I asked and you answered. The mailbag pickings were slim until I tweeted as much Thursday around noon. I got about 40 responses right after, and for that, I thank you.

I'll try to hit a bunch today. Won't get to them all, but I'll save as many as I can to answer in future mailbags.

And if you missed our podcast this week, A) I thought it was pretty lively, and B) we answered some questions there too.

Let's get to the questions ...

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Coaching hires and fires usually happen at the end of the season. What should Virginia Tech fans expect for Scott’s replacement? Will Hamilton just ride out with an interim tag until December? Do good candidates leave schools in May to take another assistant position?

-- Ben, Raleigh

This was by far the most asked question, as you'd expect a week after one of the highest-paid assistant coaches abruptly resigns in the wake of allegations of an extramarital affair during recruiting trips. The honest answer I have here is, I'm not quite sure what direction Tech goes. Ben is right: job openings don't come open all too often this time of year. Assistant changes are typically in December and January, with a few stretching out after signing day once players have all signed their letters of intent. It's not too often that any kind of major D-I job comes open this late in the process, both of the head coach and assistant variety.

The one that comes to mind that happened late in the process was Ruffin McNeill, who left UVa for Oklahoma last June after Bob Stoops retired out of the blue and Lincoln Riley was promoted to head coach. That was an unusual situation, though. The Sooners were such an obvious upgrade from the Cavaliers that it made total sense, and McNeill and Riley went way back, having coached together at both Texas Tech and East Carolina. Ironically, if there was such a coach Justin Fuente would turn to in a pinch like this, it'd be Galen Scott, who he's known for more than 15 years and is close friends with. Absent that option, I'm not sure if there's an obvious choice.

And I don't know if the Hokies want to rush this particular hire or choose from a smaller pool because nobody who's established would want to up and leave a stable job at this stage of the season. It might be wiser to ride out Justin Hamilton in an interim role for the year, have an attractive position available when there's a full complement of assistants to choose from in December/January and go from there. You never know who'll be available that time of year, and when you consider Scott was probably fourth in the pecking order at Tech, behind Fuente, Bud and Brad Cornelsen, it's a spot you don't want to fill with limited options. Considering Scott was due to make $338,000 this year, that's a pretty good sum of money to be working with too. This might be the time to go after a really strong recruiter. The elite ones are probably still more expensive than that, but you can certainly fetch a pretty good one for a third of a million a year.

Scott's contributions will be missed, but Bud Foster still runs the defense and coaches the linebackers. Brian Mitchell, another former coordinator, coaches the corners. Hamilton, who's not rookie necessarily on the coaching scene, having been an assistant at UVa-Wise and VMI before coming to Tech, can handle the safeties for a year. It's not like the whole operation falls apart in Scott's absence. As for how Scott's departure impacts the recruiting class, it'll have some effect, I'm sure, but it's not devastating. Tech spreads out enough of its recruiting contacts that it's not like he's the only guy a lot of prospects have been in contact with. And there are still 7-8 months left in this recruiting cycle. If signing day was tomorrow, that'd be a huge concern. You never want to throw something like this on players looking to make a decision. No time is ideal, but there's plenty of time to recover from it right now.

That is a lot of work, and something that somebody else has already done, so I'll link to the incredibly in-depth writeup that eHOKIEt at The Key Play put together last year. I'll simply point out some of the tough calls:

No. 4: The site went with David Wilson. I probably would have picked DeAngelo Hall, whose NFL longevity probably plays a big role in leaning that way. It's too bad Tim Settle left after last year, otherwise he might have gotten in the conversation (though honestly, I liked him as No. 97 more). And some up-and-comers might have a chance to challenge down the line. Both Dax Hollifield and Quincy Patterson II are going to wear No. 4 next year.

No. 8: This was done last year, which was before Ricky Walker switched to No. 8. Vinnie Fuller got the nod, though I'd imagine Walker has a chance to surpass him there, if he hasn't already.

No. 11: Xavier Adibi or Kendall Fuller? Woof. That's a tough call. I think ultimately I'd go with Adibi, since he was a four-year contributor and is who you mention first when you talk about Virginia Tech linebackers. Fuller loses some points for the injury that cost him his junior year before he left for the pros early.

No. 17: Kam Chancellor or Kyle Fuller. The Fuller brothers keep losing out here, I think, even though Kyle Fuller had the better college career, earning first-team All-America honors and going in the first round of the NFL Draft. Chancellor's been such a prominent NFL player for so long, though, that I think that tips the scales in his favor. Fuller still has time to change that, however.

No. 25: This isn't an argument about the caliber of player as much as it is about importance to the program. Just based on playing ability, Kevin Jones is the pick here. But this was Frank Beamer's number, and now that it's rotating to a special teams standout each week as a way to honor the Hall of Fame coach, I think it's always going to be remembered that way. (Plus, Jones wore No 7 for a stretch too.)

No. 45: It's probably got to be Cyrus Lawrence, who remains the school's all-time leading rusher with 3,767 yards, but recently this was Sam Rogers' number too. He didn't put up gaudy stats or anything, but he's undoubtedly one of the most beloved Hokies of the last two decades. 

No. 49: The site went with Chris Ellis. That was before Tremaine Edmunds had an All-American junior season and went in the first round of the draft. I think the torch has been passed there.

No. 81: Mike Burnop, who was a pretty good tight end before he became known as Tech's radio color guy, got the nod here on the site, though Jarrett Boykin did leave the Hokies as the school's all-time leading receiver. That's a tough call. 

That's about all the close ones that I think I saw on there. Peruse the list, see if you see any others. 

Someone tweeted it at me during the fourth round of the draft that it was all the ghosts of past Hokies recruiting misses who were going off the board. Jalyn Holmes, DaeSean Hamilton, Da'Shawn Hand and Josh Sweat all went in the fourth round. Derrick Nnadi went the round before that. Perhaps that's underperforming based on what those guys were recruited as, but being a third- or fourth-round NFL pick is still pretty good. I know the question is someone tongue-in-cheek, but I doubt any regret their recruiting decisions over this.

It is amazing that the two in-state guys who did go in the first round were a pair of three-star recruits from Danville in the Edmunds brothers. Certainly there was some excitement over Tremaine committing, but I don't recall any parades being thrown when Terrell came into the mix. And he was outstanding in his career. I'm not going to sit here and say that recruiting rankings are meaningless. In a macro sense, they're very good indicators of how a program is doing in acquiring talent. But individually, there are a lot of ways a player's career can go. This draft was a pretty good indicator of that.

I don't think this is a situation where Whit is going to intervene. He's very hands-off with his coaches. He doesn't interfere to that kind of level when it comes to access to practice. And Fuente obviously doesn't like to open things up that much. He's not very inclined to let media in to watch stuff, and he certainly does not want what his team does at the spring game to be streamable after the fact for other teams to pore over it. If you watch the highlights from the spring game, you'll notice they're all very zoomed in. Now, I'm not sure what other coaches can actually glean from watching spring game (we talkin' 'bout practice, after all), but this is a paranoid profession, and if a coach doesn't see a benefit in allowing more eyes on what they're doing at practice, he's probably not going to go for it. I think that falls out of the purview of the upcoming ACC Network. ESPN's been a partner with the ACC for a while, after all. It has never forced the schools to stream something like the spring game before even with that partnership. I don't see why that would change with the new network coming. You can argue more open practices for fans to come would be something that perhaps Babcock would get involved with, since fan interest probably helps when it comes to asking for donations. But as far as streaming the spring game, I don't see it happening.

While the Hokies will certainly replace Cantor's position on staff, I don't think it's going to include any major expansion of the recruiting staff. That group's had some additions that Fuente thought was necessary in recent years, but Tech doesn't have unlimited resources like Florida seems to. This is where the athletic department revenue starts to come into play. The Hokies have done a good job to make up for some of the differences there and the employees they have in those spots have certainly done a good job, but Florida had athletic department revenues of $141 million last year. Tech just went over $90 million in the last fiscal year. There's a reason Cantor's joining a Florida staff that has an assistant director of player personnel under him and three positions just broadly defined as "recruiting specialist." Those are luxuries that a lot of athletic departments can't afford. So I'd expect a Cantor replacement and for the Hokies just to keep their current setup. Remember, Fuente negotiated an extra recruiting position into his 2017 extension, so it took some doing to expand that staff before. I don't think they'd go back and do it again this quickly.

I think he's got a great chance to start this year. Certainly, Adonis Alexander has the most experience and, if he keeps his head on straight, should be one of the starters. But who else is there, really? I see a lot of penciling junior college transfer Jeremy Webb in that other spot, although he's just as much of an unknown coming out of the spring as Farley, who didn't do a whole lot as he came back from last year's knee injury. Neither has played corner in a game at the Division I level before. Given the makeup of the cornerback group, it wouldn't surprise me to see a three-man rotation there like the Hokies have done the last couple years. That seemed to work out well and the coaches liked it because it kept guys fresher. There seems to be a pretty clear line of demarcation beyond those guys, with Bryce Watts, Tyree Rodgers, Jovonn Quillen and others as the next wave on the depth chart. 

As for Farley's long-term future, I think the Hokies love his potential. Both the offensive and defensive coaches sound like they really wanted his services. He had a lot of promise as a receiver and Tech still moved him back to defense, which should tell you what his outlook as a defensive back is. He's 6-foot-2, which is great height for a cornerback. You saw his ball-catching skills on display last year in the spring game, so it's not like he's over there because he can't catch. He sounds like a pretty good package on defense. I'm not going to predict how his career will pan out three years from now, because that's really hard to do, but I like his chances. 

Wow. That is a tough one. I don't think anyone will go in the first round this year, unless Walker makes some spectacular leap in his senior season (and even that's probably not going to do it). Yosuah Nijman has the size to be an NFL-level talent, but he hasn't the production so far to be considered anywhere close to the first round. Honestly, in the same vein as how I ended the previous question, it's impossible to know. Of the five first-rounders Tech has had in the last decade -- the Edmundses, Kyle Fuller, Wilson and Duane Brown -- only Wilson was really considered a prized recruit. The rest were regarded well enough, but they developed into stars at Tech. So while I could go down the roster and pick out the top recruits in a couple of these classes, the truth is that doesn't matter a whole lot (or at least hasn't at Virginia Tech) in who makes the leap to be a first-round draft pick.

This ACC quarterback ranking by Athlon surprised me, Andy. What do you think -- is Josh Jackson the second best QB in the ACC going into the season?

-- Ed Stone, Martinsville

I've been reading your stuff for a while and it seems like you have a pretty favorable opinion of how Josh Jackson handled things last season as a redshirt freshman. I also understand that statistically speaking he had an impressive season for a freshman, but do you not agree that the kid just didn't pass the eye test?

We know that his performance dipped significantly in ACC play, and the fact that he isn't mobile probably doesn't jive with my idea of a typical successful QB at Virginia Tech, but does he do anything well beyond "good decision making"? He can't throw the deep ball, and his running skills have been greatly exaggerated. So again, if you can't run and don't have a deep ball, what cant he do to keep the defenses at bay?

-- Andew

I'll be honest, I didn't expect "how will Josh Jackson fare as quarterback?" to be the most polarizing question of the offseason, yet here we are. My thought is that Jackson had a much better redshirt freshman season than a lot of folks seem to be giving him credit for, undoubtedly colored by the way he ended the season. Yet I wouldn't go as far as Athlon did and rank him No. 2 of the returning QBs in the league. To answer that first question, I'd probably have him fifth of those returners, behind N.C. State's Ryan Finley, Clemson's Kelly Bryant, Miami's Malik Rosier and Duke's Daniel Jones. I'd put him a touch ahead of Florida State's James Blackman and right around where Syracuse's Eric Dungey is. For a guy entering his redshirt sophomore season, that's not a bad spot to be. And that list doesn't even include some other guys who might enter the mix like FSU's Deondre Francois and Clemson super frosh Trevor Lawrence. 

As for Andrew's question, "good decision making" is 90 percent of being a quarterback. Really, it is. The best ones certainly have a level of physical gifts that they rely on, but what separates the great quarterback from guys who have all the physical tools and can't put it all together? The mental side. This notion that the best quarterbacks all have blazing speed and have perfect touch on the deep ball is so misguided. How many foot races is Tom Brady winning? Did Joe Montana heave it 70 yards down the field often? No, but find two quarterbacks who run an offense any better than those two. Perhaps Tech fans have just been conditioned to having a super athlete at quarterback all these years. Having Michael Vick and Tyrod Taylor will do that. But there are many ways to play quarterback. And Fuente's system has worked for all kinds of athletes. I don't think anyone would call Andy Dalton one of the most physically gifted quarterbacks out there, but he was pretty dang good under Fuente's tutelage. 

So while I'm not going to sit here and say Jackson is one of the top two quarterbacks in the league like Athlon did, I certainly think he's better than a segment of the Hokies fan base is giving him credit for, especially considering he's only entering his sophomore season and has plenty of room for growth.

Now THIS is the kind of mailbag question I love. Before I get to Bud, if anyone were to do an animated film about the Hokies and they were looking for a voice actor to play Fuente, it'd undoubtedly be Jeff Bridges. If you disagree, just close your eyes when you watch one of Fuente's press conferences and imagine he's at a bowling alley wearing sandals and tossing in a "Man!" every now and then to punctuate his phrases. You'll be amazed. (Some of the Dude's substances might help that too.)

Anyway, back to Bud. If you're casting that role, you'll need someone who has a square enough jaw, which I think is Bud's most prominent facial feature. (Goatee aside, since anyone can grow a goatee.) I'm going to go with Chris Meloni of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" fame. He's roughly the same age as Bud. He's got a strong jawline. I don't know that he's ever played a jock in any of acting roles, but he comes across as a guy who used to be a football player. 

And if you're doing a movie with Foster, you'd certainly have to find someone to play Frank. Young Frank, I'm going with Jerry Lambert, who's done a lot of sitcom work. They just look alike. Older Frank, I'm not sure, but I'm open to suggestions. Who else ya got, casting directors?

Contact Andy Bitter at andy.bitter@roanoke.com or 381-1676. Follow him on Twitter: @AndyBitterVT.