Inside HOKIE SPORTS | Vol. 11 No. 4 | March 2019

inside.hokiesports.com 9 118 S. Main Street TechBookstore.com Shop NikE gear and get game day ready! ® ORDER ONLINE FREE pick up in store! by Jimmy Robertson Spring is for young players, and there are several to watch, as the Hokies go through spring practice More than two months following the stinging loss to Cincinnati in theMilitary Bowl, Virginia Tech football coach Justin Fuente and his assistants entered their favorite part of the year—spring football practice. Certainly, the 15 NCAA-allotted practices allow a staff and the players to put the previous season in the past. More importantly, it flips the page to preparations for next season, offering an unpressured environment in which to coach, mentor and teach. “I just like the fact that there are no scout teams,” Fuente said. “It’s just good versus good. We are preparing for the season, but we’re not preparing for a specific opponent. We get to work our people. We get to go compete and teach football, and it’s the purest form of just teaching football that we get. There are scrimmages, but there’s no opponent. It’s just us pushing each other and trying to teach and form your team. That’s what I like the best.” This time of year usually represents a coming-out party for younger players—a sort of blossoming, if you will, befitting of spring. In most cases, a player who shines in his second spring practice usually goes on to become a productive player. Tech’s staff hopes that each player takes the next step in his development this spring. That said, the following players have participated in at least one spring practice during their careers and are ones to keep an eye on, as spring practice moves forward: Zion Debose —Bud Foster knows his defense lacks depth at defensive tackle, but in terms of importance, finding consistent play at defensive end ranks right up there on the priority list. The Hokies were up and down at the two end spots after Trevon Hill’s dismissal and then Houshun Gaines’ season-ending injury. Gaines will be out this spring, leaving an opportunity for any of Tech’s young ends, including Debose. A powerfully built 250 pounds, Debose certainly brings strength and athleticism to the position. He is entering his second spring since arriving at Tech, and now is the time to take those traits and transfer them into big plays. Caleb Farley —Farley enjoyed a solid debut season, starting 12 of 13 games at cornerback and finishing with 36 tackles and two interceptions. But he possesses the potential to do much more. He’s tall and big, with good ball skills. Now the coaches want to see him be more physical at the point of attack (e.g. better tackling). The great Tech cornerbacks of the past, like DeAngelo Hall, Brandon Flowers and Macho Harris, enjoyed putting their shoulder into the chest of a ball carrier. Farley needs to take that next step to move to their level. T.J. Jackson —At 6-foot-6 and 333 pounds, Jackson stands as the biggest guy on the team. Now, he needs to play up to it. Tech’s coaches expected that Jackson would need a little extra time for his development considering his relative newness to the sport—he played mostly basketball growing up and only picked up football while in high school. This spring marks his third, so the big offensive lineman no longer classifies as someone learning a position. Christian Darrisaw’s absence this spring (injury) leaves plenty of opportunities for reps, or maybe Jackson can move into Braxton Pfaff’s old spot at right guard. Hopefully he can take advantage of those opportunities. Devon Hunter —Hunter started out at rover when he arrived in 2017, played as a true freshman and then moved to the whip linebacker/nickel spot last spring. He ended up taking a redshirt year this past fall, and the coaches ultimately moved him back to rover, which should be the more natural fit for Hunter, who played mostly as a deep safety in high school. Plus, he gets to spend the spring—his second at Tech—learning from Reggie Floyd, one of just seven seniors on the squad and a leader of the defense. This should be a good situation for Hunter, and it hopefully shows on the field. Phil Patterson —People tend to forget about Patterson when discussing Tech’s receivers, and maybe that speaks more to the exploits of Tré Turner and Damon Hazelton, but Patterson possesses a world of ability. He, too, has size at 6-2 and more than 200 pounds, and he knows how to make tough catches. Remember the one-handed grab in last year’s spring game? Or last fall’s big-time grab for a touchdown against Duke? Injuries have limited Patterson at times, but with Sean Savoy and Eric Kumah transferring, the opportunity is there for Patterson to break out this spring.