A Litte Perspective on The Current State of VT Football

It wasn't that long ago that Fancy Gap Frank was in the twilight years of his coaching career. We loved (and still do) Frank. He put VT football on the map, he took us right to the top and almost gave VT its first, and ever elusive, team National Championship.

We all know and have all chronicled in our own way what happened since that fateful night in New Orleans on January 4, 2000. We squandered a couple of opportunities with talent laden teams, we failed on the recruiting trail in those later years, and Frank Beamer was just too loyal to his staff (the offensive guys in particular). Many more narratives have been discussed, especially here on TKP, and they all carry some weight as to why VT Football hasn't ascended from it place in the CFB world as a really good program to being a great program.

Enter the 2015 season. Frank's final season (a sentimental one at that). We got ECU'd, then lost close games to Pitt, UM, Duke, and UNC. We needed to keep the streak going against LOLUVA in order to go bowling. I will confess, I was a bit nervous heading into that weekend. But I remember that last game. I was in Scott Stadium with hoards of other Hokies. The game was much closer than anyone would have wanted, but it was a perfect ending to the the legendary career of Frank Beamer. I still love that man!

On November 29th of the same season, Justin Fuente was named as the new Head Whistle in Blacksburg (following the 2015 season of course). A sexy hire? No. But a hire that seemed just right for the Virginia Tech community. The sentiment was mostly positive, if I remember correctly, but there were a few skeptics out there.

The entire off season was filled with angst as we looked at yet another down year in recruiting. Not Fuente's fault of course as his main job was to simply keep the guys who had committed and then land a couple of others. I thought he performed admirably, most notably by signing JUCO QB Jerod Evans.

2016 was a good year! The transition was about as seamless as it could be. But Foster was still in town. and despite the ugly start in Bristol, hope abounded! We finally had an offense in Blacksburg. On the days that the receivers couldn't break loose or the running game was sputtering, Jerod Evans put the offense on his shoulders, literally becoming a battering ram against opposing defenses. Justin Fuente took this Hokie team back to the ACC title game to face the eventual National Champion. The Hokies weren't quite there yet. But again, things are looking up for Fuente and this football program. Finding our way to the ACCCG was once again part of the expectation in Blacksburg.

Enter 2017. Jerod Evans surprisingly declared for the NFL draft, the offense loses two of its best weapons on the outside (Bucky Hodges & Isaiah Ford), and all of a sudden the team is young again. Not only is the team young again, but there was no depth behind those aforementioned playmakers. I think if we are looking at the 2017 season through the correct lenses, we would likely see that this is Fuente's true 1st season. He has his first real recruiting class under his belt (we see many positives there), and he's breaking in a young QB. Despite what our Orange and Maroon glasses may have lead us to see, in reality we couldn't really have expected the same success as the 2016 season.

Following that opening win against the Cousins, that hope that we had in 2016 is reignited. But that is short lived as we soon realize that we simply don't have the horses to keep up with talented teams like Clemson and Miami (and for the 2nd straight season, we can't seem to score against GT). The season ends with a loss to a pretty good Oklahoma State football team in a bowl game. We all mentally head to the recruiting season anxiously waiting to see if the new staff can continue to gain momentum on the recruiting trail. The class is good by VT standards, but maybe not great if you ask enough Hokie faithful.

And so here we find ourselves - 2018 football season. Almost 20 years removed from that magical season where Mike Vick and Co. grabbed the hearts of football fans everywhere. Where are we exactly? Well I think we are in year 2 of the Fuente rebuild. I really think that first season is a wash.

There are 19 Freshman and Sophomores in the 2 deep. We are seeing yet another starting QB. And this is the least experienced defense we've seen Bud Foster ever coach. I'm going to be honest, I thought a bowl bid should be the expectation this season, but I didn't see much more. I certainly didn't see a loss at ODU, but I didn't see a win against ND either.

The team looks bigger than its looked in quite some time. The team seems faster than it has been in some time. The "Wow" moments are popping up all over the place from various players. Fuente's players, young as they are, are getting on the job experience this season. This squad has some talent, serious talent in some places, but the youth and depth at certain positions (here's looking at you FS) cannot be overlooked. Most of the errors that we have seen in our two losses have been execution errors that older more experienced players typically don't make.

And so for some of the hand wringing about whether or not the program has stagnated, when was the last time we saw this much young talent on the field? When was the last time any of us remember having anything that remotely resembles a serviceable OL? When was the last time we could name 6 different WRs that could make a big play at any point in the game? At all of those positions, the guys are young

Who are we exactly? We are an extremely young team still looking for a QB and a game changing RB. And might I suggest, one of those might be on the roster right now. But even with that I think we are still a couple of years away from not seeing what we saw last night.

VT football is on the move, despite how we all might feel after the apparent thumping from last night. I know I might sound like Fancy Gap Frank here, but a small hand full of plays really changed the game. Plays that VT should have made, and probably will as the season unfolds.

Lastly, for everyone in Twittersphere hating on the VT entrance, pre-game hype, etc., just remember, this is College Football, its part of the deal no matter how good or bad your team is. We all have some sort of buy in here. This is our team, and part of that is what we, as fans, bring to the stadium. Haters gonna hate, right? No one would be hating on our pre-game hype if the fans sucked. We don't suck FAM. We aren't LOLUVA, or any other ACC school not named Clemson or FSU. We are VT, and we should be damn proud of that regardless of the growing pains that we are seeing right now.

Go Hokies!