Wyatt Teller has been moved to offensive tackle, and because of the rash of injuries and attrition up front, he’ll begin his career on the offensive line as Virginia Tech’s #2 left tackle.
As covered earlier this week, Adam Taraschke gave up football, and Jake Goins hung up his cleats because of injuries. Since then, Mark Shuman , Augie Conte and David Wang have been added to the injury list.
Mark Shuman (r-Jr.) tweeted that he was scheduled for an MRI today, and that he’s “hoping for the best”. Obviously that’s not a good sign for a guy who was competing for a starting job up front. The injury to Augie Conte (r-Fr.) isn’t known, but he’s listed on the injury list on BeamerBall.com. David Wang (r-Jr.) also rolled an ankle in practice this week, and though he’s not listed on the injury list, he’s also not a full-go for practice.
As a result, here’s how Tech’s two-deep on the offensive line looks…
LT: Jonathan McLaughlin (Fr.), Wyatt Teller (Fr.)
LG: Brent Benedict (r-Jr.), Ross Ward (r-So. walkon)
C: Caleb Farris (Jr.), Matt Arkema (r-Jr.)
RG: Andrew Miller (r-Sr.), Marcus Mapp (r-So. walkon)
RT: Laurence Gibson (r-Jr.), Parker Osterloh (Fr.)
Of Tech’s four healthy offensive tackles, three of them are true freshman, and one was a defensive tackle until today.
If you’re a TSL Pass subscriber, you know we’ve wanted to see Teller as an offensive lineman for quite awhile now. He has the size, feet, toughness and aggressiveness to excel at that position. I can see him as an offensive guard or tackle down the line, but for now he’s a tackle.
At tailback, J.C. Coleman (So.) sprained both of his ankles in Wednesday’s practice. As a result, Trey Edmunds (r-Fr.) sits along atop the depth chart. Tony Gregory (r-Sr.) is also injured, and Chris Mangus (r-Fr.) has been moved back to tailback just days after his move to wide receiver. Jerome Wright (Fr.) has also been moved to tailback.
Mangus is currently listed as Tech’s #2 tailback, with Joel Caleb (r-Fr.) at #3. That means Tech’s top three backs right now have never played in a college football game, along with much of their offensive line two-deep.
Naturally, almost all of Virginia Tech’s injuries are occurring on the offensive side of the ball, and exactly where they can’t afford injuries: offensive line and tailback.
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I wonder what the early Bama line is
‘Bama -18.5
The silver lining, if you can call it that, is that a lot of young players are going to get lots of meaningful reps this year. It’s going to be a bumpy ride this season, but it should make the team stronger going forward.
IF we have good and extensive recruiting classes… As it IS, we are down to 70-75 scholarship players (roughly). These aren’t just getting early reps for guys. If you look at walk-ons in the 2-deep on OL and shuffling guys all over the place, I am having a hard time seeing that ‘silver” as anything other than flimsy tin.
I know it’s nobody’s fault, and we just have to deal, but…WOW!!!
Wyatt, welcome to the offense!! You are playing this year. Tell your family you might be starting.
Hokiesports.com injury report:
http://www.hokiesports.com/football/recaps/20130815aaa.html
Gregory’s career is over and RVD is done for the year.
Having watched some of Wyatts film clips this could be a great move for him. I mean if he puts the work in he can become a millionaire. I was just as impressed with his blocking on offense as I was his defense. Chad Beasley comes to mind, all though Chad did a pretty good job on defense I thought he could have been great on the offensive line. Which is where he ended up at in the pros.
I was against moving him off the DL at first but I’ve since changed my mind. The main reason is that if he isn’t quick enough to play DE, which makes the choice either DT or OT, his body type just looks more like an offensive tackle to me.
I don’t see Teller redshirting as most folks had been saying. His move to OL smells of despiration.
If he is in the 2 deep then he definitely won’t be redshirting. The luxury of redshirting him applied when he was the #5 DT.
As far as the move to OL is concerned, I think it is the right long term move for the program regardless of the direct factors that led to the decision. We have a number of young, talented prospects and there is a real question as to whether Teller’s best position is DT or OL. He has a chance to contribute very early on the OL and could blossom into a great college player and pro prospect as an OT. This move could end up making him a lot of money.
That’s what is puzzling about Manning transfering. He was 1 injurie away from playing full time . Go figure!
He can’t accept being a backup, even if he’s a backup that gets plenty of snaps.
Wow just wow regarding the number of freshmen that could potentially be forced into action againt BAMA.
After these injuries and the Number of players filling the Slots that freshman or r-freshman. Tells you a lot about the bunch we had coaching in the last five or six years . Our New coaches are starting from the Ground Up and so is the young group that is filling the Gaps. I wonder what corner Stiney is setting In ??? VT’s Future will look better, Cause we Finally got a Group of Coaches that Knows the Business.
the ground up? really? see 100 miles east.
Better to have injuries this week instead of in two weeks….I guess.
Well, Shuman is out for Bama, Van Dyke out for season, JC Coleman questionable for Bama.
Dear Lord, WHAT has Frank Beamer done to deserve this????
Status Quo…. That’s what FB did to deserve this. Now lets move fwd not look at the past. The crystal ball says…. A bumpy ride lies ahead!
What the hell does THAT mean?!? What a stupid thing to say!!
He did nothing to deserve this, but life ain’t fair. Hope this makes the team buckle down and work harder. They need support of the fans now more then ever!
You think it is payback for not making the tough coaching decisions much earlier, instead of accepting mediocrity for so long? I wonder…..
Surely YOU are not buying that God himself is somehow punishing Frank and all Hokies???SURELY you don’t lend a SHRED a credence to THAT kind of mindless CRAP!! That kind of thinking is about as over the line as anything I have heard on TSL EVER.
BTW…WHO is it that God is targeting? Is it JCC, RVD? Maybe its Exum! Shuman, Wang ? WHO exactly??? Why doesn’t He just make Frank trip over a bench and break his leg…
Note to Hunter S. Thompson……You were wrong. You jumped the gun…. Now, “..we’re finally getting to the weird part”.
Certainly my TIC meter is broken and all of this went completely over my head..THAT is the only sane explanation…………..
It is all going to be okay!