Defensive Coaches Discuss Saturday's Open Scrimmage

Bud Foster and his defensive staff provided some insight on what they saw during the Hokies' second open scrimmage on Saturday to BeamerBall.com.

Andrew Motuapuaka and Deon Clarke seemed locked in as the starters at mike and backer, respectively. Interestingly enough, Foster dropped the news that 6-5, 236 pound freshman linebacker Tremaine Edmunds is poised to receive playing time this season.

"He's a guy who'll probably play as a freshman at my position," Foster said. "I'm intrigued with him. Tremaine is big and explosive and I'm excited about him and his future."

Tremaine was recruited by Foster as Tech's backer (or perhaps the position now referred to as LOLB) of the future. Given the impending departure of senior Deon Clark, it's a prudent decision for Foster to get Clark's likely successor game experience. Deon has the frame of a traditional Tech defensive end, and Foster might leverage that size this season to create some mismatches in the box.

Luther Maddy isn't even a year removed from the meniscus tear he suffered against East Carolina last season, but he is making progress on the practice field.

"It was great to get Luther Maddy more action in this scrimmage," defensive line coach Charley Wiles said. "He's coming along. Luther got 18 plays in our first scrimmage and then 34 in this second scrimmage. He's hard to handle one-on-one. He ended up with two assists, a tackle and four QB harasses. Very productive with 44 points in 34 plays."

Also on the injury front, Corey Marshall's ankle got "dinged" during the scrimmage. Wiles hopes it's nothing serious.

Finally, Wiles also noted true freshman Darius Fullwood could be his fifth defensive end behind starters Dadi Nicolas and Ken Ekanem, and backups Seth Dooley and Vinny Mihota.

According to Torrian Gray, both Greg Stroman and Brandon Facyson have room to improve.

"I'm pleased that Brandon Facyson got through a full week of practice," the defensive backs coach said. "In the scrimmage, he had a tackle, an assist and recovered a fumble. But, mentally, I have to coach him up and get him sharper. Help him shake off some rust."

"Greg Stroman was 2-for-3 on his plays and was solid," Gray added. "But, he's like Facyson in terms of we need to clean up some technique and mental errors."

Gray confirms what Mason wrote in his scrimmage report, both Donovan Riley and Chuck Clark had a great scrimmage.

With Kendall Fuller out, Donovan Riley has really been good," Gray said. "He was 3-for-4 on his plays, had a pick, two breakups and he's really done a nice job."

He added, "Chuck Clark is having a great summer for us, he was 3-for-3 on his plays, 3 tackles, 4 factor plays and I'm very pleased."

Gray wants rovers Desmond Frye and Adonis Alexander to play more consistently. Frye needs to be a steadier tackler, and Alexander needs to be sharper mentally.

Defensive players and coaches meet with the media after practice Wednesday evening. Kevin and Joey will have more from them then.