The First Bank & Trust Company Friday Q&A: Position Changes, And Babcock’s Hires

1) When will we know what position changes happen in spring ball? Are there any that you see coming outside of Givens to OL? — breid07

Chris Coleman: That’s often something that doesn’t get announced until right before spring practice begins. It happens either when the new roster is released at the start of spring ball or in Brent Pry’s initial press conference before the opening practice. We likely won’t know about any position changes for a while.

As far as Gunner Givens goes, remember that we haven’t heard directly that the position change is going to happen. We’ve only heard it as a rumor. Virginia Tech continues to list Givens as a defensive lineman. Check out this tweet from earlier this week:

Our 𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵 𝗧𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗔𝘁𝗵𝗹𝗲𝘁𝗲𝘀 of the week 💪#ThisIsHome pic.twitter.com/5tjTwfNNrI

— Virginia Tech Football (@HokiesFB) January 29, 2024

First, note that it says “DL” next to his name. If he has moved to the offensive line, the Hokies aren’t quite ready to announce it yet. Second, it’s great that he’s won a weekly award for strength and conditioning. That’s what you like to see.

My suspicion is that we’ll see somebody move to safety; I just don’t know who it will be as of yet. Specifically, the Hokies need to find a starting free safety. There are a couple of options with experience:

Jalen Stroman: He could play on the wide side of the field, but he was the starting strong safety last season. And if he moves to free safety, is Mose Phillips ready to start on the boundary?

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Jaylen Jones: He played free safety this past season, but it was a tough go for him, and unless he makes major improvements, he’s best suited for a backup role.

Right now, I’d guess the two starters when spring ball opens will be Stroman and Phillips. In spring ball, you don’t necessarily have to play free safety and strong safety; you can simply have a left safety and a right safety so you can get a look at all parties in both roles.

One name to keep an eye on is Krystian Williams, who redshirted this past season. He seems to have some corner skills as well as some safety skills, which would probably mean that he’s more suited to free safety than strong safety. He’s one that could get a look with Pierson Prioleau’s unit this spring.

Keonta Jenkins is another option since he’s played free safety in the past, and he’s used to playing on the wide side of the field in the star role. That move would allow Keli Lawson to move to star, which I believe is the best position for his skillset. You all remember Brandon Smith, the former 5-star recruit from Virginia who played for Pry at Penn State. From a run stopping perspective, he struggled mightily as a will at Penn State on the short side of the field (Lawson’s position), but he was good at the star position on the wide side. Check out his run defense grades at each position:

Star: 69.7 (sophomore season)
Will: 47.6 (junior season)

He wasn’t as good against the run as a junior as he was as a sophomore because of that position change. He didn’t hold up as well with offensive linemen blocking him as he did on the wide side against slot receivers and tight ends. I think Lawson could really take off as a football player if they made that switch. Smith may have been a 5-star recruit, and it’s natural to think that those guys can do anything, but even most of them still have to be put in the right position to succeed. Coverage on the wide side at star could be an issue for Lawson, as it was for Smith at Penn State, but in college, the No. 1 focus needs to be stopping the run. That’s true in all years, but especially coming after last season.

The counter point to that could be that if the Hokies have someone who hasn’t played free safety starting at that position, they might not want to combine him with Lawson in coverage on the wide side of the field. I could certainly see that argument and don’t disagree with it. Still, it’s something I’d try in the spring. Most of Tech’s defensive players now have enough experience that you can try them in multiple roles during the spring and it won’t slow them down very much. That wasn’t the case two springs ago, or even last spring. If it doesn’t work, everyone can always be moved back to his original position.

With the Hokies bringing in a big group of transfer defensive tackles, rising redshirt sophomore Lemar Law could also be considered for a move to the offensive line. Ron Crook wants to get bigger up front, and at 6-5, 324, Law is certainly bigger. I haven’t heard anything about that happening, but it’s something that I’d be interested in exploring.

2) Why has the women’s basketball team not been as dominant this year as compared to last? — OlderHokie

CC: I think sometimes we make the mistake of comparing this year’s women’s team through Feb. 2 to last year’s team through the end of the season. The more accurate comparison would be to compare both teams through February 2. Here are their records up to that date:

Last year: 18-4 overall, 8-4 ACC
This year: 17-4 overall, 8-2 ACC

Virginia Tech has played two fewer ACC games this season, but overall, the records are extremely similar. It’s also important to remember that this year’s team played a tougher non-conference schedule than last year’s team with defending national champion LSU and national runner-up Iowa. If you had given me a 17-4 record on February 2 before the season started, I think I would have taken it.

What makes last season memorable was the run the Hokies went on to close the season. From January 29 through March 27, they won 15 consecutive games before finally losing to LSU in the Final Four on March 31. This team hasn’t had the chance to accomplish the same thing yet. Their destiny is still in their hands.

That said, I agree that it’s not likely to happen again. This is a very good team and its 17-4 ranking says as much. It’s one of only three teams with fewer than three ACC losses, and this is an extremely difficult league. But do I think it’ll end up being as good as last year’s team? No, and that’s basically because of the players they lost.

Taylor Soule and Kayana Traylor were great. It was always going to be extremely difficult to replace those two players. This team is very good and is capable of making a deep postseason run, but I don’t think the ceiling is quite as high as last year’s team. There’s no shame in that, either, because last year’s team was the best in school history.

3) Rank your top five hires in Whit Babcock’s decade-long tenure. Or top 10. Include ex-coaches that have moved on as well as current, of course. Will be interested to see where you rank Buzz. — VintonHokies

CC: That’s a tough one because Babcock has made a lot of good coaching hires. Football is the most important sport because it provides the funding for the non-profit sports. Men’s basketball is the second most important, simply because it’s the only other self-sustaining sport in the athletic department. Do I weight hires for those sports due to those monetary reasons or do I throw the money out the window and make everything equal?

How about longevity? Tony Robie has been here a long time and has done a great job. Does he get extra points for longevity? I think Brent Pry could turn out to be at or near the top of the list long-term, especially if you decide to weigh the rankings towards football due to money. But after just two years and an overall losing record, is it fair to put him in the top five against more established coaches at Virginia Tech? And do I consider the importance of each individual sport to the fanbase?

Yeah, I’m overthinking it, just like always. Here are my top five, and I promise I didn’t end up overthinking it:

1: Kenny Brooks. He was a proven winner when Babcock hired him, going 337-121 at James Madison. He’s about to go to his fourth straight NCAA Tournament at Virginia Tech, and it would be five if not for COVID in 2019-20. I expected NCAA Tournaments from him, but I did not expect a Final Four and an ACC championship, so as far as I’m concerned, he’s exceeded expectations.

2: Buzz Williams. I think some people might forget what a splash hire this was at the time. Williams had made five NCAA Tournaments in six years at Marquette. He was a hire unlike which Tech had ever seen in men’s basketball. He took VT to three NCAA Tournaments in a row, which had never happened before, and a Sweet 16, which hadn’t happened in the modern era. Perhaps more important than that was what he represented — an athletic director that actually decided to “go for it” in basketball. We, as a fanbase, needed to know exactly what the program was capable of with an AD who made it a priority. Now we know.

3: Mike Young. He gave me, and many of us, what we’d been dreaming of for a long time: an ACC Tournament title. For as long as I live, that will be one of my fondest memories as a Virginia Tech fan, along with the 1995 and 1999 football seasons, winning the ACC in football my senior year of college (2004) and Buzz’s Sweet 16 appearance. I know a few are a bit down on Young this year, but it’s not like the Hokies are miles away from being back in the NCAA Tournament again. For as long as he’s here, I know Tech will be well-coached, and there have been too many seasons in the past where that wasn’t the case.

4: Tony Robie. He has the wrestling team nationally ranked and competing for the ACC title every year. He’s produced a national champion in Mekhi Lewis. No program at Virginia Tech has been as consistently good over the long haul as Robie’s wrestling program, so he has to have a spot on this list.

5: Pete D’Amour. All he’s done is go to the NCAA Tournament every single year he’s been in Blacksburg. Well, technically not in 2020, but that was due to COVID, and the Hokies were 21-4 when the season stopped. He’s the real deal. If he stays in Blacksburg long enough, he can certainly move up the list. The only reason I have him below Robie is due to longevity, but that’s splitting hairs.

Let me also give a shoutout to Sergio Lopez Miro, the swimming and diving coach. He’s built a winner since he was hired in 2018. Swimming and diving isn’t really a spectator sport, so it doesn’t resonate with the fanbase as much as those others, but he’s done a very good job.

4) Looking back at our blowout losses, what needs fixed to avoid that result in 2024? It will help that some of those teams are not on the schedule, but Clemson and Miami look formidable. — proudhokie2001

CC: What did Rutgers, Florida State, Louisville and NC State all do to the Hokies? They had a huge advantage in the running game. Check out Tech’s average rushing numbers in those games versus those of the opposition:

Tech: 132.5 yards per game, 4.49 yards per carry
Opp: 239.25 yards per game, 6.17 yards per carry

And it really wasn’t that close. The Hokies got a long run in garbage time from Bryce Duke against Florida State, and the long run by Xayvion Turner-Bradshaw against NC State was all smoke and mirrors. In the traditional running game, Tech got smoked in those four contests. That was due to three primary factors, all of which were equally important:

1: Poor mike linebacker play. This has been addressed. I don’t know if Sam Brumfield will be very good or simply serviceable, but either would be a big improvement over last season.

2: Safety play. Tech’s starters were good, but Stroman and Nasir People were either hurt a lot or out for targeting, meaning the backups had to play too much. Plus, sometimes I think Tech rotates its safeties slightly too much for my liking. Stroman staying healthy would alleviate a lot of the issues, but who will be the other starter, and will the depth be any good? This is still TBD.

3: Offensive line play. At times, the Hokies had three redshirt freshmen on the field, which is hardly ever a good thing. Those guys will improve to a certain extent just because they’ll get stronger, plus I think Tech has upgraded at right guard through the portal (Montavious Cunningham). This unit will be better, but the question is how much better? This is still somewhat TBD.

Of those three issues, I’d consider about 1.5 of them fixed. Mike will be a lot better. Safety could be better, depending on circumstances. The O-line should be better, but how much?

I know everybody has their eye on Clemson and to a lesser extent Miami, but that September game against Rutgers should tell us a lot about how far Virginia Tech has come at those three spots.