Virginia Tech Football 2014 – Better, Worse or about the Same?

OFFENSE

The offense is in its 2nd year under Scot Loeffler and it should bear more of his imprint. Whether they have the talent at the skill positions is yet to be seen. The Hokies have a lot of speed, and the line is veteran, but the QB is likely to be a transfer with little prep time as he won’t practice til August.

They have five decent running backs, but I’m not sure the coaches will have the courage to stick with just two, they’ve had problems in recent years with the carries being distributed too liberally. I’m going to play it safe and predict that it will still be a typical frustrating Hokie offense, with enough big plays for us to pull our hair out wondering why it can’t always be like that.

DEFENSE

Virginia Tech CB Brandon Facsyon

The defense will return two seniors at Safety, two sophomores at the corners (Kendall Fuller whose brothers Vincent and Kyle both played in the NFL, and Brandon Facsyon) who both started at those spots last year. The secondary depth is brimming with talent also.

The front four could be more monstrous than last years, though it only returns one starter in Luther Maddy. But a few of the other guys have seen extensive action so there should be little to no drop-off.

The intriguing position is LB. They lose Jack Tyler who was the centerpiece and made a lot of the tackles. They also lost Tariq Edwards. So those two key LB spots may be the key to the season, if the Hokies can’t contain running QBs or the slants underneath.

Those concerns aside, I am confident that they will find more than adequate replacements as the LB corps has lots of bodies to choose from. I think this defense could be even better than last years.

Virginia Tech 2014 – Better, worse or about the same as last year?

This team will be better. The offensive line will give the new QB time to throw, and it won’t be the Logan Thomas show every play. They’ll use the RBs more, and they’ll be more diverse. The defense will again be good enough to cover for the offensive mistakes.

The true elephant in the room is Beamer’s Special Teams unit. What was once referred to as the Pride and Joy of the team, has devolved into a mistake-a-game habit. They don’t block kicks, they finally started playing some starters on ST again after years of tacit refusal. His PK situation is still in the air after a relatively rough spring, and the return game has suffered since David Wilson went to the pros. Really, P AJ Hughes (who might get enough opportunities to perfect his form and contend for the Ray Guy award) is about the only consistent performer back there. It has long been time for Beamer to give up the day-to-day oversight of the Special Teams.

Prediction you say? OK, I am going with 10-4, with a Peach bowl appearance (I refuse to call it the Eat Mor Chiken bowl). I see VT getting demolished in Columbus, then winning every ACC game but one wild-card stinker (you Hokie fans know it’s in the weeds some place), and then getting demolished by Free Seafood University in the ACC Title game. Then they’ll lose to the SEC team of the minute in the Peach, and Beamer gets to make the rounds in the Spring once again trumpeting the triumphs of a 10-win campaign.

Charles Workman of Gobbler Country provided the information for our Virginia Tech Football 2014 Spring Wrap Up. For more Virginia Tech football information, commentary and analysis, you can follow Charles & Gobbler Country on Twitter @GobblerCountry.