I will write this quick as the race is going on right now, I meant to have this out before the race but I got stuck writing about the Hokie's football schedule. I am not a huge gear head but I do like watching the races. There is something very American about drinking some cheap beer and watching fast cars go around in circles for hours that just appeals to me. Personally I follow Kevin Harvick the closest and he is by far the most successful racer I have ever followed. I started out rooting for Chad Little (not sure why, probably the John Deere thing (I was young)) and followed that up with a run with Ward Burton probably because I worked for Caterpillar at the time and it just made sense. I went to Harvick when Ward retired and I don't really have a firm reason for it except that I respected the struggle he must have went through effectively replacing Dale Earnhardt in the Goodwrench Chevrolet. Since then things have been on the up tick in the racing department. Kevin seems to be a very competent driver and doesn't hurt the team by doing stupid things. Hopefully this year he can maintain some of the momentum from last year and with a little more luck during the chase, along with some improved work from his pit crew. He could make another push for a championship. He has decent teammates in Paul Menard and Jeff Burton, not that that matters a whole lot but the main thing is that you hope they all get along and are able to help each other when needed. I have heard some good things about the RCR engines this year, it is still very early I know, but that could be a good sign for improvement as well. Alright back to the race Go Kevin!
P.S. I predict Earnhardt Jr. to win this one, just feels right don't it?
Monday, February 27, 2012
ACC releases 2012 schedule, Hokies look to prove them selves.
This year's schedule in football looks pretty exciting. We have known who the opponents would be for a while but now we know who we get at night, who we get on short weeks, and who we play back to back. To start it is going to be a Monday night game vs. Georgia Tech which hopefully will set the tone for this season. If you recall the last time we had Georgia Tech on the schedule for the first game of the year it was the infamous lightning game where Lee Corso's car got struck just a few hours after picking Georgia Tech with the upset. I was "lucky" enough to be present for this game that wasn't. There is nothing quite like waiting until the kids are on the field to kick off before the refs call it when you could see what was coming from miles away.That was in 2000 and we were coming off a National Title run. Not much has changed since then, except that we are now in the ACC, Paul Johnson has brought the least entertaining brand of football to Atlanta, and now you can find college football on any night of the week. This is an early test for the Hokies and one that I expect them to pass fairly easily. First of all the game is at home and we have already shown that we can stop GT's tricky offense. The only worry I have is that we typically don't show up for these early season tests in the best shape mentally and it has hurt us many times in the past. That being said I just don't see an Al Groh lead defense ever stopping us. Should be exciting no matter what.
After that we get to the out of conference games which include (in order) Austin Peay, at Pittsburg, Bowling Green, and Cincinnati at FedEx Field. Austin Peay and Bowling should be easily dispatched as they shouldn't have any where near the talent that we possess. We do have to face Austin Peay just five days after GT but come on, I didn't see another jmu happening any time soon, if nothing else there are enough guys still on the team that went through that game to remind the others never to take an opponent lightly. Pittsburg could be interesting because over the last couple of years in the Big East they had our number especially at home. I still think we have the talent advantage in this one and we should come out on top. That leaves the Cincinnati game and another one which I think we should handle fairly easily. Cincinnati hasn't performed that well since we met them in the Orange Bowl in 2009 and I haven't heard much about their incoming recruiting class. All in all the out of conference schedule is one of the easier ones in recent years. As always though if we don't come into each game with the proper amount of focus there will be a few upset opportunities that we have to avoid. We should be favored in all of these games and I predict we will be 5-0 at the end of this stretch.
That leads us into the thick of ACC play. We start off with a road game against UNC and hopefully that will mean a strong start. From everything I have read about UNC they have not been able to maintain their recent success in recruiting and they have had a huge question mark at the head coach position until December when they hired Larry Fedora. Fedora seems like a decent coach as he had some good seasons at Southern Mississippi but we all know that the reason UNC was thriving in football was because Butch Davis and his boys were cheating to bring in big name recruits. Once you take cheating away it seems like a pretty tough job to recruit football players to Chapel Hill, we will get to see early on how Fedora plays at a higher level and it will be interesting to see if he can build a winner without the kids that Butch was getting.
After UNC we get a home game against dook. Although dook has figured out how to score in football and they played us close in 2011 I don't think this years game will that close. I expect the Hokies to be better on offense and defense this year and unless dook was hiding some major fire power last year I don't think they will be able to hang this year. In my opinion we should be 7-0 at this point as long as we health on our side. A lot of this season will hinge upon health and the biggest deciding factor will be the health of Logan Thomas. If we lose him for any stretch of the season your guess is as good as mine as to what we would be able to do without him. Mark Leal looks like he has a good arm and seems to be like a smart player, but he just doesn't have the experience and if he were in the game the offense would have to switch to more of a running, option based offense because I don't believe with his height he could be as efficient passing as Logan is and will be this year. Fingers crossed.
From there we head to Clemson and the first of a three game stretch that I think will decide our season. We all know what happened against Clemson this year and most of us wish we could forget it. The fact is we have to figure out why we played so poorly against this team and what we can do to change the outcome this year. In the two games last year we looked over matched and out coached at almost every position. I personally believe that we can do more with our talent and Frank Beamer is 100 times the coach that Dabo Sweeney is. Time will tell I guess but for whatever reason, last year we just didn't have it against these guys. Hopefully they watch the tape of Clemson's bowl game because wvu definitely figured out how to score against them. Our guys should have all the motivation they need from last year to take it to these guys but you never know. Clemson still recruits well and if there are able to put that horrible bowl loss behind them Clemson could be very good again. This one is a toss up to me, I think we could win, but I was very confident going into the rematch in the ACCCG and we all know how that ended up. If I were a betting man right now I would have to bet on Clemson just because of last year's results. The tape doesn't lie and I can't be sure we will be improved enough to say we can win this one for sure.
Next up is Miami on the road and another very winnable game. This is a Thursday night game in Miami and we all know that last year's game was a little to close for comfort at home. But these teams bring the best out of each other and I think VT's best is still ahead of Miami's at this point. Miami had another good recruiting class but they lost a ton of guys from this year's team and who knows when the sanction bug will finally bite them. Also Al Golden seems to be a really good coach especially considering what he did at Temple but it should take him a couple of years to build that type of team in Miami. And the type of player is completely different from one school to the other. The kids he had at Temple probably fell right in line with what he was preaching because they probably didn't have opportunities elsewhere. At Miami he is going to be managing much bigger egos and it will be interesting to see if the kids in South Beach respond as well. Lastly we get a couple of extra days to prepare for this one and I expect the guys to be focused for this fight. Prediction to this point: 8-1.
Then there is Florida State, at home, on Thursday night. This game should be the biggest of the year by far. I know we will have been tested by the time we get to this one and if we can get past any early struggles there is a very real possibility that we could enter this game undefeated along with Florida State. If that is the case you are looking at a top five match up at Lane Stadium in the middle of the season. That scenario sounds amazing to me and I am going to do anything I can to get a ticket to this one. Lane Stadium is definitely going to be rocking that night no matter the records and I am sure every Hokie who can will be in Blacksburg. As for the match up, it is a little hard for me to call. Florida State had a very good team last year and they have the second ranked recruiting class heading in to this season. They also lost some key players but they should be very strong again overall. My head says Florida State but my heart says Hokies and although I am not sure we will be undefeated to this point, I think the Seminoles will be sent home with at least one defeat. The conditions at Lane Stadium in this type of situation are hard to match and I don't give any team very good odds at beating us. So we could be looking at 9-1 to this point and with a win against a possible top five team we could be in that 3-8 range where who knows what could happen in terms of bowl selection.
That leaves two games. At Boston College and at home for uva. Both of these game should go our way in a big way. Boston College is a shell of the program that was with Matt Ryan and Tom O'Brien. They still are a division one team and we have to play them on the road after some big games on Thursday nights. But we have some extra time to recuperate from the Florida State game and if we are in the spot that I predict we should be able to maintain focus and head in to BC with zero distractions. If that happens I don't give the Eagles much of a chance. As for our little sister, I just don't see it happening for them this year. Even if we lost every game this year heading in to this match up I would still predict us to win and win big. I know Mike London is a good coach and he has a couple of good recruiting classes under his belt. But last year he won 8 games with seniors that he didn't recruit and got obliterated by the Hokies at home. If you recall London won a championship at UR with somebody else's seniors and we see where that program is now. Say what you want but it seems to me that he left that cupboard pretty bare. I don't know that that will happen again at uva but I do think this year will be a huge test for uva's football program. They have gained slightly in recruiting but it seems as though Frank and Shane have shut the door on that situation. Now it is down to system and development and this year could make or break him at uva. I will never give a wahoo team much of a shot against us, especially when we are at home.
So I predict us to be in great position by the end of the regular season and if all goes as planned we should end up right back in the ACCCG against either Clemson or Florida State. I know I am very optimistic and all of this is pure speculation. But I also know that the clock is ticking on Frank Beamer being able to coach this team and I know he wants to win one before he is gone. That doesn't mean that that will happen by any means but I think the writing is on the wall that this could be a great year with a once in a life time quarterback and Frank probably doesn't have many of these runs left in him. I expect to see much more aggressive offense and special teams. As well as a return to form for the defense, last year had some good improvement, but if we really want this year to be good are defense better become dominant again. Now we wait and see what the spring brings. I hope it brings health,strength, and mental toughness. And if it does bring all those we are in very good shape. Go Hokies!
After that we get to the out of conference games which include (in order) Austin Peay, at Pittsburg, Bowling Green, and Cincinnati at FedEx Field. Austin Peay and Bowling should be easily dispatched as they shouldn't have any where near the talent that we possess. We do have to face Austin Peay just five days after GT but come on, I didn't see another jmu happening any time soon, if nothing else there are enough guys still on the team that went through that game to remind the others never to take an opponent lightly. Pittsburg could be interesting because over the last couple of years in the Big East they had our number especially at home. I still think we have the talent advantage in this one and we should come out on top. That leaves the Cincinnati game and another one which I think we should handle fairly easily. Cincinnati hasn't performed that well since we met them in the Orange Bowl in 2009 and I haven't heard much about their incoming recruiting class. All in all the out of conference schedule is one of the easier ones in recent years. As always though if we don't come into each game with the proper amount of focus there will be a few upset opportunities that we have to avoid. We should be favored in all of these games and I predict we will be 5-0 at the end of this stretch.
That leads us into the thick of ACC play. We start off with a road game against UNC and hopefully that will mean a strong start. From everything I have read about UNC they have not been able to maintain their recent success in recruiting and they have had a huge question mark at the head coach position until December when they hired Larry Fedora. Fedora seems like a decent coach as he had some good seasons at Southern Mississippi but we all know that the reason UNC was thriving in football was because Butch Davis and his boys were cheating to bring in big name recruits. Once you take cheating away it seems like a pretty tough job to recruit football players to Chapel Hill, we will get to see early on how Fedora plays at a higher level and it will be interesting to see if he can build a winner without the kids that Butch was getting.
After UNC we get a home game against dook. Although dook has figured out how to score in football and they played us close in 2011 I don't think this years game will that close. I expect the Hokies to be better on offense and defense this year and unless dook was hiding some major fire power last year I don't think they will be able to hang this year. In my opinion we should be 7-0 at this point as long as we health on our side. A lot of this season will hinge upon health and the biggest deciding factor will be the health of Logan Thomas. If we lose him for any stretch of the season your guess is as good as mine as to what we would be able to do without him. Mark Leal looks like he has a good arm and seems to be like a smart player, but he just doesn't have the experience and if he were in the game the offense would have to switch to more of a running, option based offense because I don't believe with his height he could be as efficient passing as Logan is and will be this year. Fingers crossed.
From there we head to Clemson and the first of a three game stretch that I think will decide our season. We all know what happened against Clemson this year and most of us wish we could forget it. The fact is we have to figure out why we played so poorly against this team and what we can do to change the outcome this year. In the two games last year we looked over matched and out coached at almost every position. I personally believe that we can do more with our talent and Frank Beamer is 100 times the coach that Dabo Sweeney is. Time will tell I guess but for whatever reason, last year we just didn't have it against these guys. Hopefully they watch the tape of Clemson's bowl game because wvu definitely figured out how to score against them. Our guys should have all the motivation they need from last year to take it to these guys but you never know. Clemson still recruits well and if there are able to put that horrible bowl loss behind them Clemson could be very good again. This one is a toss up to me, I think we could win, but I was very confident going into the rematch in the ACCCG and we all know how that ended up. If I were a betting man right now I would have to bet on Clemson just because of last year's results. The tape doesn't lie and I can't be sure we will be improved enough to say we can win this one for sure.
Next up is Miami on the road and another very winnable game. This is a Thursday night game in Miami and we all know that last year's game was a little to close for comfort at home. But these teams bring the best out of each other and I think VT's best is still ahead of Miami's at this point. Miami had another good recruiting class but they lost a ton of guys from this year's team and who knows when the sanction bug will finally bite them. Also Al Golden seems to be a really good coach especially considering what he did at Temple but it should take him a couple of years to build that type of team in Miami. And the type of player is completely different from one school to the other. The kids he had at Temple probably fell right in line with what he was preaching because they probably didn't have opportunities elsewhere. At Miami he is going to be managing much bigger egos and it will be interesting to see if the kids in South Beach respond as well. Lastly we get a couple of extra days to prepare for this one and I expect the guys to be focused for this fight. Prediction to this point: 8-1.
Then there is Florida State, at home, on Thursday night. This game should be the biggest of the year by far. I know we will have been tested by the time we get to this one and if we can get past any early struggles there is a very real possibility that we could enter this game undefeated along with Florida State. If that is the case you are looking at a top five match up at Lane Stadium in the middle of the season. That scenario sounds amazing to me and I am going to do anything I can to get a ticket to this one. Lane Stadium is definitely going to be rocking that night no matter the records and I am sure every Hokie who can will be in Blacksburg. As for the match up, it is a little hard for me to call. Florida State had a very good team last year and they have the second ranked recruiting class heading in to this season. They also lost some key players but they should be very strong again overall. My head says Florida State but my heart says Hokies and although I am not sure we will be undefeated to this point, I think the Seminoles will be sent home with at least one defeat. The conditions at Lane Stadium in this type of situation are hard to match and I don't give any team very good odds at beating us. So we could be looking at 9-1 to this point and with a win against a possible top five team we could be in that 3-8 range where who knows what could happen in terms of bowl selection.
That leaves two games. At Boston College and at home for uva. Both of these game should go our way in a big way. Boston College is a shell of the program that was with Matt Ryan and Tom O'Brien. They still are a division one team and we have to play them on the road after some big games on Thursday nights. But we have some extra time to recuperate from the Florida State game and if we are in the spot that I predict we should be able to maintain focus and head in to BC with zero distractions. If that happens I don't give the Eagles much of a chance. As for our little sister, I just don't see it happening for them this year. Even if we lost every game this year heading in to this match up I would still predict us to win and win big. I know Mike London is a good coach and he has a couple of good recruiting classes under his belt. But last year he won 8 games with seniors that he didn't recruit and got obliterated by the Hokies at home. If you recall London won a championship at UR with somebody else's seniors and we see where that program is now. Say what you want but it seems to me that he left that cupboard pretty bare. I don't know that that will happen again at uva but I do think this year will be a huge test for uva's football program. They have gained slightly in recruiting but it seems as though Frank and Shane have shut the door on that situation. Now it is down to system and development and this year could make or break him at uva. I will never give a wahoo team much of a shot against us, especially when we are at home.
So I predict us to be in great position by the end of the regular season and if all goes as planned we should end up right back in the ACCCG against either Clemson or Florida State. I know I am very optimistic and all of this is pure speculation. But I also know that the clock is ticking on Frank Beamer being able to coach this team and I know he wants to win one before he is gone. That doesn't mean that that will happen by any means but I think the writing is on the wall that this could be a great year with a once in a life time quarterback and Frank probably doesn't have many of these runs left in him. I expect to see much more aggressive offense and special teams. As well as a return to form for the defense, last year had some good improvement, but if we really want this year to be good are defense better become dominant again. Now we wait and see what the spring brings. I hope it brings health,strength, and mental toughness. And if it does bring all those we are in very good shape. Go Hokies!
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Orioles spring training, typical so far
There isn't a whole lot changing for the Orioles early on in spring training. We have a ton of pitchers out there trying to prove they can make it at the major league level and I think we all have our fingers crossed that a decent rotation will come from the competition. I think all of us would have liked to see some higher echelon pitchers brought in for this competition, but as many have said it's hard to talk a good pitcher in to playing for the worst organization in the AL East. Not only do you have to face the Yankees, Red Sox, Rays, and Blue Jays most of the time but you have to do it with a mediocre defense behind you and a pretty pedestrian offense providing support. If I didn't have orange and black running through my veins I would have a tough time coming to Baltimore just for the money. It is what it is, as they say, and we should know pretty early if shear numbers can motivate pitchers enough to become winners.
The position players reported this week as well and many of them reported early, although most the competition among them is markedly less there still are a couple of spots to keep an eye on. To me the biggest question is Brian Robert's situation and if he might get on the field this year. I think the early signs are pretty good, he is able to complete most of the drills and they have him in the major league camp now after starting with the minor league crew. Obviously he has a huge impact on this team, if he can come back and play like he did 3 years ago, I feel you are looking at a potentially great offense. He would become your lead off hitter and also provide more power from the 2nd base position coupled with his great defense his infusion could really change this team for the better. Of course no one knows if it would work out that way and odds are that it won't. He has basically spent almost three years with very limited baseball action which affects any player, even the good ones , negatively. I can hope he will come back and tear it up early but more than likely he will start the year on the DL and we will see Robert Andino as our everyday second baseman. Let me be clear, I like Robert a lot and he acquitted himself well last year, by playing good defense and showing his versatility by being able to play all over the diamond. The only problem with Robert is offensive production and the question of where to put him in the lineup. Hopefully his offense has improved and he has worked on his batter's eye, because if he ends up playing everyday, he is going to need to get on base a lot more.
Another question for me is who will be DH and who will stick at first base. Both of these positions are power positions offensively and they can either make a line up deadly or kill it from the start. The most likely candidate for DH right now is Wilson Betemit who is not known to be a masher but does get on base. This to me is a high risk high reward situation, it looks like what we are going to do is hope that he can continue to get on base and hopefully he does through hitting well instead of getting a lot of walks. If he does that and is able to knock people in while getting on base it would be an improvement over Vladdy but the worry for me is that you are going to have a traditionally power position filled by a walk machine. I know on base % is very important but if you can't score runs while getting on base how important is it really. Next is first base and the question of whether Chris Davis can hold down that spot for a season. I think anyone can see the potential in Davis but I also think most people are questioning when/if that potential will ever show up consistently on the field. We should see early on if he is still flailing at breaking balls and that will tell the tale of whether he has learned how to find the pitch he wants. It could be exciting to see a younger guy brought up like Joe Mahoney just to see what they could do better as Davis' defense has always been a little suspect and the strike outs have to go down. Also Nick Johnson was added to provide some more competition at first if he can get past his health issues he could provide a big spark.
This early in the year we should just hope for health and development. If we can make it through camp with no major injuries and a few signs of improvement that would be a best case scenario in my opinion. We are so far behind other clubs right now that the focus must be on the small things and not playing out side of the player's own capabilities. We don't have many super stars to lean on so the players that we do have need to get everything out of themselves in order for us to compete at all. Recently the O's brought in a sports psychologist and who knows how those guys are really used but you hope they can help in that area of keeping focus and staying positive. Here's to a great spring and hopefully we find a rotation out of all these arms. Go O's!
The position players reported this week as well and many of them reported early, although most the competition among them is markedly less there still are a couple of spots to keep an eye on. To me the biggest question is Brian Robert's situation and if he might get on the field this year. I think the early signs are pretty good, he is able to complete most of the drills and they have him in the major league camp now after starting with the minor league crew. Obviously he has a huge impact on this team, if he can come back and play like he did 3 years ago, I feel you are looking at a potentially great offense. He would become your lead off hitter and also provide more power from the 2nd base position coupled with his great defense his infusion could really change this team for the better. Of course no one knows if it would work out that way and odds are that it won't. He has basically spent almost three years with very limited baseball action which affects any player, even the good ones , negatively. I can hope he will come back and tear it up early but more than likely he will start the year on the DL and we will see Robert Andino as our everyday second baseman. Let me be clear, I like Robert a lot and he acquitted himself well last year, by playing good defense and showing his versatility by being able to play all over the diamond. The only problem with Robert is offensive production and the question of where to put him in the lineup. Hopefully his offense has improved and he has worked on his batter's eye, because if he ends up playing everyday, he is going to need to get on base a lot more.
Another question for me is who will be DH and who will stick at first base. Both of these positions are power positions offensively and they can either make a line up deadly or kill it from the start. The most likely candidate for DH right now is Wilson Betemit who is not known to be a masher but does get on base. This to me is a high risk high reward situation, it looks like what we are going to do is hope that he can continue to get on base and hopefully he does through hitting well instead of getting a lot of walks. If he does that and is able to knock people in while getting on base it would be an improvement over Vladdy but the worry for me is that you are going to have a traditionally power position filled by a walk machine. I know on base % is very important but if you can't score runs while getting on base how important is it really. Next is first base and the question of whether Chris Davis can hold down that spot for a season. I think anyone can see the potential in Davis but I also think most people are questioning when/if that potential will ever show up consistently on the field. We should see early on if he is still flailing at breaking balls and that will tell the tale of whether he has learned how to find the pitch he wants. It could be exciting to see a younger guy brought up like Joe Mahoney just to see what they could do better as Davis' defense has always been a little suspect and the strike outs have to go down. Also Nick Johnson was added to provide some more competition at first if he can get past his health issues he could provide a big spark.
This early in the year we should just hope for health and development. If we can make it through camp with no major injuries and a few signs of improvement that would be a best case scenario in my opinion. We are so far behind other clubs right now that the focus must be on the small things and not playing out side of the player's own capabilities. We don't have many super stars to lean on so the players that we do have need to get everything out of themselves in order for us to compete at all. Recently the O's brought in a sports psychologist and who knows how those guys are really used but you hope they can help in that area of keeping focus and staying positive. Here's to a great spring and hopefully we find a rotation out of all these arms. Go O's!
Rough week for Hokies Basketball
This week didn't go quite to plan for the Hokies, they played hard and showed how well they stick together but they just didn't have enough in two close losses to ranked teams. We have known for a while now that it would come down to the ACC tournament for us to have any shot at the NCAA tournament and of course that remains the case. But it sure would have been nice to close out a couple of these games against strong competition, if nothing else to help build some momentum. However that didn't happen and now we are hovering above .500 and each game I just wonder what is gonna cost us in the end. In the uva game it ended up being poor referee eye sight and horrible clock work. And against dook it was poor free throw shooting and weak legs (in my opinion).
I won't get into the uva game too much as I was working that night and without good reception I couldn't watch or listen to much of it. I did however get to see the three that made the difference and that should have been called off because of a shot clock violation. I think Jontel Evans was the culprit and clearly he didn't get the shot off, however he should not have been that open and while normally you would concede a shot from that distance, I still feel someone should have been out there to prevent the heave. As I said that shot ended up being the difference, but as usual we had our chance to close the gap and ended up missing free throws and open shots that could have swung the game the other way.
In the dook game it was a pretty similar situation all though I feel the writing was on the wall right from the start. We started out the game shooting fairly well and played some great defense , but we could not hit our free throws going 1-8 in the first ten minutes. I know typically you wouldn't count a team out for missing 8 free throws but for this team, in my opinion, it is a tell tale sign. If we can't hit the free throws early we sure as hell ain't gonna hit them late and more often than not that has been the case, which has proven to be one of the most frustrating parts of watching this team. It all just gets magnified against the better competition, because you can see the talent and will in these guys to win, but for whatever reason they can't make the easy plays that could push them over the top. This was personified with the last possession of regulation, when Erick Green (who had been shut out in the first half but poured it on in the second scoring 16 points and maintain his streak of double digit games which is at 30 now) held the ball for the last shot, drove to the lane, went for the layup, and left it just short hitting the front of the rim. That was followed by a Cadarian Raines attempted tip in which hit of the back board and nothing else.
As frustrating as this season has been I can say honestly that next year, if we can keep everyone who is not a senior, this team will be a contender. I just don't say how these guys don't get better and after going through a season like this, you know they will have the mental toughness to play anybody. Also you can see the development almost every where on the court. The most interesting thing to me is that where the elders have seemed to have faltered the young guys have stepped up and to me that shows that Seth Greenberg has not only gotten players with a high level of talent but players that also know what it takes to put the team on their back and keep pushing when a leader has an off night.
This week provides two more opportunities to show more growth and development and with any luck we will have the legs and focus to close the last two out. After Clemson and N.C. State it is off to the ACC tournament and who knows what will happen there. Due to the way this season has gone, more than likely we will have an early exit, but as I have said before with this team playing so many close games and now playing close games against great competition anything could happen. You just never know when the light will go off for some of these guys. And just Cadarian Raines has showed up in the last couple games, providing a lot of production on offense and defense, if any of the other players can get it going on offense before the tourney I would look out cause with our defense we could do a lot of damage. As always Go HOKIES!
I won't get into the uva game too much as I was working that night and without good reception I couldn't watch or listen to much of it. I did however get to see the three that made the difference and that should have been called off because of a shot clock violation. I think Jontel Evans was the culprit and clearly he didn't get the shot off, however he should not have been that open and while normally you would concede a shot from that distance, I still feel someone should have been out there to prevent the heave. As I said that shot ended up being the difference, but as usual we had our chance to close the gap and ended up missing free throws and open shots that could have swung the game the other way.
In the dook game it was a pretty similar situation all though I feel the writing was on the wall right from the start. We started out the game shooting fairly well and played some great defense , but we could not hit our free throws going 1-8 in the first ten minutes. I know typically you wouldn't count a team out for missing 8 free throws but for this team, in my opinion, it is a tell tale sign. If we can't hit the free throws early we sure as hell ain't gonna hit them late and more often than not that has been the case, which has proven to be one of the most frustrating parts of watching this team. It all just gets magnified against the better competition, because you can see the talent and will in these guys to win, but for whatever reason they can't make the easy plays that could push them over the top. This was personified with the last possession of regulation, when Erick Green (who had been shut out in the first half but poured it on in the second scoring 16 points and maintain his streak of double digit games which is at 30 now) held the ball for the last shot, drove to the lane, went for the layup, and left it just short hitting the front of the rim. That was followed by a Cadarian Raines attempted tip in which hit of the back board and nothing else.
As frustrating as this season has been I can say honestly that next year, if we can keep everyone who is not a senior, this team will be a contender. I just don't say how these guys don't get better and after going through a season like this, you know they will have the mental toughness to play anybody. Also you can see the development almost every where on the court. The most interesting thing to me is that where the elders have seemed to have faltered the young guys have stepped up and to me that shows that Seth Greenberg has not only gotten players with a high level of talent but players that also know what it takes to put the team on their back and keep pushing when a leader has an off night.
This week provides two more opportunities to show more growth and development and with any luck we will have the legs and focus to close the last two out. After Clemson and N.C. State it is off to the ACC tournament and who knows what will happen there. Due to the way this season has gone, more than likely we will have an early exit, but as I have said before with this team playing so many close games and now playing close games against great competition anything could happen. You just never know when the light will go off for some of these guys. And just Cadarian Raines has showed up in the last couple games, providing a lot of production on offense and defense, if any of the other players can get it going on offense before the tourney I would look out cause with our defense we could do a lot of damage. As always Go HOKIES!
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Orioles pichers and catchers report
Well spring is coming and that means baseball is a s well. For me it looks to be another year of wondering what our off season moves actually improved and hoping some young pitchers can figure the majors out. This off season was particularly perplexing as an Orioles fan, we brought in a ton of pitching that basically no one knows much about and did almost nothing to improve the line up. Arguments could be made that our lineup didn't need much improving but as a team with 69 wins last year improvement is always needed no matter where you look. I do think there are more pressing matters than our offense but with each day of Brian Robert's extended stay on the injured list it would have been nice to try to pick up a productive 2B.
Anyway the big question is about all the pitchers the O's brought in and how much they will be able to provide for the major league team. To me it is obvious that most of the young guns will not start out with the big club especially if they have an option left to go to the minors. I would guess that the only one who will crack the rotation at the start of the year might be Arrieta with Britton also being a possibility but like I said if they have an option they better tear it up in spring ball if they want to start out with the big boys. Dan Duquette has said publicly that the young guys were pushed to fast, as we all feared while it was happening, but he also acknowledges that it was done out of necessity. Now it looks like he is going to do what he can to try and help those young guys get back on track and hopefully push their own way up either late this year or next spring. Who knows how this situation will end up as most people would say the people he brought in to push those young players down aren't as good as those young players but this spring should tell us a lot.
They are some kind of exciting prospects brought in by Duquette. It will be interesting to see how Chen and Wada adapt to living in America and it will also be interesting to see how they fit in on this staff with the other pitchers. As we all know Koji ended up being a very good back of the bull pen pitcher but it took almost two years to figure that out. Hopefully this spring shows where these two guys should be quickly so that we can get the most out of them right away instead of waiting till the end of their time here to see what they could have done for us. Also I am excited to see the race for second base, it looks to be a two man race with Andino and Adams being the main players in my mind. Andino obviously has the edge after receiving the bulk of playing time there last year but it could be interesting with Buck wanting Andino to be his utility man off the bench and Adams having played 2B in the past. Left field could be interesting as well, but I think I feel like most fans of the team in that if Nolan Reimold doesn't get his chance there this year we probably should try to trade him. Not that I want that to happen, I think he would do just fine in left and hopefully he could find his stroke at the plate, but if we aren't going to use him I think we could receive at least one B maybe C prospect for him and with our minors as depleted as they are, we need all the help we can get.
The most important thing this year is just to improve in general, we need to do something better this year than we did last year and I don't care what it is (hopefully pitching) just improve somewhere. We have a horrible reputation right now and with each draft class it seems to get worse. I think it is obvious that we are miles away from contending but if we can improve in our minors and in the majors by doing small things right and letting that grow we could start this rebuild the right way. Sooner or later our guys have to learn what is like to win, I think it was Dave Johnson who said that if you come up through the minors and you are never on a wining club, why would you expect to win in the majors? Basically for the last 15 years our guys that we drafted have looked up at something that they don't aspire to be. I think every kid wants to be great at something, especially coming into a professional sports organization, but when that organization shows that they don't really know how to build a team that can win how excited are you to get to the highest level?
Hopefully all the new pitching will help to push the younger guys and help them win in the minors which you hope would help them win in the majors. Time will tell but starting with the group we have from last year, I am not sure how else to attack the problem of pitching. We are not going to go out and spend for the big guys so the only other route to go, it seems, is to create competition and hope it breeds production. Who know how this will work but it should be an interesting experiment.
If the offense can stay where it was I think that would be great. I think we scored enough runs last year to have a winning team, we just didn't have the pitching and defense to match that offensive production. I think they will stay about the same if not maybe slightly better. You probably won't see 30 homers from JJ again, but he still should get on base and be able to score runs in other ways. Also I think the bench is slightly improved with some guys that have put up better offensive numbers in the past. It will be a little strange to have a guy like Betemit at the DH but I think that shows a good trend of a new direction in looking for guys who know how to get on base, instead of looking for retreads and hoping they have a few drops of production to squeeze out before retiring.I think it is reasonable to expect a bit more from Markakis and Jones, Jones has improved almost every year in most categories, and Markakis's production was a bit off last year.
The defense needs a ton of work but unfortunately with Reynolds at third and Davis at first I am not sure how this will improve. Most think that Reynolds had an off year defensively at third and he reported to camp at 20 lbs under last years weight, but he has a lot of improvement to do to be a good defensive third baseman. I love his bat, but you just don't know what you are gonna get on the hot corner, it would be nice to see him at first as he played well there late in the year, but it seems as though Chris Davis will get another shot there. You hope Davis improves offensively as well because I am just not sure the defensive ability is there, I guess we will find out. The outfield is pretty solid with Reimold, Jones, and Markakis projected to start. You know what you will get from Jones and Markakis and I think if Reimold is given that left field spot he can get the confidence to play at a high level defensively. Other than that you know what you are getting at catcher with Weiters, he is a game changer for us behind the plate and I can't wait to see him improve this year. And JJ Hardy and Robert Andino should perform well up the middle, hopefully another year together will help each player improve.
My predictions for this year aren't great as there doesn't seem to be a whole lot added, but if the pitching and defense can just do their part to hang with the offensive production we could get close to .500. Which for the Orioles is no small task. Go O's!
Anyway the big question is about all the pitchers the O's brought in and how much they will be able to provide for the major league team. To me it is obvious that most of the young guns will not start out with the big club especially if they have an option left to go to the minors. I would guess that the only one who will crack the rotation at the start of the year might be Arrieta with Britton also being a possibility but like I said if they have an option they better tear it up in spring ball if they want to start out with the big boys. Dan Duquette has said publicly that the young guys were pushed to fast, as we all feared while it was happening, but he also acknowledges that it was done out of necessity. Now it looks like he is going to do what he can to try and help those young guys get back on track and hopefully push their own way up either late this year or next spring. Who knows how this situation will end up as most people would say the people he brought in to push those young players down aren't as good as those young players but this spring should tell us a lot.
They are some kind of exciting prospects brought in by Duquette. It will be interesting to see how Chen and Wada adapt to living in America and it will also be interesting to see how they fit in on this staff with the other pitchers. As we all know Koji ended up being a very good back of the bull pen pitcher but it took almost two years to figure that out. Hopefully this spring shows where these two guys should be quickly so that we can get the most out of them right away instead of waiting till the end of their time here to see what they could have done for us. Also I am excited to see the race for second base, it looks to be a two man race with Andino and Adams being the main players in my mind. Andino obviously has the edge after receiving the bulk of playing time there last year but it could be interesting with Buck wanting Andino to be his utility man off the bench and Adams having played 2B in the past. Left field could be interesting as well, but I think I feel like most fans of the team in that if Nolan Reimold doesn't get his chance there this year we probably should try to trade him. Not that I want that to happen, I think he would do just fine in left and hopefully he could find his stroke at the plate, but if we aren't going to use him I think we could receive at least one B maybe C prospect for him and with our minors as depleted as they are, we need all the help we can get.
The most important thing this year is just to improve in general, we need to do something better this year than we did last year and I don't care what it is (hopefully pitching) just improve somewhere. We have a horrible reputation right now and with each draft class it seems to get worse. I think it is obvious that we are miles away from contending but if we can improve in our minors and in the majors by doing small things right and letting that grow we could start this rebuild the right way. Sooner or later our guys have to learn what is like to win, I think it was Dave Johnson who said that if you come up through the minors and you are never on a wining club, why would you expect to win in the majors? Basically for the last 15 years our guys that we drafted have looked up at something that they don't aspire to be. I think every kid wants to be great at something, especially coming into a professional sports organization, but when that organization shows that they don't really know how to build a team that can win how excited are you to get to the highest level?
Hopefully all the new pitching will help to push the younger guys and help them win in the minors which you hope would help them win in the majors. Time will tell but starting with the group we have from last year, I am not sure how else to attack the problem of pitching. We are not going to go out and spend for the big guys so the only other route to go, it seems, is to create competition and hope it breeds production. Who know how this will work but it should be an interesting experiment.
If the offense can stay where it was I think that would be great. I think we scored enough runs last year to have a winning team, we just didn't have the pitching and defense to match that offensive production. I think they will stay about the same if not maybe slightly better. You probably won't see 30 homers from JJ again, but he still should get on base and be able to score runs in other ways. Also I think the bench is slightly improved with some guys that have put up better offensive numbers in the past. It will be a little strange to have a guy like Betemit at the DH but I think that shows a good trend of a new direction in looking for guys who know how to get on base, instead of looking for retreads and hoping they have a few drops of production to squeeze out before retiring.I think it is reasonable to expect a bit more from Markakis and Jones, Jones has improved almost every year in most categories, and Markakis's production was a bit off last year.
The defense needs a ton of work but unfortunately with Reynolds at third and Davis at first I am not sure how this will improve. Most think that Reynolds had an off year defensively at third and he reported to camp at 20 lbs under last years weight, but he has a lot of improvement to do to be a good defensive third baseman. I love his bat, but you just don't know what you are gonna get on the hot corner, it would be nice to see him at first as he played well there late in the year, but it seems as though Chris Davis will get another shot there. You hope Davis improves offensively as well because I am just not sure the defensive ability is there, I guess we will find out. The outfield is pretty solid with Reimold, Jones, and Markakis projected to start. You know what you will get from Jones and Markakis and I think if Reimold is given that left field spot he can get the confidence to play at a high level defensively. Other than that you know what you are getting at catcher with Weiters, he is a game changer for us behind the plate and I can't wait to see him improve this year. And JJ Hardy and Robert Andino should perform well up the middle, hopefully another year together will help each player improve.
My predictions for this year aren't great as there doesn't seem to be a whole lot added, but if the pitching and defense can just do their part to hang with the offensive production we could get close to .500. Which for the Orioles is no small task. Go O's!
Hokies Basketball: up and down, progress
I know I didn't do a write up on the Florida State loss and I hope as a fan you could understand why I didn't jump at the chance to do so. That game was a great game, it was a game where the Hokies played tough, through a lot of injuries, and it came down to the very last second. It just didn't go Tech's way and fan's can blame whomever they like but in the end we lost by one point to a ranked team that was able to play roughly twice the amount of scholarship players on that night. In short it was a hard pill to swallow and I wanted to write that night about poor coaching, poor recruiting, poor execution, poor time management, and poor free throw shooting. But in the end I decided to sleep on it, which was pretty hard to do, and I woke up the next day with a different attitude. Of course I was still upset and it was one of those days where I did everything I could to avoid espn, but I ended up being able to focus more on the positive.
In the Florida State game we were short handed to an extent where anyone going in to that game must have felt like we had zero chance to win. But by the time the game was over I think we were able to prove that we were tough enough, had enough leadership, and had the talent to play with anyone in the ACC. We just didn't have the legs and that is the true disappointment, this game proved that we are too thin on the bench as it seems we are year in and year out. I think Seth Greenberg, not unlike Frank Beamer, gets more out of his kids than most coaches could. I think he gets the type of kids that he knows he can motivate and I think he looks for kids with higher upside that he can develop in to what he believes will be a winning team. I think you can see these traits in almost every kid on this Hokie team, our highest rated recruit (Dorian Finney-Smith) had a stretch where he missed 25 shots and required some extra coaching from Greenberg and since then has played at another level. Seth shows that he can help kids develop and help them get through slumps and turn them into winners.
The struggle comes when you have that type of plan where you recruit talent that might need some work and couple that with injuries and your core graduating. Basically you end up with a lot of young talent that needs work to improve and sometimes that is tough to watch especially on this four year cycle we seem to be on. Every four years we have a big group graduate and big group of young guys come in and unfortunately it seems that most of the recruits that came in in the middle of that group of four years, who would have been the leaders for the young guys, have transferred elsewhere due to lack of playing time or ____ you fill in the blank. Luckily we have Erick Green, Dorenzo Hudson, Victor Davila, and Cadarian Raines to help show the younger guys how to play tough and get stronger and just compete in the ACC. But as the injuries keep popping up I think it shows that no matter what type of talent you recruit you better have a lot of it if you want to compete every night in the ACC. Hopefully we can hang onto to everyone on this current team, except the seniors of course, and add some guys with staying power to go into next year, because this year may be tough but I think the system shows that if the team can stick together we will see some great things next year and these close games will start going our way.
Moving on to the Georgia Tech game, I was able to attend this game and I am glad I did. After a game like the heart breaker we had at Florida State I was worried about how the team would respond and how the fans would respond. The team played as well as one could expect them to, being short handed again with no Victor Davila, and everyone having to play more minutes at different positions to shoulder that loss. I think the team missed Davila but Raines and C.J. Barksdale both stepped up and provided some great production, combining for 21 points and 8 rebounds. It really is a shame that C.J. twisted his ankle against Boston College because he had practiced well enough to get the start for that game, he came out strong in that game, and I have to think if he hadn't gotten hurt he would have made the Boston College win a little more comfortable and I know he could have provided the difference against Florida State. C.J. is another great example of a kid who is finding himself as a player late in this season and I am sure will only progress into next season where he will challenge Cadarian Raines for the starting center position.
All in all this was another good team win, I know it would be nice to get a win against one of these bad teams with a little more cushion instead of a last second three pointer (thank you Dorenzo) but this young team just needs to learn how it feels to win and what it takes to win in the ACC. The blow-outs will come and maybe they are saving up to hand the waaahoos one on Tuesday. You never know with this team and against uva anything can happen, it certainly would be sweet to sweep the hoos.
To my second worry about how the fans would respond. Again after a loss like the one we had to Florida State you just don't know what is going to happen with the players or the fans. I should have known that Hokie fans are too good to give in as they showed me once again why I am a Hokie. I don't get to go to many games, this one will probably be my only trip this year, but I am glad that this game was the one got to go to. Not just because we won, or because we won on a last second three pointer in overtime against a team we love to beat at home, but because I got to see the fans respond to a heart breaking loss in a great way. I am not saying every seat was filled and people screamed the whole time, but there was a great crowd and for fans who just lived through that loss I think we mustered everything we could. When Dorenzo got that shot off and the final buzzer sounded there was a palpable sense of joy and relief, and I think everyone in there realized that no matter what these guys are giving us everything they have and if nothing else they deserve our support. I look forward to the rest of this year no matter how long it lasts and can't wait for next year because if these guys keep improving and playing as hard as they are we are in for a great year. Go HOKIES!
In the Florida State game we were short handed to an extent where anyone going in to that game must have felt like we had zero chance to win. But by the time the game was over I think we were able to prove that we were tough enough, had enough leadership, and had the talent to play with anyone in the ACC. We just didn't have the legs and that is the true disappointment, this game proved that we are too thin on the bench as it seems we are year in and year out. I think Seth Greenberg, not unlike Frank Beamer, gets more out of his kids than most coaches could. I think he gets the type of kids that he knows he can motivate and I think he looks for kids with higher upside that he can develop in to what he believes will be a winning team. I think you can see these traits in almost every kid on this Hokie team, our highest rated recruit (Dorian Finney-Smith) had a stretch where he missed 25 shots and required some extra coaching from Greenberg and since then has played at another level. Seth shows that he can help kids develop and help them get through slumps and turn them into winners.
The struggle comes when you have that type of plan where you recruit talent that might need some work and couple that with injuries and your core graduating. Basically you end up with a lot of young talent that needs work to improve and sometimes that is tough to watch especially on this four year cycle we seem to be on. Every four years we have a big group graduate and big group of young guys come in and unfortunately it seems that most of the recruits that came in in the middle of that group of four years, who would have been the leaders for the young guys, have transferred elsewhere due to lack of playing time or ____ you fill in the blank. Luckily we have Erick Green, Dorenzo Hudson, Victor Davila, and Cadarian Raines to help show the younger guys how to play tough and get stronger and just compete in the ACC. But as the injuries keep popping up I think it shows that no matter what type of talent you recruit you better have a lot of it if you want to compete every night in the ACC. Hopefully we can hang onto to everyone on this current team, except the seniors of course, and add some guys with staying power to go into next year, because this year may be tough but I think the system shows that if the team can stick together we will see some great things next year and these close games will start going our way.
Moving on to the Georgia Tech game, I was able to attend this game and I am glad I did. After a game like the heart breaker we had at Florida State I was worried about how the team would respond and how the fans would respond. The team played as well as one could expect them to, being short handed again with no Victor Davila, and everyone having to play more minutes at different positions to shoulder that loss. I think the team missed Davila but Raines and C.J. Barksdale both stepped up and provided some great production, combining for 21 points and 8 rebounds. It really is a shame that C.J. twisted his ankle against Boston College because he had practiced well enough to get the start for that game, he came out strong in that game, and I have to think if he hadn't gotten hurt he would have made the Boston College win a little more comfortable and I know he could have provided the difference against Florida State. C.J. is another great example of a kid who is finding himself as a player late in this season and I am sure will only progress into next season where he will challenge Cadarian Raines for the starting center position.
All in all this was another good team win, I know it would be nice to get a win against one of these bad teams with a little more cushion instead of a last second three pointer (thank you Dorenzo) but this young team just needs to learn how it feels to win and what it takes to win in the ACC. The blow-outs will come and maybe they are saving up to hand the waaahoos one on Tuesday. You never know with this team and against uva anything can happen, it certainly would be sweet to sweep the hoos.
To my second worry about how the fans would respond. Again after a loss like the one we had to Florida State you just don't know what is going to happen with the players or the fans. I should have known that Hokie fans are too good to give in as they showed me once again why I am a Hokie. I don't get to go to many games, this one will probably be my only trip this year, but I am glad that this game was the one got to go to. Not just because we won, or because we won on a last second three pointer in overtime against a team we love to beat at home, but because I got to see the fans respond to a heart breaking loss in a great way. I am not saying every seat was filled and people screamed the whole time, but there was a great crowd and for fans who just lived through that loss I think we mustered everything we could. When Dorenzo got that shot off and the final buzzer sounded there was a palpable sense of joy and relief, and I think everyone in there realized that no matter what these guys are giving us everything they have and if nothing else they deserve our support. I look forward to the rest of this year no matter how long it lasts and can't wait for next year because if these guys keep improving and playing as hard as they are we are in for a great year. Go HOKIES!
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Hokie's Win, Doe-Doe plays big
Monday night the Hokies played a bad Boston College team at home and narrowly escaped with a 66-65 win, needing a tip-in by Dorian Finney-Smith (affectionately called Doe-Doe) with 1.8 seconds left to close it out. This game didn't feel like it would end up good for the Hokies right from the start. They didn't turn the ball over at an alarming rate, giving up 10 possessions for the game, but they did turn it over at the wrong times. Now a turnover is never good but when the game is close and you are on a run to perhaps take a lead or tie that is the worst possible time to have a turnover. I haven't watched the replay yet but from what I remember they turned it over in that situation at least half of the time and that just kills any momentum you had building up. This team has talent and athleticism and a great leader in Erick Greene but they still have a tendency to shoot themselves in the foot by either turning it over or taking bad shots at big moments in the game. They also just need to focus more on the easy plays and not try to make circus passes that have a low rate of conversion. Once they past this hump, figure out their individual roles, and just focus on the game plan instead of trying to do too much I think they could make a run in the ACC Tournament. The emergence of Doe-Doe is going to have a huge impact on the chance of that happening.
On Monday night Doe-Doe took over he finished with 17 points, 8 rebounds (7 offensive),2 assists, 1 steal, and 1 block. And he played like the player Seth Greenberg has been telling us about all season. He didn't try to do too much and you can tell that as his confidence builds and he gets bigger he definately be a force in the ACC. I know I have said this before, but with all of the close games this year if Doe-Doe could have maintained even half of or a third of that point production throughout the year we would be in a completely different position right now and probably looking forward to another NCAA snub at the end of the year. Instead we play every game with the thought of avoiding being last in the ACC and hoping to find the chemistry that will help to make a push in the ACC tournament.
Moving forward I think there are more positives than negatives to look towards. Erick Greene is playing at an all-ACC level and still holds the current streak for double-digit games scoring in the ACC. I think the MVP for the ACC right now should be him, because without his production and leadership this team would be lost. Marquis Rankin seems to be finding himself and gaining valuable experience towards next year. C.J. Barksdale is coming on too and if he hadn't gotten an early injury in this game I think he was going to have a big one as he played his way into the starting lineup and was producing early. Victor Davila is a force offensively, you wish he could step up a little on defense, but if the Hokies can get him the ball a bit more I think it would open more shots for the shooters. Cadarian Raines plays great defense and whoever teaches the big men their hook shots is doing a great job as he is starting to hit those on a consistent basis just like Davila. Jarrell Eddie, while some times inconsistent has also showed that he can takeover games and the combination of him and Doe-Doe on the wings will be fun to watch for a long time.
All in all this is still a very young team but a young team that is showing they can learn. I think Seth Greenberg is a great teacher, he develops his talent well, and most of his players progress at a good rate. I look for more good things this year and in the years to come as these young guys come together. As we all know winning cures all that ails a team and if this team can stay strong and play tough through these next couple of weeks they really could make a run and end up where they want to be. It isn't going to be easy starting with Florida State this Thursday, but they have a chance and that is all they need to win. They already have the tools and hopefully with some confidence in themselves and each other they will take advantage of that chance and I look forward to that. GO HOKIES!
On Monday night Doe-Doe took over he finished with 17 points, 8 rebounds (7 offensive),2 assists, 1 steal, and 1 block. And he played like the player Seth Greenberg has been telling us about all season. He didn't try to do too much and you can tell that as his confidence builds and he gets bigger he definately be a force in the ACC. I know I have said this before, but with all of the close games this year if Doe-Doe could have maintained even half of or a third of that point production throughout the year we would be in a completely different position right now and probably looking forward to another NCAA snub at the end of the year. Instead we play every game with the thought of avoiding being last in the ACC and hoping to find the chemistry that will help to make a push in the ACC tournament.
Moving forward I think there are more positives than negatives to look towards. Erick Greene is playing at an all-ACC level and still holds the current streak for double-digit games scoring in the ACC. I think the MVP for the ACC right now should be him, because without his production and leadership this team would be lost. Marquis Rankin seems to be finding himself and gaining valuable experience towards next year. C.J. Barksdale is coming on too and if he hadn't gotten an early injury in this game I think he was going to have a big one as he played his way into the starting lineup and was producing early. Victor Davila is a force offensively, you wish he could step up a little on defense, but if the Hokies can get him the ball a bit more I think it would open more shots for the shooters. Cadarian Raines plays great defense and whoever teaches the big men their hook shots is doing a great job as he is starting to hit those on a consistent basis just like Davila. Jarrell Eddie, while some times inconsistent has also showed that he can takeover games and the combination of him and Doe-Doe on the wings will be fun to watch for a long time.
All in all this is still a very young team but a young team that is showing they can learn. I think Seth Greenberg is a great teacher, he develops his talent well, and most of his players progress at a good rate. I look for more good things this year and in the years to come as these young guys come together. As we all know winning cures all that ails a team and if this team can stay strong and play tough through these next couple of weeks they really could make a run and end up where they want to be. It isn't going to be easy starting with Florida State this Thursday, but they have a chance and that is all they need to win. They already have the tools and hopefully with some confidence in themselves and each other they will take advantage of that chance and I look forward to that. GO HOKIES!
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Hokies vs. BC pre-view, etc..
The Hokies take to the hardwood again tonight against the Boston College Eagles and hopefully this time it will go a bit better for the boys in maroon or orange or grey (whichever they jersey they choose this team, they seem to like to mix it up for every game). The last game with the Eagles was a real disappointment as pretty much this whole season has been. I think the learning curve for this group has been much steeper than most expected.
The good news is that Erick Greene will be playing this time versus the Eagles, his absence in the first match-up really made the difference for the Eagles in my opinion. In that game the Hokies lost by 2 and the offense was stagnant for most of the game. With Greene out Marquis Rankin got his first start and it showed. He seemed lost most of that game, made many poor decisions and really held the offense back. Since then Rankin has gotten much better and you can tell that the experience he is getting is leading to some measurable improvements. Rankin is turning into a very important part of this team and I would expect him to be starting the rest of the year. With him starting along side Greene today I expect a much different outcome.
Although I think Erick Greene will make the difference this time around I still think it will be a close game. The back court should produce a lot more but this BC team seems to be one that fights to the last whistle. They are coming off of a huge upset win over Florida State and who knows how that might affect them in this game. Some times after upsets teams figure it out and start rolling, other times they play as we did after our upset win over uva. This BC team looks like one who you just can't get a good read on, they don't have a good record (3-7, 8-16) and honestly I struggle to name their star player which I assume would be Dennis Clifford who is 7' and projects to eventually become an NBA caliber talent. The Eagles are 218th in RPI and rank in the 300s in several offensive and defensive categories including points per game, rebounding margin, and turnover margin. Simply put, it was embarrassing to lose to these guys at their place and it would be devastating to lose to this team at home. Although they have upset ability the stats show that we should be able to beat these guys especially with home court in our favor.
As I said before I expect more production from Rankin and just adding Greene should improve our scoring ability. Also Dorian Finney-Smith is producing much more now than when he was going through his slump of 3 points in 7 games. He had 12pts and 8 rebs against Clemson and although he only had 4pts against Miami his defense was on point and he still pulled down 8 rebs. I hope they can get Dorian off to a fast start as it seems that when he hits a couple early shots it helps his overall game and he can have a big impact on the game. I also think that C.J. Barksdale could be a big player in this game, so far I think C.J. has been a little disappointing and I think he would say the same for himself. Coming in as a four star recruit I am sure he and most outsiders expected him to push Raines for minutes. However right now he just doesn't have the tools to get more minutes. He is a good rebounder but needs to work on his offensive moves in the post, his shot, and just being in the right spot. It looks to me like he is usually a step behind the other guys when they are one offense. I think he could get more minutes in this game because the Eagles have some height advantage and if we get into foul trouble C.J. will need to be ready to help and produce.
I hope we see some more improvement from the freshmen and as long as our starters maintain their production we should come away victorious. The game is at six o'clock and will be aired on ESPNU, hopefully they get a good turn out even though I am sure most fans are frustrated with this season as am I. Either way I am sure it will be an entertaining game as the Hokies always like to keep it close. I predict Erick Greene to be player of the game since no one else seems capable of the consistency that he provides. Also keep an eye on Victor Davila as his match-up with BC's Clifford could decide the game. Go Hokies!
The good news is that Erick Greene will be playing this time versus the Eagles, his absence in the first match-up really made the difference for the Eagles in my opinion. In that game the Hokies lost by 2 and the offense was stagnant for most of the game. With Greene out Marquis Rankin got his first start and it showed. He seemed lost most of that game, made many poor decisions and really held the offense back. Since then Rankin has gotten much better and you can tell that the experience he is getting is leading to some measurable improvements. Rankin is turning into a very important part of this team and I would expect him to be starting the rest of the year. With him starting along side Greene today I expect a much different outcome.
Although I think Erick Greene will make the difference this time around I still think it will be a close game. The back court should produce a lot more but this BC team seems to be one that fights to the last whistle. They are coming off of a huge upset win over Florida State and who knows how that might affect them in this game. Some times after upsets teams figure it out and start rolling, other times they play as we did after our upset win over uva. This BC team looks like one who you just can't get a good read on, they don't have a good record (3-7, 8-16) and honestly I struggle to name their star player which I assume would be Dennis Clifford who is 7' and projects to eventually become an NBA caliber talent. The Eagles are 218th in RPI and rank in the 300s in several offensive and defensive categories including points per game, rebounding margin, and turnover margin. Simply put, it was embarrassing to lose to these guys at their place and it would be devastating to lose to this team at home. Although they have upset ability the stats show that we should be able to beat these guys especially with home court in our favor.
As I said before I expect more production from Rankin and just adding Greene should improve our scoring ability. Also Dorian Finney-Smith is producing much more now than when he was going through his slump of 3 points in 7 games. He had 12pts and 8 rebs against Clemson and although he only had 4pts against Miami his defense was on point and he still pulled down 8 rebs. I hope they can get Dorian off to a fast start as it seems that when he hits a couple early shots it helps his overall game and he can have a big impact on the game. I also think that C.J. Barksdale could be a big player in this game, so far I think C.J. has been a little disappointing and I think he would say the same for himself. Coming in as a four star recruit I am sure he and most outsiders expected him to push Raines for minutes. However right now he just doesn't have the tools to get more minutes. He is a good rebounder but needs to work on his offensive moves in the post, his shot, and just being in the right spot. It looks to me like he is usually a step behind the other guys when they are one offense. I think he could get more minutes in this game because the Eagles have some height advantage and if we get into foul trouble C.J. will need to be ready to help and produce.
I hope we see some more improvement from the freshmen and as long as our starters maintain their production we should come away victorious. The game is at six o'clock and will be aired on ESPNU, hopefully they get a good turn out even though I am sure most fans are frustrated with this season as am I. Either way I am sure it will be an entertaining game as the Hokies always like to keep it close. I predict Erick Greene to be player of the game since no one else seems capable of the consistency that he provides. Also keep an eye on Victor Davila as his match-up with BC's Clifford could decide the game. Go Hokies!
Monday, February 6, 2012
The Orioles trade Guthrie for Jason Hammel and Matt Lindstrom
I'll start this by saying I am a big Jeremy Guthrie fan and I will miss him pitching in Baltimore. He was a steady starter and you knew most days he would give 6 plus innings and keep you in the game. Easily the best starter on last year's team and also seemed to be a leader on the field and on the bench. I think he helped a lot of the young pitchers as they came up and I think he had a positive impact on Matt Wieters when he came up in helping him learn how to call a game. I wish him luck in Colorado and I hope we don't regret this trade. There is a good chance in my opinion the O's will regret this trade though. Dan Duquette has preached getting arms that could make a difference and could go close to 200 innings. Guthrie was that pitcher for us, he got 200 innings the last two years and had decent stats to go with those innings, I am not saying he was an all-star but on a team with under performing starters he was the one bright spot. In return for Guthrie we get Jason Hammel a 29 year old starter who has gone over 170 innings the last three years with comparable stats to Guthrie. The thing that worries me is that last year he got switched to the bull pen near the end of the year and doesn't seem to be any more effective than Guthrie. Matt Lindstrom will come out of the bull pen and I don't know much about him (have you heard his name much?), he is 32 years old. Obviously this trade could turn out to be a good one, I just don't see it. This seems to be a move more based on money than production and the real disappointment is that more than likely the guys they got for Guthrie probably won't be with the team in two more years. Many thought that if the O's traded Guthrie or any one else it would be to get prospects that could help us in the future. These two guys are too old and not productive enough to be around when we start to get better, in my opinion. I know we weren't going to get anyone's best prospect for Guthrie but you would like either a young player with good up side or at least someone a little better than Guthrie if you just want to trade starters. This trade also doesn't make since in the fact that you take a known starter away for a guy who might be able to start and add another arm to a bull pen that is already over crowded. I can't really make sense of it other than that the two players combined make what Guthrie would make this year but that doesn't seem worth it when you are losing a type of pitcher which you profess to covet. We'll see how it works out, good luck Guts! Go O's!
Weekend Wrap-up: Wizards down, Hokies up, Super Bowl..eh
I'll start with the Wizards just to get them out of the way. Not surprisingly they were blown out at home by a good Clippers team. Anyone could have predicted the outcome because the Clippers are miles ahead of the
Wizards in just about every measurable category as well as the unmeasurable categories like talent and attitude. At this point in the season these two teams couldn't be more different. The Clippers have a ton of talent with a veteran point guard and a good system that helps them exploit another teams mistakes. Also they have the players that have the ability to know when they can't get a certain play right just throw the ball near the rim and somebody will dunk it. The Wizards are a young team without a true leader to speak of and are trying to figure out a new coaches system and how to make it work. They still can't defend the pick and roll and at some points have trouble with lay ups. They have a chance over the next two games (Raptors and Knicks) to work on some things and maybe improve some areas before the Heat come to town. Here's hoping they can figure something out but so far this season seems lost as for every step forward they take two steps back. Tonight's game versus the Raptors is on at 7. I'll see how long I can make it, Go Wiz!
The Hokies did pretty well in the game against Clemson of course they didn't wanna make it look easy and tried their best to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory over the last five minutes of the game. The difference in this game compared to the last seven was Dorian Finney-Smith and he showed in this game he could make a big impact in the ACC. I know it was Clemson (11-11) but it is good to know that Dorian can go off on ACC team and help them get a win. He finished the day with 15 points and 8 rebounds and looked like a different player. Seth Greenberg has been working with him a lot and for one game at least it looks like all that work is paying off. I think Seth knows that as Dorian goes so will this team as he runs plays for Dorian to get the ball early and often and on Saturday after the first one went in he played great. The frustrating thing is that if Dorian had averaged just four points a game in the previous six or seven games we would probably have three or four more wins. That is obviously just speculation but when a player is getting starter minutes and scoring zero points it really hand cuffs your offense. Hopefully he maintains some momentum and we can get some more wins as the this is somewhat of a soft spot in our schedule with BC and Miami coming up. Erick Green had a bit of an off game but with his 10 points he maintains the ACC's longest active streak for double digit games. I know I didn't re-cap the dook game but there wasn't a whole lot to say about it. The first half was competitive but we don't have the bench players to hang with a team like dook it seems. At the end of the game we looked tired and just couldn't make the shots to stay close, we will see them again and hopefully our offense will be operating at a hire rate than it is currently or else we can expect much of the same from the rematch.
So the Super Bowl happened yesterday. I didn't really have a dog in this fight and the outcome doesn't really affect me. I guess the NFC East gets to hold on to the title of toughest division as our 9-7 champ won the whole thing over one of the best teams in the AFC. It's a little bitter sweet but Redskins fans can at least say we beat the Super Bowl champs twice. It was a decent game but really the most interesting parts were the last couple minutes of each half with a bunch of blah surrounding it. There were some big hits by the Patriots early in the second half and honestly with Brady scoring late in the first half combined with how the Pats defense came out in the second half I thought the Pats would roll. But somehow the Giants found a way to keep Brady down most of the game and Eli Manning had a great drive late in the game to lock it up. Congratulations to the Giants, hopefully next year the Skins will have a qb that won't turn the ball over every other possession and we might be able to beat someone besides the Giants.
Wizards in just about every measurable category as well as the unmeasurable categories like talent and attitude. At this point in the season these two teams couldn't be more different. The Clippers have a ton of talent with a veteran point guard and a good system that helps them exploit another teams mistakes. Also they have the players that have the ability to know when they can't get a certain play right just throw the ball near the rim and somebody will dunk it. The Wizards are a young team without a true leader to speak of and are trying to figure out a new coaches system and how to make it work. They still can't defend the pick and roll and at some points have trouble with lay ups. They have a chance over the next two games (Raptors and Knicks) to work on some things and maybe improve some areas before the Heat come to town. Here's hoping they can figure something out but so far this season seems lost as for every step forward they take two steps back. Tonight's game versus the Raptors is on at 7. I'll see how long I can make it, Go Wiz!
The Hokies did pretty well in the game against Clemson of course they didn't wanna make it look easy and tried their best to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory over the last five minutes of the game. The difference in this game compared to the last seven was Dorian Finney-Smith and he showed in this game he could make a big impact in the ACC. I know it was Clemson (11-11) but it is good to know that Dorian can go off on ACC team and help them get a win. He finished the day with 15 points and 8 rebounds and looked like a different player. Seth Greenberg has been working with him a lot and for one game at least it looks like all that work is paying off. I think Seth knows that as Dorian goes so will this team as he runs plays for Dorian to get the ball early and often and on Saturday after the first one went in he played great. The frustrating thing is that if Dorian had averaged just four points a game in the previous six or seven games we would probably have three or four more wins. That is obviously just speculation but when a player is getting starter minutes and scoring zero points it really hand cuffs your offense. Hopefully he maintains some momentum and we can get some more wins as the this is somewhat of a soft spot in our schedule with BC and Miami coming up. Erick Green had a bit of an off game but with his 10 points he maintains the ACC's longest active streak for double digit games. I know I didn't re-cap the dook game but there wasn't a whole lot to say about it. The first half was competitive but we don't have the bench players to hang with a team like dook it seems. At the end of the game we looked tired and just couldn't make the shots to stay close, we will see them again and hopefully our offense will be operating at a hire rate than it is currently or else we can expect much of the same from the rematch.
So the Super Bowl happened yesterday. I didn't really have a dog in this fight and the outcome doesn't really affect me. I guess the NFC East gets to hold on to the title of toughest division as our 9-7 champ won the whole thing over one of the best teams in the AFC. It's a little bitter sweet but Redskins fans can at least say we beat the Super Bowl champs twice. It was a decent game but really the most interesting parts were the last couple minutes of each half with a bunch of blah surrounding it. There were some big hits by the Patriots early in the second half and honestly with Brady scoring late in the first half combined with how the Pats defense came out in the second half I thought the Pats would roll. But somehow the Giants found a way to keep Brady down most of the game and Eli Manning had a great drive late in the game to lock it up. Congratulations to the Giants, hopefully next year the Skins will have a qb that won't turn the ball over every other possession and we might be able to beat someone besides the Giants.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Wrap-up yesterday and look forward to tonight.
I will start with the bad, recap the good, and then look for hope tonight in the Hokies vs. dook game. So the bad was the Wizards the game, I actually watched a fair amount as the Wiz kept it close most of the night, but in the end they fell 109-103 to the Orlando Magic who were looking for their first win in five tries. This could have been a great opportunity to pick a road win against a good team that was struggling and the starters didn't really seem to show up. Here are the totals for J. Wall, J. Vesely, and J. Mcgee combined: 72 mins, 8pts, and 13 rebounds. Those are the combined totals for three starters in the NBA! admittedly they might not start for every team but that is pathetic. 8 points! No one else was much better Seraphin had a decent game playing for Mcgee most of the night who had foul trouble. But during his good stretch he and Crawford basically played two on five and it felt like they took the other three players on the court out of rhythm. Not much more to say, the team looks a little better under the new coach but they are still a long way away for getting wins against teams like the Magic.
Just to recap on signing day, it was a great day for the Hokies and you can read on all the players in yesterday's post. It is a good feeling to close on signing day and get some of the big guys that usually get away. Joel Caleb is gonna be huge and I can't wait to see the back field next year. Also Frank Beamer took some time to recognize the walk-ons, saying it could be one of the best groups of them he has signed. He couldn't speak of them by name but did remind us of a few walkons from the past like John Engelberger Cody Grimm, I am sure he has a couple gems in that group as well. It still hurts to lose Kirven and Blue but I still think they got a great haul. As I wrote yesterday Blue got an ear full from Charley Wiles and apparently the word got to Miami coach Al Golden as he felt the need to tweet: "Give people enuf rope and they hang themselves." That's a pretty strong shot from a guy in year two of taking over a struggling program with some sanctions more than likely heading his way. Apparently the way it got out was a reporter was with Blue when he made the call to Wiles and Wiles didn't know about it. Obviously he wouldn't have said some of the things he did if he knew it was going to reported on but oh well. I don't think it is that big of a deal, it sucks that the kid switched at the last minute but those things happen and the kid wanted to be closer to home. And like I said yesterday, if they don't wanna be a Hokie then we don't want them to be one. The bigger thing is Al Golden's shot at coach Wiles and how much more fuel that will add to the fire that is a VT vs. miami game. Should be a good game this fall.
Moving on to tonight. Tech has a big match up with the dookies in Blacksburg at 7. At first glance most people probably don't give Tech a shot (including me) and for good reason. Tech's offense has been abysmal to be nice and frankly we don't have anywhere near the offensive talent that dook has. To begin with dook has all five starters averaging over 10 points a game and we have one (Erick Green 15ppg). Then you look at three point shooting and where they have 3 guys shooting 40% plus from beyond the arc and 2 at 45% plus. Having to guard all those shooters is gonna be tough which makes it easier for them to get the ball down low where they guys that are giants compared to our post players. All that said I do give Tech a shot at this one for a couple of reasons. First it's a home game and say what you will about Cassell but that place has housed some great games over the years and when the big boys come to town the Hokies tend to turn it up a notch. Second kind of piggy backs on the last one but this years team seems to play more to the competition than other Greenberg teams I have seen in the past. They play good against good teams and bad against the bad teams, I can't explain it it just looks that way to me. Lastly we play some good defense we are 43rd in national defense efficiency and they don't play much defense as they are near the bottom of the ACC in almost every team defense category. I think Jarrel Eddie and Robert Brown along with Davila and Raines are all going to have to have great games defensively to keep us close in this one. And Dorian Finney-Smith has to find some way to score he has been in a drought for long enough and hopefully the dookies will bring the best out of him. I worry about this being a heart breaker where we can't hit a shot when we need it but you never know, maybe Dorenzo has another game winner in him at the end of the game. Either way should be a good one. Go HOKIES!
Just to recap on signing day, it was a great day for the Hokies and you can read on all the players in yesterday's post. It is a good feeling to close on signing day and get some of the big guys that usually get away. Joel Caleb is gonna be huge and I can't wait to see the back field next year. Also Frank Beamer took some time to recognize the walk-ons, saying it could be one of the best groups of them he has signed. He couldn't speak of them by name but did remind us of a few walkons from the past like John Engelberger Cody Grimm, I am sure he has a couple gems in that group as well. It still hurts to lose Kirven and Blue but I still think they got a great haul. As I wrote yesterday Blue got an ear full from Charley Wiles and apparently the word got to Miami coach Al Golden as he felt the need to tweet: "Give people enuf rope and they hang themselves." That's a pretty strong shot from a guy in year two of taking over a struggling program with some sanctions more than likely heading his way. Apparently the way it got out was a reporter was with Blue when he made the call to Wiles and Wiles didn't know about it. Obviously he wouldn't have said some of the things he did if he knew it was going to reported on but oh well. I don't think it is that big of a deal, it sucks that the kid switched at the last minute but those things happen and the kid wanted to be closer to home. And like I said yesterday, if they don't wanna be a Hokie then we don't want them to be one. The bigger thing is Al Golden's shot at coach Wiles and how much more fuel that will add to the fire that is a VT vs. miami game. Should be a good game this fall.
Moving on to tonight. Tech has a big match up with the dookies in Blacksburg at 7. At first glance most people probably don't give Tech a shot (including me) and for good reason. Tech's offense has been abysmal to be nice and frankly we don't have anywhere near the offensive talent that dook has. To begin with dook has all five starters averaging over 10 points a game and we have one (Erick Green 15ppg). Then you look at three point shooting and where they have 3 guys shooting 40% plus from beyond the arc and 2 at 45% plus. Having to guard all those shooters is gonna be tough which makes it easier for them to get the ball down low where they guys that are giants compared to our post players. All that said I do give Tech a shot at this one for a couple of reasons. First it's a home game and say what you will about Cassell but that place has housed some great games over the years and when the big boys come to town the Hokies tend to turn it up a notch. Second kind of piggy backs on the last one but this years team seems to play more to the competition than other Greenberg teams I have seen in the past. They play good against good teams and bad against the bad teams, I can't explain it it just looks that way to me. Lastly we play some good defense we are 43rd in national defense efficiency and they don't play much defense as they are near the bottom of the ACC in almost every team defense category. I think Jarrel Eddie and Robert Brown along with Davila and Raines are all going to have to have great games defensively to keep us close in this one. And Dorian Finney-Smith has to find some way to score he has been in a drought for long enough and hopefully the dookies will bring the best out of him. I worry about this being a heart breaker where we can't hit a shot when we need it but you never know, maybe Dorenzo has another game winner in him at the end of the game. Either way should be a good one. Go HOKIES!
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Wizards vs. Magic tonight
Don't forget, the Wizards tip-off against the Orlando Magic tonight at 7 on Comcast Sportsnet. Join in the misery, won't you? I'll try to write something about the game tomorrow if I end up being able to watch it without my eyes burning too much.
Signing Day Final
Signing day just ended for the Hokies and it was mostly good news all day. Here I will list all the newcomers by position and give some of their stats.
Quarterback:
Brenden Motley 6'3'' 200 three star, I doubt he will end up at QB as he didn't throw much in high school but he looks to be a good athlete and could end up at safety eventually. He was recruited as a QB so you never know, he kind of reminds me Marcus Davis coming out of high school.
Running Back:
J.C. Coleman 5'7'' 169 four star. Should be a great one, probably gonna be starting at some point this year. He has already enrolled at VT so he gets to go through spring practice with the team and work on getting a little bigger.He only weighs 169 now but he will definitely bulk up at Tech he reminds me of Mike Imoh.
Drew Harris 6'1'' 210 four star. Another one who could be great and might get to see the field this year. Coach Cavanaugh has compared him to Kevin Jones and he is usually a good judge of talent. If not this year look for big things from in the near future.
Chris Mangus 6'0'' 180 three stars. Solid RB out of North Carolina. He's got 4.4 speed, he will probably red shirt next year so he can focus on getting bigger. I never really question a RB recruit at Tech they all usually work out.
Jerome Wright 6'2'' 201 two stars. He will probably grey shirt this year so you won't see him enroll until next January. Tech was the only D1 school to offer him but he has good size and could end up switching to a different position, possibly full back like Josh Oglesby in 2010. Beamer always gets a sleeper or two this could be one from this class.
Wide Receiver:
Joel Caleb 6'2'' 201 four stars. Probably the biggest get in this class. He chose Tech over Ohio State and many others. In the recent past Tech has missed on these types of players so I am excited to see them get this one. He has great size for a Wide Receiver and looks to have all the tools to be starting next year or possibly be pushing for some playing time this year.
Der'Woun Greene 5'10 175 three stars. Could end up at either WR or CB. He might not have the size to play corner but he could end up being a great slot receiver. If he has the hands he has the speed and shiftiness to cause some damage.
Thomas Smith 6'3'' 218 three stars. Another grey shirt recruit who was not highly recruited. His size is impressive but he may have to change position to get on the field. With his current size plus another year and half to bulk up he could end up at tight end.
Mark Irick 6'3'' 185 three stars. The Hokies stole him out of South Carolina, he wasn't highly recruited but with his size and speed he could end up making a lot of other schools fell dumb for not offering. Reminds me of Dyrell Roberts.
Joshua Stanford 6'2'' 180 three stars. Josh completed the Hokies haul of receivers. After Robert Lockhart decommited they scooped him up and they could have gotten another steal. Another receiver with above average size and speed who will be competing for a job next year when the current starters move on.
Tight End:
Dakota Jackson 6'4'' 250 three stars. The only tight end in this class and I wonder if he he'll end up there because Curt Newsome and Bryan Stinespring tend to turn these types of players into lineman, especially with his size and not many receiving stats coming out of high school.
Offensive Linemen:
Adam Taraschke 6'6'' 270 two stars. Another possible grey shirt.I figure the coaches think with some time they can take a kid with his size and coach him up enough to become a contributor. We will see.
Augie Conte 6'6'' 270 three stars. Very similar to Adam Taraschke. Slightly higher rated but more than likely another grey shirt that they hope to transform into a player. He has good size but might not have the athleticism.
Jack Willenbrock 6'4'' 260 three stars. Another big body to work on and who knows where he will end up. He was the high school team mate of Drew Harris both coming from Exton, PA.
Defensive Linemen:
Ken Ekanem 6'3'' 226 four stars. A big in-state recruit for the Hokies, a four star recruit at a position of need who had offers from many others. He had injuries his senior year but Tech kept their commitment to him and never recalled his offer, which he sited as a big reason for signing with the Hokies. We won't get to see him in game until 2013 due to rehab but he should be worth the wait.Should end up at defensive end.
Jarontay Jones 6'2'' 240 four stars. A big get for the Hokies out of the state of Georgia. After some time to bulk up this year he should be an impact player by 2013. Should be a defensive tackle.
Alston Smith 6'3'' 272 three stars. One I am really excited to see as he is the son of former Hokie great Bruce Smith. He wasn't highly recruited but it just makes since to get him on board and if ends up anywhere close to his father he will be a great player, could be another steal in this class. Should end up at tackle as he doesn't seem to have the speed for end.
Nigel Williams 6'3'' 260 three stars. Another local kid with good size and should add well to the depth they are building on the defensive line. Should be a defensive tackle.
Woody Baron 6'3'' 252 three stars. Projects to be a defensive end with his speed. He had a great camp at VT and was offered soon after that yet another sleeper that Frank seems to find every year.
Seth Dooley 6'5'' 230 two stars. His recruitment was very quiet and who knows what will happen with him at Tech. He is listed as a DE/Athlete, he seems a little light for defensive end right now but over time he could bulk and with his height become a force on the outside. He side right after his camp appearance as well.
Defensive Backs:
Donaldven Manning 5'9'' 163 four stars. An early commitment (Feb 4th last year) out of Miami,Fl. Should be a great player at Tech and some say he could even take Jayron Hoseley's place as a starter this year. Since he is already in school and gets to go through spring practice he has a good shot at doing just that.
Davion Tookes 5'10'' 179 three stars. He committed a day earlier than Manning and the two of them could mirror each other through out their college careers. He had 16 other offers to consider before signing day but Tech had offered him much earlier than all the others and he chose to stick with the Hokies.
Donovan Riley 6'0'' 190 three stars. He should end up at safety and after a red shirt year could end up being a good get, Tech usually doesn't miss on defensive backs either so you have to trust Frank and his team as many of their recruits fly under the radar.
Desmond Frye 6'1'' 168 three stars. Another three star safety who needs some time to bulk up and then we will see if he can play.
Linebackers:
Deon Clarke 6'2'' 205 four stars. Another big recruit for the Hokies he is the #13 LB in the nation and could have an instant impact for the Hokies. He has good size and speed and is a hard hitter at a position that was getting a little thin.
Trey Edmunds 6'2'' 205 four stars. The #16 LB nationally helped to make this one if the best linebacker classes for Tech since Vince Hall and Xavier Adibi came in together. We should see some big things from Clarke and Edmunds in the near future.
Devin Vandyke 6'1'' 203 three stars. He is the brother of current backup free safety Ronny Vandyke and looks to be a solid player he has good size and should play in the outside linebacker spot for the Hokies. Always good to see another legacy on board.
Dahman McKinnon 6'2'' 200 three stars. Another outside backer for the Hokies out of North Carolina. He could end up being a steal as he was lightly recruited but time will tell.
The ones who got away:
Koren Kirven. Could have been a huge recruit for Tech as it came down to the Hokies and Alabama with most pundits predicting him to go to Tech. Alas our pockets aren't as deep as the ones in the SEC and he switched in the final moments leading to his signing. I wish he had stayed in state but you can't win 'em all.
Jawand Blue. Really the only shock of the day as he had been solid with the Hokies since early July. Miami came through with a late offer and since he is from Boca Raton he decided to stay close to home. Apparently no one knew about this until it happened especially the Hokies as there was word on twitter that Coach Charley Wiles (originally reported to be Beamer himself but later corrected to be Wiles) really gave this kid an ear full about how betrayed the coaches felt. As always if they don't wanna be at Tech then Tech shouldn't want them.
So that's it. I think overall a great class for Tech but of course time will tell. They got some great athletes in areas of need and also added some depth which is always important. This coming year they should be focusing on a QB or two and some offensive lineman and hopefully they can build on the momentum from this class. I might have some more to say about this class tomorrow once the national and local rankings come out. Welcome to all the new Hokies and we look forward to seeing you on the field in the fall, GO HOKIES!
Quarterback:
Brenden Motley 6'3'' 200 three star, I doubt he will end up at QB as he didn't throw much in high school but he looks to be a good athlete and could end up at safety eventually. He was recruited as a QB so you never know, he kind of reminds me Marcus Davis coming out of high school.
Running Back:
J.C. Coleman 5'7'' 169 four star. Should be a great one, probably gonna be starting at some point this year. He has already enrolled at VT so he gets to go through spring practice with the team and work on getting a little bigger.He only weighs 169 now but he will definitely bulk up at Tech he reminds me of Mike Imoh.
Drew Harris 6'1'' 210 four star. Another one who could be great and might get to see the field this year. Coach Cavanaugh has compared him to Kevin Jones and he is usually a good judge of talent. If not this year look for big things from in the near future.
Chris Mangus 6'0'' 180 three stars. Solid RB out of North Carolina. He's got 4.4 speed, he will probably red shirt next year so he can focus on getting bigger. I never really question a RB recruit at Tech they all usually work out.
Jerome Wright 6'2'' 201 two stars. He will probably grey shirt this year so you won't see him enroll until next January. Tech was the only D1 school to offer him but he has good size and could end up switching to a different position, possibly full back like Josh Oglesby in 2010. Beamer always gets a sleeper or two this could be one from this class.
Wide Receiver:
Joel Caleb 6'2'' 201 four stars. Probably the biggest get in this class. He chose Tech over Ohio State and many others. In the recent past Tech has missed on these types of players so I am excited to see them get this one. He has great size for a Wide Receiver and looks to have all the tools to be starting next year or possibly be pushing for some playing time this year.
Der'Woun Greene 5'10 175 three stars. Could end up at either WR or CB. He might not have the size to play corner but he could end up being a great slot receiver. If he has the hands he has the speed and shiftiness to cause some damage.
Thomas Smith 6'3'' 218 three stars. Another grey shirt recruit who was not highly recruited. His size is impressive but he may have to change position to get on the field. With his current size plus another year and half to bulk up he could end up at tight end.
Mark Irick 6'3'' 185 three stars. The Hokies stole him out of South Carolina, he wasn't highly recruited but with his size and speed he could end up making a lot of other schools fell dumb for not offering. Reminds me of Dyrell Roberts.
Joshua Stanford 6'2'' 180 three stars. Josh completed the Hokies haul of receivers. After Robert Lockhart decommited they scooped him up and they could have gotten another steal. Another receiver with above average size and speed who will be competing for a job next year when the current starters move on.
Tight End:
Dakota Jackson 6'4'' 250 three stars. The only tight end in this class and I wonder if he he'll end up there because Curt Newsome and Bryan Stinespring tend to turn these types of players into lineman, especially with his size and not many receiving stats coming out of high school.
Offensive Linemen:
Adam Taraschke 6'6'' 270 two stars. Another possible grey shirt.I figure the coaches think with some time they can take a kid with his size and coach him up enough to become a contributor. We will see.
Augie Conte 6'6'' 270 three stars. Very similar to Adam Taraschke. Slightly higher rated but more than likely another grey shirt that they hope to transform into a player. He has good size but might not have the athleticism.
Jack Willenbrock 6'4'' 260 three stars. Another big body to work on and who knows where he will end up. He was the high school team mate of Drew Harris both coming from Exton, PA.
Defensive Linemen:
Ken Ekanem 6'3'' 226 four stars. A big in-state recruit for the Hokies, a four star recruit at a position of need who had offers from many others. He had injuries his senior year but Tech kept their commitment to him and never recalled his offer, which he sited as a big reason for signing with the Hokies. We won't get to see him in game until 2013 due to rehab but he should be worth the wait.Should end up at defensive end.
Jarontay Jones 6'2'' 240 four stars. A big get for the Hokies out of the state of Georgia. After some time to bulk up this year he should be an impact player by 2013. Should be a defensive tackle.
Alston Smith 6'3'' 272 three stars. One I am really excited to see as he is the son of former Hokie great Bruce Smith. He wasn't highly recruited but it just makes since to get him on board and if ends up anywhere close to his father he will be a great player, could be another steal in this class. Should end up at tackle as he doesn't seem to have the speed for end.
Nigel Williams 6'3'' 260 three stars. Another local kid with good size and should add well to the depth they are building on the defensive line. Should be a defensive tackle.
Woody Baron 6'3'' 252 three stars. Projects to be a defensive end with his speed. He had a great camp at VT and was offered soon after that yet another sleeper that Frank seems to find every year.
Seth Dooley 6'5'' 230 two stars. His recruitment was very quiet and who knows what will happen with him at Tech. He is listed as a DE/Athlete, he seems a little light for defensive end right now but over time he could bulk and with his height become a force on the outside. He side right after his camp appearance as well.
Defensive Backs:
Donaldven Manning 5'9'' 163 four stars. An early commitment (Feb 4th last year) out of Miami,Fl. Should be a great player at Tech and some say he could even take Jayron Hoseley's place as a starter this year. Since he is already in school and gets to go through spring practice he has a good shot at doing just that.
Davion Tookes 5'10'' 179 three stars. He committed a day earlier than Manning and the two of them could mirror each other through out their college careers. He had 16 other offers to consider before signing day but Tech had offered him much earlier than all the others and he chose to stick with the Hokies.
Donovan Riley 6'0'' 190 three stars. He should end up at safety and after a red shirt year could end up being a good get, Tech usually doesn't miss on defensive backs either so you have to trust Frank and his team as many of their recruits fly under the radar.
Desmond Frye 6'1'' 168 three stars. Another three star safety who needs some time to bulk up and then we will see if he can play.
Linebackers:
Deon Clarke 6'2'' 205 four stars. Another big recruit for the Hokies he is the #13 LB in the nation and could have an instant impact for the Hokies. He has good size and speed and is a hard hitter at a position that was getting a little thin.
Trey Edmunds 6'2'' 205 four stars. The #16 LB nationally helped to make this one if the best linebacker classes for Tech since Vince Hall and Xavier Adibi came in together. We should see some big things from Clarke and Edmunds in the near future.
Devin Vandyke 6'1'' 203 three stars. He is the brother of current backup free safety Ronny Vandyke and looks to be a solid player he has good size and should play in the outside linebacker spot for the Hokies. Always good to see another legacy on board.
Dahman McKinnon 6'2'' 200 three stars. Another outside backer for the Hokies out of North Carolina. He could end up being a steal as he was lightly recruited but time will tell.
The ones who got away:
Koren Kirven. Could have been a huge recruit for Tech as it came down to the Hokies and Alabama with most pundits predicting him to go to Tech. Alas our pockets aren't as deep as the ones in the SEC and he switched in the final moments leading to his signing. I wish he had stayed in state but you can't win 'em all.
Jawand Blue. Really the only shock of the day as he had been solid with the Hokies since early July. Miami came through with a late offer and since he is from Boca Raton he decided to stay close to home. Apparently no one knew about this until it happened especially the Hokies as there was word on twitter that Coach Charley Wiles (originally reported to be Beamer himself but later corrected to be Wiles) really gave this kid an ear full about how betrayed the coaches felt. As always if they don't wanna be at Tech then Tech shouldn't want them.
So that's it. I think overall a great class for Tech but of course time will tell. They got some great athletes in areas of need and also added some depth which is always important. This coming year they should be focusing on a QB or two and some offensive lineman and hopefully they can build on the momentum from this class. I might have some more to say about this class tomorrow once the national and local rankings come out. Welcome to all the new Hokies and we look forward to seeing you on the field in the fall, GO HOKIES!
Signing Day is here!
For the Hokies this could be a huge day, they have the potential to sign a top ten class in the nation, and many say this recruiting class is all ready a top five in Hokie history. Early returns are good, no real surprises, looks like we missed out on Koren Kirven, a 4star recruit out of Lynchburg. He would have been one of the recruits to put this class over the top but ended up choosing Alabama. The Hokies have two big ones left on the board in Joel Caleb and Ken Ekanem, they commit at 8:30 and 9 respectively. I will probably give a little update when they commit and then at the end of the day I will try to give you a complete recap. Either way I think today is a great day to be a Hokie and fingers crossed we get some game changers so we can make some noise next year. Talk to you soon.
Joel Caleb is in! Ken Ekanem is next to commit at 9, hopefully there won't be any surprises in terms of kids changing their minds. One we might have to worry about is Jawand Blue, who some have said will go to Miami if a scholarship opens up, hope he stays with us but we should know about 10am. Update after Ekanem commits and I'll let you know how many we have signed up to that point.
Alright the big news is Ken Ekanem is a Hokie, you can find the video of his commitment on washingtonpost.com or youtube shortly. Total they have received 15 commits with hopefully 16 more on the way. A couple recruits are wavering but we we will know soon where they will be headed. Here is a list of the commits that came in this morning later on I will try to give some details on each. JC Coleman, Donaldven Manning, Drew Harris, Alston Smith (Bruce Smith's son), Adam Taraschke,Augie Conte, Derwoun Greene, Seth Dooley, Donovan Riley, Chris Mangus, Jerome Wright, Ken Ekanem, Thomas Smith, Desmond Frye, and Joel Caleb. Congrats to all the new Hokies, more details later.
Joel Caleb is in! Ken Ekanem is next to commit at 9, hopefully there won't be any surprises in terms of kids changing their minds. One we might have to worry about is Jawand Blue, who some have said will go to Miami if a scholarship opens up, hope he stays with us but we should know about 10am. Update after Ekanem commits and I'll let you know how many we have signed up to that point.
Alright the big news is Ken Ekanem is a Hokie, you can find the video of his commitment on washingtonpost.com or youtube shortly. Total they have received 15 commits with hopefully 16 more on the way. A couple recruits are wavering but we we will know soon where they will be headed. Here is a list of the commits that came in this morning later on I will try to give some details on each. JC Coleman, Donaldven Manning, Drew Harris, Alston Smith (Bruce Smith's son), Adam Taraschke,Augie Conte, Derwoun Greene, Seth Dooley, Donovan Riley, Chris Mangus, Jerome Wright, Ken Ekanem, Thomas Smith, Desmond Frye, and Joel Caleb. Congrats to all the new Hokies, more details later.
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