New Head Hokie Justin Fuente Lays Out His QB Preferences, Plans for Staff Transition

When it comes to quarterbacks, Justin Fuente could justifiably be accused of having a type.

Between grooming the 6'7" Paxton Lynch for the pro ranks at Memphis, and signing the 6'4" Jerod Evans as his very first commit as the Hokies' new head coach, it would seem Fuente favors a signal caller with a larger stature.

But he pushes back against that implication.

"I think that's a coincidence," Fuente told a small gathering of reporters Wednesday. "I think the cool thing about college football now with the shotgun is you can play at a little bit shorter height, and let those shorter guys play, but with those taller guys, I think that's just a coincidence. I don't mind a shorter guy, so long as they're decent athlete that can throw the ball."

Indeed, one of Fuente's more famous pupils is the 6'2" Andy Dalton at TCU — however, he admits he did not recruit Dalton to join him at the school.

Nor did he recruit Tech's other QB commit for the 2016 class, the 6'2" Joshua Jackson, but he says he likes his potential all the same.

"I'm just as excited about him, he's not an overly tall kid, I love his background, coach's son," Fuente said. "I got to go up there and speak to him, and I like him, but he's not a really tall guy."

But there's no denying that a little height goes a long way at quarterback, and Evans' impressive stature is among the many factors that makes him an immediate contender for the starting spot in Fuente's first year.

"He's a big, athletic kid that's really enamored with the position, really wants to be good and wants to do whatever he's asked to do in order to get better at the position," Fuente said. "He's got a big, strong arm, a good athlete."

Evans took an unusual route to end up at Tech, spending the last two years at Trinity Valley Community College, but Fuente's had his eye on him for a while.

Fuente notes that he hosted him on an official visit to Memphis when he was still just a high schooler — Fuente thinks he might've been there the same weekend as Lynch was taking a trip to his future school, but he can't be sure — but the Tigers ultimately didn't have a roster spot for Evans.

"We didn't have room at the time, so he went to Air Force prep (school), and ended up at junior college, and we always just kind of stayed in touch with him, thought he had a chance to be a special player, and his recruiting got pretty heavy in terms of his opportunities," Fuente said. "He kind of got outside the Memphis realm pretty quickly, but this opportunity came up and we landed here, and we touched base with him to see if it was something he was interested in, and he was, and it all worked out."

But beyond his vaunted size, Fuente says it was Evans' personality that earned his interest as much as anything else.

"He's intelligent, football is important to him," Fuente said. "He's kind of enamored with learning how to play the position. Thoughtful, think it through kind of guy, analytical. But he's got some confidence and I think he was well liked by his teammates and he understands he's got to come into this situation and be humble and hard-working, try to earn respect."

With sometime starter Brenden Motley and highly touted phenom Dwayne Lawson still on the depth chart, there's no doubt that Evans will have to show some humility, and Fuente cautions that he's hardly handed over the reins to Evans without seeing how he stacks up against the others.

"He's been promised a chance to compete with the other guys we've got here," Fuente said. "Competition makes everybody better and we'll provide everybody that opportunity and see how it works out."

But before the quarterbacks can duke it out on the field, Fuente and the rest of his incoming staff will set about evaluating what other holes on offense, and elsewhere, they can work to fill before signing day.

"There's definitely needs at different spots, and we've taken the numbers and tried to evaluate as best we can to find out what we need to try and sign," Fuente said.

First things first for Fuente: establish whether or not TE Bucky Hodges will be a tool in his toolbox next season.

"We've talked about all that stuff, and I liked the way he approached it, he's seeing things the right way," Fuente said. "I asked him to do just a couple things, and he's with it so far. And I think whatever his decision is, it'll be the right one."

Fuente notes that Hodges has already filed paperwork for an evaluation from the NFL draft advisory board, and continues to keep him apprised of the process. That stands in contrast to Kendall Fuller's decision to declare, which Fuente says he was not a part of, noting that only he knew "that that had a chance to happen" when he came in.

A key part of both Hodges' decision-making process and further talent evaluations will be Zohn Burden, the newly minted running backs coach and one of the team's main recruiters in the "757" region.

Burden will be making the unusual transition to coaching RBs from his years of coaching wide receivers and defensive backs, but Fuente is confident he's the right fit for the role alongside new WRs coach Holmon Wiggins.

"When we hired Holmon at Memphis, he moved into wide receivers because I felt like it would be good for his potential as a coach down the road, in terms of his potential to one day become a coordinator, and I think it's the same thing for Zohn," Fuente said. "I think it's going to be a good professional move for him and Holmon will be there to help him out. I think those two have hit it off well."

Wiggins coached RBs under Fuente at Illinois State, yet Fuente decided to keep him at WRs to give Burden the chance to "broaden his knowledge base."

But even Fuente admits that Burden's recruiting ties in Virginia Beach area made him an extremely attractive option to retain on staff.

"We brought in some really good recruiters, and there may be some areas where it will take them time to get caught up, and Zohn's knowledgeable about the 757 area, but it was more than that," Fuente said. "I like his personality, I checked with several people that I know that had fantastic things to say about him, he came very highly recommended, and I think he's a good fit. He's really intelligent, young coach that's got a great relationship with his players, and I think he's got a bright future in this business. I think it was kind of a no brainer."

So far, Fuente feels burden has meshed well with the rest of the new staffers, and he thinks the melding of the new and the old has gone well among the staff as whole.

"The mix of the staff has been fantastic," Fuente said. "They're going out to eat together, hanging out together when they've got time, getting to know each other, especially when I'm not around, it's good that they can get out there and do that stuff."

But Fuente is quick to note that fans shouldn't expect to see some of that staff bonding happening in the press box at the team's impending appearance at the Independence Bowl in Shreveport.

"I'm not gonna go, and I'll tell you why. I don't think it's right, the focus should be on Coach Beamer, Coach Beamer's team, trying to win his last game," Fuente said. "I don't want to be the guy that's in the box that they show on television. To me, that just takes away from what the games about. I'll be at home in Memphis, cheering him on with my girls, watching it in my living room. Just because, in my opinion, that's the right thing to do."

Instead, he expects that the staff will reconvene in earnest when school starts back up in January, as they work to really get a handle on what the new offense will look like.

"We'll have a meeting the day before school starts next semester and those kids will all start with a blank slate across the board and we'll go to work," Fuente said. "But at least the offensive staff will watch all the film to try to get a handle on things. The key to offensive football is, obviously, you've got to have great players, but finding how those guys fit, what their skillsets are, giving them the best chance, whatever that chance is. So I think one of the biggest tasks the offense is going to have is getting a feel for the skill level of each guy and what personnel groups they feel like we should be in, so we'll watch it."