Nice little article on SportsOnEarth by Matt Brown:
Hokie can rise quickly under Fuente
There is never a sure thing, but based on all the available information, Virginia Tech can feel confident that it completed one of the most effective coaching searches in recent college football history last fall.
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Matt also had an article yesterday where he ranked Isaiah Ford as the #4 WR in the nation and Bucky as the #4 TE in the nation going into next season.
College Receiver Rankings 2016
I love Ford but I don't think I would characterize him, or his feet, as lightning quick. Is this guy talking about the same Isiah Ford I have watched for the last couple years? Ford is silky smooth in his route running but I never thought he was a track star type of guy who can catch a bubble screen and run past the defense making them look like statues on the way to the end zone.
with natural route-running and receiving ability paired with terrific athleticism and hands.
some what agree with your comment and feel the same about bucky. only really terrific athleticism stands true to him. he catches with his body FAR to much and had quite a bit of drops last year and his route running is sub par and hes still learning and it takes a while to figure it out and develop good habits at this time his routes consist of running past LBs in mis matches and out bodying and jumping corners.
Most sports writers only watch a little bit of tape on players, unless they cover the team (i.e. Bitter). If the writer only watched the Tulse bowl game, I could see how he came to this conclusion (Ford's screen pass for a TD).
But I agree with you, Ford doesn't have Tyrod's jukes or David Wilson's speed, so the assessment is definitely off. But it's been a long time since I've seen a VT WR with as good of route running and football IQ as Ford.
Well of course note. He'd be a
TEQB if he did.I think you may be confusing quickness for speed.
He gets up field quick after catches and gets YAC but I don't think anyone is saying he can't be caught
I like Matt
Fuck Matt....wait. Nevermind.
I posted this earlier today in another Fuente thread, but I'll duplicate the post here for the sake of self-containment of referenced articles suggesting Fuente will succeed quickly:
Didn't see a better place to put this, but SI.com's Zac Ellis thinks Fuente is one of a handful of first-year coaches who are in a position to win immediately:
Honestly, I would be absolutely ecstatic if we can go 8-4. That would be major success for Fuente's first year, and a great sign for the future.
I expect somewhere around a 7-5 season, but honestly the only disappointment for me would be a losing season. I have high expectations for Fuente, but I'm not expecting a ton his first year. If we just show signs of life on offense, and progressively get better each week than that's all I can ask for.
I'm high on Fuente, but not on this season's record. Between our toughest schedule in the past 5 years and our limited depth, that this is the first season that I'm actually afraid our bowl streak could end. We could legitimately lose to UT, NC, Miami, Pitt, and ND will be very difficult. Duke, GT and ECU are all toss ups. That's 9 really difficult games.
On the other hand, if we stay healthy and our QB plays well, I could see us having a season/record similar to UF last year (but I'm not betting any money on that).
Don't joke about losing to Miami three years in a row, such a kidder!!
It'd take two more losses for that to happen. Thank goodness that Thursday night Lane game was cancelled.
I may be in the minority here, but I remember when we won all the games we were supposed to, and just over half that were toss-ups every year. I believe that the biggest difference between those teams and our recent teams was our offensive attitude and lack of a blue collar work ethic, which could have been coaches losing an edge or o'line losing depth/talent, or a combination, but I see both of those changing. I expect an improved record this year over the last few, and to finish 2nd in the coastal.
ACC has gotten better, and we've dropped off a little bit. We took a slight dip in recruiting, and a relatively large dip in developing talent. I 100% agree that this is changing - but change doesn't always happen fast. We'll get there, I'm just not convinced we'll be there next season.
That's well put, I agree that our offense will be dangerous this year but our biggest problems are:
- The ACC is better,
- Our talent level overall is down at some positions (but not at others),
- We haven't "coached-them-up" for a while now and it will take some time for that to catch up.
I could see us struggling to make a bowl game if QB play isn't great. Or I could see our offense clicking and our defense as salty as ever and running the table in the ACC.
yes neither outcome seems outlandish. I think struggling to make a bowl game is the more realistic expectation but I wouldn't be completely shocked to run the table in the ACC. I've said for, IDK...maybe 6 or 7 years now, that if we ever found a half-way-competent offense to pair with Bud's defense we could be a really dangerous team. Knocking on the door of elite, even. I don't expect our offense to come in and light things up right away but it could happen. Look at Auburn the year after Loeffler left. Their offense was screaming in Malzhan's first year. I joked once that maybe Loeffler is like the Good Luck Chuck of offensive coordinators. But we just have to wait and see. I think it's foolish to expect our offense to run teams over this year but I could see it happening.
Hope you are right on the offense, but don't think we'll have what we expect of a Bud Foster defense this year. The offense may be the better unit.
Some of Foster's best work has come when expectations were low, IIRC. So if you, and nearly everybody else, are having trouble seeing how this defense could possibly be great then maybe it's one of those magical years where Bud earns his keep and fields an elite unit against all odds.
but that's just wishful thinking. I think we have, at best, an 8-4 team. Both sides of the ball will have bright spots and head-scratching moments. It figures to be a fairly even showing from both units. I don't necessarily think either unit will be better than the other. Our defense, typically, has improved over the course of a season. I just hope our offense follows a similar trajectory.
It seems odd to say it, but I agree. We should be better on offense than defense.
Maybe that is helpful? We've lamented for more than a decade now that the pressure our anemic offense put on the defense was harmful. Maybe putting up more points could cover some of the defenses shortcomings this year?
I think last year was the outlier for Bud. Three of the DB's he expected to start coming out of the spring missed most of the season, and the backups did not even have enough experience for Bud to be sure what position they needed to be in, not to mention having an understanding of the defense. We were limited in what we could run on D because of this, which limited Buds ability to make adjustments or complex blitzes. I expect the D to be better than last year because of experience, and because I think they will more time off the field to rest or make adjustments.
Where is the depth limited? Maybe a position or two, but we are deep all over the offense, most of the D.
OT, C, DE, LB, CB, WR (TBD with incoming freshmen)
OT? McGlock, Osterloh, Nijman, Plantin, Moore. That's the best OT depth I've seen in the last 20 years at VT.
C? Gallo and Smith aren't enough? I think Billy Ray has some experience at C as well.
DE? Ekanem and Mihota the starters, an experienced guy like Dooley returning, young guys like Hill and Gaines ready to go. Even Taylor could factor in. It's not stacked depth, but we've had a lot worse than that before.
LB? Motu backed up by Huelskamp. Edmunds and Moss at Backer. Minor? We've had it worse than that before. Maybe the comment is more about talent than depth. Carter, Belmar and Beckett coming in.
CB? Facyson, Edmunds, Mook, Stroman, Allenye, Johnson, Ladler with Rodgers, Floyd and Quillen coming in this summer. Again, talent maybe is the questions but the depth is playable. (Alexander's assumed out at this point but could return)
WR? The three spring-fresh may be counted on: Kumah, Denmark and Deablo. Patterson (and maybe Rodgers?) joining in the fall. We've got three starters in Ford/Phillips/Bucky with Wilson, Bradshaw, Carroll and Newsome pushing for time. I know these coaches will play more guys, but probably not more than 6. We at least have 6 that can play here.
I'm concerned about QB (I expect both will start games this year) and the schedule. I'm not concerned about depth. This is one of the four of five deepest teams I've seen at VT.
OT is terrible depth. Have 1 starter and 1 project who looks like he could eventually be a very good tackle at least from an athleticism aspect. Moore is an OG to me.
DE again awful. Mihota isn't a DE he is being forced to play there out of necessity. Dooley is experienced in mop up and less than 10 snaps a game duty plus is injured all the time and missed spring yet again. Hill and Gaines are the only hope for depth there.
LB we have a terrible mike, which to me means the depth can't be all that good or why would he start. Edmunds seems very promising and moss has yet to prove anything or do anything outside of ST.
CB is probably the best of the positions listed but facyson always seems injured and outside of him we have a bunch of young unproven guys.
WR is obviously still a concern for even the coaches or they wouldn't be throwing out WR schollies left and right. When you are having to count on that many true freshmen to contribute you have depth issues.
This is not a deep VT team at all IMO. Deep positions are DT and RB.
Okay, so you don't like the talent.
talent is good at several positions, but depth is not. The discussion was depth not talent. You can have very talented starters and no depth whatsoever behind them.
this defense we're expected to put on the field is probably on paper one of, if not, the least talented I can recall since I've followed VT.
This is how I feel right now... If all 22 starters can stay healthy all season (not realistic), we have a legit shot to beat almost team in the nation. If we lose 1 or 2 starting OL, a starting receiver (Phillips or Ford), and 2 players in the secondary (say Clark and Facyson), we could drop from a top 15 team to a top 40/50 team.
Obviously there will be some drop off in an injury situation, but I think our 2011 team, for example, could have handled such a drop off much better than this team. Granted - the 2015 schedule is wayyyy more difficult than 2011, another reason why I'm cautiously optimistic at best about this season.
EDIT: It is POSSIBLE that Jerod Evans could be a game changing QB in Fuente's system in year 1. Great QB play in a spread system can help an offense overachieve and exceed expectations. That being said - Evans hasn't played a down of P5 College football, so while it's possible he could be great, I'll taper my expectations until I watch him play in the Tennessee game.
That's a lot of injury. Not many teams could sustain that.
Nobody is saying we are Alabama. But I would argue that our talent/depth is comparable to UNC, Miami and Pitt and not far off of Tennessee (who I have about the 20th best team in the country, not the 10th).
As much as hate to admit it UNC is probably out talenting the Hokies right now. Helps when you don't have to go to class though...
Can't say I share with your perception on that, but it may be a push.
If you just look at your OT argument, to me, that's a talent discussion. I tend to think all those guys are as solid of OT's as we have had here in a long time. All are adequate in the VT scale of OLineman. You don't think they are that talented, thus, you think we don't have enough depth.
Same thing for Mike LB. I don't think Motu is nearly as bad as many think. He's an adequate player and I rather like Huelskamp and Lydon (who I forgot to mention initially). I really, really don't think we have a depth problem at MLB, I see that as 3 deep. But, if you are one of those people who think Motu is hot garbage, then we have a depth problem at the position.
We disagree about talent, I think we have some pretty good players, thus, I think we have some pretty good depth.
The problems at the Mike spot are interesting. I agree that Motu is an adequate player, the problem is Bud's scheme requires a playmaker there. A guy like Jack Tyler that instinctively knows what to do, finds the ball, and puts a damn good hit on the guy carrying it. Motu can hold ground, but he's not shown us that he can yet be that playmaker, and leader on defense that the position requires. I recently saw some comments that he was playing nicked up a little more than we thought at times last year, but I can't recall where I saw that. Maybe that explains some of his hesitation and perceived weakness.
A Mike that can't shed a block and can't drive on tackles to me isn't an adequate football player. Again just my perspective.
I'm typically 100% in the "trust the coaches, they see the kids every day" camp, but watching the Mike spot, it's hard for me to not want Lydon in the game. Sure, he may not always be completely in command of the defense, but at least when he does do the right thing, the arrives unblocked and the ballcarrier ends up on the ground where Lydon got there, not 5 yards downfield.
I agree 100%. From what I've seen he looks the part. Always the first to the ball on kickoff coverage. Gotta trust the coaches, but I'd rather have someone give 110% and screw up rather than be in the right spot and get ran over
Why isn't it football season yet?
Because one day the gods decided that we mere mortals were enjoying it more than was reasonable, too much of a good thing so to speak, and thus created the offseason. It is a dark time full of rumor, speculation, and endless meandering. A time where mortal minds, starved of new information, rehash the same arguments over and over until finally something breaks and entire threads turn sour with protracted arguments of morality, pointless gifs, and other non-relevant and somewhat depressing tangents.
But fear not, friend. As with all things, this dark time will end and our spirits will be reborn in a fiery cauldron of Metallica songs, bourbon, beer, football, and pie (no cake). On that day we shall all band together, united once more behind our hero, the Almighty Fuente. He and his band shall lead us to new heights which until now have been the mere dreams of a wanting fanbase.
*When I first was writing this I definitely was reading it in the voice of Gibbs from Pirates of the Caribbean but somewhere in the second paragraph that morphed into Kenneth Brannagh a la his performance in Henry V. Judge me as you will.
While reading this, all I could think about was:
All I could think of while seeing this is that's not the character that says that.
For each yin, there is a yang. For each fall, there is a spring. For each Wang, there is a Chung. Circle of life. etc, etc.
For every drive, STICK IT IN, STICK IT IN, STICK IT IN!
Everybody Wang Chung Tonight https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoXu6QmxpJE
Yeah, sure. I will already probably spend two or three days with a WangChungEarworm, so no, thanks.
Soon we will be able to Pimpleton Garbutt Hooker tonight.
via GIPHY
I'm a bit more optimistic than 7-5/8-4 this fall. I think the defense will be at least as good as last year (we all think a bit better), and I happen to think the offense will be much better. We certainly shouldn't make any judgments based on an early season match-up with a team like Tenn. But we should see steady improvement on the offense throughout the season.
If we went 7-5/8-4 I wouldn't be disappointed. However if we won 9 games, I wouldn't be surprised.
I think the offense will be better. I'm not sure how you define "much better" but that might be overly optimistic. We have a brand new quarterback and an offensive line which is experienced, but also being coached by yet another OL coach. I expect there to be some breakdowns. My hope is that the team will improve over the course of the season. I'm confident that will be the case but I think 8-4 would be a really good first season for Fuente. I would be absolutely delighted for anything better than that.
All that being said, we're going 15-0 baby!!
When making predictions, I have a very complex process to get the most accurate win total:
15-0, baby!!
There are teams in our way to an undefeated season.
No matter.
Our offense can't really get much worse unless we are a turnover machine. Bud has won some games for the team in the past and I think he will do it again this year. 8-4 is reasonable and would make me a happy feller!
I like Matt Brown a lot. He's had a healthy admiration for our program for a while. He listed us as his #2 defense overall last year, thought we would finish 2nd in our division and had numerous VT players in his top 100. He likes us. He's been wrong about us in the past, but he likes us!
I believe ...... I'll have another drink. :--)
A hokie!? Which one!?
Coming this fall...
There's smoke in this picture. And where there is smoke...there's fire. FUENTE EN FUEGO.
or it could be steam, like when a fountain catches fire...FUENTE EN FUEGO!!!