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Around the Coastal: The Virginia Tech Hokies

With most of its starters returning - including a dynamic quarterback - Virginia Tech should be in position for a strong performance in 2020.

Today, HokieHaven.com publisher Tim Sullivan gives us an inside look at the Hokies heading into next season.

Keshawn King breaks a tackle against Georgia Tech last year
Keshawn King breaks a tackle against Georgia Tech last year (Brett Davis/USAToday)
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Three prominent storylines

At long last, experience

Thanks to factors both internal and external, the Hokies have fielded very inexperienced teams in each season 2017-19. That shouldn't be the case in 2020. With all but three starters returning, the team should finally be not only made in the image of Justin Fuente's philosophy, but long-enough in the tooth to be able to execute what is asked of it man-for-man. With three relatively disappointing years in a row in the recent past, it's time to put up or shut up.

A new era on defense

Bud Foster ends his career as one of the longest-tenured assistant coaches in the country, and the Hokies will be led by someone else on defense for the first time since 1995. Can new coordinator Justin Hamilton - who played safety under Foster in the early 2000s - live up to the legacy of the Lunch Pail Defense? It's a genre of question VT fans haven't even had to consider for a quarter-century.

Is BeamerBall gone forever?

The Hokies didn't score a kickoff- or punt-return touchdown in 2019. The Orange and Maroon blocked only one opposing kick. The team faked zero kicks or punts. Simply put, it wasn't the Virginia Tech that fans nationally have become accustomed to. The first three years of the Justin Fuente era were more in line with tradition, so will 2019 prove to be an outlier, or turning over a new leaf? With a more polished team offensively and defensively, there should be the opportunity to take risks on special teams if the staff wants.

Three biggest departures

Only four starters leave from last year's team, so each of them is notable.

Wide receiver Damon Hazelton

A talented receiver who consistently clashed with the staff (even while he was consistently producing on the field), Hazelton opted for the transfer portal, ultimately picking Missouri for his grad-transfer season. A powerful outside receiver, his chain-moving ability and big-play threat from jump-balls will be tough to replace.

Running back Deshawn McClease

McClease started 10/13 games for Virginia Tech last year (his fifth-year junior season), but consistently battled injuries in his first four years on campus, and never really became the bell-cow back that fans wanted. He likely would have been a bench player if VT hadn't lost starter Jalen Holston after just three plays in the season, and even then, the staff seemed to always want to give the benefit of the doubt to younger players (who were themselves regularly injured).

Safety Reggie Floyd

Probably the most likely player that Hokies fans will feel as an absence. A three-year starter across multiple safety positions, Floyd was a consistent player against both run and pass in his first two years. He took a slight step back as a senior, but was still one of the better players on a diminished defense.

Tight end Dalton Keene

A surprise choice to leap to the NFL Draft can be seen as striking while the iron is hot for Keene. He dropped off statistically last year, and didn't want to risk more of the same as a senior. A willing-but-flawed blocker, he was a true threat in the passing game over three years.

Hooker throws over a Duke defender
Hooker throws over a Duke defender (USA Today Sports Images)

Three key returners

Quarterback Hendon Hooker

Hooker emerged as the starter a handful of games into his redshirt sophomore season (and Hokie fans will say that he had to wait too long - not because he was ready before that, but because the player he replaced, walk-on Ryan Willis, simply wasn't up to the task). The staff protected him a bit with a smaller segment of the playbook and designs to get easy completions, rather than big yards. If he succeeds with the training wheels eased off, the year can go to another level.

Wide receiver Tre Turner

Turner is a former basketball player and has the game that you'd expect: a jump-ball happy guy who is comfortable in tight spaces. However, he also has speed to burn in a big way, and his deep threat has been a major factor for the Hokies. Can he do it without Hazelton drawing attention on the other side of the line?

Linebacker Rayshard Ashby

Ashby was the ACC Linebacker of the Week five times last season, but only managed third-team all-league. A guy who's never had prototypical size nor prototypical athleticism has always played with a chip on his shoulder (and relied more on his mind than his body to make massive plays), and will probably take that to another level after what he's openly discussed as being snubbed.

Hoffman is eligible for 2020
Hoffman is eligible for 2020 (Virginia Tech Athletics)

Three biggest additions

Offensive lineman Brock Hoffman

After a year on the bench (during which he was a cause célèbre for many who saw the NCAA's immediate transfer eligibility waiver decisions as arbitrary), Hoffman will have his chance to make an impact on a Hokie front that has had its struggles in the past couple years. The former all-league selection at Coastal Carolina will likely slot in at center, joining a group that otherwise returns five starters (he'll likely relegate true sophomore Bryan Hudson to the bench). He could be the linchpin that turns this group from OK to very good.

Linebacker/defensive end Amare Barno

Virginia Tech's pass rush was a weak link last season. Barno sat the bench while adjusting to the FBS level after a junior college stint, and while he played safety at Butler Community College, his frame is built much bigger than that. If he can provide some pressure from the first or second level, he makes the Hokies a lot better very quickly.

Running back Khalil Herbert

A former Kansas standout, Herbert will play his graduate transfer season in Blacksburg. He has the type of explosiveness that the Hokies have been unable to find in the past few years as the run game has sputtered. If that potential turns into production, his addition will be invaluable to VT.

Expectations for 2020

With nearly the entire 2019 team - which had its fatal flaws, but probably should have finished with one or two more wins than it had - coming back, plus a few key additions, the expectations are high in Blacksburg. Competing for the Coastal Division is the bare minimum. Anything less than taking the Coastal Division, and returning to the win column against rival Virginia, would be considered a disappointment. Fans have been a little restless with Justin Fuente, but recognize that the past two years have been building specifically toward this experienced 2020 team. If the Hokies don't capitalize on that long buildup, hot-seat talk may, for the first time, truly become something more than just idle chatter from the more impatient corners of Hokie Nation.

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