I picked a great year to watch each game twice. This is a really fun team, on both sides of the ball.
I saw a Darryl Slater tweet about this being the only season under Frank in which a QB has completed at least 22 passes in three games. Is that true?
Sadly, it's going to be tough down the stretch. Guys are dropping like drunk sorority girls trying to navigate the TOTS stairs at last call.
But this is a solid group of football players, and I'm excited about the fourth quarter of the season. Let's take a look at how they did on Saturday:
1. Antone Exum - He got lucky on the first play of the second quarter, but otherwise I thought he had another nice day. He made a beautiful play on that near-INT and tattooed some BC scrub. Nice work.
2. Josh Oglesby - Go back and watch the last drive of the first half. Josh had a really tough catch, but more importantly, killed it in the pass protection department. Job well done.
3. Logan Thomas - What do you do if you're supposed to tackle him? Not only does he blast fools, he lets them know exactly what happened. I'd like to see him take it up the middle of the field more when he pulls it down, otherwise, I really have no criticism. Just a beast.
4. David Wilson - Here's how I imagine half time: He just walked in the locker room and yelled "GIVE ME THE EFFIN ROCK, COACH." You'd know he'd say effen, because he's classy, and you know the staff was like "You're right. Coming right up." So, let's keep that in mind down the stretch, please.
7. Marcus Davis - What a great afternoon. I enjoyed seeing him play with some fire. He had a great day in the passing game, but also threw an outstanding block on Wilson's TD. These are the kind of games I know he's capable of every weekend.
8. Dietrick Bonner - He played well enough to be called by his proper first name, not "Derek." I did think the tight end on the second half touchdown pushed off a tad, but whatever. Dietrick has done a fine job spelling the All-American.
9. Cris Hill - Another solid day from the senior.
15. Eddie Whitley - It seemed like Eddie played a solid game, with some sure tackling.
17. Kyle Fuller - Opened the game with a tackle for loss. But I'm pretty sure that kind of aggressiveness led to that BC 35-yard completion on the next play. I thought he was just OK on Saturday, but not bad, and he's been great all season. He's a big reason the defense has been so good this year.
18. D.J. Coles - He had a nice catch in the first half and a beautiful block on a Coale screen in the second half. This dude is legit.
19. Danny Coale - I really don't care who won Homecoming King on Saturday, unless it was somehow Danny Coale. Honestly, if it wasn't, the student body should be ashamed of itself.
22. Tony Gregory - Was hoping he'd get in the end zone so we'd cover, but Frank don't play like dat. Kid's got some wiggle, though.
24. Tariq Edwards - His first half was meh. I thought he was reacting to plays a tad later than weeks past. But that INT was beautiful, absolutely beautiful. We're gonna need him to step it up even more with Bruce out, but I trust Tariq will get it done. He's been such an asset this year.
27. Nick Dew - I noticed Nick in before Tweedy got hurt, and he looked tentative. In the fourth quarter, he seemed to be flying around a bit more. Duke is an extremely important game for him. And we really need him to stay healthy.
28. Alonzo Tweedy - Please get healthy.
33. Chris Drager - Quiet day. I want to see him heavy in the offense down the stretch. Sleeper cell status.
38. Michael Branthover - His first punt was the worst of the season, right? It's too hard to tell at this point...just punt the ball, kid. And punt it more than 40 yards, please.
42. J.R. Collins - He received a lot of attention from BC linemen, and it's well deserved. He's really good.
45. Joey Phillips - I figured out how he gets strong. When we run in the I, watch Joey after the whistle. He's first on the scene to lift a teammate off the ground. If I did that, I wouldn't be able to lift a glass of water to my mouth for at least a month.
48. Justin Myer - Nice job, home boy.
51. Bruce Taylor - Man, I'm really, really bummed about this. I'm letting him pilot the sack drone this week because he deserves it.
52. Barquell Rivers - It's been a while since he's done it, but the key is that he's done it, and done it well. I will be watching him closely against Duke, because I feel like this could be shaping up to be a quite a story down the stretch. Pulling for him, big time.
54. Nick Becton - Again, I thought he was a little streaky. I'll continue to say I need his energy level up while he's out there. I want defensive ends to HATE playing him. He needs to watch how 62 on Boston College played. That guy looks like a huge asshole. Look, Nick is probably the guy I've been most critical of to this point, but it's because I think he has it in him to be really good.
62. Blake DeChristopher - Go back to that to that third down in their first trip to the red zone. He looked like a guy at Sharkey's waiting for a drink, and just as the bartender starts to head his way, a girl he likes smiles at him. Catch 22. You might have to wait another 5 minutes before the bartender comes back over, but the girl actually acknowledged you. End result: He ignored the blizting linebacker and Logan had to throw it away. I'm sure the linebacker has nice legs. ...anyway, he otherwise had a nice afternoon.
66. Tyrel Wilson - I read somewhere yesterday that he played hurt, but his injury clearly wasn't to his motor. He was chasing Rettig all day.
67. Michael Via - I've gotta say, I thought he looked pretty damn good out there. He looks calm and skilled in pass protection.
68. Jaymes Brooks - I mentioned in this space a few weeks ago that I think he's slow at the snap, and I noticed it again on Saturday. He's losing a valuable fraction of a second. This seems like something that could be remedied, no? I tried to capture this below, but trying to isolate frames on ESPN3 is near impossible.
72. Andrew Lanier - I was impressed with his outing on Saturday. With about 2:40 left in the game, he absolutely wrekced Keuchley on a Gregory carry. I like that. I think he's gotta be the guy protecting Logan's back in crunch time, right?
74. Andrew Miller - Two nice games in a row. I really like how he's progressing.
75. Greg Nosal - Saw him hanging out on the second level a lot, which is nice. Can't you see "Second Level" being the name of some lame club in Charlottesville?
81. Jarrett Boykin - 999 out of 1000 times JB81 gets his foot down on that nice throw from LT3. And considering he's a senior, I doubt he'll get another 1000 looks at that, so I think he'll nail that the rest of the season.
89. Cody Journell - Perfect day. Keep it up.
92. Luther Maddy - Each outing he looks more and more like a load out there.
95. Zack McCray - It looked like Zack saw his first action at the start of the second quarter. Double teamed on one play, showed some nice burst on another.
96. Corey Marshall - He had a pretty active day. I'm impressed with the young guy.
98. Derrick Hopkins - How intimidating must it be to look up and see some dude in a 4-point stance? It looks intimidating from 550 miles away...
Comments
On Wilson, I don't think he was the one yelling. Based on Beamer's half time interview, it was Beamer yelling at Wilson, saying "GET UP FIELD AND HIT THE HOLE GOING NORTH/SOUTH." Wilson's running style, as well as the style of the Hokie run blocking, completely changed in the second half. Wilson hit holes with explosion, and the Hokie interior linemen were able to get single blocks on the BC DL with uncovered linemen getting to the quick BC backers.
Wilson was also excellent in pass protection along with Oglesby.
Exum and Bonner were outstanding, especially Exum.
As noted in my post, the DT rotation was strange. Maddy played the first two series, and then I don't remember him getting back on the field. Marshall went the rest of the way, besides one series by Hamlette. Wake Forest featured a similar rotation.
Edwards stunk up the joint except for the pick. He is terrific in space, but can not take on blockers (an ongoing theme for Hokie backers without a dominant DL.)
Lainer was pretty shakey in the first half pass blocking. He is very week with his left shoulder, which allows DEs to get the corner on him even though he is in position to block.
I couldn't disagree more on Tyrell Wilson. He got a couple of QB pressures on really long plays (due to good pass coverage), but again, he was BEING PASS BLOCKED BY A TIGHT END. You just can't have your starting DE, especially your pass rush DE, getting blocked by a tight end without help. It allows the OL to double Hopkins and JR Collins, and then POOF, no rush with a four man line.
Wilson - Let me have my dream.
I did notice the same about Maddy. I should have noted it. But I also noticed Maddy being real physical when he was in there. I'm curious as to why he didn't play more. Maybe the ankle was bothering him again? Marshall is giving it his all - gotta give him credit. He was thrown into the fire balls first.
I, too, noticed Edwards being swallowed up on the second level a lot. I feel like he was pretty effective on blitz plays in games earlier this season, maybe we need some more of that?
Nothing caught my eye on Lanier in the first half, probably because I was watching Brooks more. Do you notice the delay at the snap sometimes, as well?
And as for Tyrel Wilson, I try to stay positive because I do not think he's there physically. So we're asking him to do things he may not be able to do, yet. Also, it did sound like he was dinged up. So, all things considered, I'll give him a thumbs up. I want to see more 90 and 95 in there. But 95 hasn't shown me enough yet.
Here's your dream
This is the comment from DMFW after the game (from http://vteffect.tumblr.com/post/11801315355/postgame-notes-and-quotes-fr...):
Wilson carried just six times for 21 yards in the first half. He had 11 for 113 in the second, including six times for 72 yards on the first two drives of the second half, both of which resulted in touchdowns (one being Wilson’s 42-yard run).
Before halftime, Wilson told running backs coach Shane Beamer, “Let’s run the ball more.”
Why did Wilson say that?
“I felt like we were getting away from what we do,” he said. “We came out the second half running the ball more and you could see the passes open up more, and the runs opened up more, and now we’ve got the defense off balance.”
What I heard the coaches told Wilson.
"Pimp-slap defenders in the second half."
Yes
Joe, that just made my day so much better.
Love
David Wilson just slapped that defender into Sunday, then taunted him by eating Chick-fil-A.
And GIFs
David Wilson and His Whip
I see him driving towards campus from Foxridge all the time. But if you ever want to get a close-up of his whip (and maybe even himself), he parks his car on the Northeast side of the stadium during the games, back behind the trees near the apartments over there... My fridn and I flipped when we saw his car...
I never get tired of seeing
LT3 trucking a defender
Idea for a weekly blog post....
06 Hokie and french60wasp should do an analysis blog together.....I enjoy the analysis from both....great job guys!
Where did you watch the game?
I love the column!
Is Branthover the first Hokie to make the Not Top 10?
His 9 yarder made the Not Top 10 for the week.