Inside HOKIE SPORTS | Vol. 13 No. 5 | May 2021

Dear HOKIE Nation, I want to thank you for your unwavering support of our program. Despite not having you in the stands this past season, you showed your dedication in other ways, and we are thankful for your enthusiasm and the spirit of Hokie Nation. We are working tirelessly to recruit top-level talent to Blacksburg while also developing athletes into the players we need to be competitive in an ever-improving Atlantic Coast Conference. There is a lot of ground to be made up as we aim to reach the upper tier of ACC schools when it comes to operations spending, but you can make an immediate impact as part of the Reach for Excellence campaign. With your support, we can funnel more funds into staffing for recruitment, analysis, and player development. We can look to renovate our facilities and add student-athlete amenities. Additionally, we can boost the salaries for assistant coaches in order to remain viable in a competitive marketplace of top talent. Off the field, our staff ultimately wants to build these young men into successful leaders beyond the football field. Most college football athletes will not go onto the NFL, and we want to prepare our guys to be ready for that next chapter in their lives. To do this, we hope to increase our student-athlete development staff in order to ready our guys for life in the real world. The success of the Virginia Tech football program is essential in bringing national recognition to not only our team, but to the athletic department, the university, and the greater Blacksburg community. We are poised on the brink of creating something special, but we need your assistance to continue our drive. We need your generous and unwavering support to bring our program to an elite level nationally. Please join us in the Reach for Excellence campaign and help us in building the champions of today to become the leaders of tomorrow. Sincerely, Justin Fuente Head Coach 6 Inside Hokie Sports R ecruiting is about relationships— and we’re not there. We need the resources to sell just how special this place is. Justin Fuente