Justin Fuente Reflects on His First Spring in Blacksburg Trying to Fill Beamer-Sized Shoes

As far as compliments in Blacksburg go, earning a comparison to Frank Beamer is about as good as it gets.

Yet after just a few months at the helm of Virginia Tech's football program, Justin Fuente is already receiving that lofty praise.

It's hardly a surprise given their similar ages upon stepping into the role — Fuente is 39, Beamer was 40 — and their Murray State connection. But with the comparisons starting before Fuente has ever coached a real down of football in Blacksburg, the weight of such an observation might seem quite intimidating indeed, given Beamer's litany of accomplishments.

Yet, in an exclusive interview with The Key Play last week, Fuente said he's merely spent the spring trying to be his own man.

"I appreciate those guys saying those things, I have no idea if they're just being nice or not, or how true or not true that is, but I try my best to be me," Fuente said. "Treat people the right way, and hopefully they appreciate that."

With roughly four months of experience following in Beamer's footsteps, Fuente says he's cognizant of the fact that people will always connect his career to the work of his predecessor. But, unsurprisingly, he's anxious for the chance to forge his own path, independent of Beamer's legacy.

"I appreciate the kind words, but there's only one Coach Beamer, obviously," Fuente said. "There may never be anybody in the history of Virginia Tech to do as much for the school as Coach Beamer did. And we should celebrate that, and we do celebrate that.

"It's an honor to be asked to come in behind him, but I'm comfortable with that. I understand, and everybody else understands, that there's only one of those guys, and there's never going to be another one. It's an awesome honor and responsibility for us to build on what he's done here, and that's our goal and our mission."

As for the process of putting his own imprint on the squad, he feels the first 15 practices of the spring show "we've got a long way to go," though he remains optimistic about the "general makeup of the squad." In particular, he's happy with the initial buy-in from the nine seniors he inherited upon stepping in.

"At first, I was a little concerned, because change is always harder on older people, people that are more set in their ways, so I was a little worried about them, but they've been fantastic," Fuente said. "We have a large portion of young players that we have to do a great job developing and pushing forward in order to give us a chance to be a good team."

Among those young players in need of development are the wide receivers set to back up Isaiah Ford and Cam Phillips. Though players like Jaylen Bradshaw, Divine Deablo and Samuel Denmark all showed flashes in the spring game, Fuente says there are no clear answers behind the two star receivers just yet.

"I'd say that we're a long ways away from finding out who the next guy is," Fuente said. "I'd like for it to not be the next guy by default, I'd like it to be a guy that does a great job and earns the playing time. We're just not there yet."

The player who ends up starting under center is a similarly open question, and Fuente remains tight-lipped about whether Brenden Motley or Jerod Evans will take the reins since he declared that the pair separated themselves from the pack this spring. However, he's planning on applying the same sort of slow and steady method that he used to help develop Paxton Lynch into a first-round draft pick and Andy Dalton into a top-tier NFL starter.

"What I want to see from the guys we have here are expected outcomes," Fuente said. "Whether the ball is caught or dropped, the result of the play is secondary. What I want to see, and what I instruct them to do on a consistent basis, I want to watch the play and see the ball delivered to the spot it should be delivered. The decision that should be made, I want to see that made.

"That's the key to playing consistently. It sounds very easy, but it's difficult, there's a lot of variables out there. That's all I want from our guys. I want them to make the very average play on a consistent basis. When they get put in bad situations, which is gonna happen, it happens in every football game, I want them to recognize that and not have it turn into a game-altering play in a bad way. That's what we ask our guys to do, and as they get better at it, we start to ask them to do more and more and more, and that's what we did at TCU with Andy and what we did with Paxton. We don't give it all to them all at once."

Fuente said he's tried to involve himself in the process of selecting a starter and installing the new offense without stepping on the toes of OC/QBs coach Brad Cornelsen. He had plenty of experience learning to relinquish some of his authority over the offense at Memphis, after handing Cornelsen the playcalling powers in 2015. So far, he thinks he's been able to strike the right balance at Tech as well, negotiating the tension between getting involved with the side of the ball he knows best and taking the broader view of the team's composition.

"I'm involved offensively, involved in planning and the scheme and direction. I'm involved in the special teams as well, I'm in all those meetings, though we have a fantastic special teams coordinator," Fuente said. "I think I've been able to, as the years have gone on, step a little bit further out of the offensive room and been able to have a little bit of a bigger picture view. As I went through our time there at Memphis, and my time here, it's been about being able to trust the guys on offense to run the drills or whatever it is we're doing in practice and let me walk around and observe and take notes on both sides of the ball."

Part of tackling the bigger picture for the program is spearheading the team's recruiting efforts, and Fuente said he feels the new staff is "taking steps on a daily basis" to improve its standing in Virginia.

"I feel like it's been going really well, and it's a priority for me, to make sure that we get out there as much as we can," Fuente said.

As part of those efforts, Fuente is excited about the potential for the Hokies to start holding satellite camps throughout the state, now that the NCAA's overturned its short-lived ban on the practice and the ACC has followed suit. While he demurred on spelling out the specifics of a location for such a camp — though the Virginia Beach area is the most rumored destination — he said Tech stands ready to start setting one up sooner rather than later.

"We've already got it all planned out, in preparation for this, but we may not advertise them like everybody else," Fuente said. "I'm not interested in having 800 kids at camp. Those camps are evaluation camps and if you get too many people there, you can't do a good job. You can't staff it, you don't have field space, so we're excited to do it, and we're gonna do it, but it probably won't be as public as everybody else."

Indeed, Fuente said the staff will focus on narrowly tailoring which players it might attract to a satellite camp, rather than making it as much of a spectacle as Jim Harbaugh's vaunted Florida escapades.

"You do it to evaluate players, that's why everybody does it," Fuente said. "We'll just try to do our best, but it's open, there are no secrets anymore. We'll try to do our best to keep the numbers down."

But while he's off focusing on the next generation of Hokies this summer, Fuente hopes that his current crop of players spend the next few months making "incredible gains in our strength and fitness levels." Even though some are already hailing Fuente's Beamer-esque leadership qualities, the new head Hokie is well aware that there's only so much he can do now that his contact with the team is limited between now and fall camp.

"It's a time for the older guys to really take ownership of the team because we're not around," Fuente said. "This is really their time to display their leadership."