Hokies Camp 2010, Vol. 25: Final scrimmage report ...

I’ve been covering the Hokies since 2004, and I can’t recall a single scrimmage after which the mood was so much sunshine and roses as today’s. Tech’s final preseason scrimmage couldn’t have gone much better from a confidence and execution standpoint for the starters.

Today, the No. 1 offense and defense played as one team against the No. 2 offense and defense. So, obviously, the stats are somewhat misleading.

Even so, there’s not much to complain about. The starting offense piled up 404 yards and three touchdowns. The starting defense had five sacks and allowed just 101 total yards and a pair of field goals (one of which came after the No. 2 offense took over at the defense’s 35-yard line).

QB Tyrod Taylor went nuts in this thing, completing his first 10 passes for 231 yards – including a 95-yard scoring strike to TE Andre Smith his opening pass. Taylor finished 16 of 17 for 319 yards and 3 TD, his lone incompletion coming on a throwaway under pressure. WR Jarrett Boykin made a series of impressive catches and finished with 134 yards and a TD on seven receptions.

Punter Brian Saunders averaged 44 yards on three punts and WR Marcus Davis broke through the middle to block a punt, which Zach Luckett returned for a touchdown.

Starting FG guy Chris Hazley hit both his attempts, from 23 and 37 yards, and backup Justin Myer (Tech’s kickoff specialist) nailed a 54-yard FG.

So what’s there to complain about? That the second-string offense and defense didn’t look great against the starters? That’s what you HOPE happens if you’re coach Frank Beamer.

Sure, today’s stats shouldn’t be overblown, but the No. 1 units should dominate the backups, and they did. That’s very good news for the Hokies heading into game-week preparation for Boise State.

A couple of other notables from today: LT Nick Becton ran 2-3 series with the second-string line and then had to shut it down because of pain in that turf toe. Looks like Andrew Lanier, who has been getting all the first-string reps for about three weeks now (and who started a game against Duke last fall) will likely start against the Broncos. Becton will probably rotate in during that game. ... Also, RB David Wilson isn’t redshirting. That’s not official. In fact, no one has said that to me. But at this point (after 29 yards on four carries against the No. 1 defense and a 43-yard opening kickoff return with the starting return unit), I’d bet major money on it – if I were a bettor.

Now for the rest of the numbers from today, then a HUGE pile of post-scrimmage interviews.

PASSING: Taylor 16 of 17, 319 yards, 3 TD; Thomas 6 of 14, 74 yards

RUSHING: Wilson 11-61; Williams 8-32; Evans 5-21; Oglesby 2-7

RECEIVING: Boykin 7-134, 1 TD; Smith 1-95, 1 TD; Coale 4-40; Roberts 1-35;  Davis 2-29; Coles 2-27; Dunn 1-23; Parker 2-16; Evans 2-11, 1 TD

PUNTING: Saunders 3-132, 44.0 avg, 47 long; Keyserling 1-38

KICKING: Hazley 2 of 2 (23, 37); Myers 1 of 1 (54)

DEFENSIVE LEADERS: Exum 5 tackles; T. Edwards 5 tackles; Sykes 5 tackles; Collins 4 tackles; Carmichael 4 tackles, 1 sack; Gibson 4 tackles, 1 for loss; Whitley 4 tackles, 3 pass breakups; Hill 4 tackles; A. Hopkins 3 tackles, 2 for loss; B. Taylor 3 tackles, 1 sack; Friday 3 tackles, 1 sack; Drager 2 sacks; D. Hopkins 2 tackles, 1 sack

* Now buckle up for all the Qs and As you can handle ...

HEAD COACH FRANK BEAMER

ON THE STARTING OFFENSE’S BIG DAY: “The scrimmage went well. I think the final score was 31-6. The first offense and defense were together (against the second strings). You hope your first offense and defense are that good, and you hope your second offense and defense is not that bad. Some of those (backup) guys need to play better for us. But Tyrod was 16 of 17 and the one he missed was a throwaway. That’s the way he’s been all fall. I tell you, this guy is accurate. He’s getting the ball out of there, knows where the ball’s going. The receivers are catching the ball for him. But that Tyrod ... I feel the same way with him out there as I did when Michael Vick was out there. The next play could be a big play. Any play has a chance of going a long ways. Tyrod gives you that same element right now.”

“Overall, I thought it was good. It’s just hard to be happy in these. You worry a little bit about your second group and are we far enough along with that group. But overall, I thought it was a good scrimmage, good things. Kicked a field goal. Myer hit a 54-yarder and Hazley hit both of his, 23 and 37. So there was some good stuff that went on out there. Got a punt blocked for a touchdown. But like I said, it’s hard to be happy. You’re glad you’re blocking kicks, but you want to protect a little bit better on the other side. That Pride and Joy crowd (the punt-block unit) is pretty good right now. I’m really pleased with how they get after it.”

ON HIS PUNT PROTECTION TEAM: “We continue to work on the other side of it. We make it hard on our punt team, but still, it’s just a matter of fundamentals over there. But we’ll continue to work on that. It’s in the protection. Our kicking times have been good. We’ve just got to protect better.”

ON WHETHER RB DAVID WILSON HAS NOW MADE IT IMPOSSIBLE TO REDSHRIT HIM: “Yeah, we’re going to talk about it tomorrow again. He had 61 yards on 11 carries, had a 43-yard kickoff return. I mean, he’s got a burst. He’s running hard and tough. You like seeing him on the field. ... He ran with the first offense the last part of the scrimmage. Most of (his yardage) was against the first defense, though.”

ON LT NICK BECTON GETTING A LITTLE WORK TODAY: “You worry about a guy who hasn’t practiced as much as he hasn’t practiced.”

ON WHAT THEY DID, SCHEME-WISE IN TODAY’S SCRIMMAGE: “Well, we ran what we’re going to run against Boise State. That’s why the thing was closed. But the biggest thing (you take from the scrimmage) is you look at it ... we’re going to take 70 people to FedEx Field and to decide on your 70, we’re going to do that tomorrow morning. I think you can learn from it, what we ran today, and that’s what we’re going to practice this week.”

ON HOW LB ALONZO TWEEDY LOOKED AS GUNNER ON THE KICK COVERAGE TEAMS: “He’s still having trouble. I hope we can get him well this next week, but he’s still having a little trouble moving. We’ve got two or three guys going (behind him) right now. (Antone) Exum would probably be the guy.”

ON HIS CORPS OF WIDE RECEIVERS: “When you go through a scrimmage and don’t see a dropped ball, that’s a good thing. Out here in practice, you don’t see many dropped balls. I think they, as a group, have a chance to be very good.”

O-LINE COACH CURT NEWSOME

ON HIS STARTING LINE’S PERFORMANCE TODAY: “I think we were sharp out there. I thought the 1s did a really good job and had a heckuva day.”

ON ANDREW LANIER WORKING AT THE NO. 1 LEFT TACKLE: “Nick (Becton) didn’t finish the scrimmage. He went part of it, got him some snaps (with the second-string line). We thought it would happen, because he’s still favoring (the injured toe). But I look for him to be ready (for the opener).”

ON WHO’D START THAT GAME: “I would think, based on right now, Andrew Lanier would, which I have no problems with. He played a year ago against Duke, played the entire game. Just based on the amount of reps he’s taken this camp (he’d start). Very solid today. Until you watch it (on video) you don’t really know, but there were no glaring things out there and I actually talked to him walking in and he said he thought he had a good scrimmage.”

ON THE GOOD PART OF BECTON WORKING ON THE NO. 2 LINE WAS HE FACED THE NO. 1 DEFENSE, AND HOW HE LOOKED: “He’s still favoring that foot some. I want to get him all the way healthy. I tell you, I just didn’t want a major setback today. I didn’t want him to go out there and go back to square one. So we got him some reps, he’s favoring it, he wasn’t full speed. We need to get him out there. We don’t have any real physical practices for a couple days and he needed that break.”

ON HOW MANY REPS BECTON GOT: “The first two or three series.”

ON LANIER’S WEIGHT RIGHT NOW: “He’s a little over 280. I think he’s plenty big and he can move his feet. I don’t think that will be a problem. I just don’t want him to pull a (Greg) Nosal (last season) ... look up and he’s 260 pounds.”

ON HIS COMFORT LEVEL WITH LANIER STARTING: “He’s our most-improved guy up front during this camp. He’s gotten better, and I think our football team needed that. I feel very comfortable with him in there. Now when Nick comes back completely, you’ve got two of them and you’ve got a really good situation.”

ON ANOTHER POSITIVE TODAY: “Michael Via (back from ACL) played every snap with the 2s today at tackle, which was a good sign.”

O-COORDINATOR BRYAN STINESPRING

ON THE IMPORTANCE OF TODAY’S OFFENSIVE SUCCESS: “It’s very important because it kind of coincides with some of the discussions we’ve had as an offense. We talked a couple weeks ago about people in history, football teams in history, people in history who’ve spoken a lot of words but their actions have meant a whole lot more. How we practice and how we prepare and how we go out and perform is going to determine how good we are. Not what we talk about or what other people would like to say about your opportunity for success. That doesn’t mean anything. What we go on this field and do is going to be the telling factor. I thought that was a critical point for us to go out there today and make some plays. A pretty good day at the office.”

ON QB TYROD TAYLOR TAKING HIS GAME UP A NOTCH: “I think he’s reached another level. We’ve got to go back and look at Tyrod down the stretch these last five or six games last year to realize that there was this rung that he climbed as the season went on. It carried over to the spring, and then he carried it into this summer, in his own voluntary camp process, where he had his receivers here all summer long. When we hit the practice field on Aug. 6, they were sharp off the get-go. They were in sync with each other. That was part of his preparation and making sure everyone was prepared. The fact that he went in the weight room and broke some records, his mindset, his preparation ... it’s showing. I have not seen a guy that’s gone out there throughout this camp and performed at such a level as he has in quite some time.”

ON THE DAVID WILSON DILEMMA: “I kind of like David Wilson. I’m glad he’s on our team. I think we’re going to make that decision ... it’s something we’ll sit down and talk about. I think David’s a special talent and we always want our best players in a position to help us win.”

ON TE ANDRE SMITH, KNOWN AS A BLOCKER, BREAKING A 95-YARD TD CATCH AND RUN: “Well, he’s made some terrific catches throughout his career. Some of the catches he made last year weren’t just the ‘hit you in the chest and turn up field,’ he made some terrific catches. Andre is very critical to our offense. ... If (defenses) are going to start playing us outside and create some space in the middle, he gives us an opportunity to attack that part of us.”

D-COORDINATOR BUD FOSTER

ON WHAT BOISE STATE DOES THAT MAKES THEM TOUGH TO DEFEND: “No. 1, people don’t give them enough credit. You’ve got a great quarterback. Their running game is completely underrated. And you’ve got two receivers that are as good as anybody in the country. And then a very, very good offensive line. But then what makes them ... they try to keep you off-balance, throwing, running, different formations. They try to get you on the same plays but all out of different formations. They’re very efficient doing that. Then they’re good with the gadget plays and those things. They just make you defend the field, sideline to sideline, end zone to end zone.”

ON TECH USING THE ‘LACK OF RESPECT’ THING AS MOTIVATION FOR YEARS AND WORRYING ABOUT BOISE HAVING THAT SAME CHIP ON THEIR SHOULDER: “Well, yeah, because the media is painting that picture. They’re not getting the credit they deserve. I just told you what I think about them, as a guy that does that as a living. I know how good they are.”

ON WHAT THEIR OFFENSE IS LIKE, RELATIVE TO OTHER TEAMS TECH HAS FACED: “They’d be like a Cincinnati in a lot of ways. We played well in that game, yeah, we did ... but this is a good football team we’re getting ready to play. They throw the ball around, got good skill kids, got a dynamic quarterback. They’re going to run a lot of screens and bubbles (like Cincy). The quarterback is a good player, but a lot of his balls ... I bet they’re going to throw eight to 10 to 12 screens a game. They’re going to get the ball to their playmakers. It’s not always throwing the ball down the field.”

ON HIS IMPRESSIONS OF THE STARTING DEFENSE AFTER TODAY, DESPITE THE SECOND TEAM’S STRUGGLES: “I’m pleased with our first team. Gave up six points. A kid kicked a 54-yard field goal, then they got the ball on the 35-yard line and kicked a field goal. I feel good about our first group. I really do. I do. I told our kids after practice, ‘If we’ve got to play with 11, we’ll play with 11.’ That’s why there’s a first and second team. So I feel good about our first unit. There’s about four or five guys (on the second team) that I feel very good about. There’s about four or five that are about 60-40, playing for us and the other team. That’s not good enough. At this level, if you’re not being consistently good on defense, you’ll get exploited. And that’s why we’ve been good over the years, because we perform consistently well on a regular basis. Right now, the second group, they’re not always the most disciplined group right now.”

ON WHETHER THERE ARE ANY CONCERNS AT ALL WITH THE FIRST DEFENSE: “Just some experience factors. That’s it, as much as anything. At the whip position, it’s a key position for us, because that’s a playmaking spot right now in our defense. We’ve had a stretch of guys that have really performed very, very well there. You’re a free hitter, a player in space that needs to make plays. I think our (free) safety is another key spot. I thought Eddie Whitley played very well today. He had a couple opportunities to take some pick-sixes that he didn’t hang onto, but I was encouraged by the way he broke on the ball. He did everything but finish it. Those are spots right now that they’ve got to step up. I think our field corner right now, because Jaryon Hosley has been out (at various times with a hamstring) and Cris Hill ... that’s still a question mark as far as consistent play. Cris has done a nice job. Jacob Sykes, he didn’t have a great today, but he still has been a pleasant surprise in camp. And Jayron, if he gets healthy, he shows the skill set to be a pretty good football player. We need him to step up, though.”

ON SAYING THIS WEEK THAT LB BRUCE TAYLOR, REPLACING INJURED BARQUELL RIVERS, HAS BEEN THE BEST DEFENDER IN CAMP: “I think so. Just play in, play out, every day in, every day out, the guy has been steady and playing hard and being consistent in his performance. That’s one guy you notice just chasing the ball. I mean, he’s been very, very good. I’ll stick to my guns on that.”

QB TYROD TAYLOR

ON WHETHER THIS WAS THE BEST PASSING DAY HE’S EVER HAD: “What were the numbers? (He was informed.) Well, yeah. Hopefully I can duplicate that in a game.”

ON HAVING PLENTY OF TIME TO THROW TODAY: “Yes, I did. The line did a good job. Overall today, the offense did a real good job of making plays, executing the big plays.”

ON HOW GOOD THIS IS FOR CONFIDENCE HEADING INTO GAME WEEK: “Hopefully we can build as a team and carry it over into the season. Watch film. It was mistakes out there today, but there were a lot of good plays, and we can build off both.”

ON WHETHER HE COULD IMAGINE RB DAVID WILSON REDSHIRTING AT THIS POINT: “Nah, that’s ... I don’t know the status right now, but he’s a great player. I love playing with him. Fast guy, can break a play at any time, and he’s not going down easily.”

ON WHETHER HE EXPECTS A SHOOTOUT WITH BOISE: “No, because I believe our defense is going to play well. But if it is a shootout, I think our offense is prepared to go out and score points. We believe we can do that.”

ON WHETHER THERE’S BEEN ANYBODY ON OFFENSE HE’S BEEN SURPRISED BY THIS CAMP: “D.J. (Coles) has always caught my eye, but Marcus Davis has played very well. Marcus has stepped up his game. He’s just being more explosive with the ball, looking for more yardage after he catches the ball, and catching more balls.”

ON WHETHER HE THINKS THIS OFFENSE IS CLICKING TO THE POINT THEY COULD PLAY THE OPENER TOMORROW: “I believe so. We’ve been watching film on Boise, going over our plays and putting in plays for Boise. I believe this offense is prepared to play a game.”

ON BEING THE VEGAS UNDERDOG (AND WITH MANY ANALYSTS) IN THIS GAME: “I think being the underdog just gives you more motivation to go out and prove people wrong. That’s what we’ve set out to do.”

WR JARRETT BOYKIN

ON WHETHER THIS WAS THE IDEAL FINAL SCRIMMAGE OF CAMP: “Yeah, because it shows us what kind of tone we’re setting and where we’re at. We’ve been practicing all summer, but having that great practice out there today is a confidence-booster heading into this week of game preparation.”

ON THE OFFENSE WANTING TO PROVE THEY ARE NOT JUST GOOD ON PAPER, BUT FINALLY, TRULY A THREAT: “It’s easier said than done. But once you got out there and, what we did today, once we start doing the stuff we’re capable of, it gives us a great confidence booster.”

ON WHETHER HE SENSES A DIFFERENCE IN QB TYROD TAYLOR THIS CAMP: “I sense a big difference. Everything is starting to click now. We’re ready to take the field this year and do big things.”

CB RASHAD CARMICHAEL

ON D-COORDINATOR BUD FOSTER BEING HARD ON HIS GUYS THIS CAMP: “That’s the energy he brings each and every day. With a big like this one coming up, we know he’s going to be excited and bring that energy. I try to get the guys, we’ve got to step up to his level because he’s so hyped and excited. I actually think he’s going to get a little worse come next week. That’s the level we’ve got to play at. That’s the intensity that the game demands. It feels good when you know your coach feels the same way you do. You can go out there and give it your all.”

ON HOW THE STARTING DEFENSE FEELS AFTER TODAY: “I feel like we’re close, like we’re right on time, but it’s still a real long way to go – just as far as the mental standpoint of the game. We’re getting into the Boise week now, so we’re just starting to get the Boise calls. After we get those down, I’ll feel a little more comfortable, but for right now, finishing up camp, I feel great about the defense. And I’m excited about the offense. Those guys look good.”

ON WORRIES ABOUT THE SECOND-STRING D: “I try to be a big brother to the team. The two guys having a hard day in the secondary ... try to help those guys out, because they’re one play away. If I go down or anybody goes down, those guys have to be ready.”

* For instant updates on the Hokies, follow me at twitter.com/kyletuckerVP

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