Fuller was more than “dinged up” in the Pitt, he left the game in the first quarter and didn’t return.

VT was (as is often the case) committed to stopping the run against FSU — which they did effectively (-15 yrds). Don’t think that good coverage didn’t play a significant role in the 5 sacks that night.

My guess is that we’ll see Kendall Fuller providing needed depth at corner next year and by mid-season will provide Foster with the ability to move Kyle around on occasion depending upon the opponent and the situation (or injuries), but with less predictability because it won’t be out of necessity. But I think Kyle and Exum will still be the starting corners next year. If Fuller is healthy, he is the very least of Tech’s worries next year.

I hope you are right and Kyle’s injury was what caused his average play in 2012 compared to 2011 because the D needs him back in 2011 form. I just think if his brother is as good as touted, and his brothers say Kendall is the best of the family, D would be best served swapping Bonner with Kyle, or Exum for that matter even though he really improved. Bonner is not bad but he often gets burned in coverage against passing teams and QBs that can make reads and find him. Having a safety that can cover like Kyle would be nice.

Correct me if I’m wrong but the 2 games you refer to (Pitt and Cincy) were not before the injury, but were actually when Fuller’s shoulder injury was at its worst.

IIRC, he injured the shoulder early in the Pitt game — and Jarrett and Bonner were shifted and Cole put at Safety rather than putting in the frosh at the corner for Fuller. As we saw, that didn’t work out so well. So when Fuller reinjured the shoulder (or, probably more accurately, further injured it) in Cincy game, they tried Manning at the corner and he got torched. Fuller got beat on the final Cincy TD pass and didn’t play well, but my guess is that if there had been any secondary depth whatsoever, he would not have been in that game.

I suspect that Fuller was dinged up pretty good from the Pitt game through the Duke game and really didn’t get back to near normal until FSU. IMO, once he got healthy, he played VERY well and you saw the defensive pieces really start to fit together.

Hosely was a complete shutdown corner vs Michigan; don’t think this didn’t contribute signficantly to the D’s ability to dominate UM’s offense. His early loss in the Clemson ACC champ game was also huge. Same with Fuller. His play and the defense’s collectively, began to improve around the Clemson game and really stepped it up by the time of the FSU game. My guess is that the time off before the FSU game finally allowed him to get fully healthy.

Why did Fuller play through the injury? No depth. Unfortunately he was the best option and he took one for the team even though it probably hurt his stock with a great many folks.

I can tell you that my father — who is a Mich St guy and doesn’t follow VT football at all, but went with me to the Bowl game — said several times “17 is the best player on the field”.