VICE’S GOAL: KEEP LINE IN FLUX
Assistant coach working to cultivate versatility
BLACKSBURG — Before Virginia Tech’s home opener Sept. 8 against William and Mary, Hokies offensive line coach Vance Vice made sure his guys knew they’d get a game-day workout jogging from the field to the sideline and back again.
He wanted to get a read on what some of the less-experienced offensive linemen on the roster could do, and see how far the brawn on the line of scrimmage had come in terms of learning how to play multiple positions. He also needed to see how players would respond when inconsistencies and injuries caused him to have to shuffle the deck a bit.
Vice got the answers, and they were mostly positive. If it goes as planned, the revolving door of linemen who played against W&M will be a fixture Saturday at Old Dominion (0-3) and beyond.
“I actually wanted to do it week one (at Florida State), too,” Vice said. “I really did. … Hopefully, I’ll be able to do it from here on out, because the more people play, the better your practices are, the better your meetings are and they stay in it.”
Through his commitment to having players shuffle positions on the line in practices, Vice has developed a collection of utility players.
By the end of the first quarter against W&M, sixth-year senior Kyle Chung had played all three offensive line positions for No. 13 Tech (2-0, 1-0 Atlantic Coast Conference). True freshman John Harris played center and right guard against the Tribe, while D’Andre Plantin got time at both left guard and left tackle.
“I’m pretty comfortable at all three (positions),” said Chung, who is Tech’s first-team left guard after being the first-team right tackle last season. “I’ve been (at Tech) for a long time, and I’ve played at just about every position on the line, so I’m pretty comfortable at any position.”
Vice said he’d been through a game at one of his past coaching stops with a true freshman playing two different offensive line positions, like Harris did, but added “we weren’t very good.” He’d never had a player pull three-position duty quite like Chung did against W&M.
“Not with one of them being center,” Vice said. “No, that was a little bit different. I’ve had a guy play tackle, guard and tackle before, but never center.”
After starting the W&M game with a line consisting of true freshman left tackle Christian Darrisaw, Chung, center Zachariah Hoyt, right guard Braxton Pfaff and right tackle Yosuah Nijman, circumstances necessitated change.
Before the end of the first quarter, Darrisaw had suffered a right ankle or foot injury, resulting in redshirt freshman Silas Dzansi taking his place. Dzansi and Darrisaw have competed at left tackle since at least the beginning of August, but Darrisaw started the first two games.
Hoyt botched two snaps in the first quarter, inspiring Vice to shift Chung from guard to center. Throughout the offseason, Chung had been advertised by Tech’s coaching staff as the first-team center, which made him opening the season at guard and Hoyt at center fairly surprising.
“I’ve been through the same situation he has,” Chung said regarding Hoyt’s snapping issues. “I just told him to keep his head up, just try to move on to the next play. I think he did that. He’s been dealing with some stuff, but he’s a trouper, man. He’s a fighter, so I give him props for getting back out there and playing again.”
Redshirt freshman Lecitus Smith and junior Tyrell Smith joined at least eight offensive linemen who got into the game. Walk-on Austin Cannon was also listed as a participant in the game, but it’s unclear whether he played on the offensive line or lined up exclusively on special teams.
“Obviously, we see multiple fronts and different things like that and pressures,” Vice said. “We’ve got to get prepared for those, but keeping our plan simple allows me to play as many people as I can when they’re ready and when I trust them. … If one guy is not getting it exactly right, I can shuffle a guy over or him over, and it allows me to have a little bit of false depth with guys being able to play multiple positions or play all the positions on one side or the other. We practice like that.”
Perhaps the most surprising aspect of all the shuffling is that through two games, Tech hasn’t been called for a false-start penalty and has surrendered just three sacks. With so much focus on competition, even the most veteran players on the line know there’s little margin for error.
“At the end of the day, Vice is going to put the best five out there,” Nijman said. “He wants us to be continuously hungry at doing the best we possibly can at our position. For us, we try to minimize making mistakes, otherwise he’ll put somebody else in there. Or we don’t show that much effort, he’ll put someone else in there.”