By Jimmy Robertson
BLACKSBURG – The Virginia Tech football team returned to the practice field Sunday afternoon following the Hokies' disappointing 35-28 loss to Boston College in Saturday's season opener.
The loss marked the first season opening defeat for head coach Justin Fuente in his four seasons at the helm. The Hokies led 14-7 at one point in the first half, but gave up 21 second quarter points primarily because of turnovers and never tied or led in the game again. Tech committed five turnovers for the game.
Now the Hokies face a challenge from a team that beat them a year ago in a bit of a surprise – Old Dominion. The Monarchs scored 28 points in the fourth quarter and finished with 631 yards of offense for the game in a 49-35 victory over Tech.
The Hokies aren't thinking about last season's game, as both squads look much different in preparation for Saturday's game. Instead, Fuente and his staff want to keep the focus on improving and not necessarily on the opponent.
"For us, this week is about all the things we need to improve on as a football team in terms of all three phases of the game, preparation-wise," he said. "There are two phases to that game last week. We battled, played hard, all those sorts of things, which are good things, and we can't lose that. But we also have to obtain this level of consistent play from all of our guys, not just our young guys. We've got to play at a higher execution level, while maintaining this level of effort and discipline and toughness. That will be our focus this week."
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Fuente met with the media on Monday – the team's day off – and addressed an array of topics, including the NCAA's rejection of Brock Hoffman's appeal, the Hokies' freshmen, Tech's rushing attack, Ryan Willis and more.
Here is more from Monday's press conference:
FUENTE DISAPPOINTED IN HOFFMAN DECISION
The NCAA notified Tech Athletics last Tuesday that it had denied offensive lineman Brock Hoffman's appeal to be eligible immediately after transferring from Coastal Carolina. The appeal centered on Hoffman's desire to be closer to his Statesville, North Carolina home so that he could be closer to his ailing mother, who underwent surgery for a non-cancerous brain tumor in December of 2017. His mother continues to suffer health related issues from the surgery.
Fuente had not been publicly interviewed about the NCAA decision, but gave his thoughts after asked about it Monday.
"At the risk of sounding like a guy who is up here complaining, I'm going to try not to do that," he said. "You look at Brock and his family and what they've been through and how they've handled the situation they're in, I think it's admirable. He is a kid who did not quit on this football team. He did not leave them in the middle of the year. He did not leave them right at the beginning of the year when some people have. In my estimation, he went about this the right way and was penalized for it, and I think that's unfortunate.
"This is a young man that stuck with his team, that tried to make it work, that tried to go do things, that tried to commute, that tried to not leave his guys and ultimately was penalized for that, but I think we can learn a lot from Brock. I really do. Things didn't go Brock's way, and you know what he did? He showed up and he went down there and ran the scout team, and he busted his tail doing that. He had to lift with our developmental group. You know what he did? He led that freshman group in their developmental lift. This is a guy that doesn't let other people determine his attitude and his effort, and I think that's admirable. I think we could all learn a lesson from Brock, and I'm not lecturing everyone else. I'm just admiring the young man."
Fuente expressed both disappointment and frustration in the appeals process, which essentially took all summer and left Hoffman wondering about his status until four days before the opener. He was careful not to let the news conference become a complaining session about the NCAA, preferring instead to encourage all sides – NCAA officials, ADs, players and coaches – to come up with ways to improve the system.
"As I tell our coaches all the time, it doesn't take anyone to point out the problems," Fuente said. "It takes somebody with some intelligence and thought to create some solutions. Standing around, and for lack of a better term, bitching about the problem does us no good. Finding ways to create solutions is the answer.
"There have been some good suggestions that, I think, merit conversations. You all would probably be surprised to hear my thoughts – I'm not going to give them to you now – but you would probably be surprised to hear my thoughts on the amateur model. They're probably different than what you think it is, but I do think it would be wise to get people generally invested in the best interests of collegiate sports and these kids together to try to find an amicable solution to our model, and transfer policy, waiver policy, is just one of them. That's easier said than done."
Hoffman will sit out this season essentially as a redshirt, and he'll have two years of eligibility remaining.
INJURY UPDATES
Fuente only offered an injury update on tailback Jalen Holston, who is out indefinitely with an undisclosed injury. The remainder of the Hokies' injured players will be evaluated throughout the week.
FRESHMEN PLAYED WELL
Tech's staff played five true freshman Saturday at BC – receiver Tayvion Robinson, tailback Keshawn King, tight end Nick Gallo, and defensive linemen Norell Pollard and Mario Kendricks. Robinson and King probably got most of the ink following the game, as Robinson caught a team-best six passes for 72 yards and a touchdown, and King led the Hokies in rushing with 33 yards.
"They were productive," Fuente said. "There are a lot of things, speaking of those two guys in particular, that they've got to get better at. I think Tayvion got a little tired. At times, he didn't play as fast as he need to play in order to be a productive, everydown player. Keshawn wasn't in there for as long of stretches, so that didn't happen to him quite as much.
"I thought they handled the moment. They were productive when they were in there. They, like the rest of us, have plenty of things to work on, as we move forward."
The staff plans to use King more extensively in light of Holston's injury, even though he is a true freshman and only weighs around 185 pounds.
"It's kind of to the point of where he better be," Fuente said when asked if King was ready for the additional workload. "The line is getting short."
WORK TO DO ON THE RUSHING ATTACK
Speaking of the tailbacks, the Hokies rushed for just 98 yards on 42 carries – an average of 2.3 yards per carry. Tech struggled to run the ball last season, finishing ninth in the ACC at 174.3 yards per carry, and Saturday's game showed that the offense needs to improve in this area.
"We've got to run the football better," Fuente admitted. "That falls on everybody. That falls on the quarterback, that falls on the coaches, that falls on the offensive line and the running backs – we've all got to do a better job. We get the ball to the unblocked hat, [and] we've got to make him miss and get more yards. We've got to get the ball to the unblocked hat on a more consistent basis as well. Plenty to work on there."
ANALYZING WILLIS' GAME
Quarterback Ryan Willis completed 29 of 47 passes for 344 yards and four touchdowns. He was six completions short of a school record, and his 344 yards were his most in a game as a Tech quarterback. Yet he committed four turnovers, throwing three interceptions and losing a fumble.
"I think they're all correctable," Fuente said of the interceptions. "The screen was in between – a tough deal, to be honest with you. If he gets it over his head, I think we've got a big play. But there are some things in there that we've got to do a better job of teaching, a better job of learning and executing, that we should be able to."
TALE OF TWO HALVES FOR TECH 'D'
Tech's defense gave up 356 yards and 28 points in the first half, which disappointed defensive coordinator Bud Foster. The Hokies played much better in the second half, allowing just 76 yards.
"We just weren't as sharp or as aggressive as I really thought we'd be starting out the game," Fuente said. "We played defense a little bit on our heels, and it hurts us. We're playing a good offense, and they're going to have some success. But we buckled down and played much better in the second half."
TECH SEARCHING FOR ANSWERS ON GARBUTT PLAY
Tech defensive end TyJuan Garbutt suffered an injury on what the coaching staff through was a questionable block on BC's first series of the game, and they submitted video of that block to the conference office for a ruling. Garbutt never returned to the game.
"I did look at it, and we turned it in," Fuente said. "We'll see. My opinion doesn't matter. I'm anxious to get the interp [interpretation] from the league to see if we're all on the same page of what we're looking for and how the block is going to be officiated.
"Like a lot of things, I don't think the rule is bad. It's just all the fringe plays out there, trying to make sure you're teaching everything correctly to your players. Like everything else, you'll probably have some innocent guys get penalties that are trying to do it the right way in the name of safety. I think that type of collateral damage is a good thing for our game."
