Virginia Tech Football: Offensive Line, Tyrod Taylor Threats in 2009

(Photo by Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images)

The Virginia Tech offense has spent the last three years trying desperately to rank in the top 100 in offense nationally.  Even with high level talent on the roster, it has been unable to do so thanks in part to poor performance up front. 

But this year, depth and talent on the offensive line will allow quarterback Tyrod Taylor, and the rest of the backfield, to play to their full potential.

Pass protection, particularly from the weak (left) side, has hindered Taylor’s ability to develop as a pocket passer over the past two years.  As everyone knows, he is as effective as anybody in the country when it comes to running the ball, but if the Hokies want to contend for a BCS National Championship game, he must be able to make plays with his arm. 

His effectiveness as a consistent offensive weapon—a top ten talent—depends more upon his development as a complete quarterback:  one who can see the field rolling out to the right or back in the pocket, find an open receiver, and when all else fails, break down the field.

Those three to five seconds of protection, absent for these past few years, will determine if Tyrod is a jack rabbit or a thoroughbred.

The development of the players at skill positions are totally contingent on Taylor having those few precious seconds to throw the ball rather than immediately run to evade the onslaught of safeties and linebackers as they flow through the patchy offensive linesmen. 

Taylor proved his freshman year (2007) that he has an accurate arm and can hit moving targets, but much of that can be attributed to the fact that his receiver core consisted of arguably the most experienced and dangerous group of playmakers in Tech history. 

In 2008, however, that core was gone and replaced by a new, greener group of athletes.

Due to the low frequency of passes reaching their targets in game time scenarios in 2008, the young wide receivers have not been able to develop into elusive and effective weapons as quickly as expected. 

This isn’t to say that they aren’t capable of becoming playmakers, because flanker Danny Coale and split end Jarrett Boykin showed off, particularly in the latter half of the season, that they can burn cornerbacks to find open space. 

Even converted running back Dyrell Roberts has become a rising star in the wide receiver line up.

But rarely have they been able to find the end zone, and they haven’t developed the capability of stretching the play out—that is, the ability to add yards on after the catch to further progress the offensive marches down the field.

And therein lies the problem with having an inconsistent offensive line.

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