Ryan Willis Named Virginia Tech’s Starting Quarterback

Ryan Willis
Ryan Willis was named Virginia Tech’s starting quarterback on Thursday. (Ivan Morozov)

Justin Fuente began his Thursday press conference by announcing that redshirt senior Ryan Willis has been named Virginia Tech’s starting quarterback for the season opener against Boston College.

Willis threw for 2,716 yards and 24 touchdowns with nine interceptions in 12 games and 10 starts a year ago.  He completed 58.5% of his passes.  Willis also ran for 354 yards and four touchdowns. 

Fuente also confirmed that redshirt sophomore Hendon Hooker will serve as Tech’s No. 2 quarterback.

Virginia Tech’s season begins on Saturday, August 31 at Boston College.  Kickoff is scheduled for 4pm, and the game will be televised by The ACC Network.

39 Responses You are logged in as Test

  1. BC coach talking big about his offense and offensive line. Hope we can outscore and hang in! Go Wild Thang! Make our hearts sing! Beat BC and be Groovy!

  2. He has that “All-American College Boy” look, too. No, no man crush here. But I bet lots of ladies love that look.

  3. Ryan is an exciting player to watch. I am anxious to see him make a big step forward this year based on his experience last year. I hope he has a knock out year with 5000 yard passing and 40 TD and 0 interceptions ! . well I am dreaming a little bit.
    go HOKIES ! next week .

    1. Well, at least breaking Jerod’s VT records is certainly attainable. He’ll need 3600 yards and 30 TDs.

    2. I am as well. However, really, he had a very good year last year without much help at RB. I’m hoping King will be a star this year and take pressure off of Ryan. A one-dimensional offense and a lousy D put a lot of pressure on the QB. Here’s to two new stars – King and Willis!

  4. Go get ’em Ry. “Scared money dont make money…(mumble mumble whatever else is rest of quote.)

    Light up the scoreboard

  5. We need to play Hooker early and often. Fu has been terrible with that sort of thing, like putting in QP and everyone on the planet know he is going to run.

    1. Of Quincy’s 28 plays last year, he dropped back to pass seven times (25%). Of Hendon’s 18 plays, he dropped back to pass 0 times (0%). Limited data set, but we definitely tried to throw the ball some with Quincy last year.

      1. I understand Chris. My big thing is to keep Hooker interested. Get him in when we are up 17-0, not waiting to 4th quarter 42-7. Especially in some of these early home games. I love Ryan, but I think a Gleenon/Tyrod mix would work, make us a two headed horse and get Hooker ready in case of injury to Ryan and build to next year.

          1. Glennon was good enough to lead us to a win over BC in the ACC Championship game and be named MVP. As Broken Hawk says, the OL was awful and we didn’t have much of a ground game.

    2. Why would Fuente put Patterson in have him pass the ball when he’s not a good passer? Why would he put QP in and not urn him – especially with the very limited number of plays he was in – when he’s a real running threat? Why do posters think they are coaches when they’re not. If the intention was to put QP in long enough to establish a balanced running vs. passing game maybe you’d have a point but that was not the intention at all. They wanted to give RW a rest and to give QP a limited chance to make the defense stop the run

  6. Hey Chris, I’d be interested in exactly what CJF said and HOW he said it, as it always seemed that he has had some trepidation about RW, though I could never put my finger on whether that was due to lack of trust coming from work ethic, attitude, leadership, teammates’ level of respect, or what? Any insight? Did CJF seem comfortable or real serious/slightly agitated when announcing?

    1. I wasn’t there. Cory was there, and I stayed in the office to post this article and work on a column.

  7. He makes it look effortless when he throws the ball. Great arm. I hope he has a special year.

  8. How many of those 9 INTs by Willis went through the hands of the VT receivers? I recall 3.

    1. I can name 3 plays where that happened and 2 where the WR ran the wrong route cutting to the incorrect direction

    2. Someone posted on the Sub Board….I’m not going to search for it….a breakdown of every interception. 2 or 3 were “good pass, but bounced off of receiver”. 3 more were late in the half or late in the game situations where, well, why not sling it and take the chance. One more was a pass that you could call clearly not his fault.

      So that left either 2 or 3 where you could blame him some.

      1. Good information……. but lets not forget that there were likely a number that could (should) have been intercepted and weren’t.

        That said, I agree that on balance what could be attributed to Willis is less than the 9 that happened.

      2. I understand but remember that there are also times when a receiver bails a QB out after a bad pass. Dynamic catch or even knocking the ball out of a defender’s hands. Evens out. Still a 24/9 ratio is great

  9. Whether the measure is passing stats, wins, or head to head, I’m looking forward to seeing Willis leave Bryce Perkins in the dust this year!

    1. Lol. Well yeah. “The QB competition is close” is the coachiest of coachspeak whether Beamer, Fu or whoever. Of course you want your 2nd to push your first and here’s to hopin’ that HH really did have a good year and we have a decent backup (gulp!) for two years runnin’ but yeah, the winner is – drumroll please – Willis!

  10. Play your heart out, leave it all on the field every play, every game.
    We’re behind you 100%.

Comments are closed.