Hokie ClubBLACKSBURG – Virginia Tech’s offense broke out in a big way, with the quarterbacks combining to throw six touchdowns in a 96-play intrasquad scrimmage on Saturday at Lane Stadium, as the Hokies continued their spring practices.
The offense amassed 566 yards of total offense, with 337 of that coming through the air. Tech’s quarterbacks combined to complete 14 of 29, with the six touchdowns and one interception.
“That was probably the most long plays I’ve seen in a scrimmage,” Tech coach Frank Beamer said. “And that’s both good and bad. We’ve had a long of young guys making the long plays, and you have to give credit to your offensive line when things are happening good. Defensively, you miss a tackle in the secondary and all of a sudden, it turns into a long play. We’ll get those things corrected, but you feel good when you feel like you’ve got a threat and most of the guys doing it are young guys. I like where we are as a football team.”
Quarterback Michael Brewer, who has missed much of spring practice with back issues, threw five touchdown passes and Brenden Motley threw one. Tight end Bucky Hodges caught three touchdown passes and Cam Phillips hauled in two.
Most of that came against Tech’s second-team defense. The first-team defense only allowed a 60-yard touchdown pass from Motley to Hodges and a 14-yard touchdown pass from Brewer to Cam Phillips.
“That was the most big plays I’ve seen in a long, long time,” Tech defensive coordinator Bud Foster said. “Part of it goes back to a young secondary. They’ve got to protect their leverages and those types of things. I was talking to Torrian [Gray, Tech’s defensive backs coach] and he said, ‘Maybe they’ll listen now.’ That’s part of it.
“We’ve got a lot of young guys playing on our side of the ball right now, and the offense is doing a nice job. That second defense gave up a lot of big plays. Hopefully, they’ll see themselves, correct it and take the next step. That second group is a long ways away. There’s a big gap between that first unit and the second unit, particularly on the perimeter.”
Brewer threw two 12-yard touchdown passes to Hodges. He also threw a 60-yard touchdown pass to Isaiah Ford, who caught the short pass, broke the tackle of Shawn Payne and went down the sideline for the score, and a 50-yarder to Phillips.
The Hokies also scored four touchdowns on the ground, with three of those coming against the second-team defense. Brewer scored on a 1-yard run against the second-team defense, and Steven Peoples scored on a 60-yard run. The first-team unit allowed a 40-yard scoring run by Motley, who also had a 50-yard touchdown run against the second-team defense.
“There were some things we did that I thought we good,” Tech offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler said. “At the end, we ran the football, which is a huge emphasis for us. We’ve got to get our second group better. Our first group hasn’t arrived yet, but you saw some things with toughness.
“There’s the good, the bad and the ugly. There were some things we did good, and some things we’ve got to improve on to get ready for the season.”
Tech’s defense finished with 11 sacks, including two each by Deon Clarke and Woody Baron. Clarke led the Hokies with six tackles, including 3.5 for a loss, and an interception of Andrew Ford. Baron finished with six tackles, including three for a loss, and he also recovered two fumbles.
The Hokies also scored on a blocked punt, as C.J. Reavis blocked a punt that was returned for a touchdown by Ronny Vandyke.
Tech also worked on kicking in this scrimmage, though much of the field-goal kicking came without a rush. Joey Slye and Parker Walsh each made two 38-yard field goals, and Carson Wise made a 38-yarder.
Tech will hold a third and final open scrimmage next Saturday at Lane Stadium. Admission is free, with the practice portion starting at 10:45 and the scrimmage starting approximately 30 minutes later.