High Level Offensive Review of Wake Forest Game

This week, I spent most of my film review focused on the defensive line troubles that plagued the Hokies against Miami, but I did watch one live speed review of most of the offensive series. Using the themes we have discussed in the past, I will give my high level impressions of the Hokie offense this week.

1) Quarterback play: Logan Thomas displayed outstanding pocket presence, audibling, and accuracy this week. His accuracy on deep passes was outstanding, and he threw into tight spots. These were not all easy throws folks, unlike the Miami game where most of his completions were of the pitch and catch varierty. He didn't run as much on the read play, but when he did, he was effective. Wake played short zones to take away some of the Hokies short passing game, and unlike against Clemson, Logan made them pay down the field. Hopefully he can continue to build on those timing routes and sharp passing against BC, in what will likely be windy conditions.

He had four negative plays: taking a big sack when he had plenty of time to get rid of a pass; the overthrow on the goal line to Drager (which should have been picked), telegraphing a short dump to Wilson rather than looking downfield and coming back, and an almost fumble on a zone read option with Oglesby. I thought even early, when the Hokie offense was struggling, Logan made excellent reads downfield and Wake's defenders did an equally good job defending the play. Logan will continue to be a work in progress as he improves his vision, instincts, and footwork, but he has an NFL arm and body, as well as the leadership skills.

2) Offensive identity:Despite the Hokie offense putting up 38 points, I found myself again critical of the Hokie offensive scheme. After having so much success last week with the zone read, shotgun based offense, the Hokie seemed to return to their potpourri offense. Most of the running game came from the single back, two tight end look. Most of the passing game came from the shotgun. While I am not a huge fan of the shotgun, zone read style, it defintely fits the Hokies talent. They have 4 legitimate WR's, an excellent blocking tight end who has become a weapon in the passing game, a QB who is a run/pass threat, and a tailback who needs space to be successful. The one back offense doesn't really fit their personnel, and is not utilized as well (Drager should be the wing, and Lainer should play as the extra TE.)

I think that the Hokies should spend more time in the shotgun, and they should work to add more variety to the running game out of that formation. First, the Hokie running offense out of the shotgun almost always moves across the formation, with the tailback to the QB's left, moving in a variety of actions from left to right. I have seen the Hokies run two types of counters to this action. First, the delay counter, which looks almost like a power sweep with two linemen leading. The other play is the speed option back to the tailback side. The Hokies ran it once against Miami, and it was effective. It gives the Hokies the ability to get Wilson on the corner, change up their zone read action, and it shows the defense that they can't flow to their left every time off the snap. Also, I would like to see some dive option, with the QB as a pitch man and a "Z back" as a motion guy who creates an availble pitch option. Without Dyrell Roberts, the Hokies have not used that look recently, but both Wilson and DJ Coles would be excellent in that role with Oglesby as the dive man.

It is worth noting that Wilson had several big plays, but other than one drive, the Hokies did not put together steady, well run-blocked drives out of the one block alignment. DeChristopher continues to be outstanding after a poor start to the year, but the rest of the line remains inconsistent in their execution. Nosal had several outstanding efforts, but he also had some wiffs. For the most part, the entire OL had an excellent effort pass blocking.

3) Punting: What took so long?

4) Utilization of WRs: Boykin is suddenly terrorizing teams after a slow start, and Coale is Danny Coale. I think the 3rd WR is an intersting dilema for the coaching staff. Marcus Davis has the speed and the size to stretch the field, as shown in his touchdown catch. However, his fundamentals (route running, coming back to the ball, and catching the ball at its highest point) keep him from being a consistent weapon. I think right now, I would prefer those touches go to DJ Coles, who has continued to impress with his blocking, his route running, and his toughness after the catch. As good as the Royal-Clowney-Harper-Morgan WR group was, this group may be even better.

5) Tight ends: Chris Drager suddenly looks like one hell of an NFL prospect at TE, with his great blocking and sudden emmergence in the passing game. He looks much more athletic both running routes and running after the catch than he did early in the season. As noted above, I would like to see Lainer used as the second tight end in short yardage situtations.

Additionally,  while we all admire George George's effort blocking, I think they need to figure out a way to get some more snaps for Ryan Malleck. The Hokies will again need to replace the TE next year, and Dunn, Martin, and George all have limitations which would make it very unlikely that any could succeed in a starting role. Malleck is a top talent, who has already burned his redshirt this year (which was a big mistake by the Hokie coaching staff.) Talent-wise, Malleck would clearly be the leader to start at TE next year. With the redshirt burned, the Hokies benefit from getting Malleck as many snaps as possible, especially if the Hokies have a lead.