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.
Comments
It felt like we were too gunshy to even field the ball after the first mistake. Duke got a lot of extra punt yards on the bounce.
I feel like part of that is from what someone posted during the game - we seemed to be lining the returner too close because he was always running backwards to get to the ball when it came down. I'm not sure why we didn't line up deeper, because yeah, I'm pretty sure you never want to field the ball while you're moving towards your own end zone.
I was thinking this too. Unless the Duke punter was bombing it, it seemed like Robinson was scrambling to get back to the ball. I didn't have sound on when I watched so it was hard to see.
via GIPHY
All my college coach looked for is someone who would was reliable in fair catching the ball. It makes a huge difference in field position.
If Kaleb Smith had held his block for about a half second longer on Blackshear's spin cycle run, he would have been gone.
You're right. Would've only had to beat the defender that Robinson was blocking; not sure if Robinson was still engaged with him, but Blackshear would've had plenty of room to try and beat him.
Smith did block very well on BB's long TD run.
Hard to complain about the WR blocking though. Seeing Smith and Robinson blocking downfield on some of Herbert's big runs was awesome.
Robinson in particular got a gold star for his work on offense. Punt return, not so much.
I think people often underestimate the importance of WR's blocking down field in regards to breaking big runs. As noted elsewhere by French and many others, some of these big runs we are breaking are against little to no resistance for the back, and that's thanks to great blocking by the OL to get Herbert/Blackshear through the hole untouched, and the blocking downfield keeping that wide open grass in front of them clear.
Good OL blocking makes for good runs. Good WR blocking makes for great runs.
Also, if the O line is crushing their blocks, the back gets to the second level faster, the WR doesn't have to engage his block as long to affect the play.
It's all connected.
Correct. Smith made up for it on the BB long TD run though.
Me too, and I had assumed that was a good thing, as is often the case with DB's. However, I was waiting for your review to be sure.
My understanding is that most of those guys weren't even getting many reps during practice because many of the DB's missing were late scratches. That makes it all the more impressive.
I big time agree about Strong. He got picked on a little bit, particularly later on in the game after 3+ quarters of playing on an island with no rotations to give him a breather, but he looked like a guy who will be a full-time starter in a year or two, depending on what Chatman/Waller do after the season. Like Keonta Jenkins, he still has the body of a high school football player, but that 10-15 lb bulk on a skill guy is usually pretty fast, even for a hardgainer. I'd bet Keonta and Strong both have a nice "before and after" Hilgartification picture next spring (or whenever those start dropping on twitter each year).
I have to imagine Tyler Matheny earned himself a scholarship this week.
ACCN's camera work was so bad, it was tough to diagnose much around the DBs.
Make this go plaid and then send it into the ACCN.
Seriously, I can't understand why the camera work is so dang bad.
The camera men are practicing social distancing from their cameras. They don't know who those cameras where with before them.
Either BB is really good at disguising the handoff/keep or it was the cameraman's first game. He got faked out numerous times.
It is hard to say enough about those DBs. It shows they did their job to prepare even though they were 3rd and 4th string a week ago. If they are who we have for UNC, getting a full week of reps with starter focus will help a lot! it will be a tough task against UNC though.
Some of the mistakes are JV level, and it's really disappointing. There's absolutely no reason, from a coaching standpoint, that our return guys aren't positioned in a place that keeps them from running backwards to field a punt, and on a regular basis.
This is simple film review and expectation based on field position.
unless the punt goes further than expected, maybe the duke punter was having a real good day. hard to know unless someone is going to go watch film to work it out. if it happens again i'll be worried
That was really my point. It's a regular issue in two games now.
Yeah, but you'd expect to eventually learn that he's punting longer and line up deeper. It was like we didn't realize that the whole game.
there could have been something else on film that brought our returners up.. or simply making a fake punt less appetizing to Duke
This is a fantastic point that I had not considered. It makes a lot of sense as well.
French, did Corny not call many traditional passing plays or was BB just not seeing/throwing them much? It seemed like it was a run or a fade route most of the day.
There were some RPOs (Burmeister had Turner wide open on a post when he forced a slant to Mitchell at the end of the 2nd.) I will talk about a site adjustment Mitchell could have made to make another throw easier in my film review.
There was one flat-curl combo that caught Duke in a zone. Blackshear motioned out for a swing pass and Turner, instead of running a slant into the zone, curled up into a soft spot and Burmeister hit him.
Duke had a couple of play passes to hit the TE in the right flat well covered. Mitchell caught one for a short gain. BB had to throw the other away down at the goal line.
VT receivers were not getting much separation versus the press man, so that is why there were so many 50/50 balls.
Honestly, I thought BBs arm and placement was better this game than vs NC State. Duke made things tough. I didn't always like his patience and decision-making, and I think he will always be limited. The conundrum is, for the schemes where the OL has looked dominant, BB is the better fit to run the zone read (more geared to speed on the backside.) Hooker is the best thrower, and is the mix of BB and QP, he can do both of their strengths, but not as well as either. QP is limited in the passing and zone read game, but is the ace with power stuff like IVR and QB lead. OL has looked the best running BBs scheme- they took a bit of a step backwards in the power blocking stuff for QP vs NC State.
This is what I have been thinking about as well. I think BB is a big part of the reason our run game has been so dominant through two games. He is very proficient at running the zone read. So many nuances like his timing and mesh points are not glaring and obvious but make a huge difference in the effectiveness of the scheme. Plus he has legit speed to make the defense think twice about about biting too hard on the RB. I feel like with HH we will have the best of both worlds, but I wonder if the run game will cool off somewhat.
But that fumble. gosh all mighty dandy bullfrog.
This--his threat as a runner causes near defenders to freeze for a split second allowing whoever gets the ball to avoid the initial tacklers.
French's film reviews will make you a smarter VT football fan and a more knowledgeable spectator of the sport. Having access to all of his reviews as a TKPC member has added a whole lot to my viewing experience of live games. I have a better sense of why certain plays are successful or unsuccessful and which players are playing well or making mistakes. It has brought a new level of enjoyment to watching VT football games that I did not have in the years prior to reading his reviews.
In my opinion, that is well worth the TKPC membership. Even more so as we are undergoing a transition in defensive scheme and coaching styles and we are seeing for the first time what a FuCornVice rushing offense is capable of with depth and talent.
French's reviews get you prepped and ready for game day. I get a schedule set of articles from TKPC weekly that are informative and expand my knowledge both of the game and what we expect to see from our weekly opponents. A membership here is a must for content you dont get anywhere else.
Not a TKPC member currently, but I can say without a doubt before they were rightfully put behind the TKPC wall, French's reviews absolutely helped me to learn more about football, especially for never having played it. Some of the best quality content I've seen done with regards to breaking down VT football.
I agree 1000% and can absolutely relate. French's work is a big reason that I joined TKPC, but it's not the only reason. Joe has assembled a great staff which puts out excellent content and this community is terrific. The mods also deserve a ton of credit for keeping us in line (I have stepped out of line a time or two over the years). TKP is easily the best place on all the internet and that's why I decided to help support what Joe is building. I've been a member for a long time and continued to contribute even while working as a Peace Corps volunteer for two years. $84 a year can fit into most peoples' budgets if they really want to make it happen. It's very well worth it.
Hey French, it was clear that the OL was playing to the edge against NC State and got away with some "grabby" plays. Did you see the same thing in this game? Or did they clean up the grabs?
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I came away thinking Strong is a guy you can pick on a bit now but some qb in the near future is going to have a bad day trying it.
He looks the part, just like Jenkins. They look like adults and move like guys who will be good.
I was watching Strong as much as I could on the broadcast. If I recall, he was one of the lower rated recruits who had many on this board scratching their heads. He looked competent out there to my untrained eye and if can end up becoming a contributor down the line, I think it'll be easier to believe that Fuente and Co. do have some special evaluating/development sauce.
He looked good for being a true frosh that probably hasn't gotten the attention from coaches he would have gotten in a normal year. There were some things that stood out that he can improve on, but you have to feel good about his play based on the situation.
This was great to see again in giftory.
Hewitt seemed to take a step forward. In the past he looked to take plays off, or didn't have the conditioning to stay on the field all the time. But he has looked good this year. Does this scheme help him, or did he just finally catch his conditioning up to his talent?
I don't think anyone has been blameless on the DL so far, but I do think they are all benefitting from the rotations and probably increased competition in practice. When you know they wanna rotate guys out there, you know as a 3rd or 4th choice guy you can really earn 5-10 extra game reps if you show out in practice.
I am not saying that Hewitt hasn't made a mistake, or anything, but he looks like he is just playing with more consistent effort when he is out there. And maybe that is just that we are better managing the rotation this year.
With the blameless thing I just meant I haven't gone back and watched every snap again so I didn't want to say anyone had been "all great" so far. I didn't mean for it to sound like I was disagreeing.
I agree completely that Hewitt, at least to my casual in game eye, has been much improved this season. I feel much better about him being out there. I just figured your comment was a good spot to add my thoughts about the benefit of having a DL rotation, and how that might be making everyone practice harder.
Check the review tomorrow. There is room for improvement, but he has been the best of the crew by far.
If i have to /s