Analyzing Virginia Tech QB Brenden Motley's Big Day Against Purdue

Virginia Tech's trip to Purdue on Saturday marked the first road start, and start against FBS competition, for quarterback Brenden Motley. Prior to the game, a lot of Hokie Nation still had doubts about the redshirt junior's ability to be a successful starting quarterback against Power 5 competition. After Motley led the Hokies to a comfortable 51-24 victory over the Boilermakers, the number of doubters has shrunk considerably. Motley looked in control of the offense and made plays in the air as well as on the ground. With a full week to prepare, Scot Loeffler devised a game plan which allowed his new signal caller to run a more explosive, but less efficient offense than Michael Brewer.

A More Explosive Offense

The Hokies' offensive line has shown great improvement in the run game so far this year, getting push and opening up holes for the ball carrier. With the addition of Brenden Motley in the backfield, the running game has become even more effective for Virginia Tech. Motley's big arm forces safeties to hesitate coming forward and his athleticism punishes defensive ends and linebackers who don't respect the threat of a quarterback run. The combination of powerful run blocking and a mobile quarterback opened up huge holes for Tech's running backs.

The offensive line has the defense outnumbered at the point of attack before the snap, and that problem is exacerbated when Motley threatens to pull the ball and run with it. The back side defensive end, back side safety, and back side linebacker all hesitate to make sure that Motley doesn't scoot around the edge for a long run. The slight hesitancy contributes to the long Edmunds' run and is precisely why mobile quarterbacks make life easier for their running backs. The difference between a long run and a short gain can be just a matter of inches. A quarterback that can make a defender half a step late to the hole gets their running back a half step closer to an explosive play.

Brenden Motley doesn't just open up opportunities in the run game for his teammates, he made a few throws on Saturday that a healthy Michael Brewer wouldn't have attempted. I wrote last Friday about Motley's arm strength and how it allows him to push the ball down the field in ways we haven't seen since Logan Thomas was in Blacksburg, but even I wasn't expecting Motley to stretch the field this far.

This clip perfectly demonstrates Motley's big play potential. Motley has to make an unblocked defender miss in the pocket, then he keeps his eyes down field and locates Ford, then he launches the ball about 60 yards down the field while on the run. I love Brewer and wish he were healthy, but that's a play he doesn't even come close to making. That's the X-factor that Motley brings to the table. An offensive coordinator can't plan for everything. Sometimes things break down, and when they do it's awfully nice to have a dangerous running quarterback with a cannon for an arm to bail you out.

Given the situation on the play above (2nd-and-8, less than 90 seconds before the end of the half), I would prefer Motley to make a different decision on this smash route. Brenden should be reading the flat defender and only throwing to Ford on the corner route if the flat defender takes away a throw to Bucky. Also, Motley has Malleck working wide open across the middle of the field as Ford drags the slot defender towards the sideline.

It's hard to accuse a quarterback for making the wrong read if he completes the pass though. Motley might be staring Ford down, but he's staring right at a passing window he believes he can throw through. It turns out he's right. Motley does rifle the ball into the perfect spot for Ford to make the grab and Tech gets a first down. The beautiful thing about this play is it puts the defense in a very tough position moving forward. Now, the defense can't slow play the corner route just to jump underneath it late to make a pick (like Georgia Tech did to Brewer last year), because they know Motley has the arm strength to get the ball from the pocket to the sideline before the defender can get there. If they want to stop that corner route, the defense will have to adjust their coverage.

Efficiency In The Short Passing Game

Despite his more powerful arm, Motley isn't ready yet to have the success throwing the ball short that Brewer had. Michael Brewer has a better grasp of the short passing system that Loeffler prefers than Motley does, and he has more experience making quick reads against a late shifting defense. Brenden also doesn't have the accuracy in the short game that Brewer has.

This is the type of throw that Loeffler is going to have to work with Motley on, if Motley is going to have consistent success at Tech. Motley has a clean pocket to step up into, and he has the timing of the route down with his receiver. He releases the ball as Phillips comes out of his break. The throw just sails on him. Defenses are going to give up space to prevent Motley from punishing them down the field, and when that happens Tech has to take advantage by throwing underneath those coverage bubbles.

While Motley works on improving his accuracy, there are short term solutions to attacking conservative defenses. One solution is to coach Motley to look to scramble against defenses which vacate the middle of the field.

Before the snap, the defense has seven players in the box, four defensive linemen and three linebackers. Once the linebackers recognize that the play is a pass, they quickly leave the box to try and reduce the size of the windows that Motley has to throw to. Rather than have Motley try and squeeze a ball into those small windows, Loeffler could coach him to pull the ball and get what yards he can when he sees those linebackers bail.

Loeffler can always take the decision making process out of Motley's hands by calling a quarterback draw when he thinks he can isolate a linebacker in space and force him to try and tackle Motley one-on-one. That's a battle Motley wins against most linebackers on Tech's schedule.

Scramble To Throw

It was really encouraging to see Motley keep his eyes down the field as he scrambled. Inexperienced athletic quarterbacks are known to get nervous in the pocket and rely on their feet to pick up yards. Motley's poise surprised me. He never looked overwhelmed by the pass rush, and he was aware of where his receivers were, even when he had to move around to buy time. We saw above how his mobility helped to open up an explosive play down the field, but there were moments when he used his mobility to give his teammates extra time to work themselves open. Motley might not ever be as decisive in the short game as Brewer is, but he can learn to use his feet to make first downs in the pass game.

On this play-action pass, Loeffler is trying to suck the linebackers towards the line of scrimmage in order to open up a passing window behind them for Ford. Andy James Garcia (No. 42) actually sniffs out the play well and quickly gets the depth necessary to shut down Ford's first receiving window. This is a potentially dangerous moment as Motley could have easily missed the linebacker and thrown an interception. Instead, he sees the coverage and calmly buys time for Ford by stepping forward in the pocket without rushing past the line of scrimmage. Motley keeps his eyes on Ford and waits for him to clear past the linebacker, then makes the safe throw for the first down. Motley won't always find the perfect receiver to throw the ball to against every defense, but if he stays calm and buys time for his guys, then they will have the chance to get open.

Room For Improvement

As Tech starts conference play, it's going to be harder for the offensive line to dominate on the ground like they've done against Furman and Purdue. The huge holes Trey Edmunds, Travon McMillian and J.C. Coleman enjoyed on Saturday won't always be there. Eventually Loeffler is going to need to rely on Motley's greatest attribute, his athleticism, to win him some games. On Saturday I was a little disappointed with Motley's lack of production on the ground. Some of it was because Purdue seemed content to contain Motley, but there were opportunities that I felt Motley should have capitalized on.

Virginia Tech runs a version of an outside zone read with J.C. Coleman although it looks like Motley should be reading the back side linebacker Ja'Whaun Bentley (No. 4). If Bentley flows to chase Coleman down, then Motley should be pulling that football and running through the vacated gap. If Motley takes off with the ball straight ahead, he is one broken tackle away from a touchdown. These are the type of explosive plays that Motley can make which will help balance out Loeffler's offense and give opposing defensive coordinators nightmares.

On this run, Motley actually attacks the wrong side of the line of scrimmage. By having Travon McMillian fake a sweep across the formation, Loeffler is trying to stretch the defense horizontally to open up a running lane off the right tackle. Ryan Malleck works to seal the defensive tackle inside and Wyatt Teller pulls outside to kick out a defender and create the wall for Motley to run through. Instead of following Teller's block, Motley runs towards the left side of the line and gets dropped for a loss. Brenden Motley is going to make some rookie mistakes, but if Tech is going to fight for an ACC championship, he is going to have to eliminate mental errors like this one.

Margin Of Error

I will be the first to admit that I was very pleasantly surprised with how productive Motley looked on Saturday. He didn't play perfectly, but he made a lot of plays and showed off the calm demeanor that Frank Beamer talked about since Brewer went down. Scot Loeffler doesn't have the advantage of having Brewer under center anymore. He can't rely on a quarterback who knows his offense inside and out, or a quarterback who has spent a year reading defenses. What he does have is an exciting athlete at quarterback who can run for a fifty-yard touchdown, as well as power his way to a first down. He also has a quarterback who can launch the football down the field and zip it into a blanketed receiver.

In some ways, Brenden Motley actually makes Loeffler's job easier than Brewer did. Brewer was a good quarterback because he could get the ball to the desired playmaker at the exact time. Motley has the potential to be a good quarterback because he is the playmaker. Motley doesn't need Loeffler to call the perfect play to get a first down, there will be times where he goes and gets it himself regardless of playcall because he's that talented.

Loeffler has football's ultimate trump card. A mobile quarterback.