The 2013 Recruiting Smacktacular

The Year of "2012 - The Sequel"

The Class of 2012 had some excellent skill position players, some of whom were ready to take the field last season, others who show great promise for the future. There were even a few prospects at defensive end. But it was lacking in any sort of depth for those warriors in the heart of the trenches- the "Big Uglies" as the legendary broadcaster Keith Jackson used to call them.

The Class of 2013 if anything, exhibits even greater talent away from the line of scrimmage, than the 2012 Class did. And there are some Class of "2012" members who actually count in the Class of 2013. If you want to see the profiles of Seth Dooley, Woody Baron or Jerome Wright, please see our 2012 Recruiting Smacktacular.

However, despite better talent in the four offensive line prospects that come into this class than 2012, the Hokies yet again fall miserably short in getting bigtime offensive line prospects, or even enough prospects into the class. My Calm and Beloved Reader, you have to look no further than LAST SEASON to see what happens when a team doesn't have a full complement of high quality offensive linemen at their disposal. Despite strong play from Nic Becton and Vinston Painter at tackle in their one-on-one battles with ends (at least in the games I watched), the interior of the line was a mishmash of garbage, never playing with any drive off the ball or any consistency, as various players came into and out of the lineup. The results speak for themselves.

Having said that, after spending the past several weeks going over interviews, game film and comments from high school coaches and teammates, I will admit that I am excited about the overall quality of the class. The Hokies can do battle with programs from around the country to land talent, particularly on the defensive side of the ball. And there appear to be very few bad apples in this class as well, which bodes well for continued team chemistry. These players are consistently mentioned for being the type of hard-working, team-first players that the Hokies have built their program on and that I'm proud to see represent Virginia Tech. Having said all of that, this is called the Year of 2012 The Sequel because there still isn't enough "beef" to make the difference on the interior that is so obvious to me when I watch the top teams in the country. If you don't have at least one NFL 3rd round or better draft prospect on your offensive and defensive line every season, you're just not going to be able to compete at the top of college football in today's game.

Now, that was plenty of ado, so without much further ado, let's get into it. As always, check out our friends at Rivals for the full measureables on each prospect. But if you want to know who's going to be a stud and who's going to be an also-ran, continue on down the wormhole.

2012 Hokies Football - Mad Jay looks back

I started following Virginia Tech football the year I started attending there - 1993. When I chose the school, it was because of its reputation as a great engineering school and I had no idea the football program was in such a shambles, coming off of a 2-8-1 season. I attended every home game my freshman year, had great seats as a student, and saw the Hokies end up going 9-3, winning the Independence Bowl and starting a bowl streak that continues to today.

I was already a huge football fan, so it was easy to turn Hokie football into my religion. And for these past 20 years, I re-arranged my life around VT football games. Spent untold amounts on going to games, ordering them up on TV or the internet and watching them all. The last 10 years were spent watching the team beat its head against a wall because of ineptitude on the offensive coaching staff. In 2011, I finally saw a glimmer of hope on the offensive side of the ball, with Coach O'Cain doing a good job in his playcalling on gameday and Coach Stinespring completely removed from the booth. But that culminated in Coach Beamer throwing the Sugar Bowl away with several unbelievably bad decisions, and I knew that was the end of it for me. I wouldn't risk health nor home, life nor limb for Coach Beamer anymore. Watching Hokie wins was all I was capable of.

So in 2012, I only saw 7 of the Hokies' games. Now you can draw your own conclusions on if my following the team closely had any impact on their record, but either way, thank goodness I chose this course for 2012. The wins were so ugly, I shudder to imagine what the losses looked like. I know it would have done irreparable damage to my health to watch this entire season the way I had watched the previous 20. But since I didn't, I'm in no place to do a position group by position group breakdown of the team. I only saw just over half the games. But there are some observations that are pretty obvious to me, just from watching the wins, including the Rutgers game.

1) I think Coach Stinespring felt emasculated after the 2011 season. He was offensive coordinator in name only, and the only one in college football who didn't call the plays, if the head coach didn't have that duty (like CPJ at Georgia Tech for example). 

As a result, Coach Stiney was determined that 2012 would have his mark on it. So he went to several NFL teams and Texas in order to create some new mastermind hybrid/pistol offense. And not only that, with so many aspects of the offense being new, now he was "needed" in the booth again. The 2011 formula of Stinespring doing the rah-rah thing on the sidelines while O'Cain called the offense from the booth were gone. And from the look of the results on the field, it was an unmitigated disaster. 

The offense was uncomfortable in all aspects. Logan Thomas never looked in rhythm. The running game was a joke, with far too little Martin Scales and far too much shuffling of players for any of them to get into the flow of the game. The playcalling, particularly in the Russell Athletic Bowl, was desperate. If there was any play that even remotely worked, the Hokies would just call that exact same play a second time in a row. Grasping at straws is what it felt like and you could sense that there was conflict in the booth between Stinespring and O'Cain. I understand why Coach Stinespring wanted to change things up from 2011- the offense had success and he was only peripherally involved. What I don't understand is why Coach Beamer the Elder allowed this. 

2) Coach Foster hasn't lost a step. Having watched the final three games of the 2012 season, that looked every bit like a Hokie defense of old. People flying to the ball from all over the field, forcing turnovers and three and outs. The defense only allowed a 22% third down conversion rate, which would have been the best in the nation over the course of a season by more than 4%!! I think it is one of the strangest things that Coach Foster was never given a chance to be head coach of a good football program. He's everything I'd want as that coach if I were an AD.

3) This 2012-13 offseason is absolutely critical. Now that VT has danced so closely with missing a bowl, I think Coach Beamer recognizes how fragile it is. I don't think he wants to step down, but not even he can remain oblivious to the dramatic difference between the level of execution on the offensive and defensive sides of the ball. The difference has been there for years, but it was easy for Beamer to remain loyal to his friend Stinespring when the team was winning 10 games every year. The incompetence can be overlooked no more. And so the rumor mill swirls about what's going to happen. 

4) Here's what I think should happen - Coach Cav should step down and retire and Coach Stinespring takes that position as Director of Recruiting. Coach Sherman is gone to Purdue to coach receivers. Coach O'Cain and Coach Newsome should take the first job that comes along that they can land. In Newsome's case, a trip back to JMU makes a lot of sense, considering his recruiting ties to the area and the fact that he belongs coaching at that next level down anyway. This frees up a new offensive coordinator to come in and bring in a staff that knows his offense. And it keeps Stinespring in the program as a recruiter which he's good at. Plus he's not going to land a job anywhere else as a coach. This is what I see as a best case scenario and will create a lot of buzz going into the 2013 recruiting class and beyond.

5) Speaking of recruiting, we will have the annual recruiting class breakdown ready to go in early February. This class is shaping up to be yet another very talented class, headlined by the Army All-American Defensive Player of the Year - Kendall Fuller (younger brother of past Hokie Vinnie and current Hokie Kyle). But it also looks light on offensive linemen which would fly in the face of everything Coach Beamer should have learned going through the lean 2005-2008 years. But then again, the entire point of this post has been how Coach Beamer is in a kind of old dog/new tricks situation. How he handles the next 30-60 days will have far-reaching implications on his legacy and the future of Virginia Tech football.

I just hope I get to watch a lot more games next year.

GO HOKIES!!!!!!!!

Game Preview - VT vs. Miami

Isn't this something? The Hokies are 4-4 which means I've only watched 4 games of Hokie football this year. I know this is going to sound nuts, but the year before I got to Tech the Hokies were 2-8-1. I went to nearly every home game during my career at Tech, missing 2 maybe 3 games total and the Hokies grew into a force to be reckoned with.

I watched the Hokies religiously every year after I left Tech, getting back to as many games as I could, spending god knows how much money on ESPN Gameplan back in its infancy where you had to pay for the entire day and then I'd just watch the Hokie game. And then this year, before the season started, I decided I'm only going to watch wins and the Hokies go back into the tank again.

Maybe there's a karmic connection between my willingness to suffer the pain, wear and tear of supporting Hokie football all-in and the Hokies having great seasons. Even knowing that, I can't go back. The dull, sick feeling of seeing a Hokie loss scroll across my iPhone totally sucks, but it pales next to the wrenching agony I used to be in. My home life is better, my health is better and who knows - maybe this poor performance by the team will force Coach Beamer into making those changes on offense.

Having said that, let me offer what I've seen in the Hokie wins that might tie into what's been going on this season. As if it wasn't plainly obvious what's going on to anyone who has watched Hokie football with even the least bit of zealotry the past few years. The reasons for failure are no different than they have been for a decade or more. The Hokies are missing the gamechangers in the trenches and the offensive scheme and playcalling has reverted to the trainwreck we all witnessed from 2006-2009.

I wonder if there's anything different about how the offensive coaching is structured during the week and on gameday than it was last year in 2011 when Tech's offense showed the first signs of making sense since the Rickey Bustle era? When it relied on rightly timed calls and decent execution instead of the magic of a Tyrod Taylor or a Bryan Randall making a heaping glass of lemonade out of a stinking pile of lemons?

Hmmm, yes that's right. Boy Wonder Bryan Stinespring has left his motivational hot spot on the sidelines where he pumped everybody up during the 2011 season, and joined Coach O'Cain in the booth this year. And during the offseason he brought the pistol and pre-snap motion concepts into the playbook and is doing most of the game-planning work around those during the week. Suddenly, and I'm sure on a COMPLETELY unrelated note, even in Hokie wins, the offense has looked like a circus, complete with damn Benny Hill music and people running around chaotically at 1.5x normal speed!!!!!!!

Now despite this preposterously poor performance on offense, the Hokies find themselves at 4-4 and 2-2 in the conference. And because UNC is ineligible, the Hokies actually are in complete control of their destiny to - and I know how stupid this sounds, believe me - GO TO THE ACC TITLE GAME as the Coastal Division representative.

It starts against a Miami team that is coming off of 3 straight losses but has dealt with a lot of injuries and is now coming off it's bye week. It starts on the road IN Miami on a Thursday night on national TV. And the key to the game will be can the Hokies cobble together an O-line that can get a push on the defensive front and actually execute a sensible offensive gameplan? I think the Hokie defense can hold these Canes to 17-20 pts, but I'm completely unconvinced the offense can put up that many.

And by the way, speaking of defense, I would be remiss if I didn't mention that this season, Coach Foster's defense has shown a chink in it's armor, to be sure. But I think it's safe to say they're showing improvement. The defense I saw flying around the field in the final 3 quarters vs. Duke is what I'm accustomed to seeing. And by all accounts, the Hokie D was a force against Clemson, holding it to a season low in yardage.

Lastly, let me go ahead, since I have to do this every few years or so (see item #10) and defend Logan Thomas. All this garbage from Todd McShay and even fans in Hokie Nation about how the "ball doesn't come naturally out of his hand" or any of the other countless ridiculous things that have been said, are just plain dumb. Thomas is on track to have a better season than last year statistically, minus the INT's, and several of the ones I've seen haven't been his fault (tipped balls or heaves at the end of a half). Sure he's had some bad throws, overthrowing most of the time in that case, but this is his 2nd full season as a QB. LT has unlimited talent, he's a leader, he has poise, his receivers have dropped a lot of passes, and the fact is, Thomas has made throws throughout his career that very few QB's are capable of making. Period.

So the Hokies have a shot to hit the reset button on their season on Thursday night. They either will or they won't and it's my personal hope that I get to stay up until 1 or 2 in the morning that night watching a sweet Virginia Tech victory.

GO HOKIES!!!!!!