Pads are on and the Hokies are back on the practice field. Here are the Snapchat observations of this closed practice.
Full pads are on, so we were privy to some tackling work and live contact.
The first offensive line group remains the same. Both Josh Jackson and AJ Bush were getting work with the top group.
The pass blocking drill made a return to the snap chat. The first rep was Kyle Chung (playing left guard) against Jarrod Hewitt. Hewitt got underneath Chung's pads with his first step and got extension. But he was slow to transition to a rip move across Chung's body. The effect would have been a quarterback pressure because he had Chung on roller skates. But, a quicker transition would have produced a much quicker pressure.
The second round was Thomas Hopple (playing right tackle) against new defensive end Xavier Burke. There was no finesse here. Burke had a terrific first step, placed his helmet under Hopple's chin. He then crossed through Hopple's inside shoulder for a clean win. This was a dominating repetition for Burke.
The third round went to the offensive line, as Silas Dznasi stymied new defensive end Emmanuel Belmar. Belmar tried a speed swim outside. Silas did a terrific job of attacking Belmar. He delivered his hands under Belmar's pads and brought his feet to gather back underneath his reach. Silas then turned Belmar up the field. At that point, he went for an aggressive second punch to Belmar. Belmar gave ground and let Dznasi get overextended, then he spun inside and wiped away Silas hands to get back to the quarterback. Silas needs to keep his technique and not get over aggressive. Belmar got back into the play and you have to appreciate the high effort despite getting stoned early in the rep. Big Silas still gets the win.
The fourth rep featured established left tackle starter Yosh Nijman versus former star recruit/current walk on Ray Minor. Nijman was very passive in his approach and gave Minor time and space to attempt multiple leverage moves. Minor looked quick and explosive. Nijman kept himself between Minor and the quarterback, but he gave so much ground that it would likely force a hurried pass. This is a draw.
The final rep featured Tim Settle versus first team right guard Braxton Pfaff. Settle got a strong first step and got Pfaff to turn his pads a little more perpendicular to the line of scrimmage than I'd prefer from a guard. Settle then transitioned to power through Pfaff's inside shoulder. Pfaff did an excellent job of gathering his feet and settling back under Big Tim's pad level. This allowed him to neutralize Settle's reach advantage and force a draw. That is a solid rep from Pfaff, and you'd like to see a more dynamic transition through the inside shoulder from Tim there. He got halfway through the move in great shape and couldn't finish it off.
On the first clip showing team work, we had Josh Jackson quarterbacking and Steven Peoples at tailback with the first offensive line group against the top defensive front (I can't see the defensive backs, but Edmunds, Motuapuaka, and Settle are out there. The offense fakes an inside zone and runs a quick slant off play action. The slot receiver (I can't see the number) beats the man coverage cleanly for a touchdown.
The second and third reps feature AJ Bush. It wasn't his best moment. On the first throw he appears to underthrow a deep ball with the corner turning and running on the fade route. The receiver slows down and doesn't seem to be able to make a play on the ball. On the next snap, Ricky Walker splits Wyatt Teller and Eric Gallo with a nasty swim move (it looks like Teller got beat on the slide protection unless Gallo messed up the protection call.) Walker is in Bush's face before he can even set.
The fourth repetition featured Josh Jackson in a drop back passing situation. Jackson got great protection. He scans the right side, comes back to his secondary read on the left side, and then escapes for a scramble up the middle. After watched Jerod Evans look at the rush when he had time in the pocket, it is encouraging to see Jackson making it to his secondary reads. Jackson's escape didn't quite remind of of Evan's strength- his ability to gain good yardage once he has broken past the initial rush. It is worth noting that the defense brought a backer blitz off of the right side. Tyrell Smith does a terrific job of handing the defensive end off off Pfaff and then squaring up to Edmunds blitzing on the edge.
The fifth repetition features Hendon Hooker working with D'Andre Plantin at right tackle, Austin Cannon at right guard and Zachariah Hoyt at center. They do a solid job. Some pressure comes off the left side and Hooker throws an awkward low throw on a crossing route that looks like it didn't quite make it to the receiver.
As I note every year, it is impossible to read too much into these clips. But, for the purpose of discussion, here are some possible insights. First, it appears that Jackson and Bush are ahead of Hooker at this point. Last year, we saw Fuente work the guys who were in serious competition for the one spot with the ones. I have not seen Hooker get a repetition with the one's yet.
Second, it appears that the first offensive line group is pretty settled. I have not seen any reason to think that, barring a player making some serious noise beneath them (or any injuries) that the top OL group for the spring game won't be Nijman-Teller-Gallo-Pfaff-Smith. Osterloh will work to challenge at right guard or right tackle if he can get healthy. Right now, Austin Cannon getting a look at right guard ahead of more experienced players is interesting. I'd love to hear what the #2 offensive line group is. Depth at left guard and left tackle are concerns until I see some action featuring Jackson and/or Moore playing well.
This footage has given very little indication of how the young defensive backs and/or wide receivers are doing. I'd like to know who was the match up on the touchdown throw.
The football snapchat will probably be up until the morning. Check it out and share your thoughts! HokiesFB on Snapchat.
Comments
Awesome French! Yoda man!
I believe it said Denmark was the wr on the slant that went for a touchdown
Text on that clip on my feed indicated JJ -> Denmark as well.
Was also impressed by the one clip we saw from Minor. Showed a lot of that "twitch" that we know the coaches love at the DE spot. Seems I'd always heard the knock on him was physicality so hopefully that is a thing of the past and he's able to contribute. He was a pretty well thought of recruit coming out of HS.
I liked the twitch and speed. At some point, he needed to commit to bending and getting by. It looked like he had an angle a couple of times and didn't finish the move. Given that it has been some time since he played with his hand on the ground, there is certainly opportunity to make some noise if he can be gap sound. Given how he played linebacker, being gap sound is my huge worry around his game. As a linebacker and special teams player, he appeared to be allergic to contact as a young player.
in one of the first clips, Big Tim fields what I figure was a punt, so it's nice to see him still taking those kind of reps... makes me think it's only a matter of time till it happens in a live game
We've all seen Big Tim as an up-man on the return team, so it's easy to see how, after Farley/Pimp house a couple kickoffs this year, someone's gonna try to pooch kick to avoid them, only to discover they've kicked it right to Settle and they have no way of tackling him.
They'll discover, like that Notre Dame player, that if you try to tackle Tim Settle, you're gonna have a bad time.
I have had HokiesFB on my Snap for over a year now and have never seen anything they have posted... Anyone have thoughts on what I may be doing wrong?
When you open Snapchat, click on the three dots at the bottom right of the screen to see your friends' stories. Whenever they upload something, you should see 'HokiesFB' listed there under 'Recent Updates.' They don't ever send a direct snap to my knowledge, it's always uploaded to their story.
Yeah, for some reason I never get their story post when I go to the Stories page. I see everyone else's just not theirs. Thanks for responding.
You probably are following the old, dormant account.
Go back in SnapChat and search for HokiesFB again, you'll see 2 results
HokiesFB (hokiesfb) = current account, posting clips daily
and
HokiesFB (vtfootball) = old account, dormant
you can follow both, but only HokiesFB (hokiesfb) posts anything
Awesome! That was it! Thank you!
Preesh. I was having the same problem, and at this point I was too afraid to ask
Quite impressed with Burke's initial speed along with his strength on contact. If he picks up the schemes, techniques, and the control of DE quickly. Combined with the other guys, he could be a very dangerous change of pace rusher off the edge. Definitely a good start!
I have no idea how the OL will perform this upcoming season, but I am encouraged.
Over the past decade?? the OL has reminded me of the depth on the Bball team (literally none) which has created huge issues when someone gets banged up. Regardless of weather or not we have an All-ACC unit, it is encouraging to actually have a 2-deep up front on offense.
I think that even a "serviceable" OL is something we haven't seen in Blacksburg in quite some time.
yep. I feel like we've been training at altitude (low oxygen <=> crappy O-Line). It sucks, but you adjust to a baseline that's well below normal for, seemingly, everyone else. Then when conditions improve you perform much better because you had to struggle with so much less for so long.
As we get closer to summer and my bandwidth starts to open up, I will share some evaluation on the VT running game from last season. I will say, center and right guard were huge problems, either being blown up at the point of attack or not being athletic enough when they needed to chip through to the second level. I appreciate Augie Conte's work ethic, but he was not good when compared to the top 10 guards in the ACC. Gallo regressed badly. Teams that could put an athletic gap sound nose on him really disrupted the offense. I think those two spots will be better, with Gallo hopefully stepping up with another year of experience, and Pfaff or Osterloh (who if healthy I would have liked to have seen get time last year in Conte's stead when he struggled) getting the right guard spot.
The skill position blocking was also an impact. Cunningham scored a touchdown against the Hogs, but there was a HUGE drop off in blocking with Cunningham from where the offense was run blocking with Colt Pettit. The drop off was more substantial when you compare bowl game Cunningham from mid-season Cunningham, where he was adequate if not great.
And folks don't want to hear it, but Sam Rogers (for all the terrific things he did) was incredibly inconsistent as a blocker. Bad isn't the right work, because in some situations he delivered terrific blocks in key situations. I think the amount of things he was asked to do really negatively impacted his consistency as a blocker. Way too many times he would run past unblocked defenders. He'd look like a rampaging bull, but wouldn't get locked up. Or, he would be asked to block a much bigger player in a mismatch situation and lose the match up. The HBacks this year will continue to be asked to block the C gap (defensive ends), including in pass protection. With Pettit and Keene available, that blocking should be better- BUT they can't sacrifice the threat of those guys in the passing game... ie the defense keying pass when Cunningham is in and keying run when Pettit and Keene are in. To their credit, Fuente and Cornelson did a great job of incorporating play action even with Pettit in the game last year- see the late first half touchdown to Cam Phillips versus UVA when Pettit was out on a pass route.
first, how dare you
second thing, I agree
Sam, unfortunately, didn't have 4 years in Fuente's system. It was like he was trying to be part Henderson and part Cross. It had to be a little hard when you're trying to remember your assignment and if you were RB or HB on a play.
Here's to hoping the HBs step up (and the RBs too).
Sam's weakness was lack of patience IMO. He would get too aggressive in blocking and miss. He would get handoffs and be balls to the wall forward and miss the hole. He made some great plays for us and knew his assignments but his execution suffered from his aggressiveness.
I could be off but that is just what I noticed through the season.
I'd have to agree spot on.
I think Hooker is going to get some reps with the 1s over summer. The fact that he is Grey shirting is great. He'll have some time to digest the playbook, and come August, if he has done the work, you could see him getting reps with the 1s. You have to think that Jackson is the front-runner, as he has been in the system for a year already AND he ran a similar system in high school.
Hooker isn't greyshirting. He's an early enrollee. Grey shirts are usually used to massage the scholly numbers and put a less "needed" recruit in next year's class, that would otherwise put the class over the limit.
Early Enrollee = enter school a semester early (spring)
Standard = enter school the fall semester, after graduating high school.
Greyshirt = enter school a semester late (spring)
yep, the term Grayshirt refers to the fall season that a player spends at prep school (or just working out at home) instead of joining the team , not the spring/offseason.
Grayshirt = sit out a season before you're enrolled
Redshirt = sit out a season after you're enrolled
We do need to be a football term that means Early Enrollee... we can't go around having technical discussions about college football using plain language, so I nominate Reverse Grayshirt
Hey French! I have a question!
In the latest VT Athletics YouTube Spring Football Recap Jarrod Hewitt gets some screen time. Where do you see him playing next year? Does he get extended playing time (sort of like Settle was last year, getting in the rotation regularly) or will he play a Sobscak role behind Settle, WIlliams, Fullwood, etc, seldom getting on the field?
Not French but pt is there for DT and on surface it looks like Hewitt would be next in line behind 1 Walker 2 Settle 3 Hewitt 4 fullwood.
However if guys don't show they are ready to be trusted then I see possible Mihota getting reps there and again that's dependent on DE development depth. Dline really fluid behind the projected starters
Is the Kansas QB transfer coming in August?
No, he is there. #5 I believe. Will have to redshirt.
Correct. He is in spring camp I believe.