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David Hale ACC preview

NorthernVirginiaCane said:
Virginia Tech lost two very talented offensive linemen to the portable and a first-rounder got drafted. That seems pretty hard to believe.
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He makes mention of that. Says they still return 3 very good kids in Smith, Hoffman, and Tenuta and notes that they averaged a full yard more before contact in 2020 than they did in 2019 and it was their best mark in a decade. Translation, they ran it really well last year and return the bulk of their line.

They were 10th in the country last year in rushing YPG and 9th per carry. They had 3 games over 300 yards, and another where they got 283.

For comparison's sake, we have run for 300 yards against an FBS opponent 3 times since 2014. They did it 3 times in their first 4 games last season.

They were also better than average in sacks allowed, giving up just 2.0 per game. We gave up 2.73 a game with a kid back there who played like Houdini half the time.
 
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Jassid82 said:
**** guess I was trippin to think our OL would make top 5. But I guess #7 isnt too bad considering we probably would have been dead last this time last year.
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Probably more of a "wait and see". Again, this is one dude just taking a cut at something that is super objective. Is there a real difference between #7 and #5? Probably not. And #7 in July could be very different than #7 in December.

I think those of us hoping for a Top 5 line are hanging our hat on the experience thing. It's absolutely an indicator of success, to a degree. Teams with experienced lines usually play pretty well up front. But there are other factors too. If you have 5 complete turnstiles and they all come back, does that mean you're automatically good? Of course not. But I think somewhere in the middle is fair for now. The returning experience and Donaldson gives hope. But you're probably not realistically going to go from the bottom of the barrel to the cream of the crop in one off-season with essentially the same kids.
 
scrantoncane said:
I think he has BC way too low
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His justification was that BC was dead last in the league last year in YPC between the tackles. Usually alludes to a pretty poor OL. But, just one dude’s opinion and admittedly a dart throw at that. I’ll admit I have no idea who they have coming back or portaled in, so you might be proven correct.

As an aside, I missed his little blurb about Miami’s ranking. He wrote:

“Miami was….fine. But too many flags (last in ACC) and too many negative plays” which we mentioned earlier in the thread.

I did not realize we were last in the league in OL penalties. My god that’s gotta be corrected.
 
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OrangeBowlMagic said:
Probably more of a "wait and see". Again, this is one dude just taking a cut at something that is super objective. Is there a real difference between #7 and #5? Probably not. And #7 in July could be very different than #7 in December.

I think those of us hoping for a Top 5 line are hanging our hat on the experience thing. It's absolutely an indicator of success, to a degree. Teams with experienced lines usually play pretty well up front. But there are other factors too. If you have 5 complete turnstiles and they all come back, does that mean you're automatically good? Of course not. But I think somewhere in the middle is fair for now. The returning experience and Donaldson gives hope. But you're probably not realistically going to go from the bottom of the barrel to the cream of the crop in one off-season with essentially the same kids.
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There are only five lineman. All are back. Guard play was the weakest link, and we have a fifth year senior (who was out last season, and supposedly healthy and in shape now)), who might change that from a weakness to a strength. I don't know. Should be much better.
 
NorthernVirginiaCane said:
There are only five lineman. All are back. Guard play was the weakest link, and we have a fifth year senior (who was out last season, and supposedly healthy and in shape now)), who might change that from a weakness to a strength. I don't know. Should be much better.
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I'm agreeing with you 100%. Couldn't agree more. Should absolutely be better.

All I'm saying, and I think what Hale is saying, is that experience matters, but talent trumps experience. Just because all 5 are back doesn't really mean anything if they all suck. Now, we don't think they all suck. We know Zion is at worst an above average player, at best he's a first-round pick. We know Donaldson, when healthy and in shape, is an above-average player. We have enough of a sample size on Gaynor to say he's not terrible. Probably not great, but at worst, decent. SOMEONE has to emerge at RT, we have 57 kids to choose from there. And like you said, with Guard play being the missing link, whoever emerges at the other guard spot will probably have the biggest impact on the performance of the entire line. Many are saying Rivers is that dude. If he is, I'm with you, the line will be much improved. I'm just saying that you probably can't reasonably expect that 5 kids in 2020 could be in the bottom third of the league, but in 2021 those same 5 kids will be in the top third just because they're a year older. Donaldson's return could be a big wild card in that, but I think a reasonable expectation is that the OL plays in the top half of the league both in the run and pass game. Just be like the 5th or 6th best line in both areas and I think, with the skill position players and coaching, that's good enough to have a really explosive offense.
 
OrangeBowlMagic said:
I'm agreeing with you 100%. Couldn't agree more. Should absolutely be better.

All I'm saying, and I think what Hale is saying, is that experience matters, but talent trumps experience. Just because all 5 are back doesn't really mean anything if they all suck. Now, we don't think they all suck. We know Zion is at worst an above average player, at best he's a first-round pick. We know Donaldson, when healthy and in shape, is an above-average player. We have enough of a sample size on Gaynor to say he's not terrible. Probably not great, but at worst, decent. SOMEONE has to emerge at RT, we have 57 kids to choose from there. And like you said, with Guard play being the missing link, whoever emerges at the other guard spot will probably have the biggest impact on the performance of the entire line. Many are saying Rivers is that dude. If he is, I'm with you, the line will be much improved. I'm just saying that you probably can't reasonably expect that 5 kids in 2020 could be in the bottom third of the league, but in 2021 those same 5 kids will be in the top third just because they're a year older. Donaldson's return could be a big wild card in that, but I think a reasonable expectation is that the OL plays in the top half of the league both in the run and pass game. Just be like the 5th or 6th best line in both areas and I think, with the skill position players and coaching, that's good enough to have a really explosive offense.
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Yeah we are on the same page. I'm probably too confident, but Rivers and Donaldson were both highly rated players, who if healthy and in shape, could really turn around the guard play. Add more experience at tackle, and I'm expecting a lot of improvement. TBD.
 
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