the Offenses of a few years back where there was more of a hierarchy based on seniority.
Mason, a question about Hodges - by moving him outside, are the coaches envisioning him as more of a true WR rather than a TE/slot guy? I would think he would be a mismatch no matter where he is on the field, so it seems like keeping him in the middle of the field against LBs and safeties would be smarter because of the guys on the roster, he still has a size/speed advantage over defenders in the middle of the field. Or is there a strategic reason to exploit a much larger (presumably) size mismatch against CBs?
We will see Hodges line up as a traditional tight end on occasion, but I think his roll will be more as a wide receiver. He'll get lined up in the slot and out wide, but his highest ceiling is as a guy who lines up wide and gets vertical. Hodges is definitely a mismatch anywhere you line him up and I'm sure we'll see plenty of him running routes through the middle of the field, but it's less risky to try to complete a deep throw to someone on the outside than it is over the middle.
A lot of that decision will be about allocation of resources too. Tech already have receivers who can go across the middle and be a problem for defenses underneath, like Malleck and Ford/Phillips. Does Loeffler really want to draw up more ways to throw a five yard pass? Or does he want to try and move Hodges outside and see if he can't turn him into something that the team doesn't have, a vertical threat.
Take all this with a grain of salt, nothing is set in stone, this is just the 2nd week of spring practice.
Thanks. I'll be watching Bucky closely because I think it will be interesting to see how the offensive staff envisions using their biggest receiving weapon.
Two tight ends and Bucky out wide with Ford seems like a good recipe for keeping a defense on their heels. We pound the ground, go deep outside or hit a slant with blocking. Dare I say a successful rb screen.? Yes I dare.
I'd see Motley being the best option there, because he has the arm strength for those tall targets plus the run threat if the opposing D sells out against the pass.
I'm excited because a healthy Cline was a pretty darn good TE for how inexperienced he was two years ago. With him, Malleck, and Bucky, we should be able to do some damage with our big guys.
Is it safe to say from what we've seen at the skill positions that our offense will at least be functional? There are multiple options at tailback, QB and wide receiver, as well as TE. Not ready to beat OSU yet, but for every starter that isn't getting it done (or has an injury), it seems there is someone who can step up and take the challenge. If the defense can answer its questions and be its normal self, I am feeling a little more confident than I was when the depth charts came out.
The short answer is yes, we've got the skill positions covered. There's a reason Lefty has said he sees the light at the end of the tunnel this spring. Of course, all of that is meaningless without the big guys up front getting it done. That's what's going to hold us back this year, and we knew that heading into this thing 3 years ago. Shoot, even the QB doesn't really need to be more than a couple ticks above mediocre to succeed here, if everything were to fall into place. But until that OL really starts coming along (and I personally believe there are guys currently on the roster capable of making that happen, they just need experience/Gentryfication), the offense will struggle. The good news is that we're gonna be talking more like ~50th-ranked total offense struggle, not ~100th-ranked struggle.
Well after reading this I'm ready for the season, with mook somewhere in the secondary, edmunds at a backer spot, motely or brewer at QB, and macmillan at RB. Sounds good lets go!! In fact I'm at a buddies house who is a die hard OSU fan. Can't wait for labor day!! GO HOKIES!!!
I thought Terrell Edmunds was going to be playing linebacker not corner. The article makes it sounds like he has been moved into the secondary.
I do believe you have your Edmunds' (Edmundi?) mixed up.
Edmundses
For possessive of one Edmunds - Edmunds's
For possessive of multiple Edmundses - Edmundses'
The "i" pluralization is typically limited to latin words (i.e. alumnus and alumni)
(I think I have this right, but not 100% sure, but my last name ends with an S)
Edit: google search confirmation (http://grammarist.com/style/last-names/)
Leg for doing the.....leg work....
I would think you would be a proponent of Edmundzz.
It just struck me as funny, regardless of the corrections offered, but Edmundi? really made me laugh. Leg up fenix.
Trey Edmunds - RB, rJR, 6-1, 225
Terrell Edmunds - CB, rFR, 6-2, 195
Tremaine Edmunds - LB (DE/TE), FR, 6-4+, 220+
We really do have T.E.'s playing almost every position.
Thanks, I did have them mixed up.
Having so many is really a good problem to have.
Los Tres Edmundos