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The blind man comment is what worries me. Remember, Georgia fans ran Searels out of town on a rail, and Texas wasn't great running the ball despite having a great tailback in Johnathan Gray.

If this is sending a message, then he has way exceeded any value he may have gotten out of the exercise at this point.

Had to leave a little early, but here are my thoughts on the day:

A lot of mixing and matching with the 1's and 2's on both offense and defense. Teller played with the 2's for the first half of the scrimmage and then the 1's for the second half, which was mostly 1-v-1. Osterloh played as LG when Teller was with the 2's with Nijman playing LT and McLaughlin at RT. Later on he moved to RT and Teller was LG with McLaughlin at LT. I really think this is more to build depth than to punish Teller. Also saw Mihota working with both the 1's and the 2's, Terrell Edmunds got one goal line set with the 1's, Adonis Alexander got a series in 1-v-1 and there were a whole bevy of DT's working with the 1's, including Ricky Walker for a snap where he had a good pass rush. Ford and Phillips didn't play at all as the search for a #3 receivers continues... Durkin and Kendall didn't play at all, with Jack Click and Riley taking their respective places...

Riley looked as good as I've ever seen him. Much improved over last year. Only had a couple of mistakes that I saw and had several impact plays. Seems like Edmunds has overtaken Johnson at the #2 spot on the other side.

Honestly, for the most part the #1 defense looked really, really good. Des Frye is not nearly as dynamic as Reavis was, but I have yet to see him make a mistake. Motuapuaka continues to get lost when he's forced to read and react, but is quite good when he has a definite assignment (blitz or coverage). I think he'll struggle against read option teams, but will be good the rest of the year. He and Stroman are the closest thing to a liability on this defense right now. Dadi even got in there for a series against the 1's and looked good even with the cast on his hand.

The #1 offense looked good as well after having a very rough start. The running backs in particular were explosive and were making people miss at the 2nd level. Might get something special out of them this year.

The #3 WR spot remains up for grabs. Asante was the one able to get himself open the most, but he had a couple of drops and one mistake on a route. Had the most catches among WR though by my count with 3. There were a few drops on the day. On the other side of things Malleck continues to look really, really good. CJ Carroll might force the coaches to play him since he keeps getting open on slants.

Kyle Chung, Osterloh, and Nijman looked pretty good. I think they're your backups on the OL for the year.

I continue to be impressed by Sobczak. We're deep at DT.

Freshmen:
Lawson still looks like a freshman. He was stuck playing against the #1 defense behind the #3 offense. His footwork still needs work, but the athleticism is clearly there.
Adonis Alexander is gonna be a star down the road and probably sooner rather than later. That is all.
Settle looks to have been pushed down to the #4 scout team. He already looks slimmer and in better shape, but I think he redshirts.
Mook isn't showing out as much as Adonis, but he'll play this year.
Nijman will too, obviously.
Edmunds, Johnson, Fox, and Lydon might play as special teams guys this year, but probably not much beyond that.
Tyrell Smith continues to struggle snapping the ball, although he calmed down after Searles came and talked to him after an especially bad series. He'll redshirt.
McClease, Fullwood, Gaines, Hill, Cunningham, Lewis, Plantin, Clark, and Alleyne will definitely redshirt unless something happens, IMO. Alleyne is clearly behind after coming in late, struggled to even get lined up at times.

Overall this scrimmage had much more energy than the first, especially among the starters on both sides of the ball. A little sloppier too, with a few drops, penalties, and one skirmish. A lot more to get excited about this week. Hopefully I covered everything I meant to...

I think Durkin's was from his tweaked ankle in last week's scrimmage. Word is it was precautionary.

I think Facyson played a little bit early on, just enough to keep him sharp.

Also, I feel compelled to mention how great of a job Pete Moris, Thomas Guerry, Chuck Cantor, Max Warner, etc. are doing. They may be behind the scenes but they are making an impact. Whit has done such an outstanding job at respecting the family aspect of Virginia Tech yet bringing in extremely talented personnel to take this program and department to the next level. This scrimmage felt different; there was a different heir to it. Some sneak previews of the graphics and video board that will be employed leave me excited for the upcoming season.

Durkin was in "street clothes" but very involved with the group and very present. I'd guess injury, maybe a limp from watching him (ankle?)

Marshawn was in blue but never really left the bench.

Also not dressed in pads/cleats: wade Hansen had the job of keeping people off of the sideline (I give him a b minus) still in a walking boot. Kalvin Cline and Chris Cunningham and Chaska Moon followed by a bunch of scout teamers. I sat behind offense, so not sure about defensive guys that didn't dress.

I believe fuller, Faycson, ford, and Phillips (alliteration!) all got protective no activity.

The Teller thing is all about getting Osterloh reps as our utility/6th lineman and seeing where he fits best.
Wyatt is the starter unless he's hurt or suspended, or unless a blind man is coaching our OL.

You may choose to call it a perfect storm. But, I choose to call it coaching. I believe that's what Urban Meyer called it after the game, too, yes?

Now, Urban Meyer is an excellent coach, and the talent across the board is really exciting to think about. Should be another chess match this year.

Is it Labor Day, yet?!?!

Great report.

Loved this news: "Terrell Edmunds may be the gunner to watch this year. Great speed/strength to get down the field quick and squared up as if a sure tackler."

I think VT fans appreciate gunner play more than any fans in the country, and for good reason.

I guess I'd have to agree with the "perfect storm". OSU's inexperienced o-line and inconsistent WR play definitely helped out the Hokies. I know it'd be easy for me to say that I thought VT could win before the game started, but if anybody will believe me, I honestly thought that once Braxton Miller went down. JT Barrett is a talented player, but having never seen how VT's defense plays, there is no way anybody should have expected him to have played like a star during that game.

Coach Beamer and co. definitely had a solid gameplan that they executed well. But at the same time, having a solid gameplan is just a small part of the equation. Getting inexperienced players to be comfortable in executing the gameplan in front of a tough environment was probably the hardest part. For one, it was the o-line's first season with Coach Searels, with a couple of projected starters having their careers ended before the season. The defense had two new starters at DE in Dadi Nicolas and Ken Ekanem, a new starter (I think) at DT in Corey Marshall, a first time (but well versed) starter at middle linebacker, and a hobbled Brandon Facyson.

As for the rest of the offense, Michael Brewer had only been on campus for a couple of months, switching from an Air Raid style spread offense to a pro-style one. There were two true freshmen running backs, two true freshmen wide receivers, a redshirt freshman playing TE for the first time, as well as a true freshman kicker and true freshman punt returner. The fact that all of this came together, I guess you could say it was a "perfect storm".

So even though OSU was more inexperienced than usual at the time, I don't think that should be used as an excuse , given that VT was arguably just as or more inexperienced given the number of true freshmen/new starters that were playing. Given the fact that both teams have a ton of players returning, I'd say that this should be a tight game.

To me, it looks like the VT offense will be the difference maker for the Hokies in this one. Now that Urban Meyer is aware that Coach Foster's D is ferociously aggressive, he might be able to better prepare the Buckeyes offense more adequately. However, now that VT's o-line seems to have gotten a lot better, along with the fact that Michael Brewer and the WRs have improved, the Buckeye's D may have a lot on their plate. It doesn't help that some prominent players on OSU have been suspended either. OSU's offense will be formidable, so it'll be interesting to see how they match up with VT's defense.

Dadi didn't play, and I don't recall seeing Ekanem on the field while Lawson was out there. I think Lawson played primarily against the backup defense.

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