Latest / Boundary Corner Podcast / Shake the Frost

Transcript

Shake the Frost · Boundary Corner Podcast

• 0:45
  Welcome back corner podcast, I'm Curtis Wilson.
• 0:51
  I Brian siglo buddy. Wednesday night.
• 0:54
  We're back at a little little extended break here but we're
• 0:57
  back in business man. Wednesday night extended break,
• 1:01
  have a truly awesome. Guess we're about to bring on a
• 1:04
  couple seconds here. ACC tournament, holy moly and
• 1:12
  saying that we got to bring this guy down because he was going
• 1:14
  through it just like we were we're going to bring them at a
• 1:18
  cyst from BT, scoop, 24/7, Rider and inside the tunnel podcast,
• 1:25
  Mateo has your heart rate came down yet after the ending of
• 1:29
  that game. Listen, guys is about 20 minutes
• 1:32
  after the game. My heart rate is still at an
• 1:34
  all-time high Apple watch readings off the chart Darius
• 1:39
  Maddox, listen. This is March and Virginia Tech,
• 1:43
  survives moves on. Let's get it.
• 1:46
  Survive and Advance. Exactly did it in dramatic,
• 1:51
  fashion, dramatic fashion. All down the court, three at the
• 1:56
  buzzer in overtime to get that one point victory over Clemson.
• 2:01
  And this is a game that the the Hokies kind of had in hand for
• 2:07
  pretty much the duration. I mean, it was, it was a little
• 2:09
  back-and-forth early, but once we kind of got into the 20s and
• 2:13
  scoring Tech, kind of, put a put a good good arm's length lead
• 2:18
  over the Tigers and then down the last what?
• 2:21
  Four minutes yeah Tigers kind of clogged back.
• 2:25
  And especially the last two minutes of Regulation, really,
• 2:28
  kind of put the screws to the Hokies there and got it, got it
• 2:32
  to overtime. But Man, I'm just blown away by
• 2:36
  the way that thing in because I thought we were in for another
• 2:39
  letdown in a little league game like that.
• 2:42
  Yeah, that was awesome. And I got us a credit to my
• 2:45
  kyung to because, you know, taking out Kevin a illuma, put
• 2:49
  it on four guards, on the court, you're going for the three, you
• 2:53
  know, it's make it an advance, you miss it, you're going home.
• 2:56
  So he went, he went all in on that.
• 2:59
  Last play it paid off, who else? That was incredible.
• 3:04
  And, you know, I thought the game was well over right before
• 3:08
  the five-minute Mark and then, you know, typical Virginia Tech
• 3:12
  fashion When things happen OT hits, I'm thinking there's no
• 3:16
  shot and then you know all it takes is one shot and that's
• 3:20
  what it was right at the end. Yep.
• 3:22
  I thought it was over to I told these guys I I'm putting my son
• 3:27
  to bed and he asks hey what's the score?
• 3:30
  I'm like I'll text like 12:12 that's probably over.
• 3:34
  I walked back down to the man cave here and it's a four-point
• 3:37
  lead and I'm like what what did we do while I was upstairs just
• 3:41
  to brief moment. Um, and it had harken back to be
• 3:46
  see it. Harken back to, you know, the
• 3:48
  first Miami game. The, The State game these games
• 3:52
  were, as we were talking about a, just a few minutes ago.
• 3:56
  If you, if we have these games already won, we're in the
• 3:59
  tournament comfortable. We're in, we're probably going
• 4:02
  to be somewhere between the 6 and a 9 seed.
• 4:05
  Instead we're we're fighting for our lives and and on to Notre
• 4:10
  Dame at 7:00 tomorrow night. Thank God.
• 4:13
  We're in the seven slot. Always such a nice lot to be
• 4:18
  such a nice lot to be lucky number.
• 4:21
  Thankfully we you know we wrapped up just before this so
• 4:24
  you know we weren't we weren't having our hearts pound out of
• 4:27
  our chest while we're trying to have a discussion on here.
• 4:29
  Yeah we're staying up for another overtime or something,
• 4:31
  you know. Yeah.
• 4:33
  Well we were going to do mattei. We're going to tell you if they
• 4:37
  went to another over time. We were just be like, hop on.
• 4:39
  We're just going to just live watch it together.
• 4:42
  The game before we start the interview tonight when we the
• 4:46
  first time we've done some shit like that what happened?
• 4:50
  Exactly, we are notorious for being the guys that are
• 4:53
  commenting on live games while randomly talking about hope you
• 4:57
  Sports. Yeah, I have to joke during like
• 5:00
  this season. Like we do our episodes on
• 5:02
  Sunday nights and like one one time this year or numerous time
• 5:06
  the Colts and the Niners played, and it was like listen everybody
• 5:10
  if you see our heads turn up, We're watching the game.
• 5:13
  If we look distracted, we're sorry but you know, we're
• 5:16
  continuing to watch it too. So, hey, no, fair enough.
• 5:20
  All right, let me tell you again.
• 5:22
  What we thank you for joining us tonight to kind of hit on some
• 5:25
  recruiting news on. But, before we get into that,
• 5:28
  just give us a little background on yourself.
• 5:30
  You know, how you came? Obviously we know, you're a
• 5:32
  hokie, how you became that and then, you know, how you got all
• 5:36
  the 24/7 and VT scoop? Yeah, so long story short I want
• 5:43
  to go to a big school and high school for college, I should
• 5:47
  say. And, you know, I was looking
• 5:49
  around and, you know, Virginia Tech just hit, you know, all my
• 5:52
  checkpoints and it wasn't actually until my mom's friend
• 5:57
  who attended Virginia Tech said, at the last moment you should
• 6:01
  check out this school. It hits everything that you're
• 6:04
  looking for. I wasn't even considering it as
• 6:07
  a New York boy, but you know, applied got in actually a day
• 6:11
  after admission. Missions ended saw my acceptance
• 6:16
  took one tour there and I just knew it was the place I had to
• 6:19
  be you know I was a huge Sports guy in high school was always
• 6:23
  around it. Did some freelance work in high
• 6:26
  school writing about the NBA. So when I got down to Virginia
• 6:30
  Tech was only natural. I wanted to get involved with
• 6:32
  Athletics and, you know, I saw an opportunity on the VTC scoop
• 6:38
  main page. It was actually during the time
• 6:40
  that Josh sweat was announcing That's when I first got into
• 6:44
  Virginia Tech recruiting and saw, you know how vicious it
• 6:48
  could really be. It was a week after that, after
• 6:51
  national Signing Day that Evan, put it up.
• 6:55
  He said we're looking for one more guy to join the team asked
• 6:59
  for three samples. I didn't have three samples
• 7:01
  quickly wrote them up. You know, had my mom edit them
• 7:06
  sent the Moran made sure everything was Flawless and you
• 7:09
  know, we hopped on the phone for that first conversation.
• 7:12
  When I As a freshman at Virginia Tech and you know, he said we'll
• 7:15
  bring you on, we'll do some work and you know I've been there
• 7:18
  ever since so huge credit to Evan for believing in me.
• 7:22
  And you know, it's been such an amazing journey being able to
• 7:26
  get close to the program of the school I attended.
• 7:29
  I mean, there's nothing better than that.
• 7:30
  And, you know, even now you know, well after college, I'm
• 7:34
  still involved as much as I can be.
• 7:39
  Also well that's kind of its kind of great, you say all that
• 7:43
  and you know knowing your hokey and mentioning, I think brought
• 7:47
  before we got on, at a mentioned, his high school was a
• 7:50
  total of 600 people. His first intro drop a class
• 7:55
  attack was 850 people. So that's crazy to think
• 7:59
  chertok, you'll just let me ask this because being not only
• 8:05
  obviously an alumni, being a huge sports fan.
• 8:09
  When with the sun and being a writer for BT scoop.
• 8:12
  You know, when we decided to go in a New Direction.
• 8:15
  In November, when Justin Fuente was fired, you know, how did
• 8:19
  this in fact you not only at BT scoop but obviously being an
• 8:23
  alumni and being a fan of the program.
• 8:26
  Yeah, I mean it was definitely Bittersweet and I know that
• 8:31
  rightfully. So there's a lot of fans that
• 8:33
  want to change and you know from my perspective it was always my
• 8:38
  role to Kind of keep an unbiased take and kind of, see it for
• 8:42
  what it is. But, you know, there were deep
• 8:44
  relationships built with the with the last staff, but I gotta
• 8:48
  say, you know, everything that has transpired since then the
• 8:51
  transition has been seamless. And, you know, there's a, it's
• 8:56
  refreshing to have this change, and to have people that are so
• 9:00
  passionate about what they do, the new connections formed, it's
• 9:04
  obviously been great for VT scoop, not only any time,
• 9:08
  there's a coaching change It just the access that we have
• 9:11
  into the program was something that was missing for a very long
• 9:15
  time and it's really, really refreshing.
• 9:17
  I mean, that's the key word there because, you know, we're
• 9:21
  able to see so much more as you know, the common fan.
• 9:24
  But also in recruiting, we're able to see, you know, a lot
• 9:28
  more of, you know what, the prospects are telling us and
• 9:33
  those types of things. So it's been really good and I
• 9:38
  have no complaints so far in the first few months.
• 9:42
  That's awesome to hear. Sounds like a little bit of the
• 9:44
  curtains been pulled back on the program.
• 9:46
  Absolutely. From in a lot of areas not just
• 9:50
  on the recruiting side but it's good to hear that.
• 9:52
  Some of those things are opening up as well.
• 9:54
  And I think the candidness that coach prior kind of talks about
• 9:58
  things that pressors and other interviews that he's done is big
• 10:04
  and one of the big things he's talked about is kind of just how
• 10:07
  far behind they were with relationship building with the
• 10:12
  In some of the other things for the 23 class in your, in your
• 10:17
  view, just based on what you've seen like, how far behind were
• 10:22
  the Hokies kind of at that transition point.
• 10:24
  And is there anything that they've done since then the kind
• 10:28
  of, I guess shorten that Gap. Yeah, I would definitely say
• 10:33
  that Virginia Tech is still behind in terms of in-state.
• 10:38
  They've done a lot better. Those relationships are being
• 10:41
  formed, there still early. Leon and you know, these types
• 10:44
  of things take time but in terms of the first steps of what you
• 10:47
  have to do and you know, they're saying they're putting an
• 10:50
  emphasis on Virginia and they really have and they're going
• 10:53
  into all the high schools are meeting all the people.
• 10:55
  They're not just meeting, you know, the High School coaches.
• 10:58
  They're meeting administrators teachers parents, you know,
• 11:02
  Friends of the parents of the recruits.
• 11:05
  They're making sure that they're meeting all the people of the
• 11:08
  area and really getting Virginia Tech's name in the door.
• 11:11
  And I think You know, the last staff while they had a wider net
• 11:15
  to cast, you know, sometimes you just you have to build the
• 11:19
  program from the state that you're born in and I think
• 11:24
  Virginia Tech has gone back to its roots and I think you'll see
• 11:27
  in this class that Virginia is the priority.
• 11:30
  So they've done a lot better in regards to Virginia, but I do
• 11:35
  think it's going to take time. It's not going to be, you know,
• 11:37
  one cycle fix fixes all, but this is a critical cycle in
• 11:42
  terms. Of making sure that Virginia is
• 11:44
  a priority and I think we'll all see that.
• 11:46
  Yeah, speaking of that, that Virginia Blitz that they did.
• 11:50
  When they first got here hitting 70 plus schools, in obviously,
• 11:55
  we saw the big name schools right now, we saw the PBS's, we
• 11:58
  saw Highland Springs. We saw some of the big schools
• 12:00
  in Northern Virginia but then we saw the smaller schools, they
• 12:03
  hit like an EC glass in Lynchburg.
• 12:05
  They hit some of the, you know, smaller Weston schools where I
• 12:09
  live which you know, produced about every ten.
• 12:12
  Use one football player. How much did that help?
• 12:16
  Get on track? What you just mentioned?
• 12:21
  Yeah, I mean a lot of it a lot of it that was that was the
• 12:24
  critical period of you know we just got to Blacksburg what's
• 12:29
  our first plan of attack and they said we have to go
• 12:33
  throughout Virginia. I don't care if we have three
• 12:36
  hours of sleep every night, we're going, and we're shaking
• 12:39
  the hands of every single high school coach that we can that
• 12:42
  fees Chablis that we can within this state and, you know, these
• 12:46
  are some areas that the coaches have never been to, besides her,
• 12:49
  maybe a quick conversation, they haven't, you know, had prolonged
• 12:52
  conversation, but they went in there, they showed them who they
• 12:56
  were what they're about. And I think a lot of the High
• 12:58
  School coaches have respected that and you know, that's
• 13:02
  opening the doors. Again, like opening the doors is
• 13:05
  so huge because there are some guys that are sitting there
• 13:08
  with, you know, really notable talent and they're like I'm a
• 13:13
  Virginia Tech fan, but a Virginia Tech coach is never
• 13:15
  shook my hand. Like they don't know about us,
• 13:18
  They don't know about the prospects that we have, they
• 13:20
  haven't checked in once and it's not just about going there,
• 13:24
  shaking the hand establishing the connection.
• 13:26
  But you know, since then keeping the connections as well checking
• 13:30
  in making sure, you know the prospects.
• 13:33
  The coach is the parents, all of them.
• 13:35
  You know, they're doing a very good job in upkeep and I think,
• 13:38
  you know, it's a, it's a continuous cycle.
• 13:40
  It's very arduous. But They're doing a great job of
• 13:44
  just making sure that Virginia Tech is always at the top of
• 13:47
  everyone's Minds. It seemed like they did a good
• 13:50
  job kind of the planning their seeds with the other.
• 13:52
  We're seeing a little bit of the, of the watering process,
• 13:54
  right? You see them following up.
• 13:55
  You see some of the visits that we have coming up, especially
• 13:58
  with this open Practice, coming up next weekend, a few big names
• 14:03
  coming in for that. Let's pivot to this a little
• 14:06
  bit. So we talked about how there was
• 14:09
  a gap did some of the continuity on the recruiting staff.
• 14:13
  Help with some of that with Lino and gouveia Winslow and then
• 14:17
  also on the on the coaching staff, With Pearson and then
• 14:20
  with JC staying on, did that help with some of that
• 14:23
  transition for the 23 class. I know we they weren't
• 14:27
  necessarily, you know, full-bore in that in that it was more of a
• 14:31
  kind of maintain the 22, but did some of that those relationships
• 14:36
  kind of carry over into this class, as well.
• 14:38
  I think so, I definitely think the focus was on the 22 class
• 14:42
  and that's how most of it kept together.
• 14:44
  You look at Benji Gosnell from the 22 class and that was a big
• 14:48
  part. Part of JC price just staying on
• 14:51
  him, staying you know, Relentless in his Recruitment
• 14:54
  and helping bridge the gap. So a lot of those guys were
• 14:58
  crucial in terms of the 22 class.
• 15:00
  But for 23, you know it's it's about you know showing some of
• 15:04
  the guys what you already know and I think they've done a good
• 15:07
  job of that kind of Bridging the gaps.
• 15:09
  Like I like I mentioned before but yeah those guys were crucial
• 15:13
  and they are still crucial to the 23 class.
• 15:19
  All right, well, speaking of the 23 class.
• 15:21
  Let's talk about the current top 10 in Virginia because we've got
• 15:26
  I'm counting. This is 24/7 rankings.
• 15:29
  There are currently three Three players in the top 10 of
• 15:36
  Virginia committed to Penn State.
• 15:39
  And there's a fourth Tony Rojas and I believe, I think, Brian
• 15:43
  did Brian, don't give him the crystal ball to Penn State.
• 15:46
  Yes, I believe so, Rondon gave him the ball to Penn State.
• 15:52
  So, I've got to ask this You know are these potential flip
• 15:56
  opportunities with this new staff?
• 15:58
  Because of whoo, Brent prai is Tyler.
• 16:01
  Bowen, are they pretty solid with Penn State at the moment?
• 16:06
  Yeah, I would say it's kind of tough.
• 16:09
  Obviously Penn State got in there early with a lot of these
• 16:13
  guys. And, you know, I'm never going
• 16:17
  to say no, I'm never going to say there's not a potential flip
• 16:21
  opportunity here. Barnwell is a Guy that sticks
• 16:25
  out that I think you know, later on in the cycle will see what
• 16:28
  happens to him. He's a four-star guy, you know
• 16:31
  Joshua Miller's another one that I think could potentially will
• 16:35
  see, you know, right now they're saying all the right things for
• 16:38
  Penn State. They have a really good
• 16:39
  connection there and, you know, there's a lot of Allure for Penn
• 16:43
  State but, you know, it's not to say that Brent pry, won't be
• 16:46
  trying, but at the present moment, I would say most of them
• 16:50
  are pretty locked in. And I'll also say this, that you
• 16:54
  look at Virginia top 10 right now on 24/7 Sports.
• 16:57
  And you see a lot of guys for Penn State, but I promise you by
• 17:02
  the end of the cycle, it's going to be funny if you come back and
• 17:05
  watch this right now to see the names Now versus what the names
• 17:09
  are going to be in the top 10 by the end of the cycle.
• 17:11
  You know, we're always constantly evaluating, and I
• 17:14
  think there's going to be a lot of changes within that top 10, I
• 17:18
  wouldn't expect to Penn State to lock up, you know, over half of
• 17:22
  the top 10. I think.
• 17:23
  Virginia Tech is definitely going to To get some guys in the
• 17:25
  top 10 when it's all said and done.
• 17:27
  And that's why you guys are the best site.
• 17:29
  You guys continuously monitor these kids at your camps?
• 17:34
  You're Weighing on your, you know, seeing how they doing
• 17:37
  drills, you're seeing like their 40s plus continuously watching
• 17:41
  their High School tape in. And I love that.
• 17:44
  That's why we always say when we're here, it's like, what's
• 17:48
  24/7. Say he's a three-star / 24/7,
• 17:52
  he's a four-star. / 24/7, you guys Best on that.
• 17:55
  Appreciate that. Yeah, you guys just had what a
• 17:58
  pretty decent Shuffle with the top 10.
• 18:02
  Not too long ago if I'm not mistaken in Virginia.
• 18:05
  Yeah, but some of the updated rankings so there was a little
• 18:08
  bit of movement there if I recall correctly.
• 18:10
  So let's talk about this a little bit.
• 18:14
  I know you said, you know, the the top 10 is kind of fluid
• 18:18
  based on where where the rankings are right now.
• 18:21
  Are there any guys in that Virginia?
• 18:23
  Top 10. That that BT is sitting pretty
• 18:27
  good with at the moment. Yeah.
• 18:29
  I mean, I can just give me one second to pull it up.
• 18:34
  I'm not on the state rankings right now but yeah, just overall
• 18:39
  I think that Virginia Tech is doing a good job, maybe not
• 18:45
  inside the top ten at the moment.
• 18:49
  I think, you know, there will be guys that eventually come up
• 18:53
  there. I think I'm not sure where he's
• 18:56
  situated right now but a guy like I Daniels running back, you
• 19:01
  know, Virginia Tech's in is top four.
• 19:02
  I think that's going to be a tough one.
• 19:04
  Obviously anytime you're battling for a four-star guy and
• 19:07
  although you know technically they landed, you know, Brody
• 19:11
  Meadows. You guys.
• 19:13
  Now we haven't seen. Brent pry, really yet in a
• 19:17
  heated battle with big schools, trying to get the top guys.
• 19:21
  And I think I Daniels is a perfect example of someone
• 19:25
  that's definitely attainable for Virginia Tech.
• 19:28
  And you know, I'm curious to see how that one shakes out.
• 19:31
  I think there's going to be other guys that, you know,
• 19:33
  eventually end up in the top 10. But yeah, we'll see.
• 19:40
  What about Antonio cotton? He was a guy that has been
• 19:43
  visiting. He's, you know, he's from here
• 19:45
  in the RV, a donut Life Christian Academy, what's he
• 19:49
  look like he's he did looks like you guys did slide him down a
• 19:52
  little bit, but obviously, like you said, you guys are fluid.
• 19:57
  Where do they sit with him right now?
• 19:59
  Yeah, they're sitting very high with him.
• 20:01
  He obviously got a ton of Interest started camping, had
• 20:05
  one bad Camp which kind of cooled off some programs but
• 20:09
  overall, All a guy that again really likes Virginia Tech.
• 20:13
  I think another guy that you kind of want to get into the
• 20:16
  program and show that Virginia is a priority, I think, Virginia
• 20:21
  Tech will stay till the end with him and I think that will mean a
• 20:23
  lot. Whereas you know, some of the
• 20:25
  other big programs might go in and out if they have a choice.
• 20:29
  So he's a guy that I think, you know, remaining consistent with
• 20:33
  will pay dividends down the line.
• 20:35
  Awesome. Now, let's kind of flip to this,
• 20:38
  you know? Brent price, Tyler Bowen,
• 20:43
  Derrick Jones, the cheetah one of the best follows on Twitter
• 20:47
  right now, a BT Sport deep into it to hold him down in Carolina
• 20:53
  Pearson, you know, growing up in South Carolina and fontelle
• 20:56
  Minds. These guys are kind of that
• 20:59
  along with JC price, kind of that Core group, that's going to
• 21:02
  be running the big part of the footprint Virginia.
• 21:06
  North Carolina, the DMV in Maryland.
• 21:10
  Are you familiar with these guys Styles?
• 21:13
  How they build relationships? Just give us some insight on,
• 21:17
  you know, if you have something on all of them.
• 21:18
  Great, if you have someone with couple, yeah, I definitely have
• 21:21
  some some stuff on a couple, you know, personally still getting
• 21:25
  to know some of them but yeah I would say that without a doubt
• 21:30
  like with this staff, I'll just speak generally here.
• 21:34
  But you know from what I know this staff just in terms of like
• 21:38
  being available Bowl and checking in with people there.
• 21:43
  So, almost Relentless in that, that they're, they're constantly
• 21:47
  able to ask how your day is, and, you know, see how you are
• 21:51
  like, relationships are key to them and it's not always about
• 21:54
  football, it's not always about, you know, what are your grades?
• 21:57
  What you know, who are you hearing from?
• 21:59
  Should I be scared that another schools coming into the mix?
• 22:02
  It's kind of like keeping it real with everyone because they
• 22:05
  know what they have to offer their experience.
• 22:08
  They trust that in the end. If they build that relationship
• 22:10
  that that's going to be the reason that you know, that
• 22:14
  recruit wants to come to Virginia Tech.
• 22:16
  And I think that's so critical that they're confident in who
• 22:20
  they are, they know who they are.
• 22:21
  They know the proven strategies and they've been really they've
• 22:27
  been really good so far. So just in general I think
• 22:31
  another thing too is just, you know, it's not taking guys and
• 22:35
  putting them in in too many new situations.
• 22:39
  It's kind of taking guys and doing things that they're
• 22:41
  familiar with in places that they're familiar with.
• 22:44
  So you know, the recruiting landscape is not really that
• 22:48
  foreign to anyone and I think that's it.
• 22:51
  That's a huge thing as well. Yeah.
• 22:54
  Looks like probably what Sean Quinn is probably the biggest
• 22:57
  one that's probably working outside of his normal recruiting
• 23:00
  area with working up in Northern Virginia versus what Tennessee
• 23:05
  and Georgia Governor. Yeah, Rudolph.
• 23:11
  I love the way like we hadn't touched Ohio and years in what I
• 23:15
  like about a month ago, like all these Ohio kids are tween like,
• 23:19
  Joe Rudolph, drove through West. Virginia is getting up an Ohio
• 23:22
  and it's all Awesome. Yeah.
• 23:24
  See ya I love it and I think, you know specifically with guys
• 23:27
  like Joe Rudolph, you like I feel like there's you have so
• 23:34
  many people that are in Virginia and taking care of Virginia,
• 23:38
  taking care of North Carolina. Pennsylvania like Maryland, you
• 23:43
  have so many connections there and I think sometimes with
• 23:46
  staffs try to do is they, they want to hit their Regional
• 23:51
  footprint and they'll pull guys That aren't familiar with it and
• 23:55
  put them in areas where they know nothing.
• 23:57
  And I think in the case of Joe Rudolph, it's saying you're
• 24:00
  approving guy. You know what you're doing,
• 24:02
  you've built these relationships instead of taking you out of
• 24:05
  Ohio, why not? Keep you there.
• 24:07
  It's tried. It's true to tested and I think
• 24:11
  you know, he's a guy cheetahs. Another guy that I think you
• 24:14
  know over time like for. Now they're trying to keep
• 24:18
  everyone in these Regional brackets.
• 24:22
  But I think over time, Time, they'll kind of have, you know,
• 24:25
  free reign of where they want to go and who they want to recruit.
• 24:28
  Because, you know, they've done it for so long.
• 24:31
  They built so many relationships and so many places that it would
• 24:34
  be a shame not to use them. Yeah, speaking of those
• 24:38
  relationships, let's talk about another higher that you know,
• 24:42
  some people were a little like, oh, that was out of the blue and
• 24:45
  that's, that's fontelle. Mine's kind of interesting
• 24:48
  higher being a UGA alumn and not having a ton of power 5
• 24:51
  experience. But what do you think that this
• 24:54
  higher in kind of what he brings to the recruiting front for the
• 24:59
  Hokies? Yeah, I mean it definitely was
• 25:01
  an interesting higher. I think it's fair to say that.
• 25:07
  I'm think I'm giving away too much and saying that there is a
• 25:09
  lot of candidates considered for the position.
• 25:11
  And I think there's a reason that, you know, is the last
• 25:13
  higher. But or I guess I don't know if
• 25:17
  it was the last official higher, but at least unofficially, I
• 25:20
  guess, but in terms of, you know, his experience, not being
• 25:25
  in the power 5, I think what you have already on staff is so much
• 25:32
  proven power, 5 experience that bringing in a guy damn old.
• 25:36
  Old have a guy you know that's so familiar with Virginia.
• 25:41
  Just the entire landscape of Virginia a guy that you knows
• 25:45
  electrifying and conversation a guy that's going to be again
• 25:49
  Relentless in building relationships.
• 25:52
  Like that's what you want and I think there's so many guys
• 25:54
  especially on the offensive side that are like proven offensive
• 25:59
  Minds that they're going to make the product work no matter what
• 26:02
  you want a guy that you know is going to build those
• 26:05
  relationships with in Which is such a priority for the program
• 26:09
  and I think he'll do a good job and I know it's weird getting a
• 26:12
  UVA Alum. I know that's a weird thing.
• 26:15
  I know he's talked about it and you know talking about already
• 26:18
  late November next year, how weird that's going to be.
• 26:21
  But I think he's a guy that's fully bought in has all the
• 26:25
  values they were looking for and kind of checked a lot of the
• 26:28
  boxes. And I think when you look at
• 26:30
  him, it's mostly going to be about recruiting with him.
• 26:34
  And I think he definitely checks all those boxes.
• 26:36
  Exes. I'm curious to see, you know,
• 26:38
  how hard the wide receivers going to develop is that going
• 26:41
  to be a thing where multiple coaches are kind of pulling in
• 26:45
  information for not only recruiting, but development and
• 26:48
  who's going to be in. But in terms of recruiting, I
• 26:51
  have no doubts with him, so it sounds like you had a chance to
• 26:56
  speak with Van tail. I haven't personally, I know.
• 27:00
  Yeah, there's other guys on our, on our team with really good
• 27:03
  relationship with him, but he, yeah, he's absolutely.
• 27:07
  Great from everything that I've heard it sounded like from your
• 27:10
  comments there. That someone always that's why I
• 27:13
  asked did you speak with him? Or someone had told you, like we
• 27:15
  spoke with him holy moly, you or an electrified.
• 27:18
  I'll just say yeah I've heard really good things about him so
• 27:23
  I'm excited to get the chance to you know, shake his hand one
• 27:26
  day, one day soon, I should say probably very soon on this
• 27:30
  coaching staff and as much as their opening it up again, we
• 27:34
  already talked about the open scrimmage.
• 27:38
  We won't be there. Unfortunately or I won't be
• 27:41
  there. Brian.
• 27:42
  Are you going to try? Unfortunately, can't make it
• 27:44
  because as you see behind me, I'm in the midst of packing up
• 27:47
  my own acid move, that's what we're using for bronze.
• 27:49
  Oh, he oh, wow. Yeah, there's a cross man
• 27:53
  fingers crossed. Let me ask this.
• 27:56
  You know, we look at Brett probably, look at Tyler Bowing
• 27:59
  in a few other guys on this staff.
• 28:01
  And, you know, they have a real real.
• 28:07
  Experience up in the DMV area. I mean I'm sitting here looking
• 28:11
  brick, pry recruited guys, you know like Curtis Jacobs Devon
• 28:16
  Ford in Tyler Bowen Landing Ting wall she'd Walker.
• 28:24
  That's that area. How big a boost do you think the
• 28:28
  Hokies are going to see from the DMV, you know, somewhere that's
• 28:32
  been good to the Hokies? If you're, if you're a hockey
• 28:35
  fan is old as we are. You know, it was a certain
• 28:40
  running backs coach back in the 80s 90s and 2000 that basically
• 28:45
  made a pipeline from DeMatha to Blacksburg.
• 28:51
  Could we see that form again from that area with these guys?
• 28:55
  I think absolutely I think when you look at and it's funny to
• 29:00
  when you look specifically at some of the Maryland
• 29:03
  powerhouses, like how many guys will be rated for stars?
• 29:07
  How many guys have ended up going to Alabama, Michigan, Penn
• 29:11
  State, even, you know, Marilyn has gone a few and you know,
• 29:15
  they've done a good job with those four stars but yeah, I
• 29:18
  mean, especially Bowen Pry. Even JC.
• 29:22
  I mean, they have, they're really going to make that a
• 29:25
  destination for Virginia Tech. And I think it's crucial that
• 29:29
  it's them because so many, I feel will go to Penn State and,
• 29:36
  and it's been tough to win any of those battles.
• 29:39
  It's almost like, as soon as Penn State steps on campus, it's
• 29:43
  their battle to win and Virginia Tech really never had a chance
• 29:47
  at least, you know, under the last regime and a bit.
• 29:50
  Or but now, I feel like there's a fair chance.
• 29:54
  I feel like it's still going to be an uphill battle, but when
• 29:57
  you're looking at the top end talent year in and year out, I
• 30:00
  think a lot of them are going to come from that area and I think
• 30:03
  it's crucial that you have guys that are so proven and have
• 30:07
  really, really great relationships with a lot of the
• 30:09
  coaches. They're like, really, really
• 30:11
  established relationships. I think it's going to go a long
• 30:14
  way. And I think, yeah, just what I
• 30:17
  said, like the star power of the classes, We'll come from that
• 30:21
  area. So in with those with those
• 30:24
  battles that we were looking at before with the previous regime
• 30:28
  was that something that kind of, as soon as they enter the table
• 30:30
  that we backed off, or was that more of a Penn State, but just
• 30:35
  between their program, Prestige, and the staff, they had, the
• 30:39
  things that they were doing if they were in the game and they
• 30:42
  had a committable offer on the table, it was kind of a done
• 30:44
  deal. It was kind of a done deal, and
• 30:46
  you got to think that these are, these are places that are
• 30:49
  welcoming the top-tier power 5 programs.
• 30:53
  And at, you know, at least like once a week at, it feels like.
• 30:58
  But, you know, I think Virginia Tech really never got a seat at
• 31:02
  the table and never felt that way.
• 31:04
  I felt like they were able to kind of get some of the guys
• 31:09
  that maybe fizzled out or that, you know, some of the top
• 31:14
  programs overlooked. But never really had a fair shot
• 31:17
  with some of the top guys, and I feel like the relationships
• 31:21
  especially of Tyler bow, Owen like there's going to be some
• 31:25
  dividends in the future. I don't know specifically for
• 31:28
  the 23 class but I know down the line there's there's going to be
• 31:32
  you know they're going to be in the conversation with a lot of
• 31:35
  these guys. Okay that's good.
• 31:38
  So let's pivot a little bit. So we talked about kind of the
• 31:41
  more media footprint. Let's talk about some of the
• 31:43
  larger footprint guys and some of the coaches on staff that
• 31:47
  have some experience there. Like cheetah hope, Glen bow, And
• 31:53
  Rudolph and Quinn, I know you talked about Rudolph a little
• 31:55
  bit already with the Ohio and and some of the relationships
• 31:59
  you guys there but how can those kind of larger footprint guys?
• 32:04
  Be a benefit on the on the recruiting Trail for us?
• 32:08
  Yeah I think they'll be good. I think especially when you look
• 32:11
  at like a state like Georgia I think there's a lot of ties
• 32:14
  there. Now, you know, whole North
• 32:17
  Carolina cheetah also in North Carolina and a lot of Virginia
• 32:21
  as well. I think.
• 32:23
  You know the six hour radius is a big thing for this class,
• 32:27
  getting guys that are closed and you know, like I mentioned
• 32:31
  before that a lot of these coaches have experience in the
• 32:34
  area outside of the area and kind of what has become the
• 32:38
  regional footprint for Virginia Tech.
• 32:41
  So I think a lot of these guys with their experience have, you
• 32:44
  know, will will fit in nicely and seamlessly identifying the
• 32:49
  guys that they want to bring into the class.
• 32:52
  Let me ask This when the initial press conference with Brent pry,
• 32:57
  in the big hammer, home of we're going to recruit Virginia.
• 33:02
  We all heard that, but when he said, like that, six hour
• 33:05
  radius, and he really, you know, he liked it was like an
• 33:08
  inflection point. They're like, if you can drive
• 33:12
  to get here, we're coming after you.
• 33:15
  When you hear that, and then kind of knowing the the previous
• 33:20
  regime in, they did go out some of our normal boundaries.
• 33:26
  What did that make you think? Do you think that coaches in
• 33:30
  that six hour radius who maybe had forgotten about Virginia
• 33:33
  Tech, did you think that maybe their ears perk a little bit?
• 33:36
  Yeah, absolutely. And I think that when your, when
• 33:40
  your footprint is too wide when you're casting your net, too
• 33:42
  wide and you know, there was never a Consolidated effort, I
• 33:47
  felt like in the past six years where, you know, whether it was
• 33:51
  North Carolina to VT Texas 2vt there was never like a Inserted
• 33:56
  effort to make something permanent for Virginia Tech.
• 33:59
  It was like this class is good people from Texas.
• 34:03
  We know these people were going to try to get them and then you
• 34:06
  know that ultimately didn't work out, you know, the one year with
• 34:09
  Trey Turner and Dax hollifield like that was great.
• 34:12
  But then, you know, dividends in future years didn't really come
• 34:15
  out of North Carolina. So I think it's important to not
• 34:19
  only state that Virginia is the priority and the six hour
• 34:23
  radius, which is very real, by the way.
• 34:25
  But also to make it your mission, not only for this class
• 34:30
  but for future classes as well, like it's not just to build the
• 34:34
  pipeline for Virginia to get a couple guys to come in and sign
• 34:38
  for 23. You know, this is this is about
• 34:41
  Shoring up the program not just for this recruiting cycle coming
• 34:45
  up but that in you know, five six years you're getting all the
• 34:49
  top guys from Virginia. That that's the first choice on
• 34:52
  the minds of these guys, not Florida, State, not pens.
• 34:55
  State not Michigan. They want it to be Virginia Tech
• 34:59
  and I think they truly believe that and sharing that direction,
• 35:03
  you know, as far as I know everything that they're doing
• 35:06
  right now is back in that up, so they really believe in that and
• 35:09
  they want that to be the mission.
• 35:14
  Yeah, it's like almost having a marketing strategy in in
• 35:18
  occasionally, just getting off kilter of who your best clients
• 35:21
  are like, oh, they're our best clients, we can just go to them
• 35:25
  whenever we need them, and we'll get what we need.
• 35:27
  But we're going to try to go over here and over here and over
• 35:29
  here and eventually people, you know, they remember like, you
• 35:34
  know, we had a couple kids that could have came to you guys.
• 35:36
  That could have been contributors but because they
• 35:39
  weren't The move was known kids or have the best tape.
• 35:44
  You chose to try to chase other folks.
• 35:46
  So it's interesting to see that they it seems Brent pride and
• 35:51
  his staff have a true recruiting strategy and it's not just going
• 35:56
  to be off with him and you know what you've got to say Ron also
• 36:00
  say it's just it doesn't seem as scattershot.
• 36:03
  It seems like there is a focus and they're like, here's our
• 36:07
  primary focus. Here is our secondary focus and
• 36:09
  they're building out from that. At and and it's shown how they
• 36:13
  Blitz Virginia out the gate and then they've kind of spread the
• 36:17
  net a little bit wider. As things have opened up further
• 36:20
  into the recruiting cycle for 23 and it didn't seem like that
• 36:26
  previously, it definitely seemed like he was kind of flavor of
• 36:29
  the month whatever, whatever they thought might work.
• 36:31
  This cycle was was kind of the plan instead of having a master
• 36:35
  plan that they can apply across multiple cycles that builds
• 36:40
  those Relationships to kind of build that foundation for that
• 36:43
  long term success on the recruiting Trail 100%.
• 36:46
  And just to clarify one thing like the six out, the six hour
• 36:50
  radius is very real, but like if someone comes at me in a few
• 36:55
  weeks and they say, oh, they just offered this guy.
• 36:57
  Like I know there's someone out of Alabama, TJ Metcalf that's
• 37:01
  like six hours and 25 minutes that they offered, but don't
• 37:04
  come at me for that. Like, there's yes, it is mr.
• 37:07
  Every rule, right? But like the person still going
• 37:09
  to be in Jacksonville. Together.
• 37:11
  These, you know, those things happen.
• 37:16
  And, of course, if you, if you're in the driver's seat for
• 37:19
  a guy in Florida, that's, you know, an unbelievable talent
• 37:22
  that fits exactly the criteria or looking for you.
• 37:24
  Bring them in. I think the difference is that's
• 37:27
  not your primary, you know? Hashtag that's not your primary
• 37:31
  focus. Obviously when they come up when
• 37:34
  you leverage your relationships that you've established, those
• 37:37
  are the guys you're going to go after, and sometimes they're
• 37:39
  going to, you know? Be a little further, but if they
• 37:42
  want to be a hokie who's to say, no. 1000% and it's kind of funny
• 37:47
  you talk about the Florida thing with like you had Devin Alva's.
• 37:51
  You know the late signing, no one like no one saw coming and
• 37:57
  it was one of those. It was a relationship.
• 37:58
  He had with that beliefs to hold and you know, down at Melbourne
• 38:02
  and next thing you know they've got a six 285-pound defensive
• 38:06
  back that you know, like most people sit and think it's like
• 38:10
  oh he's from Florida and he's that size and his table looks
• 38:13
  good. Okay.
• 38:14
  Come on down, speaking of Florida, let's turn to this just
• 38:20
  a little bit away from what we talked about the footprint and
• 38:22
  let's talk about the defensive coordinator.
• 38:24
  Chris Marv. Obviously star pupil of Brent
• 38:28
  pry when they were down, when Coach Brown was down at
• 38:31
  Vanderbilt, you know, all-sec guy, he is got his foot in the
• 38:37
  door coaching, he's starting to get accolades and, you know,
• 38:40
  starting to build the reputation as a great on field coach.
• 38:45
  His recruiting record, you know, it does have some okay hits, you
• 38:51
  know, he got both orgy kids out of Texas, you know.
• 38:55
  Alex orgies Brothers to come to Vanderbilt and a couple three
• 38:59
  stars at Mississippi State, and Florida State, you know, which,
• 39:03
  you know, these guys are pretty new.
• 39:04
  They were price of 19 glasses or class of 20, class of 22, but
• 39:12
  How can he be an asset on the recruiting Trail?
• 39:15
  Because he doesn't have that long-running thing like a lot of
• 39:19
  these guys do. Yeah.
• 39:20
  And and you know, I upon his hire I sought out a lot of
• 39:27
  advice information from some of the Florida State guys at 24/7.
• 39:31
  And I know there's a lot of stories out there about how he's
• 39:33
  a bad recruiter and, you know, couldn't build relationships and
• 39:37
  I think a lot of that is overblown It's not like, this is
• 39:41
  a guy that won't talk to anyone that's too shy, but I think in
• 39:45
  terms of going out and and seeking those relationships, I
• 39:50
  think that's where he struggled at Florida State.
• 39:53
  And I think, you know, his role at Virginia Tech is a lot
• 39:56
  different. You know, he's going to be
• 39:58
  primarily focused on game planning and whatnot but you
• 40:01
  know, the way I would say it is this you have a bunch of guys on
• 40:06
  staff that are good at creating relationships.
• 40:10
  You do. It's their bread and butter,
• 40:13
  they can establish them. When you have an event at
• 40:16
  Virginia Tech where you're bringing guys in, and you have a
• 40:19
  guy that's highly interested in Virginia Tech wants to play on
• 40:22
  the defensive side. If you bring him into Marv's
• 40:25
  office and you're just talking about X's and O's.
• 40:29
  I mean that's that's an area where he can Excel you know he
• 40:33
  can break down the defense, tell them step by step.
• 40:36
  This is what it's going to look like in year one.
• 40:38
  This is what it's going to look like in year 2 and And not only
• 40:41
  that, but like he, you know, he once the relationship is
• 40:44
  established, she's going to be fine.
• 40:46
  You know, I think again, like a lot of those stores were
• 40:50
  overblown, and I think he'll be fine on the recruiting Trail.
• 40:53
  I wouldn't expect him to be, you know, an ace by any means.
• 40:56
  But in terms of getting guys in the boat, I think he'll be
• 41:00
  absolutely fine. And I think that, you know, his
• 41:04
  main perk in recruiting will be just kind of detailing.
• 41:09
  The defense has Talking about, you know, his experience and
• 41:14
  especially as a young guy that's you know as a defensive
• 41:18
  coordinator that's going to bring a lot of guys in I think.
• 41:21
  Yeah, and I know you talked about talked to a lot of guys
• 41:24
  with the the flip his time at Florida State, they're in.
• 41:29
  We talked about recruiting most of the time he spent in Florida
• 41:31
  State were under the covid, protocols?
• 41:36
  Right. Yeah, so, did you think that had
• 41:39
  any impact on the way he was able to develop those
• 41:42
  relationships during his time at Florida?
• 41:44
  State, definitely couldn't couldn't necessarily, you know,
• 41:48
  be face-to-face or a lot of that one-on-one that normally would
• 41:51
  get in a typical recruiting cycle.
• 41:54
  Yeah, I definitely think so. And I think, you know, even some
• 41:57
  of the some of the guys that have come in in the 22 class of
• 42:01
  said, nothing, but positive, things about talking with him
• 42:04
  and his plan for the defense. And obviously a lot of that
• 42:09
  comes from Brent pry. So, you know, it's not just
• 42:12
  about Marv it's about Pride as well.
• 42:15
  And, you know, they have that Vision in store.
• 42:17
  I think covid-19 fully big part of it.
• 42:19
  I mean obviously I I don't really have the room to talk too
• 42:23
  much about what happened at Florida State, but, you know, I
• 42:27
  think I'll be absolutely fine. I think it's a little overblown
• 42:30
  again. Don't expect them to be like,
• 42:32
  you know, the ace recruiter. But I think he doesn't have to
• 42:35
  be with the staff. And I think that's fine.
• 42:37
  You know, you have to know your role and how you fit into the
• 42:40
  equation. So let's let's kind of pivot
• 42:46
  than a little bit to back to the 22 class.
• 42:51
  Were you impressed by the way that pride and especially JC and
• 42:55
  Pearson that were, you know, working a lot more on the road
• 42:58
  there how they were able to keep the kind of the 22 class, more
• 43:01
  or less intact is things closed out after the regime change?
• 43:05
  Yeah, I definitely was. I think you know, when you look
• 43:07
  at Gunner, Givens, I think for such a long time, I mean, it was
• 43:11
  obvious, he wanted to go to Virginia Tech and I think
• 43:14
  towards The end there was a little bit of uncertainty and I
• 43:17
  think you know, schools like North Carolina really came into
• 43:19
  the mix came after him hard and you know look at North
• 43:23
  Carolina's track record in the last two years.
• 43:25
  They're pretty much getting whoever they want and you know
• 43:28
  price was a big one there. Benji Gosnell was another one
• 43:31
  that I think they had to fight hard for you know getting guys
• 43:35
  like Brody, Meadows, Keyshawn Burgos, Xavier Chaplin.
• 43:40
  Was another one that I know he took a while but that was a One
• 43:45
  to keep in the boat Daquan, right?
• 43:49
  Was another one that took a bit of time but eventually came to
• 43:53
  Virginia Tech because he believed in the staff and then,
• 43:56
  you know, guys like zaevion Bradshaw like that was such a
• 43:59
  huge one for the class. So not only did he keep the
• 44:03
  class intact, but I felt like he added substantial value to the
• 44:07
  class as well, to really round it out and get them proven,
• 44:11
  guys, you know, that may have been looked or didn't fit the
• 44:15
  criteria of the old regime. He said, you know what, these
• 44:18
  are good players. We want them in the fold, will
• 44:21
  figure out a home for them. We'll make it work and to be
• 44:25
  able to do that with such little time is definitely impressive.
• 44:31
  Yeah, it's funny. You mentioned Xavier and
• 44:33
  Bradshaw because it was really, really storied of how Louisville
• 44:38
  and Michigan were pushing hard till the end on him.
• 44:41
  But you mentioned Daquan right where there are other schools
• 44:43
  trying to push day. On.
• 44:46
  Yeah. So yeah.
• 44:47
  After he kind of rose up the rankings, you know, in the
• 44:50
  latter months. Yeah.
• 44:51
  So there is a point in time where I really thought that he
• 44:53
  was going to end up going to Georgia Tech.
• 44:57
  Yeah. And you know, luckily for
• 45:00
  Virginia Tech he stayed. I think he's going to be an
• 45:02
  exceptional ball player when it's all said and done.
• 45:05
  But you know, there was a time I think he was wavering a little
• 45:08
  bit, there is a time where, you know, communication kind of shot
• 45:12
  down and I think that's when we started to get a little worried,
• 45:16
  but then, you know, things even doubt and, you know, obviously
• 45:21
  ended up signing so Yes, that was a big one for us.
• 45:26
  We've been kind of talking about Daquan right on this program for
• 45:30
  a while since since the day he committed.
• 45:32
  Yeah, baby go. I saw his tape I was like oh
• 45:51
  Is severely under a 24/7, has him right at a four-star, right?
• 45:56
  He's an 88, you know I don't know what maybe it was.
• 46:00
  The he what is he going to be in college?
• 46:02
  And he never gave me that pole star he's Greener.
• 46:05
  But who else in this 2022 class is kind of flying a little bit
• 46:09
  under the radar in your opinion. There's a couple, I would say
• 46:16
  definitely zaevion Bradshaw, I think he's going to be a stud,
• 46:20
  you know, he obviously got that at the last minute, a late
• 46:24
  high-ranking. I think he's an 86.
• 46:27
  If I'm not mistaken, unless they changed it and made him like an
• 46:30
  87 or 88. But he's someone that I think
• 46:34
  can play Early Mansoor d'Alene, he is like a prototypical, big
• 46:40
  ten type of like hybrid safety almost I think.
• 46:43
  He could play corner or safety. He's a hard hitter, you know, I
• 46:49
  he was another one. I thought that could have gone
• 46:51
  to Michigan State, but ended up sticking out.
• 46:55
  What's Virginia Tech Bryce Duke? He's someone that put up video
• 47:00
  game numbers in high school and you kind of Wonder.
• 47:03
  Okay, well, this guy really translate to the college level,
• 47:07
  like, we haven't really seen it before, at least at Virginia
• 47:10
  Tech with these guys that are, you know, scoring 50.
• 47:13
  Touchdowns in a year. But he's someone that early on
• 47:17
  is really standing out. I think he could have a role
• 47:20
  really early on and then Braylon more brilliant more I think will
• 47:24
  be really good for Virginia Tech obviously, carrying on the
• 47:28
  Legacy. I don't think he's going to
• 47:30
  stick at defensive line or wherever they're trying to play
• 47:33
  him. I think Joe Rudolph is going to
• 47:35
  make one quick phone call get him on the offensive line.
• 47:38
  He's going to be a writer left guard and he's going to make a
• 47:41
  living there. So what you're saying is about a
• 47:45
  week from today, when they get into the room with spring
• 47:48
  practice, he's just going to walk to j.c. and be like, this
• 47:51
  is, he's not bad. He's coming over here with us.
• 47:55
  I mean, he's probably in the d-line room right now, just
• 47:57
  because of the deficiency, we have at the be tackle in terms
• 48:01
  of death. Yeah.
• 48:02
  All by the way, you asked Bradshaw 8787.
• 48:07
  Yeah. So, and we discussed just a few
• 48:12
  about a month. Ago.
• 48:13
  After official Signing Day about Bryce, do you?
• 48:15
  And I think people are he is being overlooked in the video
• 48:20
  game numbers and its northern Virginia.
• 48:22
  It's not Downs average on the 75, but when you look at the
• 48:27
  division, he played, and he played in for a that's not
• 48:30
  lightweight division. Now that's not five or six here
• 48:33
  in Virginia, but he was playing some solid teams and, you know,
• 48:38
  and you kind of look he looks like he's had Some success in
• 48:43
  The Hunger Games, which has been some awesome footage to see.
• 48:48
  And obviously essentially crowning guys every week for
• 48:53
  their performance, which is a great thing in my opinion
• 48:56
  because I'm sure those guys get to walk around, you know, like
• 49:01
  peacocks in the new training center in new performance center
• 49:06
  when they win that, I don't know if they get anything special but
• 49:10
  you know, Morel d'Alene was Michigan State, making a push
• 49:17
  lady at him because he seemed pretty solid all the way through
• 49:22
  after he committed back in the summer.
• 49:23
  Yeah, I was talking to some guys at Michigan State and I think,
• 49:26
  you know, at one point they thought that he was, you know,
• 49:31
  Signed Sealed Delivered. So, you know, there's a lot of
• 49:35
  stories that, you know, some recruits have where, you know,
• 49:40
  there's there's turmoil in the program, they don't know what.
• 49:43
  It's going on, you start to doubt it and you know, other
• 49:47
  schools will seize the opportunity to use that and you
• 49:51
  know, he saw things out, he didn't make any rash decisions
• 49:55
  and you know, he couldn't be happier to be a hokie today, but
• 49:59
  yeah, he was definitely one that whether or not like, you know,
• 50:03
  sometimes there's a recruit where the coach says, look, I
• 50:07
  know you don't want to go here. I know you're locked in.
• 50:10
  Just let's take this visit. Let's see what it's about.
• 50:13
  About maybe it's a good option if things don't pan out at the
• 50:16
  school, you're committed to and, you know, more times than not
• 50:20
  they'll lead to flips. And, you know, he was a case
• 50:23
  where he said, okay, I'll go check it out, I'll listen to
• 50:26
  what they have to offer. But in the end stayed true to
• 50:29
  his commitment. And the better for us because
• 50:34
  like like you said I'd looking at his tape he looks like he's
• 50:37
  somebody that could be a definite studying the future.
• 50:41
  But let's talk about what potentially could be happening
• 50:45
  in the in the 22 season for the Hokies.
• 50:48
  You know, we're one week away from the start of Spring ball
• 50:52
  and we had a big crop of early enrollees from the class of 22
• 50:56
  half are there aliens? Yeah.
• 50:59
  If are there? Yeah, that's that's that's
• 51:01
  bananas. Has but are there any of those
• 51:05
  early enrollees that had the potential to get in there for
• 51:09
  the 2D if they have a solid effort in the spring and then in
• 51:12
  Fall Camp? Yeah, I mean, it's tough to say
• 51:15
  without knowing the true vision of what Virginia Tech's going to
• 51:18
  look like, you know, both offensively and defensively
• 51:21
  right now. But you know, like I mentioned
• 51:23
  Braylon Moore's, a guy that I'm really looking at.
• 51:25
  I think he could play early, and I know it's tough, sometimes on
• 51:28
  the offense of line, but I think he's going to get in there and
• 51:31
  Ending on, you know, how solid he is.
• 51:34
  He could see time in the too deep.
• 51:37
  Benji Gosnell is another guy. I know he's coming off injury
• 51:40
  but you know, absolutely looks the part plays the part.
• 51:45
  I think he could really make an impact there, and I think he'd
• 51:48
  be a welcomed addition. And then, I guess the last name,
• 51:52
  I'll give you is Bryce Duke. I think, you know, I understand
• 51:57
  again, like the hesitation like we've seen guys like Colton Beck
• 52:01
  the Before that everyone's like oh track speed video game
• 52:05
  numbers in high school, you know, maybe he won't like
• 52:09
  everyone wants to see him pan out right away and then all of a
• 52:12
  sudden he switches to track I think Bryce Duke is a guy that
• 52:16
  could definitely see reps on kick return specifically so I'd
• 52:21
  be excited for him. I think, you know, and again,
• 52:24
  like running back is wide open so you never know.
• 52:28
  And I think that's the one one of the most Natural positions in
• 52:32
  football, where you either have it or you don't and, you know,
• 52:35
  it's dependent on more than you and he has a skill set so I'd be
• 52:40
  interested to see what ends up happening with Bryce.
• 52:44
  Do if he stays at running back, they put them, you know, as kind
• 52:48
  of a hybrid guy on the offense, but I definitely think he'll get
• 52:51
  a chance at the very least to be on kick return if he wins that.
• 52:56
  I don't know but he'll get a chance.
• 52:59
  Yeah, Brian three weeks ago, we did some film breakdown on and
• 53:04
  Brian hit the offense and he said something that he noticed
• 53:07
  about Tyler bones offense is, there's a lot of carries to go
• 53:11
  around. And would you say Brian that?
• 53:14
  It wouldn't shock you that if there were three guys getting 10
• 53:18
  12, a game, I think there's going to be a lot of games where
• 53:21
  there's going to be three guys. Getting about 10 carries or
• 53:24
  more. So just just based on what I've
• 53:27
  seen from the games that That Boeing is called and kind of
• 53:32
  cross referencing that with some of the tape from games that Jim
• 53:36
  Moorhead is called and trying to see if if that's going to be
• 53:40
  more or less what Tyler's going to do if there's going to be
• 53:43
  some some variations from that. But if he holds true to what how
• 53:47
  he called games, With Joe Boar Head, then it's going to be a
• 53:53
  lot of carries for about two to three, guys and a lot of
• 53:57
  opportunities for it out. Yeah, so I don't think that
• 54:00
  Bryce do is out of the question. And again, I don't think
• 54:05
  Brethren Wars out of the question because I think having
• 54:08
  guys like I think just having a new coaching staff, you just
• 54:12
  feel like the slates wiped clean, right?
• 54:14
  Like you know, there are no favorites and prizes said that a
• 54:19
  few times. Times about how we're creating a
• 54:22
  new depth chart. It's what you do on that field
• 54:24
  in February and early March in these conditionings.
• 54:28
  And, and that's to me, I guess, it's refreshing, right?
• 54:34
  Because you feel, like, if anybody had been hiding back for
• 54:38
  whatever reason, it's not anymore.
• 54:40
  Go out there bust your ass and show the coaches, what you can
• 54:44
  do. All right, so kind of last.
• 54:49
  Question for Wii. Jump off the recruiting stuff
• 54:53
  here but you know, let's take three years from now.
• 54:57
  We have you back on this 2025, what's going to be your
• 55:02
  measuring stick for success in these initial classes.
• 55:05
  Really 23 and 24 for Coach pry. You know with these classic
• 55:11
  commits? Yeah, I think when you look at
• 55:16
  these first classes that are going to come in, I think what
• 55:19
  you want to see by that time, Is retention because we've seen so
• 55:25
  much turnover and previous classes, but not just keeping
• 55:29
  the guys on campus and having them buried on the depth chart.
• 55:33
  But guys, that are going to develop and become players for
• 55:37
  Virginia Tech and as much as we talk about like this might, you
• 55:41
  know, the support staff budget went up, you know,
• 55:43
  exponentially. And that's because you want to
• 55:45
  get guys with ton of experience a ton of recruiters, you want to
• 55:49
  change the image of the program. But the These are guys that
• 55:53
  their best traits as coaches are.
• 55:55
  Developing, guys, getting guys to stay and and finding players
• 56:01
  in recruiting cycles that are going to not just make an impact
• 56:04
  for a year, but be starters for multiple years to be the
• 56:09
  identity that these coaches want.
• 56:11
  So, you know, whether that's an offensive tackle, that's, you
• 56:15
  know, a multi-year starter that's, you know, hit the weight
• 56:18
  room hard and, you know, now you're talking about a guy
• 56:21
  that's a All ACC guy, you know, that's that's the vision for a
• 56:26
  lot of these guys and you know most importantly, I think
• 56:29
  representing Virginia. I think that's going to be a big
• 56:32
  one that I think they're making calculated moves.
• 56:35
  Right now that this class is about Virginia they're going to
• 56:39
  want someone to shine and prove to the rest of the state that
• 56:42
  hey, I came from Virginia. I'm playing at Virginia Tech.
• 56:46
  We're winning football games. This is the place to be and I
• 56:50
  think you need to have all those those things get guys from the
• 56:53
  state, keep them happy at Virginia Tech.
• 56:56
  And not only that, but have success on the field, it's not
• 57:00
  just about getting there. It's about staying there and
• 57:02
  proving that, you know, you're one of the best in the
• 57:05
  conference. Yeah, I love hearing that and I
• 57:12
  think that's that's kind of what we were thinking as well in
• 57:15
  terms of success. The big thing that you said that
• 57:18
  really kind of stands out to me and something I hadn't really
• 57:21
  necessarily considered but as you said having someone from the
• 57:25
  state that whether it's a top 10 in the state or whether it's
• 57:28
  somebody that was even further, further down that list on the on
• 57:32
  the recruiting Trail. There that comes to Virginia,
• 57:35
  Tech multi-year, starter and and starts winning some big Names on
• 57:41
  the field for us. I think that that would be
• 57:44
  something that we can point to and say, Here's what you can be
• 57:47
  when you come to Virginia Tech. Yeah, absolutely.
• 57:50
  And obviously, like winning is the barometer, right?
• 57:52
  Like you have to win games, like there may not be a pride 25.
• 57:56
  If there's not a lot of wins on the board but it's going to
• 58:01
  start it in Virginia and it's going to stay in Virginia and I
• 58:04
  think, you know, that has to be the focus.
• 58:08
  Yeah, I'm with you because I think if you start winning that
• 58:11
  state again or your state again, it's sort of like it's the
• 58:16
  ripple effect. Because if kids come from
• 58:20
  Virginia and they start having success, then if the kids from
• 58:23
  Carolina, that hear about it and the kids from Maryland and
• 58:27
  Pennsylvania and it goes outward much as it did, you know, 25
• 58:32
  years ago. You know, a lot of people will
• 58:36
  go back and look at class in 95 that want all those games.
• 58:41
  You know, you start going through it, you did have a lot
• 58:43
  of Virginia, guys, don't get me wrong but you had, you know,
• 58:45
  George, do Rico and JC from Maryland.
• 58:48
  You had some Florida, guys, you had Pearson from South Carolina,
• 58:53
  you know? Yeah, it wasn't like, everyone
• 58:57
  was from Virginia, not a cop know.
• 59:00
  The things Brent prize discussing is essentially What
• 59:04
  made this program, what it was for close to 20 years?
• 59:10
  Focus on your state and then let the Ripple happy because when
• 59:13
  the Ripple happens, you're going to get that Pearson, pray that
• 59:16
  you're going to get that poor Ian gray, you're going to give
• 59:19
  you that Kevin Jones after the national James y'all trip.
• 59:22
  So I think it what they have in place is unbelievable.
• 59:26
  I think you know the things that you're hearing also, something
• 59:31
  else I love is hearing you talk about how you feel like you're
• 59:36
  getting more access your hearing more in.
• 59:40
  And I know this is your job and but we know you're a fan of you
• 59:44
  because you went to the school and you love the school and
• 59:45
  we're fans. This is what we want.
• 59:48
  We want to hear things about what's going on.
• 59:49
  You don't have to show us everything you don't but like
• 59:53
  what they're doing? Next weekend is unbelievable.
• 59:59
  Under or somebody had something like this.
• 1:00:00
  And at least six years. And I know I was going to say,
• 1:00:04
  even when we're talking about like the too deep, you know,
• 1:00:08
  when when we would talk about, okay, what are we getting?
• 1:00:12
  How are we evaluating these new guys coming in?
• 1:00:15
  You would hear like Justin Fuente say oh this guys doing
• 1:00:19
  well and all of a sudden everyone's like oh is he going
• 1:00:21
  to start is you know what's going on?
• 1:00:24
  And now it's like you feel like there's a bit more transparency
• 1:00:28
  in terms of. Okay.
• 1:00:29
  These Guys, these early enrollees are doing well and,
• 1:00:32
  you know, they have a real shot and it's like you trust that
• 1:00:35
  word, you know. So I think I like, based on
• 1:00:39
  Flint a I thought that Jade pay you was going to be all-acc for
• 1:00:43
  the last few years. I think we all did that we have
• 1:00:47
  that 145 yard reception from the bowl game to look at all summer.
• 1:00:51
  So yeah, let's build on that. Let's get one 45 yard, reception
• 1:00:58
  /. A game.
• 1:00:59
  He just does one 45, yard reception per game.
• 1:01:02
  Next year, I think it'll open up the entire file.
• 1:01:07
  All right, matej is going to hang out with us, guys.
• 1:01:10
  We got some more things we want to hit before we close up shop
• 1:01:12
  tonight. But before we get to those, we
• 1:01:15
  are going to take a quick pause for a message from our digital
• 1:01:19
  partners. Because we take a quick break,
• 1:01:23
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• 1:01:26
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• 1:01:28
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  forward slash free Dash website, Dash report.
• 1:01:44
  Now back to the episode All right, got a few more topics.
• 1:01:49
  We want to hit tonight and a few more things.
• 1:01:51
  It, but we will start with this is completely away from football
• 1:01:56
  field and onto the Hoops. Court, Elizabeth Kitt, Lee wins.
• 1:02:01
  ACC Player of the Year, obviously, Virginia Tech women
• 1:02:04
  tube, having one of their best seasons ever.
• 1:02:08
  It was just really cool to see. a Virginia Tech player when that
• 1:02:13
  Player of the Year, guys, Yeah, seeing that.
• 1:02:18
  And seeing what came out? Look, what earlier today.
• 1:02:21
  What? Second-team All-American for
• 1:02:23
  her. Oh wow.
• 1:02:25
  Yeah, yeah. So we're accolades keep coming
• 1:02:27
  out. So seeing that program kind of
• 1:02:31
  take the, the steps towards building on something big and
• 1:02:36
  they got a really chance hopefully that you know they can
• 1:02:40
  stay healthy throughout the the NCAA tournament and maybe make a
• 1:02:42
  run here but you know, gut it out.
• 1:02:46
  Out that Victory after kitley went down.
• 1:02:48
  That was, that was really big. And just I think all around
• 1:02:53
  nothing to say, but good things about the way, this team is kind
• 1:02:57
  of fought and clawed through this year and and really made
• 1:03:00
  made the fans in the school. Proud to have specially how like
• 1:03:07
  engaged all the fans have been like I feel like it's almost
• 1:03:10
  like a Renaissance in terms of the women's basketball program
• 1:03:14
  that you saw in the final home game.
• 1:03:16
  Everyone come out, you know, truly a sight to behold and, you
• 1:03:20
  know, fans are coming out because of the success of the
• 1:03:23
  program. So like you said, only nothing
• 1:03:26
  but good things to say about that program.
• 1:03:29
  Yeah and I tell you I think the Hokies looked up to that the
• 1:03:36
  women's tournament is essentially two weeks before the
• 1:03:39
  big tournament with kitley getting hurt and act.
• 1:03:42
  It doesn't count remember the other girl the other starting to
• 1:03:45
  get hurt. Because now essentially what
• 1:03:47
  they've got right at foot 16 days to get healthy, actually
• 1:03:52
  more than 16 days to get healthy for the tournament run.
• 1:03:56
  We've already seen the team multiple times.
• 1:03:58
  Take NC State, one of the best teams in the country to the
• 1:04:01
  Limit. Have some big wins this year so
• 1:04:05
  I mean it can happen but just seeing them have the success
• 1:04:12
  clearly helps. And like you said, seeing the
• 1:04:14
  support throughout the year. For the program is awesome.
• 1:04:18
  All right, Braun. One of your favorite events of
• 1:04:21
  the Year. Bride loves the combine and you
• 1:04:25
  don't like, without whilst it will sit and eat his breakfast.
• 1:04:30
  Watching the in this year, I mean, the Hokies even a 6 and 16
• 1:04:36
  since six guys to the combine you know, let's see the Smith
• 1:04:41
  James Mitchell. They're obviously for the
• 1:04:42
  interviews and to get weighed and measured Trey Turner
• 1:04:45
  Jermaine Waller, Luke tenuto But we're either of you watching
• 1:04:51
  live when I'm Mari bar. No ran, I was eating breakfast.
• 1:04:59
  I was watching live and right out the gate.
• 1:05:03
  I think it was the first 40 of the defensive line group if I
• 1:05:07
  recall correctly, and he just goes out there and bust it out
• 1:05:11
  for 37 was The Unofficial, 436, the official, I think the best
• 1:05:18
  part about it, as you go down the list of like, and by the
• 1:05:22
  way, there are some fast people at the combine this year.
• 1:05:26
  Like they're, I've never seen as many sub four fours as this
• 1:05:30
  year, but when you look at the big list of everyone that ran
• 1:05:35
  and then you're looking and you're seeing running back wide
• 1:05:38
  receiver wide receiver and then all of a sudden you know safety
• 1:05:41
  defensive back and then you see Edge, you see the 250-pound
• 1:05:46
  edge, right? For 36.
• 1:05:49
  I mean it's unbelievable. I mean that's I know that you
• 1:05:54
  know it's just a Ford you're running an underwear whatever
• 1:05:56
  you want to say about it but like get that is done nothing
• 1:06:00
  but Skyrocket his stock ahead of the drafts.
• 1:06:03
  Oh well yeah we were talking earlier we were like alright
• 1:06:08
  well you know some some and mocked him kind of a late-day to
• 1:06:13
  before the combine Summit had a mentor lead.
• 1:06:16
  A three I think he probably improved his stock by bat around
• 1:06:20
  and a half depending on wherever you had him mock before 100%.
• 1:06:23
  So he might be, you know, mid-second rounders probably the
• 1:06:27
  high-end probably late fourth. Probably is the back end of
• 1:06:33
  that. Yeah.
• 1:06:35
  But the other piece too is now you know people are looking at
• 1:06:38
  the stats and say well he didn't have any sex after the UNC game
• 1:06:42
  but there are some plays out there.
• 1:06:45
  You know, he does need refining on the edge now.
• 1:06:48
  Also, I think this year after what he had done the previous
• 1:06:52
  year, the eyes were on him, the defense shifted to his side.
• 1:06:56
  He got chipped but ran out of him or they did run at him.
• 1:07:01
  But the one thing that his that that's going to flash on tape
• 1:07:06
  after seeing that 40 his Pursuit, his backside Pursuits
• 1:07:10
  and downfield, Pursuits. I know it didn't take long after
• 1:07:13
  that 436 as I had a buddy I was out I think getting our
• 1:07:17
  cul-de-sac you know everybody playing having funds as a
• 1:07:19
  beautiful weekend here in my guy texted me and I'm like yep
• 1:07:24
  that's what he does and he found a picture of that UNC game where
• 1:07:30
  he went from the 35. To the 40 and he's getting
• 1:07:33
  blocked and gets off the block takes off down field and makes
• 1:07:37
  the tackle that's motor that's effort and that's unbelievable
• 1:07:41
  speed from a guy of that size that essentially defensive
• 1:07:46
  coordinators who are looking at and probably pushing their
• 1:07:49
  scouting department and their GM to say, Hey listen.
• 1:07:52
  Yeah, we can work on his Edge moves.
• 1:07:54
  That's what we're here for. That's what we do every day.
• 1:07:56
  We teach these guys but that effort in getting from here to
• 1:08:01
  there to stop a potential touchdown.
• 1:08:04
  There's not many guys that can do that.
• 1:08:07
  And another thing he does well that doesn't get talked about is
• 1:08:09
  that he's a pretty sure tackler. So he may not you may not be the
• 1:08:12
  best at the point of contact. If he's getting either
• 1:08:15
  double-teamed or having to having the shed or having to
• 1:08:20
  work a move that started Edge Rush.
• 1:08:23
  But when he gets his arms to you, he's going to get you down
• 1:08:26
  those times and you couple that with his Pursuit and just
• 1:08:30
  overall athleticism. If they can find a system that
• 1:08:34
  kind of either uses an outside backer in space, a lot or to
• 1:08:38
  rush the passer or a 34 system that's going to use him as a as
• 1:08:45
  an outside linebacker that's going to be a really good fit
• 1:08:48
  for him and should be able to take advantage of the the tools
• 1:08:52
  that he Has especially if he's able to put another five or ten
• 1:08:55
  pounds of weight on his body. Yeah, that's what I was just
• 1:08:58
  about to say that. There's a lot of 34 schemes out
• 1:09:02
  in the NFL and I think he would fit seamlessly into that.
• 1:09:05
  And, you know, I'm a Packers fan admittedly and, you know, I
• 1:09:10
  think I think there's there is, you know, I'm a big Preston
• 1:09:14
  Smith fan and I could see similarities between the two.
• 1:09:18
  I think obviously bar knows a lot more athletic but I You
• 1:09:22
  know, if you get them in the right system and you know the
• 1:09:25
  bulks up a bit, you know is his mind matches his moves.
• 1:09:30
  I mean the sky's the limit for him.
• 1:09:31
  I mean he's one of the most athletic guys that you know and
• 1:09:36
  he's really an affair. Any NFL GM's dream really to
• 1:09:40
  have if you can mold them into something.
• 1:09:42
  If you've got a year where you can just use him sparingly or
• 1:09:48
  try to hide it as much as you can to where he can kind of come
• 1:09:51
  along, With that NFL coaching and with that you fully immersed
• 1:09:56
  Pro experience. I think that that's going to be
• 1:09:59
  good for him because he really has all the tools and traits
• 1:10:03
  that could really make a really good NFL player.
• 1:10:07
  Especially like we said in those systems that take advantage of
• 1:10:11
  those longer athletic guys, either on the outside,
• 1:10:14
  linebacker in a 3-4 or that kind of 43 system where they use that
• 1:10:20
  backer as a as a kind of a We're rusher a lot.
• 1:10:24
  Yeah, well we were talking earlier, you talked about the
• 1:10:26
  Packers system, I'm a Niners fan.
• 1:10:29
  He's a Colts fan. Essentially, we're rowing a
• 1:10:31
  covered three with wide Nines in a guy like him is like it's like
• 1:10:35
  get him out on the 9, aim at the quarterback and just run as fast
• 1:10:38
  as you can. So he fits a few places one
• 1:10:41
  other guy, I think, let's see the Smith solid combine outing.
• 1:10:47
  He ranked top 10 in a few things I think he's probably I think
• 1:10:51
  we'll see. This is going to go in the first
• 1:10:52
  in the second day. I think I think you definitely
• 1:10:56
  improved his stock from where he was, he wasn't the big jump that
• 1:11:00
  we saw from bar know just being you know, but that type of
• 1:11:03
  physical specimen out there in a scenario where being a physical
• 1:11:09
  specimen really good. You know, earns you the the
• 1:11:12
  Kudos there but I think he's solidified, everything that was
• 1:11:17
  being talked about him ahead of the combine and sometimes
• 1:11:20
  showing up and not not hurting your This can help your case.
• 1:11:27
  And I hope for all the other guys to that, you know, left
• 1:11:30
  early, I wish them nothing but the best.
• 1:11:33
  I hope they get drafted lands on teams and continue to do great
• 1:11:37
  thing elsewhere. All right.
• 1:11:40
  We've seen Trey, what mock would you say you saw him with fourth
• 1:11:44
  or fifth like fourth and fifth Summit?
• 1:11:46
  Six, you know, I think what's going to help tray is believe it
• 1:11:51
  or not. This is my opinion.
• 1:11:53
  And you y'all can say, if I'm right or wrong, I think some of
• 1:11:57
  the stuff. If they did with tray on the
• 1:11:58
  Jet, Sweep is going to help us stop.
• 1:12:01
  The NFL is getting a lot more line of scrimmage tight passes.
• 1:12:05
  They're looking for guys to get the ball in their hands to make
• 1:12:08
  moves like that. And that's something he
• 1:12:12
  definitely can do but you know it's so weird.
• 1:12:20
  We see it every year you see like guys you expect to get
• 1:12:23
  drafted in the first three rounds and next thing you know,
• 1:12:25
  your team in the sixth round And is trapped in him and you're
• 1:12:28
  like we just stole the guy and you're like super Jack for it.
• 1:12:34
  All right, I want to go to this next because this is something
• 1:12:37
  we want to bring you in on really deep because I think it I
• 1:12:41
  think this is going to affect the recruiting game when it
• 1:12:43
  happens. So you know it's been a little
• 1:12:45
  over a month now. But college football, playoff
• 1:12:48
  basically says they're staying at for until 2025.
• 1:12:52
  And we're in the mindset, it needs to get bigger.
• 1:12:55
  We want to go to 12. Is my question for you, okay?
• 1:13:02
  How much of an impact do you think when it goes to 12?
• 1:13:08
  Will it have on recruiting? And when I say that right now,
• 1:13:12
  we feel like the biggest recruiting.
• 1:13:14
  It's Georgia. It's Clemson, it's Alabama, it's
• 1:13:18
  Ohio State, it's Oklahoma. And it's like, LSU, essentially
• 1:13:23
  eight teams seen again, it's six to eight teams in a given Year.
• 1:13:27
  Have a chance of making the playoffs is that by default
• 1:13:31
  helping them on the recruiting Trail.
• 1:13:35
  And by extension, if you add more Players or teams to the
• 1:13:40
  playoff? Will that have a trickle-down
• 1:13:42
  effect on the recruiting front? We're now and you got 18 to 20
• 1:13:45
  teams competing for 12 spots instead of six to eight
• 1:13:49
  competing for, for, you know, I would definitely hope so.
• 1:13:52
  And I think, when you look at, you know, some of the top
• 1:13:54
  programs that at least in the college football, playoff era,
• 1:13:58
  it's almost like an arms race that not only, are you making so
• 1:14:01
  much money because you're in those big games but you're
• 1:14:04
  getting more of your fans engaged.
• 1:14:06
  I mean there are recruits There that only want to play for teams
• 1:14:09
  that are contending for the national championship.
• 1:14:12
  So if you're expanding that field, all of a sudden you're
• 1:14:15
  pulling in new guys and I think it's definitely beneficial.
• 1:14:19
  I think for any fan that's kind of getting tired of, you know,
• 1:14:22
  this monotonous fourteen. Playoff that's always seems to
• 1:14:25
  be Bama Clemson, Ohio State, and you know, insert a fourth team
• 1:14:31
  that doesn't have a chance. But yeah, I think it will
• 1:14:35
  definitely be beneficial and specifically.
• 1:14:37
  Only when you expand it and you're looking at some of the
• 1:14:40
  teams that have a realistic shot to make it.
• 1:14:43
  I mean, Virginia Tech, North Carolina, Miami are screaming at
• 1:14:47
  you. I mean, you're in one of, you
• 1:14:49
  know, one of the most unstable divisions within the power, 5
• 1:14:54
  with the ability to make an ACC Championship game.
• 1:14:58
  And, you know, if you're up to 12 teams, who's to say that the
• 1:15:01
  loser of the ACC Championship game doesn't make it, you know,
• 1:15:04
  depending on what your record is, and everything that comes
• 1:15:07
  That, you know, you're one of the most of, you know, all the
• 1:15:11
  five games, the power five games, you're one of the most
• 1:15:14
  competitive teams so it would definitely improve teams like
• 1:15:18
  that. And not only that, but it would
• 1:15:21
  bring more fans into it. You're not just tuning out once
• 1:15:23
  your team loses two games, you know, there's a realistic chance
• 1:15:27
  and I think, you know, that would kind of spread the wealth
• 1:15:30
  a little bit. I still think, you know, some of
• 1:15:32
  the top teams I think am is another sleeper that just a
• 1:15:36
  giant Texas. Isis as well.
• 1:15:39
  But you know the the Blue Bloods, the rich Schools.
• 1:15:43
  They're going to stay rich but there will be some some wealth
• 1:15:47
  spreading going on, if they expend the playoffs and I think
• 1:15:50
  that's what everyone wants. Even even if you're the 12th
• 1:15:53
  team and you know there's no shot at winning the whole thing,
• 1:15:57
  but you just made it. I mean, that's already going to
• 1:16:00
  improve your stock tremendously. Yeah.
• 1:16:02
  So you know, I'm very much in favor for that.
• 1:16:05
  I don't know what that looks like in terms of the Everything
• 1:16:08
  and the buys and whatnot but I think that would make that would
• 1:16:12
  that would just be so much fun for college football.
• 1:16:14
  Yeah we've talked about it. We said you know if you're a 12
• 1:16:18
  seed in a 12 team playoff you know whatever game you play your
• 1:16:22
  first game is going to be a higher profile game.
• 1:16:25
  Then whatever non-playoff New Year's six bowl, you could be
• 1:16:28
  going to right now in the current format.
• 1:16:31
  Yep. So it's only going to benefit
• 1:16:33
  those type of teams that are just outside of that.
• 1:16:37
  At that current format and how that exposure looks and how
• 1:16:43
  that, you know, ultimately impacts on the recruiting Trail.
• 1:16:45
  I think can be speculated, but I think there will be some impact
• 1:16:50
  how much of an impact is probably where, where we kind of
• 1:16:54
  have to wait and see, and, I mean, obviously, this is nice
• 1:16:59
  money. Grab for all the other people
• 1:17:01
  that are counting coins in this whole thing because the more
• 1:17:05
  games you play, the more money, you're going to make Especially
• 1:17:08
  when those games matter more towards the end of the year.
• 1:17:12
  Whereas, right now you've only got the three big ones and, you
• 1:17:16
  know, that's kind of devalued in a lot of ways.
• 1:17:18
  Some of those other New Year's six bowls that before.
• 1:17:23
  We're had a little bit more Prestige to them.
• 1:17:27
  Yep, but something you mentioned Brian you mentioned like the 12
• 1:17:31
  seed. Getting in if you're 12 seed and
• 1:17:34
  you get in Intimate a Point. Virginia Tech goes 11.
• 1:17:37
  And 1 goes to the ACC title game loses to Clemson and a thriller
• 1:17:42
  circuit 2016. They get the toilet seat and
• 1:17:45
  they play a, you know, number five LSU, they lose, you know,
• 1:17:50
  35. Twenty-seven, whatever.
• 1:17:55
  The extra money from that game in general because, you know,
• 1:17:58
  there's money coming down. But then to get able to get on
• 1:18:02
  the trail and go to some four or five, start kid and say we're
• 1:18:06
  getting there, we need you we get more players like you.
• 1:18:11
  We're not going to be 12 sees any more.
• 1:18:13
  We're going to be in the top four.
• 1:18:15
  We're going to win a National Title in the thing is right now
• 1:18:19
  because Brian like you said there's four to eight schools.
• 1:18:21
  That can say that every year unfortunately Virginia.
• 1:18:25
  Tech can't say that as most hundred twenty schools can, but
• 1:18:30
  if you open up that gate and you get to 12, and then, the next
• 1:18:33
  year, you win the ACC in your six.
• 1:18:36
  And then the next year you go. The next thing, you know, you
• 1:18:39
  can probably, you know, say this just from your job watching
• 1:18:43
  these boards. Lot easier to sell a program
• 1:18:46
  that's winning and getting to the chance, right?
• 1:18:51
  100%, I think just the chance is so huge right?
• 1:18:55
  That changes everything. And I think, you know, a lot of
• 1:18:57
  the recruiting pitches have been, okay.
• 1:18:59
  We're going to win championships.
• 1:19:00
  Well, what championships, you know, the ACC Championship the
• 1:19:04
  coastal Championship, the Commonwealth cop, like what is
• 1:19:08
  the championship that this program is striving for?
• 1:19:11
  And I think, you know it's a bit lazy to say, okay, just expand
• 1:19:15
  it so that everyone comes in but it's it's 12 Premier teams.
• 1:19:19
  You know what I mean? So, So 10%, it's the exactly
• 1:19:23
  10%. Exactly.
• 1:19:25
  So I think it does nothing, but help, I think there still is
• 1:19:28
  going to be a little bit of disparity that's going to take,
• 1:19:31
  you know, at least a decade or maybe even more to kind of
• 1:19:34
  bridge that Gap. But but, you know, you have to
• 1:19:37
  start somewhere because the way things are going, you know, the
• 1:19:41
  rich get richer and everyone else is just trying to keep up.
• 1:19:44
  So, you know, there has to be a method to kind of evening the
• 1:19:48
  playing field or just giving ask Cool.
• 1:19:51
  A chance. You know whether it's one in
• 1:19:53
  every four years that they make it in or once in a blue moon,
• 1:19:58
  you know, it's going to totally reinvigorate college football
• 1:20:01
  which I think is getting a little stale.
• 1:20:06
  Yeah, especially the postseason in particular.
• 1:20:09
  Yeah, you know I think the regular season is is good but I
• 1:20:13
  don't think a 12 team playoff devalues the regular season at
• 1:20:18
  all. Oh of course know what my face
• 1:20:21
  it you if you lose two games. Now, if you're two and two after
• 1:20:27
  September, well, National Championship gone, where
• 1:20:32
  depending on the two games, you lose a lot of times.
• 1:20:35
  It's Well shit. Now the now a chance to go to a
• 1:20:39
  new year. 6 volt has gone after two losses in.
• 1:20:44
  That's what makes the regular season.
• 1:20:46
  So much fun is seeing the team's fall.
• 1:20:50
  But if you're saying If you're saying like, we're going to get
• 1:20:56
  to November. and when they do that cfp ranking, which I think
• 1:21:02
  they still will have If you're sitting at like 20, you're
• 1:21:06
  sitting like we can do this. If we can win out beat our
• 1:21:10
  rival, get into a cup, we can get in And that's what you want.
• 1:21:15
  Hope. if you have hope, if you have 20 teams have an open
• 1:21:21
  November, Money for everybody and also having these Auto bids.
• 1:21:26
  I mean you occasionally have those upsets in those conference
• 1:21:29
  championships those upsets now matter.
• 1:21:31
  Yes they do like before it didn't matter.
• 1:21:34
  You know, if if you had lost three games and then you like
• 1:21:38
  George a few years back, you know, they had like two or three
• 1:21:40
  losses and, you know, might go and be tab a more be to Auburn
• 1:21:44
  in the SEC Championship game. You know all of a sudden that
• 1:21:49
  matters now now we lost him again anyway yeah yeah.
• 1:21:53
  So a game like that now matters because if they win that
• 1:21:56
  conference Championship game, they're getting an automatic bid
• 1:21:58
  into the playoff. Now that team that was either
• 1:22:01
  undefeated or one loss, they're still getting that at-large bid
• 1:22:05
  and then we can debate how we want to Rach Rach.
• 1:22:08
  The rank the teams in the playoff later.
• 1:22:12
  That's something that is probably a discussion that you
• 1:22:15
  know other people are having right now in terms.
• 1:22:17
  Whether you know your conference winners, get the the higher
• 1:22:20
  seeds or whether it's based on you know some sort of ranking
• 1:22:25
  from a committee or whatever, but you're going to
• 1:22:29
  automatically get in. If you win that power five
• 1:22:31
  conference and that's a big thing.
• 1:22:33
  And then most of the models that we're seeing, you know, one of
• 1:22:36
  those high rank G5 programs is getting in as well, so that can
• 1:22:41
  shake things up a little bit. And at least bring probably a
• 1:22:45
  degree of do blood in every year and And keep some of those,
• 1:22:48
  those G5 conferences in the discussion, you know,
• 1:22:53
  Cincinnati's really, you know, made some noise of late.
• 1:22:56
  We had UCF a few years back that had a good squad that didn't
• 1:23:01
  quite get it done at the end there.
• 1:23:02
  But yeah, I think that's only going to help them as well,
• 1:23:06
  because they now get a seat at the big table, not just at the
• 1:23:10
  okay, when you get to play in a pretty good Bowl table, right?
• 1:23:13
  I think if you can keep the regular season, the way it is,
• 1:23:16
  and I just hope that If you're, if you're kind of diluting the
• 1:23:20
  playoff process, that it wouldn't take too much away.
• 1:23:23
  And I know like I agree with Curtis like giving hope is so
• 1:23:28
  important to every fan base, like, I hope like there's
• 1:23:32
  something so special about knowing that it's like like
• 1:23:36
  every weekend matters in college football every single weekend
• 1:23:40
  matters and I hope that isn't lost.
• 1:23:42
  If you're like we're all into like we still have a chance, you
• 1:23:45
  know, like you should be panicking.
• 1:23:46
  But But if you can get the regular season, how it is now,
• 1:23:51
  steaks are still high as ever. You know, it's only 12 teams,
• 1:23:54
  ten percent. I just I agree with with the
• 1:23:58
  both of you that it's like the postseason is getting stale, you
• 1:24:02
  need to spice it up somehow. If you can put more stakes in
• 1:24:04
  there, see some upsets you know, something new.
• 1:24:08
  I think it only improves the product of college football.
• 1:24:13
  Yeah. Because I mean, you're still,
• 1:24:14
  you're still playing for your conference Championship game
• 1:24:17
  ever. You're so like I said, I don't
• 1:24:19
  think the regular season game is is going to really get impacted
• 1:24:23
  because more than likely, if you're a power 5 team, you want
• 1:24:26
  one of those at large has or the automatic qualifier.
• 1:24:28
  You're going to need to be playing in your conference
• 1:24:29
  Championship game and you're going to be the been again, that
• 1:24:32
  matters more now because the winner of that gets that
• 1:24:35
  automatic bid, right? By the way, you talk about the
• 1:24:39
  Owen to team, that would be the best fan base to watch.
• 1:24:43
  They start owing to like real got it, I can do this.
• 1:24:47
  Gotta win 11 and got out of it. Speaking of fire, I tell you,
• 1:24:55
  you mentioned it earlier the money, they drained into the
• 1:24:58
  support staff. I mean, you've had, you know,
• 1:25:01
  couple higher since we last talked run, the op staff has
• 1:25:05
  gotten bigger. Travis Taylor taken over
• 1:25:07
  director colleges in ski assistant in Jake shell option
• 1:25:11
  analytics along with higher and more analyst, Jeff Carpenter,
• 1:25:15
  and karrie Webb Prime just say it, you say it all the time, we
• 1:25:21
  have went from Mom and Kyle longer, a mom and pop operation,
• 1:25:26
  we're running things. Like we've gotta got a business
• 1:25:29
  plan and a hierarchy and we knew who reports to who and who's
• 1:25:33
  doing, what and we don't have one or two guys in the
• 1:25:37
  recruiting department in operations Department that are
• 1:25:40
  wearing like four or five different hats anymore, People
• 1:25:43
  have jobs and they take care of the business now.
• 1:25:46
  And it seems like that, that's what we've been missing in the
• 1:25:50
  off the field apartment. So I'm it's nice to see them.
• 1:25:53
  Put the money into a number one, to get it done.
• 1:25:57
  But also to get these hires in there and have a organizational
• 1:26:00
  structure, that makes sense. Yeah, absolutely.
• 1:26:03
  And I remember, you know, back when I was on campus and going
• 1:26:06
  to the press conferences, I would stop by the recruiting
• 1:26:09
  department and I would see four guys sitting in chairs in this.
• 1:26:13
  Massive room, just doing all the work for the class and I'm
• 1:26:16
  sitting there, like, have you guys slept, like, I see like
• 1:26:20
  four cups of coffee on everyone's desk and you're
• 1:26:23
  wondering how things are getting done.
• 1:26:24
  And you not only have that within recruiting, but just Hops
• 1:26:28
  and general guys to bounce ideas.
• 1:26:30
  Off of you now have analytics guys that can tell you whether
• 1:26:33
  to go for it on fourth down or not, you know, down to like the
• 1:26:36
  very specific minutiae of everything.
• 1:26:40
  So it does nothing. But Open, you know, this is this
• 1:26:44
  is long-awaited and I'm so excited for for everyone.
• 1:26:48
  It just makes everyone's life easier.
• 1:26:50
  And ultimately that's what you need.
• 1:26:52
  If you want to be a program of a very high stature, you need to
• 1:26:55
  have like all everything accounted for and it seems like
• 1:26:59
  they have that right now. Do these analytics help with
• 1:27:03
  whether or not to call timeouts for 54-yard field goals.
• 1:27:06
  Yes. And in state opponent.
• 1:27:09
  Let's hope that doesn't happen again.
• 1:27:11
  Never Well, you know, something else, cool, though, in thing
• 1:27:17
  about like, this is already happening and to me, it's
• 1:27:20
  telling you that Brent price hiring and keeping quality,
• 1:27:23
  guys. You know, Keyshawn Jarrett was
• 1:27:25
  going to go to a g, a position essentially wanted to coach.
• 1:27:29
  He stayed there all of two weeks and he got hired by Howard, you
• 1:27:32
  know, that's the S, which is awesome for him and then the
• 1:27:35
  same with dyrell Roberts, dyrell Roberts and an FCS who comes to
• 1:27:39
  an analyst job and within what 20 days.
• 1:27:43
  He's at a G5 job of at Eastern Michigan.
• 1:27:46
  That tells you a lot about to about what the staff is looking
• 1:27:50
  like that. It didn't take long for these
• 1:27:51
  two guys to already be moving on, which is great.
• 1:27:55
  Yeah, and I think, you know, with this price staff I think he
• 1:27:58
  has a lot of connections and because he's bringing in so many
• 1:28:02
  people and I know a lot of people have Penn State
• 1:28:05
  backgrounds, but you know, everyone talks.
• 1:28:07
  Everyone knows each other and that's kind of the culture at
• 1:28:10
  Penn State that you build up this large staff.
• 1:28:13
  And like Penn State, there's gonna be people that move on.
• 1:28:16
  There's going to be people that turn over but they're always
• 1:28:19
  looking for Quality to replace them and I think that's kind of
• 1:28:22
  going to be a constant at least with the support staff, you
• 1:28:26
  know. I know a lot of guys are under
• 1:28:28
  contract for multiple years and will stay a long time.
• 1:28:31
  But, you know, they're always going to find people to fill the
• 1:28:34
  holes and I think they have a really good Network in terms of
• 1:28:38
  what they're looking for and it's no surprise the people.
• 1:28:42
  They're Getting are wanted by other people and that's the
• 1:28:46
  telling sign that you're hiring the right person.
• 1:28:48
  If a lot of people want them, It's the truth.
• 1:28:52
  I mean, there's no more to say that is the true that people
• 1:28:55
  want people on your staff is the best thing.
• 1:28:58
  Again, I'm going to the NFL, the Niners are losing everybody.
• 1:29:01
  I love it because it tells you that they're wanted and it tells
• 1:29:05
  you that they know how to interview it tells you to know
• 1:29:08
  what they're doing. And usually when you have in
• 1:29:12
  these cases you're going to have guys go, you're probably going
• 1:29:16
  to have some good replacements come to it's like you know, This
• 1:29:20
  guy went from here to there, I want to do that.
• 1:29:23
  I'm going there because I know he's going to prep me for.
• 1:29:26
  Absolutely, when you present that, you create opportunities
• 1:29:30
  for other people, that's going to be attractive to other hires
• 1:29:33
  that are looking to do that same thing.
• 1:29:36
  Thousand percent. All right, matej.
• 1:29:39
  Again, we really appreciate you joining us tonight.
• 1:29:42
  We're going 90 minutes now. It has been awesome.
• 1:29:45
  Just we just feel like we're just talking to a fellow hokey.
• 1:29:49
  You know what? You are into friend.
• 1:29:52
  Don't forget, guys check him out, VT scoop for 24/7.com his
• 1:29:58
  articles, you know, anything dropped them soon.
• 1:30:02
  We should have a Blacksburg big. Word coming out soon, which kind
• 1:30:07
  of detailed it's for our VIP subscribers, I should mention,
• 1:30:11
  but it will detail exactly what the staff is looking for within
• 1:30:15
  this recruiting class. I would just say stay posted to
• 1:30:20
  VT scoop because we should have some good news in the next 10
• 1:30:23
  days. So, yeah, keep an eye out on
• 1:30:27
  that. Oh, he teased it well to taste
• 1:30:33
  well together. All right.
• 1:30:35
  Next two, Today's we're going to all Mark our calendars for that.
• 1:30:39
  And again would say we really appreciate you joining us here
• 1:30:43
  on the boundary Corner podcast and that's going to wrap it up.
• 1:30:46
  I'm Curtis Wilson. I'm Brian Sigler.
• 1:30:49
  Visit our website. Boundary corner be t.com to
• 1:30:52
  listen to all of our episodes while you're there.
• 1:30:54
  Don't forget to follow us on Facebook.
• 1:30:55
  Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, subscribe to our YouTube
• 1:31:00
  account. Thank you.
• 1:31:03
  Listeners are YouTube with our coach Robbie.
• 1:31:06
  Then where we had some tape over 100 views, our biggest YouTube
• 1:31:10
  ever. We got jacked about that, so go
• 1:31:12
  check it out. If you haven't Brian, Robbie,
• 1:31:14
  breaking down tape and your favorite podcast Source
• 1:31:18
  including Spotify, Amazon Apple podcast, we always let our buddy
• 1:31:23
  Jason long, he plays Us in, he plays this out, catch him on
• 1:31:27
  Spotify, and apple music, and his YouTube cover Channel.
• 1:31:33
  I'm trying to think he got a new Telecaster.
• 1:31:36
  He's really excited about it so go give him some of yous.
• 1:31:39
  So maybe he could pay for his wife won't kill him because I
• 1:31:42
  think he had to tell her the total the other day.
• 1:31:44
  Oh man he had to finally come clean.
• 1:31:47
  I think he did sure the credit card receipt.
• 1:31:50
  Well, I'm sure she probably saw that.
• 1:31:53
  At least he didn't buy the other one.
• 1:31:54
  He showed us because he had one that was like almost 2000 and he
• 1:31:59
  really was almost going to buy that.
• 1:32:00
  But he's a married man, he got smarter so you know but we thank
• 1:32:05
  you all for listening. and as always, let's go Hokies