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10 years 5 days
# | ASK FRENCH- What are your Hokie football questions before fall camp kicks off? 
Recent Comments
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10 years 5 days
# | ASK FRENCH- What are your Hokie football questions before fall camp kicks off?
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10 years 5 days
# | ASK FRENCH- What are your Hokie football questions before fall camp kicks off? I think they have tremendous talent, especially defensively. They lost those games (especially Oklahoma and Alabama) more due to the defense wearing out at the end of games because of their depth issues and a very unreliable passing game that couldn't move the sticks on key third downs. Those are their liabilities, and VT can be them (VT was able to beat Ohio State with almost the exact same corps they have now minus Brewer, Malleck, and Kendall Fuller) and that Ohio State team was better than Tennessee. The problem is that we have no idea what we will get from the QB spot, and we don't know that our linebackers, rovers, and safeties can hold up against Jalen Hurd and Alvin Kamara (I think Hurd is better than Zeke Elliott and on par with Elijah Hood.)
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10 years 5 days
# | ASK FRENCH- What are your Hokie football questions before fall camp kicks off? French:
Great stuff as always and I'll echo posts that reading your stuff makes me feel smarter about football.
I have 2 questions:
1) Which group do you see benefitting from going against each other in practice, the O or the D?
2) What tackle do you recommend for speckled trout? I'm headed to NC shore and want to give it a shot.
Thanks!
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10 years 5 days
# | ASK FRENCH- What are your Hokie football questions before fall camp kicks off? How do you honestly feel about Tennessee? I know they have some guys named to watch lists and a qb Josh Dobbs who is supposed to be good but when you look at last year they lost to Alabama, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Florida and only beat Kentucky, South Carolina, Vanderbilt, and Missouri. Their only good win came against Georgia with an injured Nick Chubb, South Carolina had been run into the ground, and Missouri had racial tension at one point with players threatening to boycott games so those 3 SEC schools were not at their best when facing Tennessee. They do have wins against Bowling Green, Western Carolina, North Texas in out of conference games. They beat up Northwestern pretty good in their bowl game but overall their 6 game win streak to end the season doesn't impress me. They had a better record than VT, recruited better than VT, but lost their top match ups on the big stage. I think OSU is superior to them, and them being in the SEC has a lot of their fans thinking that intimidates us and we will be a walk over for them. I think we match up well with Tennessee and they get a run for their money, possibly upset. To add more they have no game film of this team playing for Justin Fuente and if Evans is our qb that is another unknown for them. Do they have the talent? Yes. Will they beat us? I say we have a good chance to beat them! I also am looking for Appalachian State to give them a tough time! What is your take French?
PIE!
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10 years 5 days
# | ASK FRENCH- What are your Hokie football questions before fall camp kicks off? Dobbs concerns me as a very mobile QB, but hopefully our DE's contain a bit better than last year, and keep that to a minimum. Agreed Hurd can be impressive. Do we get into a blitz-fest like the Ohio State game to drive Dobbs nuts? I'd love to see him on the ground....a lot.
With all due respect, Dadi fell because Dadi did not play with the discipline or heavy shoulder needed to be a stalwart OLB (who has to contain and force plays and take on pulling linemen/wham blocks all the time) in a 3-4. He even has acknowledged that with his weight gain since joining the Chiefs. (Per this article, he was up to 240 in May http://www.chiefsdigest.com/chiefs-dadi-nicolas-adjusting-to-new-position/ which also suggests he didn't take his time in the weight room as seriously as he could have at VT.)
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10 years 5 days
# | ASK FRENCH- What are your Hokie football questions before fall camp kicks off? I will be honest- I have spent much more time this summer watching Fuente film and watching old iterations of Bud's defense with different personnel. This season is about establishing an identity for VT much more than trying to match up with other teams.
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10 years 5 days
# | ASK FRENCH- What are your Hokie football questions before fall camp kicks off? As is Butkus Award winner Jaylon Smith
Many college defensive ends move to OLB in the pros because so many teams run a 3-4 now, as well as the fact that those OLBs are basically stand up defensive ends anyways. If you wanna be a linebacker in the NFL, defensive end is by far the best prep for it in our system. And Dadi only fell so far because he broke his hand and had a poor senior year. He was being talked as a potential first rounder if the senior year went well.
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10 years 5 days
# | ASK FRENCH- What are your Hokie football questions before fall camp kicks off? Outscoring them. The Vols passing game does not scare me a bit unless they are running the ball effectively-PROVIDED the secondary is competent. The Vols are scary good at defensive end and starting linebacker. I have questions about their defensive tackles- top level recruits but Shy Tuttle may not be healthy, McKenzie was hurt all year last year and had conditioning issues, and the guy who returns that started the bowl game is mediocre. Depth in the secondary is an issue as well. Protect the QB, get plays vertically, and stop the run (easier said than done- they have two terrific RBs in Hurd and Kamara who would be even better in a different offensive scheme. Hurd is James Conner but more athletic. )
PIE!
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10 years 5 days
# | ASK FRENCH- What are your Hokie football questions before fall camp kicks off? ND's best receiver (Fuller) and back (Prosise) are both gone.
🦃 LEG KING 🦃
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10 years 5 days
# | ASK FRENCH- What are your Hokie football questions before fall camp kicks off? hah... yeah that like totally helped me ease my worries about the defense this year.... yeah, everything will be fine.... fine, I tell you, fine....
PIE!
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10 years 5 days
# | ASK FRENCH- What are your Hokie football questions before fall camp kicks off? French, been watching some Tennessee replays recently (a combination of nothing else on, and hey, it is football), and while they look impressive offensively, their defense is somewhat porous at times. Pressure on the QB sometimes help slow them down, but Dobbs is a very elusive runner. Best guess, do we have a better chance at beating UT by outscoring them in a back and forth game like the Tulsa game, or by slowing down their offense and eeking out a win in a close low-scoring game?
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10 years 5 days
# | ASK FRENCH- What are your Hokie football questions before fall camp kicks off? I have not watched Notre Dame yet, so I am not sure. I do know that I loved their running back and I believe he is gone. They lost their best WR. Their QB is dynamic as a guy who can run and pass. Plus, you are down 13 when you get off the bus in South Bend. It will be a really tough match up.
It absolutely astounds me that EVERYONE complains about Bud not utilizing bigger players in his system, and then turn around in the same breathe and say that a big, athletic guy with great burst who is very good on film "CAN'T" play the position.
you and me both.
I have been beating the "Mihota should stay at DE" drum since the day they first moved him to DT. He will cause havoc at DE by simply playing the position correctly, regardless of his personal sack count.
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10 years 5 days
# | ASK FRENCH- What are your Hokie football questions before fall camp kicks off? General question: how do we stack up against ND?
and Ellis played Ekanem's spot. Ekanem can put up the numbers. You need Mihota to be sound and disruptive. And he will do that. Mark my words.
He doesn't need to have 7 sacks to be a good defensive end. The 2006 defense that lead the country- the #2 sacker was corner Brandon Flowers (3.5 sacks.) It is about using scheme to create pressure at the right times. Mihota can and has done that on film, while being gap sound (which would eliminate some of the QB broken play issues, most of which stemmed from leverage zones that pull the inside backers out of the middle of the field coupled with DE's getting too much space up field between them and the DTs, leaving HUGE running lanes.)
Almost as bad........I 'm an academic
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10 years 5 days
# | ASK FRENCH- What are your Hokie football questions before fall camp kicks off? Linebacker, and my expectations are low. I think Edmunds will be a very good player, but there is a big learning curve. Motu has to improve significantly. Against teams where he could play with some space and pursue (UVA, GT), he was very good. Against teams where he had to fit a gap and win battles (otherwise leaving a large hole for the back), he was not good. I would have loved for him to watch film of Jamal Smith (Hokies mike backer in the late 90's) and then worked drills all summer where the only point of the drill was to keep his feet moving while shedding at contact. That is a big part of the battle- those feet stop to absorb the block and then try to shed and he is dead in the water.
I'm okay with pretending Loeffler doesn't exist and never happened.
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10 years 5 days
# | ASK FRENCH- What are your Hokie football questions before fall camp kicks off? For his size, he is an excellent blocker. If you expect to see him get carries, based on the spring you will be disappointed. If he wins the HBack job, he will be a blocker first and a receiver second (likely off play action, given that his size/wingspan isn't ideal for working stick routes.)
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10 years 5 days
# | ASK FRENCH- What are your Hokie football questions before fall camp kicks off? To me, cobbler shares key characteristics- filling, butter crusty encasing. However, cobbler is a different item. Pie has shell on the top and bottom. Cobbler only has crust on top. Hence, pie is slightly superior to cobbler.
Let's be honest. He wouldn't have ever played if he went to bama (yes this is 100% speculative opinion) and they run a different scheme than us anyways so not sure how that applies.
I have no issue with larger players playing DE and think we've been woefully undersized there for quite some time. I just don't share the same optimism regarding Mihota's athleticism and ability at the position that you do. Hopefully you are right and at the end of the year he has 7+ sacks and our yards per rush is down significantly. I also don't think the level of competition of uva and Tulsa is a great indicator of what is to come. UVA's oline wasn't terrible but Tulsa's was one of the worst in the country in terms of pass protection.
If we aren't going to count on our DEs/blitzers to get to the QB immediately because we have all of our DBs in man coverage on islands he will be much more effective, but if we are counting on guys creating constant pressure I haven't seen it from him.
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10 years 5 days
# | ASK FRENCH- What are your Hokie football questions before fall camp kicks off? Can you explain why I am so giddy at the chance to finally see Steven Peoples in games this year? Do you think my enthusiasm is justified?
I will take your second question first-
from the sand, I would say a 2500/3000 size spinning reel, with 15 lb braid and 20lb fluoro carbon leader. Light enough rod to throw 3/4 oz jig effectively. Use a red jig head and chartreuse gulp (3 inch mullet/grub or gulp shrimp.) Gulp alive is even better if you can find it. Scour the beach at low tide and find holes, and then slowly drag the gulp through the holes.