Murky Secondary Outlook Finally Gets Clearer for Hokies After Final Spring Scrimmage

The Hokies' final spring scrimmage ahead of the spring game didn't feature as many offensive fireworks as last Saturday's affair, but one play by the offense still stole the show today.

Quarterback Michael Brewer and the rest of the offense were working from the red zone when he spotted gargantuan TE Bucky Hodges matched up on diminutive CB Greg Stroman.

Brewer fired a pass to Hodges in the corner of the end zone, and he almost casually snagged the pass one-handed, fighting for control with Stroman all the way to the ground.

The play set both sidelines ablaze as they argued about who controlled the ball, but the point was clear; guarding Hodges is no easy feat for anyone on the team.

"I can guard him," Stroman said after the scrimmage. "He just made a great catch, one handed."

Stroman's fellow DBs also welcome the challenge of going up against a player as massive as Hodges. But it's undeniable that the 206-pound Chuck Clark has a slightly better chance at besting Hodges than Stroman does at 160 pounds.

"I look forward to it. I talk junk with him all the time," Clark said. "If it's a play when I'm covering and he didn't get the ball he'll be like 'I wish they would've thrown it,' and I'm like 'I wish they would've thrown it too.' Yesterday we had a play at the end of practice, it was me playing deep on him, it was a deep ball and we both went up for it. Incomplete pass. So I like going up against him. It's a challenge."

Clark has been playing against Hodges for years now given their common heritage in Virginia Beach, even if Hodges' role has shifted a bit since their high school days.

"We're guys from the same area, we've known each other since high school," Clark said. "At camps back in the day, he'd be playing quarterback and I'd be DB, so he'd be trying to get passes on me and now he's in the position where he's trying to catch the ball and I'm still DB. So we're always going at it."

Luckily for Clark, it's the rest of the ACC that will have to deal with containing Hodges this season and the coaching staff seems to think he's well prepared to handle the rest of the league.

"He's just a ballplayer," said Frank Beamer. "He doesn't talk much, but he plays great. He gives you flexibility back there."

Although Clark has played cornerback for the majority of spring practice with both Brandon Facyson and Kendall Fuller sidelined, the flexibility Beamer refers to is his potential to play free safety as well.
The team has been giving Donovan Riley a chance to learn the position so far this spring, but Foster seems increasingly bullish on the prospect of moving Clark there instead.

"Riley's a bit all over the place," Foster said. "It's a new position for him, I was hoping he would make better progress than he has, but that's part of it too."

But as has so often been mentioned, Facyson's health is key to the position group. If he can't perform the way he did in 2013, it sets off a whole series of dominos in the defensive backfield.

"It kind of all comes back to where's Brandon Facyson? So if Brandon's not ready, Chuck Clark's the first corner," Foster said. "If Brandon's back and playing like he was two years ago, then Chuck can be a lot of things for us. He can be a safety, he can be a nickel."

The prognosis on Facyson's health continues to be largely positive. In some ways, Foster thinks it was healthy that his beleaguered cornerback suffered a clean break in his leg after the lingering pain his earlier stress fracture generated.

"You hate to say it, and I told that to Brandon, but probably the best thing that happened to him was he broke that thing clean and then it was fixed, repaired," Foster said. "There's soreness in his leg right now, the soreness comes in his muscles and those things, and he's been out working and I'm excited about him coming back, and I think in his mind he feels a lot better. There's no pain in the bone. And that's where it was with the stress fracture still. So there's uncertainty and he wasn't comfortable. But I'm excited about getting him back, that'll be a big plus for us."

Even given those positive signs, the Hokies are still erring on the side of caution and giving Clark plenty of time at corner. But should Facyson return at 100 percent of his old abilities, Clark would only have fall camp to acclimate to playing safety.

"It'd probably be a little rough at first, the first couple days, but I feel like it wouldn't be too bad," Clark said. "I got some safety work (earlier this spring), but I also know the position, so it's just being able to correlate and go out there on the field and do it. But I think I can do it."

If Clark does have to stay at corner, then Foster foresees Desmond Frye finding more playing time thanks to the strides he's made this spring.

"Des can be a guy that can be very versatile, whether he's our first safety or second rover," Foster said.

The defensive coordinator calls Frye a candidate at second rover because he thinks they've found the first string at the position in C.J. Reavis.

"I like what C.J.'s about, I think C.J.'s our number one rover," Foster said. "This last scrimmage he did a really nice job, he's a good tackler, he's got a heavy shoulder, kind of a little bit like Kyshoen (Jarrett), but he's got more mobility back there. He's not afraid to play coverage, man to man coverage, I just like what he's all about."

With Reavis earning that lofty comparison and locking down rover, that leaves the nickel corner spot for the coaches to sort, which is much murkier.

With the exception of Hodges' acrobatic catch, Stroman had a decent day in his first scrimmage action since returning to practice after nursing a strained hamstring, and he should be a prime contender for the role.

"Greg came back and had a good week of practice. He's got a good future ahead of him for us and I'm excited for him," Foster said. "He's a really good player, and he'll get a lot more reps this next week, so I feel good about him."

Stroman also snagged the lone interception of the scrimmage when receiver Isaiah Ford uncorked a wobbly pass on trick play. After some downfield battling with Cam Phillips, Stroman was able to collect the pass in the middle of the field.

"I actually just found out that Isaiah threw that, I didn't know that Isaiah threw the ball," Stroman joked. "But Cam did a stop and go and the ball was just up in the air, it's just 'go get it.'"

Early enrollees Mook Reynolds and Adonis Alexander have also provided plenty of competition at the nickel spot in the early going as well. Alexander looked a little shaky at times Saturday as he continues to adjust his role at corner, but Reynolds earned plenty of praise from the staff.

"Mook Reynolds, I really like how he's moved forward as far as understanding the game, understanding his position, the techniques and those types of things," Foster said. "So I've been pleased by his progress from scrimmage one to scrimmage two."

Reynolds has also impressed in the punt return game, where he's started sharing time with Stroman.

"I've been back there with Mook, we've been back there together," Stroman said. "Last week it was just me back there, but this week we went two deep. Me and Mook back there, we can be dangerous."

Clark says he envies Reynolds and Alexander getting this kind of experience, remembering his own time starting out as a true freshman in fall camp.

"This time they get in spring ball is really helpful for them because going into camp it's a lot different," Clark said. "They're getting thrown in the fire right now."

Foster says that's by design to simulate the stress of the season.

"We want to create a little bit of crisis for them, and see how those guys handle it," Foster said. "Some of them get all panicky and then they don't perform and some guys are looking forward to that opportunity, regardless of where it is."

But as Foster runs out of time to create these crises with the spring game just one week away, the staff will have to start making some firm decisions on the secondary ahead of the summer.

"We'll zero in, we'll kind of talk personnel next week and really kind of talk about what the kids' strengths are, what's their assets, what's their liabilities and where can they best fit to maximize their strengths and minimize their liabilities for us," Foster said. "Just let's make sure we get people in the right spot and get ready to attack this thing this fall."