Hokie Haven is doing a countdown of their top 13 Hokies heading into the 2013 season. I figured it would be fun(ish) to make a list of my own, but cut it to 5 because that's easier. I evaluated players just based on their production coming into the season, not how I expect them to perform. Here's what I came up with:
1) James Gayle
2) Jack Tyler
3) Antone Exum
4) Logan Thomas
5) Derrick Hopkins
It's a pretty defense-heavy list, but that's how last season was and there's a good chance this season could be similar. Make your own list and debate. Go.
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I don't think anyone would really disagree with that list other than putting Fuller in place of Exum until we know for sure he is back from injury.
Speaking of Exum...I wonder how the recovery process is going for him. Anyone heard anything recently??
He tweeted a video of him running in cleats and on grass, completely unassisted about a week ago
That's great!! I guess I really need to get on that Twitter.....
I hear he's been spending time with Katherine Webb.
I think I'd keep your list but replace #5 with DJ Coles. He will be needed for veteran leadership and also will play a crucial role in Lefty's system as the H-Back, Flex type player.
#6 on my list is CJ
I know Fuller didn't have the year that people were expecting, but if he played hurt for as long as people were saying, I'd fully expect him to bounce back and be a big time contributor this year.
I'd have to place Kyshoen Jarrett below Exum, and slide everyone else down.
Somehow have a feeling that the DT play wil be crucial this year for everyone else to make their plays. So assuming that LT makes less mistakes, Skip Hopkins gets my #4. And Maddy #5.
The five best. I'll say the five most important:
1) Dietrick Bonner
2) Andrew Miller
3) Trey Edmunds
4) Josh Stanford
5) The 3rd corner, whoever wins the job.
How come no guards on your most important list, French?
Well, I could say that Miller is a guard (or at least played guard every snap in the spring game. But, until we know who is going to be on the field, it is hard to say. I think Shuman is a lock at one guard. That leaves Miller, Farris, and Wang for two spots.
Bonner is the most important player because the base 4-4 that we saw VT use in the spring game and in the last couple of games in the fall featured an 8 man front, with a cover 3 matchup zone. Bonner isn't playing a "center field" like we think of with a free safety. Instead, he essentially will play a zone principled man coverage on anyone who runs into the center deep third. Early in the season, they used him as a nickel corner while Jarrett and Cole played safeties. Bonner got picked on. If Exum and Fuller are healthy, teams are going to attack Bonner, and if he can't do the job then Foster will have to abandon the attacking blitzing 4-4.
Hmm ... Miller at guard. Weren't the C to QB exchanges pretty bad once Miller got hurt last year? Or was it a case of less reps for the backup (Farris?)?
And great call on Stanford.
Five most important:
1. Logan Thomas
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(A distant second) RVD
3. James Gayle
4. Luther Maddy/Derrick Hopkins
5. Tariq Edwards
I purposefully listed only one offensive player. I think we have a pretty good idea of what the players surrounding Logan Thomas will be bringing to the table. Some of them will play better then expected, some worse, but for the most part LT will have an above average amount of talent around him. The deciding factor in how good the offense is will be how well Thomas plays. He has the potential to be great, and he's also been pretty bad at times. A rising tide lifts all ships, but a sinking tide drops them. Thomas will need to play exceptional to lift his teammates to a BCS game.
I feel confident that the defense will be strong enough to get to an ACC champ game if the offense answers the bell. There's POTENTIAL for the defense to be a great, if the players who are poised to breakout do. If RVD tears it up at Whip like he's capable of, Foster will finally have a playmaker in his playmaker position for the first time since Cody Grimm left. Tech needs Gayle to be a more dominant at getting to the QB then he was last year, and the DT's need to hold up against the larger lines in the ACC. Also, if Tariq can come back from his injury and play at or (god willing) above the level he was playing at in 2011... Tech's defense could dominate.
Saying there is an above average talent level around LT3 seems like a HUGE overstatement to me. In 2011 he had above average talent I do not want to compare where this group is at right now to Boykin, Coale, Wilson as upperclassmen. Not to mention DeChristopher and Brooks on the line.
I think having a first round RB in David Wilson, the two leading receivers in school history, and four senior and experienced offensive linemen to be much better then "above average" talent.
There is very little doubt in my mind that the Virginia Tech's skill players are above average this season when compared to the rest of the college football landscape. FSU, Clemson, and miami are the only schools in the ACC which should have better offensive weapons. That puts Tech as "above average" in the ACC.
In my book, Tech's lack of a running game was the glaring weakness in last year's team. So my list is a little different, offense heavy, since I trust Bud and his men will answer the bell with guns blazing. These are my top 5 for making or breaking the 2013 season:
1. Terrell Edwards/JC Coleman
2. Andrew Miller(really the O-line as a unit, but he is their perceived leader)
3. Logan Thomas
4. RVD
5. Detrick Bonner (nod to French)
Not trying to call you out, but I'm assuming you meant Trey Edmunds?
Yeah, Terrell still has another year of high school...
OOPS! my bad. Shouldn't have been posting that late at night. Trey it is.
You said 5 best, right? I don't think LT3 was one of the five best last year.
I based it off of total production coming into the season, so including 2011 as well as 2012.
5 Most Talented (in no order):
Logan Thomas
James Gayle
Antone Exum
Jack Tyler
Kyle Fuller
5 Most Important (in no order):
Andrew Miller
Logan Thomas
AJ Hughes/Cody Journell
DJ Coles
Dietrick Bonner
5 with most potential (again, in no order):
Dadi Nicolas
Luther Maddy
Josh Stanford
Trey Edmunds
Johnathan McLaughlin
You're 5 with potential are spot on. However I think the RB position is by far the most important heading into this season. The run game is going to determine how well the offense as a whole performs all season long.