Hokies Use Preseason Practice to Retool the Secondary in the Wake of CJ Reavis' Dismissal

Coming out of spring practice, the Hokies' lineup in the secondary seemed set in stone.

After some uncertainty in the spring, CJ Reavis emerged as the clear-cut favorite at rover, and with Brandon Facyson's return to action, the coaches were able to slot in Chuck Clark at free safety.

Then Reavis' dismissal from school threw a sizable wrench in the works.

Suddenly, the Hokies were charged with replacing one of the most promising young defensive players on the roster and coping with the sudden departure of a teammate all at the same time.

The change is particularly head-spinning for redshirt junior Desmond Frye. While Frye stands to gain the most from Reavis' dismissal, ascending to the top of the depth chart at rover, he's also been friends with Reavis for years.

"It was definitely a big loss, we had everyone step up and pick up the intensity, but we should be able to get people to fill in for him," Frye said.

Even as the team starts the process of replacing Reavis, Frye still does his best to stay in touch with his former teammate.

"I still talk to him, I still try to keep in touch with him," Frye said. "It's definitely a tough situation he's going through right now, but I pray for him, and I'm pretty sure he'll come out on top wherever he goes."

That's a sentiment shared by those at the very top of Tech's athletic department.

"I thought that for whatever it was, CJ handled it in a classy way and took the high ground on the way out, so hopefully he can get back on his feet and he's a heck of a football player," said athletic director Whit Babcock.

With Reavis now gone for good, the burden falls on Frye to take over at rover. He's bounced between the two safety spots over the course of his career, mainly working at rover this spring while competing for a starting role with Reavis.

Now he seems confident he can handle the starter's mantle.

"As of right now, I feel pretty confident in what I'm doing, so hopefully I can win that position and hold it down for him," Frye said.

His fellow DBs think he'll be a fine fit in the role for his physicality.

"Des is a great player, he'll come downhill and put his shoulder into somebody," said CB Greg Stroman. "He'll cover great range, he's just a good overall safety."

Frye estimates he "probably" has more experience at free safety than rover in his career, but the coaching staff seems to like him for the spot.

"I like him, he's been here a while, he's long, he's got length, he's smart," said Frank Beamer. "He's gonna do a good job, and we'll look at a couple freshmen, see how they come in here."

While youngsters like redshirt freshman Terrell Edmunds and true freshman Adonis Alexander could figure into the mix at the spot, it's a veteran listed immediately behind Frye at the position. Senior Donovan Riley spent last year mostly competing at the nickel spot, but the team started experimenting with him at safety in the spring.

Now he's the backup at rover nipping at Frye's heels as camp gets going.

"I've just been playing everywhere on defense, just getting a feel," Riley said. "Coach (Bud) Foster, Coach (Torrian) Gray want me to play line, I'll play line, I'm just an athlete. I'm just playing rover just to get a feel for it when Ohio State comes."

While Riley notes that the coaches do see him as a second-stringer at the spot at this point, he insists there's nothing seriously wrong with his game.

"The coaches just feel comfortable with Des right now," Riley said. "It's nothing major, the coaches just like Des. They like me too. It's nothing major or anything like that."

Riley doesn't think the move to safety has hindered him as he fights for a spot, simply because he feels he understands every role there is to play in Gray's scheme.

"It's really no difference, I feel comfortable at all the positions because you have to do your job at the end of the day," Riley said. "So playing the position, you have to know your role. Because they all have different roles but the same concept."

If anything, Riley thinks the move to safety caters to one of his biggest strengths: bringing down ball carriers.

"I've always been a good tackler, that's why they moved me to safety," Riley said. "Even when I was at corner, I could make tackles as well, so it's not really a big change, just giving some help over the top to corners that need it."

But he's no slouch in coverage either. In particular, Beamer says he won't soon forget Riley's game-clinching pick six against the Buckeyes last year.

"Riley is a guy that came up with an interception last year in this game and been big a couple times," Beamer said.

Riley says he still hears plenty about that play even a year later, but he's trying not to rest on his laurels.

"People talk about it a lot, it's kind of hard not to acknowledge it," Riley said. :It was a great moment, it helped seal the victory against Ohio State, but we can't depend on that moment to help us beat Ohio State this year, we have to create new moments and different opportunities to beat Ohio State this year."

In that moment, Riley was still playing at CB, and that's a role he could find himself in once again. With Clark's move to free safety, there's an opening at nickel corner, and Beamer notes both Stroman and Riley are contenders for the role.

But unlike Riley, Stroman has been working full time at the nickel spot, and is also a contender to step into the starting lineup.

"I'm at nickel right now on defense," Stroman said. "Anywhere Coach Gray wants to put me, he wants us all to be flexible, so I've just got to learn it in the classroom and put it on the field."

Stroman worked on the outside during Facyson's absence this spring and, like Riley, he insists the change hasn't adversely affected him so far.

"If you're in the secondary, it just helps to know the whole secondary, they're really no different, they all work in there together," Stroman said.

But Stroman isn't simply lining up in the defensive backfield these days. The sophomore flashed his offensive ability in the team's Military Bowl matchup, running twice for four yards and catching a six-yard pass, and the team's made noise about building in another limited package to get him snaps at receiver this season.

"We tried it with DeAngelo Hall and Macho Harris, certain guys, you look at them and they've got ability," Beamer said. "We're gonna start here pretty soon, a period a day getting Stroman over there and get a package going for him."

For his part, Stroman simply says he'll go where he's needed.

"I like playing anywhere they want me," Stroman said. "Anywhere they need me, I'm going at it full speed, wherever the coaches need me."

His teammates on that side of the ball say he's not nearly so soft spoken about the game when they've worked with him.

"He's not very quiet with us," said quarterback Michael Brewer. "He's a fun, energetic guy. He likes to have fun out of practice, hard worker, him and Kendall and Facyson and all those guys are constantly getting extra work."

Brewer notes that Stroman might not be polished enough to grab the team's vacant third wide receiver slot just yet, but he still has tremendous potential.

"He runs really well, athletic, especially when the ball's in the air," Brewer said. "He's a guy who can make somebody miss on the second level and take it the distance and obviously that's pretty important on special teams and on offense. Hopefully we can use him in the best way possible."

Beamer says it was his punt return prowess last year that first persuaded him that Stroman might be a boon for the offense.

"He's a punt returner, and a good one," Beamer said. "I think punt returns are the toughest thing because you're catching it, then you've got (a guy) bearing down on me ready to whack me, you've got to concentrate. But he catches those things and never flinches, he made a couple tough catches last year on the punt return, and so he's kind of got it. He's got it and he's athletic, he's had the ball in his hands quite a bit in high school, so we want to take advantage of that."

Stroman spent his senior year at Stonewall Jackson HS as a running QB, so Beamer feels confident that he'll pick things up pretty quickly this preseason.

The learning curve hasn't left Stroman struggling so far, but he admits that he's still working to understand the finer points of the offense.

"Just learning, that's the biggest part," Stroman said. "Learning it and putting it on the field."

His fellow wide receivers think that work in the classroom is already paying off in practice.

"When I see him, he kind of reminds me of myself sometimes," said receiver Demitri Knowles, "He's real quick, he has good top end speed, so I see why (he's at receiver)."

While Stroman works to nail down his technique at nickel and receiver, Clark will focus on adjusting to his new starting spot at free safety.

The coaches have long suspected that Clark would be a good fit at the position, but his work there has been very limited. He spent some time there in the spring, but the bulk of his reps were still at corner.

That all changed when fall camp opened.

"I feel real comfortable with it right now because that's something I played in high school, so just having that natural instinct ability, that feels good," Clark said.

The free safety spot requires plenty of communication with the rest of the secondary, and Clark feels he's up to the task of getting the rest of the backfield lined up in accordance with Gray's vision.

"I'm perfectly fine communicating with guys on the team, we're all brothers out there on the field and off the field, we talk and communicate," Clark said.

Clark recalls learning the ins and outs of the position from some prominent former safeties, including Detrick Bonner, Kyshoen Jarrett and Antone Exum, and Beamer thinks the accumulation of that experience will serve him well.

"Experience means a lot, you need a guy back there who kind of directs traffic for you," Beamer said. "We try to get corners and move them inside because corners have to have athletic ability and now you move him inside and he can get us lined up. He's just got a lot going for him, and he's a guy that can do that."

Yet even with that bit of a jumpstart on the adjustment process, Clark says he's working with his fellow veterans to make things a little smoother for the rest of the secondary, despite all the chaos the offseason brought.

"Everybody's on the same pace and learning at the same rate as we're learning," Clark said. "Me and Kendall, Brandon, all the older guys, we want everybody to be at the same level. There's no who's best out on the field, everybody's trying to learn and be flexible."