Hey everyone. It is football time in Blacksburg. Just like spring football, I anticipate we will have very little footage to review from Hokies fall camp. I will use the columns to touch on and speculate on camp performance. Again, we have VERY little to go on, so please understand I am offering analytical opinion based on past performance and what we are seeing.
Today was the first day with shoulder pads, and there was some physicality on display.
Pass Protection Drills
Eric Gallo vs Tim Settle
Power rush by Settle. Settle posts Gallo (making initial contact under Gallo's pads with a right punch and elevating Gallo's center of gravity. Gallo sinks to recover a bit. I think if TIm could have ripped his right hand with the second move, he wins the rep easily. Instead, he essentially loses that initial momentum by attempting to hand slap with his outside hand across his body and loses the leverage advantage. Tim still wins the rep because he collapsed the pocket, but that second move is the difference between serviceable and great.
Jonathan McLaughlin vs Ken Ekanem
Ekanem wins pretty easily with a little shoulder twitch to fake an inside rush and then beats McLaughlin cleanly with a very muted outside swim move. This isn't a great rep from McLaughlin, especially if he is the top option on the blind side.
D'Andre Plantin vs Seth Dooley
Seth does a little shoulder twitch and an outside rip underneath Plantin's outside arm to win the rep, Plantin gives way too much ground, especially for a right tackle. This lets Dooley get momentum to initiate his leverage move. Ideally, you want a tackle to have the confidence to jump on the end and get his momentum slowed down, and then have the feet to slide back with him. Plantin has excellent feet, so this is likely a confidence/experience issue than a physical one. As I noted later, Plantin has some impressive tools.
Team vs Team Drills
There were two impressive plays in today's feed by the linebackers in some of the early team on team footage. On one, the offense ran what looked like a power play to the left side. Teller and McLaughlin blocked down. Peoples pulled around to kick out the linebacker, and McMillian followed him from right to left. The defensive line didn't leave a cutback lane on the back side. Peoples couldn't get around the jam, effectively spilling the play to the outside. Both Edmunds (who looks like a MAN amongst boys and ole'ed McLaughlin, who didn't look like he was having a great day) and Motuapuaka are in perfect position on the outside when McMillian tries to bound. Edmunds let go of McMillian , but Motuapuaka threw McMillian down when he didn't stop at the whistle.
Motuapuaka showed up later on a blitz in 1 vs 1 work. The defensive line ran what looked like double X stunts. Motuapuaka came up the middle and ran over Deshawn McLease to chase Evans out of the pocket. Nigel Williams kept good contain position on the stunt.
McClease had a nice run earlier on a power play to the right that was pretty well blocked. McClease had a jump cut around Chris Cunningham's block and then darted up field. The whistle blew as whip Jonathan Galante was close to a tackle, but looking at the angle McClease would have likely picked up a couple extra yards after contact. The was the top offensive line, yet Josh Jackson was the QB on this rep.
Derwoun Greene had a nice fill from his safety spot on a Sam Rogers cutback. I couldn't make out the right tackle on the play, but he got tremendous movement and quick feet on the play. It might be D'Andre Plantin.
This will get some folks excited. 2nd Team O ran a little off tackle play to the left side with a pull from right guard Braxton Pfaff. Marshawn Williams (!!!) made a really sharp cut off Pfaff's block and got a nice run up field. Unfortunately, he fumbled on the play (I can't make out what happened) but it is really nice to see him moving so well.
Mook Reynolds came off the edge and popped Sam Rogers for no gain with a shoulder blow (no arms wrapped.) I love Sam's effort, but there were a couple of reps where he kind of kept running through the whistle after contact blew the play dead. As a former player, I can tell you that the, what we called "half speed All American" deal when a drill isn't full go can get pretty old during camp, and it looks like Mook gave a little receipt on the play.
The offensive line caved in the defense on a jet sweep, but McClease got stopped because Chuck Clark made a heck of a play beating the block of CJ Carroll and ate up McClease on the edge. If Carroll wants to see the field, he has to be able to make that block consistently. Again, this is early.
Additional notes:
Nigel Williams has changed to #8 (roster has been updated) and found himself on tape fielding a punt.
We got a glimpse of Devin Wilson running on a jet sweep with a double lead like I diagrammed over the summer. Wilson looks significantly larger (I thought it was a tight end sweep and tried to look the number up.) Don't tell anyone, but Bucky Hodges also ran the jet sweep as a slot guy.
Comments
Hey French. Good stuff. I think you accidentally referred to Mook Reynolds as Mook Williams.
Fixed- this is why Joe is such a good editor. My regular columns are always an adventure when it comes to names. #BruceBenedict
French it's amazing what you can pick up off these quick snapchats. Yea as a player I didn't care for the guys who took no pads or half pads a little too seriously. Or the pregame hotel walk through who tried to lay some one out.
A bunch of this work looks like it is 3/4 speed- so please understand, this are merely observations.
One other note, it looks like Trevon Hill and Seth Dooley are the #2 DEs right now.
So Mihota and Ekanem are taking the #1 reps right now? Do you think Gaines will figure in there as well going forward?
I am sure he will get work, but he is suspended for the first game. Remember, most coaches preach the importance of discipline and how getting in trouble off the field makes them not trust the player on it. I'd imagine Gaines will have to work his way back into Coach Foster's trust, and Foster has an experienced player with Dooley along with another explosive young player in Hill to hold down the fort.
I had almost forgotten he was suspended. Hopefully he can stay on the right track. I'm getting excited about our Defensive Line this year.
What side was Dooley playing on?
Left DE- which used to be "Stud" End. Mihota is on the same side. They line up over right tackle.
Thanks for that, French. Appreciate the glimpse into practice. I really hope Devin Wilson is able to contribute this year. He has busted his tail on the hardwood, and I am looking forward to him making some plays on the grass. He just seems like one of those quiet guys that are all about team, but whose competitive flame burns bright.
Anyway, great work and looking forward to more.
Love these snapchat vids. Great analysis on them too, French. Looks like Rogers only has one speed. Settle was a bit raw but a couple of tweaks and that's an amazing play. Noticed the Bucky sweep and got excited. I think Mclease is going the be the breakout player this year. Really impressed with his film so far and think he fits Fuente's offense well. Dude can run.
Also, just overall I love the speed of practice. Seems like organized chaos. Guys running between drills and stations. I don't know how much different it was from Beamer era, but I like it.
For those not on snapchat, the vibe is this is a system that is well thought out and moves fast. Starts with breakfast 7am, to a workout, trainers, drills, walk-thru's, position drills, 1/2 speed, then closes with dinner. It's going day by day and each day has a cameo with a player narrating. Today was Jerod walking chatting up the camera. Our website might suck, but they've done a good job with this channel.
sola rex?
all I could find on solar rex was a hot water company in Australia but maybe I missed a thread ....
Not sure if you're kidding? Hokie Hokie Hokie Hi, Techs Techs VPI, Sola rex, sola ra, Polytechs Virginia. Ray Ri VPI, Team, Team, Team...or something like that.
Haha. Hundreds of legs. As much as I wish I could say I'm the proud founder of Solar Rex in Australia, sadly I'm not.
Embarrassed to say that I didn't know the spellings in the cheer, and it seems to have changed over the years, but I wasn't far off. When I learned it in '68, I could swear the cheer was ray ri VPI, but have since seen it repeatedly spelled ray rah. Either way, it sure was fun repeating my version of it at a downtown New Orleans bar in 1995 when a Texas girl got on stage and said "All I want to know is, what's a Hokie?" At the time, their school was only a hundred years old, and our cheer was as old as their whole school, and I must admit that I raised the roof with my explanation of where the name Hokie came from, the subsequent leading of the Hokies there in the cheer, and my final words that on the next day, they would all find out just what a Hokie really was. And, dammit, they surely did!! My friends who were there still applaud me for that performance, one of my finest as a Hokie fan.
kudos for providing well deserved Hokie education. Curious though, how did you explain where the name came from? Was it different then the School defined story?
Told them the name Hokie originally meant nothing, really, just an attention getting word from a hundred year old cheer. That's where it had originated, and other than a handfull of bullshit assertions (you know, you've heard them, like a castrated turkey, etc.), that is precisely where "Hokie" came from.
glad to help out .... just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something like dork magic .... THAT was a bad week to be off of TKP!!
Glad to hear Marshawn is back in action.
French, what were you referring to with your "half speed all-american"
comment?
Guys who go full speed in half speed drills in an effort to win over coaches. What it does is it makes the other guys who are going to instructed speed look bad. But, unless the person in question is a player, those guys get exposed when things go full speed. Sam is a player, but it looked like there where a couple of drills where the defenders clearly were told not to take the backs to the ground. The whistle blew and Sam kept running.
Ah, see how that might raise tensions.
Checked out the snapchat again. That was quite the tap
Reynolds gave Rogers.
Also Marshawn looked pretty explosive on that carry.
You could tell the drills today were not "tackle to the ground" /"half speed" / "play to the whistle" and the defense has to respect that, but the offensive player, Sam in this case, was pushing the envelope of that going for extra yards after contact + whistle.
Whenever you do these French I can just see you clicking back through all the clips over and over and over again trying to take in all the details on every clip. Thanks as always for putting in the effort. Personally I love reading these reviews and from what I can tell everybody else does too.
I found a trick that lets me watch the same play several times- if you swipe up while a play is going on, it puts the play on repeat (it is the function for sending a chat message to the poster.) Shout out to my step son "The Kiddo" for telling me that. It made the review MUCH easier tonight.
Do we see more from Pfaff this year? He was a big get for us and things have been silent since.
He has had a ton of shoulder injuries. With Teller and Conte in place and Osterloh as a top back up option at a guard spot, I think they can be ok without getting much from Pfaff this year. But, it would be huge if he and Colt Pettit can get in the mix next year because interior line will be a bit thin.
if this was the same Snapchat i saw, Devin Wilson had a great diving catch
Not the same one. This one was uploaded later in the day
Is everyone just going to act like this is normal or
I noticed that Lawson wasn't taking any reps in the videos today. I'm really worried that he's not getting the reps he deserves and might start thinking about leaving the program. Hopefully that's not the case and he just didn't make it on social media today. Fingers crossed!
/S
Marshawn Williams made a nice run and then fumbled in a half speed play. His fumbling is going to either keep him off the field or is going to cost us big in a game. His freshman season, we lose the Ohio St game if one of his fumbles was called correctly. Later in the year fumbled on the one yard line against Miami. He also fumbled on that play where Brewer scooped it up and scored against GT. This has to be corrected before he can be trusted on the field, we have too much talent in the backfield to give it to someone who cant hold on to the ball.
GET OUT THE BOXING GLOVE ON A STICK!!!
I'm a big Marshawn Williams fan (I think he is the best or second best back on the roster) but you're entirely right. He needs to get a hold on the ball. And stay healthy.
sounded a little like Frank's voice on the Slye FG...probably just something I wanted to hear
I believe I saw Rogers taking a direct snap at one point?
I'd really like to know how Shai is doing. I haven't seen much from him, but for whatever reason I think he is going to be a contributor this season.
I think that was just a drill for the line/rb's. The camera moved over to another rb doing the same thing right after
ah, ok.
Regarding the half speed vs full speed, we used to call them Thursday night warriors in HS. This team needs to be a little pissed off in fall camp. Especially the D after their exposure last year. They need to go to Bristol with something to prove. I hope they find this motivation.
Any staff reports coming from the latest pressers? I saw some interesting quotes on Bitter but don't want to undercut TKP if something is on the way.
https://twitter.com/adoniskaaaaa/status/762275807217655808
Adonis tweet (emoji is a smiley with head bandages):
Lol this really been the longest weekend ever
Wasn't sure where to post this. Check out Isaiah Ford with the flip.
Awesome.
Offense chanting "DBlock who". That's great.
Saw a snapchat today and was curious who a player was. It should be noted that Sean Daniel and Jaylen Bradshaw have switched numbers according to HokieSports. Jaylen Bradshaw is now wearing #15, and Daniel #39.
That's useful info, thanks.
also from today's snap chat- Reggie Floyd was getting work with the first team D... I believe he was at free safety but it was hard to tell (he was at free or rover for sure.) Came up and fitted nicely on a back and the defense got pretty hyped.
Jahque Alleyne had a beautiful interception on a slot press drill. WR ran an outside release fade. Alleyne stayed right in his hip pocket, turned, and found the ball for the INT.
Demetri Moore getting reps at left guard as well.
Jerod had a nice playfake, followed by a pass over the top down the seam with beautiful touch on it. Evans seems to be fluid, quick, and making the correct reads.
Bucky again with some work on the jet sweep, this time was blocked very well too.
That pass from Evans was something.
I saw Deablo take a jet sweep too. Those are some big motion men.
Looked like Timmy abused somebody (Petit?). McClease getting a lot of air time...some nasty little cuts inside
Saw someone post about Chris Durkin on 247 and had me thinking we haven't seen him on snapchat. According to his dad's twitter he has some type of injury. Anybody heard anything about this?
Dude's jacked.
No further comment.
Heard it was a hernia. Nothing major, but a pain in the rear. Hopefully he'll get back out there and get some work during camp. He's got all the tools to be a legit H-back.
pain in the abdomen.
Pain in the HIPAA...heyoo!
Big Durk- certified at being the man.
Tremaine looks like enormous out there in the clips. If he can play as big as his frame, look out because I think he could be a scary good player. Also Evans looks really solid from what we're shown. Just my blind opinion but I think he's going to start separating himself and be the #1 guy solidly. I'd eat my hat if it turns out differently.