How might Tech’s offense be different with new quarterback Logan Thomas?
Darryl Slater
Jul 27, 2011
Hey, did you hear Virginia Tech will have a new quarterback this fall and everybody thinks he is going to be pretty good? If you’ve been paying even a little bit of attention to the Hokies, of course you have.
Sophomore Logan Thomas seems plenty prepared to step into that role, having sat in quarterback meetings with Tyrod Taylor the past two years and heard all the advanced stuff that Mike O’Cain was throwing at Taylor.
Moreover, Thomas is a physical freak – 6-foot-6 and 245 pounds, and maybe a bit larger than that by now. So he’s got that going for him.
Really, you couldn’t ask for a better foundation for a quarterback seeing his first significant action.
Last we heard from O’Cain, the new offensive play caller, he was raving about Thomas during spring practices, saying he had done everything he could to this point – especially by throwing more accurate passes, which was a concern for O’Cain.
But the fact remains, as preseason practices are set to begin a week from tomorrow, Thomas has yet to prove himself in a game situation. He hasn’t had opportunities, of course, since Taylor was The Guy the past two years.
Thomas, who redshirted in 2009, played in seven games last season, almost exclusively in mop-up duty. He threw passes in five of those games and ended up with 26 passing attempts – 14 in a 44-7 win over Duke.
His only truly meaningful action came in the win at Miami – and he made the most of it by completing a 24-yard pass on third and 16 after Taylor had been knocked out of the game. It was just one play – Taylor returned immediately thereafter – but Thomas came in cold and completed an important throw to sustain a drive that ended with a touchdown that tied the game at seven in the final minute of the first quarter.
Naturally, Thomas was a big topic this weekend at ACC media days. A lot of people are wondering how Tech’s offense might change now that O’Cain is calling the plays instead of Bryan Stinespring. But head coach Frank Beamer emphasized, as O’Cain has, that a new quarterback with different skills will have more to do with the offense’s identity than the man calling the plays.
“We might be a little different,” said senior wide receiver Danny Coale, who caught that pass from Thomas at Miami. “They’re definitely two different players. Tyrod’s a great quarterback. I had a great time playing with him and he definitely made me better. I think Logan’s going to be good by the time it’s all said and done. But it’s going to be a little bit different. Things like that, we’re not going to know until the first practices or the first couple games.
“The height is an obvious physical difference [Taylor is 6 feet], but I think because of it, they might play the game a little bit different. Logan might stay in the pocket a little bit more. Tyrod might have to move the pocket in order to see. Even as far as where the ball comes out, Logan’s 6-6 and the ball comes out a lot higher than where the ball would come out when Tyrod’s throwing. So as a receiver, just coming out of your route and looking up a little bit more is a little bit different than looking right at eye level.”
After working with Thomas in the spring and participating in seven-on-seven drills with him this summer, Coale believes Thomas’ arm strength compares favorably with Taylor’s – and might be stronger.
“You run a take-off route and the ball is in the air forever, and before you know it, you catch it and you’re 60 yards down the field,” Coale said. “I was with him and he was telling some people that he could throw it 70, 75 yards. And while I’ve never seen him sit there and throw it [that far], I’ll believe it. He definitely has a really strong arm. Short passes, they come fast. You can’t take anything away from Tyrod because he was a great quarterback with a great arm. A lot of people don’t understand that, that he had a great arm as well.”
Early on, people identified Taylor mostly with his mobility. And for good reason, because Taylor often leaned on his natural scrambling ability when things got hectic in the pocket. Thomas isn’t as shifty as Taylor. Few quarterbacks are.
But as Coale mentioned, that’s not the only difference. Thomas’ passes – short and long – arrive a bit quicker than Taylor’s did. During preseason practices of Thomas’ true freshman year, receiver D.J. Coles caught a ball from Thomas that came in so fast, it ripped Coles’ glove. Coale can attest to the speed of a Thomas pass, too.
“The short passes, they might come a little faster [than Taylor’s],” Coale said. “I don’t know if we’ve been playing with Tyrod for three years and he understood, at the end, you could take a little something off the short balls, but it was a little different there at the beginning.
“Especially deep balls. A deep ball is one of the hardest balls to catch, just because of the timing of things. You run 45 yards to get on line with Tyrod, and with Logan you’re running 50. It’s a matter of a few inches of whether it’s complete or not. We’re always working on deep balls. That’s one that we’re going to have to keep working on.”
For those short, fast passes, Coale said, “You might be more inclined to catch it with your chest. You’d probably still see the laces on your chest afterward. As a receiver, you might learn to catch it like that if you know it’s coming in hot.”
Coale said he hasn’t dislocated any fingers catching Thomas’ passes, but jammed a few. So why not just tell Thomas to not throw so hard?
“I think it’s all part of that learning process, if he can understand the routes and the touch that he has to put on certain routes,” Coale said. “I’m definitely not afraid, if there’s one that really takes my head off, [to say], ‘You can ease it down a little bit.’ I really haven’t had to. You give him a look and he understands.”
What does Coale think is the biggest adjustment remaining for Thomas as he starts to actually play?
“Probably making a decision while reading a coverage, because a pre-snap read could be a lot different than what it ends up,” Coale said. “He’s going to get in situations where a linebacker could come out right in front of a flat route and he didn’t expect it. He’s going to have moments like that.”
Senior free safety Eddie Whitley noticed a change in Thomas this spring.
“A lot more poise,” Whitley said. “The pressure’s coming, he’s still staying in the pocket and getting the ball where it needs to go. I feel like he’s got more confidence in his arm now. Instead of trying to throw off the back leg, he knows he can step into it and get the ball in. I’ve seen it.”
It’s easy to say now that Thomas is going to be a very good quarterback, because he has done all he could to this point. But we’ll have to wait and see how it all pans out. And even if Thomas lights up Tech’s first four opponents, we might not have a good idea about how he will perform against legit competition. The Hokies start out with Appalachian State, East Carolina, Arkansas State and Marshall.
“I think he’s as ready as he can be,” Beamer said. “I think his preparation is as good as it can be. As far as him making as good of preparation and him being as well prepared at this point in time as he could be, I think he is.
“I think Logan’s going to be fine. I think an indication from Logan is when he came in to the Miami last year, third and 14, and throws a bullet down the middle of the field and comes in cold. That kind of says this guy answers the bell. I think he kind of looks forward to that.”
Beamer also emphasized that the offense has a lot of talent around Thomas – four of five offensive line starters back (and all four are seniors); three senior wide receivers who have contributed since their freshman year (and a physical freak in junior Marcus Davis); and a new No. 1 tailback, junior David Wilson, who has already proven himself to be a big-play threat. So Thomas doesn’t have to do it all himself.
“I think the best thing for Logan is to have an experienced offensive line with him,” Beamer said. “We want to play more consistent [on the offensive line] and they do, too. I think Logan’s going to be fine, but I think having people around him where he doesn’t have to carry the load [is important]. He’s got people [to] just give him the ball and let them do their thing, and have an offensive line that you hope gives you an extra little time to throw the football and opens up some running lanes to get your running game going.”
