What to Watch for: Virginia Tech’s Scrimmage Tomorrow

Virginia Tech will hold their last open scrimmage tomorrow in Lane Stadium at 4 p.m.  With Georgia Tech a mere 13 days away, the Hokies still have some things to figure out before taking the field against the Yellow Jackets.  What can we expect from tomorrow’s scrimmage?

1. Kevin Asante – It will be interesting to see if Asante can outright win the fourth wide receiver spot tomorrow.  As we mentioned yesterday, Asante is currently tied with Demitri Knowles for the fourth spot on the wide receiver depth chart.  With a good scrimmage tomorrow, Asante could jump Knowles for the outright fourth spot, and second flanker depth chart position.
2. Every running back not named Michael Holmes – We all know that Michael Holmes is going to start at running back for the Hokies this season.  What we don’t know is who will back him up – and that’s what we should be getting a better idea about tomorrow.  The usual suspects are going to be present – J.C. Coleman and Martin Scales; but apparently Tony Gregory has moved his way into the fold as well, making this a three-back battle.
3. Antone Exum – Exum struggled at times during the Hokies’ last scrimmage, and it will be important that Exum has a better showing this time around.  Exum is still in the process of learning the corner position, and these scrimmages are a good chance for him to continue to grow and learn.  Luckily for Exum, his size and athleticism will make up for some of his technical shortcomings right now.  Against elite wide receivers though, he’ll need to be crisp in every aspect if he wants to see success.
4. Pass protection – The offensive line has been a source of many questions this off-season, but during their last scrimmage the line as a whole did very well against Virginia Tech’s defense.  The offensive line needs to become more consistent in pass protection if the Hokies, and Logan Thomas, want to see the most success this season.  David Wang in particular could use a good showing tomorrow after a sub-par scrimmage on Saturday.
5. Defensive intensity – The defense caught a lot of flack for the intensity (or lack thereof) that they showed during Saturday’s scrimmage.  James Gayle didn’t scrimmage on Saturday, but the rest of the defensive line failed to do anything spectacular against the offense.  The secondary got burned a couple of times by the wide receivers, and there was some particularly poor tackling during a J.C. Coleman run, which resulted in a 50+ yard gain.  I expect Bud Foster to have the group fired up and playing with more intensity this time around.