I am really at a loss for words folks. The Hokie Spring Game format was designed to reinvigorate the fan base as an electric demonstration of power. The first team defense would run roughshod over the second team offense, and the offense was loaded up with every potential contributor and would light up what amounted to the 3rd team defense with the exception of the linebackers and corners, sendings the faithful home happy and selling the remaining season tickets for a weak home schedule.
Instead, a nightmare scenario played out for Frank Beamer and the Hokie offensive staff. Logan Thomas threw three brutal interceptions (two into heavy coverage while staring down his primary read) and one awful overthrow to a wide open DJ Coles in the seam. I am not sure if he was benched or the plan meant to give Mark Leal work, but it looked like he was benched and the crowd cheered when Leal came in. Worse yet, Logan seemed disengaged on the sidelines. He kept to himself, didn't talk much with the OL and receivers, and seemed to be allergic to the staff.
Perhaps even more disturbing, the offensive line, especially (from my vantage point) my guy Laurence Gibson and Caleb Farris, was completely ineffective creating the cutback lanes needed to execute the zone blocking scheme. And, most alarming of all, Scott Loeffler seemed to completely abandon the running game that must be successful in order to win games that, you know, count.
The Hokies looked like a tired, disinterested football team that was ready to get spring ball over with. Even the first team defense, which dominated, did so without much gusto. I didn't see the intensity that I heard about all spring, and now we inadvertently have at least the specter of a quarterback controversy and a reinforced cynical fan base that expects the worst from our offense.
I want an opportunity to watch the film so I can make a detailed analysis for what went wrong, but I want to share a few observations on what went right since I fear my film review will not paint the brightest picture. Here are some observations. I will post a film review by Tuesday, and over the summer we will post a high level football 101 series on the basics of the Scot Loeffler offense.
1) Linebacker depth was a primary concern for me coming into this game, but the two best players on the field may have been Devin VanDyke and Deon Clarke. Both repeatedly found seams in the top blocking and were in the backfield all day. I have concerns about DVD's size and ability to hold his gap fit when taking on blockers, but he was up to the task today.
2) Donovan Riley, Der'Woun Greene and Brandon Fayscon were outstanding in coverage and run support all game long. There were a few breakdowns, but all three made plays reading Logan Thomas's eyes and jumping routes. Meanwhile, Donaldven Manning played a very conservative game and didn't seem sharp breaking on the ball today. I think I'd feel better with Riley in that spot based what I saw today.
3) I have no idea where Corey Marshall was, but even without him the White defense line gave the starting OL fits. Nobody was more disruptive than Ken Ekanem, who looked like the early 2011 version of JR Collins tracking down plays from the back side. He decimated Laurence Gibson in pass rush situations and looked like he made a case to be in the rotation at stud end.
4) Trey Edmunds showed flashes of brilliance again today, breaking one long run and then breaking the ankles of a defender on a counter play. But he hurt himself with a drop in the passing game. Micheal Holmes had some production, but doesn't pass the eye test as a workhorse back. He also was impatient on two outside zones where the ends were successfully sealed inside, but he took short gains on the interior.
5) I didn't get to focus on the blocking as much as I liked, but the top three tight ends made plays in the passing game. Malleck was wide open on a stick route that he dropped in an early scrimmage, and this time made the easy catch and got upfield for a nice gain. When I paid attention, he was very effective blocking. Zach McCray made a nice diving catch up the seam, and both he and Malleck were wide open all day (along with Coles) against the depth safeties, but were rarely spotted in the progression. For the White team, Duan Perez Means made several catches on bootlegs and got behind the defense several times on play action corner routes, but wasn't targeted. All three made strong cases for being starters, while the fullbacks were used less than expected. Fuller Hoepner did get reps with the ones and made a nice first down catch on play action, but he wasn't finding Clarke or DVD in the running game.
6) Loeffler gave Jonathan McLaughlin some help in pass protection, but the true freshman seemed to hold his own pass blocking and appeared to be the only Hokie starting OL to get any movement in the running game. His wingspan is massive and he has a great motor for an offensive tackle, and his footwork looks better in person than on film. If you watched the offensive line conducting their warm up drills, you would have expected a much better day. Sadly, that effort and fundamental approach didn't translate to game conditions for this outing.
I wish I was more enthusiastic. Perhaps the film will tell a better story and we can find more positives. The format was terrible and complicated the whole mess with Thomas, and completely failed to give the top defensive guys any kind of look. The new offensive staff didn't seem to be nearly as engaged with the offensive players as I expected, and I am still troubled at the site of Logan Thomas alone on the sidelines after throwing those picks, not receiving any tutoring. It was eerily similar to the O'cainSpring era.
At the same time the offense is going against a defense that was designed to stop the inside zone and stretch plays through backside gap fills, and those defensive players have seen these plays for 3 weeks. Numerous individuals whose football opinions I respect insist that what we saw today was not indicative of the offensive productivity and effort from the other public scrimmages. With so many recruits, alumni, and fans in attendance, they picked one hell of a time to stink up the joint.
What other positives did you take away from this showing? Please, give me something.
Comments
Your comment re Thomas sitting there not getting any tutoring is why I don't like that Loefller plans to be in the booth. I would rather him be on the sidelines so he can coach up Logan during the game. JMO
If you have to do coaching during a game face to face with a QB, you've already failed.
Sitting in the booth is the right call.
Gotta agree with Hokiefan here. Loeffler needs to get one of the other coaches on the sideline to be there for LT during the game if necessary, but he needs to be up in the booth himself. He can't do his job from the sideline.
Watching the replay the QB's all seemed to talk to Loeffler after each play. Also note that after turnovers / change of possession the coaches switch sides to coach the active units. All the offensive coaches were busy coaching the White team after LT's turnovers, there was no time for extended discussions.
There were no headsets so they were getting the next play and then going back to the huddle.
This reads as pretty hysterical (and I don't mean funny). It's a spring game, for God's sake. A spring game where only a handful of plays are available to the offense, and not even all of those were available because the defense was always in base.
Logan Thomas has had a handful of practices with the new coaching staff. Give him some time to get in sync with what they want of him. THIS PLAYBOOK IS JUST AS NEW TO HIM AS IT IS TO LEAL AND TREY GRESH. For all we know, he has completely different reads then he's used to.
And let's be serious. There is no quarterback controversy, nor should their be. Leal completed a grand total of three passes. Three. In order for their to be a QB controversy, the backup either has to have a higher ceiling, or be significantly more efficient. I don't see either being the case here. Has anyone heard anything but good things about Logan this spring?
I was expecting this to be the voice of reason article. Boy was I wrong. Logan Thomas is an NFL player. He's been the starter for two years. He's lead the team to victory in the closing minutes of a game in front of a national audience. He's not losing his job because of one bad regular season game, you can forget about losing it because of one bad Spring game.
Especially not when the back-up completes three passes.
I whole-heartedly agree with most of what you said. However, I think the most alarming and concerning aspect of the spring game was the lack of any ability to run the football. Both teams were totally one-dimensional today and it lead to a long game where the defense was keyed in on the few pass plays that were being run this spring.
I actually am somewhat fine with the running game. The Oline isn't good enough to simply run people over. The running game can still be successful though, by mixing and matching schemes to keep the defensive line off balance. Running the base zone, then creating cut-backs by using Wham-blocks (trapping), running some counters, some toss sweeps, reverses, jet sweeps, etc. Today the only plays the coaches had at their disposal were the handful of plays they've installed.
No surprise to me that the defense was frequently able to beat their man to the spot if they know what play's coming. Especially when the Oline talent is less then in previous years. As the playbook expands though, the coaches will be able to hide some of their deficiencies in terms of pure strength.
Think of it this way. GT's Oline isn't strong enough to just run you over. They have to come at you at weird angles you don't suspect, putting your head on a swivel all game. Sometimes they'll even base-block and catch you off guard. But if you tell any ACC defense what play is coming, and give them weeks to practice against it over and over, don't be surprised when even Paul Johnsons running attack is stymied.
I do think Logan Thomas has a ways to improve if Tech is going to compete for an ACC title. I just wanted to push back against this idea I've read over and over today from the fan base that somehow LT's job was in danger because of three bad passes.
Logan has already had a season and a half worth of bad games. The only reason there isn't a QB controversy is because we didn't recruit the position for shit the past few seasons. If we had a younger, 4 star prospect waiting in the wings I'm sure the voices demanding a QB change would be much louder.
I also don't understand people claiming that his struggles are due to only a portion of the playbook being installed. If he looks lost out there now, how is tripling the amount of information he needs to know going to alleviate things?
I didn't get into the game until the second half, so I can't really comment on how Logan played yesterday. But at this point, I think we can all agree that if it weren't for Mel Kiper's high draft grade for Logan at the beginning of last year, we wouldn't even be fathoming him getting drafted in the first two days as a QB. I mean he completes less than 55% of his passes and has a 3:2 TD to INT ratio! His career at tech has mirrored Sean Glennon's, who is close to the most vilified player to ever play here. Of course I would love to seem him play well, but we need to start being more realistic with our expectations of him.
I agree with you, Logan is the clear starter. The crowd cheering when Leal came on the field made a bad situation worse. But, lets take a minute to look at this closer:
1) the other QB's, who get fewer reps, were going through their progressions when they had time. They did benefit from using the bootlegs more, but they scanned the field. Logan was locking in on one guy, and he was covered out of his break, Logan was staying dead on him as if he would break open late. See the first INT. that has nothing to do with familiarity with a system. He locks on to guys. When he gets tight, that is what happens. Happened when he was great with Coale and Boykin. Happened with Fuller last year. Guys were wide open all over the field, especially against the safeties. Any throw that wasn't his first read was a panic throw or a check down. We can try to shine it up, but it was still poor. Even his best throw of the day (Stanford's catch on the first drive) probably should not have been thrown. He has to get better, because despite the opinion of those cheering when Leal came in, he isn't winning any games for you in the ACC.
I want Logan to be great. I think he can, and have said so here repeatedly. His mechanics (with two exceptions) looked better. But, his vision and decision-making just isn't satisfactory for a guy who now has two years of starting experience and his other tools. We can bicker and argue over semantics but it wasn't the starting defense that was making him look bad. This was a disaster.
A disaster is throwing three interceptions vs Alabama, not three interceptions in a glorified scrimmage.
Logan had a bad game, I'll be the first to admit. Three bad interceptions (Stanford tried to fall on the sword for the second one, I'm not buying it). He has some damning habits that he HAS to clean up before the season starts, or Tech won't even sniff the ACC title game.
But.
This wasn't some threshold moment like many in our fan base are making it out to be. He's going to have all spring and summer to work on his mechanics and work with the young receivers (If those young CB's don't get some 7 v 7 drills going, they don't want the job bad enough). I'm confident he and Loeffler will turn this around.
Completely agree. If anyone thinks there will be a QB controversy, they are going to be disappointed. Logan is their man and will be their man until he graduates. In my opinion, Logan actually threw the ball much better today than he did last season, but he fell victim to a few bad decisions that led to a poor day overall.
Like I wrote earlier, I feel like the bad decisions really amplified an otherwise decent day. I'm a glass half-full guy, but Logan made a ton of bad decisions last year, and right now that's the norm, not exception to the rule. In this offense he cannot be careless with the ball. You don't control the clock with turnovers. I don't want him to be a 30 TD guy, just a < 10 turnover player.
I'm pretty sure he hit his hand on a helmet or something because he was favoring his left hand after the second pick, which I think is why Leal came in earlier than expected. Anyone else catch that?
Yes, I thought so too. It looked like he was getting his hand looked at after several series.
yeah, they taped his left hand up. he was favoring it through a lot of the first half. it happened in the first pick six
He cut his non throwing hand across the base of his thumb. He came over to get it checked out and the trainers just wiped the blood off and sent him back out. It looked like he was asking them for a spray and to cover it but the trainers didn't seem very concerned. I think it took him coming to them 3-4 times before they finally taped it up.
Having sat next to French during the entire game and seeing his disappointment, I can understand why some of you think French is being all gloom and doom.
However, I tried to tell French what I saw in the scrimmages were not what he saw during the spring game, and for some reason, Thomas was way, way off today.
My biggest issue is the red zone woe that continues to haunt the program. They ran with Trey Edmunds on three straight tries out of the full house, and could not punch it in. I thought Edmunds tried to get a bit cute, but French assured me it was due to the lack of seal. That led to Thomas trying to squeeze a fartsy throw to Stanford...
Yeah, Leal had the better day, but he bought time with his feet and found Malleck behind the back up defense, but let's be real, there's no quarterback controversy. I blame this on Norm Wood for tweeting that.
The most disappointing feature was the lack of offensive imposing their will on the back up defensive line! I mean, if they want to be the bully, then by God, be the bully! Instead, it was the back up defense being the bully.
Down vote me for saying this, I don't care, but I have already scaled back my expectation to beat Alabama based on what I saw in the scrimmage. Instead of continuing with progress, they appeared to get bogged down, and was like a jeep trying to get out of a mud hole up to the roll bar.
it's funny that you titled this article "losing the spring game" because that's how it felt walking back to the car, like we had just lost a game. people were quietly chatting, some hopeful, some nasty complaining, but mostly just disappointed.
the d will have to carry the o for at least the first few games.
You guys out there who are blinded by emotions give it a break! I am a fan of Logan and wish him well but, from where I was sitting Logan is still inconsistent, he locked in on his targets and does not go through his progressions. once in the huddle the play is called and that's his only focus. Two years as the starting Q.B and he hasn't improved much, give it a break and give Leal a shot. Please don't tell me they have mot instilled all of the plays and that's the reason. I think a Q.B competition would be great!
A I sat there and watched the scrimmage unfold a couple of things stood out to me.
1. Logan came over to the sidelines after each bad throw with his hand held out complaining about the grip. After all the coaches shrugged him off he would then turn and tell anyone who would listen -trainers,team mates etc. I am a Logan fan but this reminded me of something you would see on the 8th grade level.
Although it has been pointed out that leal only completed 3 passes, the plays were called differently which I attribute alot of that to. leal went through his progressions and reads and made things happen and more than that he played with (excitment and enthusiasm). Logan is the guy that we need this year to be able to win ,but Leal is a Gunslinger and can give this team some spark. I would love to see him used in some packages and not to mention we are going to need him next year!
2. I have heard all spring about the new coaches intensity and focus on being tuff. Whatever!!!! I have seen multiple posts were only a quarter of the playbook has been installed and I get that!! What concerns me is I read the quotes many,many times that we are keeping it simple during spring to be able to run those plays to perfection. It has been stated that the defense knew what was coming. And I get that !! but the bottom line is this --- This is division 1 college football!!! if both sides know what is coming then it is nothing less than overpowering and mashing the guy in front of you!!! Loefflers 1st team members should have completely dominated Buds third stringers!!!! And they could not do this in any aspect of the game!!!
I will try and stay positive and chalk this up to we have recruited extremely well on the defenseive side of the ball!!!
In my humble opinion!!
Leal is many things.
A "gunslinger" he is not.
Nothing I have seen from him in the past has shown anything to the contrary. The pass he zipped to the sidelines yesterday was on a rope. Wether you like him or not he goes through his progressions confidently and can make things happen with his leggs!!!! A gunslinger --someone who can throw with accuracy and zip while on the run!!!!!! Just plain football terminology!!!!!!
I think the problem is we have too little "past" to judge when it comes to Leal. Did he move his feet well and buy himself some time to make a nice pass? Sure. But we've seen that from Logan and other QB's, too. Tyrod was a gunslinger. He made it a trademark to scramble and develop things from out of nowhere. Leal had a couple nice passes, that's it. I don't disagree that he might develop into a consistent dual-threat/gunslinger type QB, but nothing I have seen from him has made me feel like that's necessarily going to happen.
You're using different terminology then any I've heard before.
Leal's arm strength isn't one of his best assets. He can throw it accurately, but I've never seen him throw a pass and gone "wow, look at the cannon on that kid".
What by guitarman said was what I Washington referring to. My quayerback I played with in college was the same way. They used to say that about Brett farve a lot. Not that I am saying leakier in the same league as tyrod or farve . Just that he makes good reads and throws on the run. With our O line play his talents could be a good thing if needed not to mention the need for him after this season. Plus I thought the pass to the home sideline yesterday was a well thrown ball. Again in my humble opinion!
!!!!!
Dang auto correct
To me, Logan looks like a guy that isn't a natural quarterback. I feel like he has to think way to much when he drops back because it doesn't come natural to him. His inability to go through his progressions I believe is halfway due to the fact that he is more focused on getting each and every aspect of his mechanics right rather than looks to see who is open.
I think that his first year was incredibly successful because he was throwing to two of the greatest receivers Tech has ever had, and it was able to cover up the issues we are seeing today. Now that he's throwing to guys that aren't top notch wide receivers, we see the flaws in his play. It just seems like there is a bit too much thinking in Logan's head, every time he drops back.
I agree with everyone that Logan's demeanor was very disappointing. His mechanics were much better and the majority of his passes were actually well thrown, however, sometimes I doubt if he has the intangibles to be an elite QB. His progression through his reads, his pocket presence, and his confidence is shot. His first year as a starter he was not technically sound, but he went out and balled and made plays. My hope is that he spends the next several months becoming more comfortable with his mechanics and receivers and can focus solely on protections and progressions during the game. As far as the rest of the offense goes, I think the hard truth is that there isn't that much talent on that side of the ball. The O-line is not good at this point, and the receivers and TEs are average at best without a real game changer. As for the running backs, I wanted to be impressed with Trey Edmunds, but was left underwhelmed by him. He had two good runs that were negated by penalties, however, he seemed tentative at times and I was expecting much better power based on others reviews (we have been spoiled recently by DW and RW). I think all three running backs are pretty even and each have their own deficiencies. Also, I think the limited playbook had a ton to do with the success of the defense. On the first redzone pick six, we ran the same play 3 times to the left which was ultimately stuffed by DVD. I think Loeffler was trying to prove a point, which he wouldn't do in a game. We also ran the same few passing plays several times and although LT made 2 horrible decisions, the DBs were sitting on those routes because they recognized the play. The only thing that was concerning on the defensive side of the ball was the lack of passion which was a common theme last year. The d-line should have manhandled the patchwork back up o-line. Also, RVD got beat multiple times on the same bootleg play and Manning gave up easy passes to walk on WRs and Qbs.
Also, I thought Holmes was clearly more effective then Edmunds yesterday. At this point I may be biased because I feel like the only one who believes in Holmes. However the only time Edmunds looked decent was when he got the benefit of holds. His one long run came behind the very tackle that got called for the hold!
Holmes looked much more willing to take what was available and fight for what few yards he could find. Edmunds was the one who looked tentative and trying to find a hole rather than just pushing forward and try to get something positive.
Well...you're not going to have to worry about Holmes. He's going to miss the summer and maybe the fall because of his idiocity. Maybe he'll plead it down and be reinstated but that won't happen until close to the fall camp.
Well... I'd say this is a moot point now
I'd have to agree that Holmes looks willing to fight... Perhaps just not in the way you meant it.
Someone said this yesterday I think, but I got the feeling loeffler wanted as much tape on the passing game as possible, which is why we abandoned running yesterday
Very excited to hear the good news regarding Ken Ekanem. I feel like there hasn't been a lot of hype coming out about him in light of all the depth we have at DE this year. He had a whole host of offers, including Michigan and Notre Dame. I also recall Foster saying that Ekanem was the best defensive player in VA in 2011. High words of praise for sure. I'm looking forward to seeing if he can crack the two deep this fall and become a major contributor over time.
Watching the film now. A quick preview.
1) So far, I have seen Logan come off his read one time. I am into the 2nd quarter.
2) Gibson, Shuman, and McLaughlin look good. Farris had one bad bust, and one other potential disaster where he recovered nicely. Miller has had two bad busts. The other screw ups in blocking were fullbacks and hBacks. Again, the film is young.
Keep in mind that the QB's were not allowed to audible out of any plays regardless if they read blitz or change coverage, just ran the play that was called, they most likely would have changed the play at the line of scrimmage on several of the running plays.
The defense wasn't allowed to blitz and i heard LT kill 2 or 3 plays at the line.
I heard the defense was only allowed to run the "base defense", but I'm not entirely sure if that means base personnel group, or base formation, or base plays. I'd venture to say it's the first, but I haven't had a chance to rewatch the spring game to find out which (not that I'm entirely sure I want to...)
The defense ran their basic alignment, rushing no more than 4 players, except inside the 8 and I believe on 3rd downs. Double check hokiesports.
Can we all agree Augie Conte had one of the crappiest Saturdays of his life? Poor fella had to (try to) block James Gayle all game.
That's just how Foster runs his D. Best pass rusher gets put up against the RT because they're usually the run blocker.
I really like the best DE lining up against the RT. People want someone to come blindside the QB to get a fumble, but I think there's more to be said for having someone pressuring the Qb's face all game and giving him the heeby geebies. That way you can get bad decisions that can lead to more turnovers than catching him with a great blindside hit once or twice a game.
I agree
To add to this, its not like our second best DE lining up on the other end is a scrub. Having Gayle lining up against the RT does not preclude the LT getting beat. There will still be pressure from the blindside.
Deep breath folks!
Even with the Spring Game playing out the way it did, I'll still be just like this all the way til AUG31
Hopefully, we'll all be like this come September 1, as well. Side note: the guy in the middle was totally me during the entirety of the GT game this past season, and it'll probably be me during the entirety of the Bama game too. Completely sober and all.
The format of the scrimmage was that the assistant coaches had to switch sidelines after change of possessions so that may be why no one was talking to LT after the picks.