Justin Fuente and the Hokies' offensive coaching staff have played things close to the vest since arriving in Blacksburg last winter, but the new head Hokie did give a brief glimpse into some early impressions of his new team Tuesday afternoon.
"You can name off the guys who are having a good spring...Sam Rogers and Augie Conte, Woody Baron and Chuck Clark," said Fuente. "But those are the guys who have been through it all. What we need are the younger guys to continue to move forward...That's the challenge of it."
That sentiment extends to the quarterback room, a place where Fuente will surely be spending plenty of time as the Hokies progress in their search for a starting signal-caller.
"I would say, just in general terms in much of the way our team is right now, I've been more pleased with the older guys," said Fuente. "At quarterback, I'd say the older guys, the guys that have got a little more experience have been a little bit further ahead than the younger guys. But that doesn't mean really all that much right now, but that's kinda where it's at."
And while that may seem to point in the direction of either returning senior quarterback Brenden Motley or Junior College transfer Jerod Evans, handicapping the Hokies' quarterback race before the spring game might still prove a fool's errand. After all, starting wide receiver Cam Phillips has had trouble himself deciphering the quarterback competition.
"I don't know honestly who is playing quarterback with as fast as we go at practice," joked Phillips. "(I just focus on) knowing where I'm supposed to go and not getting yelled at."
Wilson Working at WR
After a junior campaign on the hardwood that saw Devin Wilson's minutes decline for the third straight season, news broke last week that Wilson would be trying his hand at wide receiver this spring. It's not an overly outrageous idea, though, as Wilson was a record-setting wideout — and three-star recruit — coming out of Pennsylvania's Montour High School.
Tuesday evening marked just Wilson's third practice on the gridiron, but Fuente seemed encouraged with the early performance of the Hokies' basketball standout.
"He's done well," said Fuente. "He's a smart, tough, good athlete. Been really pleased with him. There's obviously an adjustment level, but he's highly intelligent and picks things up quickly."
The interest was a two-way street, Fuente insists, a mutual agreement between all involved — Wilson, Fuente, and even head basketball coach Buzz Williams.
"I just think there was mutual interest there. He was a very good high school player," said Fuente. "Obviously we had conversations with Buzz to make sure everything was fine over there. And Buzz talked to Devin to see if he was even interested. When we found out there was mutual interest, we thought we'd give this a shot. We're in the early stages of this, of whether this works for either party. We'll push through it and see how he feels and how we feel and evaluate it towards the end."
But despite the seemingly rare pairing, this wouldn't be the first time Fuente has had a player dabble in both football and basketball. Sam Craft, Memphis' third-leading rusher in 2014 with 331 yards on the ground, made the switch to the Tigers' basketball team ahead of the 2015 season. Craft, also a two-sport standout in high school, wound up averaging 2.1 points for game for Josh Pastner's squad and even cracked into the starting rotation for 7 of Memphis' 33 total games.
Craft's success notwithstanding, expecting Wilson to beat out the likes of Isaiah Ford and Phillips is likely unrealistic. However, the Hokies' heady point guard known for his defense and leadership could potentially provide solid depth at receiver for a group desperately needing it.
"He's an athlete," said Phillips. "He can run. Quick, can make good cuts. It's just as far as running routes, that stuff can take some time to develop. But as far as learning the plays and stuff, he's been fine with that."
Offensive Line Adjusting to Quicker Pace
Former offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler dabbled with the hurry-up offense throughout his tenure in Blacksburg, often trying to build on momentum by getting to the line of scrimmage immediately after a big play.
But with the arrival of Fuente and new offensive coordinator Brad Cornelsen, the hurry-up offense is a totally different animal.
"If we got a big play, ran a big play or something like that, we'd hurry up to the line and try to run another play," said offensive lineman Wyatt Teller of last year's offense. "(Now) it's just every play. We don't have a huddle. The first thing we learned with Coach Loeffler was the huddle, and then we'll break to the line of scrimmage. But (now) we don't have a huddle. It's so fast. You gotta know the terminology and everything like that."
But with increased tempo has come simplified verbiage, shortened play-calls to allow the Hokies to work at a near breakneck pace.
"I feel like sometimes I'll get to that little hump and I'll be like, 'This is a lot of plays,'" said Teller. "We'll have a five minute period or something like that and we'll get 12, 18 plays done. That's unbelievable. Usually it would take 15 minutes with Coach Loeffler...Everything was longer terminology where now everything is kind of one word, two words which helps."
Both Teller and fellow offensive lineman Jonathan McLaughlin are adjusting to the third position coach of their college careers this spring with the arrival of former Memphis offensive line coach Vance Vice. And while Vice comes with an intense and demanding reputation — as did former line coach Stacy Searles — McLaughlin insists that it's been a smooth transition thus far.
"Right now, I feel like we're getting the watered down (Coach) Vice because he's new," said McLaughlin. "But he's still intense. He's very intense. And off the field, he's a great guy. A great guy. Like I said, he's everything you can ask for in an offensive line coach."
Additional Quotes
Justin Fuente
OPENING STATEMENT:
"Want to thank everyone that's purchased their season tickets. I know we got more going on sale Wednesday. Everybody tells me that's going really well. Also excited about the response that we're getting from some of our former players about coming back to the spring game on April 23. I think it's gonna be a fun day. I know the weather was a little rough last year, at least that's what they told me, it rained pretty decent. Hopefully we'll have good weather, but I think it's gonna be a fun day with a bunch of NFL guys and that sort of stuff coming out. Today we've got practice seven, so it's basically the halfway point in our 14 practices before the spring game. We got after it a little bit last week on Thursday with a scrimmage that was less than half the practice. It didn't involve any situations. It was just merely normal down and distance, who can line up and go play. There was some decent give-and-take, quite honestly I wasn't over the moon thrilled with it on either side of the ball. I just think there's another level of detail and intensity that we can reach that we were not at in the scrimmage. But I'm looking forward to this week. We'll get into much more situational work, third down, field zones, red zone, those sorts of things. Getting into some more of those details of the situations you encounter in an actual football game. Also like the progress that we've been making special teams wise. We've been attacking all phases of special teams trying to get our techniques taught. I know special teams have obviously played a large role in the past success here. We anticipate that continuing...James Shibest has done a fine job, really earned a fantastic reputation as a great special teams coordinator. I think we're off to a good start there with lots of work left to do. Looking forward to today. Today we'll get into some third down, put the ball into the red zone a little bit and start to hit on those situations in preparation for scrimmaging on Saturday with a much more realistic tempo. First, second, third down, change of possession, all those sorts of things."
ON ENTERING THE SECOND SEGMENT OF SPRING BALL:
"This is kind of the second segment (of the spring). I think the first segment is basically getting base offense, defense installed. Special teams doesn't always match up exactly the way that I have it segmented out. It's kind of a separate entity there. We'll introduce return today. We've introduced the other phases already. Today or the next three practices, we'll begin to introduce the situational work. We got a little two minute drill on Saturday. We'll get some more today, all those specialty kinds of situations is what we'll start getting into over the next couple of days and actually including Saturday, so the last practice and the next two."
ON THE TRANSITION FROM JUCO TO THE ACC FOR JEROD EVANS:
"It's a step up, obviously. How big? That's pretty hard for me to say. They play in a pretty good league down there. But it's definitely a transition. It is for all positions."
ON TEACHING ON THE FIELD VERSUS THROUGH FILM STUDY:
"First of all, I would say certain segments are organized differently. So some of them, we really do wanna slow it down and teach on the field because everybody learns differently. Some people are visual learners. Some guys have to actually physically do it in order to learn it. So some segments are done like that. But when we're in team work or group work, that's why we have video. That's why every step we take on the field is recorded so we can teach off of that video. It doesn't mean that you don't have any time to get any pointer, but let's maximize our opportunities on the field. Our time when everybody's together, we're all out there in order to not take away from the other guys that need those reps by slowing it down."
ON PLAYERS ADJUSTING TO NEW TEACHING METHODS:
"My perception of them is that it has not been a big issue. I think the overall tempo of practice and the pace of practice is still not what we need it to be. There's still some things that we're gonna try to address today in fact in terms of what I want it to look like and what we need it to look like. But I don't think the teaching method has been a hinderance to the kids."
ON HOW HE FEELS ABOUT RB GROUP:
"I think it's too early for me to tell you where we're at there to be honest with you. We're shuffling guys around and pulling guys in and out. Trying to get guys to know what to do and playing fast right now. We'll see where it's at, to be honest with you. To say that I like or don't like it, I think would be premature. I think we're still trying get to where we're supposed to be and how we're supposed to be there so we can play fast."
ON IF SHAI MCKENZIE LOOKS HEALTHY:
"I guess. I mean I never saw him before hand or after hand...He looks fine to me."
ON IF HE'S HAPPY HALFWAY THROUGH SPRING BALL:
"Well I think you guys, as we spend more time together, will come to know me. It's never where I want it to be. I think that's the charge that we have as coaches, to continue to push it forward. Now I didn't sit down before spring and say practice seven, we should be at this point. So for me, let's continue to push these guys forward, continue to manipulate the pieces to see where they all fit. At the end of the spring, we can take stock with where we're at as we move forward to the summer. It's never, in short, it's never where I want it to be."
ON IF PLAYERS HAVE BEEN RESISTING CHANGE:
"No, I haven't heard that. I think the guys have tremendous respect for Coach (Beamer) and the job that he and staff did, but I haven't seen anything. We have made a concerted effort for the older guys because change is always different for the older guys because they're more set in their ways. When you talk about some of those older guys I named earlier, and the list of 10 or 11 seniors that we've got on our team right now, they have absolutely jumped in with both feet. They've done a fantastic job."
ON OLDER GUYS ADJUSTING TO NEW SCHEMES FASTER:
"I just think the more veteran guys, it's easier on, personally...The older guys, they've got pellets on the wall. They've been through the battles. They seem to adjust a little bit quicker."
Cam Phillips
ON IF HE WAS SURPRISED TO HEAR ABOUT DEVIN WILSON:
"Yeah. When I first heard it, I was a little shocked. But Coach Wiggins just told me make sure he knows where to go, what to do, where to be on time."
ON COACH WIGGINS' PERSONALITY:
"He's a cool guy. Burden is very, very laid back. I don't even know if I heard him yell maybe like twice, but Coach Wiggins, he can be cool but out on the practice field he's about his business. He always tells us the work isn't going anywhere, so either you can do it and attack it and get better or just try to get through it. But I think he's a good coach and he's teaching us well."
ON GETTING A COMFORT LEVEL WITH STARTING QB EARLY:
"Would it help? I mean, sure it would help if you knew who you were supposed to work with after or what type of ball this guy likes to throw on this type of route. That always helps, but all those guys are talented. All those guys are fighting for the same thing right now."
ON IF HE LIKES THE UP-TEMPO OFFENSE:
"Definitely. What receiver doesn't like the opportunity to catch more passes, more touchdowns, get more yards, score more points?
Jonathan McLaughlin
ON IF HE'S SET AT LEFT TACKLE:
"Right now, I'm playing left and right. Not one, specifically. We're all experimenting at positions right now."
ON STILL PUTTING PREMIUM ON RUNNING THE FOOTBALL:
"Oh yeah, most definitely. I feel like if you're gonna be a good offense, you have to run the ball first. No matter if you're spread, no matter what offense you are, that's the key, running the ball. You can't pass the ball every down."
ON VANCE VICE'S RUBBER SUIT:
"He told me he was going to the disco the first time I asked him. That was our first conversation about that one."
ON IF WYATT TELLER IS GOING TO GET HIS OWN RUBBER SUIT:
"No, Wyatt's not allowed to pick up one of those (laughs)."
Wyatt Teller
ON HOW PRACTICE IS GOING:
"It's going pretty well. It's fast-paced, obviously you guys know that. It's a lot of fun. It's kinda the same plays, but just a little bit different keys, terminology, stuff like that. Other than that, it's tempo. That's the only change."
ON PLAYING FOR HIS THIRD OL COACH:
"I've been lucky. I've had 3 great coaches. I was really young when I had (Jeff) Grimes, so everybody will tell me stories and I'll be like, 'Oh yeah, I remember that.' But for the most part I was just a freshman with a redshirt, so I don't really remember exactly being coached by Grimes other than beginning when I first moved to offense I was second team left tackle. But with Coach Searles, it was perfection, perfection, perfection. That's a great way to be. That's what you need to be on the offensive line is a perfectionist. With Coach Vice, it's kind of the same thing. I haven't had enough time to see how he turns out...Coach Vice has been really cool and helpful with steps and hands and that type of stuff."
ON TEAM PICKING UP THE NEW OFFENSE:
"I feel like, kinda like Coach Fuente says, we need the first team to make no mistakes and the second team to look exactly like the first team. And third team the same way. So with that kind of in mind, that's how we're running through things. If anybody makes a mistake, it's all of us trying to help and coach each other...Any names, I don't think that's my position, but I think we've had a lot of improvement through the whole team."
Comments
I thought it was very interesting that Fuente and Co. were the ones who reached out to Devin. Really doing their homework to find any and all potential. Love it.
Come fall, we as VT football fans are going to be in for a treat ! Everything is New on the sidelines at VT this year. I look forward to the Future.
But with increased tempo has come simplified verbiage, shortened play-calls to allow the Hokies to work at a near breakneck pace.
"We'll have a five minute period or something like that and we'll get 12, 18 plays done. That's unbelievable. Usually it would take 15 minutes with Coach Loeffler...Everything was longer terminology where now everything is kind of one word, two words which helps."
This has honestly been the biggest take away IMO of this new coaching staff. Just as an amateur watching VT football these last three years Coach Loeffler was trying to teach a new language to college kids with a lot of formation changes pre-snap. As it showed we weren't messing with anyones mind more it was on our guys. These are 17-22 year old young men, as a VTCC Alum who once trained freshmen... keep it short and keep it simple. Can't wait for the season to start!
I think Leoffler's system was catered more towards pro players that have much more time to work on the verbage, formations, reads, etc.
Holy shit the Devin Wilson news is real? I didn't even click the thread because I seriously thought it was an April Fools Joke.
Really? You seriously don't read every sacred word on this wonderful site?
If it was posted on March 31 or April 2 yeah I would have haha.
I love what this scene has become through the internet and I welcoming your shaming.
8 Days in to spring practice and they're starting situational work already. I feel like in Lefty's first year at this point, they were still installing fundamentals and teaching his new language. I seem to remember the word "vanilla" being tossed around quite often.
TBF we're still pretty base / vanilla at the moment too, so I wouldn't read too much into it.
Stop trying to stop the hype train.
Seriously, though, it feels like things are moving much more quickly to me this year. Or maybe its just a function of the length of each snapchat video.
Wonder how Ford feels about Wilson not only being allowed, but even being asked to go two sport?
Considering Ford's tracking and level of recognition in the ACC, I'd say he's probably focused on his future in football by this point.
via GIPHY
You're probably right.
Do the older guys have "pellets" on the wall or "pelts" on the wall? I prefer pelts. I am just messing around Joey. Great article!
Haha, honestly, I have no idea. Googled both, found nothing, shook my head and figured it must be an Oklahoma (or AGR) thing.
Lol! You are right about the AGR thing! I like pelts lets work with that!
Can you explain? I've ventured into the AGR basement a few times (haven't we all?), but that's about the extent of my knowledge.
Pelt -Fur, the hair, fur or wool that covers an animal's skin, that has been stripped off the animal. As in a trophy.
Hoping I didn't miss the sarcasm.
Nailed it sir. I'd like to see one more of the Volunteer variety...make it Irish too!
Glad you participated Joey. We use to have a hell of a Beach Bash back in the day.
Great article Joey, but you have to love coach speak. They can talk for hours and at the end of the day, you realize they have not said a damn thing. Everything is close to the vest, but I am all in and looking forward to a new style of football. Exciting times in Hokieland.
It sucks, but we're used to coach speak by now. I think Frank may teach a course on it during retirement.
Fortunately, Bud will tell you almost anything you want to know. He's out-going and refreshingly candid. Hell, we joked yesterday we might just start asking him and Coach Wiles (if he's ever made available) about the quarterbacks.
Well for anyone who felt that the program had become complacent, this has to make you happy to hear.
You know, this remark almost struck me as Saban-esque. Never settle. Never be fully happy. I've seen Saban smile when he's been handed NC trophies, and yet he's back in the office the next day getting back to work. Without the whole "sold his soul to the devil" thing, this is really a refreshing mentality. Top football coaches never seem to rest.
To be fair, that was just money laundering. He transferred assets to himself.
So wait, Saban was named in the Panama Papers?
They don't call the devil "Old Nick" for nothing, do they?
I thought that was Santa Claus?!
Ooooh, cool pic. The Brits call the devil "Old Nick", but your illustration is just downright scary. Think of the children, man, the children!
This sounds like something everybody who ever put a whistle around their neck has said. In addition to Nck Saban, I'll bet Mike London said something similar more than a few times too.
When a coach says he's satisfied and sees no need to move forward, I'll know that hell has indeed frozen over and we'll have a real headline.
Sure, but contrast it with Beamer the last few years. When asked about how things were coming along, all we heard out of him was that the team "gave great effort" and "I think we're gonna be a real good football team." Generic. To see Fuente say that we've gotta keep pushing and that he's never satisfied is certainly pretty standard coachspeak (especially among the really driven coaches) but that sense of urgency is refreshing for our program. I love Frank, and everyone said he was always competitive, but I didn't get much of a sense of that. With Fuente, I do.
Oh please. It's all 100% USDA Prime Choice Coach-speak.
Of course it is. I think the point here is that, at least in Blacksburg, we haven't been hearing this form of coach-speak. Frank was always praising the kids and team for their effort, which is fine and great but Fuente isn't going in that direction. Whether it's coach-speak or not, the players are listening to what their coach has to say even to the media and I think that what Coach Fuente has been saying could be more beneficial than praising the team.
Man, you're in the deep end of the Kool-aid pool. You're remembering what you wan to remember and forgetting what you want to forget
When did Beamer say "we need to build on this win, learn from this win."? If you guessed after the Ohio State win you'd be correct. Does that sound like a guy who -- after one of the biggest road wins in program history -- was all unicorns and rainbows? And even though he wasn't effusive in his praise and said -- over and over -- that work remained, how did that work out the rest of he season?
And when the chips were really down -- and they'll be down for Fuente at some point -- how often did the players respond to Beamer and his apparently different approach? How many of his good or not so good teams over the years could people say at season's end had quit on him? Maybe one?
Coach-speak is almost entirely for media and fans. Unless a coach says something really out on the end of the bell curve, players don't pay much attention to media sound-bites because they live the real thing every day.
If Fuente is successful it's because he can coach and motivate and organize a college football program, not because he can spew a bunch of well-trodden cliches to the media. The world is full of coaches that said all the right things to a fan base in year 1, but couldn't coach their way out of paper bag and had the media and fans rolling their eyes at by year 3.
No one said that Frank wasn't competitive and didn't seek to build on his success. Because that's the opposite of the truth. Naturally coach speak is for the media and fans. But a lot of the time what a coach says to the media echoes his message to the team in private away from the media. That's of course not true all the time as we saw with Frank. The only point I'm trying to make is it's nice to hear a coach speak about wanting more out of his team all the time. That's all. If that's deep-end homerism then so be it.
Of course it is. Outside of Foster, that's all we're going to get. But to me, it's refreshing to at least hear the head man talking the way that coaches of all the other top programs do. It's optics. Beamer came off to many as very laid-back, which may or may not have been the truth. Fuente appears more driven, the kind of guy you believe is driving for championships. I won't speculate on what dividends that may pay because that's not a matter of what he says, rather what he does during practice and game-planning.
I think that Frank was definitely a calm, cool and laid back guy on the surface, but by all accounts, his inner circle was quick to point out that he was a highly competitive guy in all respects. Time and age may smooth out some of the rougher edges, but I suspect he still burned with intensity inside, and those who knew him well said so.
Oh, well, I disagreed with you at first, but I guess if you're putting your foot down like that...
Honestly, it is a change of tone from the previous regime. "Coach-speak" is just a term for when a coach speaks in generalities rather than specifics, but you can derive an overarching philosophy even from generalities. If you take Fuente's responses in this article and compare them to Beamer's responses since circa 2011, it's clear that there is a bit of a culture shift transpiring within the program.
From what I've seen and heard so far, Beamer and Fuente are far more similar than different. IMO, the desire to succeed and improve is an area where they ultimately differ little.
But come on man...it makes us feel better to believe there is a new sense of urgency in town. Because we need to believe that there will be different outcomes. New coach must be better man, because otherwise we gave up a legend for like nothing. (in my head that's the Dude talking)
In all seriousness though, I am very optimistic, not because I think Fuente has any more urgency or is less complacent than Frank (I don't believe that to be the case at all) but because you marry a high powered offensive minded head coach with one of the best defensive minds in the college game and we have the recipe for some seriously good football.
It'll be interesting to see how fans feel about the best defensive mind in the business when paired with a philosphy not geared to generating the kind of numbers generated in the past.
You've brought this point up before and it's definitely something we're all going to have to keep in mind in the Fuente Era. We've all hung our hats on some amazing defensive rankings and stats, but going forward, looking only at defensive numbers, it's going to look like Bud's D got worse, but hopefully we will be winning more games by scoring more points than we used to.
conventional wisdom would say that but then you look at how well those great defenses fared despite the fact our offense went 3-and-out fairly quickly with alarming frequency. I expect our offense to move a whole lot faster now than it ever has but I still think if they manage even just one first down per drive the amount of time they take off the clock will be pretty close to what our old 3-and-out offense could muster.
The defense will be more well conditioned since they go against the tempo in practice and they will probably spend less time on the field than they're used to because hopefully our offense doesn't go 3-and-out every other drive.
People always talk about how having a high-powered, up tempo offense is bad for your defense because they don't get any rest. They conveniently forget that our slow clunky offense couldn't stay on the field. It's the same problem. The defense spends more time on the field than they should in both cases. Our defense is used to that. The difference now is that hopefully the defense is playing to protect a lead. Not fighting to gain the lead.
Also, if Bud's defensive stats droop I think more of that can be attributed to the elevated level of talent in the league compared to past years. The ACC is going to be a lot better in the next few years than it was during our 10-win streak. Our defense is going to be up against more talented and more well coached offenses than the dominating defenses of the 2000's faced. People will blame poor defensive showings on our offense because there is a drastic change there and it makes sense to gravitate towards that as a reason. The fact is, though, that our defense will be playing against much better offenses too.
The parts of the fanbase who hate our inside leverage trail technique man stuff (WE NEVER LOOK FOR THE BALL DKGSLDHGS!@!##EW) will hopefully realize this year that you get to play more zone and have more eyes on the QB when you have an offense that can score points. You can afford to let your corners aggressively jump routes with a lead or a reliable offense. The "shut down or long TD" defense we have been playing recently is partly because we HAD to shut teams down because our offense was so bad, or at least so unreliable. We had to play like that to shut down the teams we knew we couldn't just win shootouts with.
Not only that, but you can blitz more aggressively, as well as other things. Having a good offense lets the defense play more aggressively overall, and lets the DC be more creative with his schemes. We'll be seeing a lot more opposing coaches look like this
once Bud starts dialing up calls he couldn't have in the past because he has an offense that can score points reliably.
I can't think of many things scarier for an opposing OC than knowing Bud Foster gets to tinker with even more ways to make your life miserable.
I think I recall Bud implying that having such a young secondary, and shuffling so many players back there, limited what Bud could call more than anything else last year. Calling zone blitzes not only means rotating coverages and changing assignments based on formations, but also having the experience to know when to call it off based on shifts the offense is making.
Yeah, I think regardless, our defense last year was an anomaly, not the standard.
In some ways I kind of hope we go under the radar this spring/summer/fall so we can come in and pop some people in the mouth who forgot Bud Foster was Bud Foster - I know Torrian was a big loss, but I wonder if it is a blessing in disguise and having two coaches back there in the secondary and the experience they bring pays off on the field like Coach Foster hopes. The potential of our defense always has fans salivating, but a small part of me really does hope we come in overlooked, maybe put a chip on their shoulder...
You don't have to think so, it is a fact. Our defense last year was, in fact, just that. An anomaly.
Ahh yes, sounds like a few jobs Ive had before. Good work Phillips!
Can you send me a snapchat
I have an account and have btfootball as a friend but cannot see any activity yet
Thank you
That'd be your first problem. It used to be "VTFootball" and they have since changed it to "HokiesFB". That should fix it for you.
Thank you
any ideas when they will put devin on the roster on hokiesports?
If he makes the team. My guess is not until the fall.
Rosters will be updated after the conclusion of spring practice (i.e. sometime after the spring game).
Has it been said anywhere what number he has been wearing at practice? I haven't been able to spot him in any snaps (SnapChat snaps of football snaps) yet.
He most likely doesn't have a number since he is trying out currently, but there hasn't been any talk of his number regardless
Wilson caught a TD pass from Motley on tonight's Snapchat. The guys seemed pretty excited.
Wilson got up there for that ball. Glad to see those basketball hops on the football field
his GIF game is on point.
Now I wonder how he pronounces "GIF"
Ive usually been team 'Gah-if', but I think im jumping to team 'jif' like the peanut butter, its just less awkward to say...
But to your point yes, yes it is. Both Fuente and Buzz are honestly really good coaches to follow on social media, our social media stuff in general, especially this spring, is way ahead of other progams, follow Clemson or Florida State or even Miami, were pretty lucky with the exposure weve been getting, whoevers behind the push - whoever you are mystery man - (probably Cantor) - #chuckNorrisApproves scratch that #samRogersApproves
I was originally in the hard G crowd but I changed my stance after this:
reference link
The typical flow of the argument after this point is brought up:
Next, someone will bring up how language changes over time, and the way we pronounce something now is how it should be pronounced.
Follow that up with another poster calling the previous guy an illiterate tool.
ILLITERATE TOOL!!!!!!!
Dat aint how thangs get dun round hear.
Hey, I didn't know we had any UNC grads on the boards. Welcome!
well clearly. I mean, GIF stands for "Graphics Interchange Format." So of course it would be like "jif" just like you pronounce the first word in that name "Giraffe-ics" /s
Thanks, we just about had everything all cleared up and then you had to go and make sense.
Okay, thanks for that. Next up: "Mim" or "Meem"?
#teamMeem
or "me-me"
i've hard that one too
Steve Wilhite was a software guy not a linguist. And he can eat me, it's not jif its gif.
Certainly wouldn't want to look a jift horse in the mouth.
this seems appropriate.
unfortunately, I'm not savvy enough to imbed this. Any help is welcome.
Wait so it's not pronounced 'Jraphics'?
Long hair don't care. Jif is just easier to say and sounds less like Goofy laughing 'Gah-hiff' 'gah-hifff'
To take this further off course. I've always been confused by his decision to us the 'J' sound vs. the 'G' sound. Most people I know pronounce GRaphics with that hard 'G'. I've never heard anyone say 'Jraphics' Interface. But hey, when you invent the format I guess you get to pick your pronunciation.
A touchdown, you say?
Wilson hype train to warp 9, on my mark.
Engage.
Coach:
On another tract. Do you know Katrina and Bill (or Catesby) Wiatt from Conch Key? Thanks
No, I don't. That is nearby, and the Keys really are like a small town, but I haven't been here all that long.
They are VT graduates and run the Sunset Villas there. I've known them for 35 years. I helped him demo and rebuild after Hurricane Wilma in 2005 - the entire island went under water for 18 hours. Great people. I think Bill is involved in Marathon/area city council or something like that. He is a good friend of Captain Scott Walker (Tailwalker) and helped with the filming boat for Scott's "Into the Blue" fishing show in the past.
OK, cool...and yeah, Conch Key is really low - scary low. And tiny. You just can't be there in a storm. I was also thinking Conch would be more of a "Marathon" neighborhood. The Keys are divided into Upper, Middle, and Lower. He's in the upper Middle, I'm in the lower Upper...so close, but different, :p
It is so cool to see VT stickers, or VT flags flying from a home. Had a wedding/wedding party? book my bar (it's a beautiful place) once recently, and I heard the DJ start playing a familiar riff...and here's me:
That's right...I'm hearing Enter Sandman. The bride had to have it at her wedding.