Morning everyone. I know we are all starved for news on position battles in spring camp, so I went over the small amount of film that is available from practice and as best as I can decipher, this is the current depth chart for the offensive line. There are some major changes.
1st team:
Left Tackle: Laurence Gibson
Left Guard: Caleb Farris
Center: Andrew Miller
Right Guard: Brent Benedict
Right Tackle: Mark Shuman
2nd team:
Left Tackle: Jonathan McLaughlin
Left Guard: Adam Taraschke
Center: Matt Arkema
Right Guard: Augie Conte
Right Tackle: Jake Goins
David Wang is injured. Gibson and Shuman have flip-flopped. Word is that Grimes is moving lots of guys around so he can determine his top five grouping. As I discussed in my OL spring preview, I expect the left guard position to be the most fluid, and it appears that by giving Conte snaps at right guard (he has also taken snaps at right tackle) that he may be this year's Mike Via utility lineman.
More evaluation coming.
Comments
Great Bitter read:
http://blogs.roanoke.com/andybittervirginiatechfootball/2013/04/04/offen...
Gibson welcomes the new approach.
“It’s a fresh start. I love the intensity that we have now,” he said. “This is the first time that I felt real competition, like we’re really getting after it. I love it. [Grimes] is definitely a no-nonsense guy. That’s, I feel, the best way to go about it. I feel like it’s strictly business out there. And we’re handling it.”
Not that we didn't know but not having Newsome play favorites seems to have the OL ready to battle out there. I love these new coaches more every time I read about them.
It is worth noting that Nick Acree is working with the third stringers, along with Parker Osterloh.
Some other notes watching film
1) It seems like every video clip posted by Hokiesports or Beamerball.com of Logan Thomas throwing shows him throwing to Josh Stanford. Perhaps he is now the "safety blanket" guy that Fuller was last year?
2) Brandon Faycson is getting some reps with the ones.
3) Hokies are going to be better running to Mark Shuman. I saw several excellent blocks by Shuman at the point of attack, but he struggles a bit blocking on the backside. He looks really good in pass blocking.
With all of the discussion of the O-line so far this offseason, I've heard relatively little about our pass blocking ability. Any read on how good we'll be (or how good individual players will be) for pass blocking?
If anyone else is really hungry for football analysis, maybe someone (more knowledgeable than me) could make a chart of each player's relative abilities. Maybe it could show each person's best position, then 2nd best position, their run block ability, backside ability, pass block ability, maybe something about their experience/polish? And maybe some stats (height, weight, lifting ability)...? Any other ideas?
If that's ridiculous to ask, sorry! I know it's a big wish list, I think it would be cool to discuss. Plus, I'm just starving for football stats this time of year...
Move Conte to LG and we're done. That' our five best and it's not that close. I think we have a very solid second group with Farris, Wang, McLaughlin, Arkema, Taraschke. We've got good about 12 capable guys, I like Grimes theory of just throwing them all out there and picking the best 5.
Seems like Grimey is looking at this roster with due diligence.