BLACKSBURG — From purely a football perspective, coaches love spring ball.
There’s no game to prepare for. There’s no opponent scouting. There’s no highs and lows that come with each week’s results. It’s just pure developmental work.
“Spring football, for me, is one of the most exciting times because you get really an opportunity to work closely with the guys,” Virginia Tech defensive coordinator Bud Foster said. “We’ll spend a lot of time together, to grow and improve and for us to find out who can play and who’s our playmakers, who’s our leaders and those types of things.”
The Hokies, who began the first of 15 spring football practices Saturday, which culminate in the April 14 spring game at 3:30 p.m. in Lane Stadium, have a lot to figure out in the next month, having bid farewell to a small but productive senior class and three underclassmen from the defense who should go relatively early in this spring’s NFL Draft.
Virginia Tech’s 19-8 in coach Justin Fuente’s two seasons in Blacksburg, though this could be an interesting year, with the team hitting a transition point where more players on the roster will have been recruited by Fuente as opposed to his predecessor Frank Beamer.
Here are five questions as the Hokies begin spring ball:
1. Can anyone challenge Josh Jackson as the starting quarterback?
Jackson had a strong first year as a starter as a redshirt freshman, throwing for 2,991 yards and 20 touchdowns with nine interceptions, but he wasn’t as sharp down the stretch. He’s the incumbent, which is hard to displace, but Tech will try to get full evaluations on Hendon Hooker and Ryan Willis this spring.
Hooker, a 6-foot-4, 216-pound redshirt freshman from Greensboro, was one of the breakouts in last year’s spring game working with the second unit, but he didn’t play last fall. A year in the strength and conditioning program and having time to fully acclimate himself to the playbook should help his chances this spring.
Willis was a transfer from Kansas who had to sit out last year. He got thrown into the fire on a bad Jayhawks team early in his career, throwing for 12 touchdowns and 17 interceptions in parts of two seasons, but he came to Tech as a walk-on with hopes that he could work his way into the competition.
Fuente’s not running from the fact that Jackson started all 13 games last year, but he knows he has to get a sense of what every quarterback on the roster can do.
“Willis has some natural ability throwing the football,” Fuente said. “He’s fit in with the football team really well. He works hard. He’s got some game experience. I’m excited to watch him go compete.
“Hendon doesn’t have game experience but has some talent. And the one thing that he did do during fall when we would practice on Thursdays, even though he got very few reps throughout the week, he seemed to get in there and things seemed to move smoothly. … So I’m anxious to see him and anxious to see them just like they’re anxious just to get out there.”
2. Who will step up to replace some long-time starters on the offensive line?
The Hokies got good news when Kyle Chung received a sixth year of eligibility from the NCAA, although left guard Wyatt Teller and center Eric Gallo are gone, leaving two spots up for grabs on the offensive line
It might be time for Tyrell Smith and D’Andre Plantin to make a move. Smith, a junior, had the right tackle job all of last spring but suffered a leg injury in August, opening a door for Chung to seize the job all year. Chung might work at center this spring, which would open up the right tackle spot again.
Plantin, another junior, rotated with departed senior Parker Osterloh at left tackle at the end of last fall when Yosuah Nijman was injured and handled himself well.
“We’ve got some guys where it’s kind of put up or shut up time now,” Fuente said.
3. How will Virginia Tech fill the massive void at linebacker?
The loss of talent and experience was massive at linebacker, where three-year starting mike Andrew Motuapuaka graduated and All-American backer Tremaine Edmunds opted to go pro, where he'll be a likely first-round pick. On top of that, top backups Anthony Shegog and Sean Huelskamp graduated and Tavante Beckett and the program parted ways after his legal troubles last fall.
The replacements have next to no game experience. Sophomores Rayshard Ashby and Dylan Rivers will probably be atop the depth chart to start the spring, simply because they played on special teams last season. Rico Kearney and walk-on Daniel Griffith will also work at mike, while Jaylen Griffin and early enrollee Alan Tisdale will work at backer.
It’s quite possible some summer arrivals — Dax Hollifield and Keshon Artis — can work their way into the mix too.
“You don’t have a junior, let alone a senior," Fuente said. "I don’t know if I’ve ever gone into a season without a junior linebacker, without a guy that’s played any at all."
4. Are there any healthy receivers left to compete this spring?
Ball State transfer Damon Hazelton was going to be a spring curiosity, someone who had to sit out last year but had drawn rave reviews all fall. As it turns out, he’ll be sidelined for all of spring drills with an undisclosed injury.
He won’t be alone. Eric Kumah, who closed last year strong, and Tre Turner, an early enrollee who was one of the highest-ranked signees in the 2018 class, will be limited throughout spring with injuries as well.
Tech does have an intriguing roster of receivers, though. Sean Savoy had a strong freshman season (39 catches, 454 yards, 4 TDs), sophomore Phil Patterson returned from surgery to come on strong late in the year and Hezekiah Grimsley caught 10 passes in the final two games of his freshman season.
C.J. Carroll is the veteran of the group and speedster Henri Murphy’s a senior as well. The rest are walk-ons. This group could have benefited from a full roster of players to get reps in the spring, however.
“There’s not much I can do about it,” Fuente said. “We’ll put the guys out there that we put out there and go get them.”
5. Tim Settle’s gone on the d-line. So are three starting defensive backs. Who replaces them?
Settle’s early departure for the NFL leaves a massive hole, one that’s probably going to be filled by sophomore Jarrod Hewitt for now, though senior Vinny Mihota sounds like he’ll play on the interior instead of at end when he eventually returns from last year’s shoulder injury. Those two and senior Ricky Walker give the Hokies a nice trio on the inside
At cornerback, both Greg Stroman and Brandon Facyson graduated. Adonis Alexander is a senior, though he’s been up-and-down throughout his career, both on and off the field. It’s part of the reason Caleb Farley moved back to defense this spring. He’ll be limited as he comes back from a knee injury that cost him all of 2017, back when the Hokies planned to play him at receiver, but coaches have high hopes for him on defense too.
"He’s long, can run and will strike you," co-defensive coordinator Galen Scott said.
Free safety Terrell Edmunds is also gone, having left for the NFL Draft, but Tech’s coaches are excited about Divine Deablo as a replacement. The rising junior broke his foot last September but was on the verge of breaking out before he went down.
“I was really impressed by, before he got hurt, how he was stepping up,” Foster said. “He’s long, he’s physical, he can cover. When you’re longer and have that kind of suddenness, that’s what you’re looking for as far as a quick burst and those type of things. I think [he’s] a tremendous prospect, a tremendous talent.”
