Okay, So it is a slow work day. Here's another one from ESPN that could generate some interesting collapsed comments.
ACC Most Important Players by Team
Interesting that BC was the only team to not have an offensive player listed
Boston College Eagles: DE Harold Landry
Here is the VT blurb:
Virginia Tech Hokies: RB Travon McMillian
Who will emerge as the starting quarterback is anyone's guess, but at least the Hokies have one constant in the backfield in McMillian, a sophomore. Though the running back averaged only 8.4 carries through the first seven games in 2015, he caught fire over the final six contests, getting the ball 23.5 times per game and becoming the first Hokie since 2011 to gain 96 yards or more in five straight games.
So, Who do you think will be our 'Most Important' player this year?
Comments
Motuapuaka. No better time to put it all together than this season. I would love for him to become a beast MLB and play an important role in shutting down opposing teams' running games.
I think this is a mildly controversial opinion: other than McMillan, I thought Motu was our most improved player over the course of last season. Hopefully he continues to do the work and get better.
Haha most improved? C'mon man, he plays like he's always trying to use the Hit stick vs. actually making a tackle. He has obviously had some good moments, but he a liability when facing anyone quick. Anyone else remember the video game spin move against Buckeyes? I could go on but won't becuase I know he's trying his best and that we've been light in the LB position.
I agree that I don't think Motu improved a whole lot last season, but as far as the hit stick goes, that's also what Kam Chancellor did during his time at Tech.
Also, the Braxton Miller spin move was on Deon Clarke more so than Motu.
I honestly believe that it was such a nice move that 95% of the players in college football would have looked stupid
When you have such a rough start you can improve by a lot, which he did. You won't recognize that because you use him as a scapegoat for things that aren't his fault.
When you have such a rough start you can improve by a lot
Yeah. That's exactly what I meant. No, Motu is not the best LB in the ACC. Not even close and I'm not saying that he is. His first few games this year were bad. As in, I'm-not-sure-this-is-a-NCAA-caliber-type-of-player-at-all kind of bad. I'm not saying he's a good player yet but he really worked hard to improve upon the dumpster fire that was the start of 2015. I'd like to think he can improve more since LBs are kind of important.
If Motu becomes a great LB our defense will be spectacular.
I agree that Motu was definitely the biggest liability on defense last year. The moment that sticks out to me most in the OSU game isn't the spin move, but the rest TD run Elliot had fairly early on. If Motu had just played his assignment correctly that was a 5 yd max run.
That title definitely belongs to one of the freshman doing freshman things.
I thought he improved as well. Wouldn't be unheard of for something to click and improve greatly this year
I remember telling myself that exactly same thing 1 year ago.
Who ever our QB is....so Jerod Evans will be our most important player.
Agree
During spring game Evans seemed good at selling misdirection plays, but seemed to throw more short passes into the dirt than Logan Thomas used to. Didn't seem very impressive. I'll go with McMillan as most important player this year on offense. Even though good case could be made for Isaah Ford, I'm looking for the running game to improve due to better offensive line play. Sorry if that seems natty, but I don't have anything other than the spring game to form an opinion on right now.
I do think the run game will improve but I don't think it will be all McMillian. I wouldn't be surprised to see a revolving door of ball carriers this season. I'm not convinced our most important player will be a skill position player. Outside of QB (which is a huge question mark right now) I think the most important player on this team is probably going to be on defense.
Our offense will go as the QB goes. The most important player is the QB, which is currently TBD.
I personally think we will be fine with Evans or Motley. Fuente will tailor his approach to the strengths of which one ends up winning the starting job. Kind of tie, like "Most Important A" and "Most Important B".
McMillian is fantastic, but in this offense we will not rely on him to be the bell-cow. The ball will get spread around much more to other backs and receivers. If he goes down, we will have other options that will not be as great, but will be good enough within the system.
True. The QB will be our most important player. We have a lot of talent on offense, but without good QB play that gets the ball to those talented players: Ford, Hodges, Phillips, McMillian, etc. then we can't maximize the offense's potential. And Foster always has the defense playing good team defense. MIP is our QB
I have a slightly different take on this:
Our offense will go as the QB goes.
And that will go as the play calling goes, whether it is Motley or Evans. I think there are things Fuente wants to do, but he will do as his athletes allow him to do - which really isn't different from what you said concerning the QB.
That little bit said, eleven guys who gel will be the most important player.
To an extent. When the play breaks down, which it will, is when the difference in QB play makes a huge difference.
Whoever replaces AJ Hughes... Actually I really hope that kid never takes a snap.
Ahhh...the 4th Down QB
I would definitely not say McMillian. This offense isn't geared towards him. He will have less of a statistical impact than last year.
Justin Fuente. Obviously he's not a player but he has to pick and develop a QB and resuscitate an offense. I look around the league and I don't think any other coach is more important to their team right now than Fuente. Who he picks and how he designed the offense will matter more to VT's success then anything else.
Isn't that kind of Brad Cornelsen's job? Shouldn't we heap that load on him instead of Fuente?
It was a package deal, but no I think it ultimately is Fuente's offense and he will be very involved in it. I view it just like with Urban Meyer, Rich Rod, or other offensive minded head coaches.
If someone could just superimpose a dead horse under that hairbrush, I think we're at that point with this "joke" with RichRod and this gif by now.
I feel like I'm on tumblr
I had to look up what Tumbler was. #old
Did you StumbleUpon TheKeyPlay?
nah, he probably heard about it through the grape Vine
Got it in a FWD:FWD:FWD email. There was this one and the one about my millions in a bank in Nigeria.
Better hurry up and reply before one of your kids picks up the phone and disconnects you. You'll burn all your free AOL hours re-connecting.
As soon as I'm done with my game:
Urban Meyer is an interesting example. Even though it is his offense, they won a title with Tom Herman as OC. Once Herman left for Houston, the offense,especially Barrette and Jones, weren't as efficient. Cornelson is going to be just as important to our offenses success.
Can I say our most important player is actually the OL unit....if they go down, so does our QB.
PLEASE STAY HEALTHY.
That's what I was going to say.
The pancake man.
It is Chuck Clark .
On defense, I agree. We've lost more games in the past due to coming up short on offense and I'm hoping the new coaches will be able to improve us greatly on that side of the ball.
Dam this is a really good call. I keep forgetting he has another year. He's going to be huge this year
This is a very good answer.
Stienburgerspring is gone...
Isaiah Ford... if he goes down, so does our offense, in a big way!
Surprised that this was not mentioned earlier. McMillan is nice and is going to be a big part of the offense, but IMHO we have the ability to mix-and-match that production with guys on the roster now, if need be.
If Ford goes down, the trickle down of coverages could neutralize a lot of our passing attack, and no one has proven the ability to fill his role and we would need to get big production from some yet-unproven guys to get that output.
could be Baron if he plays as well as he has been promoted by Foster this year
My opinion is Sam Ro
dgers. He is no doubt the emotional leader and if he can make some big runs while inflicting big hits on defenders I think he will hype up the rest of the team to play at another level.With a good D to go along with R, O, G, E, R and S, we could be very successful.
LeBron
The most important player will be the one that (hopefully) doesn't play....the injury monster.
Hasn't that sumbitch used up his eligibility after the last few years?
You'd think.