Recent Comments
I don't think they win half of the rest of their schedule... Look at who they've played so far to get to 5-1. Florida International, #18 Stanford (lost 50-13), North Carolina Central, Memphis (possibly the worst D-1 football school), Wake, and UVA. Impressive huh?
I think Miami has a better shot.
At the Mike spot, having good instincts re: pursuit angles, making the right reads, and being a sure tackler are much more important. Vince Hall was one of the best Mikes we've ever had here and he wasn't a great "athlete" by any means in terms of his 40 time or standing jump. Also, at only 6'0", he wasn't that big. Jack Tyler is an excellent Mike LB, although to be sure, in this era of spread offenses, you probably do want someone who's a little better in pass coverage.
I agree that Clarke is probably the Mike LB of the future. But it certainly wouldn't surprise me to see one of the other guys end up at Mike or Backer as well. These kids are gonna get stronger and heavier once they get into Gentry's program. They may not be through growing vertically either.
And your comment about "For every one 3-star player that ends up as a star, you have 10 that end up as deadwood." simply isn't accurate, at least as far as VT is concerned. Chris Coleman did a detailed analysis a couple of years ago comparing the contributions made by VT's 3-star recruits from 2000 to 2010 as compared to the 4-star recruits. The results? There was basically no difference at all between the two groups. Sure, we've had a lot of 4-star recruits who became great players for us, but we've also had plenty of 4-star busts too.
Did you have the angle of seeing the Fuller "PI" from the back? Because they showed it facing them and all there was was just your general push-and-shove, no holding or knocking him off the route.
Also, I'm wondering the same thing about the holding call on the UNC TD.
I agree that we didn't lose because of the officials, but it can be a factor. Don't you recall last weekend how a phantom holding call took away what would have proved to be an important touchdown? And then on that next play, we threw an interception? Similar things could have happened in that situation.
My two cents: We have 3 great safety candidates... we just have two of them starting at corner. And doing pretty well, don't get me wrong, but I'd rather see both of them at safety if we had good enough corners to allow that.
We'll get the secondary fixed. We've got a great DB class coming in, at both corner and safety. Bonner, Manning, Cole, etc. are young and will improve. Just not deep/experienced enough to have a great year in 2012.
I know Dahman McKinnon was specifically recruited to be the Whip for his class, but I remember him playing safety either in the spring or August. He's listed as an OLB now, but just something to keep an eye on.
Thanks for the reply
Vince Hall came from Chesapeake (Western Branch) and Xavier Adibi from Hampton (Phoebus).
stop complaining about the pass interference call on Fuller toward the end. I don't know what they showed on tv, but I had good seats and it sure looked like pass interference to me.
The really bad call I remember was the no-call on the obvious holding after Tyrel Wilson (if I remember correctly) was free to the QB leading up to the second UNC TD. The OLman just flat out pushed him in the back and took him down. Maybe someone can explain to me how they didn't call that.
But we didn't lose this game on blown calls, so arguing about the officiating is pointless.
I want to see more Kris Harley. That energy after he got the tipped interception last weekend was inspiring. If he brings that energy and fire in practice, then we need to put is ass in the game (and quite possibly on the 1-line on the 2-deep).
I want to see more Corey Moore "Murder Eyes"
Agree, the problem isn't just the spread by itself. What I said above was it's stopping spread teams, who have playmakers, with a Nickel, with Cole coming into the game. Cole is the weekspot, Bonner is another issue, and like you said it puts pressure on the entire defense.
When the OL is opening up holes inside, Scales is a great option. But they're not doing that consistently. Yes, he had a great run that you referenced. He also had a run for no gain where the hole didn't open it up and he couldn't bounce it outside.
He was getting in for blocking duty in the second half, even when he wasn't getting carries. I think he might have gotten more carries if we weren't trying to stage a comeback and needing to air it out.
I'm pretty sure it was Cole that was out of position on that long 4th-and-1 TD.
I didn't think RVD had his best day. But Cole had a terrible day. They're both young, and they're both going to make mistakes. They both need playing time, and they'll get better. With the way they were gashing us on the ground, which is where Cole struggled the most, I would have favored RVD more... but it was pick your poison.
Were they from FL? Also was alot of the elite talent from a few years ago also from FL? Not saying that is anything I just want to know for my personal understanding of College Football recuiting.
when were we a recruiting powerhouse?
I have some general questions about recruiting:
1. Has most of it been focused on the Offensive side of the ball?
2. What are our "pipeline" states? (I know VA but what else)
3. How does the football talent in VA measure up to the rest of the country? (I know FL, CA, and TX are the big three as far as High School football where does VA match up)
4. I know at one point we were Recruiting in FL but decide to pull out and focus our efforts farther North except for one High School. Does anyone know why we pulled out of FL?
5. Why are other school more successful in recruiting top talent away from VA? ( Obiviously I know a choice between Alabama, OSU, LSU, insert elite college program name and VT wouldnt be a choice in my mind as a HS kid but why do FSU, Clemson, and teams around our calibre seem to be able to do it. ( I know this is a very difficult question to answer and there may be too many different answers to put in a reply. I am asking just to see if anyone has insight.)
6. What has Shane done differently that wasnt being done before?
French I remember you had a post about defensive recruiting saying something to the effect that because Bud runs a Hybrid scheme that does not translate to the NFL other coaches use that against us. Do we have a similar issue on offense?
Thanks
McKinnon and Van Dyke are whips. Clarke, Trimble, and Williams are the the stock, and Clarke is the only one who has the athleticism of a starting caliber middle backer. Edmunds can be number two. For every three star that becomes a big time player, you have 10 that end up as deadwood. Get enough elite talent, and the odds swing back. It is no accident that the elite defenses came from a time where VT was getting top notch DB and linebacker recruits (Hall/Adibi).
even my semi-football litertate wife was talking about how the program has plateaud. i realized that beamerco would never get us to another mnc game years ago. not without another vick/vince young/cam type athlete that can take you on a magical run at least. now i feel like the game is passing our coaches by. i hope it's the pre shane/cornell recruiting biting us in the ass and we'll be better next year and beyond but right now things aren't looking bright.
He is redshirting and playing running back on the scout team instead of redshirting and learning the linebacker position so he could hit the ground running in the spring. That is enough of a red flag for me.
the irony was exploding out of my tv when hughes outmuscled holmes and just took the ball out of his arms. you're not in the valley district anymore michael.
He was class of 2011, but it really seems to hurt now that James Farrow transfered in Feb for 'playing time'. He probably could have gotten a lot of playing time at this point.
this is pure genius
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i love the hokies
i love this website
... we signed at least 4 LBs in last year's class:
Trey Edmunds
Deon Clarke
Dahman McKinnon
Devin Van Dyke
... and maybe a 5th in Jerome Wright as well if you want to count him as a LB.
This year, we've got commitments from Jamieon Moss, Andrew Motu'apuaka, and perhaps Holland Fisher as well, depending on how much he fills out once he gets to college (he's 6'2", 200 now).
So I don't think the cupboard is quite as bare as you're making it out to be.
defensively, it's 2010 all over again, and offensively i dont think we have the leadership that we had in 2010 to overcome deficiencies.
I think that it's too early to form a final judgment about him yet and my guess is that, in the long run, he's going to be a very good player for us.
He's being thrown to the wolves right now as a redshirt freshman and, like any freshman, he's making his share of mistakes as he adjusts to the college game. But he's also made some good plays for us and he's clearly not afraid of contact.
The best thing that could happen to help our pass defense would be for the defensive line to start generating a pass rush and getting to the QB every now and then. Renner basically had all day to sit back in the pocket yesterday and pick out his receivers. You give any good QB with good receivers a clean pocket on play after play and you're gonna give up some yardage no matter how good your secondary is.
I agree that sure makes it sound like they're looking at him as a RB first. But maybe that's simply what he wants to be doing, or maybe they just need him as a RB on the scout team more than they need him as a LB.