By Jimmy Robertson
BLACKSBURG – The Virginia Tech football team held its final intrasquad scrimmage of August on Sunday, and the Hokies took Monday as a recovery day.
Head coach Justin Fuente met with a small group of media members Monday afternoon and was asked if anyone stood out at the scrimmage.
"I don't know if there are any individual guys that did," he said. "I think, as a group, they went out there and battled. It's pretty obvious we lost our legs, though we still hit some pretty good numbers from a GPS standpoint. But guys battled through. We've got to get some guys back healthy — there are some guys with some bumps and bruises that we got to get feeling better, as we start to move towards these next two weeks."
Here are a few more takeaways from Monday's news conference:
NOTHING NEW ON THE QB'S
Many expected Fuente to announce a starting quarterback Monday following the Sunday evening scrimmage, but Tech's head coach refused to get into any personnel discussions with the media. All quarterbacks received work during the scrimmage, with Quincy Patterson actually going live on several possessions. The short story on the quarterback position is that there was nothing new to report.
"I would say this," Fuente said. "We had lengthy discussions with all positions today about reps and where guys are at, as we start to migrate towards the scout team. But we haven't met with the kids yet. So I won't talk about the depth chart situation until I speak with them first."
WILLIS ON ANOTHER WATCH LIST
Ryan Willis, one of the contenders for the starting quarterback job, found out Monday that he made the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award watch list. The award goes annually to the nation's outstanding senior or fourth-year quarterback and is based on performances, as well as character, scholastic achievement and leadership qualities. His naming to the watch list marked Willis' second of the preseason, as he also earned a spot on the Maxwell Award watch list.
Willis started 10 games under center for the Hokies in 2018 and finished third in the ACC with a 2.67 TD-to-INT ratio, fourth in passing yards per game (226.3 ypg), fourth in pass efficiency (138.0) and fifth in total offense (244.8 ypg). His 2,716 passing yards last season ranked eighth all-time in a single season at Virginia Tech.
2019 VIRGINIA TECH FOOTBALL TICKETS
(The Virginia Tech Athletics Department put individual football game tickets on sale Monday morning. Fans interested in purchasing a ticket to any of the Hokies' seven home games may do so by clicking here).
FUENTE A FAN OF THE ACC NETWORK
The ACC Network is scheduled to launch Thursday and count Fuente among the many who think the network will be a boon for all schools and all sports in the league. He cited financial benefits and exposure as the two biggest pluses for the new network.
"Obviously, there is a financial component to it for our league," he said. "If you look at what this league has been able to accomplish without being at or near the top of revenue numbers that you see in other leagues, I think it's encouraging for the future of our entire league from just an economic standpoint.
"Secondly, there's an exposure standpoint. If you really think about it, if you take football and basketball out of it, and you think about the Olympic sports and you think about the wonderful stories with Olympians, great athletes and great people that have come through all of our universities, they're a lot of great stories. I'm anxious to see the network tell those stories from our school and the other ones. I think it's going to be good for everybody moving forward."
JOHNSON SOLIDIFYING HIMSELF AT KICKER
Coming out of spring practice, Fuente and the staff felt somewhat apprehensive about the placekicking situation, and Jordan Stout's decision to transfer only added to that. But incumbent kicker Brian Johnson has kicked well, according to Fuente. He added the Johnson is a candidate for the kickoff job as well – a job handled well last season by Stout.
"Brian has been the guy who has primarily been kicking field goals with taking the reps with the 1s [the first team]," Fuente said. "We will continue to see who will take care of kickoffs. [Parker] Romo [a transfer from Tulsa] has done a good job, so we'll see where he ends up as we continue heading down the stretch here."
HEZZY EMERGING AS PUNT RETURNER
Hezekiah Grimsley stands as one of the Hokies' primary receivers, particularly while working out of the slot, but he also may be this team's punt returner. Fuente said Grimsley and freshman Tayvion Robinson have emerged from the pack, with Grimsley surprising the staff because he seemed hesitant to be a returner at Tech despite excelling at it in high school.
"He's worked hard at it," Fuente said. "He has gone and attacked it like it is something that he really, really wants. And then he's been very consistent. It's not always easy to treat every rep like it's a game. That's a difficult mental task, so he's done a really good job of trying his best to treat every rep like it is live action. He's been really consistent, and I think that's a product of his work ethic."
Gallery: (8/18/2019) 2019 FOOTBALL FALL PRACTICE 15
