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Blankenship knows how Fuente ticks

FAYETTEVILLE -- The Arkansas coaching staff has been burning through video, turning over every leaf while trying to get into the offensive brain of first-year Virginia Tech Coach Justin Fuente.

A few football fields away in his office at Fayetteville High School sits the man who might know the football mind of Fuente, whose Hokies will face Arkansas on Dec. 29 in the Belk Bowl, as well as anyone.

First-year Fayetteville Coach Bill Blankenship, 60, coached Fuente in high school at Tulsa (Okla.) Union nearly a quarter of a century ago. He served as an analyst on Fuente's staff at Memphis throughout 2015 while undergoing a year-long, self-described "sabbatical tour" after being fired as head coach at his alma mater Tulsa after the 2014 season.