Michael Brewer
Brewer didn’t know exactly what to expect when he first got to Tech. Everybody on the team and at the school has been great and that made his transition very easy.
In the second half of the season, Brewer needs to protect the ball better. He improved this past week, but he’d like to have one back. He’s still getting used to the players and the system, and that will come with time.
Tech has been great on third down this year. They always have a very good gameplan for third downs, and they’ve executed very well.
Brewer was a bit surprised by the Tech fanbase. He came from a good fanbase at Texas Tech, but he hasn’t seen anything like Virginia Tech before. It was pretty special to see so many fans at Ohio State.
Brewer still talks to Chad Morris at Clemson. Morris was his high school coach, and the two families are very close. They talk on Sundays after every game, and he’s a good guy to have in your corner. They mainly talk as friends. Sometimes he’ll throw in coaching advice, but Morris understands that he’s not Brewer’s coach.
UNC did a good job of only rushing four or five and still getting pressure. There wasn’t any sense to make any ill-advised throws with a big lead, so he held the ball a little more than usual and took some sacks.
Brewer hasn’t fished any bass tournaments yet, but he plans to in the spring when he gets some more time.
The interception at UNC was more of a miscommunication than anything. They were supposed to have a 12 yard corner route behind the hitch, but there were some miscommunications. That’s going to happen at times with young receivers.
The biggest difference in Blacksburg and Lubbock is the scenery. It’s all flat and red dirt in Lubbock, and it’s the opposite in Blacksburg.
The better Tech can run the ball, the better they can throw it. They had a good day early. That’s important. It takes pressure off Brewer and controls the clock. Tech was 36 seconds away from a school record in time of possession.
Isaiah Ford and Cam Phillips both made great catches on the sideline against UNC. Brewer tried to make a back shoulder to throw on the scramble drill to Phillips, and he made a great play on the ball.
Tech’s young players have done a great job so far. It’s tough to play at a high level on a weekly basis as a young player, but they are talented and well-coached. You’ll see them grow more throughout the season.
Brewer has been the same height since his sophomore year of high school, so he’s used to having to find windows to throw the ball.
Tech hasn’t hit the deep ball much this year. They need to do better. It’s mostly about timing, and they need to keep developing there.
The bye week will be nice. The team can recharge their batteries, and Brewer can get 100% healthy.
Brewer is glad he doesn’t have to face the Tech defense. It was tough going through camp having to learn the offense while going up against the VT defense.
Before the four-minute mark, the Hokies were trying to extend the lead. They didn’t want to get too conservative, so they didn’t start running the clock until there were about four minutes left.
If Tech can eliminate the pre-snap penalties and stay ahead of the chains, that will help the offense. Eliminating the turnovers will help too.
Frank Beamer
The Hokies made some big plays early against UNC. The players played great and the coaches coached great.
Tech isn’t where they need to be, but there were a lot of good things against UNC to build on. The Hokies got major contributions from their offense, defense and special teams. It was a good team win.
North Carolina is very talented and very capable, but you’d like to play a little more consistently throughout the game. When you’re playing a lot of freshmen, you’re going to have some ups and downs.
Marshawn Williams thinks he can play against Pitt. He told Beamer that he is a quick healer. He badly wants to play.
Beamer hates that Trey Edmunds got hurt again. He has great family support and he’s a great kid. He’ll get through it and hang in there.
J.C. Coleman and Joel Caleb did a nice job on Saturday. Last week was probably Joel Caleb’s best week of practice. It’s time for him to come around, and Beamer is sure he will.
The punt coverage team did a tremendous job. They really focused during practice last week. They talked about it all week. That was a big key to the game. It has been a big improvement since last year. Beamer feels like they have some more athletic guys on that team this year.
If you hit a quarterback early, he starts thinking about the pass rush. It’s not an easy game. They got Marquise Williams quite a few times on Saturday. He played really tough on Saturday.
All four Fuller brothers have now scored touchdowns for the Hokies. What a great family. Beamer wishes there was a fifth.
Kendall Fuller and Ken Ekanem both played exceptionally well. Ekanem had 71 points as a defensive player, which says a lot about what he was available to accomplish on Saturday.
Beamer hopes the Miami game will sell out and the Tech fans will crank up the atmosphere on that Thursday night.
Tech is doing up downs on Sunday for each yard of penalty during the previous game. The player who has the penalty is in the middle as a reminder. Tech is going to work with their snap count a bit to make it less confusing.
Beamer always thought that this team would have some bumps in the road because of youth. He expects them to get better as the year goes by, and he thinks they are. He enjoys practices and watching these guys work.
Tech can improve on penalties and playing consistently through the football game, but that will come as they mature.
As far as the Coastal Division race goes, the Hokies have to take care of themselves. They can’t worry about anyone else.
Beamer has always enjoyed playing Thursday night games. He has so many favorite Thursday night moments, but he specifically mentioned the game against West Virginia in 2000.
Tech has short workouts on Tuesday and Wednesday, and then the coaches will take a couple of days to recruit. They will start getting ready for Pitt on Saturday.
Virginia Tech has held the Commonwealth Cup for 3600 days. #ItsGood2Be #Hokies
— Commonwealth Cup (@CommonwlthCup) October 6, 2014
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No comments about our continued refusal to take a knee on kick offs. Seems to me that we got the ball on the 15, 17 & 18 yard lines when if the guys had taken a knee in the end zone, we would have started on the 25!!! Seems to be an issue that the coaches are not mentioning. Your thoughts??
I thought if you take a knee it is the 20.
Rule changed a year or two ago. It’s the 25 now.
There is always a possibility of breaking it to further up field so I understand the desire to run it out. I do think, however, that we need to judge the hang time, etc. and perhaps take the touchback a bit more often. As temperatures cool, however, fewer kick-offs will fly so high and deep, so maybe the practice of running it out will begin to pay off.
I am sure it is an issue that they discuss and review the tape for. I haven’t seen anything on film, so I don’t know if there were seams the returners thought they could hit or if they really, really should have taken a knee. Again, I’m sure the coaches review it with them, and hopefully those decisions will improve. The real problem was how at least one of those “could have been on the 25” returns was further ruined by the offensive line not being able to get off the snap correctly. That issue, in my opinion, is a much bigger one and needs to be fixed first!
Much appreciated, Chris!