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

inside.hokiesports.com 11 that side of the ball reside on the line. Ricky Walker showed he was ready to lead last season. This year, the primary goal for Walker, Vinny Mihota, Trevon Hill and Houshun Gaines will be to shorten the coverage window for the second two levels of the defense, as they settle in. Mihota will slide inside to replace Tim Settle. There are camp battles for spots in those second two levels, and I look forward to seeing how that unfolds. In the linebacker corps, Rayshard Ashby is a guy I get excited about, alongside Dylan Rivers and potentially true freshman Dax Hollifield. I spent some time with Ashby during the Hokies Kickoff Tour and came away extremely impressed with his maturity and confidence. Divine Deablo should be back and ready to pick up on what appeared to be an upcoming breakout season at free safety before his season-ending injury. Reggie Floyd enjoyed that breakout season last year and remains entrenched at rover. Khalil Ladler also should factor into the mix. Devon Hunter seems ready to play a highly anticipated significant role at the open whip/ nickel spot, and everybody wants to see what Caleb Farley brings at cornerback following his return to the defensive side of the ball. Others need to emerge, and there are talented options. Bud Foster undoubtedly will work some late nights, but honestly, is there anyone else in the college game you would rather have building the foundation? Trick question, the answer is no. The Hokies also are replacing their all-time leading scorer in placekicker Joey Slye and electric punt returner Greg Stroman. They never settled on a full-time kickoff return man last season, so that competition remains open. Brian Johnson fared well in an injury- necessitated cameo last year and keeps battling Jordan Stout for the vacant kicker role. Oscar Bradburn comes off of a fabulous freshman season and returns as the punter, while new long snapper Oscar Shadley came in as a heralded true freshman. The “young, but talented” tag applies to special teams as well. All in all, there has been, and continues to be, plenty of intrigue and competition in fall camp. With a marquee conference matchup against Florida State to open the season, the youthful Hokies will, in Fuente’s words, “do a cannonball off the high dive” into the season. I remain overly optimistic about what transpires on the depth chart before then. 2. Football Coverage  – The new initiatives for us are largely on the television/ digital side, and we are enthusiastic about the possibilities. Viewers used to watching Virginia Tech Sports Today will find that the Sunday postgame formatted show has been re- imagined as Hokies All Access, an immersive pregame show. We also are pleased to announce a new flagship television partner (WFXR/WWCW) that will produce the newly minted 60-minute show. Hokies All Access will air the night before Tech home games on WWCW at 7 p.m., and it will re-air at 10:30 a.m. on gamedays on NBC Sports Washington. Essentially, we wanted to create a faster- paced show in the style of ESPN’s College Gameday that gives you a look at game week in Blacksburg. We still plan to bring you thoughts and interviews with players and coaches, but we want to do so in more creative ways and also produce more feature-style, in- depth looks at the program and its progress. It also will incorporate viewer questions via various social media channels, feature former Tech greats, and take fun detours throughout tailgates, local eateries and beyond. Be ready for the debut on Aug. 31 ahead of the season opener against the Seminoles! We also will continue to utilize Facebook Live, although rather than in a postgame format, we will present Hokies Walk- Through, which will air on Facebook Live on the morning of Tech home games. The show will aim to get you ready for gameday by answering questions submitted from Hokie Nation throughout the week. HokiePod also will return as a weekly downloadable podcast throughout the football season. Andrew Allegretta, Mike Burnop and I will produce a weekly roundtable podcast available to download on Thursday, and the show will feature conversations surrounding that week’s matchup and a guest of the week. It will be supported digitally by the daily Tech Minute and other more immediate content. All of these initiatives will continue to support our on-going effort to be more present with our coverage throughout the week and also as a precursor to the linear launch of the ACC Network next August and the expansion and improvement of ACC Network Extra, which you will notice in our heavily expanded coverage of Tech Olympic sports throughout the fall. On the radio side, our game broadcasts will remain fairly static—for which we are very grateful. Like a coaching staff, we are fortunate to have our crew return intact. The Hall of Famer, Burnop, returns for a 36th season in the booth, while Allegretta and I enter our fourth seasons in our current roles. Tech Talk Live! will continue to feature Fuente and air on Monday nights. The one new endeavor for us will be Tech Training Camp Confidential, which will air prior to our pregame coverage for Florida State. It will feature candid conversations with players and coaches, as the depth chart takes shape through camp competition. In other words, we’ve got a lot going on here! The Hokies hit the weight room in the offseason, while we hit the white board, and we’re thrilled for the opportunity once again to strengthen our efforts from last year. I firmly believe that you will appreciate the results of both. Here it comes, Hokies! So start jumping, and we will see you and talk to you soon! 300 Technology Drive Christiansburg, Virginia 24073 www.inorganicventures.com European distribution center located in Santander, Spain Proud to support the Hokies’ teams. Two of our PhDs as well as eleven key members of our service, production, and business teams hold degrees from Virginia Tech. When you’ve got the right talent in place, there’s no limit to how far you can go. Makers of the world’s most accurate Certified Reference Materials Because the Hokies are such a big part of ours.