Kyle Tucker
Need a Hokie fix? Virginian-Pilot writer Kyle Tucker is your man in Blacksburg. Read stories from Kyle on the college football and college basketball channels.
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■ 21 October 2008 | 8:12 PM
Talkin' Tyrod's "hitch" ...
Can I hitch a ride to Tallahassee? I figured I’d travel by way of hitching, since that’s the buzz word this week. Frank Beamer said his QB has a hitch in his throwing motion. QB Coach Mike O’Cain said Tyrod Taylor also has trouble seeing over the line.
So the talk in Hokie Nation these days is all about the issues that have hampered Taylor and the offense in the passing game.
Beamer talked a bit more about it today – although you can tell he wished he’d never said the H-word on Monday – and some of us scribes caught up with O’Cain after practice tonite.
So here’s what the coaching duo had to say about Taylor’s hitch (or is it?), his height and … other random things on the Hokies’ minds this week.
Oh, and speaking of QBs, here’s a good read on a guy Tech is trying to talk into being their next guy under center:
On to the current QB …
QB COACH MIKE O’CAIN
ON QB TYROD TAYLOR’S THROWS BEING OFF AGAINST BOSTON COLLEGE, AND ABOUT HOW MANY WERE OFF: “I think it was six. A couple of them were high. Had a guy in his face on two of the six. They brought an extra guy, a guy we couldn’t protect, and really Blake (DeChristopher) did a good job bouncing one into another, so the guy had his hands up. (Tyrod) was high on that one, had a guy in his face. Another time had a guy in his face. Then rolled out two times and missed the guy. You know, you just have one of those nights every now and then. Just like pitchers. You don’t go out and have your best stuff every night. He threw the ball very well in the first half. And really, we threw 27 and other than those six, he threw the ball pretty doggone good. Just keep working and get better. The unfortunate thing: Had we won the ballgame, you throw those six, you kind of go and nothing’s said. But you don’t win it, and you leave some things on the field, and it’s magnified a little bit.”
ON BEAMER DESCRIBING A ‘HITCH’ IN TAYLOR’S THROWING MOTION AND IT NOT BEING SOMETHING YOU WORK ON DURING THE SEASON: “Absolutely not. Tyrod and I have talked about it. You don’t work on it during the season and you don’t work on it while he’s competing (for the job). That’s what’s been the situation. That’s why you like to redshirt. And it’s really not a hitch. It’s just a little thing that I think will help him. He’s been doing it, and it takes time. You’ve got to have some time to work through that. It’s not something you want to do when you’re going out there trying to get ready for a ballgame, because it take a month, might take three months, might take six months. It might take a week. You just don’t know. But you don’t want him out there changing something in the middle of the race.”
ON HOW HE’D DESCRIBE THE ISSUE, IF NOT A HITCH. A FALTY RELEASE POINT, MAYBE: “Yeah, just a little bit. He has a tendency to drop the ball down a little bit. We just want to eliminate that. A little bit of a wind-up motion, which, in the long run it doesn’t really affect his accuracy unless maybe he’s throwing in the middle. But what it does sometimes, it reflects the timing, the length of time it takes him to throw the football. (Changing it) will speed him up a little bit.”
ON BEAMER SAYING TAYLOR DOESN’T DO IT ALL THE TIME … “Ahhhh, it’s most of the time. Yeah, it’s most of the time. Every now and then, when he’s throwing just a little screen, he’ll get it up high and just flick it out there. But when he’s got to throw the football, it’s most of the time. It’s a big thing, but it’s not a big thing. I don’t know whether that makes sense. You want to try to change it, because it’ll speed his motion up. But in the long run, he’s been pretty accurate overall doing it the way he’s doing it. So you walk a fine line. Take a guy like Philip Rivers. Has a horrendous throwing motion. But he can throw the ball every kind of way you want and he’s accurate, so you don’t fool with that. But the one thing I’ll say about Philip Rivers: he gets rid of the ball quickly. That’s the biggest thing with Tyrod.”
ON THE TIME IT HURTS TAYLOR MOST, THEN, IS WHEN A RECEIVER SUDDENLY COMES OPEN AND HE’S GOT TO QUICKLY FIRE A PASS TO HIM: “Yeah, I think that affects his accuracy some.”
ON HOW LONG HE’S HAD THE ISSUE: “Ever since I’ve seen him. Before his senior year in high school, he came to camp, and you see it then. But that’s not the time. So, yeah, you see it right away.”
ON WHY NOT FIX IT BEFORE NOW: “He’s competing for the job (this summer). And the same thing in the spring. He and Sean are competing, and now it affects him, now he’s not given a fair chance to compete. It’s his job next year … now he’s got a period of time he can work on it.”
ON WHETHER HE’S EVER HAD TO FIX SUCH AN ISSUE WITH A QB: “No, not really. Not anything like this. I can’t think of a guy. Nothing that was quite like this, so you don’t know. It might take a day.”
ON WHAT AREAS TAYLOR IS GOOD AT AND THINGS HE STRUGGLES WITH: “The biggest thing right now is, we’ve got to do a better job – and he’s got to do a better job – getting people out of his face. He’s much better when people are not in his face and he can see. The biggest problem he is right now is, he knows where to go with the ball, but he can’t see all the time. It’s partly his height, and part of it is experience. He’ll learn to move and slide in the pocket better the more he does it. That is the biggest thing right now. We’re doing a few little things this week that will help him. I don’t want to (say) … We’ve got to create some space. Part of it is, he has a tendency … let’s say he’s trying to get nine yards on his drop. Well, he’ll get the nine yards on his drop, but then he’ll hop back up two yards. So now, you’ve lost that cushion. The offensive line is giving ground. So let’s say they’re giving ground … now I’m three yards away. There’s some things that can help him.”
ON HOW KANSAS DOES THINGS WITH ITS SHORT QB: “(Those are) some of the things we’re looking at. I’ll tell you if you turn those (tape recorders) off and don’t write it. (laughing) But y’all won’t do that.”
ON WHAT’S THE BEST ADVICE FOR THIS SEASON FOR TAYLOR, THOUGH, IF THE MECHANICS CAN’T BE FIXED UNTIL AFTER THE SEASON: “Quit thinking. Quit thinking. Go out there and throw the football like he’s capable of doing. I don’t think necessarily Saturday he was thinking, but what happens … all the sudden, everybody becomes a critic. And he starts hearing it. You’ve just got to go out and play like he plays. … Has he missed some he’d like to have back? Yes. Has every quarterback missed some he’d like to have back? Yes. Just don’t let that become a factor. Let’s go out and let’s play and have fun and enjoy it and throw the ball. And I think he will.”
ON HOW LIMITED THE PASSING GAME STILL IS WITH THE YOUNG RECEIVERS AND TAYLOR STILL DEVELOPING: “Yes, it’s very limited. It’s difficult. We have to be, in a sense, creative. But it has to be a simplified creativity. Only so creative, just because of everything we’re dealing with. Yes, it’s become difficult. But you keep working, and the guys will get better. They want to get better … in all phases. Not just the receivers. … You keep at as simple as you can for those guys, so that they can go out and play fast. I guess that’s the thing right now, is we don’t always play fast. You’ve got to play fast at this level. Part of it is unsureness. Not so much unsureness of what they’re supposed to do. It’s how to do it sometimes against a certain coverage. It’s a combination of a lot of little things.”
COACH FRANK BEAMER
OPENING REMARKS: “This Florida State crowd, I think, is very, very good. Very, very skilled. Play hard. Got 10 starters back off their defense. I think Ponder is doing a heckuva job for them at quarterback. I think they average 419 yards on offense. They’re balanced, 216 rushing, 203 passing. Really playing well, I think, as a football team.”
ON FSU BEING THE FASTEST TEAM TECH HAS FACED THIS SEASON: “I think so. Absolutely. They’re just really, very skilled.”
ON HOW MANY GUYS ON THE PUNT COVERAGE TEAM ARE NEW TO THE UNIT THIS YEAR, OTHER THAN FRESHMEN CHRIS DRAGER, COLLIN CARROL AND CHRIS HILL: “Well, Reidy, he’s new. Cody Grimm is new. (making five, and is that more than usual???) We have as much carryover (from year to year) as we can. But Xavier Adibi was on that team last year. Duane Brown was on that team. We try to have as much carryover … I think that’s the most-critical team we’ve got. As we’ve seen, big things happen. It’s kind of one of those, if the ball is kicked and you go down and down it or make the tackle … it is what should happen. When it doesn’t go right on that team, it’s a momentum-changer.”
ON WHETHER HE’S HESITANT TO PUT MORE STARTERS ON THE PUNT COVERAGE TEAM BECAUSE OF DEPTH CONCERNS, NOT WANTING TO GET ANYONE INJURED: “No. We put the best people we’ve got. Drager, Boone, Andre Smith, they’re big guys. Their body-type has got to fit on that team. We put the best people we’ve got on there. You’ve got to block first, you’ve got to protect and get the ball off, so you need the bigger bodies to protect. Tight end guys are usually pretty good because they’re bigger and they can run. Xavier was a good protector and he could really run.”
ON WHETHER THIS FSU TEAM REMINDS HIM OF SOME OF THE OLD, GOOD NOLES TEAMS: “Absolutely. You know, I never played a Florida State team when they weren’t very talented, but this crowd kind of takes you back to when they were really talented. They’ve got degrees of talented at Florida State. I think they’re getting back to the really talented teams.”
ON QB TYROD TAYLOR THRIVING AGAINST MAN DEFENSE, AND FSU PLAYING MAN: “I think they’re going to play man coverage. That’s just part of their makeup. Now, how much, I think they’ll adjust that from team to team based on what the other team is capable of doing and not capable of doing. But we certainly expect man coverage from Florida State.”
ON WHAT HE MEANT MONDAY BY A ‘HITCH’ IN TAYLOR’S THROWING MOTION: “You know, when Tyrod throws, he brings the ball down, he kind of loops it, and then brings it back. It’s a longer throwing motion. You’d rather keep the ball up here (by his ear) and throw from right there. Now, he doesn’t do it all the time. But I want to make it clear, I think Tyrod’s an accurate thrower. And different things have happened in pass routes. Guys may not be where they’re supposed to be … or whatever.”
ON TAYLOR MAYBE TRYING TOO HARD: “I think sometimes, you can try to be too perfect and make the exact right throw. I think Tyrod’s plenty good enough. Just play the way you play and turn it loose.”
ON THE PLAY OF LBs BRETT WARREN AND PURNELL STURDIVANT: “They’ve been around … and Brett, when Hall went down last year, I thought he stepped in there and played great and continued on this year. And then Purnell, when he got his chance this year, he’s played well. I think he plays a little bit better each week, too. I think those two guys have done well.”
ON FINALLY BEATING BOBBY BOWDEN LAST YEAR, BREAKING A LONG LOSING STREAK: “Florida State, over the years, I don’t think there’s any question about it: a great program … a program that they’ve got talented kids, they recruit well, they coach them well. That’s just, I think, one of the great programs in the country. And I think they’re right back. They had a couple years that weren’t up to their standards. But I think they’re getting back to their standards now.”
ON PLAYING AT DOAK CAMPBELL STADIUM: “Their fans will be ready. The place will be packed. They’ll be doing whatever you call that (the tomahawk chop). And if things are going well for them, they’ll do it a lot. I think it’s one of the great places in the country, really.”
ON TALKING ABOUT TRYING TO FIND WHAT TAYLOR’S COMFORTABLE WITH AND WHAT HE’S NOT, SO WHAT ARE THOSE THINGS: “Well, I think that’s for our conversations. Are you working for Florida State? Nah, I’m not getting into that right now. I think it’s a continuous situation as you go along. I think the more we can create space, the better it is. It’s different, I think, for a 6-1, 6-1.5 guy than it is for a 6-5 guy, as far as people around him. I think people around him certainly affect your vision.”
ON BEING APPREHENSIVE TO INSTALL TOO MUCH NEW STUFF IN A GAME WEEK WITH SUCH A YOUNG GROUP OF RECEIVERS AND A DEVELOPING QB: “I think it just makes since that if you’ve got veteran guys and somewhere along the way they’ve done that before, now you’re going to put it back in, they’ve already experienced. Whereas, if these guys are new and they’ve never done it before you put it in, you’ve got the adjustment: what if they do this, what if they do that? From that standpoint, it’s no question. Experience is a wonderful thing. Maturity is a wonderful thing. Guys that’s played a lot of plays at a position is a wonderful thing.”
ON THE FRUSTRATION OF STRUGGLING ON HIS BELOVED SPECIAL TEAMS SO MUCH THIS SEASON, AND HOW TO FIX IT: “Well, fixing it is execution. The other night, when you get one on one with the headhunters, those headhunters have got a great opportunity to make a tackle. And we’ve got two new guys in there this year. They’re learning as we go. It was Luckett and Dillard last year. If we’d have performed better there, that punt return would’ve never got started. It’s just execution. When you’ve got new people doing new things, every week is a learning experience. And the big thing in kickoff returns is your returner. And we lost Lewis and Davon Morgan. So you’ve got two new guys back there. I think it all kind of ties in. We know how to fix it … we’ve just got to get it done.”
ON THE VALUE OF EXPERIENCE ON THAT TEAM: “Guys that have been there and done it a number of times have a better shot of executing the play. We’ve been good at those things and expect to be good again. We’re going to work on it a little bit extra today.”
ON THE OFFENSIVE LINE LATELY: “I think they’ve gotten better. I think they’ve improved as a unit. You judge that sometimes, you’ve got to say who’s on the other side. I thought BC … they were real good. But I don’t think there’s any question that our offense as a unit needs to perform better.”
ON THE UNREST ABOUT THE OFFENSE, THE CLAMOR FOR CHANGE FROM FANS, AND WHAT WOULD HAVE TO HAPPEN IN HIS MIND BEFORE HE STARTS THINKING ABOUT MAKING A CHANGE IN EITHER STAFF OR APPROACH ON OFFENSE: “I think we’re working too hard to be concerned with that right now.”
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