| Hokies have some work to do following first scrimmage |
| Written by Ryan Durham |
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Virginia Tech is a week into this year’s spring practice sessions and participated in their first scrimmage earlier Wednesday evening. The session was closed to the media, but we were provided with the stats from the session. Passing:
Rushing:
Receiving:
Defense:
Kicking:
Punting:
Total plays: 47. Each unit got at least 5 plays, which was exactly what the coaches were aiming for according to Shane Beamer. A quick look at these stats would have one believe that the offense did not have a good day. Head coach Frank Beamer agrees, but did like the team’s attitude. “It was ragged, but it was our first scrimmage work in the stadium,” Beamer said. “I think what you have to really be pleased with is the effort and how we worked against each other and our aggressiveness in full speed work. As long as you have effort, we’ll get better and that’s the important thing.” With that said, one player stood out to Beamer in today’s scrimmage. “The guy that you kind of notice a couple of times is Michael Holmes,” Beamer said. “[He has] some good moves, power and speed and I thought he’s the guy you kind of notice.” When told of his head coach’s praise, however, Holmes took the humble route. “You don’t find out how you did until you get into the film room,” Holmes said, “so you just try to work hard every time. That’s a good feeling, but I’m still gonna go in there and do the same stuff.” The only position group that seemed to have a really hard time during the scrimmage was the offensive line. “I hate to really judge anything until we see the tape, but our production wasn’t very good,” said offensive line coach Curt Newsome. “I don’t know how many one-on-one battles we lost, but we weren’t very productive and we’re in the production business.” Though the production from the line as whole was lacking tonight, Newsome liked what he has seen overall from individuals, namely Vinston Painter. “Overall, he has been a pleasant surprise,” Newsome said, “He had one [error] in protection tonight but other than that, he is much more confident as a football player and I think that will show up on the field. He’s been a good leader [along with Nick] Becton and Andrew [Miller].” Overall, the coaches like the direction the team is going after a week of practice, but the scrimmage revealed some kinks offensively that will have to be smoothed out. “It’s the first time you’re really in a full speed with bullets flying in live, game-time action,” said runningbacks coach Shane Beamer, “For a lot of those guys, it’s their first time doing it and it showed. But there were some good moments and some ups and downs so we’ve got a lot of work to do. “But it was your typical first scrimmage and its always going to be a little more sloppy. We were able to get an idea about some guys as far as what they can do in situations like that and that’s the most important thing.” Other tidbits:
“The guy who has been punting well is Keyserling,” Beamer said. “And then I think Branthover has probably been the better guy at field goal kicking. Goulding has been in there too. Everybody got kicks and so we’re gonna look at them and see what they did out there.”
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