I wanted to start a post and get everyone thinking what will/could happen as we go deeper into the year. We all saw what happened this weekend with the drops from some vet players and then some amazing catches by freshmen.
Isaiah Ford- Love this kid, he really knows how to run a route and isn't afraid to take a hit. Hands might be one of the best on the teams. I expect him to continue to develop into a huge role for Lefty and the offense. He seems to be an all around good WR- can go deep, across the middle. I think his best area is the deep outs/post routes.
Willie Byrn- He has great effort/heart. Always seems to be there when needed/check down. He could be our Danny Amendola... he is far from Welker but if one of the freshmen gets going he really could be "danny coale" WIDE OPEN all the time
Cam Phillips- OMG that double move he put on the ECU db made me cream my pants. I can't think of the last WR we had that could shift his hips that fast and be that wide open for a score. This is the sleeper pick for me, he has all the potential in the world but we have seen a little sample size. However if Stanford/Byrn keep the drops up we could see Phillips more often
Josh Stanford- The kid can get open and he has some wheels. A good route runner and still needs to locate the ball with his hands not chest. Its easier said than done but I think if he did that he could become a great underneath threat for us.
Demitri Knowles- Something just isn't right with him, last year he had some good games but then it started to go downhill. I am sure being injured all spring/summer didn't help him but then we had 2 freshmen come in and play very well. I could see him maybe being a wr4/5 when we really need to spread the ball out. Outlook isn't so hot right now but who knows we still have the ACC schedule to go and he could have a good game or two.
Who is everyone's darkhorse<--(not a racial comment) and leader for the WR this year. Estimated TD's for Ford, Phillips, Byrn, and Stanford?? Do we have 1 WR that becomes a big mismatch? Yes we have Bucky but look what ECU did they shut him down for sure so we need another go to.
Comments
I bet Louisville wishes they had I. Ford this past weekend. All I can say is what a difference one year of recruiting and coaching makes. The best days for VT Football are ahead, not behind!
Remember last spring when Stanford tweeted that he hated Blacksburg and just worked here? Now he is about to be passed by two true freshmen. It will be interesting to watch how Moorehead manages that situation.
Not totally independent of that point, Parker could still provide some meaningful contributions this year. He's a good complement to Ford, Phillips and Byrn.
I don't actually recall this...
No, I do not remember that at all. Was it a legit account?
Yeah, it was around NSD last year. Stanford grew up in Toronto, so Blacksburg may be pretty boring for someone from an actual city. He's also got his rap career/pursuits. Seems like he puts a lot of his time into that.
It may have been all the snow we were getting that time last year, but since he's Canadian, he should be used to that.
(As an aside, Twitter provides entirely too much insight into these guys lives)
May have just been having a bad day, I find it hard to believe that he didn't realize Blacksburg isn't Toronto before committing
IIRC, Stanford had two major offers: VT and UCLA. Those are opposite ends of the spectrum of college environments.
Ford is really coming through. I was impressed with Phillips last game, especially down the stretch. Great set of young men there.
I don't think there really is a leader on thes squad, maybe Byrn leading by example and just making everyone else want to work that muc harder seeing him maximize his ability.
I like the fact that no one on the team is publicly complaining about touches or targets, but just going out there and working and generally being excited when the team succeeds, that is a huge factor in team success, being happy when somoeone else makes a play and not being mad that it wasn't you.
I'd like to see Stanford shake this game off and come back strong; I know he has it in him. Was probably trying to do too much and then started overthinking the catches.
The sky is the limit (*pun intended) for Bucky. He has a great future in front of him.
VT's is flush with capable receivers and RBs. Bright days ahead as these kids develop.
Phillips looked really good. On the very last drive he had the long catch and had the awareness to head straight for the sidelines. Ford's drop in the end zone shouldn't count against him as much simply because if he had managed to haul it in it would have been an amazing catch. Stanford and Willie will continue to be consistant. Knowles dropped in the depth chart after falling behind because of an injury but his experience will add some much needed depth in case someone goes down. The future sure is bright.
I would like to see a Knowles/Stroman return duo. Stroman has shown good vision and speed on the return game, enough so that he should be filling in Byrn's role next year as a slot and YAC guy. I like that we have guys who can push for PT, if one of the WR's is having stone hands game, put in the others. Having options is a nice luxury.
Yes. Love what I have seen from Stroman. We need him in on kickoff returns too.
Don't mean to be harsh on him, but I haven't seen much from Knowles on kickoff returns to think he would be any good at doing it. He looks way too timid on kick off returns. I am a firm believer you just have to catch the ball and go otherwise. I just don't see that from him at all.
Stroman has looked really good though.
Stroman belongs to Dblock, he will not be a receiver.
I love where we are with WRs. So many potential playmakers. The drops can be fixed. Lack of talent is a bit harder to fix.
I know against OSU we divided the ball evenly between WR's, TE's, RB's when throwing. Do we have a breakdown for this game yet? I don't recall seeing many RB's targets. (Other than Sam Rogers)
Everyone don't be so down on Stanford. He is the man of the group. He had a bad game. I think that he and Willie are opening up the field for the youngsters, but once the film is out on the freshman, we will see what they are made of.
Add in Deon Newsome, Carlis, and Jaylen Bradshaw, who apparently is a scout team animal, with guys like Kendrick Holland and the future has a high ceiling with the WR's.
I keep forgetting about Carlis Parker, the injury bug has kept us from getting a good look at him. I like the idea of his athleticism giving Brewer short throw options. It is easy to get down on Stanford, all the drops in the Bama game stood out so much people have forgotten how he really came on toward the end of last year. The problem is he hasn't seemed to be able to sustain it. Hopefully these young guys making catches will force the defense to spread out and open up lanes for everyone.
If we can get a stable O-Line we could have a beastly offense. With the Rb's Te's and WR's we have its finally looking like a team..
Deon Newsome is doing what we envisioned Carlis Parker doing. Both of them are sleepers in this offense.
This. I only feel like Carlis just adds one extra dimension in the fact if we wanted to become tricky he can throw the ball as well.
Deon was a QB in HS as well........so similar skill set.
Surprised neither of these guys ended up as a TE
...sorry I had to
I am really excited for our WRs going forward in the season. Cam Phillips made some BIG catches saturday and Ford did too. Does anyone know if Phillips looked like he might have been able to get the edge on that last catch with 4 seconds left. I figured he would go out of bounds, but he might have been able to out run the DBs and take it for a TD at the end there. Either way, they showed some great moves to get themselves open.
he might have but that is asking a lot for a freshmen wr to notice. I'm sure his instinct was catch and he immediately looked for the sideline.. IMO that shows a lot of maturity/game time skills for him to do. He gave us another chance for a deep ball.. sadly brewer had a rocket arm and threw it for a FG instead of a TD.
Oh for sure. I was almost dreading him trying to have a "hero" moment, only to get tackled in bounds. I was just wondering.
i'm still slapping my head over this. when he let it go i yelled "that's going to the gdmfing first row!". you gotta give your players a chance at that ball. sigh.
yeah that's a tough one.. obviously we have not practiced the oh shit throw.. I mean I know Bucky is tall but still that was deeeppp!!!!!!!
Part of me wonders if the wind got it/he actually has a cannon arm that we don't know about. Will lefty take notice??
the wind may have played a factor. that blacksburg wind will git afta ya. if i remember correctly, he badly overthrew two passes in the first quarter going in the same direction. still...smh
i'd love to see some more go routes. he has a good enough arm. it may be more of a WR trust thing.
I saw the pocket collapsing on him and I guess the adrenaline pushed the ball a little (10 yards) farther then he wanted to put it.
Side effect, we now know he does have the arm that can cannonball the pigskin!
One-word Evaluation of the WR corp:
STUDS.
STUDS without a JUGS... come on VT get that darn machine working or steal/borrow one from someone. Hopefully we have a nice new shiny one like this come tomorrow!!
Apparently JUGS machines are on national backorder right now. Since LT3 isn't here, using The Skipper for catch practice isn't practical anymore.
Phillips has the best hands on this team by far. Love what I'm seeing from him and Ford. Bright future.