Virginia Tech Has More Options At Nickel In 2023

Virginia Tech, Derrick Canteen
Derrick Canteen can play outside corner or in the slot for Virginia Tech. (Georgia Southern Athletics)

Traditionally Brent Pry likes to play with three regular linebackers on the field, though he does like to use a nickel package in certain situations. We saw that this past season at Virginia Tech, with Chamarri Conner playing the role of the Nickel.

At Penn State, it was common for the Mike linebacker to leave the field when the Nickel came on. In that scenario, the Sam (wide side) linebacker would slide over and play in the middle at Mike, with the Nickel taking over the Sam’s vacated spot in the slot. Since the Sam is the best coverage linebacker (in theory) and the Nickel is on the field replacing the Mike, that puts a better coverage defense on the field.

It didn’t quite work out like that for Virginia Tech this past season. The benefits of the nickel package were minimal for the Hokies because of personnel. The Sam linebackers were both former safeties – Keonta Jenkins and JR Walker – and they couldn’t be asked to slide inside to the Mike role, even on passing downs.

Instead, when the Hokies went with their nickel package, it was Chamarri Conner sliding down to the Nickel position, and Jalen Stroman replacing Conner at safety. It was always the Sam who came off the field. I say that the benefits were minimal because of the personnel – a safety type replaced a safety type. In effect, safety Jalen Stroman replaced former safety Keonta Jenkins (or former safety JR Walker) on the field, while Tech’s weakest coverage linebacker (Dax Hollifield) remained on the field.

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