ESPN ACC blogger David Hale has conducted some terrific statistical analysis this season, and his latest examines who the ACC's best corner is: http://espn.go.com/blog/acc/post/_/id/87155/by-the-numbers-whos-the-accs.... There's a bunch of great information on the Hokies.
But how about Hokies' corner Brandon Facyson? He's flown under the radar in a secondary that used to include Kendall Fuller, but the work he's done this season is pretty impressive, allowing just five completions — none more than 20 yards — and just 2.4 yards-per-attempt. He has yet to allow a touchdown despite a scheme that often puts corners on an island, and he's eight pass breakups, which leads the ACC. More interestingly, Frank Beamer thinks Facyson isn't playing close to his best ball after returning from a season-ending injury last year.
"There about a week ago, I said, I really think he's not quite back to his former self, but you know, he's made a couple big-time plays here lately," Beamer said. "I think he's getting closer all the time."
Of course, the Hokies' pass rush has been the best in the country (39.9 percent of dropbacks under pressure), and Facyson's teammate in the secondary, rookie Adonis Alexander, has been among the most picked-on DBs (13 of 15 targets completed, worst rate in the ACC).
Wrote about #ACC's top CBs yesterday:
https://t.co/bttBs3V7Aa
How about best secondaries? One metric... pic.twitter.com/6zvpHJRk3Q— David Hale (@DavidHaleESPN) October 23, 2015
Comments
So a comment about stats against us when a QB is NOT pressured:
For a defense predicated on pressure, to me, the times we don't get pressure on a passing down represents a breakdown of the defensive scheme. We put our corners in more difficult situations on the assumption that we can then get pressure. It's not the same as a team playing a cover-2 scheme who doesn't rely on pressure, and focuses on coverage or limiting YACs. I think we are comparing apples to oranges. That said, the numbers are still interesting.
The crazy thing to me is, despite facyson look at those numbers...you have a shut down corner and we're still struggling that badly, I really think Foster might need to throw in some zone on the field corner side (facyson plays boundary right?) to protect the young CBs. I think given a few years to develop theyll be great but we have way to much youth in the secondary right now and 0 push up front to help force QBs into bad throws to help the young guys.
On a side note is anyone as worried as me about next year on the DL? specifically DE