Whoever starts at quarterback for Virginia Tech in 2023 will have a lot more passing options. (Jon Fleming)
Virginia Tech quarterback Grant Wells threw four interceptions in the loss to Old Dominion last season. As a result, he gained a reputation amongst the fans that he is a turnover-prone player. But is that actually true when you look at the numbers for the rest of his season and for his entire career? Not so much.
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It's not Wells. Wells is capable of being a solid starting QB. He was at Marshall with arguably the same talent level as VT. It's his OC.
jdkhokie
Must be my lying eyes. This guy forces to many passes and makes bad choices.
jdkhokie
Must be my lying eyes. This guys forces to many passes and makes bad choices.
No_Limit_Hokie
If your team results are not good, like our 2022 record, for example, stats look worse, as fans want to pin blame somewhere. The QB is the first place to start.
I had forgotten about the 2008 Offensive stats, but that team somehow won 10 games (during that run of double digit win years) and finished in the Top 15, so the bad stats did not stand out so much.
No_Limit_Hokie
If your team results are not good, like our 2022 record, for example, stats look worse, as fans want to pin blame somewhere. The QB is the first place to start.
I had forgotten about the 2008 Offensive stats, but that team somehow won 10 games (during that run of double digit win years) and finished in the Top 15, so bad stats did not stand out so much.
No_Limit_Hokie
I sent this twice because the response I got seemed to indicate that the first time, it did not go through.
atlhokie1
Good article but I would want to see his yards per pass stats. If he isn't completing down the field passes then I would expect his interception rate to be really low (ball is in the air less time). Some of those other players mentioned sling the ball down the field so I would be okay with more INT's if it resulted in more overall production.
And I realize some of his issues were related to lack on talent/experience of the WR corp.
SanibelHokie
Stats. Huh. Figures don’t lie but liars figure. Don’t get me wrong Chris because I’m not calling you a liar but my idea is that statistics take away the human element including stress, situation, and mood, etc. A stat for crowd involvement should be developed? After two - three interceptions the crowd begins to “feel” the game slipping away. Some leave the stadium. Many are booing. Coaches feel desperation as the clock winds down. Stats aren’t bringing in factors like that. What is “real” is the players are young men with limited life experience and “how” they react to the dynamics separate them from each other. Hendon Hooker is just one example of what I mean. Good player in a toxic environment goes to a different one and excels. That’s what makes a game fun. Can you make lemonade from lemons?
ThePrideofVPI
Great analysis, Chris!
moneal
You are what your stats say you are. He’s prone to INT until proven otherwise.
bzbaker429
Isnt the point of the article to show the fanbase that is the stats show Grant Wells is not interception prone?
HokiePilot
Never let facts get in the way of a good argument. Running back bobbles a perfectly thrown ball, it gets intercepted, it is the QB's fault because that is the way the stat is recorded. Wide receiver lets the ball hit him in the face mask, the INT is on the QB.....
MYNAMEISHOKIE
...but his stats *literally* say the opposite. Did you just skip the article to comment on the title or something?
Maybe you should rephrase your comment to read "You are what I personally say you are" if you're just going to ignore actual stats.
No_Limit_Hokie
Never let facts get in the way of a good rant!
Austin Gobbler
I had to go back and look at the VT football team stats for 2008, because, I don't remember that team being horrible. Here are the stats for the 2008 team: Points For = 309, (ranking 90th out of 119 schools), average PPG scored was 22.1. However, that 2008 defense was stellar, giving up 234 points, average of 16.7 PPG given up (9th out of 119th schools). I guess the reason that I don't remember that VT offense as being so "putrid" is because the team went 10-4 that season, beat Cincinnati in the Orange Bowl, and ended up ranked 15th in the AP Poll.
KKPsiHokie
That was the season of Darren Evans and the Ground Game, including the awesome Maryland game where the guy Evans trucked is still probably healing up. Evans had 256 yards on 32 carries in that game yet the final score was just 23-13. Thankfully the QBs didn't have to be but so good.
Austin Gobbler
Yeah - I forgot about Evans trucking that Terp. Reviewing the 2008 VT offensive stats makes me realize that a team can have a successful season with a non-stellar offense, as long as the other parts of the team are stellar (i.e., D, ST, and coaching).
Long-Lost Hokie
I generally concur that perception re: Wells is distorted. I think it's mostly due to the fact that his most turnover-prone games -- ODU and GT -- were games that we *clearly* gave away. Certainly there were other factors in those losses -- namely, turnovers he had nothing to do with; D not closing it out when they could have; a ton of penalties in the ODU game. But had Wells played in those games the way he played against Liberty (i.e., inconspicuous game-manager), we almost certainly would've beaten ODU and GT, even with those other factors.
I also might quibble with the Holston pick against ODU. Holston was well-covered on that play and wasn't likely to reach field-goal range (much less a first down). It also appeared that there were at least two receivers on that play (Gallo and Gosnell) who broken open (or open-er than Holston was) at the first down marker well before Wells threw to Holston. Even if he didn't see the other receivers, he would've been better off running and forcing ODU to use a time-out. If nothing else, throwing to Holston wasn't a great decision, and it was at a crucial point in the game.
Again, that's probably quibbling. What I think it definitely true is that Wells didn't play very well against ODU or GT, and those were both close losses to teams we probably should've beaten. It's fair for that to factor into an assessment of his overall play last year, which was better than a lot of people are willing to give him credit for (but was still, all in all, mediocre).
Long-Lost Hokie
To follow up on the Gallo/Gosnell observation: if he takes a shot there and hits either one of them, it's basically a game-clinching throw in the 4th quarter, and his performance is remembered very differently. If he throws a pick there, it's basically the same result, but at least it was in an attempt to make a big, decisive, confident throw. As it was, he threw a pick that wasn't going to be a positive play anyway, and it preserved clock and field position for ODU to make its go-ahead drive.
IB4TECH
Maybe we can fix this o-line thing by breaking some laws. Do we finally have the right guy?
RustyHokie94
I've said this for a year about the INTs. On top of that, the only guy who was ever open was K Smith, with the other WRs not able to separate and with the "vanilla" play calling and routes. Hope we make significant progress this year.
Oh, oh Mylanta, the OL.........
Hokies93
I love this perspective, but I am not ready to crown the new WRs and RB as "better". How do we know they are better? They are unproven at the P5 level thus far. We are in the "hope springs eternal" phase of the pre-season and I have been duped before. I hope Chris is right, believe me.
Chris Coleman
It was pretty obvious in the spring that they were better. Outside of Smith, nobody could catch a pass on a guy like Delane in practice last year. This spring they were a lot more competitive against a good group of corners.
HokiesandHerd
Marshall rotated two quarterbacks last season for the first half of the season before committing to redshirt freshman Cam Fancher for the second half of last season. He managed the game well but wasn't much of a threat to stretch the field in the passing game. Running back Rasheen Ali also missed all but three games last season, so Khalan Laborn got run into the ground.
middletennhokie
Spot on, concern is with the O line. No one can overcome their production from last season.
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