Bitter blog - Five thoughts after the Hokies' spring game

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What about punting and ST's coverage? Any improvement on that part?

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St coverage looked a lot better from the opening KO where, especially the 2 guys on the right, stayed in their lane assignments and when the runner broke that way, got off blocks to make the tackle. Right of the bat that stood out.

The receivers looked to be trying to find that hole all day and it never materialized. I was much happier with that part of the game, as I could see it from my vantage point and at game speed.

This is going to be great for the ACC.

I noticed the lack of running room for returners too, which was equal parts discouraging and exciting, on the punting end at least.
One thing about the kickoff coverage, don't be too caught up in what you see each individual guy doing. Beamer explained his concepts a couple weeks ago during the coaching clinic, and he'll have a few guys as "headhunters" who just go get the football, plus a couple guys who keep the ball on their inside shoulder, plus guys who are 5-yard contain men, outside contain men, and anywhere from 1-3 safeties (depending on the coverage call, which is typically a gameplan decision and opponent-specific). Oh, and all the alignments will change week-to-week or kickoff-to-kickoff (ie, the last guy on the line won't always be outside contain, the #3 guy from the outside won't always be a headhunter, etc).

All that said, I would have been extremely disappointed if our guys had broken off any big returns, as big kickoff returns are usually more a product of a blown assignment than a great play by the return team. Plus, seeing guys get off blocks and tackle should definitely make us happy.

nice write up, one thing that surprised me was the fact that Coleman was the running back on the 4th down run, and also on the goal line set of downs.. while he was able to convert a 4th down run, if Williams can't get on the field in a short yardage/goal line situations I have to wonder when he will see the field

I noted that too, and he made conversions. I think it was a case where they were going to run an RB for an entire set and watch the performance. Williams was helmet less and just chatting with Tyrod during the 4th down conversion.

This is going to be great for the ACC.

I'd like to see Jerome Wright get those types of carries.

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I agree with Jerome Wright or Williams in there, but the major head scratcher for me was trying to figure out why Daniel Dyer was getting valuable carries...

Minority Report.

Don't get me wrong, I love what Dyer has done for the team. But I pray on all that is holy and much that is not that we never see another "Let's fool them with Dustin Pickle" play.

Seemed like a complete waste of valuable reps to have Dyer carrying the rock that many times.

DANIEL DYER STATS Receiving Rushing
Statistics No Yds Avg TD   Att Yds Avg TD  
2013 0 0 0.0 0   0 0 0.0 0  
2012 0 0 0.0 0   1 1 1.0 0  
2011 0 0 0.0 0   6 30 5.0 0  
Career 0 0 0.0 0   7 31 4.4 0  

My thoughts are that Dyer got the reps because the idea in Spring Game is that it's a showcase to reward the players for their efforts at practice and an additional practice. This is not a competitive game. Dyer practices with the team just like everyone else. Beamer always likes to make sure everybody gets a few snaps in the Spring Game because some of the kids who rarely play will have their family come out to see them for what may be the only time they are playing on the field.

Still, you'd think somebody who's kicked in front of 65,000 fans before would have a leg up.

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I think he has hit the QB competition pretty close. I would say that the competition looks more like this:
Brewer- 40%
Motley- 30%
Leal- 30%

I still would not be shocked at all if Leal won the job....that is a typical Frank B. move to go with the most seasoned guy at first...and then let him play so poorly that he HAS to take him out.

Brewer looks to be by far the best passer of the group. Amazing arm, can make all the throws, good speed, has played in a more complicated system (as pointed out by Bitter). I think common sense tells us that this is our starting QB next year.

The big ?? will be if Juice gets the redshirt or he plays. If you have Trey, JC, Caleb, Mangus and Juice...then you have to sit down two of that group this year. I know Caleb ran hard for one day, but I have never really felt like he was a natural fit at rb...maybe I am wrong, but this guy has been shifted to a position that wasn't a good fit and it almost seems too late to move him again and stick him at the bottom of another depth chart...so I would guess he gets the nod in the backfield as #2 or #3. JC should be a Sproles type player with screens and line him up in the slot and move him around. Mangus is probably in trouble, he has always played well in games, he just seems to not stack up with talent in the group that we have. I almost wish we would get back to redshirting guys so they are studs by the time they leave. I hate when we waste a yr on a guy to let him play mop up vs. some scrub opponent. I say redshirt for Juice if it were me IMHO.

Adam J. Griffin

I still would not be shocked at all if Leal won the job....that is a typical Frank B. move to go with the most seasoned guy at first...and then let him play so poorly that he HAS to take him out.

Can you provide 3 examples of this?
Typical would mean more than at least twice in the past 20+ years.

This is going to be great for the ACC.

Sean Glennon and having to burn Tyrod's red shirt in the LSU game. That's all I can come up with. But we have been lucky to have some good success in the recent past with the QB position.

Two that come to mind are Mike Vick and Ryan Williams. According to Beamer's book, he made a promise to Vick's coaches/parents to redshirt him and give him a year to grow. I hear that RW redshirted due to poor pass protection? DE had a damn good year in 2008 too, so it's not like Beamer was favoring the senior player. I like to think the new offensive staff would find a way to get a Ryan-Williams-caliber player in the game somehow.

Regarding the Tyrod/Glennon position share, I don't think Tyrod was skilled enough to make every play in the playbook; Glennon could make a lot of throws Tyrod couldn't at the time. Glennon was the ACCCG MVP in '07 or '08 I think? He definitely wasn't getting playing time just because of seniority.

I'm confused. How exactly are Vick and RMFW examples of Beamer going with the older, more seasoned player, only to take them out for a younger guy because they were playing so poorly? (Or did you mean to reply to vtgriff09 and not Egbert)

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I'm confused. How exactly are Vick and RMFW examples of Beamer going with the older, more seasoned player, only to take them out for a younger guy because they were playing so poorly

Ahhh, I only read this part:

I still would not be shocked at all if Leal won the job....that is a typical Frank B. move to go with the most seasoned guy at first...

and didn't read this part:

and then let him play so poorly that he HAS to take him out.

My bad. I was merely saying that RW and MV7 were the only two instances where one could argue that the better player was left on the bench (and that's not an easy argument for RW given how good Evans played).

Yeah, I'm confused by this as well. Plus, I don't see why/how people keep saying, "this is the same old Frank," cause it isn't. The same old Frank wouldn't have fired one of his best buddies two years removed from a BCS bowl. Frank wants to win, badly. He's given his assistants the autonomy to do their jobs (lookin' at you, London. You want to win? Stop making promises that handicap your OC) and he'll let them. If Lefty says, "Ford gives us the best chance to win," bet your pants Ford's gonna play. I've seen nothing whatsoever that says Leal has any sort of advantage at this point in the spring, or any senior player for that matter. Frank and his staff don't have the luxury of being sentimental. The best players will play, and we're gonna win football games because of it.

Naw, I'm quite alright with CML maintaining the status quo.

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Oh, don't get me wrong, I am too. I'm just sayin' I'm glad Frank doesn't run his program that way. I'm happy he lets his assistants go out and get the players they want and then give them the ability to do their jobs on the field. Unless Fairchild is an absolute moron, there's absolutely no way he voluntarily pulled Watford during the Tech-UVA game. That felt like it was all London (admittedly, this is pure speculation, but it wouldn't be surprising). I've said it before, but if I was Fairchild, I would have refused. And if London ordered me to sub in Lambert, I would've walked down to the field, taken off my headset, handed London the playsheet, flipped him a double-bird, and resigned on the spot.

I would've walked down to the field, taken off my headset, handed London the playsheet, flipped him a double-bird, and resigned on the spot.

And then hit him with the Stone Cold Stunner.

I would have called a time out.
That would really confuse him.

This is going to be great for the ACC.

Would you have called timeout first?

Few things:

1. Brewer does not have an amazing arm. I'd argue that Motley throws a ball with more zip based on the limited sample size that I have seen.
2. Although Brewer does have good speed, he does not really look to leave the pocket. He's also a smaller dude, so he can't afford to take too many hits downfield.
3. Spread passing attacks are more simple than the pro-style passing game Loeffler runs. Brewer had to make one read pre-snap (a linebacker or a safety), quickly got the ball out, and probably never made more than one progression. Recall the triangle passing philosophy that Mason pointed out, and I think you'll see it's a much more complicated offense then what Brewer ran at TT.

I also think that Loefller prefers a veer orientated offense, which is more suited for Motley / Durkin. This may be because Loefller does not trust his OL to create lanes with the inside / outside zone stuff, so instead he relies on misdirection option stuff.

With that, I think Brewer will compete, but I do not think he's a lock to be a starting QB.