The First Bank & Trust Friday Q&A: Spring Practice And The Offensive Line

22 Comments

1. 

   tallahasseehokie March 24, 2023 at 7:48 PM

   Bryce Duke might be the one to surprise. He has a full year of conditioning now and is 5’11” 210 pounds and quick- a natural running back according to his unreal High School videos.
2. 

   79EEHOKIE March 24, 2023 at 6:11 PM

   Re the Fuente story, some times being the boss means making the hard decisions, cut people loose, and go to your boss for what you need to succeed. If your support is not there then you have your answer, move on and quick.
3. 

   vt49701 March 24, 2023 at 5:55 PM

   Absolutely - I've always thought that. If Galen Scott had put the team first and been able to stay with us, that could have made a huge impact on the defensive side of the ball. Additionally, if a key player here had put the team first and stayed one more year, or a key player there would have kept their head on straight and not been suspended, kicked off etc .. Coach Fuente would very well still be with us and we could still be competing for ACC championships. Obviously none of that matters now. Would also very much like to see what Coach Fuente how much better coach Fuente could have opened up the checkbook and helped him upgrade the assistants like he wanted. I don't believe his budget was near as much as the current coaching staff budget. Oh well. Doesn't matter.
4. 

   VTVOICE March 24, 2023 at 4:40 PM

   My question and I agree with you completely. CC has a very mature and perceptive thought process as well as communicating these well. I personally thought CC would ignore this question as obvious and bite on my MLB and new rule and base dimension changes question being a former baseball player himself. Surprised he answered this question and did so better than I thought would be possible.
5. 

   HokieBandit March 24, 2023 at 4:31 PM

   The point about not trusting players reminded me of when I met a backup DT from Penn State. He claimed he wasn't starting because of race. I took a closer look and he was about 5'11" and 250 lbs. I decided it probably wasn't race.
6. 

   gemrooty March 24, 2023 at 4:27 PM

   Your usual good stuff and things to think about. Small point...Bob Schick (r-Fr.) is a r-Jr. according to VT website.
   1. 

      Chris Coleman March 24, 2023 at 4:34 PM

      Fixed, thanks.
7. 

   DADEC52 March 24, 2023 at 4:26 PM

   When I see a response like Chris's above, I wonder how badly Galen Scott hurt both Fuente and VT?
   1. 

      Justin Berkley March 24, 2023 at 4:49 PM

      I had that same thought and can’t help but imagine that the answer to that is that Galen’s indiscretions probably played a bigger role in costing JF his job than Cornelsen, Hamilton, or any of his other assistant hires combined. Scott was a good DC by most accounts and was seen by some here as the heir apparent to Bud Foster. What happened afterwards was a perfect storm of poor coaching, poor recruiting, poor funding of a program, and cutting off our nose to spite our face when it comes to filling coordinator and assistant positions. If it’s true that we came up short on Odom, and if its true that Fuente asked for more money to get a different OC and in both occasions his request was denied, you could make the argument that not having Scott laid the foundation for the “mutual parting of ways.”
   2. 

      VTHogmollies March 24, 2023 at 5:00 PM

      Yep - had the exact same thought as you. It appears based on this players account it was significant.
   3. 

      AirborneHokie96 March 24, 2023 at 5:54 PM

      A lot
   4. 

      vt49701 March 24, 2023 at 5:54 PM

      Absolutely - I've always thought that. If Galen Scott had put the team first and been able to stay with us, that could have made a huge impact on the defensive side of the ball. Additionally, if a key player here had put the team first and stayed one more year, or a key player there would have kept their head on straight and not been suspended, kicked off etc .. Coach Fuente would very well still be with us and we could still be competing for ACC championships. Obviously none of that matters now. Would also very much like to see what Coach Fuente how much better coach Fuente could have opened up the checkbook and helped him upgrade the assistants like he wanted. I don't believe his budget was near as much as the current coaching staff budget. Oh well. Doesn't matter.
      1. 

         icelus March 24, 2023 at 6:06 PM

         Yes, Coach Fuente was not perfect, but I don't think he was given the right resources to be successful as well. The learning curve for Coach Pry is much stiffer than that of Coach Fuente because he had never been a head coach, his 1st try of the offensive assistant assembly was a failure. Don't know what to expect for year 2.
8. 

   meglow000 March 24, 2023 at 4:18 PM

   I think you meant Crook and Bowen in the next to last sentence in answer 2.
   1. 

      Chris Coleman March 24, 2023 at 4:19 PM

      Fixed, thanks.
9. 

   TomTurkey March 24, 2023 at 4:05 PM

   Last Q&A in this article was thought provoking and a great insight into your thought process.
   1. 

      Chris Coleman March 24, 2023 at 4:12 PM

      A particular example is that we have one former OL who I used to know who would swear up and down that Curt Newsome was a great coach. You couldn't tell him otherwise. And I didn't try, because he was twice as big as me, haha.
      1. 

         VTVOICE March 24, 2023 at 4:44 PM

         Add wisdom to your list of traits. :-)
      2. 

         No_Limit_Hokie March 24, 2023 at 5:31 PM

         "A man's got to know his limitations."
   2. 

      VTVOICE March 24, 2023 at 4:39 PM

      My question and I agree with you completely. CC has a very mature and perceptive thought process as well as communicating these well. I personally thought CC would ignore this question as obvious and bite on my MLB and new rule and base dimension changes question being a former baseball player himself. Surprised he answered this question and did so better than I thought would be possible.
10. 

    HokieHigh March 24, 2023 at 4:05 PM

    I think Fuente has a good football mind but he was a really bad CEO and not a people person.
    1. 

       DADEC52 March 24, 2023 at 4:25 PM

       When I see a response like Chris's above, I wonder how badly Galen Scott hurt both Fuente and VT?