Virginia Tech Spring Game Film Focus: C.J. Reavis and Rover Alley Responsibility

The biggest defensive question leading up to the Hokies' 2015 season was if Bud Foster could effectively replace three year starters Detrick Bonner and Kyshoen Jarrett at safety. Jarrett's role is a particularly challenging one to fill. On running downs, Foster regularly moved Jarrett down into the box to create an 8-man front. With Jarrett dropping into the box, Foster often moved Deon Clarke to the edge and aligned Jarrett in as an inside linebacker. It was a unique look that defenses often struggled against. Jarrett's ability to support the run and still drop back into zones allowed Bud Foster to run his Bear front while using a nickel defense.

Enter C.J. Reavis. After trying out numerous players at both safety spots, Reavis climbed to the top of the depth chart at the rover position. Following the final spring scrimmage, Foster said, "(Reavis) is 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."

The spring game didn't give us a window into how Bud Foster will deploy the rover in his future plans against the Buckeyes and ACC opponents; the Hokie defense spent the entire scrimmage in a base look, with a whip linebacker in place. Reavis played in more of a traditional two-deep strong safety look, aligned off the line of scrimmage to the boundary.

While Foster may change his alignments, the basic tenets of his run defense system remain the same. Foster wants his interior defenders to fit all available gaps. His edge defender either crashes inside to spill the runner outside or contains outside to force the runner inside. The alley defender (most often the play side safety) is a free hitter who has to be in the position to meet the running back in the hole. When aligned deeper, Foster often uses inverted cover-2 on run downs to the boundary, with the boundary corner dropping to cover a deep zone and the rover coming towards the line of scrimmage where he can fill the alley or be responsible for a short zone.

For the Hokies to be successful, especially against teams like Ohio State that will force defenders to tackle great athletes in space, the free hitter must be able to put runners on the ground one-on-one. The entire defense is predicated on the slanting front causing a missed blocking assignment or the free hitter making the tackle. When that free hitter misses the tackle in the alley (see Boston College in 2013 or Pitt last season), the offense is almost guaranteed a huge gain.

Watching live, it was easy to see why Foster feels like Reavis can be a terrific player. He made several impressive open field tackles both in the alley and scraping across from the back side. At the same time, there were a couple of situations where you could see Reavis overrun the play, as you would expect from a young player. Let's take a look at how he performed.

Reavis was noticeable right from the opening snap when he assisted Ronny Vandyke with a tackle on J.C. Coleman after a small cutback window opened up on the back side of an outside zone play. Reavis looked most comfortable scraping across and filling the alley from the back side of the play. Here is an example.

The offense runs an outside zone to the field (the bottom of your screen.) Reavis is aligned to the top of the screen. To the play side, the Hokies execute a spill call, with Dadi Nicolas challenging a double team by Ryan Malleck and Wade Hansen to occupy an interior gap and Desmond Frye coming up to support the run on the outside.

Frye isn't a free hitter though because the offense has pulled the center as a lead blocker, leaving two unblocked defenders in the box coming from the backside: Reavis and defensive end Vinny Mihota. Frye forces Coleman to cutback, and Reavis meets Coleman squarely in the hole as Mihota drags him down from the back side. This is perfect execution by the defense. The scheme drives the running back to where the free hitters are there to greet him.

Reavis got the crowd buzzing with his open field tackle on a spill call during the third first team offensive drive of the game. The offense ran an outside zone to the boundary.

This is a spectacular play by Reavis, made even more so because the offense has executed the play perfectly. Ryan Malleck motions to the boundary and seals the edge on Nicolas and then slides off to pin Deon Clarke inside. Even if Nicolas and Clarke had a spill call going (and I believe they did because Reavis is in perfect position when the back spills outside), Malleck and Hansen have completely sealed the defensive front to the inside. Eric Gallo is pulling behind them. If he can get to Reavis and seal him inside, Coleman will have a long run.

Reavis beats Gallo to the spot by a split second and cuts down Coleman. This is beautifully executed, however you may ask why Reavis didn't wrap his arms. Simply put, his body position was designed to take on Gallo and keep outside leverage. Gallo turned up field just a bit too soon, and Reavis used his posture to cut Coleman instead of cutting Gallo. I'd like to see a solid arm wrap here however his aiming point placed his head and inside shoulder on the outside of Coleman's outside leg. Other than an arm wrap, this is perfect technique given the defensive look. On this play, it is also worth noting how quickly Vinny Mihota gets into the backfield at the snap. Mihota may not have ideal "long speed" for running 40-yard dashes. He makes up for it with a great motor and he may be the quickest defensive lineman at the snap on the team not named Corey Marshall. Both Mihota and Woody Baron hustled down the line of scrimmage and took away the cutback lane from Coleman.

I could go through the film and find more than a half dozen similar examples where Reavis had good position and made a strong tackle. I didn't notice any situations where he busted coverages or where he was out of position on a force or spill call. I would have to defer to Coach Gray to know if Reavis was communicating the correct reads and coverages. However, as you would expect with any young player, there were some moments where you could see Reavis over-pursue or hesitate in the alley that lead to substantial offensive gains. Here are two examples, and it is worth noting that both involve some counter action with a zone run going one way and the H-Back whamming to the opposite side.

On the first example, the offense executes an inside zone to the left (top of the screen) while Ryan Malleck pulls across from the left side to cut off back side penetration on the right side. Quarterback Brenden Motley runs the play like it is an inside zone read. He forms a mesh point with running back Trey Edmunds and then runs behind Malleck's block like he is keeping on an option play.

Reavis has force (inside alley) responsibility on the play side, and Frye has alley responsibility to account for the quarterback on the back side. All day, Reavis was very aggressive in supporting the run from the back side of the play, however here is bites on Motley's fake and drifts over to the right side instead of playing his technique. By the time he recovers, he has a poor angle on Edmunds, who blows right past Reavis for an additional ten yards. If Reavis plays his proper technique, he is square and in the hole awaiting Edmunds. This is a typical mistake for a young player becoming comfortable in Bud Foster's system.

Finally, we have Travon McMillian's touchdown run. Again, the offense runs an inside zone, this time with the offensive line zoning to the right side and Malleck pulling from the right side back to his left. The left side of the Hokie offensive line caves in Woody Baron and Andrew Motuapuaka, and Malleck pulls to kick out backside pursuit.

Despite the excellent blocks at the point of attack, McMillian faces two unblocked defenders (Frye and Reavis) in the vicinity of the cutback lane. Yet, McMillian walks into the end zone untouched. How does this happen?

Watch Mihota (on the left side of the offensive line at defensive end). Frye was up on the line of scrimmage playing as an edge defender, and it appears that Mihota should have been crashing hard to the inside. Instead, Mihota read the play as if he was the edge defender, and took on Malleck's block with his inside shoulder. If Mihota crashes to the inside, McMillian has to bounce outside right into the waiting arms of Frye. Reavis scrapes across from his rover spot to the outside, so it appears he thinks that there is a spill call and McMillian will bounce. Instead, McMillian cuts sharply inside Malleck's block, and Reavis is completely out of position to make the tackle.

When there is an execution error on the defense, you can clearly see on this clip what can happen. Three Hokie defenders (Frye, Mihota, and Reavis) are covering the space from the left tackle to the sideline, while nobody is in the space between the left tackle and Woody Baron. This doesn't necessarily mean Mihota is to blame. Frye and Reavis have the responsibility as the safeties to communicate the correct call. Michael Brewer and the offense were in hurry-up mode after a bootleg completion to Malleck and didn't give the defense much time to set. Something was lost in translation, and with a schedule where the Hokies face numerous teams that use the hurry up (Ohio State, ECU, UNC, and Duke) Bud Foster can't afford those communication snafus.

As for Reavis, while he was executing a spill call, you still don't want to see him so far ahead of the play. With his speed, he can still maintain the outside leverage required on a spill call without being two strides ahead of the running back's cut. McMillian likely would have scored because of the communication breakdown; I'd like to see Reavis at least be in position to possibly make the tackle at the goal line rather than watching helplessly as McMillian strolls into the endzone. Again, the ability certainly is there. The timing and feel for the position will come with experience. The film clearly shows that Reavis has the range and the tackling ability to be a very productive rover. The timing and technique is a work of progress where there is some inconsistency. Reavis is just a sophomore and, assuming he is still the starter when the Buckeyes roll into Blacksburg, he will be playing his first meaningful snaps in the secondary against the defending national champions. Small mistakes will look glaring against that level of competition and it will be important to be patient as Reavis grows into the starter role. His upside in unquestionable, and I fully expect that he will be a terrific player in the DBU tradition by the time he graduates from Virginia Tech.