Friday, October 11, 2013 Print Edition

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THE

FALL &

RISE OF D.J. COLES BY JACOB EMERT | sports editor

L

ess than a week into the 2013 season it became perfectly clear that whatever kind of production Virginia Tech expected from D.J. Coles wasn’t going to happen. In the Hokies first game of the year, Coles, a redshirt senior receiver, carried the ball twice for one yard and caught one pass despite being targeted six times by quarterback Logan Thomas. Beyond the stats, a lazily run slant route early in the second half, for what could have been a game tying touchdown, led to an interception and the beginning of the Alabama rout. “I thought he looked like a guy that hadn’t played football in a year,” said wide receivers coach Aaron Moorhead following the season opening loss. “He’s got to continue to practice hard, he’s got to continue to go out in a game now and prove he’s going to

DEFENSE MUST SHUT DOWN PITTSBURGH PLAY MAKERS MIKE PLATANIA sports media manager

catch a football. And when the ball is in the air, he’s got to make plays (on the ball) and he knows that. To be honest, if he (doesn’t) we’ll find someone that will. And he knows that.” Coles hadn’t played in a while. The Goochland native played just 13 snaps in 2012 before aggravating an old knee injury against Georgia Tech that cost him the 2012 season. Coles returned to the team this year as the sole veteran of the receiving corps. After reviewing the Alabama game fi lm, the coaches decided he couldn’t maintain a high enough level of play as frequently as they would have hoped. “He’s going to be in certain packages.

see COLES / page 2

LOEFFLER’S UNIQUE STRATEGY BOOSTS TECH’S AIR ATTACK ALEX KOMA sports editor

Last year, Pittsburgh pulled the bottom-left Jenga block on the Hokies’ season, sending the entire structure crumbling to the ground. The Panthers put up over 500 yards of offense in their 35-17 rout of the then-No. 13 Hokies. “We have to make sure we don’t make the same mistakes again,” said linebacker Jack Tyler. “We’ve got to be a lot better. There’s something to learn from that game, but we’re not going to sit there and weep about it.” Tech’s defense is going from playing a spread attack with a mobile quarterback last week against North Carolina, to a very old-school, ground attack in Pittsburgh. The Panthers love to pound the rock with true freshman FILE 2012/SPPS James Conner, who’s averagThe Pittsburgh Panthers ran all over the Hokies when they met in Pittsburgh last season at Heinz Field. ing over 5.5 yards per carry. Bud Foster echoed Wiles’ things.” “They’re still a pro-style Tyler Boyd and Devin Street, Bud Foster and company offense,” Tyler said. “They’ve two receivers averaging over opinion, and added that just like every week, the look keen on stopping what got their coaches with that 100 yards per game. Defensive line coach defense’s plan starts up Pitt does best with what they Wisconsin-style offense do best: defensive line preswhere they just get the big- Charley Wiles said that Pitt’s front. “Pitt’s got a great tradi- sure. gest offensive linemen there simple approach causes comBut unlike most teams, the tion over the years of having are and try to run it down plex issues. “There’s not going to be great offensive linemen and Panthers have a very formiyour throat.” So when a team is fully any gun-runs or read people. I think they’ve got a group dable “Plan B,” if they get committed to running the They’re going to be blocking like that right now,” Foster shut down. Boyd is a true freshman, ball, the solution seems pret- people — that’s what they said. “If they have a weakness ty easy, right? Logic says to do. They get a hat for a hat,” up front, it might be their and may very well be seeing just stick nine guys in the box Wiles said. “You have to load pass-protection, a little bit. lots of fellow true freshman and make the backs run into up on them against the run, We have to find that out … Brandon Facyson. therefore you get a lot of one- we have to get them behind linebackers’ arms. Against Pitt, it’s not so sim- on-one matchups with their the sticks where we can pin see DEFENSE / page 2 ple. On the outside, Pitt has two guys (Boyd and Street).” our ears back and do some

When new offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler arrived in Blacksburg to take over for Bryan Stinespring, many wondered how much the offense would actually change. However, after the first five games of the season, the answer is clear: nothing is the same. Loeffler had a reputation for orchestrating run-heavy attacks in his previous stops at Temple and Auburn, and some feared he’d institute a conservative system that was similar to Stinespring’s philosophy. Instead, Loeffler has adapted to the team’s strengths and weaknesses and molded the playbook accordingly. With the run game currently struggling, he’s opened up the passing offense and the team is already seeing results. Quarterback Logan Thomas has thrown for 514 yards over the course of the last two games. “What we’re going to do is week-to-week, try to find ways to win. If it means opening the (playbook), that’s great,” Loeffler said. “There’s a real fine line there, if you overload players, they’re not going to play fast. The reason we’ve thrown the ball a little bit better these last two weeks is that there’s been adds, but there hasn’t been wholesale changes, mass amounts of information.”

That’s not to say that the coordinator wants to abandon the run; instead, he’s simply taking what defenses are giving him. When North Carolina dared the Hokies to throw, that’s exactly what Loeffler called for. “We’re always trying to establish the run, and they took that away so we threw the football,” Loeffler said. “We want to run it, but we’ve got to do what’s best for our team and what they give us on Saturdays.” But no matter what kind of look the defense presents, there’s no use going to the passing game if the quarterback isn’t comfortable in the system. Thomas looked timid in Stinespring’s system in 2012, but Loeffler’s offense has been a much better fit for the redshirt senior. “I’m starting to understand it pretty well,” Thomas said. “The things that we’re doing, it kind of fits into my game and I’m able to go through my progressions a lot faster and get it to the open guys. The more I do it, the better I’ll be at it.” The quarterback’s improved efficiency at reading opposing defenses is a big part of why he’s thrived recently. “Early in the season, my criticisms of Logan were not finding (passing option) number two and three,” Loeffler said.

see LOEFFLER / page 2


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