Familiarity, Size, and, Surprise: William & Mary Game Preview

The Hokies open their season this Saturday against I-AA William & Mary. The Tribe comes off a 7-5 season that included a road loss to West Virginia in the opener where William & Mary lead 17-7 at the half. They are recognized as one of the top defensive teams in FCS after only giving up 14 points a game in 2013. The Tribe returns most of their defensive stars including preseason senior All-American Mike Reilly, along with senior All-American wide receiver Tre McBride. David Teel of the Daily Press did an outstanding job with discussing the hurdles that the unproven Hokie offense faces against the Tribe. For any fan to have appropriate expectations for the game, Teel's column is a must read.

Besides talent level, William & Mary will challenge the Hokies for two reasons. First of all, the Tribe coaching staff is very familiar with the operation in Lane Stadium. The Tribe offense is coordinated by former Hokies quarterback coach Kevin Rogers, and their defensive line is coached by former defensive tackle Kevin Lewis. Both understand the core principles of Bud Foster's defense and know how to attack it.

The Tribe also will be an interesting test because they are so completely different in terms of scheme and size to the offense and defense that the Hokie starting groups have been practicing against over the last few weeks. On film and on paper, William & Mary is a big believer in a "bigger is better" approach. The Tribe defensive line is a veteran group that rolls out defensive ends in the 250-260 pound range, while the defensive tackles are an Alexander Hamilton short of 300. The Tribe linebackers are bigger than several of the Hokie defensive linemen. After weeks of trying to block the lightening quick Hokie defensive line, the offense may struggle to adjust to a defensive line that actively seeks contact to keep blockers off their linebackers.

This will be a true test of the Hokies speed versus the Tribe's size and strength.

A Big Test for the Offense

Against West Virginia in 2013, the Tribe utilized three basic defensive front concepts. The Tribe started the game running what I call a 4-3 Eagle Weak defensive line. The 4-3 eagle weak aligns a nose tackle on the weak-side shoulder of the center. To the strong side, the defensive tackle aligns on the outside shoulder of the guard, while the end aligns wide. The concept is to overload the strong side with defensive linemen, and allow the athletic linebackers to make plays from the back side. Watching highlights from their CAA schedule, this appears to be their base defense most of the time.

Here is a great example of the Tribe executing their defense with their talented front-seven. The Mountaineers use a full house backfield with strength to the boundary, and they attack the Tribe with an isolation play.

At the snap, the defensive line slants to the strength of the formation, with the left defensive end having contain. Look closely at the three technique defensive tackle aligned on the outside shoulder of the right guard. That is 6-4, 290 rising senior defensive tackle Jasper Coleman (No. 94) from Richmond, VA. The guard's assignment is to reach Coleman on the play and seal him inside. Coleman has a leverage advantage by already being aligned on the guard's outside shoulder, and he has the strength and athleticism to maintain control of the gap instead of getting driven outside. Behind him, the Tribe's two all-conference linebackers work spectacularly in tandem.

Linebacker Airek Green (No. 6), a 6-0, 225 senior who had 13 tackles for a loss last season, has the assignment of fitting the gap formed between the left defensive end and Coleman, which means defeating the isolation lead block of the WVU fullback. Green attacks the hole aggressively and gets underneath the fullback to jam up the hole. The middle linebacker, 6-2 242 junior Luke Rhodes (No. 50), scrapes across and then attacks the space behind Green. He can scrape because the Tribe nose tackle ties up both the center and the left guard, meaning that three defensive linemen have occupied four potential blockers. Rhodes, who is the leading returning tackler and another all conference performer, sticks the tailback right in the hole for a loss along with Coleman. This is a beautifully executed scheme. For the Hokies to run the football, the uncovered linemen must effectively turn those defensive tackles when they execute a combination block, and then time releasing the block correctly to get to the second level. If they stick with the block too long, the Tribe linebackers are freed up to make the play. If they don't get enough initial push, the Tribe defensive line is talented enough to make plays in the backfield. The approach is similar to Bud Foster's gap approach, but Foster's defensive line uses more aggressive slanting (sometimes requiring crossing two gaps), while the Tribe take away the strong side through their over-shifted alignment.

After one series against the Mountaineer spread, the Tribe switched to a 3-3 stack and a 5-1 with the outside linebackers aligned as stand up edge rushers. If Coach Loeffler brings in multiple receiver packages, don't be surprised if William & Mary incorporates these looks to confuse the offense. In the stack look, the three linebackers align directly behind a three-man defensive line. The Tribe will add an extra safety. Two safeties align almost like outside linebackers, while the free safety aligns deep with the Tribe corners to play a cover 3 look. This allows the Tribe to get 8 defenders into the box right after the snap without exposing their corners in man coverage. The defensive line will work to tie up blockers, leaving the stacked linebackers and safeties unblocked, as demonstrated here against a Mountaineer sweep.

Meanwhile, the 5-1 (a three man defensive line with two stand up linebackers on the line of scrimmage) gives the Tribe a defensive alignment where they can zone blitz from several different angles. As a run defense, the 5-1 puts tremendous pressure on Rhodes to be very sharp tackling against quick hitting plays up the middle, but as you see here, he is an excellent tackler.

Finally, left tackle Laurence Gibson will receive a stout first test in All-American senior defensive end Mike Reilly. Reilly (No. 95) is a 6'4", 265 pound bull on the quarterback's blind side. He isn't blazing fast, but he has tremendous power on the bull rush and can change things up with nice leverage rush moves, especially a rip move through the tackle's inside shoulder. Reilly had 11.5 sacks last season, including two against West Virginia. While he is excellent at executing defensive coordinator Trevor Andrews' wide variety of zone blitzes, but he can run right through the left tackle with a bull rush even when the Tribe only rushes three. Here, Reilly just bulldozes the West Virginia left tackle into Clint Trickett's lap, then extends to get separation and slides off for the sack.

The Tribe secondary doesn't particularly stand out. From various defensive alignments, you will usually see some form of cover three (three defenders covering the deep middle and both deep sidelines) on every defensive snap. Much like the front, the secondary group is big, and they appear to be sure tacklers. Speed may be a question mark, but Vince Mihota and Steve Sobczak's former high school teammate DeAndre Houston-Carson is a returning third-team All-CAA cornerback who blocked two kicks last season.

Preview of Boston College and the Tre McBride Adjustment

Very little jumps out on film of the William & Mary offense. The Tribe will rotate several running backs, line up their big but inexperienced offensive line with very tight splits, and run a variety of basic inside zone plays from a single back multiple tight end formation or a shotgun-spread look. The Tribe offense only scored 21 points a game last season, and Coach Rogers has to replace the entire left side of their offensive line. Neither potential Tribe quarterback has started a game in college.

However, the Tribe is big everywhere, from offensive line, to running backs, to the receivers. They will pound the football rotating several solid bigger running backs and try to keep the quarterbacks comfortable with safe passes off play-action to the tight ends and fullbacks in the flat. Fullback Darnell Laws had 8 catches (including a touchdown) against West Virginia, mostly on bootlegs where he leaked out to the short flat. Interestingly, Laws played in all 12 Tribe games but he didn't catch another pass all season. The Hokies have often struggled containing backs and tight ends on bootlegs due to their aggressive backside pursuit in Foster's gap scheme. Don't be surprised if Laws gets targeted as a change up when Coach Rogers feels that the Hokies are loading up on the running game.

When William & Mary goes looks to stretch the defense, seniors Tre McBride and Sean Ballard will be the primary targets. The 6-2, 205 pound McBride was a Sporting News College All-American honorable mention last season after making 63 receptions for 801 yards with five touchdowns, including two spectacular plays against West Virginia. The Tribe will pound and pound and pound inside, and then take a shot deep.

McBride has the ability to target the ball at the highest point and take it away from the defender. Here, the Tribe quarterback (since graduated) throws on an out-and-up to McBride. WVU is in a cover two deep. There is no reason for the quarterback to throw this ball, but he sees the corner "bite" on the fake (he is actually just sitting in his short zone) so he fades the ball deep. McBride goes up and bails out his quarterback.

The Tribe offense moves McBride all over the field, but he spends most of his time aligning to the wide side. Against a normal Bud Foster look, that would mean that McBride will spend most of his day covered by Brandon Facyson and Chuck Clark, and far away from Kendall Fuller. Against Pitt, Foster changed up his defense by taking Kyle Fuller off the boundary and mirroring him on talented freshman Tyler Boyd. I am sure Coach Foster will try to run his base defense and not show too much against a I-AA squad, but if things are close and McBride is getting open (especially from the slot), don't be shocked if Fuller starts to shadow him with lockdown press coverage.

Former Hokie Christian Reeves gives the William & Mary receiver group depth in spread looks, but the Tribe will try to throw the ball as little as possible against Bud Foster's fast defensive front. The Tribe staff wants to use those tight formations to negate the speed of the Hokie front, and sustain drives to wear down the starting group.

Prediction

This is a very difficult game to predict. I have no idea what the Hokie offense will look like. Without being absolutely certain of the big play capability that Isaiah Ford, Shai McKenzie, Marshawn Williams, and Bucky Hodges can bring to the table, the Hokies wouldn't appear to have the speed advantage that would give the Tribe defense problems. Defensively, the Hokies have to account for McBride and get the Tribe behind the sticks on first down. I don't think the Tribe has the talent to make plays in second- and third-and-long situations. If William & Mary is getting lots of second-and-5's, it could be a long day in Blacksburg with the Buckeyes looming on the horizon for the young Hokies.

Score: Hokies 24–Tribe 10