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Friday, August 28, 1998 Offense Shows Some Fire in Scrimmage I attended Thursday night's scrimmage, and I can report that finally, after a long spring and a fall that had me somewhat concerned, the offense seems to be coming together. These days, when you talk about Tech's offense, the two areas of concern are Al Clark and the offensive line. We have already put to rest the questions about Al Clark's knee, and once again, he appeared to be running at top speed with no ill effects from The Knee Injury That Wouldn't Die. The good news is that he seems to be back in the form that he displayed early last year -- or better. And the really good news is that Thursday night, for the first time in what seems like forever, the offensive line was able to keep the Hokies' formidable defensive line off of the quarterbacks and running backs long enough for them to make some plays. For most of the scrimmage, Beamer ran the #1 offense against the #2 defense, and vice versa. As you might expect, the #1 defense dominated the #2 offense, but the carnage wasn't as severe as it was at, say, the Spring Game. The #2 offense didn't mount any long drives that I can recall, but they didn't spend the whole night backing up as they were stormed by a sea of tacklers, either. On the other hand, the #1 offense did a pretty good job against the #2 defense, particularly in the passing game. Most of the time, Al had plenty of time to throw the ball, and he completed numerous passes to Ken Handy, Ricky Hall, and Angelo Harrison. Offensive Stars Handy, playing with the first team most of the night, seemed to receive the lion's share of the catches. Ken has great hands and runs precise routes. He's a good receiver, but he runs into trouble when he plays against defenders that are too big and strong (and fast) for him to separate himself from. On Thursday night, however, he caught plenty of balls, including one crossing pattern where he extended himself and caught a well-thrown ball from Clark. Clark's throws were on the mark, and he ran the offense well. Al is a solid quarterback who doesn't make mistakes, and I think his only failing is that he holds the ball a little too long and often winds up eating it. He also doesn't possess the arm strength to zip the ball into tight spaces or throw it long with consistent accuracy, but overall, I would say that based on tonight's results, he's ahead of where he was last year at the same time. Last fall, Al was on the money with the short and mid-range passes, and this year, he seems to me to be more accurate with the long ball, as well. As the weeks go by and the season gets closer, I'm excited that his health is good and his confidence and knowledge of the offense are up from last year. It's nice to have that huge question mark removed from the offense as we prepare to enter the season. Speaking of offensive question marks, the play of the offensive line was much improved. I have gotten so used to seeing Tech's D-line bury the O-line that it was a pleasant surprise to see the offensive line provide great protection for Al on a number of occasions, and to open some good holes for the running game on others. The early part of the scrimmage saw very little success in the running game, but as the night wore on, Stith, Pegues, and Jarrett Ferguson all sprang some nice runs. Clark also hit Stith on a nice flair pattern that thwarted a defensive blitz and got Stith loose for about a 20-yard TD. It was a perfectly executed play by Stith and Clark, who saw the blitz coming and exploited the resulting weakness on the perimeter. Another highlight was Shayne Graham booting a 52 yard field goal. All in all, the defense still appears fearsome, but the offense is improving and is able to move the ball and score on them now. There were some rough spots, most noticeably the play of Ricky Hall, who dropped several balls, including one wide-open, would-have-been a TD pass. Freshman Emmett Johnson, who played with the first team offense all night, was also strangely silent, as most of the throws went to Handy, Harrison, and Hall (hmmm, maybe if Emmett changed his last name to something that started with an H ....) Defensive Stars Over on the defensive side of the ball, Corey Moore is an unstoppable machine who once again spent significant amounts of time in the offensive backfield. Behind Moore, Pierson Prioleau was the most pumped up, and at one point was roaming up and down the sidelines and talking trash to the offense (who apparently had talked some trash to him, and Pierson was reminding them to be nice). Michael Hawkes has stepped up his game, and the defense rallied around him several times after he made nice plays. I think it's a safe bet to say that the starting Mike linebacker position belongs to Hawkes, and that Brian Welch is the backup. The only downside I saw in the play of the defense was that the second team defense gave up a lot of passing yards to Clark and company. After watching the first team offense do well most of the night against the second team defense, I was naturally interested in watching a 1-versus-1 matchup, which finally came late in the night. Although they slowed down a little bit, the #1 offense did a nice job against the #1 defense, as well, and if I remember correctly, mounted one fairly long drive that resulted in a touchdown. More Observations I'm not sure what sort of chess game the coaching staff is playing with the quarterbacks, but I can tell you that Michael Vick is getting most of the work as the #2 quarterback. For this scrimmage, I think that Al took all the snaps for the #1 team, whereas Vick started for the #2 team and played most of the night. Dave Meyer got some reps, but not a lot, and I don't think Denny Randolph played at all. Grant Noel wasn't wearing a yellow quarterback's jersey and never stepped on the field. Vick really is a great talent, throwing the ball with a quick release, a tight spiral, and good accuracy. He is, to be blunt about it, a better passer than Clark, because he delivers the ball quicker, and with more velocity and accuracy than Al. Much like Al, Vick also had a great play against a blitz. He read the blitz, took a short drop, and hit the receiver as he crossed in front of the cornerback. The corner missed the tackle, and the receiver (sorry, can't remember who it was) sprung into the clear and galloped for a long touchdown. It was the sort of quick-hitter that killed our blitzing defense all last year, and Vick pulled it off nicely. Does this mean that Vick will still redshirt this year? I would have to say yes. If Al stays healthy, and we're not in need of a long-term fill-in for him, I think that Dave Meyer will perform any backup or mop-up duties. But if Al should go down to injury, and Beamer is faced with 5 or more games of having to start his #2 quarterback, don't be surprised if Michael Vick gets the nod instead of Meyer, because Vick sure is getting a lot of reps in the scrimmages I've seen. At one point, in a move I can't explain, the coaches had Vick remove his yellow jersey, and he played without it the rest of the night, which means the defense was free to hit him. All in all, I was pleased by the progress the offense has made, and now that I've seen this scrimmage, I feel a little better about the upcoming season.
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