Hokies Defense Offers Glimpse of Future Against Hoos

Several Hokies defensive players who will be counted upon in 2016 had an opportunity to showcase their skills in a must win game against Virginia. Dadi Nicolas' potential successor Vinny Mihota got almost every rep at the left "stud" defensive end spot in the first half. Anthony Shegog rotated with senior Donovan Riley at the whip linebacker-nickel position. Adonis Alexander got an opportunity to start at field corner, and Andrew Motuapuaka's ability to read counter action was tested by a diverse Cavalier offense that featured several excellent pass catching running backs.

Vinny Mihota, Anthony Shegog, and Andrew Motuapuaka Step Up

Virginia Tech's defense has struggled against designed quarterback power and counter lead plays this season. Opposing offenses influenced Tech's defensive line away from where the ball ultimately went with downblocks. The Hokies' d-line would key, slant the same direction, and try to beat the down blocks, but the blocker would then seal the defender(s) inside. The offense then pulls blockers from the back-side to account for the fitting linebackers and safeties. Dadi Nicolas in particular would slant inside to beat the down block, and then the opposing offensive tackle or tight end would drive him inside without much resistance. James Summers' backbreaking run in the East Carolina game is a textbook example.

Nicolas slants to the inside keying off the initial step of the right tackle. This is the correct technique based on the initial defensive key. Once he recognizes that the play is coming back in his direction, he is supposed to cross the face of the blocker and get back to the outside. Unfortunately, on this play and for most of the season Dadi was unable to fight back across the down block and make the play. As Nicolas gets caved inside, it increases the space between him and the edge defender (Deon Clarke). Andrew Motuapuaka has the responsibility of filling that space and taking on a blocker. The gap is too big for Motuapuaka to jam up and Chuck Clark can't make the alley tackle after Summers breaks through the initial defensive wall. The scheme isn't ideal against this play. The bigger issue was the players not winning those physical battles at the point of attack.

Nicolas' first half suspension presented an opportunity for Vinny Mihota to make his case to be the starter at defensive end next season. At 6-5, 270 pounds Mihota is as large as any defensive end that has played for Bud Foster. Mihota has a quick twitchy first step yet will never be mistaken for a speed rusher. Mihota impacts the game with power and the ability to execute twist stunts. The Hokies' defense had one of its best halfs of stopping the run all season against the Hoos when Mihota was on the field. It was no coincidence, Mihota's strength and ability to fight back across down blocks made a significant difference.

Virginia's base running series was a combination of jet sweep and an off tackle power play. Converted tailback Olamide Zaccheaus would motion across from a receiver alignment, while Smoke Mizzell, Daniel Hamm, or Albert Reid would run an off tackle power. The blocking and backfield action for both plays in the series was nearly identical. The play-side offensive tackle would block down, causing the defensive end to crash inside. In theory, the crash would make the edge vulnerable to the jet sweep, and if the end stayed wide to defend the jet sweep, it would open up the power. Late in the game, the play worked to perfection when Albert Reid rumbled for a 57-yard touchdown run.

Early in the game, the Hokies minimized damage on the jet sweep and completely shut down the power. On this play, Virginia runs the jet sweep motion power at Vinny Mihota. The Hoos block down on Mihota and whip Anthony Shegog with a tight end and H-Back, respectively. Desmond Frye is left to set the edge, while Motuapuaka and Chuck Clark scrape over to fill the alley.

Like the ECU play above, everyone is sharp from an assignment perspective; each player correctly executes their assignments. However, Mihota and Shegog win physical battles that completely derail the run. Mihota crashes inside when the left offensive tackle steps to the inside. The tight end blocks down on Mihota's outside shoulder. When Mihota feels the pressure, he plants his right foot and spins back to his left. His crash prevented a quick hole from popping open on the inside, and then by fighting back against the block, he narrows the alley back to the outside.

Shegog is assigned to crash to the inside, and Desmond Frye is to come up to force (contain) on the edge. Shegog rips through the down block of H-Back Evan Butts. Butts grabs Shegog and completely turns him around (ACC officials will get after ya). Despite being held, Shegog squares to the ball carrier and fights to stay in the hole. Shegog and Mihota win physical battles. As result, Mizzell is forced to hesitate and blockers can't get to Motuapuaka and Clark. Deon Clarke tracks Mizzell down from behind and the combination of Motuapuaka and Clark clean up.

Mihota also demonstrated that he can be effective as a pass rusher, even though his method is significantly different from the way that Dadi Nicolas creates pressure. Mihota was most effective when he twist stunted with nose tackle in the Bear front. Here is an example. Johns throws a skinny post to Zaccheaus on first down.

At the snap, Maddy stunts to his left from his nose tackle alignment. This pulls the center with him and picks the right guard. Mihota gives some ground and then loops behind Maddy and shoots right up the center of the field. At 6-5, Mihota is directly in Johns' line of site to Zaccheaus. Despite Terrell Edmunds falling down on the play, Johns throws behind Zaccheaus, thanks in large part from the pressure from Mihota on the inside. Mihota got several pressures on Johns, utilizing either this type of stunt or a bull rush. In this age of spread offenses where quarterbacks get the ball out quickly, there is a premium on using bull rushers with height to get into the throwing lanes when they don't have time to hit the quarterback. Mihota doesn't have the edge speed of Dadi Nicolas, yet he can be effective with his strength and his stature.

Shegog was an unsung hero for the defense down the stretch. He is much more instinctive at the whip position than Ronny Vandyke was in his limited playing time earlier this season. He excelled in run support against North Carolina, and against UVA and was proficient enough in coverage that he could slide out against a slot receiver if needed. On this play, UVA attempts to run the power away from Shegog.

Ken Ekanem crashes inside and spills the play to the outside. Deon Clarke sets the edge. Mihota, Maddy, and Marshall prevent blockers from getting to the second level. Shegog diagnoses the play quickly and take a terrific scrape angle to crunch read in the hole. In years where the whip has been the most dynamic, Foster has been able to position him as a back-side pursuit defender. Shegog's ability to scrape clean and then make a solid tackle is textbook whip play. Motuapuaka also makes a nice play by giving some ground to avoid the down block of the UVA left tackle and then he comes up to assist Shegog.

Motuapuaka also played significantly better in the last handful of games than he had in dreadful performances against Duke and Miami. Here, UVA runs a counter to the boundary.

On this counter the center and left guard pull around the edge while the two tight ends and left tackle on the play-side block down on the edge defenders. Motuapuaka keys the center and guard pulling to take him to the football. He scrapes to his right and attacks right behind the pulling center to avoid his block. Desmond Frye does an outstanding job of forcing on the edge and draws a holding penalty. This allows Motuapuaka to defend a smaller space and he makes a strong tackle.

Motuapuaka needs to continue to improve in pass coverage, as I expect to see more zone coverage as the Hokies' young secondary gains experience. After struggling in defending the run early in the season, Motuapuaka's tackling and fitting gaps seems to be improving. With the backer position likely being filled by a very inexperienced Tremaine Edmunds or Jamieon Moss, Motuapuaka will be counted on heavily as a leader next season.

Adonis Alexander as a Corner?

Injury issues to Brandon Facyson forced Bud Foster to start former rover Adonis Alexander at field corner against the Hoos. Alexander spent the latter half of spring practice playing boundary corner in the place of an injured Kendall Fuller before returning to safety in fall camp.

Alexander played admirably even though he made technique errors which likely made Torrian Gray cringe during film review. Alexander has tremendous length and hips that allow him to turn and run effectively when his cushion is threatened. His reach allows him to play inside contain and seemingly be beaten deep, but then recover and make a play on the football. He also had a tendency to look back for the football when playing inside leverage man coverage, and it almost got him burnt.

UVA attacked Alexander's inside leverage with an inside release go route early in the third quarter. Alexander allowed Zaccheaus to cross his face. At that moment, the proper technique for Alexander is to turn and run, back to the quarterback, and watch the receiver's hands. When Zaccheaus raised his hands, Alexander should attack and deflect the football or take a pass interference to prevent the touchdown. Instead, Alexander looked back to find the football.

Almost immediately, Zaccheaus gets separation from Alexander and is open for a touchdown and Johns makes a perfect throw. To his credit, Alexander gets his head back around and instinctively makes a desperate lunge as Zaccheaus brings the football into possession and knocks it away. Not many corners have the ability to make that kind of recovery.

Later in the game, Alexander intercepted on Johns, but he was very fortunate. Alexander is isolated in man coverage and is playing an inside leverage technique. His closest help is rover Desmond Frye, who is forced to run from the opposite hash mark to have any chance at influencing the play. Virginia receiver David Eldridge runs an outside release fade. On this coverage, a good throw by Johns deep and to the outside will result in a big play and possibly a touchdown.

Alexander compounds the problem again by looking back for the football. Eldridge gets separation. A well placed throw would find Alexander under the receiver and completely out of position to tackle Eldridge if the pass is completed. Fortunately for Alexander, Nicolas gets tremendous pressure by slapping down the hands of the UVA offensive tackle and wrapping himself around Johns right at the throw. Johns under throws the football and Alexander makes the play.

It is fascinating that two of Alexander's highlight plays were actually technique busts and yet ended up being big plays. Alexander had numerous plays where his smooth coverage completely eliminated his assignment from the pass pattern. UVA was rarely able to challenge his coverage.

Alexander presents Gray and Foster with a difficult decision next spring. Even with the departure of Fuller to the NFL Draft, the Hokies return four experienced corners in Facyson, Edmunds, Stroman, and Reynolds. Alexander has shown the ability to be special at corner, and was very effective at rover before assignment errors almost ended his season against Duke. Desmond Frye was recognized on senior day and may not return for his redshirt senior season, leaving the Hokies with only freshman Jahque Alleyne at the rover position. I expect Alexander will return to rover until the Hokies get more depth at the safety position, and then don't be shocked to see him at boundary corner for his junior and senior years, much like former Hokie star Jimmy Williams.

Bull Rush at Winning Time by Ekanem

Lack of sacks from Tech's d-ends has been another shortcoming this season. Ken Ekanem finished the regular season with 3.5 sacks, while Nicolas finished with only 1.0 sack. Part of that underwhelming productivity was because of scheme. I have often been frustrated this season when Foster used zone blitzes and dropped Ekanem and Nicolas back into underneath coverage. My frustration grew so much that I went back and watched film from the great Foster defense of 2006 and was stunned to see that the pairing of Vince Hall and Xavier Adibi dropped into coverage much more frequently on passing downs. If Foster speaks at HokieClub events this offseason, expect my number one question to be why Bud utilized inside linebacker zone blitzes so often in 2015.

Virginia engineered two long touchdown drives early in the second half. After Michael Brewer, Ryan Malleck, and Isaiah Ford's offensive heroics, the Hokies were able to bounce back and tie the game each time. When the Hokies desperately needed a defensive stop, it was Ekanem who made two huge plays in the biggest moments of the game.

Understanding the situation is critical to realize how influential these pressures were to the outcome of the game. The Hokies scored to tie the game at 20 near the midpoint of the fourth quarter. The Hoos open their drive with a 25-yard run on the jet sweep to Zaccheaus to get close to field goal range. After a short gain, penalty and a short gain, the Hokies faced a critical third-and-nine with 7-minutes-and-ticking in the game.

Virginia runs a 10-yard dig route to Canaan Severin in the slot. Chuck Clark is in man coverage. The Hoos have a good play called. Foster has a dime defense on the field and only rushes three. Despite the short zone assignment, Motuapuaka doesn't get much depth in his zone. Severin is open on the dig route.

Ekanem gets a terrific jump off the football against UVA left tackle Jack English. On Ekanem's third stride, he punches the outside number of the tackle with his inside arm and swings his outside arm down to knock English's hands down. At the same time, the swing of his outside arm flips his hips from going upfield to facing the quarterback. This helps Ekanem to turn the corner around the tackle. As I have noted in my pass protection reviews, once the offensive tackle's pads are parallel to the sideline, he is at a huge disadvantage against the pass rusher.

Feeling the heat from his blindside, Johns short arms his wind up and under throws Severin at the first down marker. There is no pressure besides Ekanem on Johns, and it appears that Severin has his body in between the ball and Clark. An inaccurate throw forced by Ekanem's pressure allows the defense to get off the field.

As result of the stop, the Hokies offense got the ball back. After several nice Travon McMillian runs and a beautiful catch and run by Isaiah Ford, Joey Slye put the Hokies in the lead with a 41-yard field goal. Foster's defense once again found itself needing a stop to ice a victory. After Johns moved the chains with an out pattern to Severin, the Hoos found themselves about 30 yards out of field goal range with a minute left. Ekanem again stepped up.

Ekanem wins this battle with a beautiful bull rush. He again gets a tremendous jump off the football. Instead of using his hands, Ekanem drives his head into the chest of English. As English's momentum starts to go backwards, Ekanem slides to English's outside shoulder and drives through it like a train through a parked DeLorean. Johns hurries the throw, misses Butts high and Clark makes the easy interception.

As Justin Fuente looks to rebuild a talented offense and find a new quarterback, defense will be critical to early season success in 2016. The retention of Bud Foster allows for defensive continuity even though the Hokies replace long time starters Dadi Nicolas, Deon Clarke, Corey Marshall, Luther Maddy, and Kendall Fuller with new players. An opener against FCS Liberty is the only game to work out the kinks before the Hokies face Tennessee. Fortunately for the Hokies, some of those key replacements demonstrated they're capable of maintaining the high level of defensive excellence Hokie Nation has come to expect in Blacksburg.