The first few seasons of the Justin Fuente era have not gone to plan in Blacksburg, to say the least, leading to the question: can Fuente finally right the ship in 2021?
Virginia Tech football is entering 2021 coming off of its second losing season in three years under Fuente. After going 19-8 in Fuente’s first two seasons in Blacksburg, the Hokies have gone 19-18 over the last three years, including 14-12 in ACC play.
Let’s preview the 2021 season for the Hokies, starting with the offense.
Can Braxton Burmeister boost the offense in 2021?
The Virginia Tech offense in 2021 will look a bit different than it did a season ago. Hendon Hooker has made his way to Knoxville and will finish his career at Tennessee while leading rusher Khalil Herbert is off to the NFL after being drafted by the Bears in the sixth round of this year’s draft.
Taking over for Hooker will be former Oregon quarterback Braxton Burmeister, who made his debut as a Hokie last season. In six games, he completed 56.5 percent (48-of-85) of his passes for 687 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception. His best game of the season came in the Hokies’ finale against Virginia, completing 15-of-22 passes for 212 yards and a touchdown.
The running back situation is a little bit murkier compared to the quarterback room. Raheem Blackshear is the leading returning rusher with 243 yards last season, however, Jalen Holston had the better yards per carry average last season at 4.7. It’s likely that we see those two split the first-team carries early in the season until one or the other really establishes themselves.
Last season, the offense was led by the ground game, where it averaged 240 yards per game. The passing game lagged quite a bit behind the rushing attack, only averaging 201 yards per game. While they hope Burmeister gives a boost to the passing game, he’ll need reliable weapons to get the ball to through the air.
The good news is the Hokies have a trio of quality receivers and their top three targets from last season in Tayvion Robinson, Tre Turner, and tight end James Mitchell returning. The bad news is, beyond those three, the depth at the receiver position(s) is bleak. Herbert and Blackshear were the only other players to total 100 or more receiving yards last season.
If the Hokies experience any injuries at wide receiver or tight end, it will be intriguing to see if anyone can step up into a starting role and perform at a strong level.
On the offensive line, the Hokies return an experienced group but also lost five offensive linemen this offseason. It may not be a well-oiled machine early in the season but within few weeks, the Hokies’ offensive line should be around where they’re expected to be heading into 2021 thanks to the experience they still are returning despite the departures.
The Hokies’ defense needs to get back to the basics
For a program whose pride for a long time was its stout defenses, the 2020 Virginia Tech defense was anything but. The Hokies were among the worst defenses in the ACC last year, allowing nearly 450 total yards of offense and 32.1 points per game and per game.
The Hokies were regularly torched through the air last season, allowing 266 passing yards per game while on the ground, opposing offenses had it way too easy as well, averaging 181 rushing yards per game. Now, it is worth noting that last season, the Hokies defense and especially the secondary was depleted by opt-outs, COVID, and injuries.
In 2021, the Hokies defense should be better as they return most of their starters from last season and will have a full year plus a more traditional offseason under defensive coordinator Justin Hamilton.
How will Virginia Tech football fare in 2021?
Finally, we look at Virginia Tech’s schedule and do our best to project how the 2021 season will go for the Hokies.
- Game 1: (10) North Carolina (L) — The season couldn’t start much tougher for the Hokies as they’ll go up against preseason Heisman contender Sam Howell and the top-10 ranked Tar Heels.
- Game 2: Middle Tennessee State (W) — The Blue Raiders are coming off a tough season themselves and it’s hard to see a quick turnaround in Murfreesboro. Either way, the Hokies should win this one rather easily.
- Game 3: at West Virginia (L) — The Mountaineers should be improved in 2021 and will be a tough team to beat. If this was in Blacksburg, I’d give it to the Hokies but with this one being in Morgantown, it’s hard to go against the Mountaineers.
- Game 4: Richmond (W) — If the Hokies lose this one, Justin Fuente should probably be fired immediately after the game.
- Game 5: (9) Notre Dame (L) — Another really tough game for the Hokies just five games into the season as the Fighting Irish come to town. They may not have Ian Book at quarterback but the Irish will be just fine this season.
- Game 6: Pitt (W) — This won’t be an easy one as Pittsburgh is a quality team themselves but in a coin toss of a game like this, we tend to go with the home team.
- Game 7: Syracuse (W) — Syracuse is entering the season on paper as one of the worst Power Five teams in the country and is a team that Virginia Tech should beat rather easily. Should is the keyword in that sentence.
- Game 8: at Georgia Tech (W) — Like Pitt, this is a really tough one to predict this far out. Georgia Tech has the potential to be a much-improved team this upcoming season but at the same time, it wouldn’t be shocking if they once again struggle and win three games or fewer. For now, we’ll give Virginia Tech the win here.
- Game 9: at Boston College (L) — Personally, I’m a big believer in Phil Jurkovec and I believe Boston College as a whole will be a really good team and amongst the best in the ACC this season.
- Game 10: Duke (W) — Like Syracuse, Duke is entering the season as one of the country’s worst Power Five teams. There doesn’t seem to be much hope right now in Durham and at this point in the season, the Blue Devils may be ready to pack it in and go home.
- Game 11: at Miami (L) — Theoretically, this could decide the ACC Coastal but we’ll have to go with D’Eriq King and the Hurricanes here in this November matchup.
- Game 12: at Virginia (W) — In these predictions, the Hokies enter this game looking for win No. 7 as well as their 60th all-time victory against the Cavaliers. If this is how the season truly goes for the Hokies in 2021, this game could ultimately dictate Fuente’s future in Blacksburg. Luckily for him, we’re going with the Hokies in this matchup.
Prediction: 7-5, 5-3 ACC
It’s certainly not the easiest of schedules for Virginia Tech and Fuente in what’s going to be a potential make-or-break season. Facing the trio of North Carolina, West Virginia, and Notre Dame within the first five games of the season is a tough task and will set the tone in the season. If they can pick up one victory out of those three, it would be huge and could allow them to get to the eight-win mark by the season’s end.
There are also quite a few tricky games on this schedule following their matchup with Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Georgia Tech, Boston College, Miami, and Virginia are all games that one could legitimately see being considered toss-ups.
At the end of the day, only four games feel like definite victories on paper for the Hokies: Middle Tennessee State, Richmond, Syracuse, and Duke.
An 8-4 record may be enough to buy Fuente another season, a 9-3 record will definitely mark him safe. That means outside of those four “definite” wins, the Hokies must find four wins in their other games. There’s definitely the opportunity to do so and on paper, they should get to that eight-win mark but if we’ve learned anything about the Fuente era of Virginia Tech football, nothing comes easy.