Inside HOKIE SPORTS | Vol. 11 No. 1 | August 2018

10 Inside Hokie Sports cobbtechnologies.com| 800.346.8228 When I first began in this role, I often found people joking that I was beginning my freshman year, and it certainly felt that way, as I encountered countless new faces, places and ideas. There was definitely a period when I mainly just listened and tried to keep my head above water. I imagine most of our student- athletes have a similar experience when they first put on a Virginia Tech practice jersey. In hindsight, I feel very fortunate that it was a trial by fire for me. It is certainly not an apples-to-apples comparison when it comes to playing the game, but it forced me to learn, adapt and eventually lead much more quickly than I thought possible. As I now enter my “senior” year, I am rejuvenated by the fresh direction we plan to take with our coverage of Virginia Tech athletics and our ability to adapt to an ever-changing multi-media world. More on that later. As Justin Fuente and Tech football players and coaches approach the 2018 football season, they do so with the knowledge that many freshmen and underclassmen will play—and lead—on the field, and that those leadership roles will have been earned. Coach Fuente, and I’m certain the younger players, are excited about that. Competing for opportunity is what everybody signed up for after all. So, entering the fall athletics season, here are the things that I look forward to, both on the field and off: 1. Football –The Hokies will be young, but talented this season, and there is a huge amount of excitement about the potential of this youthful roster. Yes, that has been the mantra this summer, and it is absolutely true. Techwill be in a transitional phase defensively, in particular, which means there are a number of open camp competitions for younger players to become regular contributors—and even the next Tech stars. To me, there is nothing more exciting than that. One of the goals of recruiting is to stack classes on top of each other so that a level of performance and consistency remains year after year. However, when a new staff takes the reigns, generally roster transition fromone system to the next occurs. Fuente and his staff have put together back-to-back full recruiting with Jon Laaser Senior Year classes brimming with talent and speed, though transitioning needs to take place as the new system takes hold and players recruited to this scheme begin taking on regular roles. That process was accelerated on offense last year because of a handful of early departures for the NFL. We began to see that makeover on the offensive side of the ball in 2017, while an experienced defense anchored the team. Heading into 2018, the offense has grown by a year literally everywhere on the perimeter around incumbent quarterback Josh Jackson. You may recall offensive coordinator Brad Cornelsen talking about building depth at wide receiver when he first got to Blacksburg. The Hokies may not be all the way there, but they will be a lot closer this season. I am eager to see who emerges from a talented pack of receivers this year. I’m also excited to see the maturation of Jackson and what a year of experiencemeans in terms of his direction of the offense. This year, a variety of defensive departures equate to growing pains for those remaining. However, the silver lining is that the elders on