Per Beamerball.com today today's open scrimmage will be 48 plays. Here is the schedule. 3rd and 31 will be covering for TKP, but we welcome your thoughts and comments if you attend.
Practice begins at 3:00. Actual scrimmage begins at 4:10-48 plays. GO HOKIES!
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Lots of rumbles this week about Marshawn Williams. We have heard little about the quarterback battle and adjustments to the scheme. It will become a little clearer after today.
ROLL CALL
Who all's showing up for the scrimmage?
I'll be there in an 2010 maroon effect long sleeve and black backpack
Here Chillin in section 16, probably the only guy in the stands in a purple hoodie
is it bigger than the UVA Spring game yet?
As big at least and the scrimmage isn't till 4 Lolz
*edit* we have definitely surpassed #newhoos spring game levels
If I recall its also a Junior Day so be sure to come out and impress some of the recruits!
LET'S ROCK!!!!
Bucky throwing out of the wild turkey
BOOOOOOOOONE!!!
I'm tellin people don't sleep on motley in this qb race
I'm assuming David Wang isn't playing today...does this mean Teller will get some reps at Tackle?
Feed my addiction fellow tkpers.
Is that a VT clock around your neck Flavor Flav style?? Just awesome...
Nice day out here! Mid 50's but a little windy. Glad to be back at Lane!
How are things looking?
My thoughts:
QB: Mark Leal is the best QB on campus, and it's not even close. That said, he (and the rest of the group) had some bad overthrows all day and he didn't make great decisions. Honestly, I think the job is pretty much Brewer's to lose once he's here, as the bar has been set relatively low. Color me officially concerned about the QB situation at VT.
RB: If Marshawn Williams can pick up the pass protection and mental aspects of the game, he's hands-down the best RB on the roster, possibly including Trey. The dude runs like a man possessed and is extremely difficult to bring down one-on-one. Apart from a couple nice runs in the pre-scrimmage, and a busted play that went for a TD for Wright, it was a pretty ho-hum day for the RBs as a whole. To be fair, they were often met in the backfield by DTs.
LB: I didn't watch the linebackers a whole heck of a lot (except when my friend Josh got in for a few plays), but a couple things stood out to me. Deon Clarke is a very good athlete and could be a heck of a threat blitzing the QB. He ran with the first team, and if I was a betting man, I'd wager he'll hold onto the top backer spot through the spring. Chase Williams isn't gonna wow anybody in the weight room, on the scale or in the underwear olympics, but the guy can play some football. He laid a solid hit (and perfect form tackle) on Williams to bring him down for a short gain - the only time I saw one person bring Williams down by himself all day. He reminds me of Jack Tyler in that he's not the most athletic guy, but he just has a knack for getting in the right spot and making plays. I really hope to see that continue and for him to win the starting Mike spot. If he doesn't, Motuapuaka (fun to type, more fun to say) is going to be an absolute monster for Foster sooner rather than later. He had some very nice hits that were heard crystal-clear all the way up in the stands. He seems to feel like every ballcarrier and blocker has personally wronged him in some way. I really hope we get to see a few one-one-one shots at the goalline between him and Williams. That'll be a heck of a collision. That said, he struggled a bit in pass coverage and didn't seem to play 100% fast 100% of the time. I'd look for him to show up big starting next spring.
TE: Bucky Hodges definitely looks the part, and he even threw a TD pass in the little pre-scrimmage out of the Wildcat package. I think this could be a very good year for both Hodges and Malleck, as both showed the athleticism and skill set to be very productive and Loeffler has both said and shown that he'll give them plenty of opportunities to be major playmakers.
Random notes: AJ Hughes is a good punter, but he still had one or two that were a tad short. Torrian Gray is extremely entertaining to watch during scrimmages, and Frank Beamer seems to really like making his guys compete all the time - the offense and defense were keeping score (first downs vs. 3rd down stops I think) with the offense making a great comeback late in the scrimmage but ultimately falling a couple points short.
So the OL didn't look good?
I didn't watch a whole lot of the line (most of my attention was on the skill players - I figured French and others would have better insight into line play than me), but they seemed to at least hold their own against the DLine. Not outstanding, not horrible. A few busts in pass protection and Searles lost his crap a few times when guys didn't get into the proper position run blocking, resulting in RBs being met in the backfield. But there were a few clean pockets and a couple good running plays as well.
Good stuff...Thanks!
What made you believe that Motley wasn't close to Leal? From the numbers it seems as if Motley did pretty well and Leal was 3/9 w/ an INT but of course numbers don't tell the whole story.
I wasn't there but you should completely ignore the numbers. It's the first open scrimmage of the spring. I think effort and how comfortable players look are really the only things you should take away from this.
Well I wasn't there either which was why I was just enquiring on someone's thoughts who were there. Only thing I can go off of are numbers and reports from those there. Seemingly Mike Barber said Motley had the sharpest day out of the QBs in his article. I don't know if you could ever completely throw out numbers even from the first scrimmage as it can somewhat tell some of the story.
Yes, ignore the numbers. Motley has the tendency to keep the ball too low when he drops/moves, resulting in an elongated motion and somewhat erratic ball placement. I saw a couple throws that were off/high probably just because of this. Also, his throws just don't seem to have as much zip on them as Leal's and they just don't look as good coming out of his hand. Having had the opportunity to watch him a bit more this offseason, I'd say that Leal has shown a bit more accuracy consistently as well. Mechanically, especially when he has time, Leal is solid. He transfers his weight well, keeps the ball where it should be, follows through well, etc. and the ball comes out nice n pretty with a bit of urgency to get to its target. In pass skel and warmup stuff, he's decisive and accurate. He is very sharp hitting underneath stuff (seriously, Paper Boy might have 100 receptions this year). However, once there's a rush involved, he gets a bit antsy. I'm hoping this is something that will go away with more serious preparation and reps, but it's very concerning right now. Ford, like Leal, can throw a pretty ball when he's standing still (although I saw them release at about the same time a few times during warmups and Leal's passes seemed to get there a little quicker). However, his footwork pretty much goes to hell when he has to drop. He tends to do this weird little kick with his back leg that ends up drawing the ball back (so the pass goes behind his target) and can struggle to really transfer his weight, resulting in inconsistent accuracy and a lack of power. He made a couple checkdown throws during pass skel that were completions, but took so long to get there/didn't lead his receiver properly so that said receiver would have gotten lit up if it was full-contact. The reps have been split up something along the lines of 3:2:1 for Leal:Motley:Ford, indicating how the coaching staff feels about the current QB pecking order.
Here's the thing: NONE of them looked good with a rush coming (and Motley badly overthrew a RB screen and threw the ball pretty poorly on a WR screen as well) and none of them really impressed me with their decision-making. Now, it's only the first spring scrimmage and there's a lot of football to play and a lot of opportunity for growth, but the QBs are going to have to make the most of every single second of it. When Brewer arrives (and let's not forget he's got his own set of shortcomings) the competition will begin in earnest.
Not worth mentioning any qbs besides leal?
Can we officially start the bring back logan chants? Starting to wonder of we can progress at all on offense from last year.the key is the oline and a scrimmage isnt gonna tell much.
GO HOKIES
The QB situation scares the pee out of me. It's the worst VT has had since 2000.
Glennon 2006 would be a success with this group.
You sure know how to make a man's day! :-)
I'd like to think we have a couple of guys more effective than Grant Noel
One slight advantage is that teams in the first half of the season will have little info to go on and prepare for the offense.
Sorry, 2001.
Still, Noel threw for a prorated 2300 yards, 57.5%, 19tds and 13 interceptions. That would be a good year from any of these guys.
there's a reason Noel rhymes with dull. Any of these guys will be more exciting
Whoa whoa whoa. Just burn it all down why don't you haha.
Thx for the update bud! I enjoyed reading your comments. Fun to hear about individual battles taking place! Can't wait to see which stars emerge from this new crop of players-
Saw this gif and wanted to use it...thanks
me too
Mason will be reporting shortly. I wasn't in town this week.
*starts drooling*
I got a fever... and the only prescription, is more film review/detailed football analysis on TKP
Not sure if the VT SID is youtubing the highlight reel, but the stiffarm Marshawn Williams threw on Kendall Fuller was JUICY. And, it is hard to get the big picture, but Motley looks awful good when he has time to throw from the pocket. The long hookup to Stanford looked good. Tight spot, good throw where only Stanford could get it, and Stanford climbed the ladder to bring it in.
Both of those plays made me giddy as a schoolgirl. Stanford looks likes he's having a heck of a spring for himself.
Ever since the MIA game he's shown alot of upside. Hope he keeps it up!
Yep, looking at the video Motley looks pretty good to me especially on that throw to Stanford. I liked seeing Joel Caleb running hard.
http://www.hokiesports.com/videos/#!/videos/m-footbl/ttcG1xbDqCG8Dyuc0vb...
Stanford seems to be playing with the confidence of a guy ready to break out, day dreaming of the team and him being good enough for there to be a College Gameday special on his music haha.
As of now Stanford is the best wr on the squad imo by far. And I really think motley can be the guy. I just don't think Leal has "it" I can't see him going out and winning us games vs just not losing them, if that makes any sense at all. He's gonna look a little sharper right now if only from experience, but motley is a hometown kid with a great work ethic and plenty of arm
Stanford started to really look good towards the end of the season last year. The improvement for Alabama to UVA was really good.
The video of the scrimmage where he went up and wanted that catch continues on that improvement, IMO.
Happy for this guy, he's looking like a playmaker.
Not gonna lie, I'm starting to get worried about Demitri Knowles as a WR. He dropped a couple passes that hit him in the hands and on one or two of the routes it looked like he gave up a lil early
He was on the second team offense for every play of the scrimmage if that's any indication of his performance.
Also, forgot to mention the good-on-good mini-scrimmage that happened at the very beginning of practice. The offense went up-tempo (we're talking Oregon up-tempo here, it was crazy) and, in the words of Andy Bitter, "took it to the defense." I saw 3 plays that would have likely been TDs - a JC Coleman run, a Jerome Wright run and a TD pass from Bucky Hodges to Willie Byrn. I don't know where it came from or where it went, but it was fun to watch. Don't be shocked if VT goes hurry-up a good chunk of the time this year, and don't be shocked if they're very successful with it.
sounds great- at least they're experimenting outside the box.
vt going true hurry up (and being successful with it) would throw a lot of people off.
Good stuff. I am not looking into too much being the first scrimmage and they have only been at it a week.
On the Hokiesports.com video, I saw Leal throw one of the prettiest spirals I've seen downfield... only to then see it caught by a defensive player.
Who wears #12?
That about sums up where we are at the QB position right now.
The summer before Tyrod Taylor's senior year, myself and a few of the football guys decided to attended a friends cookout in Blacksburg. After a couple of burgers and hotdogs someone brought out a football and we decided to fool around a bit. Tyrod playing QB had Killa-Kam on one side and Steven Vergil on the other side both as his receivers. With myself and R.Williams attempting to cover. Long story short, in about a 5 play mini-game (friendly bet situation), Tyrod throws a fly pattern to Kam which got picked off by yours truly (mind you although you could say I'm pretty athletic, I've never played organized football in my life). So we all dapp it up and head back to some good food after I've talked enough shit for one day.
Anyway...I remember thinking to myself later that day once I'd settled down like, 'if I can pick this kid off we're so fucked this year'. I don't need to tell any of y'all the magic that was on display only a couple months later as my boy Ty put together one of the best offensive performances in school history.
I share that to say this...I wouldn't take too much stock into spring practice or spring scrimmage #1 for that matter...
Zach Snell, normally the 3rd team rover but getting 2nd team work with Jarrett out.
Thanks, French.
I need to keep a log of all the guys that are still number-less on the Hokiesports roster page.
Does anyone have the highlights on youtube? The videos on Hokie Sports will not load
What about Willie Byrn? Not much mentioned here. What team did he play with and how did he do? He was a go to guy in some situations last year. He just has a way of getting open and making great plays.
I'm not sure. I definitely saw him running around during drills and he seemed like the same old Willie. He also caught the TD pass from Hodges during the little mini-scrimmage. I think his absence from the stat sheet is more a product of the low number of passes thrown, and on top of that he wasn't on the field the whole time. I'm pretty sure he was on the 1st team, but may have done a little work with the second team. Not positive, as I wasn't watching him too closely.
Thanks, I'm hoping he gets even more opportunity to be a sore spot for opposing defenses next year. He reminds me of Danny Coale in some ways.