August 12, 2012
Five observations from Tech's first scrimmage
Preseason Camp 2012 Blog

• Yesterday, we mentioned Greg Jones as a freshman walk-on who continued to make plays at free safety. Well, today, we’re mentioning freshman walk-on Charley Meyer, who enjoyed a fantastic scrimmage.

Meyer, a 6-foot-1, 205-pound receiver from Richmond, hauled in a 35-yard touchdown pass from Mark Leal – the only score in the 36-play affair that featured backups and freshmen – and he also had two other long plays. Granted, a couple of those came at the expense of Der’woun Greene, a freshman who was just moved to defensive back, but Meyer runs good routes and possesses good hands. Some would compare him to Danny Coale, but we’re not ready to do that just yet.

J.C. Coleman, Trey Edmunds and Chris Mangus all looked great in the scrimmage, and running backs coach Shane Beamer can’t go wrong in whomever he chooses as the apparent backup to Michael Holmes.

Coleman’s first two runs accumulated more than 20 yards, and Edmunds ripped off a 20- or 25-yarder. Mangus didn’t have any big runs, but he made several nice moves in the hole to avoid tacklers. He really possesses nice vision and feel for a running back.

Also, give some credit to that second-team offensive line, a group that consists of guys like Mark Shuman, Caleb Farris and Michael Via. Those guys opened some holes.

Zack McCray was really active in the scrimmage at the defensive tackle spot. Now, he held a definite matchup advantage on some of those backup offensive linemen, but what stood out was that he played fast and was around the ball. That’s exactly what Tech’s coaches envisioned when they decided to play guys like McCray, Corey Marshall and Justin Taylor at tackle in certain situations.

• We continue to be impressed with Mark Leal. He often plays behind the second-team offensive line, which consists of some inexperienced guys, and he throws to some inexperienced receivers. But he keeps his poise, makes sure his players know where they are supposed to go and what they are supposed to do, and then he delivers. He had a great scrimmage and is having a great camp so far.

• The only negative of the scrimmage came when offensive tackle Nick Acree went down with a left knee injury. The 6-5, 321-pound redshirt sophomore was just starting to show flashes and now this happens. He slated for an MRI on Monday to determine the severity.

Acree’s injury allowed Augie Conte, a freshman from Richmond, to get a lot of reps. Conte made a nice block on Kris Harley, but also showed some confusion at other times. In other words, he played like a typical freshman.

In other injury news, offensive guard David Wang did not practice on Sunday. D.J. Coles and Tariq Edwards remained in the blue jerseys and saw limited work.

For updates on Virginia Tech football, follow the Hokies on Twitter (@VT_Football).

HokieSports Shop