HIGH EXPECTATIONS, SUB-PAR RESULTS
U.Va., Virginia Tech senior linebackers are intent on putting slow starts behind them.
Spending time on calls last week with teammates Joey Blount, Zane Zandier and Richard Burney, Charles Snowden sought answers. Though Snowden is most concerned with the macro view when it comes to fixing U.Va.’s defense, that doesn’t mean he’s neglected self-analysis.
He’s not the only linebacker at an ACC school in the Commonwealth of whom big things were expected this season and, instead, a less productive set of results has been posted early. Virginia Tech middle linebacker Rayshard Ashby has experienced a similar slow start while working with adjusted schemes under new defensive coordinator Justin Hamilton.
Putting his head together with teammates to start repairing a unit that’s second-to-last in the ACC in scoring defense (34.8 points per game) is the kind of step a team leader like Snowden is expected to take.
Patching up his own game is a point of personal pride.
“I do agree that my production definitely does need to increase, whether I’m being targeted or not,”
Snowden said Monday, adding he doesn’t completely agree with the idea he’s being keyed on more by opposing teams this season because he feels like Virginia’s defense has several other capable players.
Through four games, Snowden has 22 tackles, just one tackle for loss and no sacks from his outside
Virginia’s Charles Snowden
linebacker position. Last season, he had 28 tackles and three sacks in his first four games, and he finished his junior year with five sacks and 11 tackles for loss.
This season hasn’t been without schedule and injury challenges for U.Va. (1-3, 1-3 ACC).
Virginia’s slate through the first four games — Duke, at Clemson, North Carolina State and at Wake Forest — has been tougher than last year’s schedule in the first month — at Pittsburgh and games at home against William & Mary, Florida State and Old Dominion.
Virginia, which visits No. 11 Miami (4-1, 3-1) on Saturday, has also had to deal with injuries behind Snowden and the linebackers to defensive backs De’Vante Cross, Brenton Nelson and Blount, all of whom were out of the game at the same time in a 40-23 loss at Wake Forest. Inconsistency in the secondary has led to U.Va. giving up more passes of 30-plus yards (12, tied with Georgia Tech) than any other team in the ACC.
“I think that the way the defense is playing is very comparable to last season,” Snowden said. “There’s just one difference, and that’s in our big plays. We’re giving up way too many big plays ... Big plays are just killing us and that’s kind of overshadowing the rest of the picture.”
Snowden had his best game of the season at Wake Forest, where he shared about 50% of the snaps on the strong side with linebacker Noah Taylor. Snowden, who tied for the team lead with eight tackles, got to play more in open space than he had been playing as a weak-side
linebacker in the first three games.
“We keep trying to find the best place to put each player within the scheme to make the most impact on the game,” U.Va. coach Bronco Mendenhall said. “So, yeah, Charles was moved around more ... That was probably his most productive game so far — not probably, it was. So I was encouraged by that. He was encouraged. It was a nice boost.”
While finding U.Va.’s identity has required some positional tweaking, Ashby has dealt with adjustments of his own for No. 19 Virginia Tech, which heads Saturday to Wake Forest (2-2, 1-2).
After leading the ACC last season in tackles (120) — his second straight season with 105 or more — and finishing third in the conference in tackles for loss (17) from his middle linebacker spot, Ashby was a preseason first-team all-conference selection coming into this season.
He hasn’t been around the ball nearly as much in his senior
season to this point, posting 24 tackles, including 3½ tackles for loss, but he does have two sacks to his credit. His two tackles in last week’s 40-14 win against Boston College matched his fewest in 28 career starts.
Tech (3-1, 3-1) has been through a litany of issues involving the coronavirus, and Ashby wasn’t excluded. He missed practice time several weeks ago after contracting the virus.
“It’s just kind of affected your breathing,” said Ashby, adding he hasn’t had any lingering effects, and that he’s had precautionary follow-up heart scans and blood work. “You have to stop working out for 14 days. It’s scary with the longterm effects. You don’t really know what could happen and things like that.”
Getting used to differences in Hamilton’s approach has also taken some time. After playing for former Tech defensive coordinator Bud Foster in his previous seasons, Ashby said there are different gap responsibili
ties near the line of scrimmage now for the defense, which struggled with missed tackles in the first three games.
“It has me doing a variety of things now,” Ashby said. “It has everybody doing a variety of things — fitting here and there. It’s kind of the beautiful thing that you love about (Hamilton’s) defense. You never really know what to expect. … We just have a variety of ways we can play different calls, and that’s what we’re doing.”
Coach Justin Fuente realizes Ashby is still getting a handle on where he’s supposed to be positioned against the run, but Fuente isn’t concerned about Ashby’s struggles.
“He gets everybody lined up, directs all sorts of traffic over there,” Fuente said. “I would anticipate as everyone around him continues to get comfortable and maybe does their job on a consistent basis, Rayshard should statistically improve as the season goes along.”