There was a clip on the instagram last feed of Motu going 1-on-1 with McMillian in what looked like a pass rush drill.
In summary, Motu gets stood up by McMillian. Motu had what looked like a 7 yard head start and got driven backwards. It was not a very inspiring effort from our MLB.
Did anyone else see this?
I guess the silverlining is that maybe McMillian stepped up his pass pro game. But damn, I would love to see Motu learn how to play more physical and aggressive and at least be able to dent the pocket in this situation as opposed to getting pushed backwards.
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I wouldn't read too much into the clip, but I agree I cringed a bit at the rep. Just chalk it up to Motu being worn out and McMillian having a good go that time. It's fun to read into these tiny tidbits because it's all we get to see, but I think they need to be taken less seriously.
Motu does not shed blocks well, it has always been his weak spot. His strength, and likely why Bud has had him starting for 3 years, is that he is a ball seeking missile. I like that McMillian seems to have improved his pass blocking, but I am not going to be too concerned with Motu as long as he can still make the open field tackles.
100% agree.. when Motu is on his game, he is anticipating the flow of the play and avoiding blockers by beating them to the spot.
Here's a gif summing up that 1vs1 drill
Why is there a UVa drill video posted here?
So confused by this. He's great at finding the ball when it's in the air or on the ground. But he is probably our worst open field tacker.
Motu had 52 solo tackles and 5.5 TFL in 2016.
Jack Tyler had 55 solo tackles and and 13 TFL in 2012.
Jack Tyler was also a walk on
I mean Motu wasn't exactly the heir apparent when he was recruited
So was Sam Rogers...what's your point?
That its incredible that some of the kids who never should have even had a chance have been some our best players and outworked recruited players
I always thought he was a good reliable tackler even in the open field. His problem is he usually gives ground and falls backwards in those collisions in the hole or shedding blockers.
So perhaps a year of Hilgartization remedies this.
I'm more impressed by McMillian than disappointed in Motu. Travon needs something to get going for him
They do 1 on 1's every Tuesday. There are multiple reps, and just like in life, sometimes you lose. If you watch enough of them, you can tell who is a great blocking RB, and who is a better blitzer.
I will also add, that since Motu is the MIKE he doesn't have to be the best blitzer. That honor would go to the Striker.
I was thinking this very thing when reading the first posst...most of our pressure comes from the outside. The mike isn't typically your most athletic player on the field; he's a good, solid tackler that can set the defense.
Everyone may have forgot what Vince Hall, Jack Tyler, Chase Williams, Brett Warren, and Bruce Taylor looked like playing the position. They stand in stark contrast to Motu.
They constantly made plays in the A-Gaps. They would get through all the noise and find themselves at the line of scrimmage or in the offensive backfield meeting the ball carrier.
Motu doesn't seem to like this part of the field, and either makes the wrong read, or can't get off blocks.
Motu seems to live 5-7 yards behind the LOS...which is so frustrating after enjoying a decade of attacking Mikes.
Yeah Motu definitely has a different skill set that the previous attacking Mikes. It looks like Tavante Beckett has that attacking quality and hopefully it will be a good battle for starting Mike between him, Rashard Ashby, and hopefully Dax and Artis
Motu is one of the smarter Mikes we've had. He's just not as physically capable as most of the ones you just named were. Even if the Mike fills the correct gap, there's no guarantee the ball is going there. Motu doesn't quite have the athletic ability that a lot of those guys had to get to where the ball was in time.
When he brings the mike, the goal is usually to draw a blocker, hurry the throw, or disrupt the throwing lane. Bruce Taylor was great at it. Tyler and Motu's lack of length has limited their disruptiveness a bit, but both have done well in that scheme. Teams figured it out and started letting the mike come free a bit more often. Or, they line up trips to the field, which either exposes cover 0 (FS has to line up and press) or the mike comes out to play leverage on the inside guy. Syracuse ran that over and over again... inside slot worked off the mike's leverage over, and over. If QB didn't have the throw, he ran. It was like that annoying friend in Madden 97 who just ran the same damn play over and over again.
So you're telling me they can stop it now though, right? :)
Please tell me we're going to beat Syracuse this year.
Edit: lol, as some have pointed out, we won't be playing them again for a while... I guess we'll have to settle for beating Pitt.
It wouldn't upset me one bit to see Syracuse win the Atlantic and then for VT to win Coastal and route cuse in the CG
Nicely played.
I can tell you that we won't lose to them this year.
I'm not as pessimistic about this rep as the OP... Motu does get stood up a bit but the entire time he is pushing McMillian back, and fighting to get around him, causing the "QB" to move in the pocket.
McMillian does a good job keeping his feet moving and does a good job staying between Motu at the pocket, but hardly stonewalls him. Even the moment when it could look like Motu is being pushed backwards, he is actually changing his pass rush direction to chase the coach playing "QB" (watch the right edge of the screen and you can see the "QB" moving in the pocket) and is pushed laterally a little bit.
I kept this to myself mostly because I think its just not news and camp at times can get testy ask the chargers and rams, pats and well pats, and probably a lot more that doesn't make the news, we all remember kyle fullers first camp and marcelles bennet getting into a scuffle... but I saw a snapchat of one of our players earlier in camp of 2 separate occasions where motu and tmac got in heated exchanges during practice. one was a McMillian run where he was clearly out of bounds and motu laid him down a small scuffle broke out but mook broke it up and put Tmac in check. (during the same practice idk how many plays later) on a blitz pick up tmac gave motu a pretty good lick and then a blow for blow fist fight broke out. these 2 guys have been battling all camp and getting under each other skin! im sure both have won reps and im sure there is extra motivation to beat each other during practice. take the scuffles with a grain of salt ive seen the guys hang out together numerous times outside of football. camps stressful, hard work and going against the same guys over and over can do that, and I dont draw any conclusions from a 7 second video (unless its on the starting QB of course) so whatever you saw on IG is just a battle. doesn't mean Motu is weak or tmac is the worlds greatest pass pro back.
I also saw tim settle on his own snapchat showing a film session where he was clowning himself for a horrible rep he had where he hit a spin move and took a knee before righting himself and trying to get it back rolling in the right direction. with the little itty bitty tiny bit of film we get to see I know everything we do get to see were all ohhh and ahhhhh but we wont know how much we progressed or didn't until we hit the field on sept 3rd.
I feel like the coach's biggest problem with Travon is his practice intensity and his pass blocking skills. I also noticed yesterday that he stood up Motu in that drill, and I was very satisfied because he is definitely our most talented and experienced running back right now.
In regards to his practice intensity, I wouldn't look too much into the scuffles. Keep in mind, Travon and Motu have been with each other for four years now. If there was actual bad blood there, we'd know it by now. I got into it with my own teammates in the heat of competition during practice more than once, and we were fine outside the lines. From what I've seen on Instagram and Snapchat, the defense loves to talk trash, and Motu is a leader. Knowing that Travon is our best tailback, maybe he is trying to stir him up to raise his practice intensity. I remember in the 2003 Miami game right after DeAngelo Hall got ejected for fighting, he and Keith Willis nearly fought on the sidelines despite us being up 31-7 in the 4th quarter. Apparently that 2003 team absolutely hated each other, and it showed on the field. This team doesn't have any players like what we had on the 2003 team.
Practice scuffles happen on every team, except bad ones with good chemistry.
#HardThingsTogether ?
Until just after kickoff week 1. Then it's
Scuffles in practice then defend thy brothers on the field. Winning combination. Almost like ...Dork Magic
Hey there. Just curious - what does HokieAGR stand for? The AGR part specifically?
Just a guess, but Alpha Gamma Rho is an agricultural fraternity, and they have an active chapter at Tech.
I always read it as "agriculture" as in The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Years ago Mean Joe Greene and Jack Lambert got in a locker room fight. Rumor had it that Lambert won. Anyway, the press was all buzzing and asking Chuck Noll about it. Noll was like....who cares. There're two football that got in a fight.
I agree with the above comments. if what I wrote came across as anything other than that it was not meant to. I was simply saying in relation to the original post on the thread that these 2 guys have been battling all camp long, 3 years long, 1s vs 1s and battling hard one win on a rep on IG or snap doesn't constitute Motu being ray lewis or travon being Walter Payton you win some and lose some in practice. if one person was winning all the time then said other person wouldn't be out there to often. so its good to see both of them winning reps.
I am so sick of the general conception in our country that two people arguing or getting after it in any other way for that manner immediately have to be separated and then told to apologize and repent for their actions. In this case specifically, I like two of our experienced and talented players playing aggressively and pushing each other to be the best.
Motu's best season as a Hokie was last year and he wasn't exactly used this way. A drill is drill and hopefully he improves in the rushing department. He's most effective playing assignment football, Covering/closing gaps and had a pretty tackle rate last year along with Tremaine. Even in the drill, he's not giving up, he keeps going so that's a good sign.
As for Travon, I really like what I saw and I think Fuente will still rely on him a lot. He may not have gotten a thousand yards but he caught a bunch of passes and scored receiving touchdowns. Thats the kind of stuff NFL teams are looking for in a running back. Don't count Travon out of the RB rotation.
Travon wasn't as productive last year, but he definitely showed at times what he has in the tank - and it is impressive. I hope he gets a good number of carries this year.