Watching Georgia Tech last night and their struggle after changing coaches and systems. Just brought back some memories of the end of Franck Beamer era, where Tech fans (at least myself, probably shouldn’t speak for others), knew there was probably going to be a drop off when this long era of success finally turned over. Obviously you’re hoping for the absolute best, but deep down, you know it’s probably not gonna be completely smooth sailing.

Then they go and hire Fuente, a nice offensive hire, and he comes in and has immediate success, he was taking a team that was going 6-6 in the last years in Beamer era, and bang has a 10 win season and 9 win season. That’s pretty damn good from where we were at the end of the Beamer era, where Frank was in the cusp of not making bowls and barely competitive. Fuente immediately raised the bar on himself and set unrealistic expectations.

When he first came in he had Frank's players, he adjusted his schemes for Frank’s players, but in the background he was recruiting his kind of kids. This was bound to reach a critical mass at some point, it just wasn’t easily apparent. At some point it would be his kids, and he’d need to adjust his scheme back to his default schemes. But right when the transition year was set to occur, his kids weren’t quite ready yet, and they needed another year of seasoning offensively. And it coincided with a freak year of early departures to the NFL. Three of them. A year early. Had we ever had 3 in a year before under Beamer on one side of the ball? That D last year would have looked a hell of a lot different with Settle and the Edmunds brothers anchoring the middle at DL, LB, and S. Add in a ton of injuries and Trevon Hill meltdown. Then he lost his QB in week 3 and had to insert a good passer but incomplete runner for his system. That and a crushed defense, they went 6-7. That should have been a 8-5/ 9-4 transitional season, which after all the bad luck, could have been even worse and he frankly he salvaged it (especially considering the lost locker room that later came out). Anyway, you know all this.

Now for 2019, it's all his guys offensively in his system. He’s got a quarterback that he thinks is good enough to win with. His O-line has some depth, looks the part, and appears ready to go. I don’t think he’s as concerned about an elite running back as everyone else in this board. Would he love one? Sure, but he subscribes to the theory that passing is more important. He just needs an athletic pass catching back, that can be trusted to block. Odd he hasn’t found one yet, but he's shown he can utilize a Rodgers or a Peoples type as a productive player. He needs WRs, TEs and a good Oline. He’ll mold the QB. If the QB is a threat to run, he'll use that threat to move the ball on the ground. I'd love to see a dynamic back in his system, but I don't get the feeling he cares about it that much.

This is a 9-10 win offensively this year. But it’s where do they go from here with Bud and the defense? Did Bud recruit enough talent defensively without Frank the last few years to give himself a top 40 defense this year?

Bud proved himself under a Frank's scheme of ball control and first recruiting preference of 50/50 guys. But can he do it with an offense first guy that takes the better guys? You have to give him a pass for last year, but the talent level just doesn't look incredibly high, especially at DE and DB, positions we've always had talent. In the past, with our current Defensive line depth woes, we would have depleted the O-line and moved guys to the defense. Help the D, weaken the O-Line.

Anyway, where am I going with this? This is a key year for Fuente, and not from a "is he gonna get fired standpoint. He's not, too much money owed, he’ll get 2020 no matter what, but in what form? Will he be neutered? Can he bring along and recruit a defense the way he can recruit an offense. What is his defense scheme of choice? Once Bud goes, will it be Fuente’s call on who Bud’s replacement is? If 2019 is underwhelming offensively, would Whit’s take more of a GM role in the decision if the offense under performs? What kind of defensive coach would come here is Feunte's offense isn't performing well and the defensive cupboard is bare?

In my mind, how his offense performs this year will be a big factor in the fans confidence in his ability to do that. If his offense is dynamic, he’ll be trusted. If his O isn’t, and it appears he can’t build a dynamic consistent offense after 4 years, when he’s known for offense, can he be trusted with constructing the defense by picking the coordinator and scheme? Not saying he’s going to run it (defense), but saying he will mold it to his world view of how defense should be. He couldn’t do that with Bud here. He had to trust Bud and rightfully so with Bud's resume.

I think Fuente is in for a critical year. From the sounds of it, it’s been a better locker room dynamic this year, but talk is cheap. None of the things outlined in the SI article were being leaked last year at this time. It’s was optimism. And not saying it shouldn’t have been, but everyone is optimistic in preseason, but it doesn’t mean anything once that ball is kicked off against BC.

I really believe Fuente is a good coach, but I’m hesitant to say he can recruit at making ACC championship game level. I think that’s still TBD, especially on defensive side of the ball. I like his trend, especially WR , O-Line, and TE, but WR and QB are question marks. This is a HUGE year for Fuente and the team, even if his job isn’t on the line, and will go a long way towards proving if Fuente will have a successful transition tenure coming of Frank, or if he’ll fall victim to a long line of successors of legends to have some temporary success and ultimately fail.