Mostly individual work on this check in. The biggest eye opener was some middle drill where Rayshard Ashby and Dax Hollifield we're paired at linebacker (with Dax scraping over from the backer spot.) This is the first time I haven't seen Dax working with the third group, although this group wasn't all starters. I could identify House Gaines and Xavier Burke on the left side of the defensive line. Ishmiel Seisay, formerly a walk on wide receiver, was lined up as a corner. When I checked the roster, it showed that he is now listed as a DB. I also noticed that Yosh Nijman really looked quick on his down block and wiped out Burke seemingly with ease. Ashby spilled Caleb Steward and Dax scraped across to clean it up. Khalil Adler was at free safety and came in support.
TJ Jackson wins a pass rush rep against Dee Fullwood.
Sean Savoy crosses up Caleb Farley by getting him to bite outside and then broke the slant inside.
Chamarri Conner and DJ Crossen are shown doing footwork drills.
Josh Jackson is shown throwing a nice ball on an out and slant. Jackson looks like he is driving the ball a bit better. Quincey Patterson put some nice touch on a throw over a coach down the seam to Kaleb Smith. However, he seems to have a bit of a mechanical hitch where his weight is still going back as his arm starts to come forward. I am not sure if he was just doing it to get some loft on the ball, but it looks like it could hitch his throwing motion.
Comments
At this point, it feels like a lot of the mystery has been taken out of camp for the offense, despite the lack of access to practices. Barring injury, the top offensive line group is set, with Darrisaw, Lecitus Smith, Hoyt, and Tyrell Smith as the second group. Austin Cannon may be the next right guard but I think L. Smith would flip if there was an injury. The top 8 wide receivers seem to be pretty set. The challenge will come if Fuente only travels 7. The QB depth chart seems set, and we know the RB group will be rotated (although Cole Beck seems to be getting a lot of camera time.) They can distribute reps for that top two group and start getting everyone ready for the season.
Defensively is where the mystery lies. Linebacker is a mystery. Corner is a mystery. And defensive tackle (Fullwood was paired with Ricky Walker on that pass rush rep) is a head scratcher. At this point, I wouldn't be shocked to see 5 different linebacker combos. We haven't seen anything to get a feel for the corners.
Hopefully more news will come out.
Hazelton, Savoy, Grimsley, Kumah, Carroll, Patterson, Turner and Simmons?
Kumah, Patterson, Grimsley, Savoy, Hazelton, Carroll, Turner, and Smith, with the question being in 7 or 8 travel.
I haven't seen or heard anything about Simmons yet.
Mitchell is a TE/HB or WR?
I have only seen clips of him as an Hback, just like how Keene was used last year.
I've heard that Mitchell is on a somewhat strict diet to keep his weight around 240 lbs. I wasn't sure if they would try to use him more of a Bucky slot or H-back. TE might be crowded right now.
He looks very solid. I expected him to look leaner in the videos.
I had heard he was 230+ post-Christmas, then heard rumors he was 250 lbs, which seemed too far fetched. He had been working hard during the spring so when I spoke with his father last week, I wasn't too surprised at his weight as much as the diet he was put on to keep him in a small range. Hopefully the new redshirt rules will help out Mitchell.
I'm not sure if Mihota has been fully cleared yet so they may be holding him out to bring him along slowly...they need to build Depth so they need to see what Burke and the other D-Tackles have..
Any Terius Wheatley sightings? Seemed to be a guy showing breakaway speed in the spring
Bud will get the best guys on the field so shuffling will be a theme this camp
a lot like last year, not showing too much
I hope Dax eventually sticks at Mike, but I'm all for versatility for our inside linebackers. If Dax can effectively play both roles that's a good thing.
They are such different responsibility sets. There is a big adjustment moving back and forth. The mike almost never has to set the edge. The backer does often.
My reservation is definitely about the jack of all trades, but master of none scenario where moving around hurts the ultimate growth in their best position. My optimism comes that players are individuals and some may handle that better than others, so hopefully someone like Dax in this scenario will be a player that can manage that issue. Ultimately, I hope both he and Rivers reach their prospective potentials as a Mike and Backer respectively as opposed to them competing for one spot. That would just be disappointing based on recruiting excitement.
Griffin can play too. Again, there are so many potential combinations of starters that could come out of this camp. The only thing I have seen consistently is that Ashby is one of the two best linebackers. They don't know who the second best is. Based on Dax getting a look at backer, it sounds like Dax, Rivers, and Griffin all could be that second best guy. It will also be interesting to see if Bud looks at rotating linebackers any this year. To my recollection, that has not happened with his starters since the rotation of Mikel Baquee and Jake Houseright or the rotation of Brandon Manning and James Anderson in the early 2000s. Jake Johnson and Lydell Gibson was a straight switch.
I hear a lot of good things about Kearney as well. However, he really needs to learn how to take on a block based on the spring game. The Hokies collective of HBacks took great joy in beating up on Kearney that day. Kearney could be an asset with his ability to run in space, but he will have to be better than what I saw at he point of attack to get into the conversation. I wonder if he could get a look at the Shegog spot as the fourth linebacker/safety in Bud's dime look.
At 6-0 228 he has a center of gravity advantage against the H-Backs but most of the potential starters outweigh him by almost 20 lbs. With a running start from an H-Back that's a significant momentum disadvantage.
The more we go thru this w Fuente, the more I'm liking the mystery. For sure our opponents are monitoring TKP and other sites to try n figure us out. This is war! No insight shall be shared. I'm good with it.
Every NFL team runs an open training camp. I think the closed practices are silly for camp. There is very little game plan stuff this time of year. Camp is about player evaluation and reinforcing fundamentals, and every team on VT's schedule has two years of film showing what those fundamentals are.
I think practices started to get locked down when Loeffler showed up as O-Coordinator...it hasn't changed since Fuente came on..
Loeffler's last year was the first time that they stopped having open scrimmages in fall camp. The practices being closed to media and the spring game being taken off television started with the current staff.
As a wise man I know once said, ain't no horse never been rode, ain't no cowboy never been throw'd.
I'm guessing it has more to do with limiting distractions. With all of the rotating of players in different positions, it would generate a lot of articles and buzz that Fuente probably wants to keep his players from as much as possible. It would be the easiest explanation.
I think you nailed right there. Like fortnight to a kid, press clippings for these athletes can be extremely distracting and time consuming.
Those damn kids, can't wait till schools go back and all these kids are off the servers.
That looks like firefly from gijoe
my first thought
Fixed it.
I think they are missing a chance to build more fervor in the fanbase. It's poor marketing. Seems like SEC schools are more open and they have demonstrated that more fervor = more giving.
I'm interested in comparisons to how open Clem, UGA, FSU, Bama, UT and UF.
FSU seems to have practice open to all credentialed media.
We're definitely going to deal with some growing pains this year but it's going to be a blast to watch all the new faces. I can't wait to see who the Sean Savoys and the Divine Diablos are this year.
Your thoughts on the lineman's belly flop into the kiddy pool?
Poor form. Knees were bent and arms were out in front, good technique there is arms and legs out wide so the belly hits first.
I get sick and tired of reading these post practice threads. We are talking about 18-20 year old kids. This is not the place to bash them. God forbid they frequent TKP and read this garbage. Don't @ me bro.
/s
Better hope they're not reading the bash fest over at the too-fore-7
That damn site still trashing Motu.
You're out of whack!
Knees out front can also channel water towards your crotch. That can be a real kick in the nuts.
Glad to see this after his route running (among other things) was challenged by Wiggins the other day.
Pumped to see the offense this year. They are supposedly well ahead of the defense right now.
Good to hear that the offense has been impressing. I think we all knew we were going to need the offense to carry the torch while the defense settles in. I fully expect Foster to turn this into a solid group throughout the season, but the offense can make that process a lot easier by carrying the load and taking some pressure off.
Bud Foster has had more daunting defensive re-toolings like 2008 and 2000, and changing of era type situations like 2012 (lots of starters back but it felt decidedly different from 2011) all of which he turned into solid defenses. The 2012 team took until the last 6 games to really gel, but they rode a statistically amazing last 6 games of 2012 defensively into a great 2013 defense.
Agreed, this is very encouraging news about the offense. I have no doubt Bud will turn this defense into a solid unit as the season progresses, but my biggest fear was whether the offense would be able to compensate early on. I'm trying to pump the brakes on the hype train, but if the offense can start out hot and give the defense time to come together, we may have a very sneaky good year. Just the sheer amount of talented newcomers on both sides of the ball is very exciting and something we haven't had for a while.
This thing has breaks?
I would believe that. The offense has some game inexperience, but every player expected to contribute besides Smith, Turner, and Mitchell, has had at least a full year practicing in the system. Bud is relying on a whole bunch of players who have only one year in the system and several critical ones who have had just spring practices (Farley, Waller, Griffin, Debose, Garbutt, Proctor (scout teamers last year.)
That would be a refreshing change for once
Wild prediction- I think Grimsley will lead the team in catches. Maybe not yards, but catches, I think he is the guy that Jackson likes to target.
Was he hurt a lot last year? I know he had a nice, game changing catch against uva and a nice bowl game, but he wasn't getting many reps before that was he?
I remember him getting some run last August, but I was either underwhelmed or he wasn't on the field for mist of last year. Maybe I'm not remembering an injury.
Looking at his stats last year, he had 12 catches....10 of which were in the last two games
I still think it will be hazelton but Grimz would probably be my 2nd choice.
I hope every catch they say his name in WWF announcer voice.
Do we have any players that the crowd can make the "oooooooo" sound for when they make a play?
These are the important questions I come to this site seeking answers for.
Kuuuuuuuuuuuuuumah
I will say, Dax has a very heavy shoulder. There is a distinctive sound when he makes a tackle or takes on a blocker.
With that being said, I'm gonna go ahead and coin the term: "Labornotomy"
Noun; the act in which Dr. Dax decleats a running back.
a torn Laborn?
@coachburdenvt on IG had some clips of RBs blocking on his story. peoples absolutely pancakes dax. yikes.
I choose to take this as Peoples is a beast, not Dax is a bust...
yeah I don't think its any indication dax is a bust. just that maybe we should tame the expectations some so early. dax may need a little more time in the weight room before hes ready to go full on beast mode.
There's probably a little form column A and a little from column B. Peoples has a low center of gravity at 5-9 222. You get him moving and he's like a bowling ball taking out pins in his path. To not get pancaked Dax would have to work on his technique and I'm guessing part of that is not setting like a statue. He probably needs to keep his feet moving after contact. I think Motu had similar problems early on getting trucked by... was it Dukes QB?
Probably neither beast or bust at this point. Theres not a player at any level that hasnt been stoned or pancaked on a block
Sometimes someone gets the better of another player in a drill. Not worth reading too much into it. Peoples is a strong dude. I remember Shane Beamer saying that Peoples has "country strength" or something along those lines.
Dax doesn't look like your typical freshman. The dude is 240-250 lbs.
yeah I agree. peoples is a good blocker and build like a bag of bricks and hes shorter so his low center of gravity is hard to get under. def just a teaching moment for dax. and hopefully we will see more pancakes from peoples in the future because I am going to miss all the wyatt teller gifs. it was a teaching moment for the backs as well. I couldn't tell who the back was that went before peoples I cant see the # (it wasn't peoples or beck or fox) and he was going against #48 (Griffith I believe) on D but the LB got the best of him on that rep.
Cancel the games,
fire the coaches,
tweet stuff at the players
/sssstarttheseason
Ain't no horse never been rode, ain't no cowboy ever been throwed. Even with a heavy shoulder, a senior who is a moose like Peoples will win a bunch of those battles one on one.
Peoples is interesting. I don't see his role as a change up or short yardage back, despite his stature. I wish he would be used more as the exclusive 3rd down back. Why you ask?
1) he is the best pass protector at RB
2) he can be a lead blocker when they leave the HBack out to clear the LB
3) VT rarely throws to the tailback on passing downs