What didn't make the film review- a little taste for folks thinking about TKPC

Good morning everyone. This week's film review is a monster, covering the continuance of technique evolution and attitude in the offensive line play, potential overburden on James Mitchell, and a mini SWOT on the defensive front seven. Frankenstein ended up being over 4000 words, and I ended up cutting out some other observations. Here is a brief idea of what you will find in the film reviews (with film added for demonstration purposes) as a TKPC member.

1) New Look Motion
For the first time I can recall, Brad Cornelsen incorporated wide receiver motions which didn't make any pretense about an actual jet sweep hand off. The motion was flat behind the line of scrimmage (no bend back for the jet sweep) and often reversed back and then reset. This could be to give Burmeister a pre-snap read, although Duke ran so much press man that it was likely window dressing to distract Duke's linebackers. The two Duke linebackers were outstanding early in the game, and this motion gave them something to think about. The Hokies ran three plays that I spotted using variations of a non-jet sweep WR motion. One was a base run where Herbert slipped, and the LB to the motion bailed out on a possible sweep, opening up a bubble in the middle. Turner was the motion recevier.

One was a base run where Blackshear spin moved through a tackle and Nick Gallo pancaked three Duke defenders like a Three Stooges skit. Smith was the motion receiver, almost acting like a Y-wham trying to kick out the edge if the QB kept.

The final play was Burmeister's long TD run. Robinson motioned, then aligned as a TB, and faked an outside zone away from the original motion. Duke's LBs bit. The play structure was normal for VT, but that motion to static for a WR is a new wrinkle.

I also liked Cornelsen mixing in some power and pin and pull concepts when Duke started overplaying the zone.

2) QB play
Hit or miss. BB fits the run scheme that has been so successful, and he made a handful of nice throws against press man. However, I don't like his unwillingness to throw the ball away under pressure. I also didn't like his RPO near INT at the end of the 2nd Q. Mitchell was completely bracketed by two defenders, and Tre Turner was wide open running a wide post into the space Mitchell cleared out. At least his arm looked a little better. I can't complain about his execution of the run game at all.

3) I know today is about Herbert, and wow. But, Blackshear will have one of these huge games soon. And, they haven't figured out how to involve him in the passing game yet. He had a couple of great runs that just didn't have the space afforded to Herbert.

4) It sure was nice to flip the field on kickoff return. Punt return needs to get figured out. Duke got more gifts than just the fumble in the punt game.

5) I don't give the DBs enough talk in my film review, but those kids deserve a gold star. They had to defend Duke's strength, with little to no time to prepare. Despite getting beat on a couple of 50/50 balls, Dorian Strong had one hell of a day. He played a bunch on an island, and while the dam got leaky, it didn't break. Matheny couldnt cover anyone, but he had his hat around the football all day. I didn't notice Thompson or Rodgers, and that was a good thing. Jenkins looked a bit slowed down this week, and that is ok. He has a big learning curve.