Foster Finding Defensive Depth
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There's been a few instances this spring where Virginia Tech defensive coordinator Bud Foster has seen exactly what he wanted, or close to it, from his defense.
Take Saturday's open scrimmage. The Hokies defense held the offense to 106 yards of total offense, including 10 yards rushing.
But Foster isn't reading too much into that. He looks at spring practice as a whole. And arguably the most important thing Foster has wanted this spring is to find depth, guys who can slide in and play when needed. With Saturday's spring game marking the end of spring practice, Foster is getting closer to finding everything, but he's not there yet.
"We're not approaching where we've been, but I've seen, Seth Dooley's improved, Nigel Williams has improved," Foster said. "You need to get a guy like Woody Baron, obviously, he missed spring this year. But you get those guys inside and a fifth guy, whether it's a Wade Hansen, whether it's a Vinny Mihota, maybe it's one of those other guys coming in, (Steve) Sabczak or Ricky Walker. We're closer there, but Seth Dooley's made some strides here a little bit. Dwayne Alford has been a guy who's been hurt a little bit, so today was the first day he's been out in probably a week and a half. Those guys have been solid. We need better play from that position and consistency to put us where I think we need to be."
Now, it's about building on the spring for not only the spring game, but the off-season.
"We've really made strides in a lot of areas and a lot of positions," Foster said. "I'd like to see the kids come out and perform well on Saturday and sustain what we've done the last ten days or so."
And when Virginia Tech returns to the field in August, Foster hopes to see a continuation of what he saw this spring.
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