Hokies go into football season with several questions

Marty Gordon
NRVsports@ouvalley.org

Members of the media had plenty of questions to throw at Virginia Tech football coach Coach Justin Fuente at last week’s Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) preseason days, and Fuente admits he has a lot of questions of his own before his team takes the field in their season opener against Florida State.

This is Fuente’s third season at Tech where he has won 19 games in each of first two seasons. But he will have to replace seven starters on defense and look for a game-changing receiver.

“I like where we’re going. I like where we’re at. I like our developmental model in our program and in all areas of our kids’ lives, from their academic development to their social development, their spiritual development, their athletic development. I like where our recruiting process is at and what we’re bringing in and the type of evaluation tools we’re using. In the long run, it’s going to benefit us, and we’re going to have success,” Fuente said.

The defensive backfield could be filled by a lot of youngsters as the Hokies will have to replace Greg Stroman, Brandon Facyson and Adonis Alexander.
“I feel really good about what we’ve got in terms of we’ve got some young, long, athletic, tough guys that would like to play. They, all told me, they wanted to play early, so here’s your chance. The challenge is that it’s not good enough just to play at Virginia Tech. You’ve got to play well. Getting those guys to that level is the challenge as coaches,” he said.

The media event couldn’t come at a better time for the Hokie program as Fuente was able to put a lot of the bad issues that have happened during the off-season behind him. But it didn’t go unmentioned.

Just a week ago, defensive back Mook Reynolds was kicked off the team following a Blacksburg drug arrest. Fuente said he had moved on from the Reynolds situation and the red-shirt junior would not be given a chance to return to the team.

Defensive assistant coach Galen Scott resigned after concerns over expenses incurred during recruiting trips. Fuente moved quickly to replace him by former Ole Miss, Texas A&M and South Carolina defensive coordinator Tyrone Nix.

“It wasn’t the best time of year to go hire football coaches. The fact that we’re able to hire Ty when we hired him is remarkable. I had coached against him personally. I brought Bud (Foster) in and said, ‘There’s a million different ways we can go with this. Tell me what you think of this. Tell me what you think of this.’ Obviously, James [Shibest] knows Ty, so that helped on that end. So, then I moved slowly, very slowly, with what we were trying to accomplish.”

Nix had some familiarity after coaching at South Carolina with an assistant by the name of Shane Beamer.

Prior to his arrival at Texas A&M, Nix spent five seasons at Middle Tennessee State, working as co-defensive coordinator/linebackers coach from 2012-14 and defensive coordinator/linebackers coach from 2015-16.

His defenses helped lead Ole Miss to consecutive Cotton Bowl appearances in 2009 and 2010 as he added the title of assistant head coach to his responsibilities for the 2010-11 seasons. Ole Miss posted 92.0 TFL and 34.0 sacks in 2009, ranking first and second in the SEC, respectively. In 2008, the Rebels ranked fourth in the nation in rushing defense (86.5 ypg).

Promoted to assistant head coach in 2006 as South Carolina’s defense surrendered a mere 18.7 points per game., an improvement of 4.5 fewer than 2005 despite returning just one starter from the previous season.

Fuente is happy with the addition of Nix, who will serve as defensive assistant under the Hokies’ Bud Foster.

Then came questions about returning-quarterback Josh Jackson’s academic problems. Jackson answered those concerns head-on when he stepped up to the podium.

He said there was nothing in his mind that the situation would not work out in a positive way. Instead he anxious to get back on the field.

“It’s definitely great to have the experience from last year, but I don’t think no are years are the same obviously. So, we’ll have different challenges and different teams we will play and that past experience will hopefully have me a little more ready for that,” he said.

Jackson will have to find that reliable person to throw to this season as leading receiver Cam Phillips is gone. But the signal caller says he has a lot of confidence in the younger guys that will step into the position.

“I know they’re young, but Sean Savoy, Hezeklah Grimsely, Phil Patterson and Eric Kumah will be fine. There’s another guy I’ve been talking about a lot is Damon Hazelton. He’s a transfer from Ball State who I think will have a big impact on our offense,” the quarterback said.

Fuente agrees there are many challenges for this offense.

“Well, I’d like to see us do a lot of things without getting into just statistics. I’d like to see us be a more efficient offense, be a more explosive offense,” he said.

Fuente the team has to create more depth across the board.

“I think we’ve got to find a way to manufacture some more big plays, either through the running game and the passing game,” he sad.

The September 3 contest at Florida State was on the minds of everyone associated with the Hokie program during almost every interview.

Fuente said he has known new FSU coach Willie Taggart for a long time. They played against each other in college—Taggart at Western Kentucky and Fuente at Murray State.

Then the two crossed paths as assistants, and then when Taggart was at South Florida and Fuente at Memphis State.

“He’s a fantastic coach. He’s going to do a great job at Florida State,” said Fuente. “He gets his kids ready to play, and they play hard.

Fuente called the first game of the season as a tremendous challenge and shook off playing such a ACC-power to start the season.

“There is no sense dipping our toe in the shallow end. We might as well cannonball into the deep end, so that’s what we’re going to do. Our guys will embrace that challenge,” he concluded.

Virginia Tech has been picked to finish second in the Atlantic Coast Conference’s Coastal Division, according to a poll of 148 media members who attended last week’s 2018 ACC Kickoff in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The media awarded the Hokies 16 first-place votes in the Coastal and one vote to win the ACC championship. Miami received the nod as the likely winner of the Coastal, while Clemson is the preseason favorite to claim the ACC title for the fourth consecutive year.

Rounding out the Coastal, Georgia Tech placed third with eight first-place votes and 654 points. Duke totaled 607 points, followed by Pitt at 420, North Carolina at 370 and Virginia at 257.

The Atlantic and Coastal Division winners will meet in the 2018 Dr Pepper ACC Football Championship Game on Saturday, Dec. 1, at Charlotte’s Bank of America Stadium.

Season tickets for the general public are currently on sale. The first ever meeting in Lane Stadium between the Hokies and Notre Dame on Oct. 6 and a clash with defending Coastal Division champions Miami on Nov. 17 highlight the home slate. Thursday night football will also return to its rightful home in Blacksburg on Oct. 25 when the Hokies take on Georgia Tech. Season tickets are on sale now and can be purchased by clicking here.

TEXT BOX TO THE SIDE OF ARTICLE

ACC Championship Votes

1. Clemson – 139

2. Miami – 5

3. NC State – 2

T4. Florida State – 1

Virginia Tech – 1

Atlantic Division

(First place votes in parenthesis)

1. Clemson (145) – 1,031

2. Florida State (1) – 789

3. NC State (2) – 712

4. Boston College – 545

5. Louisville – 422

6. Wake Forest – 413

7. Syracuse – 232

Coastal Division

(First place votes in parenthesis)

1. Miami (122) – 998

2. Virginia Tech (16) – 838

3. Georgia Tech (8) – 654

4. Duke (1) – 607

5. Pitt – 420

6. North Carolina (1) – 370

7. Virginia – 257