Recent Comments
1. Motley did earn the backup spot, that's true. I just haven't seen anything from Motley yet that makes me think he can consistently win games. He is a great runner, but I haven't seen strong passing skills.
2. He did score, but that pass seemed dangerous. The DB was right there and nearly had a hand on the ball. I think 9 times out of 10 that is knocked away or intercepted. It seemed like the poor decision that led to so many interceptions on Brewer's part last season.
3. In Beamer we trust! If he starts Motley, I will support Motley with every drop of Maroon and Orange blood in my body.
I like Motley, I think he is a talented player who could win us games. Based on my own relatively uninformed observations, I think an experienced Lawson could win us more.
Here's hoping we go pissed-off Obi-Wan on our remaining opponents.
Our recruiting is what it is, and its as good as it will be until Frank retires. Its certainly arguable that our recruiting style has been exposed in recent years, and should Beamer have another 10 years left in the tank, I would see a mandate come down from above to do whatever it takes to bring in the depth we need to compete with the big boys, but its not happening now.
That being said, this will be addressed with the next head coach, and you better believe re-calibrating our recruiting efforts to be on par with who we want to be our peers will be a top priority of whoever we bring in. If Monday taught us anything, we just don't have the horses to legitimately compete with the top dogs, and if having success in the playoff is the eventual goal of this program, that must change. We're no longer a program that can rely on catching top teams off guard. We have too much a name to do that anymore, especially on the kind of consistent basis we'll need to succeed.
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10 years 10 months
# | Locker Room Wrap: Hokies' Defense Befuddled by OSU Blocking Schemes, Playmakers It's not like we face anyone of serious competition for atleast a month when 54th ranked pitt will play at Lane and they are without their entire offense in the same way with Conner out for the season. Then we get 49th ranked NC state.
Thru then we can manage and still up to my expectations. 6 weeks we play @Miami a loss i expected in the preseaon. Then we get in to a push game with Duke but tis 7 weeks since the injury and right back where we were
The only question on the schedule to me with Brewer missing is Duke and not by much even. 8 weeks out we have BC which is more a defense game than offense
The timing of the injury, in the game in a close game sucks but the timeline for recovery and the schedule makes it ok
Don't think we've ever had a top 10 class. The best one I can recall on any site was like 16th. If we can consistently stay in the 20-25 range and actually keep recruiting at least 4 OL a year we'll be on the right track. Still don't think this year's class will be in the that range though and may not be top 35.
It depends on the context of how you see this program. If you think VT should be competing for national titles, then no...we don't recruit well enough. Not even close. Clemson was mentioned above, a very similar situation to VT in their history, their location and their facilities. And they recruit our pants off. And they are a national title contender, I've seen a handful of people pick them this year, even with their rebuilding defense, as the fourth team in the playoff. Nobody picked VT. But even regarding Clemson, they may have a chance to get in the playoff but nobody would pick them over OSU or Bama.
I don't see VT as a national title contender. We played for one once, when we had a once a generation player matched up with the best defense we had in over a decade. And it still took Penn St and Nebraska losing to get us in there. And then we lost the game by 17 points. There is a chance we could get back there again but not a good chance. It's like winning the lottery for a program like ours, it will be awesome if it happens and no harm in putting your $1 in every week, but you don't base your family budget on it. In that sense, my happiness with the program is around 9 or 10 wins, win our division, one game to win the ACC. We can still do that this year.
So in my context, our recruiting is fine. Yes, we don't have a backup QB, but not many teams outside of OSU have one that they can count on. Clemson doesn't, we saw that last year. We even saw how bad Maguire was for FSU against Clemson. UGA has a great team this year and they are starting a guy who lost his spot at UVA. It's not easy to have two good QB's on your roster.
Completely eating crow on big Yosh already. Thought if he had to play a major role this year coming off a prep year playing exclusively on defense that we'd be in a load of trouble. Looked very good.
The top recruiting schools are the schools with a history of winning national championships. Chicken/egg, self-fulfilling prophecy? You could argue all of that all day. But we had a chance to break into that elite group, and for whatever reason we just didn't capitalize. I bet Frank looks back on those days in the early 2000's and has regrets.
I remember reading on message boards, "Oh, recruiting doesn't pick up the year after you play for the chmpionship. It's the year after THAT..." OK. And the years went by.
We have had a top 10 class maybe once. Ever. Frustrating as hell, but just the way it is.
I see hope, though. Baylor and TCU are doing some amazing things. It could be because Texas is down, but I think it would be worth examining how they are getting it done.
Wow. Other than cringing while watching those last highlights, this is the first article to make me genuinely happy about the potential our team has.
Great point. I think they'll have to strongly consider who is a better fit for the offense. After preparing all spring for one type of play style you can't just flip it like that and expect to be successful. I admittedly don't know much about Lawson, but if he fits the current offensive scheme that we have been preparing to execute then I think that is the best way forward here. What a crappy situation to start a season... At least we have 2 easier games coming up to prepare for the ACC schedule, which is all we can worry about now.
🦃 LEG KING 🦃
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10 years 10 months
# | Yosuah Nijman Sparks a Solid Offensive Line Performance Against Ohio State I have to admit.... I was not expecting our OL to be a bright spot coming out of the Ohio St game. Even without Bosa, their front 7 is downright scary and by far the best we'll play this year. If our OL can continue to play at that level, it'll significantly help the breaking in period of Motley/Durkin/Lawson.
Watching the busted protection clip and knowing what's about to happen:
I think one place that recruiting hurts this football team, and it's often overlooked, is in practice.... Stay with me here.
We often think/talk about that 4*or 5* kid, who "snubbed" the Hokies in favor of OSU or Alabama (or whatever other team), who hasn't broken the 2 deep at said school. We dream about how he might be playing for the Hokies if he had just chosen to be in Blacksburg. Often that is probably true due to depth issues at most positions.
What is most likely a reality is that the same kid who is running scout team O or D for OSU is the kid who very well might be starting at VT.
So the issues regarding recruiting, though seen on the field in a head to head matchup with OSU and seen when someone gets injured, probably affects the team just as much through the venue of practice as anywhere else.
Yay for good news after Monday! Reading this makes me feel a bit better. Thanks French!
All these 6 win predictions...wah?
That still includes beating UVA, right?... right?
You know, that didn't even register with me until I read it, but yes, a large decrease in procedure penalties would be welcomed this year.
🎸OG LEG KING 🎸
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10 years 10 months
# | Locker Room Wrap: Hokies' Defense Befuddled by OSU Blocking Schemes, Playmakers Yep, absolutely. A single point does not a trend make. We'll see this one as an outlier, I'm sure.
True and he juked the CB out of his shoes. Who knows what could have happened, we just know what did happen. And it was still a solid run. Would have loved to see him bust it open though.
Great stuff, French! Thanks for giving us some meaty good news. I didn't realize watching in real time that some of our RBs were missing the hole. Let's hope they can improve in that area, and take full advantage of the improved run blocking.
it just feels like something so special was stolen from us.
When's the last time we lost a game and felt like the rest of the team let the OL down?
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10 years 10 months
# | Locker Room Wrap: Hokies' Defense Befuddled by OSU Blocking Schemes, Playmakers Absolutely we have questions but saying things like "Our defense is disappointing" or "We can no longer count on our defense to keep us in the game" is a bit of an exaggeration after 1 game.
Agree with the fractional points, thanks for fixing that.
I don't feel as hyped for football anymore, wonder why....
And the late fumble? That one was overturned, but it's beyond me how the side judge even blew the whistle to rule him down.
A chip block is when one offensive lineman gets just enough of the defender to allow the olineman next to him to fully engage the defender, before the first olineman moves off to block someone else. Personally it seems to me that Teller just runs right through to the second level, but a better example (on that same clip) might be how Conte chip blocks DT #92 until McLaughlin can engage him, then moves on to take LB #37.
At least, I'm pretty sure that's right.