Hey everyone. The VT Snapchat is getting quicker on the draw, so there isn't a real clear picture just yet of how the team is gelling under Coach Fuente's leadership. However, a couple of things stood out to me in yesterday's clips (you can watch at HokiesFB on Snapchat.)
1) Whoever the quarterback is that wins the starting job, they will carry a heavy load in terms of responsibility in the run game. We have seen clips ranging from true read options and inverted veers, to quarterback powers and counters. Often, those runs are designed to look just like an option (including a mesh point) however the blocking does not leave an unblocked man to option at the point of attack. This would indicate a keeper all the way. We also saw a smattering of speed option, which was a staple of Fuente's offense at Memphis.
2) Cam Phillips absolutely worked Greg Stroman in one on one coverage several times after easily beating one of the walk on corners during a goal line catch drill. Phillips looks like he has added some muscle mass and looked very sharp with selling an inside fake before his move to the boundary. This generated separation that he sometimes has struggled to create when crossing and dig routes have been well covered. Devine Deablo (#88) also had a nice catch after adjusting to an awkward throw in the end zone corner drills.
3) Most will be shocked that Tim Settle was fielding punts. I got more excited that Tim Settle ran over starting center Eric Gallo during pass protection repetitions. On the flip side, Tyrell Smith had an excellent rep in pass protection where he stoned Woody Baron. I wasn't 100% sure, but it looked like the 2 OL was LT-Nijman LG-BLUE JERSEY C-Smith RG-Mitchell and RT Plantin. I have high hopes for Smith. I love his feet and his fight in drills and scrimmages last fall. Once he gets more lower body strength I think he can be a contributor at both guard and center if needed. Osterloh stoned Mihota. Conte neutralized Williams (but it wasn't a really pretty rep from either guy.) Demetri Moore went against freshman Jimmie Taylor, and it looked like Taylor got into Moore's body because his punch was a bit too wide. As result, Moore would have likely taken a holding penalty there.
4) Houshun Gaines had a really nice backside squeeze to take away the cutback lane on a 3/4 speed team on team shot. He looks the part of a starting DE in Bud's scheme and has that twitch.
Twitter also gave us some clips that can be over-analyzed!
Here, we see some bootleg action off an outside zone. Note, Darius Fullwood has contain and allows the QB (Jack Click) to break contain. This is nice execution of a good fake by Click and SWVA walk on (Honaker) Casey Harman makes a nice catch.
Communication is the #HardSmartTough pic.twitter.com/zVA9C0pCLk— HokiesFB (@HokiesFB) March 30, 2016
Here, Yosh Nijman anticipates the inside move by Trevon Hill. He beats Hill to the punch and delivers a hard enough blow to throw Hill off balance and Nijman gets the knockdown block.
Yosuah Nijman ain't playin' around out here!! #HardSmartTough https://t.co/UHHI5sVuIK— HokiesFB (@HokiesFB) March 30, 2016
We don't get the full shot of Nijman in the screen before the snap, but he sure is committed to stopping an inside move. Hill may have a bit of a tell, as a little bit of an inside sell with an outside shoulder swim looks like it would have caught Nijman leaning forward a bit. Baron puts an outside swim on Gallo on the third rep in the next clip. Gallo didn't look good in the few clips we saw of these drills.
OL DL 11 #HardSmartTough https://t.co/5rGEQvb3RU— HokiesFB (@HokiesFB) March 30, 2016
I am not sure who is blocking Greg Stroman here, but if they can execute like this, screen all day long.
Gettin' physical on the perimeter on Day 4 #HardSmartTough https://t.co/oq61695uog— HokiesFB (@HokiesFB) March 30, 2016
I believe this is Jaylen Bradshaw with the catch, and Tremaine Edmunds knocking him out of bounds.
Comments
Smells like... football! Thanks for the thoughts, French!
Wait
Wait a second here
Yes, there was a clip of him catching a punt
Found ESPN skycam footage of the return:
Maybe just an opportunity for him to burn some extra calories?
I wonder if it was like an end of practice for fun thing.
Makes perfect sense. Nothing to see here. Move along.
I believe the last clip is Divine Diablo (#88) catching the screen that Stroman gets handled on.
Thanks for the thoughts French. I love how Billy Ray Mitchell (#66) comes flying in to slap hands with Nijman.
Anyone else notice that #33 (McClease) seems to make his way into almost all the clips? Haven't heard much about him but I've seen his number so much that I had to look him up.
I've noticed a lot of him as well. I'm sure they are feeding him some reps since they have a bit more of a known quantity in McMillian
Yes really looking fwd to McClease! He's a guy on offense I think will really help destroy our opponents on the ground, and his versatility coming out of the back field! Wouldn't be surprised if he challenges for the 1/2 RB rotation off the get-go!
McClease is a STUD... was a stud last year- thought he was the best back on the field in the pre-season scrimmages I saw. All this Shai talk- he's going to have to beat out McClease to get any PT.
completely different types of backs. Would bet on shai seeing much more time especially in short yardage situations. McClease may be used more in the passing game though.
McClease is beast but...Shai at full strength has a very different set of skills. His shoulder is a bit heavier and also has burst.
but, are they as good as Laim Neeson's skills?
baited that one...
Looks like Xavier Burke (#82) blocking on both plays.
I've seen some good moves from Carroll in previous snaps. Hope he can be a shifty slot guy.
via GIPHY
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As stated on another thread minutes before this new one was made, I do not get too worried about db's losing one on one's because they are at a disadvantage that doesn't always translate to a real football game. However, technique issues are a different story.
and here is stroman at WR vs Adonis..
2 cents- Stroman will be WR come Fall camp.
Disagree on the belief that Stroman will be on offense. Stroman is working on a DB drill here, likely with a coach throwing the ball. We don't have the luxury of moving him back and forth and back and forth. He'll stay DB this time.
Yep
Plus, Adonis won that one too.
He won by grabbing Stroman to slow him down, I wouldn't call that a true win.
almost ripped his helmet off. boy got shook but 1v1 in practice this happens all day long I bet
Done deal, I'm dressing as Vance Vice for Halloween. That Jacket/hoodie combo or whatever it is, is the truth.
Halloween Game this year is Oct. 20 - Thursday against Miami.
Over-analyzed? Don't be ridiculous.
So French, based on what we've seen so far, what are the odds of us winning the National Championship this season?
The great news is right now we have exactly the same odds as every other FBS team.
I would have to say we have the same chance, but less favorable odds in terms of likelihood
Still a better chance than UVA though
As your attorney in this matter, I advise you to fly to Vegas and bet ten whole american dollars on them winning the whole thing immediately.
hey now that worked out pretty well for that one Syracuse basketball (because we all know the bball fans aren't SU football fans too) fan though?!?! ill put my 10 bucks on the hokies! and hopefully ill have a couple gold keys next to my name after we win it all!
I understand that we won't get much out of the videos posted by VT Football, but I'd really like to know how the following are performing:
WRs besides Ford and Phillips.
All of the RBs. Shai, McClease. We'll need depth
TEs. Obviously Bucky will be a weapon, but how are the other guys doing.
I wish we knew better. Deablo looked the part in that drill. I have heard Shai McKenzie looks much better than last fall, which may be why we saw McClease working with some of the walk on guys in Harman and Click. Tight end is a mystery to me. At Memphis, the true tight end was only used on maybe a quarter of the snaps. Rogers, Durkin, and Cunningham are working at the H-back, and my understanding is that the tight end position and the H-Back position are not mixed with this staff. I may very well be wrong, but I don't envision the HBacks playing much on the LOS like a true tight end.
Ok I have been wondering about this. I'm not sure if anybody else noticed but I read one of AB's practice write-ups last week and he said Shai looked great and then I read a 247 write up on the same practice (on one of those free 247 "bolts") and that one said that he looked terrible.
The very finest in Gif Laughnology.
I would be willing to bet that he looks just as good or better physically. When you have plenty of time work with following that kind of surgery it's usually not hard to regain the strength/speep/explosiveness. The biggest question will be how he does with live scenarios. If he's ready physically then getting solid reps in this spring will be a huge confidence builder going into the fall.
Given that the coaches have stated that the O will be tailored to the personnel and what we do well, if our depth at TE/H back (Big If but the they are more experienced) is better than our WR, I would think we would see a tight end more this year than in Fuente offenses of the past. Of course that may be fluid with how well the line performs too. JMO
Are we not doing phrasing anymore?
Serious question: Do we know if there are any scrimmages (open or closed) on the horizon?
Gotta hold it in, practice is two hours, if he had class before and el rodeo for lunch, chances are he doesn't have time to unload
Vance Vice is officially the only football coach who can pull off coaching in jeans and a leather jacket. At least that's what it looked like to me.
It could only be improved if the hat was leather too.
It's pronounced "Pleather"
It's one of those sauna shirts. I think he wear a hoodie under it too. Must be trying to lose weight, I don't know. All I know is that his car probably smells like a locker room.
I imagine he drives an '81 Trans Am T top with a giant eagle on the hood that is littered with discarded yoo-hoo bottles.
That's how Vice rolls.
The Red Dragon?
It's not exactly street legal so keep it on the down low
That's what happens when you take the restrictor plate off.
Settle returning a punt is everything.
James Shibest is rolling the bowling ball.
The ball looks like one of those mini nerf footballs in his hands. I keep having flashbacks to Terry Williams from ECU eating our OL for lunch when I see Settle. Then I realize that Settle is quicker and smile.
Ahhh yes.
The old "Eventually he'll get exhausted hitting us so hard and so often" strategy.
Classic VT.
Terry Williams is actually two people, but they don't really exist, nor did we ever play any team they were purportedly on called ECU either
I am wondering if that was actually a punt or if they were doing a drill for a tipped pass with the DL? Get your hands up, hit the ball, then find it.
It was a punt. they did a different angle in the snap chat
Just a little fun for the fans im sure. lots of hype around the big guy. He wont be anywhere near the punt return team
Now are you absolutely sure about this?
This vid got me hyped!
if any special teams it will be xtra point field goal team
Anyone heard anything about Trey Skeens?
Claude a'mighty, Tremaine Edmunds is HUGE. Deablo is every bit of 6'3", and he is dwarfed by Edmunds in the screen clip.
So I just got a new iphone and added Snapchat. I've hadded HokiesFB....what do I need to do to see the vids? Right now there looks to be nothing up.
Snaps posted to their story only stay up for 24 hours. If they haven't posted anything in the last 24 hour period there will be nothing to view.
The HokiesFB snap from last night is still available. When you open the app and it displays the view from your camera, you need to swipe from right to left to bring up the "Storyboard". You should see a Circle with HokiesFB next to it appear under the "Recent Updates" section. Tap the text and it will start playing the snap.
If you want to skip a picture or video in the snap, just tap the screen and it will skip to the next picture or video. If you want to close the snap, swipe from the top of the screen to the bottom of the screen.
The app is confusing as heck at first, but once you get the basic swipes down, you're all set. They're producing some really cool content on Snapchat, so it is worth the effort. Enjoy!!
AH! That's what I was doing wrong. Thanks!
Happy to help! I was lost when I first downloaded it and understand the initial frustration when you first try to use it.
Y'know, when I was a kid, software developers wrote manuals...
One of the core values for most software teams these days is actually:
Everybody always forgets this part
Indeed they do! That's why I just left it at "most software teams" as many still misunderstand it. :)