PODCAST: 2020 Virginia Tech Football Preview with All Sports Discussion ACC
As the 2020 Virginia Tech football season inches closer, more and more discussion is turning away from 2019 and on to (hopefully) the 2020 season this fall.
With the NFL Draft in the rear-view mirror, all eyes turn back to college football recruiting and preparation for the new season.
Hopes are high for the Virginia Tech football program following a 2019-20 season that saw plenty of ups and downs, but concluded with an 8-5 record and a loss to Kentucky in the Belk Bowl to end the campaign.
After Justin Fuente and the coaching staff engineered 19 wins over the first two seasons in Blacksburg, the last two years have not gone as expected. The Hokies finished 6-7 in 2018-19, which was their worst record since 1992. They followed that up with a brutal start to the 2019-20 season in which they found themselves trailing at halftime to an FCS team in Furman, and getting blown out of the stadium in embarrassing fashion to Duke at the end of September.
The Friday night Duke loss was only made further embarrassing by the fact that the team was honoring the 20 year anniversary of the 1999 Virginia Tech roster that made the national championship.
After a quarterback change and improved play on both sides of the football, the Hokies turned the season around following the loss to Duke. However, 8-5 is not the standard for Virginia Tech football, and neither is the 73rd-ranked 2020 recruiting class, which was the worst in the Power Five.
With all of this in consideration, the 2020-21 season proves to be a pivotal one for Justin Fuente and the coaching staff. What kind of program will this be moving forward?
That question should be answered in earnest by this time next calendar year.
I joined The All Sports Discussion ACC Podcast to preview the 2020 Hokies, and I discussed why I am optimistic about Virginia Tech's chances of a rebound this fall.
You can listen to the full podcast here.
