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12 years 6 months
# | Bitter blog - Five thoughts the day after the Hokies' loss to UCLA in the Sun Bowl 
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🎸OG LEG KING 🎸
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12 years 6 months
# | Bitter blog - Five thoughts the day after the Hokies' loss to UCLA in the Sun Bowl I think the assessment is fair. He said it's "important," not "make-or-break." The latter would be true in the "win now or else" culture. It is important that the coaches begin to cultivate "their" players. At the same time, the existing players are now one year older and should be expected to perform better in the developing system that they've been practicing and playing. It will be important for existing players to demonstrate growth, and perhaps allow for some truly outstanding new players to start to shine.
Oh sweet Lord! That one catch against Uva where he went out of his way to put a helmet into the defensive back was all I need to see. The kid is talented and gritty as hell.
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12 years 6 months
# | Bitter blog - Five thoughts the day after the Hokies' loss to UCLA in the Sun Bowl The grace period is over for the new coaches. Theyre starting to get their guys into the program. The adjusting to the scheme narrative will no longer exist going forward. This spring will be important for the coaching staff.
This last part bothers me. Yes, we're bringing in recruits but they still need some time in the system. I think the offensive coaching staff still deserves more time. They might have 'their guys' in 'their system' next year, but 'their guys' are going to be TRUE FRESHMEN! Think about that for a minute.
Andy's last thought epitomizes a point I made in another thread. This society is ruled by the "What have you done for me lately" mentality. Patience is dead and everyone and their brother wants immediate results OR ELSE!! That just isn't fair, nor is it realistic. Building a new offense from scratch isn't going to happen over night. It's not going to happen in one season. It's going to take TIME
Joe, great read. Any chance you could edit/update the original post to include points/yards/turnovers given up on special teams? Limiting explosive plays on special teams is also a staple of Beamerball. Giving up a big returns hurts us just as much (if not more) than scoring on special teams helps us.
Our team is more sloppy than ever before. Missed field goals, penalties, and missed tackles are the three things that need to change ASAP. The latter two plagued us yesterday.
This is definitely the way I see it. Frank Beamer changed the game of Special Teams. Unfortunately, everyone at this point has picked up that game and for us to be the top we need talent. That's not what we have.
That said, we have a coach who innovated the current game. We have a DC who is currently innovating the future game. That's really exciting!
We have yet to see Scott Loeffler's innovations, but something tells me he'll come up with a wrinkle. I liked what we saw out of the Jet Sweep game yesterday. I liked what we saw out of the Jerome Wright game too. Maybe we see more Jet Sweeps in the future? We also in two games in a row saw some gadgetry centered around Sam Rodgers. Maybe in the future we see more gadgetry centered around players with different skill sets? It's really hard to say though because these weren't the players Lefty wanted, so he was just kinda throwing things together.
And other ACC teams that used to be good (ranging from respectable to conference powerhouse) are now underachieving. It's cyclical.
CFB can evolve all he wants, but he can't tackle for his defenders or catch for his receivers or block for his linemen or kick for his kickers.
I want TEs on TEs on TEs on TEs. They're like linemen who can catch the ball. You get blocking in the run game, you get bulldozers in the passing game. You have 5 line men, and four guys who are required to be in the backfield. That leaves 2 for either TEs or SEs. I say both should be TEs. The backfield? Wingbacks. They're just Tightends in the backfield. One RB, on QB, and you have one big powerful and scary formation. Maybe make one of the backfield a fullback if you feel like having a blocking back. Maybe put one end out wide as a Flanker. And holy damn, I just described a single wing offense.
I say DON'T redshirt Cline. Malleck will be back and we could go to some 2TE sets
link?
Redshirt Cline. Stanford is the guy. One of the incoming backs get significant PT. Bonner should be a gunner on punt coverage, that's about it. RVD plays Whip, hands down. Clarke and the other VanDyke man the middle, with the R-FR teammate of Bucky getting significant reps at the Mike spot. Initial thoughts.
Apparently this guy has a history of dirty play:
http://blog.oregonlive.com/ducks/2013/10/interesting_video_should_ucla.html
CFB's calling card used to be to put starters on special teams. Up until he started doing that ST was widely used as an opportunity to get young, inexperienced bench warmers in the game to get a taste for the speed of the game. We simply out-classed other ST units because we used top notch athletes. Part of our struggles may stem from the fact that we don't have that type of talent advantage anymore. That can be attributed to the fact that most teams use starters on ST now coupled with our drop off in talent (thanks to incoherent recruiting 'strategies' by the previous offensive coaching staff)
We have that santamaria kid, so that's promising.
Thanks for the post. What I like: 1) Leal's ability to stand in the pocket and throw strikes. 2) Jerome's tough running between tackles. 3) our front 7's motor and run-stuffing. 4) our receivers getting tough YAC. What I don't like: 1) Leal is too slow scrambling. 2) Leal doesn't have great zip or arm strength. 3) disappointed in poor tackling yesterday. 4) receivers have to catch the ball. 5) JC and Mangus are just too small for our system. Questions I have: 1) how can we employ 7 scholarship RB's next year? There is bound to be attrition...my guess is Mangus or Caleb transfer. 2) the young QB's, especially Durkin, have to feel real good about themselves right now. Who emerges? 3) will we redshirt Cline? Malleck will get 80% of the reps next season, maybe we should consider. 4) will Bud develop a wrinkle to stop scrambling QB's? It is his kryptonite. Last thoughts: yesterday was the perfect storm: injuries + a highly skilled opponent + an offense built to render our defensive attack useless. When we rush 6+, it leaves gaping holes in the flats and underneath. Give UCLA credit; they exploited our weaknesses, beat us man on man, and used our strength against us. I feel as though we are heading in the right direction, but we have to continue recruiting well-and better. It's hard to make filet mignon when you start with ingredients from the Dollar Store. Great recruits will help us crack the glass ceiling, and will turn that SPAM dinner into a meal to remember. Bon A petit Hokies!
John Gruden made a good point. "The game of football evolves, so a coach must also." I love Coach Beamer but, the fact that other teams in the ACC that used to underachieve are solid teams now.
Maybe after next year we'll see how things are. If not, CFB may be getting like JoePa.
Serious question, I know that people specifically blame CFB for the drop in special teams. I have heard or read differing pieces on whether he really runs special teams as a whole, parts of it, or very little at all. Who controls what in our different special teams aspects. Who controls our coverage, returning, punting, FGs, etc. Are any of the new coaches experienced with special teams?
Well, it's evident that Parker and Wright were very effective. Why not get them the ball more?
Still resembled last years RB by committee. I think Mangus should have more touches early on and Wright could have had more consecutive carries. *Discalimer* I'm not a coach, just venting.
I feel pretty dumb because I don't get the pun :(
Otherwise this was a good write up. I'm optimistic about the future of this program. I don't think (or expect) it will happen over night. I've said this several different ways over the course of the season, but I think Loeffler has done about as well as we could have expected given what he has to work with.
Unfortunately, we live in a society that has a short attention span and a "what have you done for me lately (yesterday)" mentality. It's hard to build a program properly under that type of pressure.
"Patience is a virtue, possess it if you can; Seldom found in Women.........and never in a Man" ~ I actually don't know who technically should be credited for this little saying, but I always heard it from my dad growing up. As you might imagine, patience wasn't a strong suit of mine
Great perspective, Joe. I feel the same way. I saw the Holtz/May segment live and it was like a gut punch. Mostly because there was a small kernel of truth in what they were saying, but like you said, there was a lack of subtlety in the analysis. Those are the kind of statements that other fan bases use as evidence that we're terrible. I think we're a program that has declined but is ready to ascend. Beamer has built this program from nothing, so I think he and his staff are fully capable of taking a decent team towards being a great one again.
In 2014, I hope to see continued improvements in the fundamentals and I hope to see young talent compete for playing time. On defense, Bud reloads and we play well. Maybe not quite as well as this year, but I don't expect much drop-off.
I think 2015 and 2016 will be vastly better. Hopefully Loeffler will have groomed his chosen QB (whoever it may be) and the rest of the offense will have coalesced within his system. Grimes should have the line playing at a high level by this point, as well, again through player development - his guys. It is during these two seasons that we will see if our staff will function the way the fan base expects and if that translates into wins on the field.
Let the offseason prognostication begin!
Is this program what it once was? No. Is Frank Beamer and his coaching staff course correcting? Yes. Should we trust Coach Beamer to get the job done? I do. I think the experience of his early years at Tech, those spent building the program, will serve him well going forward. Moreover, I believe he's delegated staff responsibilities in a logical manner, something that got out of whack (sorry, couldn't resist that pun) with the O'Cainspring offense, and the new coaches he hired are capable to get the job done. It's just not going to happen overnight.
Couldn't agree more, Joe
This game was a great display of "Murphy's Law." Sometimes things break your way, and sometimes they don't. Yesterday, fortune just wasn't on the side of the Hokies. Injuries to key personnel just created insurmountable problems to overcome.
It might very well be time for a Special Teams Coordinator to be appointed. But The Frankinator is just fine where he is at Head Coach.
I dunno why, but Leal's footwork really seemed to hamper him the whole time. That will definitely need to be addressed in training.
I think Logan could have taken us, but the lack of skill positions around him made us one dimensional and easy to stop. We have a lot of heart though...
Great perspective, Joe. Thanks for being the voice of reason. Injuries were the story of 2013 between Malleck, Vandyke, Exum, Kyle Fuller, Trey and even Logan last game were huge detriments to our game. There has been some huge attrition of this program, but we're definitely heading in the right direction.
As for pride & joy, it's hard to be dominant when you've told everyone your strategy and you don't put starters on special teams anymore. 2015 will be our year.
I won't even click on May's smug face here. Thanks for the perspective Joe and Happy New Year everyone.
I'm not contesting the importance of the off season for the coaches. I just don't know if it's fair to say their grace period is over. That's like saying if we go 8-4 again next year these coaches are bust and we need to find new coaches and move on. Do you think that's what needs to be done? I don't. I think there is a really high chance we'll go 8-4 next year and possibly miss another ACCCG but I don't think by the end of next season we need to call the "Loeffler experiment" a failure and move on to new guys.