Attrition happens everywhere and after a year working with the new coaching staff, we are rumored to see a higher volume. Could be a busy next few days before the spring semester starts
Please share your thoughts and information here as the news starts coming in.
Once a Hokie, always a Hokie!
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Best of luck to Seth and congratulations on his degree. Defensive end is going to be thing this spring (House Gaines, Jimmie Taylor, and Emanuel Belmar.)
Belmar is moving from line backer?
He projected as a DE from the start as I remember correctly, or at the most a stand up rusher from the Bear.
Foster mentioned him in one of his recent interviews
First up is Seth Dooley will be transferring for his senior year. Best of luck to him in what ever he does.
Edit: dammit French, your quick as shit after dinner at chipotle
per Bitter- he isn't transferring. Just not playing football. It is unclear if he is working on his masters or is starting his career.
Yea the tweet I saw said different but I believe bitter over random vt twitter
Classes start the 19th?
17th I think, but I could be wrong.
Can confirm on this #Sauce, classes start the 17th.
Big if true
The 17th is a Tuesday. #Sauces.
The 16th is also MLK Day. #marinades
The 13th is my birthday #insiderinfo
It was most likely my birthday first. #old
The 20th is mine - do I win anything...? (Besides possibly a Devon Hunter commit that day.) #OldAsWell
I've got the 6th. There seems to be a January Friday birthday party happening on TKP!
4th for me... It's been said that capricorns and aquarius sins (or whatever we are now) are intelligent.and deep the thinkers. I think that our choice of Frequenting TKP is natural evidence that:
1. We're smart
2. Birds of a feather....TKP together
Yea, you definitely get that first. I was just going for one of those silly hashtags about sauces and that's all I could think of for this weekend. Because I'm selfish.
mine too! I was going to wait and announce this but at this time it just feels right! #statement17
(bday on the 13th)
Another 1/13 birthday
Well I will take a win over the Irish as my present from the Hokies since the 14th is my birthday. Hope they know how important that game just became.
Mine too, and a win will be sufficient for my birthday present from my alma mater as well!
Sauces telling me Lawson is looking to transfer.
Went an entire 5 comments.
But things are looking favorable for Drew Harris to qualify
In case anyone is curious, in this past season at IUP, in 7 games, Harris had 50 carries for 183 yards, and based on carries by RB, appears to be #3 on the depth chart.
IUP = Imaginary University of Pretend
I don't remember him going to UNC.
-I died
-I came back and died again
I love all of you. Thanks for getting me through my workdays
For the love of pete I hope everyone will be civil and wish people the best of luck if they choose to pursue other interests.
Good luck to Seth in his pursuits. Glad he's got a degree and hopefully some good memories out of his time here.
Dooley is the DE equivalent of JuJu. Let us redshirt Taylor and contributed valuable minutes when depth was tested. Now, more talented players can take his spot, hopefully with healthier shoulders.
I wish Seth the best and same to any other Hokies who take their talents/focus elsewhere this offseason. It was a good idea to make a thread for this.
I wonder if we will hear anything regarding Shai McKenzie?
maybe some twitter updates saying he is completely healthy while wearing a sling and a boot?
What are you going to do bleed on me, you have been beaten
is this where we say that the numbers always work out, wink wink?
I'm guessing he was nudged to leave. As long as a school gives a player 4 scholarship years its fair to ask a rising RS-Senior that doesn't contribute to leave.
Best of luck Dooley.
Maybe, but he's 24 and has his degree. He might just be ready to stop playing football and move on.
Sort of correct from what I've heard. He has his graduate degree after this spring and will be attempting to make a NFL practice squad for a few years to get pension and then start his career. He is a smart and very nice kid.
Time spent on a practice squad doesn't count towards a pension.
ehhh maybe, but I feel like the depth would have been good to have regardless. This feels more like it was his decision.
This is way off base.
To say he hasn't contributed isn't fair. To say that he would not likely be in the two deep next year is probably a fairer statement.
Good luck to Dooley on whatever path he takes...but let's be honest, we all know what he's doing now that he has all this free time.
Strictly a rumor I heard, just curious as to if anyone else has heard anything:
McMillian?
Wouldn't make much sense to me, as I would think he'd see the bulk of the carries next year, but what do I know?
Definitely hope this isn't true, I'm sure he wasn't a fan of being completely removed from a few games, but he is still the number one guy back there.
This was my concern all year. He went from 1,000-yd rusher to an afterthought for much of the season.
Overall, his season production wasn't as low as I thought it was going to be compared to last year.
2015
200 attempts, 1042 yards, 7 TDs
12 receptions, 64 yards, 1 TD
2016
145 attempts, 671 yards, 7 TDs
11 receptions, 120 yards, 3 TDs
25% less carries and around 35% less yards. Huge dip. Less yards per attempt. This offense isn't right for him. Never looked into this year.
No way any rb was going to have more ypc or production with the way we utilized and blocked for running backs this year. This isn't a "square peg in a round hole" situation, it's a "the line created holes too small for any peg" scenario. I expect it to get better with time, but run blocking didn't do any of our backs favors this year.
There are styles of backs better suited for this offense, but it's not like Dragon is a scatback 5'8 180 guy trying to play in a bruiser back's role.
Did I miss something? Who is Dragon??
Travon McMillian. Someone autocorrected it to Dragon in a post and it became a thing. Apparently that's missing from the TKP meme glossary.
I'll add it if you can find the original post
BOOM! http://www.thekeyplay.com/comment/449895#comment-449895
BOOM BACK ATCHA
On a related note, I assume you could have totally edited that if you wanted to, right? I mean, not to make more volunteer work for you, but I was on iphone only when you posted this and there was no way I was going to try to edit a post until I got back to a PC.
Yeah, I could do it but with the way it was phrased, I was just going to leave it alone.
No, I meant you could go into the Glossary/Meme post and edit in new entries if you wanted, right?
Yes, I could.
McmIllan. It's a TKP nickname and I'm sure someone who TKPs harder than I do can assist you with a direct link to the origin of the joke.I've been beat.
Ladies and Germs, may I present Mr. McClease and Mr. Holston (hopefully redshirting)?
More TD's, less wear and tear on his body. I could see that being a good thing in the long run
Stop fumbling.
Oh so I guess let's just not lead FBS in anything, huh?
Thank you. Mama Fuller always said, find that one thing to be REAL good at and focus on it. She picked producing NFL players, we picked playing with buttered footballs. Well, and humiliating LOLUVA, but I feel like we're not even trying at that anymore, it just happens naturally.
Travon had 2 fumbles in 156 touches this season. Of course I'd like it to be 0 but a fumble rate of 78 isn't terrible for a RB. He had one fumble in 2015 on 212 touches, which puts his career fumble rate at 122.7. For comparison, below were the college career fumble rates for some of the RBs who got playing time as rookies in the NFL this season:
39.9 – Kenyan Drake, Alabama
43.3 – Alex Collins, Arkansas
45.6 – C.J. Prosise, Notre Dame
61.6 – Wendell Smallwood, WVU
63.5 – Kenneth Dixon, Louisiana Tech
71.1 – Devontae Booker, Utah
104.1 – DeAndre Washington, Texas Tech
111.8 – Jordan Howard, Indiana
123.8 – Derrick Henry, Alabama
140.4 – Paul Perkins, UCLA
162.5 – Ezekiel Elliott, Ohio State
Is that right? That can't be right!!!
Are you only counting lost fumbles?
If that's correct, that's a real shock to me. Wow.
2 fumbles; both were lost. One was against Tennessee and one was against UVA.
Full stats are here.
All I know is when he fumbled, he sat.
Less fumbles = more touches
He would've had a few more touches if not for the fumbles, but it's really just a drop in the bucket compared to the overall dropoff he had in touches this year. He went 9 consecutive games this year without a fumble and there was no correlation between his ball security and number of carries during that stretch. The fact he only started 7 out of 14 games this season points to other factors being at play. (btw- ironically, in both games that he fumbled, he started the next game).
We are just looking at this in different ways.. I wouldn't put any value in starts, that's just who is in the formation on the first play. In my mind, that's irrelevant to his carries. I'm lazy and I don't feel like looking it up, but I remember probably two games where he fumbled then didn't get back in the game. The ND game comes to mind. Maybe those fumbles were given to Evans on exchanges instead of TMac, but I clearly remember Fuente benching backs who fumbled (it happened to Peoples late in the year as well).
My untrained eye saw continuous lack of focus mistakes (I.e. mishandling the mesh point, lining up wrong, missing blocks). I don't think any specific fumble landed him in the doghouse. I just think there was a lack of trust in him from the coaches. I think this was the same thing that delayed his playing time under Shane when pitchforks were coming out about him being the next great running back. When he gets a seam and can just be an athlete in space he is outstanding. I hope the mental errors are easily remedied this year because it is really easy to pull for him.
When Travon finds himself in space, and can get momentum, he's a dangerous back. Can run with power and speed. Even breaks a tackle now & then. When he has room.
But he does not hit holes well. Has trouble getting stuck running east/west. He doesn't fall forward. Isn't willing to initiate contact to gain extra yardage. Watch tape on Marshawn - if T-Mac's build and speed were combined with Juice's toughness, that would be a helluva running back.
He's a natural athlete, he's not a natural running back.
But there is hope that in Fuente's unorthodox running game, there may be a way to utilize TMac's strengths.
I think we utilized him on some really cool stuff in the redzone as a receiver, but we didn't really do it all that frequently.
168.0- Rob Kelley, Tulane
Can a Redskin get some love?
His 2015 production was skewed by limited use in the 1st month of 2015. His touches this season (11.1 touches per game) were way down compared to the last 8 games of 2015 (21.8 touches per game).
I hope he stays but would also understand if he wants more chances to show his skills so he can get to the next level.
My question is whether the McMillian of the 4 or 5 game stretch in middle of 2015 was the rule or the exception.
To my eyes, the McMillian of 2016 looked pretty similar to the McMillian of early/late 2015...a fairly speedy guy who tends to run too high & straight up and - when there isn't a big hole or sizable room on the edge - tends to run on skates.
News should start leaking within the next week or two. Typically find out around the start of classes. I'd expect anywhere from 5-10 kids this season. Sounds like a lot, but that's pretty standard.
The difference will be that the names are more familiar, instead of being people who couldn't crack the two deep.
Just wondering.... With Evans declaring for the draft, any thought of Chris Durkin becoming a QB again?
I hope not. I'd rather have all that size catching and blocking as a TE than throw him back into the QB fray, especially with 5 options at QB coming up (JJ, Hooker, Click, Bush, and Willis). We need reliable catching threats and help on the O-line. Maybe he can still take some wild turkey snaps, but don't call him a QB.
Thanks... I concur.
Agreed. If he can play the H-back role now that Rogers is gone, and Deluliis or Keene can fill the "OMG he's so tall" receiver position now that Hodges is gone, our O could take a big step forward in opening up the playbook.
Maybe one of them has super huge hands. After all we haven't had a guy who's "hands are so big he busts through 37 pairs of gloves every practice" in a little while.
No, it looks like that ship has sailed. He'll probably stick to tight end. Aj Bush and Kansas transfer are here for depth.
Somebody's got to say it; I'll say it.
/s
Shai is transferring. Nothing really unexpected.
I will still miss the Dragon thoughIgnore meDragon = Travon, so no worries.
Sigh I need to sleep. edited as such.
Planning on graduating this summer then transferring.
Will he still practice in the spring or just disconnect from the team now?
I think he's been disconnected for a while
That's an interesting question.
It raises a few for me: Is he still on scholarship for the spring now? Why not wait until the semester is over and announce?
He counts for 2016 scholarship, but opens one up for 2017.
It is better for him to announce now, so he can be recruited and another school will save a 2017 scholarship for him.
It get that, but was asking from his standpoint. Does he have to pay for this semester, housing, meals etc on his own?
I doubt it
Hate that about Shai, such promise. Hope he finds a better opportunity.
In other news, Anyone hear about our once desired offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton is now back with Jim Harbaugh at Michigan. Wonder if that'll make them more dangerous if he stays around when we face them in 2020.
Considering he took somewhat of a demotion from pro to college, not that worried. And who knows if both of them will be there in 3 years, neither have a long shelf life at any given location. Also, will they turn up another Andrew Luck cause that guy made both of them in a way
We were two plays away from facing them in the Orange Bowl this year. We may get our revenge before 2020!
Hell of a lot more than two plays away.
That was my first thought too, although I believe he was referring to the ACC championship game w/ Clemson being an automatic Orange Bowl bid.
Still...we still had to get into the endzone, convert the two point conversion and keep them off the board on their drive, which as we saw the other night, is not easy task.
As someone who exaggerates a lot, I say give him a break. Not everything has to be taken literally.
If I've said it once, I've said it a million times-Never Exaggerate!
I might s well go over to Le Rubber Sword.
I gotta use this on my wife soon. She'll get a kick out of it. And maybe stop exaggerating so much. Queen of the hyperbole.
Im sure it'll go exactly as planned.
Hope your couch is comfortable
Calling her queen of the hyperbole on a public forum will get me in more hot water than making a wise crack about her constant exaggerating. But she doesn't read TKP!
That used to work for French, too, until Ms Susie Cue opened an account...
Cost me a damn Coach bag...
They weren't exactly firing on all cylinders in the 4th in December.
Harbaugh will be back in the NFL before we play Michigan in 2020
Member when we wanted Pep as our OC?
I 'member!
I was reading this 247 analysis about our 2014 recruiting class, which states that Durkin has transferred to Youngstown State. Is there any other information to corroborate this?
http://virginiatech.247sports.com/Gallery/Taking-a-look-at-the-2014-recr...
Yes.
Andy Bitter confirmed yesterday on twitter, said he spoke to Papa Durkin.
That list is an interesting read.
do you know where you can get a bird's eye look at recruiting classes to see what percentage yielded key contributors, minor contributors, and complete busts? I'm always curious historically how well we actually do with the 25 (avg) guys we snag each year.
Andy Bitter does one every year looking back at classes 4/5 years prior.
247 just did one for 2015 class... in the last couple days.
That's a real boom or bust class, there are some serious studs - Ford, Edmunds, Phillips, McMillian, Williams ( hes a something to prove or a contributor in my mind, hes just been plagued by injuries), Stroman, but thats a big group that havent panned out.
I think Raymon Minor might still have a chance to contribute.
I disagree with their Assessment of Marshawn as well, especially given the other players labeled as "didn't pan out." He's been productive when healthy and could be a contributor again if he recovers from his latest injury in time.
And that's been the story of Marshawn's career, unfortunately.
Part of "panning out" is injuries, unfortunately. It's one reason why there are hits and misses (and somewhere in-betweens) in every class at every school - the misses in retrospect are surprisingly higher than most fans (particularly those who seem to live and die by star ratings) realize.
Folks wonder how a team like Michigan State could fall so quickly. Go back and take a look at the "hits" in their otherwise ordinary recruiting classes in '11, '12 & '13. They had an extraordinary run of good luck (and/or good talent evaluation depending upon your point of view), but it was bound to come back to earth.
Same thing happened to VT to some degree. VT had a pretty lucky run of non-injuries in the '00's, but ran into significant injuries to a pretty decent percentage of key players in those recent 7 & 8 win seasons. Imagine if this year's team had lost, say, Evans, Motuapuaka, Chuck Clark & Woody Baron for significant chunks of the season....it might not have been pretty.
Yep you can pretty much separate each class into thirds. Bottom third will bust for some reason such as injuries, qualifications, off field issues, or just not panning out. The middle third will contribute to two deep and see some playing time. The upper third will be reliable starters or stars. The best years come when the ratios skew to the favorable side and have more than average number of stars (not necessarily the stars in the recruiting profile).
Looks like Sobczak is gone too.
Sauce?
It's mentioned in the article that Magma Hawk linked. Don't know if it's been corroborated elsewhere.
Link
Ok so nothing new since spring roster came out. Andy and others said he may be back.
Sorry if someone mentioned it, but I see Mook is listed as a LB now instead of DB. I guess he's a Whip instead of a Nickel.