Teller Demoted? OL Shuffling? VT Football Practice Monday 8/17 Observations

Earlier today, Beamerball.com posted an article where the offensive coaching staff commented on observations they had during Saturday's scrimmage. One quote stood out from Coach Searels: " I came away from this scrimmage with three guys who I thought were solid and played winning football; Eric Gallo, Augie Conte and Parker Osterloh."

Jonathan McLaughlin and Wyatt Teller were noticeably absent from the discussion (good or bad.) I thought very little of it until I watched the pass protection and team vs team work from today's practice on VT Football Snap Chat.

Working with the first team offense was
Left Tackle: Yoshua Nijman
Left Guard: Parker Osterloh
Center: Eric Gallo
Right Guard: Augie Conte
Right Tackle: Jonathan McLaughlin

Wyatt Teller was working with the second group, along with:

Left Tackle: was Colt Pettit (who was beaten badly by Houshun Gaines in his first rep of pass pro)
Teller was at left guard
Center: Tyrell Smith (who had a strong solo rep against Nigel Williams and then switched off well in drills against stunts. It looks like when he figures out the snapping part, he could be a very good player along with Gallo)
Right guard: Braxton Pfaff
Right Tackle: Darius Redman

Teller looked strong in his drill work, so I can't comment as to the reason he is working with the twos, however it is easy to say that you would be hard pressed to find someone that follows the Hokies that would have predicted Teller working behind Parker Osterloh. That said, Osterloh had a good scrimmage, and Searels may feel the need to motivate Teller. Otherwise, I am dumbfounded.

Other observations:

The running backs faced off against the linebackers in pass protection drills. Trey Edmunds stonewalled the best pass rushing linebacker on the team in Deon Clarke. Steven Peoples (who also broke the ankles of an unfortunately linebacker in a passing route drill) had a really nice block against Carson Lydon. He delivers a blow without getting overextended. JC Coleman didn't deliver as much of a wallop, however he stayed balanced and moved laterally smoothly against a spin move.

Travon McMillian struggled a bit in both of his reps. On his first rep, he delivers a strong blow, but gets extended with too much weight out over his toes. That forward momentum pulls him off balance, and Dahman McKinnon rips himself by. Later, a mystery LB (#39, which is Jaylen Bradshaw's number) beats him quicker on a similar move. Later, Ronny Vandyke had a nasty pull/rip to beat Jerome Wright badly.

In team vs team work, the offensive line group, with Coleman and Edmunds working at #1 tailback and the same #1 OL group from above, worked on blitz pick ups. Michael Brewer moved well in the pocket and made some throws while moving that got there, but certainly were not the way you draw up QB mechanics. Coleman had a nice blitz pickup on Terrell Edmunds, who came off the edge on a corner blitz.

Yosh Nijman was matched up against Ken Ekanem during the team work. Between the drills and the team work, Nijman was noticeable. He had a good day moving around against a very good ACC DE.

The camera was turned around, and Cam Phillips beat Kendall Fuller cleanly on a post route for a touchdown, with the catch almost being made right in your lap (great angle!)

The last two clips were short yardage plays. Shai McKenzie scored on a physical run as he steamrolled Sean Huelskamp behind the second team/third team OL group against the 2/3 D. That was followed up by a Trey Edmunds score that wasn't quite as challenging. The angle isn't great, but it looked like Motuapuaka may have been a bit out of position, as Deon Clarke was flowing to the left and Motuapuaka wasn't coming with him (and you could hear one of the coaches yelling "FIT FIT FIT." I love the enthusiasm from the offense here. They need that hunger around the goal line (it has been missing since Ryan Williams finished his Hokie career.)

It will be interesting to see how this Teller story manifests itself. The good news is that Parker Osterloh is showing that he can play, and that gives Coach Searesl more options up front. I have not been particularly high on my hopes for Osterloh, but he looked like he belonged with the first group today.