Hokies Camp 2009, Volume 20 (D-line edition) ...

Tonight’s topic is the defensive line. But first, a quick update on freshman RB David Wilson’s shoulder injury.

Trainer Mike Goforth confirmed today that the injury Wilson suffered in Saturday’s scrimmage was a Grade 1 sprain of the AC joint in his left shoulder.

The Blog Research Department here has told me a few things about this injury: 1) The acromioclavicular (AC) joint is the joint between the shoulder blade and the collar bone. 2) A Grade 1 injury is a sprain of the ligaments around the AC joint. 3) Grade 1 is the simplest type of injury to this area, requiring the least recovery time. A Grade 2 injury involves tears to the ligaments. Grade 3 involves separation and can require lengthy recovery time.

So the news is generally pretty good for Wilson, although he is missing valuable practice time right now. He was in a blue, non-contact jersey today.

“He’ll be in blue a couple of days,” Goforth said. “He’s questionable for Saturday’s scrimmage (but), we don’t expect anything serious from it.”

Also of note, sophomore RB Josh Oglesby did not practice at all today. He was in shorts and a T-shirt, but Goforth said he is simply resting a nagging hamstring strain. The staff seems to be playing this one safe more than anything.

In the meantime, look at who’s left. Everybody’s favorite player without a college snap to his name. Ryan Williams, aka Razzle (Wilson will be Dazzle if he lives up to the hype), might just win the starting job via attrition. Right now, Williams is the last man standing.

Maybe there’s something to be said for his self-described “undisciplined” style, his avoid-contact-at-all-costs approach. Then again, Williams missed almost all of his senior season in high school with an injury.

The moral of the story: You can never have enough tailbacks. Bet you’ve never heard that coach cliche before, right? Well, this is EXACTLY why they say it. Nobody takes a beating like backs.

Now it’s time to talk to the guys who do the beating: the defensive line. I caught up with their coach and two of the most integral members of that unit.

Here they are, for your viewing pleasure ...

D-LINE COACH CHARLEY WILES

ON HOW GOOD HE FEELS ABOUT HIS STARTING LINE, THEN ABOUT HIS SECOND STRING GUYS WHO’LL PLAY PLENTY THIS SEASON: “I tell you what, (DT) Demetrius (Taylor) made a couple tough plays (in the scrimmage), a couple big plays on screens. I thought (DT) Taco (Thompson) and (DT) John (Graves) played real physical. Those three guys, I feel real good about inside right now. We’ve got to get (DT) Antoine Hopkins to come on. He’s got the ability. He can be a guy who can be a disruptor in there. We saw him do it in the spring game. He’s not doing it every day. If he’ll grow up and just play fast all the time ... he’s just got so much ability that I’m not going to take a mediocre performance from him. He’s got too much ability. Kwamaine Battle is battling him in there. Dwight Tucker played well -- against the No. 3 offense, but he made some plays so I’m going to give him some consideration, give him some work in there. After 9, 10, 11 practices, I’m real pleased with where (DE) Chris Drager is. He made a nice play (in the scrimmage), had a nice play on a pinch.”

ON WHETHER HE’S BATTLING NEKOS BROWN FOR THE NO. 1 SPOT: “I think Nekos has kind of separated himself from an experience standpoint. Nekos, the first play of the scrimmage, they threw a little quick screen out there and we were moving our front and he’s pinching. He’s got dive. They ran a little play-fake deal. He hit the dive and still got in on the tackle out there. You don’t see that unless you watch the video. I didn’t see it out there on the field. You slow it down and look at it ... Nekos is all over the football field. You better protect yourself. He’s going to the whistle. He’s improving in his pass rush. (DE) Jason (Worilds) was solid. He didn’t have a lot of playmaking opportunities. I know he had one pass rush that he wished he had back. But the first group only played 18 plays.”

ON HIS TOP BACK-UP AT DEFENSIVE END: “Steven Friday is a guy I feel better about than I ever have before. He made some plays (in the scrimmage). Steve can run. I told Steve: You’ve got 11 starters, so whatever your role ends up being – it may be 50 plays one day, it may be eight the next – you’ve got to embrace that role. I think he has. That’s important. Everybody’s got to do it when they’re called on. Steven right now, along with Chris, is going to back up and spell Jason and Nekos. You never know what’s in the forecast, if somebody’s going to get hurt. He may play more in some games. But I’m trusting Steven, because I’m seeing his production. I’m seeing him concentrating in meetings. He’s not been up and down in his mental preparation. And the kid can run, he benched 410, 415, he’s cock-strong. The guy could really be a playmaker for us. Right now, I’d say he’s the third end.”

ON WHETHER DRAGER WILL BE READY TO PLAY THIS SEASON AT END: “Oh, yeah, he can play. Absolutely. It’s just a matter now of, he’s been drilled in his head for two years of playing tight end to climb people and block people as opposed to everything we’re doing. He’s come a long way, really, in a short period of time. He’s showed some quickness, some suddenness at times, but not consistently. That’s got to happen. You’ve got to play with great quickness all the time. If he can get to that point, he’s going to be a productive guy for us.”

ON HIS VALUE TO THIS LINE: “You’re a play away from one of (the starters) going down and you not having a guy. So he’s a dependable, reliable, physical kid. He’s been in some battles. He’s smart. He’s picked up on it really quickly, compared to a freshman. I mean (freshmen) James Gayle and J.R. (Collins, a.k.a Lanford Collins) right now, they’re a year away for sure. Now, athletically, they’re going to be special. I mean that. They can run, they can move, but just everything is running together for them. They’re nowhere close to being physical enough to play in there against grown men. Steven Friday just turned 23. How old is James Gayle? I don’t know, 17 or 18? There’s going to be some 22-year-old men that they’re playing against. It’s a lot of difference.”

ON THAT BEING DRAGER’S VALUE BY COMING OVER TO HELP, BECAUSE OF HOW PHYSICALLY DEVELOPED HE IS: “Oh, he’s been in the program three years. He’s strong at the point of attack. He can get off blocks. He can do the things we ask him to do, where some of the young kids can’t do it right now, physically.”

ON HOW D-END JASON WORILDS HAS LOOKED SINCE GETTING HIS SHOULDER FIXED: “Well, he’s not in pain. That’s one thing. He can go out and practice hard and improve. He’s not having to take medication just to be able to sleep at night. And he’s able to lift weights, so he’s not going to wilt away like he did last year. He got down to about 238 pounds. Here when we started, he was right at 258. He couldn’t lift (last year). You can do a little bit of legs, but you can’t keep your upper-body strength up.”

ON WORILDS HAVING BREAK-OUT POTENTIAL THIS SEASON: “Oh, I hope so. Obviously he can make plays. He’s got great explosiveness and change of direction. He’s really good in space. And hopefully he’ll just continue to get better and better as a 7-technique, at the point of attack.”

ON HOW MUCH BETTER HE FEELS ABOUT THE D-LINE OVERALL GOING INTO THIS CAMP THAN LAST CAMP: “Well, you didn’t know a lot about those kids. You didn’t know how they were going to respond. Now they’ve got more confidence and I’ve got more confidence. But still, you train scared. You’ve got to work your butt off. That’s how I’ve encouraged these guys to be. You can’t take anything for granted. Alright, we played pretty good defense last year. That has nothing to do with today. We’ve prepared this summer, done a terrific job, and hopefully we’ll stay healthy and keep getting better. You’ve always got to be training like somebody’s coming for your position. I’ve tried to keep that kind of foot on them. That’ll be good on down the road for them.”

DE CHRIS DRAGER

ON WHETHER HE HAS BOUGHT INTO HIS MOVE FROM TE TO D-END: “Yeah, I’m sold into it. I’m committed to it. I figure I’m going to be here the whole year, at least, so I need to put a hand in and help the defense.”

ON WHETHER HE LIKES THE MOVE: “I definitely like the hitting, but it’s a lot more than that. There’s a lot of plays and basic fundamentals that I’ve got to get used to.”

ON WHAT ENABLES HIM TO MAKE THE MOVE AND PLAY NOW: “I don’t know what the coaches think, but one of the parts of my game is that I’m physical. I think that was one of the main qualities they saw in me.”

ON ALL HIS MEASURABLES: “I’m 6-3, 250, benching like 330. I back-squat 460. I’m not weak, but I’m probably at the bottom of the pack over here. There’s some freaks on the defensive line, like Jason Worilds. I run a 4.7, 4.8. That’s probably about average, because you’ve got Jason running a (darn) 4.4, 4.5.”

ON PLAYING D-END IN HIGH SCHOOL HELPING: “The way we run our defense is not exactly the same as high school, but it’s very similar. That helped me jumping back in. I’m kind of vaguely familiar with everything.”

ON HOW HE SEES HIS ROLE ON THIS TEAM: “To help. I might break into the rotation. I’m not going to start, but I think I’m going to be able to rotate in and help as much as I can.”

ON WHETHER HE IS FRUSTRATED THAT HE WAS MOVED: “It was a little bit surprising, just because the move came after spring ball. Usually, if they’re going to move you, they do it before spring ball so you can get some experience. I’m not disappointed at all, I’m just trying to do everything I can to learn the plays and learn the position.”

ON THERE BEING A STARTING D-END JOB OPEN NEXT SEASON: “I guess that’s an opportunity, but I’m focusing on this year.”

ON HOW MUCH THIS DEFENSE LIKES AND NEEDS A ROTATION OF D-ENDS: “That’s part of the reason I’m trying to learn as fast as I can, because I think they really need me and I’m trying to help. It’s a team game. We have to play as a team to win, and that’s what I was thinking. They needed me more at defensive end than tight end. It was better for the team. If we have a chance to play for a national championship – not that I’ll make the difference – I’ll do anything I can to help.”

ON BEING PART OF ONE OF THE NATION’S MOST-RESPECTED DEFENSES: “That’s one of the big things that feeds my excitement, to be part of a great defense that’s top-10 every year. You’ve got to take pride in that.”

ON WHETHER HE LOOKED AT WHAT CINCINNATI’S CONNOR BARWIN DID LAST SEASON, GOING FROM A TIGHT END TO ONE OF THE NATION’S TOP PASS-RUSHERS AT END: “Yeah. When Cincinnati was recruiting me, they always talked about Connor Barwin. He did the same thing as me. He made the transition very well. Hopefully I can do something like that.”

ON THAT MOVE HAPPENING WITH SOME FREQUENCY IN COLLEGE FOOTBALL, AND WHETHER IT’S A NATURAL SWITCH: “They kind of complement each other very well. Tight ends and defensive ends are always hitting each other. They know how each other reacts. From tight end to defensive end is one of the easier transitions.”

DE NEKOS BROWN

ON FEELING LIKE THE UNPROVEN ELEMENT OF TECH’S DEFENSIVE LINE: “I know I have a lot to prove. Being the third end for the past couple of seasons ... I won’t say I haven’t been able to show what I can do, but I know I can play a whole game now. I’m in a lot better shape. I’ve really improved as a pass rusher, and I’ve really taken the position more serious. At first, I really didn’t pay attention to detail. I was just learning where I had to be, what I had to do. But now I’m learning the offense. There’s no second thoughts about what we have to do as a defense. Now it’s getting the little parts of my technique down and attacking the offense.”

ON HOW MUCH OF HIS NEW URGENCY COMES FROM THIS BEING HIS SENIOR SEASON: “Oh, it’s big. It’s real big. I know I can play at the next level. I know I can stand up and play outside linebacker in the NFL. This season, I can show everything I can do, because I’m starting.”

ON WHETHER THERE’S PRESSURE PLAYING END AT A SCHOOL KNOWN FOR ENDS: “I wouldn’t call it pressure. I’d say it’s something to make you feel good, knowing you’re coming behind all those players. If you’re starting here, you know Coach trusts you, that you’re capable.”

ON HOW IMPRESSED HE’S BEEN WITH DRAGER: “He’s a football player. When he was at tight end, I’d say he gave me the greatest battles of all the tight ends. When he came off the ball, he came off hard. I knew him coming to defense really wouldn’t be a problem. I’m helping him learn the defense, and he’s a smart guy. He’s picking it up fast. If me or Jason need a blow in a game, he can come in and do well.”

ON THE HIGH EXPECTATIONS FOR THIS TEAM: “We all know it. We feel like we can live up to those expectations, but we can’t dwell on it. We see people talking about it, but we don’t let it affect us on the practice field.”

ON WHETHER THE D-LINE FEELS MORE RESPONSIBILITY TO PLAY WELL WITH TWO NEW STARTERS AT LINEBACKER AND A NEW FIELD CORNER: “I wouldn’t say that. I’d say we’re all ready. We all know what’s at stake this season. We all know what we’re capable. A good pass rush equals good coverage. Good coverage equals a good pass rush. We all do our part. We’re a family and we all stick together. We know what it takes.”

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