Tech held a scrimmage on Saturday afternoon, and part of the work centered around redzone offense.  Logan Thomas threw four touchdown passes, including three to Corey Fuller.  Tight end Randall Dunn had two touchdown grabs.  As usual, the defense continued to play very fast.

First we’ll go over four things that stood out to me on Saturday, then some smaller notes, and then award some helmet stickers.  Keep in mind that Saturday’s scrimmage featured the #1 and #2 units on offense and defense.  The third string didn’t get any work as a unit together on the field, though a few #3 guys did get some work with the #2’s.

The Double Hat Trick

It was an up and down day for r-senior wide receiver Corey Fuller.  He caught a total of four passes, including three touchdowns of 18, 8 and 3 yards.  However, he also dropped three passes.

Fuller played a lot because Marcus Davis missed the scrimmage with a slight hamstring injury, and of course D.J. Coles is out for the spring because he’s coming off knee surgery.  Fuller has good height, and he’s smooth with the ball in his hands.  He’s got good open field speed, running a 4.35 in the 40.

However, he’s always had trouble with his hands.  One of his drops came on a wide receiver screen, but one that I’ve noticed (watching scrimmages with Raleigh Hokie and Phil Martin makes you notice a lot of things) is that the vast majority of his drops come over the middle on drags and quick slants when he’s in traffic.

Fuller is tall, but he’s not a particularly thick wide receiver, and I don’t think he’s the type that enjoys contact over the middle.  Whenever he drops passes, it’s generally with a safety bearing down on him.

I think he can be a solid #4 receiver for the Hokies.  He’s still ahead of Demitri Knowles , in my opinion.  However, any passes over the middle to Fuller will make me hold my breath.  He’s the type of receiver that makes Frank Beamer not like quick slants all that much, though the Hokies are running a lot of slants this spring.

 

Secondary Lays the Wood

Then again, if I was going across the middle on Tech’s secondary, my eyes would be up the field as well.  We all know that Kyle Fuller can hit and tackle.  A couple of other starting defensive backs brought the pain to Tech’s wide receivers on Saturday afternoon.

Detrick Bonner , who I think is playing very well at the rover position, leveled r-freshman Kevin Asante on a quick slant.  The hit popped the ball in the air, and sophomore free safety Kyshoen Jarrett came down with the interception.

Bonner played over 300 snaps as a r-freshman last season, and that experience helped him to gain a lot of confidence.  He’s playing fast, and he’s playing tough.  He showed flashes of being an excellent tackler from the boundary corner spot last year, and he really stood out at rover to me on Saturday.

At cornerback, Antone Exum appears to be more comfortable than he was at free safety and rover.  If he’s more comfortable, then he’s playing faster, and a fast Antone Exum is capable of doing a lot of damage.  Just ask Demitri Knowles , who was the victim of one of the hardest hits I’ve seen from a defensive back in a Tech scrimmage.  Knowles made a couple of guys miss in the flat, and then ran smack into Exum who was moving forward with the size and speed of a small locomotive.  To his credit, Knowles didn’t miss a single play after that hit.

Overall, I like what I’m seeing out of the Tech secondary.  Donaldven Manning is playing well.  I hope he can put on some weight over the

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