Virginia Tech Hokie 2016 Spring Game Recap

The Spring rules were in effect; 12 minute quarters, only 1 time out per side and at the coach's discretion.  There is no hitting the Quarterback, and the half is only 10 minutes.  The weather for the game was excellent for football, with the breeze swirling and the clouds racing across the sky from the northeast.

Squad points were awarded for 3 and outs (3) Defensive stops (1) turnovers (5).

There were no turnovers in this one, though Andrew Motuapuaka almost grabbed one for the D.

The final score was 20 - 15 but that was really no real indication of what was going on.  The offense was extremely up tempo, there wasn't very much time between snaps.  The sets and motions were minimized.  There was definitely a different vibe from the field perspective.  The players were seriously "up" for the game and the defense was back to a more classic Bear Front 4-2-5 configuration with a safety over and a rover covering the slot.

There will be some time to go over all of the information and observations from the game, but this was a first voyage for the team under Coach Fuente's philosophy.  The surprise contributors to the game today were Josh Jackson, who demonstrated that he's going to be a capable QB with solid footwork, good reads, and a total lack of any real "hurried" mistakes made.  DJ Reid ran the ball well, and Jerod Evans settled in by the end of the third quarter to get his already impressive skills focused on making good throws.  (He tended to overthrow early, off of his back foot.)

On defense, there are some really interesting people.  The new defensive line is much bigger and much quicker to shutdown running holes.  There was a return of quality linebacker play inside with most of the tackles going to linebackers and run specialist defensive backfield folks.

The unofficial (very unofficial folks) stats for Motuapuaka, Moss (with what looked like 7 tackles), Edmunds, and McDonald was 19, and probably more.  There were only a few QB breakaways, and though there were yards made on individual runs there were no major dings.  Adonis Alexander is going to be a critical player and his four tackles and 1 pass defended will show up on the field in the fall.

Sam Rogers is going to be a team leader, he was a major grinder for this one.  There wasn't enough real differential between the Quarterbacks to even hazard a real guess at who "the guy" is going to be.  Evans and Jackson looked very good, but Jack Click was a surprise and Lawson didn't make any big mistakes. That competition is going to continue into August.  I also anticipate that we will see the name Divine Diablo on the WR roster for the fall.  He played an excellent game, showed good read sense and gained serious separation on key plays.

It's on to the roster analysis.  Hopefully we start seeing some sorting and status go out as we near the summer break.  More football analysis to come.

Meanwhile the Hokies WON the first baseball game of the double header with another walk off, and those games will need to be on the night's writing agenda.

Great Spring Effort!  New Faces, new styles, but still the same Virginia Tech Hokies!!!!