2020 was a downturn in production for Virginia Tech’s wide receiving corps, though 40% of the rotation had never gone through a spring practice in the VT offensive system.  There is more talented depth this season and everybody has had at least one spring in the system, so production should improve as a result.

A Slow Regression In Production

I think most of us believe that Virginia Tech’s wide receivers haven’t been as productive recently as they were early in Justin Fuente’s tenure, but do the numbers bear that out?   Sometimes numbers lie, sometimes they don’t, but I think this is a case where they don’t lie.

Check out the catches by Tech’s wide receivers during the Fuente era.  Total number of catches in a season and catches per game are listed because of the varying number of games each year.

Year	Catches	Catches Per Game
2016	231	16.5
2017	194	14.9
2018	180	13.8
2019	122	9.4
2020	85	7.7

*Note: I included Bucky Hodges as a wide receiver.  He had 676 snaps as an outside receiver that year, 129 in the slot, and only 12 as an in-line tight end.  It’s not even an argument.

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