Inside HOKIE SPORTS | Vol. 11 No. 4 | March 2019

22 Inside Hokie Sports he has to play a little faster. Just his overall execution and moving his feet, whether it’s taking a drop or executing a mesh point with a back, everything has got to get a little quicker. Not rushed, not hurried, just everything has to move a little quicker. As he continues to learn the offense—he’s another year into it—that makes it a little easier. He’s still got a lot to learn playing the position, the situational decisions that have to be made at that position and understanding defenses and what we’re trying to get out of each play in certain situations versus certain looks. That only comes with time and experience, and that coupled with playing at a little faster speed, is hopefully what we’ll see him continue to improve this spring. Q: Will Patterson be able to run the entire offense? BC: Oh yes, he’s a really smart kid. There won’t be a separate package for him in spring ball. We’ll put in our foundation, our bread and butter, early in spring and progress as we need to offensively. Not just at the quarterback position, but just what we need to get done overall and installed [as an offense] throughout the spring. He’ll be learning it all, and I’ll expect him to execute everything that we have. Q: The rushing attack amassed 174.3 yards per game in 2018, which was ninth in the ACC and 57th nationally. Were you satisfied with that? BC: I don’t necessarily have a number in mind. We’re certainly not satisfied with where we’re at running the ball. I really feel there were games, against good opponents and against good defenses, that we were effective with where we’re headed to with our schemes and where we’re headed up front, with the talent and depth that we’re going to have. Continuing to develop our tailbacks and get consistent in that run game … no, we’re not where we want to be at all. I was encouraged at times last season and felt like we had good spurts and good games here and there, but that’s not overall where we want to be. We need to continue to develop that part of the offense. Q: Is that a matter of getting the running backs and the offensive line in sync? BC: That’s certainly the two groups that most directly impact the run game. It’s a combination. The run game isn’t always handing the ball off up inside [between the tackles]. The perimeter run game is a big part of taking pressure off the offensive line, and getting the ball into space helps your ball carriers break tackles. We’re going to run the ball a number of different ways and really develop at all positions … everyone has a hand in it, especially with what we do offensively. I think there is room at each position group to help us become better at running the ball. Q: You lost steady Steven Peoples off last year’s team, and Deshawn McClease was in the transfer portal for a while before pulling his name out of it. Where are you with the running back situation heading into spring? BC: McClease and [Jalen] Holston are the two guys coming back that have taken the most reps at the tailback position and have shown production at times. Terius Wheatley is a guy we felt really did step up this fall. We found a role for him carrying the football and really think he can continue to develop and help us at that position. Caleb Steward is coming off a redshirt and is a physically gifted tailback as far as size and athleticism, so this will be a big spring for him. We’ve got a couple of young guys coming in that we’re excited about, too. You never know how each guy is going to make the transition, but we’d love to get some help from one of those guys as well. Q: Where does Cole Beck fit into all of this? BC: I think that’s still to be determined. Him finding a role, finding a way to utilize some speed, is something that we don’t know yet. We’re still in the evaluation phase. He was a guy that kind of moved to the redshirt line fairly quick. Some of them move quick. Some of them don’t. It really doesn’t indicate ultimately what kind of player they’re going to be. It just depends on how quickly they make the transition and what we need, or what’s going on offensively. We saw some flashes from him at times. It going to continue to take some time for us to see if we can develop him and utilize him. Q: Arguably the strength of this offense may be those two big receivers—Damon Hazelton and Tré Turner. How excited are you about having these two back? BC: Yeah, we may have one of the biggest, longest groups that we’ve had in a long time. Darryle Simmons is another kid that is coming off a redshirt, and he’s having a great start to his spring. He’s a big, physical, long kid. Phil [Patterson] gives you some length out there, and of course, we know what Tré can do. He’s going to continue to develop. Three out of the four new guys coming in are big, physical receivers that have some length and some thickness. It’s certainly one of the bigger groups that we’ve had, which is exciting. Still, as excited as we are about the talent and the depth at that position, we have a long ways to go for that group as a whole to execute at a high level. We saw some great flashes out of all those guys. You’re talking about Damon and Phil and Tré and Hezekiah [Grimsley], those are the guys that I have in mind that played last year that really made some big plays at times and played at a high level at times. They’re still developing. They still have a lot of upside. None of them are close to being maxed out and can get better every single day. It’s an exciting group to have. Q: Hazelton was great the first half of the season and sort of tailed off toward the end—he had 35 catches in the first seven games, just 15 in the final six. Maybe he was injured or maybe teams schemed against him. How do you get the same consistency from him throughout the season? BC: Yeah, it was probably a combination of what you said. Teams stopped playing as tight. When you have a great start to a season like that, and you’re catching some “go” balls, you’re getting played a little different as the year goes along. That plays a factor into it. Certainly, the grind of the season and the toll that it takes physically and your ability to practice full speed every week plays into it. Damon was certainly the typical up and down at times. That’ll be his focus moving forward—how does he become the dominant, consistent guy week in and week out? Q: How much of a surprise was Turner’s emergence last fall? BC: A little bit. As a coach, when guys roll in during the summer and you’re trying to evaluate and figure out which guys are going to help you, there are always a few surprises, good and bad. Tré, just being as slender as he was coming in, that’s the first thing that you worry about—just him not having the thickness and size that he’ll eventually have. Ultimately, it comes down to guys that can go execute and have talent and instincts to get out there and make plays. Certainly, that’s what he was. That’s what he is. He showed us on special teams. Just whatever we asked him to do, he was up for it, and he continued to progress as the season went along. He became a guy that we were trying to get the ball to, a guy we were handing it to and throwing it to, and a guy that we trusted and knew that he was going to make some plays for us. Q: Speaking of receivers, how will the adjustment be between you and new receivers coach Jafar Williams? BC: We coached together in these same capacities several years ago, so I’ve been through a season with him, which you don’t really know about guys until you’ve been through a season with them, in my opinion. There will be a little transition. Our offense has changed a little bit since we were together, and he’s done other things at the places he’s been. Us getting on the same page … there will be some transition there, but our philosophies are close enough in line that it’s going to be a smooth transition. One of the positives when you have new guys is that there are new ideas, other ways to do things, and that’s always something FOR Continued from page 21