Experience Standing Out to Fuente, Devin Wilson Trying His Hand at Wide Receiver

Justin Fuente and the Hokies' offensive coaching staff have played things close to the vest since arriving in Blacksburg last winter, but the new head Hokie did give a brief glimpse into some early impressions of his new team Tuesday afternoon.

"You can name off the guys who are having a good spring...Sam Rogers and Augie Conte, Woody Baron and Chuck Clark," said Fuente. "But those are the guys who have been through it all. What we need are the younger guys to continue to move forward...That's the challenge of it."

That sentiment extends to the quarterback room, a place where Fuente will surely be spending plenty of time as the Hokies progress in their search for a starting signal-caller.

"I would say, just in general terms in much of the way our team is right now, I've been more pleased with the older guys," said Fuente. "At quarterback, I'd say the older guys, the guys that have got a little more experience have been a little bit further ahead than the younger guys. But that doesn't mean really all that much right now, but that's kinda where it's at."

And while that may seem to point in the direction of either returning senior quarterback Brenden Motley or Junior College transfer Jerod Evans, handicapping the Hokies' quarterback race before the spring game might still prove a fool's errand. After all, starting wide receiver Cam Phillips has had trouble himself deciphering the quarterback competition.

"I don't know honestly who is playing quarterback with as fast as we go at practice," joked Phillips. "(I just focus on) knowing where I'm supposed to go and not getting yelled at."

Wilson Working at WR

After a junior campaign on the hardwood that saw Devin Wilson's minutes decline for the third straight season, news broke last week that Wilson would be trying his hand at wide receiver this spring. It's not an overly outrageous idea, though, as Wilson was a record-setting wideout — and three-star recruit — coming out of Pennsylvania's Montour High School.

Tuesday evening marked just Wilson's third practice on the gridiron, but Fuente seemed encouraged with the early performance of the Hokies' basketball standout.

"He's done well," said Fuente. "He's a smart, tough, good athlete. Been really pleased with him. There's obviously an adjustment level, but he's highly intelligent and picks things up quickly."

The interest was a two-way street, Fuente insists, a mutual agreement between all involved — Wilson, Fuente, and even head basketball coach Buzz Williams.

"I just think there was mutual interest there. He was a very good high school player," said Fuente. "Obviously we had conversations with Buzz to make sure everything was fine over there. And Buzz talked to Devin to see if he was even interested. When we found out there was mutual interest, we thought we'd give this a shot. We're in the early stages of this, of whether this works for either party. We'll push through it and see how he feels and how we feel and evaluate it towards the end."

But despite the seemingly rare pairing, this wouldn't be the first time Fuente has had a player dabble in both football and basketball. Sam Craft, Memphis' third-leading rusher in 2014 with 331 yards on the ground, made the switch to the Tigers' basketball team ahead of the 2015 season. Craft, also a two-sport standout in high school, wound up averaging 2.1 points for game for Josh Pastner's squad and even cracked into the starting rotation for 7 of Memphis' 33 total games.

Craft's success notwithstanding, expecting Wilson to beat out the likes of Isaiah Ford and Phillips is likely unrealistic. However, the Hokies' heady point guard known for his defense and leadership could potentially provide solid depth at receiver for a group desperately needing it.

"He's an athlete," said Phillips. "He can run. Quick, can make good cuts. It's just as far as running routes, that stuff can take some time to develop. But as far as learning the plays and stuff, he's been fine with that."

Offensive Line Adjusting to Quicker Pace

Former offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler dabbled with the hurry-up offense throughout his tenure in Blacksburg, often trying to build on momentum by getting to the line of scrimmage immediately after a big play.

But with the arrival of Fuente and new offensive coordinator Brad Cornelsen, the hurry-up offense is a totally different animal.

"If we got a big play, ran a big play or something like that, we'd hurry up to the line and try to run another play," said offensive lineman Wyatt Teller of last year's offense. "(Now) it's just every play. We don't have a huddle. The first thing we learned with Coach Loeffler was the huddle, and then we'll break to the line of scrimmage. But (now) we don't have a huddle. It's so fast. You gotta know the terminology and everything like that."

But with increased tempo has come simplified verbiage, shortened play-calls to allow the Hokies to work at a near breakneck pace.

"I feel like sometimes I'll get to that little hump and I'll be like, 'This is a lot of plays,'" said Teller. "We'll have a five minute period or something like that and we'll get 12, 18 plays done. That's unbelievable. Usually it would take 15 minutes with Coach Loeffler...Everything was longer terminology where now everything is kind of one word, two words which helps."

Both Teller and fellow offensive lineman Jonathan McLaughlin are adjusting to the third position coach of their college careers this spring with the arrival of former Memphis offensive line coach Vance Vice. And while Vice comes with an intense and demanding reputation — as did former line coach Stacy Searles — McLaughlin insists that it's been a smooth transition thus far.

"Right now, I feel like we're getting the watered down (Coach) Vice because he's new," said McLaughlin. "But he's still intense. He's very intense. And off the field, he's a great guy. A great guy. Like I said, he's everything you can ask for in an offensive line coach."

Additional Quotes

Justin Fuente

OPENING STATEMENT:

"Want to thank everyone that's purchased their season tickets. I know we got more going on sale Wednesday. Everybody tells me that's going really well. Also excited about the response that we're getting from some of our former players about coming back to the spring game on April 23. I think it's gonna be a fun day. I know the weather was a little rough last year, at least that's what they told me, it rained pretty decent. Hopefully we'll have good weather, but I think it's gonna be a fun day with a bunch of NFL guys and that sort of stuff coming out. Today we've got practice seven, so it's basically the halfway point in our 14 practices before the spring game. We got after it a little bit last week on Thursday with a scrimmage that was less than half the practice. It didn't involve any situations. It was just merely normal down and distance, who can line up and go play. There was some decent give-and-take, quite honestly I wasn't over the moon thrilled with it on either side of the ball. I just think there's another level of detail and intensity that we can reach that we were not at in the scrimmage. But I'm looking forward to this week. We'll get into much more situational work, third down, field zones, red zone, those sorts of things. Getting into some more of those details of the situations you encounter in an actual football game. Also like the progress that we've been making special teams wise. We've been attacking all phases of special teams trying to get our techniques taught. I know special teams have obviously played a large role in the past success here. We anticipate that continuing...James Shibest has done a fine job, really earned a fantastic reputation as a great special teams coordinator. I think we're off to a good start there with lots of work left to do. Looking forward to today. Today we'll get into some third down, put the ball into the red zone a little bit and start to hit on those situations in preparation for scrimmaging on Saturday with a much more realistic tempo. First, second, third down, change of possession, all those sorts of things."

ON ENTERING THE SECOND SEGMENT OF SPRING BALL:

"This is kind of the second segment (of the spring). I think the first segment is basically getting base offense, defense installed. Special teams doesn't always match up exactly the way that I have it segmented out. It's kind of a separate entity there. We'll introduce return today. We've introduced the other phases already. Today or the next three practices, we'll begin to introduce the situational work. We got a little two minute drill on Saturday. We'll get some more today, all those specialty kinds of situations is what we'll start getting into over the next couple of days and actually including Saturday, so the last practice and the next two."

ON THE TRANSITION FROM JUCO TO THE ACC FOR JEROD EVANS:

"It's a step up, obviously. How big? That's pretty hard for me to say. They play in a pretty good league down there. But it's definitely a transition. It is for all positions."

ON TEACHING ON THE FIELD VERSUS THROUGH FILM STUDY:

"First of all, I would say certain segments are organized differently. So some of them, we really do wanna slow it down and teach on the field because everybody learns differently. Some people are visual learners. Some guys have to actually physically do it in order to learn it. So some segments are done like that. But when we're in team work or group work, that's why we have video. That's why every step we take on the field is recorded so we can teach off of that video. It doesn't mean that you don't have any time to get any pointer, but let's maximize our opportunities on the field. Our time when everybody's together, we're all out there in order to not take away from the other guys that need those reps by slowing it down."

ON PLAYERS ADJUSTING TO NEW TEACHING METHODS:

"My perception of them is that it has not been a big issue. I think the overall tempo of practice and the pace of practice is still not what we need it to be. There's still some things that we're gonna try to address today in fact in terms of what I want it to look like and what we need it to look like. But I don't think the teaching method has been a hinderance to the kids."

ON HOW HE FEELS ABOUT RB GROUP:

"I think it's too early for me to tell you where we're at there to be honest with you. We're shuffling guys around and pulling guys in and out. Trying to get guys to know what to do and playing fast right now. We'll see where it's at, to be honest with you. To say that I like or don't like it, I think would be premature. I think we're still trying get to where we're supposed to be and how we're supposed to be there so we can play fast."

ON IF SHAI MCKENZIE LOOKS HEALTHY:

"I guess. I mean I never saw him before hand or after hand...He looks fine to me."

ON IF HE'S HAPPY HALFWAY THROUGH SPRING BALL:

"Well I think you guys, as we spend more time together, will come to know me. It's never where I want it to be. I think that's the charge that we have as coaches, to continue to push it forward. Now I didn't sit down before spring and say practice seven, we should be at this point. So for me, let's continue to push these guys forward, continue to manipulate the pieces to see where they all fit. At the end of the spring, we can take stock with where we're at as we move forward to the summer. It's never, in short, it's never where I want it to be."

ON IF PLAYERS HAVE BEEN RESISTING CHANGE:

"No, I haven't heard that. I think the guys have tremendous respect for Coach (Beamer) and the job that he and staff did, but I haven't seen anything. We have made a concerted effort for the older guys because change is always different for the older guys because they're more set in their ways. When you talk about some of those older guys I named earlier, and the list of 10 or 11 seniors that we've got on our team right now, they have absolutely jumped in with both feet. They've done a fantastic job."

ON OLDER GUYS ADJUSTING TO NEW SCHEMES FASTER:

"I just think the more veteran guys, it's easier on, personally...The older guys, they've got pellets on the wall. They've been through the battles. They seem to adjust a little bit quicker."

Cam Phillips

ON IF HE WAS SURPRISED TO HEAR ABOUT DEVIN WILSON:

"Yeah. When I first heard it, I was a little shocked. But Coach Wiggins just told me make sure he knows where to go, what to do, where to be on time."

ON COACH WIGGINS' PERSONALITY:

"He's a cool guy. Burden is very, very laid back. I don't even know if I heard him yell maybe like twice, but Coach Wiggins, he can be cool but out on the practice field he's about his business. He always tells us the work isn't going anywhere, so either you can do it and attack it and get better or just try to get through it. But I think he's a good coach and he's teaching us well."

ON GETTING A COMFORT LEVEL WITH STARTING QB EARLY:

"Would it help? I mean, sure it would help if you knew who you were supposed to work with after or what type of ball this guy likes to throw on this type of route. That always helps, but all those guys are talented. All those guys are fighting for the same thing right now."

ON IF HE LIKES THE UP-TEMPO OFFENSE:

"Definitely. What receiver doesn't like the opportunity to catch more passes, more touchdowns, get more yards, score more points?

Jonathan McLaughlin

ON IF HE'S SET AT LEFT TACKLE:

"Right now, I'm playing left and right. Not one, specifically. We're all experimenting at positions right now."

ON STILL PUTTING PREMIUM ON RUNNING THE FOOTBALL:

"Oh yeah, most definitely. I feel like if you're gonna be a good offense, you have to run the ball first. No matter if you're spread, no matter what offense you are, that's the key, running the ball. You can't pass the ball every down."

ON VANCE VICE'S RUBBER SUIT:

"He told me he was going to the disco the first time I asked him. That was our first conversation about that one."

ON IF WYATT TELLER IS GOING TO GET HIS OWN RUBBER SUIT:

"No, Wyatt's not allowed to pick up one of those (laughs)."

Wyatt Teller

ON HOW PRACTICE IS GOING:

"It's going pretty well. It's fast-paced, obviously you guys know that. It's a lot of fun. It's kinda the same plays, but just a little bit different keys, terminology, stuff like that. Other than that, it's tempo. That's the only change."

ON PLAYING FOR HIS THIRD OL COACH:

"I've been lucky. I've had 3 great coaches. I was really young when I had (Jeff) Grimes, so everybody will tell me stories and I'll be like, 'Oh yeah, I remember that.' But for the most part I was just a freshman with a redshirt, so I don't really remember exactly being coached by Grimes other than beginning when I first moved to offense I was second team left tackle. But with Coach Searles, it was perfection, perfection, perfection. That's a great way to be. That's what you need to be on the offensive line is a perfectionist. With Coach Vice, it's kind of the same thing. I haven't had enough time to see how he turns out...Coach Vice has been really cool and helpful with steps and hands and that type of stuff."

ON TEAM PICKING UP THE NEW OFFENSE:

"I feel like, kinda like Coach Fuente says, we need the first team to make no mistakes and the second team to look exactly like the first team. And third team the same way. So with that kind of in mind, that's how we're running through things. If anybody makes a mistake, it's all of us trying to help and coach each other...Any names, I don't think that's my position, but I think we've had a lot of improvement through the whole team."