BC Defense Looking to Spread Misery on Hokies

Virginia Tech is often overlooked as one of the ACC's quarterback cradles. Other schools have greater heritage or produced more professional signal callers, and the internal perception more often centers on "Beamerball" on special teams or Bud Foster's "lunch pail defense." It's easy to overlook the depth of talent that once donned maroon and orange to touch the Hokie Stone.

There's Don Strock, who came off the bench to throw for 400 yards and four touchdowns in The Epic in Miami in 1982. He still holds passing records for Virginia Tech even though he played in the early 1970s. There's also Jim Druckenmiller, who was good enough for the San Francisco 49ers to draft in the first round in 1997 with the intention of becoming Steve Young's successor.

Michael Vick is in a class by himself, a human video game who rewrote what it meant to play quarterback in the NFL. He led to Bryan Randall, a player who amassed 3,000 yards en route to an ACC Championship. Then there was Tyrod Taylor, a player who led the Hokies to an Orange Bowl berth and later made the Pro Bowl. Logan Thomas threw for over 9,000 career yards, and Jerod Evans won a Coastal Division championship.

There has always been a centerpiece under center for the Hokies, and that won't change when Ryan Willis takes the field on Saturday at Boston College.

"We're excited to have an opportunity to play an elite team (on) opening day," Boston College head coach Steve Addazio said. "That's had the attention of our team throughout the winter, spring and certainly preseason camp."

Virginia Tech enters Saturday with an offense that's designed to click at a very high level. Willis excelled last year in his first eligible season after transferring from Kansas. He threw for numbers very similar to BC's Anthony Brown, with over 2,700 yards matched by 24 touchdowns and only nine interceptions.

Anthony Brown vs. Virginia Tech

He completed just under 70 percent of his passes against Marshall, with 312 yards resulting in four touchdowns. He threw for multiple touchdowns in almost every game, including a 332-yard, three-touchdown performance on 17-of-27 passing against a ranked Duke team.

Willis played well against Notre Dame, though he had to attempt 52 passes for 309 yards in a loss, and he was similarly strong against BC. He helped stake the Hokies to a 14-7 lead at halftime in that game, but the Eagles' comeback overshadowed his 281 yards and three-score cumulative performance.

He enters 2019 as the centerpiece to Virginia Tech's offense. He's a 6-foot-4 pro style quarterback capable of scrambling and running for long gains. He's the perfect fit for Justin Fuente's variation of the spread, and he will likely challenge the Boston College defense with his ability to get it done both in the air and with his feet.

"You have to play defense," Addazio said. "So I think we focused on those things throughout camp. After each scrimmage, after each real practice, we evaluated how many mental mistakes occurred, (how) turnovers occurred. We have officials here a ton, probably two times as much as in the past. So (we placed) a high emphasis on penalties and on how you carry the football. We have had an unbelievable emphasis for both sides of the ball."

The spread is used to describe an offensive formation designed to, literally, "spread a defense" across the width of a football field. It was able to grab a foothold in the college game because it could be utilized with superior athletes capable of gassing a defense. Instead of pounding them into submission, spread teams became more and more prevalent because it could rely on natural speed, agility and skill.

"Most teams are 11-personnel," Addazio said. "(Spreads) have capability of being 12, but most are just 11. I just think the spread is a very general term."

"11 personnel" means teams line up with one running back and one tight end, and it's easily the most recognizable form of the spread offense. The tight end acts as a de facto wide receiver, a bigger athletic target in comparison to the wide receivers. Because the team only plays one tight end and one running back, three receivers fill in for a variety of routes both on the sideline and up the middle.

This is the variation listed on the Hokies' depth chart. Dalton Keene is a 250-pound target and had four catches against BC last year and is listed opposite two legitimate receiving threats, including the returning Damon Hazelton. He had 51 catches for 800 yards last year and will pair nicely with Tre Turner, a 20 yards per catch receiver last season. Hezekiah Grimsley rounds out the lineup as a possession-type receiver who had 31 catches last season. His 10 yards per grab average is virtually identical to Keene.

"What is their schtick within their spread?" Addazio asked rhetorically of the Hokies. "What are they trying to do? How much quarterback run is there? How much play-action is there, et cetera? For us, we run some spread in our own offense, and I have a pretty good background in spread offense. We try to give a really good facsimile to them using our second offense at a high-speed rate."

The good news for BC is that the spread likely challenges the defense in its strongest collective unit. The Eagles replaced pieces in the core of their defensive backfield out of sheer necessity over the past couple of years. The legacy of Justin Simmons, John Johnson, Isaac Yiadom, Lukas Denis, Will Harris and Taj-Amir Torres isn't in their own names; it's in the ability of the players to step up into new roles based on situations.

The coaching staff spent chunks of time stressing situational football during the preseason, and the accelerated timeline into conference play means there will be some more in-game analysis about when to substitute. The concept of a "base defense" is only as good as the last play, so BC is forcing itself to remain malleable to any situation against a quarterback like Willis.

"Down and distance has a big factor, as well as personnel," Addazio said. "They could be managing a 10-grouping (with no running backs). On third down, like everybody else, we have a nickel/dime package, and we will adjust to match the personnel or situation. (If) it's third-and-eight, you're probably pretty likely to be in some form of nickel or dime defense where there are more DBs on the field. We have the ability to play within our base group on any down and have the ability to substitute in our nickel deal and kind of play that any down."

It all is dependent on what the offense shows. The Eagles will spend this week studying the film to analyze tendencies. Willis is an experienced quarterback with a cannon arm, razor sharp accuracy and a dual-threat ability to run. He's the perfect spread quarterback for Fuente's offense. He's capable of reading a defense and identifying the right gap or hole at any level, and he has that level of situational awareness. It'll tax the BC defense, but that's where trust in preparation becomes paramount.

"That's what football has become," Addazio said. "There is not a lot of straight 21 (one tight end, two running backs) teams that you're in and out of different groupings. We're different because we'll play every down in 12 (one running back, two tight ends). They'll play a lot of downs in 11."

Boston College and Virginia Tech kick off at 4 p.m. on Saturday at Alumni Stadium in Chestnut Hill. The game can be seen on the ACC Network. To find out about ACC Network availability, call your cable provider and ask for the channel or go to www.getaccn.com.

BC Defense Looking to Spread Misery on Hokies

Players Mentioned

Anthony Brown

Lukas Denis

Will Harris

Taj-Amir Torres

Isaac Yiadom

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