Jim Weaver
Most of Tech’s mistakes on Saturday night are correctable. It’s something that Tech can build on.
Virginia Tech is better for having played Alabama. Likewise, Alabama is probably better for having played Virginia Tech to open the season.
Weaver thanked the Hokie fans who travelled to Atlanta. They represented themselves very well.
Both Alabama and Virginia Tech got $2.5 million for playing on Saturday. That’s a bigger take than a regular home game. Weaver would be open to playing in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff again.
Weaver believes the sellout streak at Lane Stadium will end this Saturday. It’s very possible. He isn’t sure how many tickets are still available.
The new video board is 45 feet high and 90 feet wide. The old one was 22 feet high and 38 feet wide. Weaver believes the new video board will help enhance the experience of the fans.
Conferences are not going to supersede the NCAA in punishing member institutions that are in violation of rules. Those are NCAA rules, and not conference rules.
Weaver thinks there needs to be an overhaul when it comes to compliance. The way the NCAA conducts it now isn’t working.
Tech does a background check on every person they hire, and every counselor of their camps who is not a member of the staff. They do that as a precautionary method. Weaver gave these answers as a response to a question about what Tech does to guard against a Penn State situation happening.
Tech students could end the sellout streak. Tech could take the unsold tickets and put them in the student allotment. If the students pick up all the tickets, the game will be a sellout.
Scot Loeffler
Loeffler thought Tech had a great protection plan for Logan Thomas. Tech only allowed one sack, and that was on Logan. He should have thrown it to Willie Byrn on a crossing route.
Tech had a good plan for the running game as well. Alabama wasn’t prepared for it, and it gave Tech a chance to run the ball. They have to clean some things up, but it gave them somehting to build on.
The offensive line has improved tremendously. Jeff Grimes has done a wonderful job. What Tech is doing schematically really fits that group. They found some running backs, and things will get better when J.C. Coleman comes back. The wide receivers are taking heat, but that was a tough environment for young receivers. They will get better. Loeffler said he’ll defend those guys until the end.
There are times when the outside world criticizes a quarterback, but the quarterback coach grades the QB out well. There will be other times when he goes 18-of-21 and fans think he played great, but the QB coach might not think so.
On the interception, the wide receiver ( D.J. Coles ) didn’t run the route at the right depth. Quarterbacks get too much credit for touchdown passes, and too much blame for interceptions.
One of the big positives from Saturday is that younger guys like Trey Edmunds and Jonathan McLaughlin played well. Tech had to run a complicated scheme against Alabama to have a chance, and McLaughlin handled it well. Edmunds’ work ethic is off the chart. He had a fumble in one practice, and he stayed on the practice field running with the ball high and tight an hour after practice was over.
Tech is a pro-style team with the ability to run a spread offense. It’s similar to the Washington Redskins. They are a wide zone team, with the ability to run some playaction and some spread option.
Tech started the game running triple option. Tech gave the illusion of running the triple option on the touchdown run, but it was a handoff all the way. That helped the play develop, and Edmunds was able to split it. There were a couple of read errors as far as keeping the ball or giving it up, and that’s something they’ll clean up.
There were some things that Logan Thomas did very well. There were some completions where he could have done things better. There were some incompletions where he did some things perfectly. He can get better like everyone else.
Halfway through Loeffler’s career at Michigan, they switched to having a practice on Sunday rather than Monday. They took Monday off to gameplan. That means they have a full day to gameplan, and the team can get over Saturday’s game quickly by practicing on Sunday. That’s what Tech is doing this year.
At the end of the game, Tech just wanted to make sure everybody got out of the game healthy. Loeffler didn’t want his backup quarterback to get hurt in that situation. It wasn’t worth the risk. That’s why he didn’t call a pass play for Leal. Loeffler likes Leal a lot, and thinks he’ll be a really good quarterback. But it wasn’t the right time.
Loeffler is looking for the following things on Saturday…
1: Win.
2: Play Hokie football with great defense, running the ball and not having turnovers.
3: The passing game takes a step forward.
As a unit, Tech is young. They didn’t have the focus they needed to. They had a chance to make a of plays, and they didn’t make them. They have to refocus and get things right.
Alabama is a very disciplined defense. They aren’t going to make mistakes. That’s how he views the Alabama defense.
Playing Alabama makes Tech better. The Hokies hung with them. The score didn’t really tell the tale of the game.
Coles feels the same about the team now as he did before the Alabama game. He thought they could play well against Alabama. They will keep getting better.
Coles thinks the offense will be very effective this year. He thinks it will create mismatches and it will open up chances for big plays.
Loeffler will try to get Coles matched up against linebackers where he can use his speed, and against corners and safeties where he can use his size.
Coles said he needs to get more consistent. That’s the main thing he needs to improve on. It’s important to put the last play behind you and not dwell on it. That’s a message for Demitri Knowles as well.
It was hard to sit out last year. Sometimes he would turn the game off when he got frustrated. It was tough to not be able to help the team.
Coles said he is healthy and his knee is 100%. The staff wanted him to lose weight, and he didn’t have a single dessert the entire camp. He tried to sneak a piece of cake once, but the nutritionist caught him.
Coles graduated this past spring with a Sociology degree. He’s working on his second degree, which is Human Development. He isn’t sure what he wants to do for a career yet. His football career has gone by fast.
Exum wanted to be back for the Alabama game. On Wednesday they will do more testing, and that will help Dr. James Andrews decide when he wants to see Exum again, and when he can resume football activities.
Exum went up for a rebound in a basketball game. When he came down, it hyperextended. It had happened before, but this time it was different because he felt a snap.
Exum should blame James Gayle for his injury. The guy guarding Exum was having some success, and Gayle was making fun of him. Exum was going to leave early, but he had to answer Gayle’s challenge, and he ended up tearing his ACL.
Dr. James Andrews is a great guy. He’s an older guy but he’s upbeat. He has great experience in his field. He’s an Alabama guy, so they went back and forth some.
Exum is looking for improved numbers on his testing numbers this week than he got before camp started. Stress tests, jumping tests, strength tests, etc. Exum’s goal is to play some against Marshall and to be full go against Georgia Tech. That Georgia Tech game is kind of scary though, because they chop block and go for knees so much.
It was tough just watching the Alabama game, though the buildup throughout the day was actually worse than watching it.
Kendall Fuller and Brandon Facyson did a great job on Saturday. They both have a veteran attitude before the game. Kendall had his brothers, so he was ahead of the curve. They played better than true freshmen on Saturday.
Kyle Fuller did a great job on Amari Cooper. He’s one of the best players in the country. Kyle made him look kind of average. The coaches also had a great gameplan for the defense.
The defensive front played great. Alabama doesn’t allow 12 tackles for loss very often. The front seven played very well.
Even though Tech played very well on defense, and there were highlights on offense, they didn’t have a complete game. There is plenty of room for improvement.
On a typical day, Exum will rehab in the morning. He does strengthening exercises and agility exercises. During practices, he does another session that’s more football specific. He doesn’t have any soreness, except on days when he overworks it.
Exum has already graduated. He is working on a Marketing degree right now. He already has a Finance degree.
Frank Beamer
The offensive line did well on Saturday. They battled up front. He looks forward to them continuing to get better. Trey Edmunds really showed what he can do. He’s powerful and he has speed.
Defensively, Tech might have played better than they ever did against a good opponent. They really tackled exceptionally well.
When you are playing a lot of young guys, special teams is the first place inexperience shows up. Tech just didn’t play well enough.
The staff is evaluating their special teams personnel. They need to get their best guys out there. A special teams score is such a big play. The staff spent some extra time on that on Sunday.
The two guys who had the most drops on Saturday have been very successful in the past. It’s a matter of concentration and confidence. They will throw a lot of passes this week and try to fix it.
Beamer likes Tech’s offensive scheme. He really thinks Tech would have been right in the game if they had converted some of those drops into receptions.
Beamer was pleased with the way the offensive line played. Alabama has some “real men” on defense, and the Hokies hung right in there. Alabama brought pressure, and Tech only allowed one sack.
Kendall Fuller and Brandon Faycson played exceptionally well, and of course Kyle Fuller did also.
Statistically, that was A.J. McCarron’s worst game. James Gayle really did a great job of collapsing the pocket. Tech’s pressure kept McCarron off track.
Alonzo Tweedy made a bunch of plays at gunner last year, and he was a big loss. Tech had some breakdowns on special teams. Ryan Malleck was going to play a big role, but he was hurt. The staff will get the personnel squared away.
Tech has to block better on kickoff returns. They have to attack more. They had a nice session on that in practice on Sunday.
Hopefully J.C. Coleman will be back this week. He was playing very well when he got hurt. He’s a valuable part of the offense.
Tech found out exactly where they are as a football team by playing Alabama. If you have flaws, Alabama will expose them. If Tech had played a lesser team, they might not have realized their flaws until later in the season.
Trey Edmunds really ran hard. He made some nice moves. He fell forward. That was a big night for him.
Beamer went to visit a kid in the hospital in Atlanta on Saturday. He is a Tech fan from Halifax County who was injured in a car accident. It really brightened his day. The visit was as good for Beamer as it was for the victim of the accident.
Beamer has been matched up with Nick Saban a lot on the golf course. Saban asked him before the game if Beamer was going to kick his butt on the field like he did in the golf course. Those guys talked a lot of golf. Mark Ingram, who was Saban’s golf partner in a tournament this summer, came out on the field and said hello. Beamer joked that that was the most fun he had all night. He gets along with Nick Saban.
Western Carolina has some athletes at quarterback, and they made some plays against Middle Tennessee State. They are a very young team overall.
Beamer hopes the fans will buy up all the available tickets for Saturday’s game and sell out Lane Stadium. It’s important for recruiting. Tech played really hard against Alabama, and he would appreciate it if Tech fans show up and support them this week.
Monday was Day 3,202 of Virginia Tech’s continuous possession of The Commonwealth Cup.
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VT should sell the tickets that are left to the students. It is a no-brainer.
Indeed. Similar to the Maryland basketball game in Cassell numerous years ago that was snowed in and lots of out-of-towners couldn’t make it to the game. Weaver opened up the Cassell to students to fill it in, and WOW was that an energetic game!
Effort was awesome. I got riled up a few times vs bama. Lets get better this week
Antone is looking at some warm up with Marshall so that he will be 100% for the ACC run. That sounds good to me. The Defense will almost be at full staff with some depth at DB, but I wish RVD was healthy then this D would be Legen “what for it” dary!!!
I would keep JCC out for another week if he is healthy now. I would like to see Trey and Chris get more touches and have a healthy JCC for a bit later. Just my thoughts of the day.
The fullback Sam Rogers? impressed me on his one run in the ‘bama game. He looked upset he didn’t take it to the house, though he did have a nice push and tackled just short of the 1st down marker.
Get some stickem for the receivers please.
GO HOKIES!!!!
Frank is head coach, Frank is special team coach, Frank is responsible to make sure all his coaches are on top of their responsibilites. Frank loved and rejoiced with the term “Beamer Ball.” Now we get all this crap about he is actually not responsible for the problems. Sorry Frank you can’t have it both ways. I watched with great interest how the Alabama coaches intensity was so high when they were working their special teams prior to their plays during time outs. I’m sorry that I didn’t see that on the Tech sidelines. Where is the fire in the belly Frank? All I saw was confusion in getting the right players in proper positions. Our season will not be successful unless we get special teams better “coached up.” I am looking and hoping to see a turn around with this part of the game, may need some new leadership to get this accomplished.
Why don’t you try calling the VT football office or sending them a fax or an email instead of emptying your bladder here in a tirade.
The kid for Alabama is a stud. He beat us on a punt return, a kickoff return, and a touchdown pass. Going into the game everyone talked about Cooper and Yeldon but the dude with the 3 touchdowns is going to win the Heisman if he keeps it up.
3,202 days is a really long time.
8.77 years to be exact.
Excellent as always, Chris; thank you!!
“The staff is evaluating their special teams personnel.”
I thought Frank was the special teams coach. Does Loeffler evaluate the DL players? Or Bud the running backs? Charley Wiles on the WR’s? You evaluate who you coach, and Frank is obviously not coaching special teams worth a crap.
That comment, and the nicey-nice about the golf and pre-game fun just goes to show where Beamer’s head is.
That, and Weaver is such a liar about the sellout streak. It ended a while back.
Frank doesn’t coach all the special teams units. Anymore than Bud coaches all his units. Just like Bud relies on wiles or gray to start he right guys, frank relies on Shane to get kickoff return correct and bud to get kickoff right, etc. His statement makes perfect sense in tha context.
Apparently you don’t READ anything that Chris Coleman posts. He’s addressed this. Beamer coaches the punters, snappers and punt return/punt block team, not kickoff or punt coverage. Just keep spewing your venom regardless of what the truth is. I’m sure you WON’T be in Lane on Saturday, you’ll be at home with your bandwagon deserters who can’t hang on through ONE .500 season. Really shameful.
I think I read a tear drop in that post.