4/16 Scrimmage Snap Chat/Highlights Review and Blips

The Hokies hosted a final scrimmage before their spring game in Lane Stadium on Saturday. Again, film access was limited, however there was a decent amount of snap chat plays made available along with three highlights on twitter to extrapolate some observations.

Containing Quarterback Runs
Generally, spring is a time where the coaching staff's implement their systems. Memphis ran a quarterback run-heavy offense, with much of the run game focused on inverted veers and quarterback sweeps. In spring camp, I have seen Justin Fuente's offense run much more of the quarterback power looks that gave Bud Foster's defense fits last season.

On this version, the Hokies left side of the offensive line blocks down. Center Eric Gallo pulls to his left and seals Ken Ekanem inside. Quarterback Jerod Evans fakes a hand off to Sam Rogers. Rogers then kicks out the rover (it should be Terrell Edmunds, but it doesn't look like Edmunds and I can't tell for sure if the second number is a 2 on his jersey.)

Scrimmage 3@rodfor6_ with the spin move #StrongTogether pic.twitter.com/yfEqMVG1W3— HokiesFB (@HokiesFB) April 16, 2016

The defense has it well defended despite excellent blocks by Gallo and Rogers. Tremaine Edmunds is one on one in the hole with Evans. The backer has to make that tackle as the defense has worked to make him the free hitter and the edge player can't lose his contain to come inside and help. Evans leaves Edmunds hugging air with a spin move and gets a solid gain. For a defense that struggled with one on one tackling, that wasn't an ideal highlight to see.

Later, the Hokies use the same power concept and apply it to a quarterback draw. The left guard and the HBack pull to the right side. The quarterback shows pass, and then is supposed to attack the seam between the kick-out block of the guard and the seal by the HBack.

Unfortunately for the offense, Tim Settle jams up the intended hole despite Steven Peoples best efforts, and Jamion Moss comes screaming in unblocked from the back side.

Scrimmage 3Touchdown @dlaw95!!#StrongTogether pic.twitter.com/gqZ3jY7hLi— HokiesFB (@HokiesFB) April 16, 2016

This is where things fall apart. I can't identify the defensive end aligned over Demetri Moore. Moore does a great job of driving the end to the inside. This creates too much space between the end and the backer as the edge player. Moss also takes a poor angle. As backside contain, he has to keep leverage on the quarterback's outside shoulder while still coming flat enough down the line to make the play. By getting too far up field, Moss opens up a huge hole for Lawson. The entire second team defensive group ends up out of position, and Lawson gallops past safety Jahque Alleyne for a score.

Zone and Zone Blitzing
Foster has said several times this spring that he wants more eyes on the football in pass coverage and has suggested that DBU will feature more zone coverage. Leverage zones, fire blitzes, and robber looks were staples of the Hokies secondary during the last ACC championship run where interceptions often turned around dreadful performances.

Foster loves to bait quarterbacks into throwing where they don't want to go, and to do that, he likes to rush the quarterback's decision making. On this play, Foster calls a pretty simple fire blitz. The defense will send the backer and a corner from the right side, rotate coverage over to the blitz, and drop off the defensive end to our left into the left flat.

The design is pretty standard. The exciting thing about this particular snap is the execution. The defensive line group is Trevon Hill (defensive end on our left), Ricky Walker (defensive tackle to our left) Vinny Mihota (Mihota at tackle is a new development in camp) on the right, and Houshun Gaines as the defensive end to our right side.

Scrimmage 3@maine_savage23 on the sack!! #LPD #StrongTogether pic.twitter.com/2lKMzgaCr4— HokiesFB (@HokiesFB) April 16, 2016

Hill drops back into a short flat zone. This allows the corner on the left side to drop into a deep third like a safety. Ricky Walker isn't making any effort to rush the passer. Instead, he has to bust his tail to get from inside the guard all the way out to the edge to contain the quarterback. His movement prevents the quarterback from escaping the pocket and draws eyes away from the blitz side. Mihota slants hard to our left and ties up the middle of the line. This leaves two blockers (Conte and Osterloh) and a running back (McClease) to deal with 3 pass rushers from our right.

Gaines and Tremaine Edmunds time their blitz perfectly. Gaines crashes hard inside and essentially sets a screen on Conte. Edmunds steps forward and waits until Osterloh identifies pressure coming off the corner. As soon as Osterloh widens out, Edmunds slides right by Gaines and makes the sack. Edmunds certainly did not look like a player whose brain was tying up his feet on this play, and the other young defensive linemen sacrificed themselves properly in order to ensure that Brenden Motley couldn't escape the pocket.

Of course, this is a scrimmage, and a good play for the defense sometimes means someone offensively screwed up. Pass protection wasn't a strength of the offense at Memphis and Paxton Lynch's ability to make plays with his feet covered up some serious protection flaws. Here, the offense calls a straight cup protection. However, the defense has more defenders to their right side, and the center (Gallo) and quarterback (Motley) know that the back (McClease) is offset to the left. I am not sure who calls the protections in the new scheme. Ideally, you would like to see the protection call either be a slide protection away from the offset back (in this case, a slide protection to the right eats up Foster's numerical advantage, leaving McClease to account for the edge defender on the left); or, Motley could motion McClease over to his right pre-snap to give them an extra blocker. Gallo and Motley are experienced players, and in a game situation they have to identify that risk.

Other items of note:
1) Tyrell Smith appeared to get a bunch of work in Wyatt Teller's spot with the number 1 offense at left guard. Not many were high on Smith when Jeff Grimes recruited him. However, I immediately noticed his excellent feet and long reach and expected him to be a contributor in Blacksburg. Smith has impressed me time and again in the spring with his work in drills and during team periods. He is tenacious, stays engaged with his blocks, and appears to have strengthened his lower body. His feet are excellent. I am not sure if he is legitimately pressing Teller for playing time (Teller has dominated pass protection drills and has been prominently featured as a pulling lineman this spring). However, it looks like Smith has secured a spot as the top option to play at any of the three interior line spots if needed.

2) As noted above, Vinny Mihota was working some at defensive tackle, even in 40 fronts. It could be passing down related, as it would make sense that Mihota could slide inside to put more explosive edge guys at end in 3rd and long situations. I am a huge Trevon Hill fan. Without the benefit of seeing both play multiple downs, Houshun Gaines looks to be perhaps a little more ready to step on the field right now. That isn't surprising given that Hill missed more than a season and a half of football with his knee injury. Early in the snap chat, Ricky Walker (I believe) had a beautiful swim move to get into the backfield and cause a play to bounce, and then someone rocked the back and forced a fumble.

3) Sam Rogers was working with the top group at tailback in the beginning of the tape. Steven Peoples operated as his fullback. Xavier Burke was getting work as the top tight end. I believe Bucky was operating full time as a receiver. Shai McKenzie had a carry (short yardage on an inside zone.) McClease had a beautiful cutback on an inside zone and could have possibly scored except he seemed to collide with Parker Osterloh down field.

4) Travon McMillian wasn't featured prominently in the snapchat and when he was, he was working with the backup offensive line. He ran through an arm tackle and exploded through a hole for a long gain.

5) No change at quarterback. Both Evans and Motley were working with the top group.

There is clearly a great deal of volatility in the depth chart at some key spots. I don't think the offensive tackle situation will be settled until Yosh Nijman is fully healthy. He has been noticeably absent from the last couple rounds of tape so I assume his spring is over contact-wise. Running back seems to be a day to day proposition, and is now more muddled with Rogers getting so much work. And, if quarterbacks are going to be used in the running game as much as we have seen, having healthy, capable backups that can win games in the ACC is a must need for a successful 2016.