Virginia Tech preps for season opener with No. 10 North Carolina coming to town

BLACKSBURG, Va. – The Hokies-Tar Heels matchup has made for intriguing games the past few seasons—featuring big plays, big playmakers and lots of offensive production. Despite losing top tier talent to the NFL Draft, Virginia Tech head coach Justin Fuente says the UNC offense is still a lot to unpack, starting with quarterback Sam Howell.

“He is really good at seeing the field. They do some things that you have to have a special guy back there at quarterback to pull off,” Fuente said.

“I think we have to stop the run. That’s the key thing,” said Hokies linebacker Dax Holllifield. “They lost both of those dynamic backs they had last year but I expect them to have some of them guys step up.”

The Hokies offense is poised to be a hard puzzle to figure out also with more talent at the skill positions and after having averaged 40 points per game against the Heels under Fuente. But they’ll face a defense that showed improvement at the end of the 2020 season.

“I turned on the first half of the Orange Bowl and saw them playing Texas A&M on defense and it looked like a different unit,” said Fuente. “They’ll probably play more guys up front, rotate more guys and maybe play more guys in the back end.”

“I feel like our offense has been explosive over the years and I feel like we’ll be just as explosive if not more,” said Hokies wide receiver Tre Turner. “So I’m ready to put what we have on the field right now.”

Friday’s 6 p.m. kickoff will mark the 4th consecutive year Virginia Tech will open its season with an ACC opponent.