JR WR Martavius Bryant has been impressive enough for the staff to move Sammy Watkins back to his original position in the slot. Sammy worked all spring practice at the boundary WR position that Nuk Hopkins played the previous three years in an attempt to get him in more one on one situations. Bryant is a legit home-run threat (Averaged 30.5 yards per catch last year with four scores) who finally seems to be putting it all together and could cause some matchup problems because in addition to being fairly fast he is a legit 6'5" tall.
More on former Clairton Bears, It's appearing that Trenton Coles is stepping up and is the #3 Corner and in nickle situations he plays CB while Pitt's get's moved to the slot. Terrish Webb and Titus Howard are more than likely going to redshirt.
Oh I know it doesn't exactly translate to college ball but having 5 kids that contributed to a 63 game winning streak and has the aura of cockiness ect is a great thing to have in your line up.
Quote: Swinney’s Tigers went through their normal pre-practice walk-through in the indoor football facility, then calisthenics, then did some special teams work on field goal kicking. Swinney then spotted the ball at the two-yard-line and gave an inspirational talk to the entire team telling them that it didn’t matter if Georgia had the ball on the two yard line going in, or if the Clemson offense had the ball on its own two going out. The Tigers will be ready to play.
He then semt the number-one offense out to run a play against the number-one defense from the three yard line. Just before the snap of the ball he blew the whistle and ended practice, much to the delight of the 100 Clemson players at practice.
“We have worked the equivalent of a spring practice and met for the equivalent of two spring practices, “ said Swinney. “We were ready for a mental day. So I told the team to go home and rest. Don’t go to a movie, but get some rest. I told them to look at some practice video on their new ipads and come back refreshed and ready to go for a long physical practice Friday morning.”
Swinney did not even tell the other coaches and staff he was going to do this. But he felt the timing was right after the Tigers had five practices the last three days.
Radio reports from the various coaches indicate that the scrimmage Saturday is going to go a long way towards deciding the two deep going into the season. The established players like Boyd, Watkins, etc. aren't expected to play much if at all.
Earlier in the week TE Jordan Leggett injured his knee and is expected to miss anywhere from 2-4 weeks.
It was also announced earlier in the week that the team expects backup QB Chad Kelly and TE Sam Cooper back around Oct 1. Both suffered knee injuries in the Orange and White game in the spring.
Recruit DB Kyrin Priester had clearing house issues and will spend the semester at Fork Union and enroll in January. He wasn't projected by anybody to see playing time this season, and will have 5 to play 4 when he does enroll.
- LB Todd Thomas returned to the team Wednesday
- QB Tom Savage named starter (not really a surprise)
- WR Boyd looks to be a starting WR
- TE/H-Back/WR Garner is very impressive and only issue is there is no known position and he's too good not to be on the field.
Defensively the team is coming around in it's new packages.
I'm still sticking w/ my 5-7 to 7-5 range but could be closer to 7-5/8-4. Team is certainly improving and there are a plethora of red shirt freshman and freshman in the 2-Deep.
Injury Report : VT's starting whip linebacker is out for the season and it is the worst position on defense to have an injury. There is no capable backup and because of the nature of the position to VT's defense, VT will probably be playing the Nickel formation for most of the year. In that formation, there will be 2 true freshman starters.
With RB Michael Holmes leaving the program, and lead returning rusher J.C. Coleman having a left high ankle sprain and a right regular ankle sprain, there are only 3 remaining RBs. And Joel Caleb who moved to the position this week is suspended for the Alabama game. That leaves, Trey Edmunds (#14, 6-1, 216, r-Fr.) and Chris Mangus (#28, 6-0, 184, r-Fr.). Look for VT's running attack against Alabama to be all Trey Edmunds.
Offensive line is having problems to do with transfers, injuries, players giving up football and not having a best 5 yet. I'll update that tomorrow.
Basically where having injuries at positions we're having historic lows in terms of depth.
Edit : Take Bama, give the points.
(This post was last modified: 08-17-2013 12:55 AM by ChrisLords.)
3 out of the top 4 Offensive Tackles on VT's roster are true freshman. Once we get Augie Conte back from injury 4 of the top 5 offensive tackles will never have played in a college game. Expect true freshman LT Jonathan McLaughlin to start against Bama and so far seen 27 snaps Laurence Gibson at RT.
VT's best lineman, C David Wang and OT Mark shuman are out with injurys. Mark is out for 4-6 weeks and David has had an injury riddled career but may be back for Bama.
As bad as things look now for the OL, they look even worse for 2014-2015. In the 2011 and 2012 recruiting classes, VT only picked up 4 total OL.
2011: Jake Goins. That's it.
2012: Augie Conte, Jack Willenbrock, and Adam Taraschke.
Of those 4, Jack Willenbrock is only 237 pounds. Taraschke has already quit, and one is probably about to quit due to injuries (Goins). VT will be fielding an almost all underclassmen line next year.
(This post was last modified: 08-17-2013 03:12 AM by ChrisLords.)
(Not laughing at Pitt.)
