http://www.espn.com/blog/acc/post/_/id/98130/contender-or-pretender-virg...
Gives points on both sides, but spoiler alert, they believe in Fuente
General belief was it'd take Justin Fuente some time to return Virginia Tech to a championship level. Reality: It would not. So despite major turnover on offense -- also Fuente's specialty -- it would be foolish to rule out another season with double-digit wins for the reigning conference coach of the year.
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This is what buzz feels like for a program. We have an opportunity to take the next step. People will be watching us more closely next season. We need to make the most of it.
Let's start by stomping WVU!
Start 1-0 and keeping this beauty
Best part about that is it's only 55 days longer than we've had the commonwealth cup and we play uva every year haha
We got the contender tag. cool.
Even better is Louisville getting the pretender tag. They were fucking horrible in the later part of their season.
Yeah! An ESPN blogger says we are a contender.
I cannot stand this man.
join the club.....
Kind of funny that they mention defensive line as a point of concern, that is one area I'm not personally concerned about our ability to reload. They seem positive about us overall though.
With that said I'm not trying to buy into the hype. Breaking in a redshirt freshman qb is tough and we're replacing too many other skill players around him to make me think we're going to match last year's offensive production. 10+ wins is possible but it feels like that's the ceiling of what we can accomplish. Personally, I'll be happy if we can show some spark of greatness and put the pieces together for a big 2018.
Defensive line starters shouldn't be a concern. Depth is going to be a concern, particularly at DT. We will hopefully have some decent depth at DE, with some guys maybe earning some early PT, but tackle is a big "wait and see" situation after Settle and Walker.
Gah dang is that hair on her pits??
Not sure if you ever noticed, but women usually grow hair there.
Yeah, but for the Oscars?? I mean, c'mon Sally.
Seriously who cares? Who are you to judge what she looks like or is wearing or if she has hair under her arms.
1. I think what you're seeing is an illusion
2. That's my buddy's cousin
3. Regardless, its one of the most iconic oscar speeches in history
4. Who cares?
... in case y'all haven't noticed, this is my go-to anti-sexism gif. Y'all have made me pull it out twice recently. I know it's the off-season, but STAHP!
Man. Double Digit wins is a lofty expectation for next year. Its a tough schedule down the stretch.
I think an 8 win season would be a huge success.
WVU - is a toss up right now - theyre reloading, were reloading
Del - Should be win
ECU - Should be win, but usually tough
ODU - Should be win
Clemson - Tough matchup
BC - Should win
UNC - Toss up, theyre replacing a lot of key offense
Duke - Should be win, but they can be tough
Miami - Away, Tough matchup
GT - Away, always tough
Pitt - Toss up, they have to replace a bunch too
UVa - its UVA.
Im sure this will change +/- 100 times before spring practice ends.
I would switch Duke and UNC. Duke is going to be much improved and UNC loses a ton and Fedora appears halfway out the door already.
I don't follow them at all, but I've heard WVU loses a lot and didn't recruit particularly well this season. Hopefully that is true and we reloaded better than they did.
Also much of there success in 2016 can probably be attributed to beating up on what was a really bad year for the Big 12.
They do lose a ton of starters. If Evans had returned I would feel very confident about this game. However with a new QB there's a lot more questions for our team.
Recruiting doesn't really have much of an immediate impact - either good or bad.
I think teams with true freshman Heisman contenders would dispute that...
How many of those have there been in the history of college football?
Contenders:
Off the cuff, a handful in the last few years (Manziel, Jameis Winston, Lamar Jackson). True freshman major contributors? Quite a few.
Except Manziel and Jameis both were redshirted.
You are probably right, but there's always some talented freshmen that come to a school losing a lot of key seniors that get good playing time. Isaiah Ford comes to mind.
What was VT's record Ford's frosh year?
Yeah because we've never had an impact true freshman before /s:
What was VT's record Kendall's frosh year?
And btw, that gif is from his soph year.
I thought I read that they got a good transfer QB last year who had to sit out 2016 but will start in 2017.
Will grier former #2-4 (depending on which service you use) ranked pro passer coming out of HS.
http://247sports.com/Player/Will-Grier-15901?Institution=23887
additional info on his '15 suspension:
http://247sports.com/Bolt/Report-Will-Grier-suspended-for-season-for-NCA...
Not sure if they've resolved the issue of him being able to start the first game of 2017 or wait until later in the year, but yes they have Will Grier, who was poised to return Florida to the mid 2000's glory offensively before the PED issue. If Will Grier is playing week 1, it's advantage WVU at the position, until we know how good our QB will be.
We won't know for sure if Grier is allowed to play until July 1st.
It's not an easy schedule, and a three-game stretch of at Miami, at Georgia Tech and Pitt near the end of the season will likely define the Hokies' season.
I was hoping this would be about Basketball and the NCAA tourney. Nebraska knocking off #20 Purdue today adds a little more to our resume.
Just giving you a hard time, HomebrewHokie
I mean it IS basketball season and our team sort of IS in the tourney picture...
They really, really like Fuente. Also tabbed us as "contender" with no qualifier while Miami was "contender for the Coastal, pretender for the playoffs", I like that.
Yeah, well when you make it to the ACCCG one year, you better have some key coaching changes or major holes not to be a favorite to get there again the next year. From there, it's just a one win to the playoffs, most years. We have a promising QB to fill Evans' shoes and get back one of our major WRs. What does Miami bring back? Most of a decent defense who we beat last year.
Unless you're in the Big 10! /s please dear god don't start this argument again
I qualified it with "most years"
On to some really important questions for somebody smarter than me.
1. How did Jackson look in practices down the stretch with the 1s (assuming he got any reps)?
2. Were there many opportunities to use him on Scout team? If so how did he look against the 1s on D?
I'm sure someone has spoken of this before, if I missed it I apologize.
I'd love to know that as well. It always starts with the lines though, and I'm really hoping next year's o-line is decent, so he has time to make plays. What about Deablo - is he expected to be ready to play a key role next year?
Hopefully French, Guitarman, or Fireman has this info.