Ali Jennings III All-22 & Thoughts: Watchin' Game Film With Phil | Virginia Tech Hokies

now when I say that 6-2 player that's you know anything under four or five is freakish this is the kind of thing that I'm talking about his speed right here is is definitely deceptive I think players look at him and think that he's not fast but then when he gets out there in the open field he burns them down [Music] [Applause] good hokey fans I wanted to come on today and make my first Hokies video in well over 10 years just a little backstory my name is Philip Hughes and I've been making videos here on YouTube for years now up to this point I've only used this particular channel for uploading highlights and you know the inner Sandman intros but that changes today now I'll tell you guys just like this I'm not the biggest X's and O's kind of guy but folks I like to watch film and talk about what I see and I've been a fan of the Virginia Tech Hokies for man 35 plus years now and I really have missed talking about the team so from this point on I'm going to use this channel as a place to talk Hokie Football having access to the R22 film should make this good for everyone now let me go ahead and get this out the way sometimes I might come on and be straight to the point and you know do short videos and then sometimes I might do deep dives into a particular player's film today I'll be doing a deep dive into incoming transfer wide receiver Ali Jennings the third now Jennings is six foot two he weighs in at like 198 200 pounds and he runs the 40 in like four four six which anything under four or five at that height is freak territory and Jennings actually went to high school at my Crosstown rival Holland Springs in Richmond Virginia he graduated in 2019 and originally committed to West Virginia and then entered the transfer portal in 2020. in the end he transferred over to Old Dominion and in the two years there he caught 116 passes for 2025 yards words and 14 touchdowns in just 22 games at ODU after last season he of course entered the transfer portal again and committed to Virginia Tech now in this first play he really shows his ability to come across the middle make the catch and make people miss and you love to see him get in those yards after the catch those Yak yards means so much and big games you know if you watch it back from Miss angle you get a better sense of you know his ability to make people miss and the way he looks in open field excellent placement on this pass right here and he's just able to turn around and make that catch at the right you know at the perfect time that's a fairly difficult catch you watch it from this direction you're really able to appreciate how he's able to go over that Defender and make that catch I mean yeah just watch that right over top of the defender I mean really honestly that the number six couldn't have defended that any better but uh yeah now this play right here they didn't get the touchdown but the effort that this kid puts in to go out and just lay his body completely on the line to make this catch is great look at that I mean can you ask for anything more from a kid a ball just falls off the tips of his fingers but I mean yeah I mean you can't ask much more from a kid than stretching his his self out like that trying to put everything on the line to make that catch and get those points now this is another one of those plays that I was talking about a minute ago where it's good to see a guy that's not scared to go across the middle make the catch and then make people miss that yak yardage is it just adds up after a while watch it from this angle you can see it's a really nice little pass there a nice little catch right across the middle I always love to see two players on the same wavelength you know now this play is very similar to the other play where he went over his shoulder and made the catch uh it's just a beautiful thing to watch here just open that back shoulder boom now to truly appreciate this throw and catch you have to watch it from this angle right here just look at this thing oh that's that's a beautiful freaking pass right there I mean he made the perfect pass and Jennings went out there and made the perfect catch too that ball was placed where only he could get it then he had a presence of mine to stay in bounce there which is something that should be commended he gets a nice and one on this one right here his Defender is playing him real tight he doesn't care dudes all over his back he makes the catch anyway if you watch it back in this direction you can see the mugging I mean he was getting mugged right there now this particular play right here I saw several times across his film they really loved to run this route and when you see it and you see the way that he's able to run it and you see what happens in the long run you'll see why they love to run this route it just eats up that zone look at that he is wide open in the middle of the Zone if you watch it back from this direction you'll see the linebacker's not watching him the Corner's not watching him the safety's not watching him boom caught him slipping just another example of a great pitch and catch here he and he high points the ball makes you know makes the catch I can't really tell if he comes down with that on a touchdown or not but it's one hell of a catch you watch it back from this angle over top two Defenders boom nice catch I mean that's that's how you want it to be to be right there if you're going to throw into double coverage you want your guy to be able to go up and get the ball like that now when I say that 6-2 player that's you know anything under four or five is freakish this is the kind of thing that I'm talking about his speed right here is is definitely deceptive I think players look at him and think that he's not fast but then when he gets out there in the open field he burns them down I mean as the other angle shows it helps to be wide freaking open too but that speed is good enough to where he was able to outrun the defender down there to the to the goal line to get the touchdown now this route right here is a thing of beauty and the way that he closes this play out with the catch right over top of the defender is just one of the best things that you could ever ask for and it's of course against Virginia too which is even better to see right watch it from a single yeah you can really see it I mean it's tough I feel bad for number 33 because it's tough to defend that I mean if he turns around he loses track of the receiver you know yeah it's just that's a tough one to defend right there and Jennings of course has Elite receiving skills so he's able to pull that in without a problem I'm sure if you asked Ali Jennings which play from his time over with ODU would he like to redo and have back it would definitely be this one the defender slips and then he slips as he goes to make the catch that's definitely uh what a 75 yard touchdown right there you really feel bad for a kid when something like this happens or you watching back from this angle right here and you'll see it I mean just wide freaking open that's a touchdown all day long and of course in college when you hit the ground it's it's no longer a play it's dead in the NFL he probably would have got a touchdown out of that if he'd jumped up immediately you know a lot of receivers with that 6-2 frame they end up being kind of wiry and thin and not being able to you know kind of push and shove when they need to and work and fight Defenders off or whatnot plays like this prove that Ollie Jennings is not one of those guys he gets the ball and he fights through the defender and gets the touchdown this is the kind of plays we want to see on Saturdays right here again that same Crossing route right across that zone he just breaks it apart nobody even looks at him the Corner doesn't look at him the linebacker doesn't look at him he makes the catch ODU ran this play at least once a game pretty much every game and it's easy to see why I mean he can do this pretty well and again right across the middle nobody's touching him look at this wide open touchdown I mean damn unscathed nobody even nobody even pays him any mind until he gets to about the 10-yard line now this play right here the quarterback actually short arms him if he would have lofted this one a little bit further yeah this probably would have been a touchdown right here right here you can see he goes past his man he could have probably had a good three yards maybe two yards on his man but instead he had to turn around and come back and get the ball which he still made a good catch and there's that route again I love this there's a thing of beauty right here he does this to Perfection too and the quarterbacks hit as he releases it and tosses up somewhat of a duck and he still makes the catch now this is how you draw it up right here you need it down by the goal line you call the play you know you could do you toss it to the guy you know can make the play and he makes the catch touchdown I'm expecting big things from Ali Jennings now while there's still a lot of question marks about what we should expect from this Hokies team I think one thing's for certain Ali Jennings is gonna bring it every Saturday it'll be interesting to see how well him and Grant Wells you know work together at any rate if you're not already make sure to subscribe to the channel I plan on doing more of these videos throughout the season I wish I would have started a little bit sooner over here probably a month or two ago but it is what it is that's about all I got y'all take it easy peace