I want to spend this off-season looking ahead. I’ve already got a mess of deep-dives into our new coaches’ schemes and philosophies I’m cooking up. Today, we’ll kick off the Pry era by mercifully saving everyone (myself included) from a Pinstripe autopsy. Instead, let’s spotlight some younger players, and players we haven’t seen much of, and take a stab at how they’ll fit into next year’s Hokie squad. (I know the team has barely started a huge roster shakeup, but I’m not going to worry too much about transfer prognostications here. Maybe another time.)
Defense
As we’ll see, Brent Pry’s defense, despite being a base 4-3, is probably more like Bud Foster’s scheme than Justin Hamilton’s was, and in several ways, even more “Bud Classic” than Foster’s late-career defenses. Despite having “Sam” and “Will” linebackers, Pry’s linebackers align by field/boundary rules. That means the Sam is often playing in space, while the will is boxed-in to the boundary. He also likes his linebackers to trigger fast; we’ll see how that works in the RPO/shotgun-heavy ACC, but if it flies, then I expect Keshon Artis to be Tech’s starting Will linebacker next season: