Virginia Tech Football Open Scrimmage Number Two Notes and News

Today was Virginia Tech’s last open scrimmage before playing Georgia Tech on Labor Day.  As the students moved into their dorms, others flocked to Lane Stadium to get their last sneak peek at the team.  Here are my thoughts from today.

• Logan Thomas looks solid, and should be ready for the season.  Thomas went 11/20 today for 160 yards and a touchdown pass.  Thomas had a couple of really nice throws today and seemed to have pretty good control on the ball overall.  The only real letdown of the day for Thomas was his last series, which was a goal line set.  Thomas missed two throws on second and third down and walked over to the sideline shaking his head.  Thomas dropped his helmet on the sideline and walked away, clearly upset with himself (or the offense as a whole).  I expect that any kinks will be worked out by Labor Day.
• Trey Edmunds looked really good running the ball today, but might still find himself redshirted.  Edmunds led all rushers today with 57 yards, including a run where he picked up a fumble by quarterback Trey Gresh and took it for a 20-yard scamper.  However, coach Mike O’Cain gave Andrew Allegretta an interesting bit of information.

"“Coach O’Cain: ‘I think Joel Caleb and Trey Edmunds are going to be really good players. They’re just not where they need to be right now.'”–Mike O’Cain, Virginia Tech football quarterbacks coach"

• Jeron Gouveia-Winslow had a great showing today.  GW had three tackles today, but two of those were sacks totaling 11 yards worth of losses.  GW looked good when he was asked to defend the pass, and was in the backfield multiple times disrupting the flow of the offense.  It’s nice to see GW stepping up as his competition does the same behind him on the depth chart.  Hopefully GW is peaking at the right time just before the season begins.
• Dimitri Knowles had a good day all-around, which included a kickoff return that would have gone for a touchdown had the referees allowed the play to finish.  Knowles also had a catch for 13 yards today, and one rush for 24 yards as well.  Once the official depth chart is updated, it will be interesting to see if Knowles did enough to hold off Kevin Asante (2 receptions for 30 yards today) for the fourth wide receiver spot.
• A.J. Hughes probably solidified his spot as the leading punter heading into the season.  Hughes averaged nearly 42 yards per punt today on four punt attempts, including his last punt that was downed on the one-yard line.  Hunter Windmuller had a better day today, averaging 38 yards per punt on three punts.  Sadly for Windmuller, his second attempt was a pretty bad shank and only netted only 21 yards.  Windmuller did have a 55-yard bomb on his last punt however, so at least he ended well.