Several Hokies defensive players who will be counted upon in 2016 had an opportunity to showcase their skills in a must win game against Virginia. Dadi Nicolas' potential successor Vinny Mihota got almost every rep at the left "stud" defensive end spot in the first half. Anthony Shegog rotated with senior Donovan Riley at the whip linebacker-nickel position. Adonis Alexander got an opportunity to start at field corner, and Andrew Motuapuaka's ability to read counter action was tested by a diverse Cavalier offense that featured several excellent pass catching running backs.
Vinny Mihota, Anthony Shegog, and Andrew Motuapuaka Step Up
Virginia Tech's defense has struggled against designed quarterback power and counter lead plays this season. Opposing offenses influenced Tech's defensive line away from where the ball ultimately went with downblocks. The Hokies' d-line would key, slant the same direction, and try to beat the down blocks, but the blocker would then seal the defender(s) inside. The offense then pulls blockers from the back-side to account for the fitting linebackers and safeties. Dadi Nicolas in particular would slant inside to beat the down block, and then the opposing offensive tackle or tight end would drive him inside without much resistance. James Summers' backbreaking run in the East Carolina game is a textbook example.
Nicolas slants to the inside keying off the initial step of the right tackle. This is the correct technique based on the initial defensive key. Once he recognizes that the play is coming back in his direction, he is supposed to cross the face of the blocker and get back to the outside. Unfortunately, on this play and for most of the season Dadi was unable to fight back across the down block and make the play. As Nicolas gets caved inside, it increases the space between him and the edge defender (Deon Clarke). Andrew Motuapuaka has the responsibility of filling that space and taking on a blocker. The gap is too big for Motuapuaka to jam up and Chuck Clark can't make the alley tackle after Summers breaks through the initial defensive wall. The scheme isn't ideal against this play. The bigger issue was the players not winning those physical battles at the point of attack.
Nicolas' first half suspension presented an opportunity for Vinny Mihota to make his case to be the starter at defensive end next season. At 6-5, 270 pounds Mihota is as large as any defensive end that has played for Bud Foster. Mihota has a quick twitchy first step yet will never be mistaken for a speed rusher. Mihota impacts the game with power and the ability to execute twist stunts. The Hokies' defense had one of its best halfs of stopping the run all season against the Hoos when Mihota was on the field. It was no coincidence, Mihota's strength and ability to fight back across down blocks made a significant difference.
Virginia's base running series was a combination of jet sweep and an off tackle power play. Converted tailback Olamide Zaccheaus would motion across from a receiver alignment, while Smoke Mizzell, Daniel Hamm, or Albert Reid would run an off tackle power. The blocking and backfield action for both plays in the series was nearly identical. The play-side offensive tackle would block down, causing the defensive end to crash inside. In theory, the crash would make the edge vulnerable to the jet sweep, and if the end stayed wide to defend the jet sweep, it would open up the power. Late in the game, the play worked to perfection when Albert Reid rumbled for a 57-yard touchdown run.
Early in the game, the Hokies minimized damage on the jet sweep and completely shut down the power. On this play, Virginia runs the jet sweep motion power at Vinny Mihota. The Hoos block down on Mihota and whip Anthony Shegog with a tight end and H-Back, respectively. Desmond Frye is left to set the edge, while Motuapuaka and Chuck Clark scrape over to fill the alley.
Like the ECU play above, everyone is sharp from an assignment perspective; each player correctly executes their assignments. However, Mihota and Shegog win physical battles that completely derail the run. Mihota crashes inside when the left offensive tackle steps to the inside. The tight end blocks down on Mihota's outside shoulder. When Mihota feels the pressure, he plants his right foot and spins back to his left. His crash prevented a quick hole from popping open on the inside, and then by fighting back against the block, he narrows the alley back to the outside.
Shegog is assigned to crash to the inside, and Desmond Frye is to come up to force (contain) on the edge. Shegog rips through the down block of H-Back Evan Butts. Butts grabs Shegog and completely turns him around (ACC officials will get after ya). Despite being held, Shegog squares to the ball carrier and fights to stay in the hole. Shegog and Mihota win physical battles. As result, Mizzell is forced to hesitate and blockers can't get to Motuapuaka and Clark. Deon Clarke tracks Mizzell down from behind and the combination of Motuapuaka and Clark clean up.
Mihota also demonstrated that he can be effective as a pass rusher, even though his method is significantly different from the way that Dadi Nicolas creates pressure. Mihota was most effective when he twist stunted with nose tackle in the Bear front. Here is an example. Johns throws a skinny post to Zaccheaus on first down.
At the snap, Maddy stunts to his left from his nose tackle alignment. This pulls the center with him and picks the right guard. Mihota gives some ground and then loops behind Maddy and shoots right up the center of the field. At 6-5, Mihota is directly in Johns' line of site to Zaccheaus. Despite Terrell Edmunds falling down on the play, Johns throws behind Zaccheaus, thanks in large part from the pressure from Mihota on the inside. Mihota got several pressures on Johns, utilizing either this type of stunt or a bull rush. In this age of spread offenses where quarterbacks get the ball out quickly, there is a premium on using bull rushers with height to get into the throwing lanes when they don't have time to hit the quarterback. Mihota doesn't have the edge speed of Dadi Nicolas, yet he can be effective with his strength and his stature.
Shegog was an unsung hero for the defense down the stretch. He is much more instinctive at the whip position than Ronny Vandyke was in his limited playing time earlier this season. He excelled in run support against North Carolina, and against UVA and was proficient enough in coverage that he could slide out against a slot receiver if needed. On this play, UVA attempts to run the power away from Shegog.
Ken Ekanem crashes inside and spills the play to the outside. Deon Clarke sets the edge. Mihota, Maddy, and Marshall prevent blockers from getting to the second level. Shegog diagnoses the play quickly and take a terrific scrape angle to crunch read in the hole. In years where the whip has been the most dynamic, Foster has been able to position him as a back-side pursuit defender. Shegog's ability to scrape clean and then make a solid tackle is textbook whip play. Motuapuaka also makes a nice play by giving some ground to avoid the down block of the UVA left tackle and then he comes up to assist Shegog.
Motuapuaka also played significantly better in the last handful of games than he had in dreadful performances against Duke and Miami. Here, UVA runs a counter to the boundary.
On this counter the center and left guard pull around the edge while the two tight ends and left tackle on the play-side block down on the edge defenders. Motuapuaka keys the center and guard pulling to take him to the football. He scrapes to his right and attacks right behind the pulling center to avoid his block. Desmond Frye does an outstanding job of forcing on the edge and draws a holding penalty. This allows Motuapuaka to defend a smaller space and he makes a strong tackle.
Motuapuaka needs to continue to improve in pass coverage, as I expect to see more zone coverage as the Hokies' young secondary gains experience. After struggling in defending the run early in the season, Motuapuaka's tackling and fitting gaps seems to be improving. With the backer position likely being filled by a very inexperienced Tremaine Edmunds or Jamieon Moss, Motuapuaka will be counted on heavily as a leader next season.
Adonis Alexander as a Corner?
Injury issues to Brandon Facyson forced Bud Foster to start former rover Adonis Alexander at field corner against the Hoos. Alexander spent the latter half of spring practice playing boundary corner in the place of an injured Kendall Fuller before returning to safety in fall camp.
Alexander played admirably even though he made technique errors which likely made Torrian Gray cringe during film review. Alexander has tremendous length and hips that allow him to turn and run effectively when his cushion is threatened. His reach allows him to play inside contain and seemingly be beaten deep, but then recover and make a play on the football. He also had a tendency to look back for the football when playing inside leverage man coverage, and it almost got him burnt.
UVA attacked Alexander's inside leverage with an inside release go route early in the third quarter. Alexander allowed Zaccheaus to cross his face. At that moment, the proper technique for Alexander is to turn and run, back to the quarterback, and watch the receiver's hands. When Zaccheaus raised his hands, Alexander should attack and deflect the football or take a pass interference to prevent the touchdown. Instead, Alexander looked back to find the football.
Almost immediately, Zaccheaus gets separation from Alexander and is open for a touchdown and Johns makes a perfect throw. To his credit, Alexander gets his head back around and instinctively makes a desperate lunge as Zaccheaus brings the football into possession and knocks it away. Not many corners have the ability to make that kind of recovery.
Later in the game, Alexander intercepted on Johns, but he was very fortunate. Alexander is isolated in man coverage and is playing an inside leverage technique. His closest help is rover Desmond Frye, who is forced to run from the opposite hash mark to have any chance at influencing the play. Virginia receiver David Eldridge runs an outside release fade. On this coverage, a good throw by Johns deep and to the outside will result in a big play and possibly a touchdown.
Alexander compounds the problem again by looking back for the football. Eldridge gets separation. A well placed throw would find Alexander under the receiver and completely out of position to tackle Eldridge if the pass is completed. Fortunately for Alexander, Nicolas gets tremendous pressure by slapping down the hands of the UVA offensive tackle and wrapping himself around Johns right at the throw. Johns under throws the football and Alexander makes the play.
It is fascinating that two of Alexander's highlight plays were actually technique busts and yet ended up being big plays. Alexander had numerous plays where his smooth coverage completely eliminated his assignment from the pass pattern. UVA was rarely able to challenge his coverage.
Alexander presents Gray and Foster with a difficult decision next spring. Even with the departure of Fuller to the NFL Draft, the Hokies return four experienced corners in Facyson, Edmunds, Stroman, and Reynolds. Alexander has shown the ability to be special at corner, and was very effective at rover before assignment errors almost ended his season against Duke. Desmond Frye was recognized on senior day and may not return for his redshirt senior season, leaving the Hokies with only freshman Jahque Alleyne at the rover position. I expect Alexander will return to rover until the Hokies get more depth at the safety position, and then don't be shocked to see him at boundary corner for his junior and senior years, much like former Hokie star Jimmy Williams.
Bull Rush at Winning Time by Ekanem
Lack of sacks from Tech's d-ends has been another shortcoming this season. Ken Ekanem finished the regular season with 3.5 sacks, while Nicolas finished with only 1.0 sack. Part of that underwhelming productivity was because of scheme. I have often been frustrated this season when Foster used zone blitzes and dropped Ekanem and Nicolas back into underneath coverage. My frustration grew so much that I went back and watched film from the great Foster defense of 2006 and was stunned to see that the pairing of Vince Hall and Xavier Adibi dropped into coverage much more frequently on passing downs. If Foster speaks at HokieClub events this offseason, expect my number one question to be why Bud utilized inside linebacker zone blitzes so often in 2015.
Virginia engineered two long touchdown drives early in the second half. After Michael Brewer, Ryan Malleck, and Isaiah Ford's offensive heroics, the Hokies were able to bounce back and tie the game each time. When the Hokies desperately needed a defensive stop, it was Ekanem who made two huge plays in the biggest moments of the game.
Understanding the situation is critical to realize how influential these pressures were to the outcome of the game. The Hokies scored to tie the game at 20 near the midpoint of the fourth quarter. The Hoos open their drive with a 25-yard run on the jet sweep to Zaccheaus to get close to field goal range. After a short gain, penalty and a short gain, the Hokies faced a critical third-and-nine with 7-minutes-and-ticking in the game.
Virginia runs a 10-yard dig route to Canaan Severin in the slot. Chuck Clark is in man coverage. The Hoos have a good play called. Foster has a dime defense on the field and only rushes three. Despite the short zone assignment, Motuapuaka doesn't get much depth in his zone. Severin is open on the dig route.
Ekanem gets a terrific jump off the football against UVA left tackle Jack English. On Ekanem's third stride, he punches the outside number of the tackle with his inside arm and swings his outside arm down to knock English's hands down. At the same time, the swing of his outside arm flips his hips from going upfield to facing the quarterback. This helps Ekanem to turn the corner around the tackle. As I have noted in my pass protection reviews, once the offensive tackle's pads are parallel to the sideline, he is at a huge disadvantage against the pass rusher.
Feeling the heat from his blindside, Johns short arms his wind up and under throws Severin at the first down marker. There is no pressure besides Ekanem on Johns, and it appears that Severin has his body in between the ball and Clark. An inaccurate throw forced by Ekanem's pressure allows the defense to get off the field.
As result of the stop, the Hokies offense got the ball back. After several nice Travon McMillian runs and a beautiful catch and run by Isaiah Ford, Joey Slye put the Hokies in the lead with a 41-yard field goal. Foster's defense once again found itself needing a stop to ice a victory. After Johns moved the chains with an out pattern to Severin, the Hoos found themselves about 30 yards out of field goal range with a minute left. Ekanem again stepped up.
Ekanem wins this battle with a beautiful bull rush. He again gets a tremendous jump off the football. Instead of using his hands, Ekanem drives his head into the chest of English. As English's momentum starts to go backwards, Ekanem slides to English's outside shoulder and drives through it like a train through a parked DeLorean. Johns hurries the throw, misses Butts high and Clark makes the easy interception.
As Justin Fuente looks to rebuild a talented offense and find a new quarterback, defense will be critical to early season success in 2016. The retention of Bud Foster allows for defensive continuity even though the Hokies replace long time starters Dadi Nicolas, Deon Clarke, Corey Marshall, Luther Maddy, and Kendall Fuller with new players. An opener against FCS Liberty is the only game to work out the kinks before the Hokies face Tennessee. Fortunately for the Hokies, some of those key replacements demonstrated they're capable of maintaining the high level of defensive excellence Hokie Nation has come to expect in Blacksburg.
Comments
French, you are a true Hokie treasure. Seriously good work on this study. As always, I'm impressed and will have to read it all again later to take it all in.
Great work as always French.
Awesome article that further contributes to the ever increasing brightness that is our future. However, did anyone else's third grade mind think.
Hopefully there are less stupid questions at the Hokie Club events this year and you can ask multiple questions.
There are only so many times someone can ask why recruit X didn't sign with Tech right?
I never have and never will understand that question. Here you have a coach with a limited amount of time and, yet, there are many who want to use the time to ask about people who will never be Hokies.
Great article French. I was at the game and remember thinking that Shegog was playing well - nice to have some confirmation from the film. Zaccheaus should be a heck of a player for the Hoos - I was encouraged to see Alexander staying with him one on one a few different occasions although he got a bit lucky to break up that TD in the end zone. I don't know if I agree with you that it was bad coverage on his interception, but you know the game better than I do. I thought Johns would have had to make a pretty low percentage throw outside toward the sidelines for any chance of success, and I was thrilled to see Alexander turn to find the ball and make the pick. Too often those underthrows have resulted in our DBs running into receivers and cheap PI calls.
I couldn't agree more. If Alexander hadn't been looking back and the receiver slows for the catch, given our history there's a better than even chance we get that PI flag thrown on us. I'm convinced this is a clear tactic that has been used against us the past couple seasons to great effect.
ECU 2014 comes to mind. Jump ball after jump ball after jump ball. Looked like balls were thrown with a lot of arc and behind the intended target the entire game. Seemed like Riley figured out that the corners would either run into the receiver resulting in PI or get beat by larger athletic WRs on jump balls. Gamble paid off in a big way and all of a sudden that big win at OSU lost it's luster.
Torrian Gray disagrees with you. If he is playing outside leverage, he looks back. Inside leverage, you attack the hands because you don't have safety help.
Feel free to disagree, but any coach that teaches leverage coverage will tell you the same thing.
It does seem like PIs were getting called a lot more frequently this year and the commentators kept harping on not turning your head (not that what commentators say is all that smart to begin with). I guess the question is do we change techniques if it looks like PI calls are going to become an issue?
No you wouldn't change techniques. PI calls happen, the majority of the time because the DB in coverage has to make up ground on an open receiver.
I would say it's about 60/40 between the DB making up ground and legitimately trying to interfere and the ball being underthrown causing the WR to slow or stop and the DB not being able to react in time.
I always look forward to anything French writes. Great job, oh wise one!
Fantastic analysis.
I was impressed with Motu over the last few games. I hope it's indicative of him taking the next step. We've all been harsh on him (and deservedly so) but I hope the end result is just tempering his steel.
You mentioned in another comment somewhere that Seth Dooley has regressed. Was the play of Mihota enough to make you think we'll be okay in a post-Dadi world?
Good question, I think we were hoping for Mihota AND Dooley to be able to pick up the slack. I know everyone loves Hill, but he's still coming back from a major knee surgery. It might take 2 years to get fully back. Haven't heard anything on Gaines. Maybe Baron can slide out some. I wish there was more depth at Backer so we could move Edmunds3 to Stud.
Finding 3 quality DE's to rotate with Ekanam is the key to the defense next season.
Those two plays by Alexander that you highlight, French, showed me two things about our defense.
1) On the pass breakup, Alexander never quit. I've seen DBs watch an opposing receiver make a catch in the endzone within arm's reach and throw up their hands like "welp." He finished the play, and that's why he'll end up with a plaque in the DBU HOF when his time is up in the Burg.
2) On the interception, it's important (to me at least) to note that pass defense is an 11-man effort. You say Alexander was fortunate that Dadi hit Johns' arm and altered the throw. I look at it like the defensive linemen doing their job so that the defensive backs can easily do theirs.
Excellent observation on Alexander not quitting even in the end zone. This epitomises the saying "it's not winning or losing that matters it's how you play the game." If our players put that kind of effort in at every position how we play the game will likely lead to more winning.
Great right up Frenchy, but I have to disagree about the Hawaiian Surfer Dude. He makes a play about every 5 down and is completely out of position the other 4. We are in trouble next year if we can't get our MLB play back to where it used to be. Just an opinion.
Motu was out of position a lot early in the season. I think he made a marked improvement by the end of the year.
I was just about to say, I hardly remember Motu being out of position at all over the last three games. I did notice him take some questionable angles, which I think might be an issue for him a while longer yet, but he was consistently where he was supposed to be down the stretch.
I agree. I think the (correct) early season narrative that he was frequently out of position has biased a lot of viewing during the final weeks. I think Motu was significantly better. Not perfect, sometimes a little bit off or slow to react, but playing at a considerably higher overall level. I also noticed that his tackling, over the course of the season, became much more assertive. He was driving the offensive player down, rather than falling backwards with him, as was so often the case last year.
I saw what you saw. He was a competent Mike the last three games. I think a lot of people have convinced themselves of a narrative that it will take a spectacular level of play to alter.
Earlier in the season, Motu was not good. To be honest, I don't think he was ready, and that's a product of our recruiting failures at the position rather than an indictment of Motu.
His tackling became MUCH more physical as the year went on. I got really tired of his crappy tackling technique, but I watched it improve after Miami.
And at that, he only played like 3 games before Miami and was probably still nicked up for Pitt and maybe even NC St.
He may have inproved his positioning toward the end of the season, but numerous times during the UVA he was getting blown up by the tailback, who might have weighed about 190. In Bud's system, the MLB is key and you to agree the drop off this year has been noticable. VT can not sustain their defense with type of play at the MLB.
Sure, Motu isn't Cody Grimm. He's got work to do. Can you point to a specific example in the UVA game where he was "getting blown up by the tailback" because I don't distinctly recall that. Every player has a bust once in a while, but if his net play was overall positive, the narrative just starts sounding a bit tired.
I wasn't able to record the game but we had end zone seats and could see the play develop and UVA ran back to back running where the tailback led and he pancaked our boy. The TB gets up all fired up and could have sworn the ran the same play next with the same result. My memory could be fading but I call ed my buddy who was watching the game at home and he saw the same thing. I know he has not been playing FB very long, my point he does not stack up to a Chase Williams, let alone a Cody Grim or Ben Taylor.
Cody Grimm wasn't a MLB and wasn't really a force until his senior year. Chase Williams, also not a force until his senior year. Motu is a r-sophomore. Allow the kid to grow a little bit just like all those other stars that you think of who made a mark after getting scraps for 3 years before being a starter. Motu has the chance to be a 3 year starter at Mike. I'm not sure, but who was the last 3 year starter we had at MLB?
I think Bruce Taylor but his time was interrupted by injury.
Good call on Bruce. I was thinking of him as only a 2 year starter, but he did get 3 in there minus the injury.
Very good point that goes back to recruiting over the past couple of years. We have become too thin at almost all positions. Hopefully this can turn around soon.
The subject of Andrew Motuapuaka has pretty much been covered to death. Was he dreadful before his injury and vs Duke? Yes. Did he improve? Yes. Could he be better? Of course.
At the same time, if the TKP audience would like me to put together a film reel of Vince Hall or Jack Tyler being blocked repeatedly, I would be happy to do it to illustrate the point. Hall was a great player, however everyone takes bad angles. Everyone gets blocked. Everyone misses tackles. Motuaupuaka needs to reduce the number of times that it happened. But, when you watch Motuapuaka against UVA, outside of pass coverage and the speed with which he covers the distance from mike alignment to QB on interior blitzes, he is pretty close to being on par with an average mike linebacker. And, he is just a sophomore.
At the same time, if Carson Lydon beats him out, that is just fine. The best guy at the position should play. Period.
Plus... He does score a lot.
Example- here is Vince Hall getting blocked pretty easily and being nowhere near the play. Fortunately, Brendan Hill and Chris Ellis I believe make one hell of a play on the edge to beat reach blocks.
https://youtu.be/3C911TRukIc?t=45m13s
got caught up watching some of that game. A few observations
1) Ore was sooo quick and made cuts off his blockers very well. Even acknowledged a great block by Harper#81
2) Our DL was a wrecking crew
3) Those uniforms need to make a comeback
People complain about how boring our uniforms are now, can you imagine how much more they would complain with those?
People are complaining about how boring our uniforms are? My complaint is we try too much stupid shit.
What exactly from this year would qualify as "stupid shit"? All of our looks were clean and sharp.
Watching closely, it surprised me to see how much the linebackers dropped into underneath zones. One produced an INT by Adibi. If I get an audience with Bud in the offseason, question one will be focused on the role of LBs in pass coverage and second will be DL keys.
Ok, I might need my eyes checked, but I can't find Dadi on that ECU play. Is he wearing 94 for some reason that day? 94 is supposed to be Trevon Hill, who was out for the year.
I think that may have been the game where he got held so many times it tore his jersey up and they had to replace it at halftime.
Leg for both of you!
I thought the same thing until I realized I was questioning French .... which we all know is a waste of time.
Dadi's jersey had been shredded from being held all day (with few, if any, called). He switched jerseys at halftime.
I'd like to consult with the equipment guys on this, but I think Dadi's jersey got tore up a bunch this year and how many holding calls did we see? Not many. I know it got ripped during Ohio State and we all know how those holding calls went. As mentioned ECU was so bad that he had to change jerseys mid game. There have to be others.
Is it that Dadi was so good at what he does that OLinemen just couldn't block him without grabbing jersey? And the refs know this so they don't do much about it or else there would be 20-30 holding calls every game?
I feel like the sideline reporter on the ECU game should have made a big deal about Dadi having to change jerseys, but that would have embarrassed the AAC refs, I suppose.
There was a sly comment from the VT Equipment Twitter account about the ripped jersey. It was a not-so-subtle dig at the holding calls. Of course anyone VT is not going to be 100% objective, but I think it is clear that he got held a lot in an effort to slow him down. Dadi has great edge speed; not many O-linemen can match him there.
That was happening quite a bit the whole season. I think by the UNCheat game, it reached a head. What the heck was Ron Cherry doing raising his arm calling a penalty on us when Dadi was saying, rather animatedly, enough was e-frickin-nough?
Great write up as usual French!
It bolsters my blind faith that Foster & co will put up a solid or better defense next year.
That coupled with my newly found optimism about the offense make me truly excited about next year.
With Fuente's Offense and all the playmakers we have, the offense has a chance to actually be GOOD, if not downright explosive, if the OL matures and continues to improve.
Now there is a concept - a truly good offense and a Foster defense - could be the start of something special!!!
Now lets go stomp Tulsa and send uber classy Frank Beamer out with a win! GO HOKIES!!!
I think being able to play with a lead significantly more often is what will make the biggest positive impact on our defensive performance next season.
although I do appreciate the optimism I feel obligated throw up the caution flag here. There is no guarantee that our offense will start dominating teams in the ACC. I know Fuente has a proven track record and we have a bunch of talent on that side of the ball but we should limit our expectations. We shouldn't realistically expect a high powered offense in Blacksburg until at least 2018. I wouldn't be surprised to see significant improvement there this year but I'm going to give Fuente and staff benefit of the doubt if we're not scoring 40+ PPG in 2016. Don't expect our offense to light up the score board just yet. Give it time.
Playing with a lead and dominating are very different. Being ahead 21-14 or 24-14 later in the games can really change what the defense needs to do vs being down 24-14 in the 4th. Just being able to move the ball, win field position and capitalize on field position will be a HUGE improvement for us next year if we can accomplish that. We don't need to put up 40 a game for the offense to help our defense.
We face 2 talented teams on the road in the first 4 games next year: Tenn and ND. I would expect us to still rely heavily on defensive performances those games and not really anticipating early leads.
He's talking over the course of the season, not in any particular game. We'll always have a few slobberknockers on the schedule. But on the whole, Fuente's offense should complement Foster's defense more than Stiney's or Lefty's did.
Pretty sure we don't play ND until Nov 19th.
ND game is Nov 19th next year.Chugging my water in shame.
I was eating a snack while reading this and after watching the first video I lost my appetite. It came back by the LOLUVA footage though.
That play against ECU was one of the worst defensive efforts I've ever witnessed.
Question re: the QB runs we've been dealing with the entire season (and the example shown above). The offensive line effort has been referred to as "down blocking our DL and then having a back-side lineman / HB come across to burst through the gap" or something along those lines. Can't that just be called a "counter"? What's different in calling it a counter rather than the more long description?
I believe you are correct. The QB counter is a play that Ohio State runs all the time. They usually pull the HB around to burst through the gap.
Very good Breakdown, I think the defense will only improve from here on out.
I saw what you did there! Leg for the BTTF reference.
BTTF 3
Bud and Co. continue to develop the young and inexperienced defenders in ways that are the envy of the FBS.
I just love that even when we're not at our best, loluva still can't beat us
Looking at the depth chart next year (Link Here), I don't whether to be excited or frightened about our defense next year.
I'd be excited. There are a lot of younger players that have seen significant playing time.
Agree, still worried about Linebacker. I hope Minor can take the next step
Just want you to know French, that a friend of mine who is a Michigan alum and huge UM fan regularly reads your posts that break down plays and schemes. More than just Hokies think your writing is superb. Thanks for the great stuff you do.
French, amazing write up. Seriously, you're the man.
A part of me is worried that we are losing Dadi, Maddy, and Marshall.....and don't forget about Deon Clarke.
How much of a dropoff do you think there will be on the D-Line? I am excited about W. Baron, N. Williams, R. Walker, and T. Settle, but the experience (and results) have been pretty amazing with Maddy leading the way. Hard to replace IMO
RE: D. Clarke. I have not been that impressed at VT's LB core since Adibi/Hall. Is R. Minor gonna step up this Spring? Is Lydon going to be a star? D. Clarke was the stabilized force in the LB core, and Motuapuaka still has a long way to go before he's on Clarke's level IMO.
Hell, the answers to these questions could be several columns. Short answer: If Nigel Williams can deliver the level of play that he showed from the Georgia Tech game forward, I think the defensive tackle position is solid. He was atrocious on the short snapchat films of defensive line work in fall camp and got passed up by Sobczak at one point. He is a key piece on the interior. Baron gives them some potential depth at defensive end if Foster wants to play a big defensive tackle mix. Sobczak will factor- remember he outplayed Ricky Walker and Tim Settle in fall camp. Both Settle and Walker are expected to be significant contributors. While there may not be one Luther Maddy or Cory Marshall, they have more depth and may be better at the point of attack.
As for defensive end- with so many spread teams that get the ball out quickly, edge speed is overvalued a bit because even guys with blazing speed can't always get there when the QB is throwing as he receives the snap. As I showed in this film, I thought that Mihota showed the ability to be disruptive even without great edge speed. Both he and Ekanem made plays that didn't show up as sacks.
Based on this year, I think the top three defensive ends will be Ekanem, Mihota, and Baron. Baron's name may be a surprise, however he gives Foster a smart, reliable guy who has twitch and will stand up. Nothing I saw on film this season makes me think that Seth Dooley can be relied upon as a contributor. He has the physical attributes, but he plays slow. I don't see it getting better, although I would be thrilled if I was wrong. I think Trevon Hill, provided he is healthy, has the ability to be a starter or a top back up, and I expect Gaines to give them some reps. The rest is up to them.
One thing to look for is for Foster to be more specialized in his fronts. If he is going to use some Bear front, playing Mihota as a three technique instead of one of the smaller ends was very effective versus UVA. Even if Mihota doesn't start, I could see him being the regular three technique DE with the other DE always aligning to the field side.
Re Minor- watching him in the spring and again the VERY limited window into fall camp, he looked a little too allergic to contact to play the backer position. In base and Bear looks, the backer is expected to set the edge often, and that requires taking on blocks. I think he has the ability to be an excellent backer or a James Anderson era style whip. I hesitate to say Clarke was a "stabilizing force;" in fact, his inconsistency was a huge issue at different points in the season. He was very good as an edge blitzer, but in other facets of the backer position, he had times where he fell woefully short.
The guy to watch is Carson Lydon. Against Purdue, he looked very comfortable at mike. He killed in on special teams as he got more and more opportunity through the season. And, while everyone including I had him earmarked for the mike spot, Lydon may get an opportunity at backer if Foster feels Motuapuaka is his best at mike. Edmunds and Moss both factor there too, but none of the three play the way Clarke did.
Mihota-Williams-Walker-Ekanem
Baron-Settle-Sobczak-Hill (love his film, and I have heard nothing but accolades about how the kids attitude is going to be a boon to the DL group)
Last paragraph where you mention the lines there is no mention of Darius Fullwood, Charley Wiles had said during fall practice Darius could have been the 3rd DE last season before saying none of the freshman DE's were ready. Do you think Hill and Baron would be DE's on the field before Fullwood or just forget about him? From what you have seen is he impressive on film or is there nothing that stands out about him?
I find it hard to put much stock in a lot of reports from spring/fall camps. A lot is coach speak and other is based on reports from a few plays from an open limited practice or snap chat isolated highlites. for example Dooley and Mihota were said to have made huge strides but neither saw big snaps even when Daddi was at about 65%. Same with Sobczak I dont recall him playing any significant snaps after receiving lot of hype during a couple scrimmages. They also dont report injuries that slow guys during camp etc. l still think there are lots of questions on the Dline going into next year but hopefuly the presumed drop off from one and twos wont be as big as in the past so that there is a little more rotation up front.
FWIW, the hype around Sobczak was legit this past spring. Dude was playing out of his mind. Not sure what happened there, I'm inclined to think he was a little banged up since the first couple weeks of the season.
Not doubting SS may have improved but I still think if he had improved/played consistently to the level your stating and past guys ie Williams, he would have seen the field even if knicked up. Most guys are knicked up during the season. it surely didnt stop them from playing dadi almost exclusively.