Will the real Logan Thomas please stand up?
Logan Thomas has been a great quarterback for the Hokies at times. At other times, he's been not so great.2011: 59.8%, 3013 yards, 19 TD, 10 INT, 135.5 rating
2012: 51.3%, 2976 yards, 18 TD, 16 INT, 115.94 rating
After looking like a first round pick in 2011, as a r-junior Logan Thomas put up numbers that quite frankly did not even approach mediocre status. What were the reasons? I've got a few theories…
1: Trust in the wide receivers. Every throw to Corey Fuller was a thing of beauty, because Thomas knew he could trust Fuller to read the coverage correctly and run the right routes. At times he held the ball too long because he couldn't trust his other receivers to run the correct route. That led the hesitation, which led to throwing off his back foot, which led to airmailing the pass, which led to interceptions.
2: No help from…any other position. With the exception of Corey Fuller, the Tech offense wasn't consistent last year. There was no running game to rely on. The offensive line didn't block well. The running backs weren't reliable. The wideouts would make plays at times, and then drop passes or run the wrong route on others.
3: The focus of the defense. In 2011, defenses focused on stopping first round pick David Wilson and the two leading receivers in VT history. In 2012, with no other proven players on the field, defenses focused in on Logan Thomas .
4: Lack of confidence. By the end of the season, with the way things had been going, it would have been easy for Logan Thomas to lose confidence. In fact, it would have been human nature. He probably lacked confidence in his teammates, his coaches, and himself at that point. Or, maybe not. It's just a theory on my part.
There's nothing Logan Thomas can do about #3 on that list. You can guarantee that he will be the top focus of the Alabama defense on August 31, and until others prove themselves to be consistent offensive players, the rest of Tech's opponents will focus on him as well.
There's nothing Thomas can do about #2, either. If the offensive line, running backs, wide receivers and tight ends don't play well again this year, then Thomas is going to be a sitting duck. His numbers will suffer horribly, and you can forget about that first round pick status.
I think Logan will have complete trust in D.J. Coles , a r-senior who proved to be a consistent receiver in 2011 before missing all of last season. I believe that he has confidence in Demitri Knowles , who caught 16 passes as a r-freshman last season. He has had some glowing remarks for Charley Meyer as well, and Joshua Stanford is impressive for a young player.
However, Coles has had an injury history, and the other players are young. There is no guarantee that they will be better than last year's group, though I'm sure they'll be better blockers, and my guess is that they'll do the little things better as well. If that happens, the consistency of the passing game will improve.
With Scot Loeffler in the house, I think we'll see a different Logan Thomas this year. Not necessarily at the beginning of the season, but as he continues to grow in the system and he gets comfortable with his new wide receivers, I believe Thomas will be playing good football by the end of the season. I'm not sure he's quite as good as he showed in 2011, but he's not as bad as he looked at times in 2012 either.