Practice Day #10

jwsavhGT

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Updates from www.ramblinwreck.com

Highlights of the Day: A-back JJ Green made a nice over-the-shoulder catch down the right sideline in 7-on-7 drills. Today's 11-on-11 drills featured a number of big hits by both offense and defense, making it one of the more intense sessions of the spring.

Quote of the Day: Some days it's good, some days it's not. We'll know when we start playing in the fall, but it's something I've really tried to emphasize " -- Coach Paul Johnson on his team's third down defense
 

Techster

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When I look at Jeune's HS tape, he reminds me a lot of Deandre Smelter. Not exceptionally fast, but fast enough that he seems to be pulling away from the defense....great at locating the ball, and physical.

Excited to see what he can do now that there's opportunity for a new crop of WRs.
 

dressedcheeseside

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When I look at Jeune's HS tape, he reminds me a lot of Deandre Smelter. Not exceptionally fast, but fast enough that he seems to be pulling away from the defense....great at locating the ball, and physical.

Excited to see what he can do now that there's opportunity for a new crop of WRs.
Just like at Bback, we have a couple of exciting freshmen coming aboard in the fall. They say the farther away from center you are.....
 

JacketTrain

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When I look at Jeune's HS tape, he reminds me a lot of Deandre Smelter. Not exceptionally fast, but fast enough that he seems to be pulling away from the defense....great at locating the ball, and physical.

Excited to see what he can do now that there's opportunity for a new crop of WRs.

Sounds like Jeune will get the nod over Messick. I've been hearing a lot about Messick and thought that he would be the guy with Summers. I think we're going to be fine at WR for a few seasons with the depth we have there.

BTW, Key at 245 coming off the edge is going to be something to watch. The other DE should put up good numbers with Gotsis and JHD providing the push up the middle.
 

gtalltheway

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Sounds like Jeune will get the nod over Messick. I've been hearing a lot about Messick and thought that he would be the guy with Summers. I think we're going to be fine at WR for a few seasons with the depth we have there.

BTW, Key at 245 coming off the edge is going to be something to watch. The other DE should put up good numbers with Gotsis and JHD providing the push up the middle.
I keep saying our d line could be very very good this year, I think they could be a strong point this season
 

dressedcheeseside

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Sounds like Jeune will get the nod over Messick. I've been hearing a lot about Messick and thought that he would be the guy with Summers. I think we're going to be fine at WR for a few seasons with the depth we have there.

BTW, Key at 245 coming off the edge is going to be something to watch. The other DE should put up good numbers with Gotsis and JHD providing the push up the middle.
JHD recently put up an instagram of him putting a spin move on one of our lineman and spun him like a revolving door, I think it was Brown. Imagine the kind of quickness and agility to do that...
 

Northeast Stinger

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I still like the idea of a starting defensive line that has Freeman, Hunt-Days, Gotsis (and take your pick of Simmons or Whitehead). Some people always bring up the issue of weight, being able to set the edge, and questions about skill sets, but this defensive line looks every bit as good as VPI's looked a few years back when they had nationally ranked defenses. It certainly would not be any lighter than their defensive lines were.
 

Eric

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I still like the idea of a starting defensive line that has Freeman, Hunt-Days, Gotsis (and take your pick of Simmons or Whitehead). Some people always bring up the issue of weight, being able to set the edge, and questions about skill sets, but this defensive line looks every bit as good as VPI's looked a few years back when they had nationally ranked defenses. It certainly would not be any lighter than their defensive lines were.

Curios what year VT DLs you are talking about?
 

gtalltheway

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I still like the idea of a starting defensive line that has Freeman, Hunt-Days, Gotsis (and take your pick of Simmons or Whitehead). Some people always bring up the issue of weight, being able to set the edge, and questions about skill sets, but this defensive line looks every bit as good as VPI's looked a few years back when they had nationally ranked defenses. It certainly would not be any lighter than their defensive lines were.
I don't think we are actually that light freeman is up to 245 which is very good for de and whitehead is around 230 so I think he can put on at least another 10 or 15 pound and then Gotsis has good size and hunt-days as well we won't be much smaller than a lot of teams I don't think but we will be very fast and strong which I think will help offset some of that plus having gamble and kallon to fill in on the line we should be in good shape I'm more excited about how different our d can look this year just based on how much better I believe our line will be
 

Bruce Wayne

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I love that they put up these Q&A videos, but I wish they showed the full interview. Come on, GTAA, give us the full video!
That drives me nuts as well. But then I recently thought they may just put a fragment up as an agreement with the press corps. That is, it could be out of politeness to allowing the media members that show up to ask questions to write up stories with the quotes without having every single thing said already made available as video. That is the only reason I have come up with for why they always cut these off short.
 

Northeast Stinger

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Curios what year VT DLs you are talking about?
I randomly grabbed years in which Virginia Tech had nationally ranked defenses, provided I could get the roster stats. I could not find the roster stats for 2001 (maybe did not look hard enough) when they were ranked #2 in nation defensively. But I did find 2007, 2011 and 2013, in which they were either top ten or top twenty in the nation.

This is not scientific, just a quick grab. In 2007 defensive line weights ranged from 227-342 with most of players in the 260 range. In 2011 the weight ranged from 240 to 313 with most players in the 260 range. In 2013 the weights ranged from 231-306 with most players being in the 240-265 range.

My point was simply that I have heard some people complain that our defensive line is too light but I have always been struck that Virginia Tech does not usually have huge defensive lines and yet they are known for good defense. To me the point is skill and speed. I like the way Tech's defense is shaping up and I am not at all worried about size this year.
 

UgaBlows

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I don't think we are actually that light freeman is up to 245 which is very good for de and whitehead is around 230 so I think he can put on at least another 10 or 15 pound and then Gotsis has good size and hunt-days as well we won't be much smaller than a lot of teams I don't think but we will be very fast and strong which I think will help offset some of that plus having gamble and kallon to fill in on the line we should be in good shape I'm more excited about how different our d can look this year just based on how much better I believe our line will be

I really like Pat in the SDE spot, he showed some real promise there late in the season. I really hope (like everyone) that JHD makes his grades and that Gamble can focus on DE and won't have to play too much DT. Whitehead is imo way too light in the britches to play over there, except maybe in certain downs, 3-4th and long. I think/hope Ted will be able to come up with some badass blitz packages where he gets Freeman and Whitehead on the field together in various ways.
 
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