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ESPN released it’s “way-too-early” preseason college football top 25 poll today and the Hokies are ranked No. 11. OK … first, it is entirely too early to have a preseason college football poll of any kind, but I give ESPN’s Mark Schlabach credit for admitting as much. That being said, it is the off-season and college football junkies are already going through withdrawals. So, releasing a preseason poll gives us something to talk about and debate.

I was listening to Greg Roberts Live on WFIR this afternoon and he was incredulous that Virginia Tech was ranked so high. He also said that he thought the Hokies would have to scratch and claw their way to get seven or eight wins next season. I like Greg and I respect his opinion, but I think he’s missed the mark here.

I boldly – some would argue foolishly – predicted the Hokies to go undefeated next season in my Feb. 9 blog post and part of me really believes that they can. But, I am also a realist and understand just how difficult that would be, especially with road games against Boston College, Florida State, Miami and Nebraska. I’m not backing off my prediction, but if the Hokies drop two or three games, I will not be surprised. But to struggle to win seven or eight game? I think that’s a bit of a stretch.

Roberts, who is a Virginia Tech grad and former punter for the Hokies, pointed to the huge personnel losses on both sides of the ball as his main arguments for his prediction. Yes, Tech loses three defensive linemen, one all-conference corner and two all-conference linebackers. But this is not the first time Tech assistant head coach and defensive coordinator Bud Foster has had to reload his squad. Remember, Vince Hall and Xavier Adibi saw considerable playing since their freshman years because Foster lost his linebackers from the previous season. Hall started 12 of 13 games as a redshirt freshman and Adibi played in seven games, but missed six because of a torn tendon in his right biceps muscle. Those guys had immediate impacts and the players waiting in the wings have the same potential. Sure, they may not been as good as Hall and Adibi, but Hall and Adibi weren’t just good, they were great. The guys replacing them are very good and have the potential to be great.

As for the offense, I addressed the loss of personnel in an earlier post, but again, all four of the receivers came in at the same time because Tech lost guys to the NFL or graduation. We have two 4-star and two 3-star WRs coming in, plus two better-than-average TEs in Sam Wheeler and Greg Boone, so as far as the passing game goes, I’m sure it’ll take some time to gel, but I think it’ll be just fine by the middle of next season. Hmmm, let me rephrase; it’ll be as fine as it can be under Bryan Stinespring.

The offensive line is another year older and they are monstrously big, and scary strong. I think this will be a much-improved group. The running backs should be one of our most reliable and certainly our deepest position. Again, I covered all of these positions already, so if you want more detail, read my Feb. 9 post.

The bottom line is that I have a difficult time seeing the Hokies struggling to get seven or eight wins. I give the coaching staff and their recruiting skills much more credit that Roberts’ apparently is. Virginia Tech’s football program has reached a point in its evolution where it doesn’t panic when it loses a lot of guys – they just plug in guys they have molded and prepared and nine out of 10 times, they step in and pick up where their predecessors left off. Of course there is an adjustment period, but thanks to the coaching staff’s preparation, it is usually a very brief period, thankfully.

As for Tech’s No. 11 ranking – I think that Schlabach is using the same logic – the Hokies have the personnel to simply reload as they have proven in the past. I’d say that No. 11 is about right.

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