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I should stop the preview there and be done.

The Virginia Tech Hokies will have a new head coach when they visit Blacksburg for the first time since 2004 under Brent Prine. Although this was Prine’s first head coaching stint, he was promoted from student-coach at Buffalo in 1992 and graduate assistant at Virginia Tech in 1995. The last five seasons.

The Hokies will start West Virginia native Grant Wells at quarterback. Wells originally played at Marshall and threw for over 5,500 yards in two seasons with the Thunder. With a strong arm, Wells isn’t afraid to push things up the field, something that’s been sorely lacking in the offense lately, even if he needs to cut down on interceptions.

The offensive line, which has been decent in pass protection and has cleared routes for 185 rushing yards per game, needs repairs. He lost three good parts to the NFL, but returns a solid right guard in Caden Moore and Parker Clements. Silas Dzansi and Johnny Jordan return for their sixth year.

If the line can stop Wells, it should have a receiving corps led by Temple transfer Jadan Blue, big but speedy veteran Caleb Smith and linebackers Da’Wayne Lofton and Jalen Jones. Tight end Nick Gallo provides a safety valve for the young quarterback. Caleb Smith is the leading returning receiver with 20 catches for 260 yards and two scores.

Gone is Raheem Blackshear, and Burmester was the second-leading rusher, but Malachi Thomas should be ready after rushing for 440 yards and three scores, and Jalen Hosten is a good-sized veteran in the rotation.

No Hokies defender had more than 3.5 sacks last year. The Hokies will hope Tijuan Garbutt, Norrell Pollard and Mario Kendricks can improve on those numbers, but Tech will need youngsters like Cole Nelson, CJ McCray, Matthews Carroll and Wilfrid Penn to take a big step.

Leading rusher Jermaine Waller is out of the secondary, but safeties Nasir Peeples and Chamari Conner should be able to combine for more than 170 snaps again. Cornerback Amari Chatman led the team with seven pass breakups, but no one besides Waller had more than one tackle.