Tonight's practice had limited footage but had some interesting tidbits.
Adonis Alexander went on on one against Cam Phillips in a drill. Phillips ran a deep dig route. Alexander was right in his hip on the initial break. Phillips worked his way back to the QB and finally got enough space to make the catch. In a game situation, a quarterback would have likely been sacked or chased out of the pocket by the time Phillips broke open. Alexander is still very aggressive before bailing on his cushion. This makes him outstanding against curls, outs, and comeback routes, and makes him susceptible to deep balls. His transitions out of breaks are outstanding- if he can show the straight-line speed to turn and run on vertical routes, he will be a high demand NFL prospect.
We saw some team on team work. On the first repetition Gallo caves in the right defensive tackle. Smith at right tackle blocks down and leads up on an unseen linebacker. Teller, who has been excellent all camp, comes around but doesn't find a body to clean up on. He should work up to the first linebacker that shows here instead of curling back to help Gallo.
On the second repetition, Jarrod Hewitt, Dee Fullwood, and Tremaine Edmunds jammed up the inside gap fits. The back was forced to bound and got spilled right into rover Khalil Ladler (#9). That is well executed run-scheme. This was not a tackle drill. We know Ladler can be in the right spot. Can he put a runner like Peoples on the ground?
The second team offensive line opens up a big hole for Peoples as Hooker fakes a quick screen after the handoff. Kyle Chung appears to be the right guard with the 2 group and drives a defender way to the inside. Austin Cannon (LG) and Zach Hoyt (C) also get good movement.
The next rep is the one group with Pfaff at right guard. Bush pulls the ball down on a quarterback draw and doesn't find room off the left side. He wiggles and slips through a seam between Pffaf and Gallo to break a run. This is a beautiful escape by Bush through a very narrow seam.
It appears Ryan Willis is working with the 2's at QB along with Hooker. Willis, who is walking on after getting some starts at Kansas, is not eligible this year/taking a redshirt. Peoples breaks a nice run off tackle behind the pulling Dalton Keene. It appears that the groups are pretty settled like this:
1's H-Cunningham, LT-Nijman, LG-Teller, C-Gallo, RT-Smith (Pffaf and Chung is the battle at RG.)
2's H-Keene (he will play), LT-Jackson, LG-Cannon, C-Hoyt, RT-Plantin
If Parker Osterloh can get healthy, I'd prefer to see him get work at that right guard competition.
In pass blocking, Xavier Burke does a great cross step to beat Tyrell Smith to the inside. Smith does a wonderful job of keeping his balance to recover and drive Burke across the pocket. Burke has an excellent first step, but (as you can expect) he is robotic when transitioning to leverage and turning the corner. He has an angle but can't bend to exploit it. He is raw, but has some potential.
On the second rep, Dee Fullwood beats Gallo to the punch and gets under his pads (you can see Gallo's hips almost ahead of his shoulders as he bends backwards. Gallo does a good job with his second punch to stop Fullwood's momentum and that gets Gallo's weight back over his toes where he can push back effectively. The initial push would have probably caused most QBs to bail, but Gallo got back into the rep and prevented a sack.
Back to team work, Josh Jackson is in. He gives the ball to a smaller running back in blue. I am guessing that is DeShawn McClease. McClease bounces outside behind a pulling Chris Cunningham, who locks up his defender so well that you can hear Coach James Shibest yell "there you go 85!" in the background.
The next rep has Bush in at QB, and Burke is right in his face as he delivers a screen. Not much to go on there.
One last thought- man based on snapchat it looks like they are working Steven Peoples to death. Also, we are not getting much of a look at the wide receivers or the quarterbacks in much of this film. Fortunately, the recruits from Dudley High School (NC) that were on recruiting visits to Blacksburg filmed their old teammate chucking the ball. This is what kind of talent Hendon Hooker can bring to the table when he is ready.
@HenBoss2 doing what he does best. Making plays He got next!!TD!! pic.twitter.com/qZl4GNTUPY— Dudley Football (@DBoyzFootball) April 14, 2017
Giggity.
Comments
Wonder if the coaches are gonna give those recruits hell for circumventing their control of what video gets out.
Doubt it. It was their HS football team's twitter account, so it could have been a coach who was joining the trip.
I don't think that any teams are going to be surprised at the old go route being in the playbook. :)
Niceeeeeeeeeeeee! I like me some hooker
+1 thanks for the analysis
Great stuff. I'm starting to wonder if Bush will end up having an edge at starting so that next year the competitions between Jackson and hooker will be a little more fair. I'd imagine it will be a lot harder for hooker to win the job if Jackson's a sitting starting qb
Doubt that's a factor. Team isn't talented enough to not have the best option this year out there.
Bush may win the job but unless there is a disciplinary action involved, Fu will play the guy who gives us the best chance to win...always.
No more tee-ball.
hmmm... i don't disagree but I would add caveat that Fuente plays the long game of winning. He played Lynch early over more seasoned veteran players in order to mold him to the success they would ultimately have 2 and 3 years later.
So yes agree, but that ultimate success may translate in coming years.
I've seen people make this statement before, and I don't doubt there's some element there for Fuente, but I think the situations at Memphis and Virginia Tech are apples and oranges.
At Memphis, the expectations were low so he could afford to take that kind of chance on a young guy over a veteran to get reps early who will help you win later. At Virginia Tech, the stakes and expectations are much higher.
I think we have to take Fuente at his word when he says the guy that will get the job is the one who minimizes risks. Whether that ends up being a guy who has a few years in college like Bush, or a true freshman like Hooker, I think whoever's starting in the fall will be the guy who has shown Fuente he can make "the right play" more often than the others.
I don't get the sense that Fuente is playing the long game here, since the talent level that was already here has a much higher ceiling than what he had at his disposal when he arrived at Memphis.
I still believe that in the case where a less experienced player is equal to or close to a more experienced player in making the right play, the younger player will start. Fuente will not show preference due to seniority.
No school is apples to apples, so if looking for an exact same situation you won't find it anywhere.
You say, he has nothing to lose because it was only Memphis. Or, you could say, it was his first job as a head coach with a career on the line. Perspectives of the very decision can be wildly different. Yet, that doesn't diminish the fact that Fuente will take calculated risks for larger rewards, hence the long game.
The non-apples difference at Tech isn't whether he will play a younger guy over an older guy for development, IMO. Rather that VT has the ability to afford him more options to bet on IF/WHEN he does choose the younger guy.
At Memphis he had a choice between an unknown Lynch and a known, and well liked, senior Karam. He choose the one with less experience and stuck with him through the losses.
We at VT, may not be patient enough to suffer those same losses, but we at VT also have better options and overall team for Fuente to fall back on. (Plus Bud)
Please see articles I listed below. He will line up the chess pieces 20 moves deep. apples or no apples
What Fu did at Memphis is no different than what Beamer did at VT in the early years and what Cutcliffe and Clawson have done more recently at Duke and Wake respectively, i.e., go ahead and have a throwaway year and play the long game.
VT no longer has throwaway years.
you both are assuming that I meant by picking the younger QB it will mean a losing season as what happened at Memphis. I never said that. What I said is I can see him picking a younger QB for greater rewards in the long game, but I still expect the wins. And that VT affords him more opportunity to play the long game because of the superior (compared to Memphis) team around whichever QB he picks.
But why cant fruit be compared?!
- Lil' Dicky
I have never heard anyone say Lynch gave the team less of a chance to win, just that Fuente started him over a more experienced QB. I suspect Lynch did a better job of getting predictable results, so won the job. Period. Have you read something I have not that would indicate he started Lynch based on the future over someone he thought was better in camp?
long game
http://thesportsdaily.com/optimum-scouting/paxton-lynch-justin-fuente-an...
http://www.dailyhelmsman.com/archives/paxton-lynch-from-unknown-to-face-...
https://whitestationscroll.net/2103/sports/paxton-lynch-zero-to-hero/
Wow. Thanks for putting that together. Does change my interpretation of Fuente Speak a little. Can't wait to see how each plays in the Spring Game this year and compare it to who starts.
Hell of a ball there by Hooker!
When Ladler met Peoples in the hole on that one rep, he looked extremely uncomfortable with that knee. He is probably wearing a bulky brace which makes it less natural, but he did not look natural at all after initial contact.
It seems like JJ and Bush are really battling it out for reps with the 1s right now. I know myself and most of us have thought it's likely Jackson's job, but I'm really starting to reconsider that. If Bush is repping so heavily with the 1s, and he can demonstrate improved accuracy, he's making a pretty strong case to start for us this year. He's bigger and has better running ability and arm strength than Jackson, is older and has spent a few years at a big time program before, and is more physically ready to play from a strength and conditioning standpoint than Hooker coming right out of high school. We need an accurate thrower and good decision maker, but we're absolutely going to need a strong running threat at QB in order to have an effective ground game this year. I'm leaning more towards Bush over JJ if he continues to rep heavily with the 1s throughout practices.
I also think that if either JJ or Bush start this year, there is also a strong possibility they may not be the starter in 2018. Hooker is extremely good, and if he's not completely ready this year, I think he will be by the next.
I just think this part is interesting cuz I got the feeling this is what we were saying about Jackson last year. Especially after learning that he was really pushing Evans and Motley in camp.
I think a lot of that was before Evans was a known quantity. Had Evans returned this year, he would be the unquestioned starter. Who knows, maybe Jackson or Bush turn out to be really good this year and lock up the starting job for the near future. I think Hooker just has more physical tools overall than Jackson, and once his mastery of the system is up to speed, I think it would be hard for Jackson to beat him out down the road.
Agree on your last part. Hooker not winning the job this year does not mean the kid can't start in 2018 or 2019. He needs some time to develop and him not winning the job this summer would not be indicative of his career at VT.
What would be interesting is if Hooker wins the job for the 2018 season. It would be another year with a new starting QB with a lot of questions.
I think the best situation could be Jackson winning this year with Bush backing up and Hooker redshirting. Jackson starts next year with redshirt freshman Hooker backing up, and then maybe Hooker wins the job in the 2019.
In unrelated news, according to the Va Tech Football Snapchat, are we going to be surprised when Tim Settle actually fields a punt against West Virginia?
Call it Elephant on a treadmill?
Could we put him in on offense for goal line situations?
Some Terrence Cody action
I'm starting a rumor he has been seen taking goal line snaps at QB.
All the guys on the kickoff return team field kicks during warm ups. It helps them get ready for pooch kicks (Settle actually had a KO return last year, vs Notre Dame if I remember correctly.
Uploaded the Snapchat videos from days 10 and 11.
Don't know about you guys, but I could totally get behind that Maroon helmet/Hokie stone jersey/white pants/white or black socks uniform the seniors are wearing as an alternate. Looks pretty cool and incorporates our current and original school colors.
Give me black or maroon pants, and I am all in!
Nope. All black and grey.