Preseason Practice

[Sleepy T]

Holmes, Coleman, Harris, Mangus, Edmunds, Marshawn Williams, possibly Reid in this class, already have offers out for 2-3 more RBs for 2014 so I guess they want another one. If you leave Edmunds in there it gets ridiculous

Mangus, Williams, and Reid (assuming he commits to the good guys) may not end up at RB. The coaches will try them all out at various positions, evaluate, and put the best players on the field at their respective positions. They will coach and develop them. That's what the coaches do. That is what makes this program successful, they recruit talented athletes that are diverse and are just all around stud ballers.

 

[hokiecheme11]

Mangus, Williams, and Reid (assuming he commits to the good guys) may not end up at RB. The coaches will try them all out at various positions, evaluate, and put the best players on the field at their respective positions. They will coach and develop them. That's what the coaches do. That is what makes this program successful, they recruit talented athletes that are diverse and are just all around stud ballers.

Does Williams play both ways or are you talking about fullback?

 

[robV703]

Where does DVD fit in though. Hmm. It is nice to have young depth though.

Someone has to play Mike. We'll have to see how they all develop. Edmunds is probably the most versatile. He could in theory play Backer, Mike, Whip, or perhaps even Rover. Like you said excellent problem to have.

 

[VTfoozball]

The main reason I want Edmunds at LB is because I don't have as much faith in the staff to recruit good LBs as RBs. I think they've found a good one in Edmunds

 

[sparko]

fwiw .. i think he ends up at lb .. and he'll be a great one ... where do we stand with joe blue?? i read somewhere that we're in his early top few

 

[VTfoozball]

Does Williams play both ways or are you talking about fullback?

He plays LB on defense I think but I have no idea if the staff sees him as a potential LB

 

[hokiegrad]

Preseason Practice: Talking Defense | The Key Play
speaking with Cornell Brown:

On whether he's a seen a different G-W this year, if he's improving, getting better, "Oh definitely. I'm excited about where he is. He's brought himself back from the injury, and he's picked up from where he left off." Brown said G-W's conscious of his strengths and limitations on the field. "He's a kid with a high football IQ, so that really helps him a lot." Brown said he's been covering and communicating well. In the past, G-W had been a liability in coverage.

On the possibility of a rotation, Brown said they want one main guy, but if it doesn't happen that way they want to play to strengths of the players on the roster. He finished with, "The guy that can consistently do the things that we need out the position on defense is the guy we're pretty much going to go with." I wouldn't bet on a rotation.

JGW was apparently interviewed as well, and believes he'll start against GT, contrary to what Fuller said at the ACC media days. Which makes more sense to me. I don't know that I trust any of the freshmen yet well enough to be playing CB in that game... not just from a pass defense standpoint but even more so from a run defense standpoint.

And then there's this:
Observations from Monday's practice

Speaking of Fuller, you rarely hear the coaches yell at him or Jack Tyler or Jeron Gouveia-Winslow. These three guys are just so instinctive. They know where to be, how to get lined up and how to position themselves to make plays. They may get beat on occasion, but it’s not because they’re not in the right position.

I'm not sure what to make of this. Sounds like JGW is playing pretty solidly, which is good. His physical limitations are still going to be there, but we'd obviously rather him be maxing out his potential than otherwise. Question of whether RVD will overtake him appears unanswered. It is interesting that they don't seem to be considering splitting the time there.

 

[Ragingcroc]

wtf

 

[Chrish1023]

wtf

I'm going to guess that's his David Wilson impression.

 

[Sleepy T]

Does Williams play both ways or are you talking about fullback?

"The 5-foot-11, 208-pound Williams plays both running back and linebacker for the Crabbers, but Hampton coach Mike Smith thinks he'll play tailback in college"

I would say 75% of the recruits we get play on both sides of the ball in HS and to a great degree EXCEL on both sides of the ball. I would imagine most of these guys could play multiple positions if they work there or are developed there. If someone like Williams (or Edmunds, or Clarke, or whomever) comes in recruited as a RB and is not good enough to crack the 3-4 deep at that position, but is good enough to be a backup whip, then that is likely where he will be. The coaches will figure it out and put that player in position to be the most successful and to make the team better (despite what fooz might think)..

 

[hokiegrad]

I'm going to guess that's his David Wilson impression.

Apparently he promised Teller he would do cartwheels if Wyatt committed, so he was keeping his promise. Love it.

 

[sparko]

I think that 46 had it right on .. they gave Edmunds a look at RB because he's a stud and he only had a few weeks to show his stuff and RB is a position that one can catch on to quickly. If he blew the coaches away, so be it .. He is gonna be a RB ... doesn't sound like he blew them away ENOUGH in that short period of time for them to bite the bullet and burn his shirt to get some time at RB .. So they'll probably practice him on both sides of the ball for the next season, evaluate his scout tape, and then decide by spring where he is going to be permanently. I'd have to think that if it's a "push" as far as his scout tape between RB and LB that he'll end up at LB (just because of the depth that we'll have at RB).

To another point that's been brought up before .. it DEFINITELY is a consensus that our lack of depth in the secondary will be the D's achilles heel, if they have one. Why isn't RVD still doing SOME work at rover? We have other players who are working at multiple positions (Fuller already, now Taylor, Exum, Bonner, Jarrett) .. In the event of injury to one of those guys, we have issues. If RVD practiced at rover for his entire redshirt season, he should already know how to play it .. so why not continue to work him out at rover AND whip? It sounds pretty obvious to me that he could be AT LEAST in the 2-deep at both of those positions. I'm sure Bud Foster knows what he is going but based on what I've been reading, 2nd and 3rd string secondary have been far from impressive. I think we'll be fine but against teams like Clemson and UNC who can air it out ... let's just hope our front 4 can put on a lot of QB pressure.

 

[Forty_Sixand2]

Our depth at safety is a little bit better than CB, in my opinion. If Fuller or Exum go down, my guess is Jarrett moves over and Aromire goes back to Rover first.

 

[hokiegrad]

Our depth at safety is a little bit better than CB, in my opinion. If Fuller or Exum go down, my guess is Jarrett moves over and Aromire goes back to Rover first.

This. RVD needs to focus on trying to take the starting job at Whip, and the coaches need to see him get as much time there as possible so they can properly evaluate that.

 

[Forty_Sixand2]

Plus, all of the reviews on Manning have been stellar. As far as Tookes and Riley......well......

 

[VTfoozball]

"The coaches will figure it out and put that player in position to be the most successful and to make the team better (despite what fooz might think)"

Maybe they've got more confidence than they should in their ability to recruit LBs. I don't know about you but I haven't forgotten the epic LB recruiting failure of 2011. More of a factor is the Whip position that doesn't prepare players for the NFL at that position. It doesn't matter how good you are at Whip you are going to have to move in the NFL because it is a tweener position. That leaves 2 true LB positions in Bud's defense. Whatever they say to the media 4 and 5 star guys are thinking about the NFL primarily when they make their decision

 

[robV703]

"The coaches will figure it out and put that player in position to be the most successful and to make the team better (despite what fooz might think)"

Maybe they've got more confidence than they should in their ability to recruit LBs. I don't know about you but I haven't forgotten the epic LB recruiting failure of 2011. More of a factor is the Whip position that doesn't prepare players for the NFL at that position. It doesn't matter how good you are at Whip you are going to have to move in the NFL because it is a tweener position. That leaves 2 true LB positions in Bud's defense. Whatever they say to the media 4 and 5 star guys are thinking about the NFL primarily when they make their decision

Playing Whip at VT may not prepare you to play Whip in the NFL (because no team really has that position) but it does prepare you to be a good football player. It's a position that emphasizes instincts, sound tackling, and blitzing. A good VT whip should be able to play 4-3 OLB or safety. That's what we've got to tell guys when we recruit them because obviously other teams are telling recruits otherwise. Losing Stephone Anthony still hurts.

 

[Forty_Sixand2]

James Anderson and Cody Grimm were both Whips.

 

[sparko]

bullshit .. a DOMINANT whip in our system who can cover AND tackle could transition to an NFL OLB or SS position, depending on their strengths and weaknesses .. a challenge?? yes ... learn a new system?? yes ... but it's a lot more film room time .. if they are that gifted athletically, it can be done ... RVD pushing two upperclassmen (and already passed one of them) as a r-Fr ... He'll probably be starting whip by the end of the season or getting nearly 50% of the snaps (maybe not the starter per se) and probably a 3-yr starter starting next season ... Just saying that if we look like we can make a run and someone goes down, it should be there as an option

 

[hokiegrad]

"The coaches will figure it out and put that player in position to be the most successful and to make the team better (despite what fooz might think)"

Maybe they've got more confidence than they should in their ability to recruit LBs. I don't know about you but I haven't forgotten the epic LB recruiting failure of 2011. More of a factor is the Whip position that doesn't prepare players for the NFL at that position. It doesn't matter how good you are at Whip you are going to have to move in the NFL because it is a tweener position. That leaves 2 true LB positions in Bud's defense. Whatever they say to the media 4 and 5 star guys are thinking about the NFL primarily when they make their decision

4 and 5 star linebacker recruits aren't generally going to play whip. It's a rare high-level recruit that we might end up slotting there (e.g. Fisher) and even then they're not going to be recruited as a straight-up whip but as a rover/fs that we might play at whip. Generally we're recruiting tweeners for whip, and tweeners just aren't going to get 4 or 5 stars because they're tweeners... a little too small for the typical OLB and a little too big for the typical safety, so they don't fit most systems, so they don't get the high stars. Doesn't mean they aren't great, just have to go into it knowing that they won't have that extra star for reasons we don't care about.

ILB is another matter. I don't see any reason we can't successfully recruit 4 and 5 star guys for mike and backer. Whip should have nothing to do with that.