This is strictly based on what one has seen so far as I know we are only 2-3 weeks into the season. Please answer what you think you can and say what you think needs more time before an answer can be given.
I am wondering how his coaching performance has been when compared to Auburn and Temple so far. Does it seem like he has grown as a coach since coming to VT? Is the offense moving people around as much as Auburn did when they tried to fix the situation? Are we doing more with less? Does it somewhat help that many of the parts of our offense are relatively young so they do not have to re-learn and simply learn?
Is Loeffler DOING better is this situation in your opinion or is it still too early to tell?
IF anyone knows I think it would be cool to know just how complex can Loefflers offense get? How many years will it take to really open it up? Does it eventually gear towards a specific style or is it extremely broad so that he can cater to the players/athletes he has?
Comments
This is way too early to discuss and way overthinking his effectiveness as a coach. All I know is it looks pretty good so far and way better organized than the previous regime.
I am not a guru but I am opinionated, so I'll say too early to tell. I'll even give Loeffler next year to prove it because we'll lose Logan. We might be starting Leal, who we'll lose again. It might be third year before we can really have an effective measure of these guys. We'll know about Moorehead by the end of the season, though, with the way things have gone.
I know this is an entirely different debate (and way far in the future) but I'm not convinced Leal will start next year. I don't know though.
Neither am I, actually. But I think he'd be the best immediate option. Bucky Hodges for the future, maybe?
I just know Lefty will give the best QB the nod, whomever that may be.
Not sure if he'll play next year, but I think Ford will eventually take over. He's Lefty's first recruit I think.
I hear the Motley kid has been turning some heads in practice. We're probably in for a full scale QB fight next Spring/Summer.
Ford's coming in January. He will start next year, probably not from the beginning.
I think it comes down to Ford and Motley next year. Bucky's throwing motions are atrocious, and I don't think Leal has the entire skill set to be a starter.
Agree on the Moorehead prognosis. Also think we all agree by now that coach Grimes has been an excellent, excellent hire.
Not only is it too early to tell how Loeffler is doing at Tech, it may be impossible to ever fairly judge his time at Auburn. He was only there for a year, he didn't have the right personnel for his system, he didn't have a quarterback, there is talk that the head coach wasn't letting Loeffler do what Loeffler wanted to... It's just one of those situations where it's impossible to tell what really happened.
I can say this though. There is no reason to think the offense is getting WORSE then it was last year. That means that the moves Frank Beamer made benefited the team. Now how much will they benefit the team moving forward? It's to early to say. That'll mostly depend on the new coaches ability to bring in top talent, which it appears they are more capable of doing then the previous coaches.
Nail on the head, man. Even with the picks LT has thrown, I like what I've seen by and large. The difference in attitude between last year and this year on the entire team (but especially the offense) is tremendous. I think almost all of it is the attitude of the coaches being reflected in the players. That's RESPECT in action. Leadership...it'll get after ya.
There's definitely one thing, in my opinion, that you can say about Frank Beamer. He's always had a knack for spotting value that most everybody else fails to see. Just look at recruiting over the years. In many cases, VT will offer a kid early on that is mostly under the radar, then all of a sudden, other offer letters come pouring in. These other college coaches know that Beamer can go out and find it.
I think that will be the case with Loeffler. I think he's going to be OK.
I will repeat what I said in another thread...the early returns are positive, and leave it at that.
It could be fool's gold, or actual gold.
I am not sure if there is a fair way to evaluate him yet.
Is Loeffler and his staff an upgrade? Absolutely, because their execution has looked better than some previous Hokie offenses that had much better athletes.
Are they a good college offensive staff? That is yet to be determined. We have no idea if the offense will look like it did against Alabama, or more like last week. Last week, essentially they ran the basic package that they implemented in spring practice. The positive? They executed it well for the most part.
We won't know if this is a good offensive team until we see them against a variety of ACC teams. I will start to draw conclusions after the UNC game.
I don't think they will be a juggernaut this season. I just don't see the big play ability to overcome small execution errors. 10-12 play 80 yard drives are tough, especially in a system where the backs and linemen both have to be on the same page in order to be effective. Mistakes will happen. The big question in my mind will be, can they continue to do things that are fundamentally found, and will the level of fight/compete level against the remaining teams on the schedule be on par with their effort against Alabama. If the ultimate answer to both questions is yes, then the talent will come and the future is bright.
Pretty much my thoughts; they show promise, but we need to see how their system and style of recruiting pans out in the next few years to really know the end game.
I figured it would still be too early but I figured I would ask anyways. thanks for the responses
It all starts with the coaches Loeffler has on his staff and how effective they've been to date. I'm encouraged by what I'm seeing so far.
Based on what he had to work with, or maybe the OLs didn't have any coaching previously, Grimes has far exceeded my expectations with the OLs; Shane is getting good results from his RBs; and, despite the injury to Malleck, Stiney is starting to get production from his TEs, primarily Cline. And finally, believe it or not, I'm actually seeing signs of life from the QB under Loeffler, and the WRs under Moorehead.
LT improved from the Bama game, but he still needs to work on not staring down his primary receiver along with not throwing jump balls to a guy who's not physically capable of fighting for the ball. The WRs are still having issues with dropping passes (but not nearly as many as those dropped against Bama!!), but they're running better routes and starting to block well downfield on running plays.
There is light at the end of the Tech offensive tunnel, and I personally like what I'm seeing from the new staff. Let's see if we get some additional improvement against ECU.
Granted, we only have a two game sample, but through two games I think the blocking has been better on the interior than the film I reviewed from 2011 (Lainer-Nosal-Miller-Brooks-DeChristopher.) Guys are staying engaged with their man and staying hat on hat. The ECU film from 2011 had guys barely making contact before losing engagement.
The difference right now is that 2011 team had down the field threats and Wilson as a big play threat. Against ECU, those down the field threats were rendered useless by a poor performance by Logan, but Wilson and Oglesby won the game more by breaking tackles than by getting huge holes.
A vertical threat will help.
I have Tom Brady in one of my fantasy leagues and I'm surprised I haven't seen people blaming his mediocre performance Thursday on Loefler (maybe I just haven't gotten to them yet in catchup reading yet). Afterall, Loefler coached him in High School, Brady completed less than 50% of his passes and had less than 200 passing yards.