Notes from the Second Spring Scrimmage

The Hokies held their second scrimmage of the spring yesterday and campus correspondent James (his tweets are FTW–@hokie8807) was there grinding to bring us these notes.

• The scrimmage began with a defensive stand by the 2nd team defense against the 1st team offense. Darren Evans was stopped for a 2 yard loss on the first play, followed by a false start penalty.
• False starts continue to plague the offensive line so far in the scrimmages. At one point during the scrimmage, Beamer could be heard saying “It’s official, we need to work on that” over his megaphone.
• Ryan Williams was in a blue jersey today. He participated in warm-ups but did not play in the scrimmage. David Wilson was also absent from the scrimmage at the ACC track championships.
• Ju-Ju Clayton and Logan Thomas were both live today. Tyrod remained in a yellow no-contact jersey.
• All three quarterbacks started the scrimmage very well. When given time, Clayton was able to read the 1st team defense and find the open receiver. Logan Thomas continues to have his stats diminished by dropped passes. This time it was Marcus Davis who dropped a pass that would have resulted in a long completion on 3rd down.
• It doesn’t look good for resolving the backup quarterback dilemma this spring. Clayton shined early, but was picked off 3 times in the later parts of the scrimmage, mainly on rushed, underthrown balls. Thomas continues to show that he is the athletically superior quarterback, but he doesn’t seem to find the open receivers as easily. I still think Thomas will eventually win the role, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it doesn’t happen this year.
• Kicking: make, (miss)
  Myer: (49), (50) both wide
  Hazley (#14): (50), (45) both well short
  Weiss (#80): 21
  Journell: 22, (32) wide right
• The first three punts on the day, all by Brian Saunders, were quite ugly. The first punt made it into the second row of the west side stands. They re-kicked and the second try stayed in the field of play but was a short kick. His third attempt was from the back of the end zone and was blocked. Saunders finally got off a good one on his fourth and final attempt, a 55-60 yarder that was caught by Jayron Hosley on the 5. The second team punt unit never got a kick off, the snap was fumbled on their only attempt and recovered by the defense.
• Obviously the kicking game was not very encouraging today, although in their defense, it was quite windy.
• The defense was all over runs outside the tackles. The backers and corners seemed to meet the ball carrier at the line of scrimmage almost every play. However, the D did get beat on an end around (Dyrell Roberts touchdown) and a couple of draws/counters.
• The scrimmage ended with 2 minute drill work from Clayton and Thomas. Thomas’ drive ended on a fumble by Kenny Lewis, Jr. and Clayton threw his 3rd interception on the day to end the scrimmage.

I guess in the end Ju-Ju and LT pushing the shit out of each other can only be good for us... Right? It sounds like with time Thomas and his athletic freakery will eventually surpass the learned Ju-Ju. The kicking game is really worrying the hell out of me. In our offensive system if there's one thing we need to be able to do consistently it's bang out 35-45 yard field goals. As of right now, none of these guys inspire confidence. The offense mauled the defense again. It feels weird to type that. Does anyone know if RMFW was injured? Maybe he was just tired of pwning the defense? And seriously fucking false start penalties are hampering the line... Arg. FYI in the huddle TT says what call the play is on and you just don't move until then. See, it's really that easy. I guess it's early on, but I hope we don't have to wait for half of the 2010 season to be over before the line gels.

Here's more coverage from around the blogosphere. According to VT Hokies Fans, the Tyrod-Coale connection is alive and well.

Taylor dropped back with plenty of time thanks to good protection from the offensive line. Danny Coale, a rising junior, ran a seam straight down the sideline with two defensive backs all over him. Taylor reared back and effortlessly threw a deep pass some 60-yards that hit Coale in stride along the sideline, in double coverage. The completion brought the hundreds of Tech fans in attendance to their feet followed by a raucous applause. It was Nebraska all over again.

And that's not all Double-T did.

Tyrod was his usual impressive self. His highlight reel play of the day came on a bad snap when he bolted to his right, grabbed the football, reversed field behind a few coaches and players and darted a strike to (I believe) Jarrett Boykin for a 15-20 yard gain. It was a thing of beauty.

Finally, Hosley had six sacks. Do yourself a dance son, because even in April that's fucking impressive.