Virginia Tech backup linebacker Carson Lydon will pursue another opportunity and is no longer part of the football team. It's currently unclear where Lydon will transfer to.
The former East Lake HS (Tarpon Springs, FL) 3-star product joined the Hokies as an early enrollee in January 2015. He appeared in 11 games his freshman season and made four tackles as mostly a special teams contributor.
Tech returns its No. 1 MLB Andrew Motuapuaka in 2016, but at this juncture there isn't an obvious challenger to the redshirt junior's starting role, or much established depth behind him.
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Ahhh dammit, I was really hoping he would beat out Moto for the starting role. Really liked this kid.
Especially since both Motu and Huelscamp are red shirted juniors. Need to get somebody good behind them fast, especially with the injury history of these guys.
Isn't this the guy that filled in well for Moto when he was hurt? Shit!
That would be Sean Huelskamp.
Well, then...uhhhhhh, nope, still "shit."
Joe you seemed to be one of first on this. Any thoughts to where or why? Seems with so few backers he had a good shot here.
I don't want to speculate, but playing time would be my hunch.
Sigh.
Who does that leave other than Motuapuaka and Huelskamps?
Sam
Trey Edmunds
Man, if we're relying on Maryland players to fill up our depth chart, we are in trouble.
How about Tremaine Edmunds 6' 5" 236 linebacker?
Way too tall and lanky to be a mike. Could be a great backer though.
just because that has been historically true for us doesn't make it a fact. I think he's better in space as well, but he would probably be better than AM at mike if we had someone capable at backer to replace him.
It's historically true because of the responsibilities of the position. Unless he's 260+, a 6'5" mike is getting blocked out of every play with simple leverage. And, barring some kind of herculean once in a lifetime talent, he won't have the change of direction needed to fill gaps and get to the ball carrier between the tackles.
If you've seen reporting that suggest Edmunds is being seriously evaluated as a Mike then I'd love to read it. If true, he's either got Urlacher talent or it's another example of just how lean the roster has become.
Jake Houseright was a mike and he was close to Edmunds size. George Del Ricco and Bruce Taylor were both tall mikes.
Del Ricco and Bruce Taylor were 6'1" ish and were as close (or closer) to Andrew Motu in height as to Tremaine Edmunds.
Del Ricco was taller at about 6'3", but those extra 2 inches may as well be a foot at Mike. The universe of 6'5" mike linebackers is pretty small.
Stay calm! Bud's got this!
He must know he isn't in line to get a lot of playing time. I really doubt Bud will give up on Moto and with Huelskamp coming back, that would put Lydon third in line. It sucks because as a whole the team is incredibly thin at LB. At this rate, I'm bracing for an underwhelming defense for 2016...but I hope I'm wrong.
No need to hit the panic button. Save that until Motuapuaka gets hurt.
Good thing that's never happened before
or continues to run straight into blockers......
Crap. Liked this kid. Crap. Damnit crap fuck shit
This comment made me login to give you a leg. What I'm trying to say is that I enjoyed it. Thank you.
Pure speculation but I have to wonder if coaches asked him to redshirt after getting playing time as a true freshman last season. I wish he had stayed. I thought he did well to bring the boom in scrimmages.
I imagine it was the exact opposite. He was well behind Motu but wasn't going to be redshirted because depth just isn't there. Which means he wasn't going to start until he was a senior - if ever.
If he transfers, he redshirts and still has 3 yrs to get significant PT.
Certainly another plausible reason. We can't know how the coaches rated him. I thought the kid was talented for a true freshman.
We have a pretty good idea where the coaches rated him. He got little PT when Motu & Huselscamp returned last yr and he wasn't getting much air time in coach conversations in the spring - not nearly what he was getting even last summer as a true frosh. Getting lots of coach mentions isn't necessarily cause for celebration, but not getting them is almost never good news.
Shit. Will either Tavante Beckett or Emmanuel Belmar play inside?
Beckett is too small and they are already toying with moving Belmar to end.
Beckett is like Mike Imoh playing linebacker.
Great comparison. I was shocked how short he looked on film.
So they'll never see him coming...
Wow. This just bakes my brain. Motu has been such a liability back there.
If he wasn't going to beat him for the job, which was pretty unlikely, he wasn't going to play except on special teams.
Well time to rally around Motuapuaka. I know a lot of people see him as a huge liability, myself included, but he's as good as it's gonna get these next two years.
This sucks. I really liked his potential.
Also once they pulled his shirt last season, he should've been #2. Keeping him at #3 and playing the scout team did him no favors. Would liked him to beat out Moto. Think his ruling was much higher.
I seem to understand this and at the same time it befuddles me. Lydon would be a linchpin type of player. We need guys like this with injuries during the season.
LB is such an important position this year. I don't like hearing that we've lost someone.
Everyone always hates on Moto and he did make a lot of mistakes last year but the whole damn defense was bad last year blowing assignments. It was his first year as a starter and he did get injured and I'm sure people remember blow bad it got without him there. Players usually improve dramatically in their second year starting so I think people need to give him the benefit of the doubt and see how he does instead of calling him a liability. Chase Williams wasn't the greatest linebacker the first year either but he turned out pretty well in the system. So before we rush to judgement on one year maybe we ought to give the guy a chance to prove he's learned some stuff.....and then we judge the hell out of him. Just my opinion
Chase williams hardly played a down until his senior year. Not the best example
Counterpoint, he was a senior when he started, not a sophomore. Give Motuapuaka some slack.
This has been my argument for a while on Motu. It's been a little bit since we've had a starter for more than 3 years at Mike. The last one was Bruce Taylor and even he was injured for half of his Junior year. We aren't used to the growing pains that come with that because our memorable starters came on in their senior year. Recently, Jack Tyler and Chase Williams really skewed what to expect there. We whiffed in recruiting the position and then we had to put in a redshirt Freshman to start when Chase Williams went down.
even taylor switched back and forth between mike and backer.
And IIRC he was seen by many on chat boards as a disappointment his first 2 years.
Eron Carter couldn't enroll quick enough. Carter is a tackling machine that has a lot of upside to fill the void Carson left.
I agree...
"Aaron's party (come get it)"???
This party has to be at Chuck E Cheese or a petting zoo. And if anybody wants a beer, I'm getting IDs.
This defense will be fine until folks start getting hurt, then itll go straight to the shitter quickly, as will the season. We just dont have the bodies, and for our defense to be good everybody has to carry their weight. There cant be any weaknesses. It really is not much worse than watching our D getting shredded. Its the same tape over and over. When they are good, they are good. But when its bad, its f'n bad. We all remember those nightmarish days. Whether it was WVU in '02 and '03 or Maryland a few years ago or freggin Duke the last few years.
Tim Settle moved to MLB. Yeah, that's the answer.
He has size in abundance, that's for sure.
The offense better score a lot of points because if we have to depend on Motu to be a stud LB, we are going to give up a lot points. I am not a Moto hater but the film does not lie, he is out of position quite a bit and slow.
Out of position is something he can be coached up on. I would not call him slow, but he has been hesitant at times when he has to read and react. When he has a clear job to do, like blitz or solo assignment, I think he has been very quick. I don't know for sure that he will improve, but I also don't think it's a foregone conclusion that he has hit his ceiling either.
He's not slow when he knows what to do, he's hesitant and occasionally out of position because it's a tough position mentally and the light hasn't turned on for him yet. He's explosive when sniffs out a play or is sent on a blitz. We've rarely had to have Mike's get so much playing time so early. Let's see how he does with a full year of starting experience (and a more experienced back end) before we throw him under the bus.
when will we have a more experienced back end? Won't be this year.
(sorry, couldn't resist)
It's relative. Last year was all freshmen (aside from Chuck [and sometomes Faycson]). This year will be all sophomores (aside from Chuck [and sometimes Faycson). Freshman to sophomore is a huge jump in my mind.
if we don't have other freshmen surpass the freshmen we had last year, which is possible. We also did have fuller for a short time.
The third string LB left...hit the panic button!!
You mean the first string QB after an injury and a targeting call.
I'm getting kind of sick of the Motu trash talk, mainly because
1) The kid wasn't that bad last year. Yeah he wasn't great either, he runs into blockers, misses a few tackles, and overpursues. But he also led the team in tackles multiple times.
also
2) He was a first-year starter last season. I don't know if anyone else remembers the first years of guys like Kyle Fuller, James Gayle and Roc Carmichael, but they were maddening. It's easy for us to think about the great seasons of Kyle, but his freshman year was not pretty (see: Wake Forest, 2009). The improvement that typically happens in year two of starting can be dramatic. Let's all calm down and not lose our shit over Motu.
With that being said, losing Lydon is a big hit, mainly because Motu has been injured in the past, and Huelskamp is the only guy behind him currently, unless somebody like Raymon Minor or Jamieon Moss moves over. Other than that, I personally didn't see Lydon starting over Motu. So things could be a lot worse.
I want the same thing for Moto I want for all our players:
1. Work your butt off
2. be the best man and win the starting job
3. kick the other teams' asses
IFIFY
Agreed. He plays hard and sometimes he makes mistakes. I remember being frustrated with Kam Chancellor a lot for missed tackles and blown coverages and he turned out alright. Not saying he'll get to that level because that's unfair but it's pretty annoying to see him constantly bashed as if he was the reason we struggled last year. Our whole defense sucked and it doesn't begin or end with him.
I don't think anybody is more conscious of his mistakes than him, and I'm sure most of the players read this stuff. They're not pro athletes. It's gotta be close to impossible to not read the stuff your own fans are saying about you. As others have said above, let's at least wait until he's started for another season before we start blaming him for the fact that our highly touted defensive line can't get any pressure and DBU can't cover anybody.
Also, having our secondary with their backs to the play because of the need to play man coverage is asking a lot out of a first year starting linebacker who is the primary tackler. It exaggerates mistakes. Bud has already indicated that he doesn't think we will be forced into as much man coverage this year which should indirectly help take some pressure off of Motu.
Yeah, you can't compare him to Kam, because I don't remember seeing him getting pushed 3 or 5 yards back on every tackle. I'm not sure if Moto has ever shown the same level of physicality even if he is in the perfect position with no mistakes/blown coverages. I think he is good in pass protection though.
I didn't compare him to Kam. I said I used to get frustrated watching Kam. That's the extent of the comparison.
If he can avoid getting caught up in the wash at the LOS, he'll be fine. Not holding my breath but also not giving up on him. As you pointed out, he was a first year starter and we had a lot of guys struggle their first year who went on to good careers.
first year full time starter, but he had some starts under his belt as well.
Thus why I'm not holding my breath.
I think that Motu was a young starter in a highly critical and mentally taxing position last year. Playing mike is akin to playing QB on offense, and many of the best LB's we've had struggled early on in their careers. So I'm very happy to have someone with experience there, and hopefully he avoids the injury bug. And figures out to attack and shoot the gap rather than simply fill it. The mental part of the game starts to click, and the game slows down for players at a point. A lot of these things come with time and experience. So I try to be patient.
agreed there is a lot to the position, but just once i'd like to see him flash and hit a RB like he meant it and deliver the blow rather than being taken for a ride.
Like this?
(FWIW, I know what you mean, but you did ask to see it "just once")
(First time embedding a video, hope this works)
Yes, more of that please!!!
Text book tackle! Head up, feet continue to move through the tackle....beautiful. If I recall, Bud made an adjustment and had him start further back from the LOS which allowed him to see the play and not get tied up in all the muck. This was his best game I saw in the past 2 years.
Watching Moto in the 2nd half of this game made me scream the rest of the year "move him back 7 yds!" Moto was unstoppable when given space to see the play and flow to it. When closer (<5 yds) he would consistently get caught up in (or put himself in) the wash.
I think it had more to do with having a well defined assignment instead of having to read and react. I think the percentage of plays where he is confident in his assignment and attacks like this will go up a bunch this year. Bud may not talk about where his starters need to improve, but you know this has to be a top priority for him. He is still the LB coach, right?
ya but would like to see that when a RB is prepared for impact not when he's getting the ball pitched to him. like the difference between a WR cracking back on a lb and leveling them because they didn't see it coming and when the lb has his head on a swivel and plants that same WR.
would settle for average mike play, but I guess you think that's asking for too much.
I had thought he was quite the LB prospect so this is surprising.
I'm a fan of Motu though. What's your all's knock on him?
constantly overruns plays, doesn't deliver a blow, can't shed blocks. other than that seems like a really nice kid. he also seems to have the strength so don't know what his issue is with giving up yards on contact it might just be the hesitancy everyone is talking about. Hoping the light clicks for him because we don't have any other options and he's going to be a key to our defensive unit.
Yeah his enthusiasm is great. Maybe the experience will help for 2016.
Like you said, he seems to have the tools.
MotuGettingTruckedByDukeRunningBack.gif
We need AM to progress this year and I think he is going to do it! He is a committed Hokie and has shown he CAN do some good things. Let's support him and Foster and see what we get boys!
We desperately need AM to progress. I am ultimately a little indifferent about the Lydon news. On one hand, he had tremendous potential and was viewed as someone who could beat out AM (who has had his share of struggles) for the job this spring. On the other hand, he only played a few snaps last year. He was obviously unable to make any moves on the depth chart this spring, so I don't quite understand the heartache. If he was better, he would have won the job. Maybe Bud is lost in his pride with the AM project, or maybe he just didn't trust Lydon more than AM and/or Huelskamp. I'm a bit hesitant to say that Bud is off his rocker and let a better player get away if he was still clearly 3rd on the depth chart. I still trust in Bud, afterall, he's forgotten more about football than I will ever know.
so the hype train...
Looks like he ended up at LA Valley College, JUCO out in LA.
https://youtu.be/kDvCbyQb8cg
Makes sense considering the pieces of information I've put together. Had heard his transfer was for personal reasons, rather than playing time. Then I saw an instagram post about his girlfriend going to med school or something in CA. Now this.
Wow. Didn't know any of this.
Safe to say, that it's either going to end in a sweet story to tell the grandkids about or a lot of tears and blinding bitterness over that sacrifice. Hopefully the former. Good luck to him.