Bud Foster Sketches Out Potential Scheme Changes Ahead of Fall Camp

When Bud Foster committed to stay on as defensive coordinator at Virginia Tech with Justin Fuente, he wasn't just opting for continuity — he was looking for a chance to prove that the step back his defense took last year was merely a temporary one.

Indeed, expectations were high for the Hokies headed into the year, yet Foster's bunch only managed to finish 44th in the country in yards allowed per game (their lowest such ranking since 2010).

From a spate of injuries to C.J. Reavis' sudden dismissal from the team, there's a variety of mitigating factors to take into account when evaluating that kind of slippage. But it's still worth wondering: what, if anything, will Foster change about his scheme this season?

Accordingly, The Key Play sat down with Foster for a quick Q and A session immediately before the kickoff of fall camp to address that very question, among others.

AK: One of the biggest changes in the makeup of the defense this coming year seems to be along the defensive line. Without a pure speed rusher like Dadi Nicolas and some bigger defensive linemen up and down the depth chart, will we see more use of power rush concepts focused on collapsing the pocket rather than trying to get an outside edge speed rush?

BF: I'm not for sure yet, but we're not going to change what we do a whole lot. Dadi, he was a dynamic guy coming off the edge, but I think I'd like to find some guys that are a little bit more firm at the point of attack. He could do some things at times, but being consistently good and getting some bigger guys, we've got some bigger guys who can move, it's not like we don't have the capabilities of having some speed rushers off the edge.

I'm excited about our young ends. This spring, we did not have Seth Dooley, he was out, a big kid that can run and move around and I'm excited about what he can do. Then you throw in Trevon Hill who's showed some Dadi Nicolas kind of moves and explosiveness, but he's 6'4" and 250 pounds, that's kind of where we can be a little bit different.

You've got Houshun Gaines as another guy there, Darius Fullwood, another young end that showed flashes toward the end of spring ball, those are guys that have a lot of potential but no game experience, and the best teacher is experience. So I'm hoping that, with Vinny Mihota, a big, physical kid who has some experience and plays extremely hard and extremely smart, Seth, probably our top backup last year, looking forward to him taking another step because of the experience he gained, and Ken Ekanem being the leader of that group, the cupboard's not bare, we just have some young players.

And that's kind of how we are across the board at all positions, we have some talented guys, we have some hungry guys, we have some experienced guys coming back. You've got a mix of experience with some green guys that are also very motivated and understand the tradition there, who want to get that tradition back as far as being a flying around, dynamic defense, so we're working hard at that and with these kids, the best teacher is experience.

You can practice all you want, but until you get out there in front of 65,000 people doing it with the lights on and it means something, that's when you really find out what these guys are all about.

AK: It seems to me that Tremaine Edmunds is another guy with potential, but little in the way of experience. Last year, it seemed as if your backers were playing more on the edge than inside, and with his size, do you see Tremaine following that trend?

BF: He can do both, I mean, our backer position has been the same for years, as far as going back to Ken Brown to Jamal Smith to Ben Taylor to Xavier Adibi, and I see him in that kind of Xavier Adibi role. He can blitz off the edge, he can play in the core, that's what that backer position does.

There's going to be times that he'll play in the core, but he's a guy that can play in space. He's long, he's a smart kid, and you're going to be able to see us do some more things than what we've been able to do the last couple years.

We were really limited, even though Deon Clarke was a dynamic athlete, he was limited with some things that we could do with him, so for me Tremaine is a guy that's long, athletic, he can be a good space player, a good blitzer, and you'll only see him continue to get better.

His first game he started last year when he played a quarter against Georgia Tech, that's a tough game to break in on, but then he played really, really well in the bowl game and I think he showed there and in the spring game what his potential is.

We couldn't blitz in the spring game, but you could see him run and chase things down and make big plays, and he did that in the bowl game and spring game. And I'm really excited about his potential, we played him last year for the potential for him to be ready to play and be our starter this fall, to get him some experience and out there practicing.

Is he where he needs to be yet? No, but am I excited about his future and do I think he'll be a dynamic player when it's all said and done? Yes, so he's got a chance to be a complete football player and dynamic football player for us.

AK: I have to imagine that having a guy with experience like Andrew Motuapuaka at the mike helps compensate for Tremaine's inexperience, but surely there's also ways you'd like to see him raise his game this year. What do you need Andrew to improve on this season?

BF: We talked about that today, we need to be erasers at linebacker, we need to eliminate plays and we need to make plays, and we had that with a guy like Jack Tyler. He was your perfect workmanlike lunchpail guy and Bruce Taylor, he was a dynamic mike linebacker, and those guys made some plays for us, and we need Andrew to do some of that.

He started out, his first game was against Ohio State really, just kinda getting that under his belt and was really just OK. I thought he got better as the year went along, just as any first-year player would be in having that role and being the starter.

But again, I think you're gonna see a guy with much more experience, much more game savvy, much more understanding of the position and how that's employed in the scheme of things, and understanding that him and Tremaine need to be dynamic playmakers for us and football players, not just in the run game, but in the blitz game, in the passing game, all kinds of things. Hopefully we can stay healthy, and I'm expecting big things from those guys this year.

AK: Speaking of staying healthy, how comfortable are you with your secondary right now? Last year you did plenty of position shuffling due to injuries, and even some this spring. Are you planning on some more in fall camp?

BF: We did enough shuffling last year, and that's kind of why we were who we were defensively last year.

You lose a guy like C.J. Reavis at the beginning of the year who was a big time football player, counting on him to be our starting rover, and then you lose Kendall Fuller, and all of a sudden you lose two dynamic football players. Not just good football players, I'm talking dynamic playmaking-type guys, and all of a sudden we're kind of in a cluster.

We're not in very good shape all of a sudden, we're playing some young guys, and you've got Brandon Facyson who's up and down with some injuries and things, and all of a sudden three guys who you're really counting on, all of a sudden the only solid guy you have returning is Chuck Clark, so we really had to shuffle around.

And last year you had guys playing one week at corner, one week at safety, one week at nickel and it was hard for us, if I needed to make adjustments, for those guys to understand that. So we went this offseason and really zeroed in on guys where we think best fit their talent at what spot and gone back and left them there.

Last year, we played about 70 percent man free and this spring we really focused a lot more on playing some zone defenses, quarters coverages, that type of thing. Played some man free, but not nearly as much.

I want to get back and let those kids understand the concepts of two deep, three deep besides just playing man. And in man, we gave up some plays, but also you get more eyes on the football, and particularly nowadays with the way offenses are trying to split your defense as far as running bubbles over here and a quarterback counter over here and a sweep over here, splitting just means you've got to have more eyes on the football, and that's one thing where I wanted to get back to what we did back two years ago and before.

Last year was just one of those years where we had a lot of injuries, a lot of situations that put us in tough situations, but by the same token we were able to get great experience. You've got a kid like Terrell Edmunds that had a great spring, Adonis Alexander who really did some good things, Greg Stroman in really his first year playing, really stepped up. Mook Reynolds had a really outstanding spring, you go along with Chuck Clark, Der'Woun Greene, who's returning.

We need to create a little more depth at some of those spots. I think with Facyson coming back, and him being healthy, we've got Khalil Ladler who stood out, I'm really excited about his future. And we've got a couple of young kids, Tyree Rodgers, Jovonn Quillen and Reggie Floyd, I've really been impressed with those three young guys along with Khalil Ladler, and all of a sudden, we've improved ourselves.

And actually after spring ball, this summer we took Deon Newsome and we've got him working over at the rover spot right now. So I think we've helped ourselves with depth, but not only with depth, but also with experience.