Virginia Tech Football 2015 Recruiting Class First Look: Tyrell Smith

Projecting the depth chart at offensive tackle is one of the hot topics for fans of the Virginia Tech Hokies football team this offseason. Jonathan McLaughlin, Augie Conte and Wade Hansen all played at right tackle last season. Although, McLaughlin is the only returner that has any experience playing on the blind side. Parker Osterloh struggled in spring practice last season, and redshirts Colt Pettit and Billy Ray Mitchell have not taken a publicly viewable snap in a Hokies uniform.

The leaves a tremendous opportunity for a young offensive tackle to take a spot in the two-deep. Much of the talk has been focused on four-star early enrollee Austin Clark. Clark is a talented player, but a sleeper candidate is Tyrell Smith.

Smith has become a bit of a forgotten man in this Hokies recruiting class. The 6'3.5", 276 pound Don Bosco Prep product was selected first team All-State by the Star-Ledger his senior year (2013). Smith prepped this past fall at Cushing Academy. Don Bosco's legendary coach Greg Toal said the following when Smith signed with the Hokies.

"He'll probably play offensive guard or center, but he could play tackle too. He's just a good athlete. I think he's going to have a great career there. I'm really happy to see him go there and I think that's a great place for him. He's going to do great down there."

Watching Smith's footwork and reach, I think he has the skillset to potentially play the left tackle position. For many folks, including Tech offensive line coach Stacy Searels who said Smith was an, "outstanding center-guard prospect," this is a bit of a stretch. At 6-3, Smith isn't as tall as you would hope for a tackle. Reach and wingspan (both look great on film) could compensate for Smith's lack of height, but what caught my attention were his quick feet. Smith has the quickest feet of any offensive lineman in this class.

The first thing I look for when I watch offensive line recruits is their feet. Does the lineman keep his feet moving at contact? Does the lineman have good enough quickness with short, choppy steps to get his body into the proper position without getting off balance? Second, does the lineman have the wingspan or "reach" to fully extend and keep defenders from getting leverage? If a prospect has the feet, the wingspan and a frame that can carry the extra muscle needed to handle I-A defensive linemen, they have a chance to play tackle. Every other quality (fundamentals, technique, communication) can be learned. YOU CANNOT TEACH FEET.

Smith's high school film gave me the opportunity to see him execute each block that he would be expected to make at Virginia Tech. Some things stood out. Foremost, he has tremendous feet. He takes short, quick, choppy steps. His feet don't stop at contact, and he plays through the whistle. Second, he appears to have an impressive wingspan, which is absolutely critical playing left tackle. Third, he has the quickness to reach block a rush defensive end on zone stretch plays to the play side. According to his highlight film, Smith ran a 4.8, 40 as a senior at Don Bosco Prep. Nothing helps handle a strong pass rusher more than having the ability to force him to stay honest on run keys by executing running plays to said defender's side. Let's see how each of these skills are demonstrated on each common block.

On our first play, Don Bosco runs the standard inside zone play.

Smith takes a short, quick step to widen the defensive end, and then lands his head to the inside. Most impressive are his short piston-like steps with his weight over the toes. After contact, those feet keep going and he drives the defensive end to the sideline and ultimately into the ground.

Also, it is clear that lower body strength and bend are concern areas. Smith is too high and doesn't have great bend in his hips here. That repeats itself often on his tape. If he matches explosive leg strength with his quickness, he could be an NFL-caliber player.

Next Smith executes an outside zone block. This is a bit of an odd look, because while Smith is reaching a defensive end, the defense has a linebacker as an edge player. Don Bosco lines up with a tight end to the left, and then motions an H-Back over to outman Don Bosco's opponents at the point of attack.

On the outside zone, Smith has to get his head outside of that defensive end. Smith's first step is fantastic. His head is outside the end and he has outside leverage. Those feet are churning and he drives the defensive end down field. Also, note his full arm extension. The end can't grab his body to throw off the block. You love to see those offensive linemen get that kind of extension without having their hands outside the shoulders where he can hold.

Again though, Smith is way too high. His head is above shoulder level, and his hands slide up and hit the defender in the face, which is a potential hands to the face penalty. Against either a big defensive end (or one with a great rip move), Smith would have a challenging time finishing the block.

With his quickness, Smith also looks very proficient at down blocking (for pin and pull plays), back side scoop blocks, and (if he plays center or guard) he has the ability to pull and lead on counters and sweeps. He isn't going to be a guy who lines up and road grades right over I-A caliber defensive linemen, at least not until he has some time to improve his lower body strength and technique. Much like Duane Brown (I don't offer that comparison lightly) you can't teach his quick feet and ability to get his body into the proper position.

Now, for a left tackle to be worth a salt, he has to effectively protect the quarterback's blind side. Again, Smith's feet and reach give him a platform where he has an opportunity to be successful. First, he faces a bull rush.

Smith retreats properly, but reads bull rush and quickly gets up and underneath the pads of a rusher. His shoulders stay perpendicular to the sideline (if you open up too much to the sideline, you lose leverage on your left shoulder) and he aggressively stops the pass rusher in his tracks. You will note, one of my pet peeves with the 2014 offensive line group was that they were collectively way too passive in pass protection, especially on play-action where they did not effectively sell that they were run blocking to get the linebackers to bite far too often. Smith's feet are chopping and moving the entire time. He doesn't freeze up to throw the big push into the defender, and that means he can keep moving if the defender surprises him with a secondary rush move.

The negatives are similar to the running game. Smith is a bit too high, and he tends to try to get low by spreading his feet more than bending at the knees and hips. He also is a bit overly aggressive for a cup pass protection. If the defender shows bull rush, but uses a push-pull, he could slingshot past Smith while Smith is left flat on his belly.

Here is Smith against a speed rush.

Again, he demonstrates quick feet and good balance. His first bucket step is a bit awkward, but he recovers and drives the pass rusher past the pocket. He gets a little overextended, but his feet are quick enough to stay balanced. Little things like overextending and overstriding are things that he can quickly improve upon with good coaching. You cannot teach the feet.

Smith is one of those under-the-radar recruits that really grew on me as I watched his tape more closely. He's rated a low 3-star prospect because he is a bit undersized, and he doesn't deliver a ton of road grader highlight reel blocks. But, Smith is an athletic guy who can get his body into the proper position to prevent a defensive lineman from making a play. His speed forces defensive ends to widen out in order to prevent being turned inside on a stretch play, and that opens up space on the inside. At offensive tackle, most of the long term options at the position are big road grader types, and the Hokies have struggled mightily against speed rushers. My understanding is that many of the recruiting experts expect Smith to move inside (perhaps even to play center). I am going to go out on a limb and say that he could surprise some folks and get a look to make the two-deep at left tackle.