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Road to the Draft · Boundary Corner Podcast

• 0:27
  Music and Welcome back to the Boundary
• 0:47
  Porn Podcast, along with my partners Brian Siegler and
• 0:50
  Jonathan Talley. I am Curtis Wilson and this
• 0:53
  episode is brought to you by Doctor Jeremy Counts at the Main
• 0:59
  Street Pharmacy, Your friendly neighbourhood pharmacy in
• 1:01
  Blacksburg. Three O 1 S Main St. man, four
• 1:06
  in a row. Four in a row, man.
• 1:08
  It's like, it's like all this for his season, I mean.
• 1:12
  That's the way it feels, man. But we're wrapping up Spring
• 1:15
  ball. Got a great interview tonight,
• 1:18
  going to talk a little Portal stuff.
• 1:20
  We have all been busy as heck as is our guest tonight.
• 1:27
  I got catch my breath. I mean, usually I'm like in here
• 1:29
  20 minutes before we get to chill.
• 1:31
  Everybody roll in here about two minutes before we go live.
• 1:34
  Working, man. Everybody working.
• 1:37
  That's a good thing, though. That's what we do, man.
• 1:39
  That's why we're here. That's the.
• 1:41
  Time of year, man. We're here for the people.
• 1:44
  We know it's the offseason, but as we say, it ain't no
• 1:47
  offseason, baby. Offseason, baby.
• 1:49
  Ain't no offseason. No offseason at all.
• 1:52
  Well, tonight folks, if you didn't get to see the marker and
• 1:56
  you're just joining us, we do have a very special interview
• 2:00
  with a young man who is hoping over the next, I guess five days
• 2:06
  because it's Tuesday. On Tuesday, Wednesday 31st,
• 2:08
  Saturday he to hears his name called for the NFL draft.
• 2:13
  He Comes to Us by Nanceman River High School, Suffolk, VA #1 in
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  Your Hearts #0 in your Programs as a 2023 Ladies and Gentlemen
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  defensive tackle for Darius Payne.
• 2:27
  Hello how y'all doing? Thank you all for having me.
• 2:30
  Thanks for coming on for Darius. How you been doing?
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  I've been doing good overall just a lot of time management
• 2:36
  over these past past few weeks. Love it, man.
• 2:42
  Love it. Love it.
• 2:43
  We're going to talk about that later but we really appreciate
• 2:46
  you taking some time tonight to jump on with us.
• 2:50
  Not only to talk about what's coming up in your future here in
• 2:52
  the next few days, but just kind of give a little background on
• 2:56
  who you are, your time with the Hokies you know little stories,
• 2:59
  insurance and out like that. So again we really appreciate
• 3:02
  you taking the time tonight and and I'm going to kick it off
• 3:04
  with this. Coming out of high school you
• 3:08
  went to JUCO route and you went to a JUCO that is a powerhouse
• 3:13
  Lackawanna college up in Pennsylvania.
• 3:16
  The two years you guys were there 21 and one you had some
• 3:20
  really good seasons collecting you know you know sacks tackles
• 3:25
  for loss. How do you feel that going to a
• 3:28
  JUCO help with your development coming out of high school?
• 3:32
  I'm also like JUCO really helped me fundamental wise, like Coach
• 3:37
  Duda, he's a very well known coach of the JUCO world and in
• 3:41
  the football world in general. Like if I go somewhere and I say
• 3:45
  I was at Lackawanna under Coach Judah, they say yeah, we know
• 3:48
  who that is. And him being the D line coach
• 3:51
  and the head coach, he started at ground one and was really
• 3:54
  building it up and we didn't have what probably any division
• 4:01
  have. Like we, I don't even think we
• 4:03
  had a sled if I'm be honest. But the stuff we did was it was
• 4:08
  very good that I believe it helped me a lot.
• 4:14
  Awesome. I love hearing that because you
• 4:17
  know, it is one of those things you have to, you had to make a
• 4:20
  decision on coming out of high school because you know, I I
• 4:24
  couldn't tell you all your offers.
• 4:25
  I'm sure you had places to go that you could have.
• 4:27
  But going that route and again like you just mentioned, I love
• 4:31
  hearing that somewhere you went, somewhere like that, that helped
• 4:33
  fundamentally. Obviously you learned that
• 4:35
  winning mentality down there and it's awesome to hear that.
• 4:39
  Yes Sir, definitely man. So y'all didn't introduce them.
• 4:44
  Quite right, man. When you when you introduce
• 4:46
  them, you're supposed to call it major pain, you know what I'm
• 4:49
  saying? Because everybody see what he
• 4:50
  did when he on the field, he's out there wreaking havoc.
• 4:53
  You know, we talked about, you know, you in high school, you
• 4:57
  coming out of high school went the JUCO route.
• 5:01
  And then I think you know, most people from local people know
• 5:04
  who you are now. You get on the big stage, you
• 5:07
  start getting recruiting. You start getting recruited,
• 5:11
  commit to Nebraska. You go up there now.
• 5:15
  Why you? Why you were, why you were being
• 5:19
  recruited. Looks like you were recruited a
• 5:20
  little bit by Penn State now. Did you ever run into Coach Pry
• 5:25
  while you were being recruited by Penn?
• 5:26
  State when he was there. Oh yes.
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  I ran into him a few times and I feel like we should have, but
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  I'm happy it did happen when it did.
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  Now you broke up just a you broke up just a little bit.
• 5:42
  You said, what happened now? Oh, we We ran into each other a
• 5:46
  few times and I feel like I should have played under his
• 5:50
  scheme a few times. And I'm happy that I did end up
• 5:53
  under his scheme, his play style and under his philosophy.
• 5:57
  Well, man, I don't know about nobody else, but I always say
• 6:00
  it's always God time. You know, I'm trying to.
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  I ain't trying to push nothing on nobody else, but that's just
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  what I say. And I'm glad you did not go to
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  Penn State. They got some weird shit going
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  on up there. I'm glad Coach Pride's away from
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  now. I'm glad that you came home
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  where you belong. So God's timing, man.
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  We're glad that you and Coach Pride did meet and then finally
• 6:23
  link up with Virginia Tech. It's time.
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  We're never wrong. That's.
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  Right, there you go. That's true.
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  Was during that during that second recruitment, were you
• 6:33
  ever contacted by Virginia Tech at that point or was it more
• 6:35
  like the relationship with Coach Pride that kind of ultimately
• 6:38
  led to that that recruitment down the road?
• 6:41
  Really. I believe just talking to Coach
• 6:43
  Pride. So like when I you talking about
• 6:46
  when I hit the portal? Yeah, well, when you when you
• 6:48
  first, when you first were were getting recruited by Nebraska,
• 6:52
  did Virginia Tech reach out to you during that period or or did
• 6:55
  you not really hear from Virginia Tech until Coach Pride
• 6:57
  took over? They sent me like, AAI believe
• 6:59
  it was like a camp letter or it was, I believe I had like one
• 7:03
  letter from them, but I never heard anything physical from
• 7:06
  them or never reached out. So I just didn't.
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  I like, I didn't take it as like real interest or anything.
• 7:13
  So it was just, let's see, Yeah. But I did receive like, I
• 7:16
  believe it was like a camp letter.
• 7:19
  Well, we we going to say it wasn't you.
• 7:22
  We had some weird stuff going on at that time, you know what I'm
• 7:25
  saying? So don't don't even worry about
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  it. But that's OK though.
• 7:31
  Next, I guess this is kind of off off script.
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  When we was talking earlier I we we kind of asked you about some
• 7:38
  shout outs, man, I feel like you need to you need to give a shout
• 7:41
  out to your hairdresser man. Because I told you, I said every
• 7:44
  time I see you, you know what I'm saying?
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  You got the locks coming from under the helmet.
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  They're always looking fresh. So who'll keep you looking like
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  that? My sister, she does a pretty
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  good job, so keep me up today, even if she come up like a game
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  day weekend. We'll probably play Saturday and
• 8:00
  she'll stay through Sunday. Just to give me a nice little
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  retwist and make sure I'm make sure I'm May OK.
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  That's what's up. That's what's up.
• 8:08
  That is, what's up? Yeah, man, she's taking good
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  care of you. I like to hear that you said
• 8:12
  she's she's kind of the the one for the whole family too, right?
• 8:16
  Yes, Sir. Yeah, she do.
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  She do it all. She's a Jack of all trades and
• 8:19
  she she does everybody here. That's the only person she can't
• 8:22
  do as her own. I know that kind of sucks.
• 8:24
  Yeah, yeah, right, right. That's right.
• 8:28
  All right. So we're we're going to talk
• 8:29
  about a little bit of your time at Nebraska here real quick.
• 8:33
  You know when we look at the fan bases of Nebraska and Virginia
• 8:36
  Tech, you know, you got to see a little bit of similarity.
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  They're very passionate fan bases, kind of both of those fan
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  bases and, you know, always, always good stadium noise there.
• 8:44
  But I want to talk a little bit about that 21 season because
• 8:48
  that that seems to be a season that like is an anomaly in
• 8:51
  college football because that team had nine losses, but none
• 8:55
  of them by double digits, eight of them by less than a
• 8:58
  touchdown. That's got to be a frustrating
• 9:00
  season to endure because like you're that close to being, you
• 9:03
  know, taking a a step there and it's like you just can't quite
• 9:06
  get over the hump. Yeah.
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  So yeah, like, so beginning of the season, like during camp and
• 9:11
  like even during the COVID season, I'm like, we got off the
• 9:13
  COVID season going into next year.
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  I'm like, this is a national championship team right here.
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  That's what I was thinking. And then come to season, we lose
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  into I think like a #3 Ohio State team by like a field goal
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  or losing to very good Ohio State team.
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  Oh, I'm at Michigan team by losing both of those teams by a
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  field goal or a touchdown. I'm like man, And then we will
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  be real close to Illinois the first game and I'm like oh, we
• 9:41
  got this and then we end up falling off and it's all off of
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  life. It'll be like 1 crazy play, like
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  we'll be having a good game and next thing you know, boom, kick
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  off, kick off, return last second, It's like like what can
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  we do? That's got to break your spirit.
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  I mean it's it's, it's says something about the makeup of
• 10:00
  the team that, you know, throughout the whole season you
• 10:02
  kept keeping them close games cause like at some point when
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  they start staggering themselves that's you know, keeping the
• 10:08
  locker room together, it's got to be a big deal there.
• 10:11
  Yeah, definitely. Between because you practice a
• 10:13
  lot between all the meetings and you like so many heartbreaking
• 10:17
  losses. It's just.
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  Yeah. It it it was very tough, but I'm
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  happy that team we stuck together.
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  You know that outside noise from fans and opposite teams and just
• 10:29
  the whole entire country can get.
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  Yeah, I know. Sometimes like, you know, you
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  were talking about the the meetings and stuff like that.
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  Like at some point there's only so much you can you can talk
• 10:44
  about, you know, taking getting over the hump and like you just
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  like every week it's like you hear the same thing.
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  You got to try to try to say it in a different way or or keep
• 10:52
  that motivation in a different way.
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  So I'll be testamented to that team and that squad for for
• 10:58
  being able to stick it out and and and play tough, you know,
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  from game one all the way to game 12 there.
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  You should have heard the post game speeches because you can't
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  change out the post game speech by so much.
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  You playing elite teams and only losing by.
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  It's like we this close but this close don't ever get the job
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  done. But it was a great coaching
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  staff, great players, but I just, I feel bad for like just
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  the coaches because we put in a lot of work.
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  The players put in a lot of work but such and see coaches like
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  don't get out what they put in. I hear that man.
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  Yeah, so, so much of it is so much.
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  It's a ton of work and you guys give him complete effort,
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  complete buy in. And then that type of season
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  happened where it's like what did we do wrong?
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  One fluke play one weird something happened in in
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  multiple games. You know one of those things I'm
• 11:50
  sure it's like we get out played hip and hat.
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  They they were better than us today on the field.
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  Some of the things that happened that season in my life, I've
• 11:59
  never seen. I've been watching college
• 12:00
  football since I was like 8 years old.
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  I've never seen this, even like that.
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  But I'm going to get off that because the right thing happened
• 12:08
  as ago God's plan happened. You get into the portal in 2022
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  and obviously, as you just mentioned, you had some
• 12:17
  connections with Coach Pride during your JUCO recruitment at
• 12:20
  Lackawanna before you went to Nebraska.
• 12:23
  But other than coming home, coming back to the state of
• 12:26
  Virginia, what else was the sell to Coach Pride at that point in
• 12:30
  time to get you to effectively, you know, commit to the Hokies,
• 12:33
  sign the letter and show up in Blacksburg in January 2022?
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  It wasn't much of A pitch. I know what Coach Pride is
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  about. I know his scheme.
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  When I found out who's running the same, like not the same as
• 12:47
  that scheme, but doing what he does and his style of play, it
• 12:51
  wasn't much talk. Like I I committed pretty early.
• 12:54
  Like, it wasn't nationally known that I committed early, but it
• 12:59
  wasn't wasn't many talks before. I told him I it probably was
• 13:02
  like the first two talks. I told him I'll go out to
• 13:05
  Blacksburg and see what it's because I'm from Virginia, but
• 13:07
  I've never been to Blacksburg. So I just told him, like, I'll
• 13:11
  come see there, but I'm basically committed.
• 13:14
  Like I know what you're about. I know how you are as a coach.
• 13:16
  And yeah, that's that's basically it.
• 13:19
  It wasn't, he didn't have to. It was telling me nothing.
• 13:24
  Love hearing that? Yeah, definitely, man.
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  So you know, you we riding a wave, you know, you coming home,
• 13:31
  you coming back to the state of Virginia fans excited because we
• 13:36
  getting some Power Five help to come in here in a place of need.
• 13:40
  You know, we got Mr. Payne going to be holding it down for us.
• 13:43
  And then adversity hits, you know, me and you laugh, you get
• 13:47
  injured, you know, a pretty, pretty gruesome injury.
• 13:52
  You know, you tell your Achilles what helped you stay motivated
• 13:57
  when you did that at that point in your career?
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  Just knowing I had a lot to prove, a lot to gain and just
• 14:04
  really put my head down and work and just figured like like Y'all
• 14:09
  said how we said God never makes a mistake.
• 14:12
  So I'm just thinking I I did think like, Dang why me?
• 14:16
  But I wasn't you guys. Anybody.
• 14:18
  Like throughout that period I was still smiling and walking
• 14:21
  around because at the end of the day he doesn't make any
• 14:24
  mistakes. What's meant for me is what I
• 14:26
  get. So that's that's how I carried
• 14:30
  it in. I believe it helped me
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  throughout the time and just knowing that I was going to come
• 14:35
  back for another season, I wasn't.
• 14:37
  I'm not dead. I'm living so like I'm living so
• 14:41
  it's. I could be a lot worse.
• 14:43
  That's how I look at it, man. Listen, I'm going to tell you
• 14:46
  this. I'm 38 years old and I was
• 14:49
  walking down the road and strain my Achilles and I felt like I
• 14:53
  was dead. So if you tore yours and you
• 14:56
  were still smiling. Hey, you a bad man.
• 15:01
  You a bad man I'm talking about, hey, it's I'm still struggling
• 15:05
  with it. It's been like 2 1/2 weeks and
• 15:08
  this man, that thing be tender. It'd be hard to put any weight
• 15:11
  on it. So yeah, man, that's that's
• 15:13
  that's awesome, man. Yeah, injuries are crazy because
• 15:17
  they can really like it's not just the physical.
• 15:20
  Sometimes it's it's the mental piece too.
• 15:22
  Like just keeping your spirits up, making sure that you're
• 15:26
  doing the right things in rehab, not rushing to rehab too much,
• 15:29
  'cause you, you know, mentally you're like, all right, I'm
• 15:31
  ready to go. I'm ready to go.
• 15:32
  I'm starting to feel better. I'm ready to go.
• 15:33
  But like making sure you're going through the process and
• 15:36
  making sure you're not missing the step in that process.
• 15:39
  So you know it's a lot of mental in there as long along with the
• 15:41
  physical but you know let's talk about that that that comeback
• 15:45
  though because everybody loves a good comeback right.
• 15:48
  All right. So you know you little you know
• 15:51
  it's it's a it's a major injury it's a long rehab.
• 15:55
  You know you start the season probably not 100% at that point.
• 15:59
  I'm guessing you're still kind of working yourself back into
• 16:02
  the into football shape right. But you know then we get to, we
• 16:07
  get to we get to Pitt and we we get to Marshall that that.
• 16:12
  I feel like that's when you really started making a big
• 16:14
  impact on the field again and it looked like you really got your
• 16:16
  legs back into you. What was the most difficult part
• 16:19
  of kind of ramping back up after your injury and at what point
• 16:21
  did you start feeling like yourself again?
• 16:25
  Really that Marshall game is when I started feeling like
• 16:27
  myself and just overall I was just.
• 16:31
  I don't think it was too hard getting back into the game
• 16:33
  because I was just so happy because I didn't.
• 16:35
  I just loved this game. So I was it it it felt like a
• 16:39
  little kid just playing, playing football if I'm be honest.
• 16:41
  So it was nothing that was too terrible.
• 16:44
  Like the worst part was coming back like during Matt drills and
• 16:47
  spring ball because that's when it was like early running.
• 16:52
  It was. It was it was a crazy experience
• 16:56
  but just getting used to this D tackle position and because I
• 17:03
  never played D tackle at this level until I got here, so it
• 17:08
  was just getting used to the D tackle.
• 17:10
  That was probably the biggest, biggest thing I had to get used
• 17:13
  to after coming back out for the injury because that's like
• 17:16
  battling two different things. But I was just happy to play and
• 17:19
  I was just smiling, just getting on the bus because a year ago I
• 17:23
  was, I was ODU had my feet kicked up and one of the one of
• 17:29
  the old team mates apartment and just watching the game.
• 17:32
  And I'm like Dang, like we're supposed to be, we're supposed
• 17:34
  to be at the game. So I was just happy.
• 17:39
  I mean, I love hearing that because you talk about playing
• 17:42
  like a kid and it it it impresses me even more you to
• 17:47
  hear you talk about learning how to play D tackle because let's
• 17:50
  be let's be realistic here. Not only did you have a coming
• 17:53
  out party against fit, the whole team did because you could have
• 17:57
  fooled us that you didn't know how to play defensive tackle
• 18:00
  before then. Because I mean rushing to pass
• 18:03
  through, shooting gaps causing disruption in the backfield,
• 18:05
  causing tackles for loss. And let's look at that game,
• 18:08
  particularly the pit game, because that game, it changed a
• 18:13
  lot for you. Your rotation got heavier, you
• 18:16
  started playing a lot more, but it changed a lot for the team.
• 18:19
  Like that was that game. I think us three sit here after
• 18:24
  that game and said something's happened, something's happened
• 18:27
  with this team and it was something.
• 18:31
  Did anything happen ahead of that game or was it just all the
• 18:35
  building blocks? Coach Prime, the coaching staff
• 18:37
  have been talking to Y'all and it just it came together and
• 18:40
  came to fruition. Before that was it Marshall.
• 18:46
  Do we play Marshall the week before that?
• 18:48
  The The Marshall was the week before that where y'all
• 18:52
  defensively, y'all had a unbelievable game and then that
• 18:57
  next week was Pitt. They'll go in one and three and
• 19:00
  I mean, you could have fooled us.
• 19:02
  We were running the the Hokies were running 3.
• 19:05
  Yeah, let's see that that Marshall game, y'all saw how it
• 19:08
  ended. It was a very late, tough loss.
• 19:11
  So going into that we was just more of like, let's do what the
• 19:15
  coaches said. They always put out a layout,
• 19:18
  was pretty good coaching, so we just followed their layout that
• 19:22
  week and really just stuck to it throughout the week, hit stuff a
• 19:25
  little bit harder. And really it was really just
• 19:29
  following the coaches lead and doing what we were supposed to
• 19:32
  do from the jump. Because I believe that that
• 19:34
  game, I think the running, the running game, they might have
• 19:38
  had around 200 yards rushing I believe, or it was something, it
• 19:42
  was something amazing. And then the defence, we was
• 19:44
  just playing all 11 hats of the ball, just flying around and you
• 19:48
  could just feel the energy on the sideline before the game.
• 19:51
  You could. You could just feel like we're
• 19:53
  here. We're coming.
• 19:56
  Man, I love. Hearing that, yeah.
• 19:57
  Go ahead, Curtis. Well, I was just saying I I love
• 20:00
  hearing that, that it was just like after that Marshall loss.
• 20:04
  It wasn't a man. How did we lose that game?
• 20:06
  We played good When we lost that game, it was no, we're going to
• 20:10
  hit it harder. We're going to go harder.
• 20:11
  We're going to focus on what our coaches are telling us and.
• 20:14
  Curtis, you know what I like most about that game.
• 20:16
  What did you like most about that game?
• 20:18
  I like that 38 rush yards total for Pitt.
• 20:20
  Oh, I like that game. Well, the the the man, the major
• 20:25
  pain on here with us was the guy getting in that backfield.
• 20:28
  And all. Right.
• 20:30
  Before we get to the road to the draft, I got to ask a question
• 20:33
  because I came up. I watched you in the Military
• 20:35
  Bowl. I was soaked.
• 20:37
  I had a great time. But we all know about the gift
• 20:41
  bag. We all know y'all get the What
• 20:43
  was the coolest thing at the Military Bowl?
• 20:45
  Y'all got. It it might be between the We
• 20:51
  Got This Jacket on Christmas and it was like a a black and Gray
• 20:55
  camouflage jacket with the Vt. Probably one of the best.
• 20:59
  Probably the best thing. I've had my whole entire college
• 21:02
  career like gear wise and just me, I the Air Force Ones was
• 21:07
  just people. Air Force.
• 21:09
  Ones when you just you just getting those for for playing
• 21:12
  football at the end of the day like it's a reward but it was it
• 21:16
  was nice seeing those man. So I got kids man.
• 21:19
  I got a 18 year old and a 14 year old and when they when they
• 21:22
  get to Air Force like when we got shoes we just put them on
• 21:24
  and and walk. Do you walk funny so you don't
• 21:27
  crease yours? Yeah, the whole entire time
• 21:29
  because we we did multiple events in them.
• 21:32
  And we, I remember we was going to the bowling alley and I was
• 21:35
  like, 'cause we got off the bus and I'm like the 34th bus and we
• 21:39
  had to walk down and there was some dirt beside and I'm like, I
• 21:42
  got to walk this certain type of way.
• 21:44
  I didn't. I usually put like, I don't do
• 21:47
  this to my Air Force One, but I usually put like these creasing
• 21:50
  forces so that my two don't crease.
• 21:53
  But it was just. That's what I was about to say
• 21:57
  because usually y'all got the creasing forces, but if you got
• 22:00
  them while you was there, I'm like, did you have them?
• 22:02
  How did you, how did you manage when you out here walking around
• 22:05
  in this dirty grime and all of this stuff, you know what I'm
• 22:08
  saying? So yeah, that's a big deal.
• 22:10
  All of the listeners, man, if you don't know about, do your
• 22:13
  homework on having Air Force Ones and getting them dirty
• 22:16
  increased. Do your homework on that.
• 22:18
  After that they basically done it's over with it.
• 22:22
  It's over when you get a crease in Air Force One.
• 22:24
  It ain't nothing to them but a clean white shoe.
• 22:27
  If you get a crease in them, you got to go buy a new pair.
• 22:30
  So hey y'all know what Air Force ones y'all need to contact Mr.
• 22:35
  Payne. He going to tell you how to keep
• 22:36
  them clean and not crease? There we go all.
• 22:38
  Right. We're going to switch gears a
• 22:39
  little bit. You can't have no dirty forces,
• 22:41
  man. You can't have no dirty forces,
• 22:42
  no dirty, OK, dirty forces is a big no, no, no.
• 22:46
  So we're going to, we're going to shift gears a little bit,
• 22:47
  man. We're going to talk about some
• 22:49
  important stuff. So we had a little bit of a
• 22:52
  postponement in in getting to meet you and talk with you,
• 22:56
  which is awesome because, you know, Travis informed us that
• 23:01
  you had some some business to go to because, I mean, we just some
• 23:05
  old guys sitting at home going to work every day.
• 23:07
  Hey, you're a young man. You getting ready for one of the
• 23:09
  biggest things in your life, man, you getting ready for the
• 23:12
  NFL draft. So congratulations #1.
• 23:16
  We was told that you was you were out you know doing some
• 23:18
  visits so how did how did that go if you don't mind us asking.
• 23:22
  I really enjoyed the experience and seeing different things in
• 23:27
  different cities and just overall it was it was fun and I
• 23:32
  know one day is I had to wake up like super early.
• 23:34
  But overall like I I can't complain, I'm, I'm blessed like
• 23:40
  just waking up at 5:30. But I'm still at this NFL team.
• 23:44
  A lot of people even in this process don't get to do that.
• 23:46
  So it was just amazing experience to see how some other
• 23:51
  NFL players live. Got to sit in one of the NFLD
• 23:56
  line meetings and I I like met some good D line and I was like,
• 24:01
  yeah, I could, I could live this lifestyle, get used to watching
• 24:05
  this film, breaking it down with these guys, talking this
• 24:08
  different type of language and just enjoyed the experience.
• 24:13
  Yeah, we saw some tweets out there.
• 24:14
  Was the Giants one of the stops she made there?
• 24:17
  Yes, Sir. Yeah, I was yesterday.
• 24:18
  I enjoyed the Giants. It was good facility, good
• 24:21
  people. So yeah, it was, it was nice.
• 24:25
  The food was good up there. There we go.
• 24:28
  Nice. And the food was real good.
• 24:29
  Like I like I told you, man, it's too cold up there.
• 24:32
  You ain't trying to go up north. Hey, I told you where you need
• 24:37
  to be. If that's what happened, I'm
• 24:39
  going to be happy. I'm going to buy a jersey.
• 24:42
  That's all I'm going to. Say.
• 24:45
  There you go. Let's take it to the Pro Day,
• 24:46
  because that was a big day for you too.
• 24:48
  Right. So like.
• 24:50
  We had you. They had you clocked at a 48540,
• 24:54
  16510 yard split. Great numbers across the board
• 24:58
  for you. Hold on.
• 24:59
  By the way, both of those were second.
• 25:03
  Like looking at the guys that went to the combine.
• 25:05
  Your split and your forty were second amongst all those guys
• 25:10
  who went there. That's crazy.
• 25:11
  Dude, you were. You were?
• 25:12
  Bawling that day? That's crazy.
• 25:14
  Sorry, Brian, I'm, I'm sorry. You're good.
• 25:16
  You're good. I like that you add a little.
• 25:18
  Bit of, a little bit of extra color in there.
• 25:20
  I like that. But without when we they saw the
• 25:23
  numbers, like I looked up the combine and I'm like, dude, when
• 25:26
  I saw that 165, I'm like that's elite for for defensive tackles
• 25:30
  like that's elite. And I looked it up and it was
• 25:33
  just like, damn, that was really sorry.
• 25:35
  I was. Brian.
• 25:37
  Go ahead. I'm sorry.
• 25:38
  You're good. You're good.
• 25:38
  You're good. I appreciate you.
• 25:39
  You had that in there, but I think you know just looking at
• 25:43
  that like so just wonder where you been working out and who you
• 25:46
  been working out with during this pre draft process?
• 25:50
  I'm working at a prolific park out in Greensboro.
• 25:53
  I don't know if you know Ricky Pearl.
• 25:55
  He's clever. Yes, he is.
• 25:58
  That's his facility. But it's gotten to go by Chris
• 26:03
  Kennedy. He was my trainer there, big
• 26:06
  speed. So it was he helped quality work
• 26:11
  and if he and he, he helped a lot because I ain't a run track,
• 26:19
  you know, I barely run. I barely run 40 yards.
• 26:22
  So yes, he helped. He helped a lot.
• 26:27
  It's got, it's got a wild like you know getting with those
• 26:29
  speed guys and kind of getting that, what's the difference in
• 26:32
  like preparing for that type of workout versus like something
• 26:37
  you would do with the spring? A lot more stretching because
• 26:42
  overall I play D line, it's I'm not we're not running too far
• 26:47
  too fast. Lot of lot of short distance
• 26:51
  quick bursts. So just 40 yards is pretty far
• 26:56
  for D line. But so just overall just turn
• 26:58
  the switch on that I have to run a little bit longer and
• 27:02
  different type of lead cycles and different type of stride
• 27:06
  lifts. It's just overall just
• 27:07
  different. But the lifting part was about
• 27:09
  the same. So we did more.
• 27:13
  We didn't do as much heavy lifting.
• 27:14
  We did different types of lifting.
• 27:18
  Nice. And again that was prolific Park
• 27:21
  done in Greensboro. Obviously we got listeners down
• 27:24
  in that area. So if you got a kid or I'm
• 27:28
  assuming they do a lot of there's Chris Luster definitely
• 27:33
  check them out there you we we just mentioned a few minutes ago
• 27:38
  you know you had your visit with the Giants obviously that was
• 27:41
  that was very very that was very very public we should say
• 27:45
  because you put your name in that was like Yahoo big hit
• 27:49
  boom. He went and saw the Giants.
• 27:51
  So if you're allowed to say, what other teams have you been
• 27:55
  in contact with, where else have you went and visited?
• 27:58
  I mean, we know Tally's a Titans fan.
• 28:00
  I'm an honest fan. Siegel over here is a Colts fan.
• 28:03
  I mean, we just, you know, just wondering.
• 28:05
  Well, I'll tell you, the only team I haven't talked to was the
• 28:07
  Colts. But I've.
• 28:08
  I've talked to come. On Chris Ballard.
• 28:12
  Get with him. I've talked to a good amount of
• 28:14
  teams, though I probably it could be anywhere from like 15
• 28:18
  to like 20 something before, like I told y'all today I hopped
• 28:22
  on the phone with six or five different teams so it's been in
• 28:26
  the day before I hopped on like I believe the same amount 5 to
• 28:30
  6. So every day it's a different
• 28:33
  different numbers. So I I honestly lost count of
• 28:36
  how many teams I've talked to. But I've been blessed and got
• 28:40
  good contact with like different coaches, a lot of different
• 28:43
  notes I've picked up and what could help me succeed at the
• 28:46
  next level. So I'm just, I'm grateful for
• 28:48
  the opportunity to be able to talk to those guys.
• 28:53
  Yeah, that's what's up man. So we, we definitely are are
• 28:57
  tracking what you're doing, tracking your career.
• 29:00
  Like I'm sure all the hokey nation will be, man, we got to
• 29:04
  give a, you know, again got to give a huge shout out to you
• 29:09
  know, not just not just you but your whole defensive, defensive
• 29:12
  line and defense for the year. Man, Y'all could have packed it
• 29:15
  up. You know what I'm saying?
• 29:17
  Like we was in, you lose that tough game, the Rutgers, I mean,
• 29:20
  I think we might have gave a like 16 passing yards.
• 29:23
  I'm stupid. You know, we lose this game to
• 29:25
  Marshall. We already talked about, you
• 29:27
  know, we we were all there at the Purdue game.
• 29:30
  We know how that went going into a flood and tornadoes and
• 29:33
  whatever happened like bro, it it it got weird during the
• 29:37
  beginning of the season and it seems like guys like yourself,
• 29:42
  you know, senior leaders on the team, held the team down, got
• 29:46
  everybody focused and got us back on track.
• 29:49
  So us being Tech fans, man, like we really appreciate your
• 29:55
  contribution to Virginia Tech, what you done, I mean for real,
• 30:00
  for real. I think we'll look back at last
• 30:02
  season and say that was the turning point in the in the
• 30:06
  program because I think. That was a big that.
• 30:09
  I think that was a big emphasis on this year, just to get
• 30:12
  Virginia Tech back to where Virginia Tech's supposed to be.
• 30:15
  And I'm I'm excited for this year especially with that 12
• 30:18
  team playoff. I'm I'm very excited for the
• 30:20
  boys and I think they're going to do do very good.
• 30:24
  I got AI got a high high hope for this team.
• 30:29
  I like what we got coming in. I like what everybody coming
• 30:31
  back. I mean that's that's you know
• 30:33
  those two pieces I think have been really big and you know I
• 30:36
  we like like Tally said we appreciate you laying that
• 30:39
  groundwork and being a big part of the turn around because you
• 30:44
  know you know you you saw how it went with with Nebraska at 21.
• 30:48
  I mean it's it's easy to run off you know games and and and lose
• 30:52
  ones that that you feel like you should have win or could have
• 30:54
  won and I appreciate y'all really sticking with it and
• 30:59
  playing together and and really get Virginia Tech back on the
• 31:03
  map here. We we really appreciate that.
• 31:06
  I'm happy to be a part of Hokey Nation and just decided that
• 31:09
  everybody was welcomed with open arms and just happy to be back
• 31:14
  home and just really enjoyed it. We just it was great to be a
• 31:18
  part of Hokie Nation and be in Blacksburg, VA and wearing that
• 31:22
  Virginia set and. It's true man.
• 31:26
  And and they and Brian said something here just a second ago
• 31:28
  about laying the foundation. I I think what you had to go
• 31:32
  through in 2022 and I think I think you probably laid
• 31:35
  something for the guys in that room because you were one of the
• 31:38
  older guys in that room. You were one of those leaders
• 31:40
  and that whole thing of at Nebraska, we lost.
• 31:45
  I got hurt. I kept working, I kept coming
• 31:48
  back. And now it's like, look where we
• 31:50
  were last year, look where we are this year.
• 31:53
  And yourself, you know, going into 2023, you know, there is a
• 31:57
  plan out there and we know that. But we're all human beings.
• 32:01
  We all can question things because why did I tear my
• 32:04
  Achilles? You know, now I got to come back
• 32:06
  and then doing what you did, you know, roughly 8 months later,
• 32:11
  you're sitting here, you're being contacted by the NFL
• 32:13
  teams, they're flying you in, you're sitting in and it's
• 32:16
  unbelievable, man, to see that. And you know, we, we, you know,
• 32:20
  we wish nothing but the best for you.
• 32:21
  We wish you blessings. But we got one more question to
• 32:25
  ask you. Hold on before you go to that
• 32:27
  question. No, Curtis, I got to say.
• 32:29
  I got to say this. I say it.
• 32:30
  That's what we had last year. Was the last.
• 32:34
  Year, yeah. Last year we had Connor on here,
• 32:36
  we had Shamari on before the draft and then look what
• 32:40
  happened. He gets drafted by the He gets
• 32:42
  drafted by the Chiefs. Get him a ring.
• 32:45
  Get him a ring. Get him some starts.
• 32:47
  I'm just saying I ain't saying that.
• 32:48
  I ain't saying that BCP is, is the is, the is the magic touch.
• 32:53
  But we already know what's going to happen.
• 32:55
  Everybody who listening already know what's going to happen.
• 32:58
  So all I'm saying is when you get rich and famous, man, just
• 33:02
  come back. That's all we ask.
• 33:04
  Come back to the spring game and just sit down with us.
• 33:06
  That's all we ask. Hang out, come.
• 33:08
  Back. Yes Sir.
• 33:10
  Go ahead Curtis all. Right.
• 33:11
  Brian, this, this is Brian's question because he thought of
• 33:13
  this years ago. If every coach, every player
• 33:16
  that's ever come on with us, we have these couple questions.
• 33:19
  Current, former and otherwise. All right, Exactly.
• 33:22
  All right. You got to give me one, one go
• 33:24
  to spot for food in Blacksburg that everybody knows about and
• 33:29
  then give me your dark horse, the the spot that you you go to
• 33:33
  all the time and everybody else sleeps on.
• 33:36
  So to go to I'm a big sweet guy. I've been oh y'all know about
• 33:40
  boardwalk that might be a sleeper.
• 33:42
  I don't. Know.
• 33:45
  Oh, hang on. Boardwalk I.
• 33:47
  Don't know nothing about it. Boardwalk might be a sleeper.
• 33:49
  Boardwalk might be a sleeper. Oh, my fault dude.
• 33:51
  I got no, I don't know. I got to put that in my as my
• 33:55
  sleeper. It might be a sleeper for us.
• 33:56
  It might not be sleeper for for folks on campus right now, but
• 33:59
  this is sleeper for us old folks.
• 34:01
  Oh man, I'm on BT. Yeah, I shot somebody too.
• 34:05
  That's that's a good my. I actually got the fried Oreos
• 34:08
  after me and two other of my buddies matinee our picture up
• 34:12
  there in there. All right.
• 34:14
  We went there all like throughout the camp, like when
• 34:17
  we had some off days. We had to make sure it was
• 34:20
  before the off day because when we came back it was crazy.
• 34:23
  But it was on an off day doing like, so say if we had like a
• 34:26
  good train we could camp, we would go there and get some
• 34:31
  fried Oreo. It was like a must, like nice
• 34:34
  weather. The students wasn't back.
• 34:36
  It was, you know how Blacksburg is the students not back.
• 34:38
  So we was out there all day. But that's my sleeper pig.
• 34:42
  I guess then. I.
• 34:46
  Had another sleeper pig. Oh, we got two sleepers here.
• 34:49
  Hold on. Yeah, I was.
• 34:52
  I was vegetarian for a while, so it was this one burger at what
• 34:57
  is what's the place beside PK's, you know?
• 35:01
  Oh. God.
• 35:01
  Oh, oh, hang on. Hold on.
• 35:05
  They make their bread in the house.
• 35:09
  Oh, this man serious. This man, this man that said he
• 35:13
  came up here, he was vegan eating vegan burgers with fresh
• 35:17
  made bread and fried doughnuts. Man, we've been asking, we've
• 35:21
  been asking the wrong people about food.
• 35:24
  See, I bought it. I'm a I'm a big food guy.
• 35:27
  But I say I don't know the name of that place and I I feel bad
• 35:31
  because I was going there also very.
• 35:33
  Is that the? Maroon door.
• 35:35
  The maroon door. There we go.
• 35:36
  There we go. Yeah.
• 35:37
  So yeah, when I was vegetarian, I used to get that mushroom
• 35:40
  burger most of my time ever. All right.
• 35:45
  And then my the big go to I. It's like every time I'm up
• 35:52
  there I need those PK wing bite. Like when I went up to the
• 35:54
  spring game it was a must stop when I went up there for spring
• 35:58
  practice. Must stop when I went there for
• 36:00
  a pro day, must stop little PK wing bites.
• 36:04
  People make bones wings, but those wing bites are they cut
• 36:08
  them from chicken thighs. I don't know.
• 36:11
  What's the what's what's the Go to sauce for you.
• 36:14
  I like that Sweet Chili, and a lot of guys I'd be with like the
• 36:17
  cheetah wings. But I'm a I'm a sweet chili guy.
• 36:21
  Hold on, Brian. Go ahead.
• 36:25
  And wrap up here, can you get the way I've I've never seen
• 36:29
  this place. Can you get that up on screen
• 36:32
  the boardwalk? Oh, the boardwalk.
• 36:33
  Hang on 'cause. Y'all I'm like we gonna.
• 36:35
  Get so you over there Googling it.
• 36:37
  Oh, you, yes. You got to know what you can go
• 36:40
  up there. Yeah, you got to go to the
• 36:42
  Instagram and and tell them for dairy sent you.
• 36:45
  That place is. Hey, we've been to talk JC.
• 36:50
  JC Price. He'd have been on here too.
• 36:52
  Get all them D lineman down there to the board where the
• 36:57
  fried Oreos at? Because the thing the fried.
• 36:59
  If they were done that fucking up.
• 37:01
  If they down that fucking up fried Oreos and then they play
• 37:04
  like he was playing when he came back.
• 37:06
  We need everybody eating fried Oreo.
• 37:10
  Get your picture. God dawg.
• 37:11
  Oreos. Fried Twinkies.
• 37:12
  Fried let's. Say got to tape.
• 37:16
  Oh my gosh. Yeah, you saying, man, Yeah, you
• 37:21
  were. Going to have to, you were going
• 37:22
  to have you eating that. You going to have to play D
• 37:24
  you're going to have to play D time.
• 37:27
  But Darius came in as a running back.
• 37:29
  But. For Darius, how many Fridays do
• 37:32
  you have before you ran at 485? Oh no, I.
• 37:35
  I couldn't. I couldn't eat any.
• 37:36
  That was the street after, the street after.
• 37:39
  That's what's up. That is what's up, by the way.
• 37:42
  So new place, new sweet dessert spot down in Blacksburg, the
• 37:46
  boardwalk that's on Draper. I I I I get.
• 37:49
  It's it's right across from Benny's like.
• 37:52
  Right, there you go all. Right.
• 37:53
  So if you get the pizza, the other friend get the sweets is.
• 37:57
  Oh man. Is.
• 37:58
  Tell them fried Oreos and A and a Benny's pizza man, that's
• 38:03
  that's that's a gently Cosmo. Right there.
• 38:05
  You sound like you at the at the fair.
• 38:07
  If you do want us, definitely. They got a special place in my
• 38:11
  heart, I can tell you that. That's what's up.
• 38:13
  It is. What's up?
• 38:15
  Listen, our our, our buddy, coach Robbie Compton.
• 38:17
  Best of luck in the draft of Darius.
• 38:20
  Thank you for taking, you know, 45 minutes, an hour out of your
• 38:23
  night to spend with us with Hokey Nation here.
• 38:27
  We'll be thinking about you over these next few days, hoping to
• 38:29
  hear that name called. Because you deserve it, man.
• 38:33
  Thank you. I appreciate, appreciate y'all
• 38:36
  and I'm always happy to to come back up here.
• 38:39
  Y'all just appreciate the text or shoot me Adm and I'll I'll
• 38:43
  easily come back up here. Sounds good.
• 38:45
  Now if you now if you if you do wind up in Nash Vegas he coming.
• 38:49
  Two hours away. He coming, I'm coming.
• 38:54
  I'm just letting you know. Appreciate.
• 38:58
  You for jumping on with us tonight?
• 39:00
  Appreciate you y'all have a good one.
• 39:02
  Do the same, Sir. All right, y'all that was for
• 39:05
  Darius Payne. That was awesome.
• 39:08
  Thank you so much for his time tonight.
• 39:10
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  digitalstudio.com/free Dash website Dash Report.
• 40:40
  Now back to the episode. All righty.
• 40:43
  And we are back, man. I'm still looking at that menu.
• 40:48
  They do like late night. Bunch of hot dogs, corn dog,
• 40:51
  man, we won't be in trouble next time we all go down there.
• 40:54
  We number funnel cakes and fried Oreos all day.
• 40:57
  You know there are worse things in life.
• 40:59
  Man, worse things in life, right?
• 41:02
  But again, I mean, that's why we ask these young men that
• 41:06
  question every time. Because usually we always
• 41:08
  uncover something. We always uncover something
• 41:10
  cool, you know, but let's let's talk a little bit, you know, not
• 41:16
  going to be a long episode tonight folks.
• 41:18
  After spring game and everything, you know the portal
• 41:23
  opened up and you know obviously right now we've got several
• 41:27
  Virginia Tech players in there and what I wanted to kind of do
• 41:31
  just amongst us three here is just kind of the surprised or
• 41:35
  not surprised by the guys who are in there right now.
• 41:39
  Anyone we think could be going in the next few days and I'm
• 41:43
  going to do this in the order they came out in.
• 41:46
  And Brian, I'll let you go first on this one.
• 41:49
  Tally, you follow it up. Freshman excuse me, freshman
• 41:55
  offensive lineman Gabriel Arena. He was the 64275 interior guy
• 42:01
  out of Bishop Mcdevitt up in Harrisburg.
• 42:06
  Brian, you pay you pay attention more that than anybody.
• 42:09
  So, you know, the in the interior's a little crowded at
• 42:12
  the offensive line. I feel like he's the guy that
• 42:14
  was kind of falling into that bottom part of the the muddle
• 42:18
  there with with a couple guys, maybe even a class.
• 42:21
  Lower than him that it kind of already was a step ahead of him
• 42:25
  in in on the depth chart. So not not a big surprise him
• 42:29
  taking another opportunity here. So not not shocked on that one.
• 42:35
  Valley. Any shock on that one?
• 42:37
  No, I kind of what Brian said, man, it's it's, you know, you
• 42:40
  got to thank some of them guys, man.
• 42:41
  Coaching change happens. You know you get you the
• 42:45
  portal's big, now you're bringing people in.
• 42:47
  It's like you going to test it, you know.
• 42:50
  So one really a surprise if it's crowded and you feel like you
• 42:53
  don't have a path to get on the field pretty quick.
• 42:56
  You know, I I I understand it. Yeah.
• 43:00
  And then like to y'all's point, to Brian's point to it, it is
• 43:03
  sort of a. It is.
• 43:05
  It is a big room right now. I mean we take a look at it.
• 43:08
  We've got we got 15 guys and not recruiting this year.
• 43:13
  That's a lot of people. And yeah, you want two or three
• 43:16
  deep, but realistically 8 to 10 you start slipping in that
• 43:21
  bottom five. You know unless you are brand
• 43:24
  new to campus you probably it, it's probably not going to be
• 43:27
  good for you. And again, there's that
• 43:29
  opportunity to go out, find a home where your where your neck
• 43:33
  one is. All right, let's hit the next
• 43:35
  one up here. That came out Tally.
• 43:38
  I'll let you start with this one.
• 43:40
  Quarterback Dylan Whitke. Surprised.
• 43:44
  Not surprised. I ain't trying to be mean.
• 43:48
  I'm surprised he made it that long.
• 43:50
  I'm just saying like I I didn't, I didn't see a way for him to
• 43:55
  get on the field with with the with the other quarterback in
• 43:58
  the room with Pop being in the room like and then how they
• 44:01
  recruiting that quarterback, you know, I just didn't see a way
• 44:04
  for him to get on the field. So I would have thought he was
• 44:07
  either changing positions last year or he would have been
• 44:10
  leaving. So no surprise.
• 44:14
  Yeah, I'm, I'm kind of I'm, I'm, I'm a little surprised given our
• 44:19
  current scholarship numbers. So I I don't think he's the guy
• 44:22
  that we were saying, hey, if you want to go, go.
• 44:25
  But I think it's a guy that he's seeing the writing on the wall.
• 44:29
  Somebody again a, a class lower than him, pass him on the depth
• 44:33
  chart, you know, puts him at 3:00 if he sees a path for
• 44:38
  himself getting on the field at A at another school, whether
• 44:41
  it's G5 or whatever it may be, you know.
• 44:44
  Go do your thing and and and best wishes to you.
• 44:47
  So you know, definitely. I'd say maybe a little shocked,
• 44:53
  only because of the scholarship numbers.
• 44:55
  I got you. I I was surprised by this one
• 44:58
  and I was more surprised because of the the statement Brent Pride
• 45:01
  made after spring game. He said, you know he said pops a
• 45:04
  little bit ahead but we've got summer.
• 45:07
  We've got fall, like almost that thing of pops ahead.
• 45:10
  But it's not a runaway, right. It's not like Pop's the number
• 45:15
  two guy, ain't no question about it, you know.
• 45:18
  And and Dylan didn't play terrible in the spring game.
• 45:21
  Like he he looked solid in the spring game.
• 45:23
  So I thought there was a part of us that probably like you.
• 45:26
  You kind of want it because you want that death room.
• 45:28
  We got Davi Belfort coming in in the summer that Kelvin Ryan
• 45:32
  already with the class of 2025 locked in.
• 45:36
  But also to Tally's point if he didn't feel like there was a way
• 45:39
  on the field, should he be again?
• 45:40
  Should he have been gone in January?
• 45:43
  And that's those decisions those kids have to make and it's
• 45:46
  always something different. But right now only own
• 45:49
  scholarship. We'll take a look into what
• 45:52
  we've done in the portal offers in a little bit here.
• 45:55
  All right, next one back to Brian Traylon Mitchell running
• 46:00
  back. Surprise.
• 46:03
  Not surprised. I I was a.
• 46:06
  Little surprised just because I think the spring game I think
• 46:09
  created a little bit of conversation as far as kind of
• 46:11
  who is the number four or five guy in that kind of pecking
• 46:14
  order at running back. But it's a little less
• 46:17
  surprising when you look at kind of what we're doing in terms of
• 46:21
  portal offers right now. So I I think that kind of Nets
• 46:26
  out and says all right maybe not as shocking as you think but I I
• 46:29
  thought I saw some good things from from Mitchell in the spring
• 46:32
  game but looks like he. Was kind of using that as a
• 46:34
  little bit of a get a little bit of tape out there for for his
• 46:37
  next move there. Tally.
• 46:42
  Surprised. Yeah, I don't want to say
• 46:45
  surprise, I'll say. Surprised by just his name, I
• 46:48
  guess, but not really surprised by the position.
• 46:52
  Like when you get 5-6 deep at at running back, somebody's one,
• 46:57
  you know? I was more surprised with Bright
• 46:59
  Deuce leaving last year, you know, so stuff like that.
• 47:03
  But I mean, again, man, you got so many opportunities for these
• 47:06
  kids. I can't fault them for if they
• 47:08
  have a way to get on the field or get them some nil money, you
• 47:12
  know, closer to home or at a smaller school or even a lateral
• 47:17
  school, you know, hey, go for it.
• 47:18
  So, and I think, I think with Coach, Coach Brooks, you know,
• 47:23
  he's looking for a certain type of running back as well, you
• 47:26
  know what I mean? Like if you start looking at
• 47:28
  some of the offers and things like that like and then you have
• 47:32
  a a running back like 2 minutes on on campus now it's like that
• 47:38
  floor has been raised. So you know can you do this, can
• 47:41
  you do this? Because he can do this.
• 47:44
  You know you as a you as a running back if you're number
• 47:47
  two or three can you do this, can you carry the ball this many
• 47:50
  times? Can you block?
• 47:51
  Can you, You know, so it it kind of gets to that point where you
• 47:54
  ain't because two of that kind of running back when you ain't
• 47:56
  got to swap him out to do different stuff.
• 47:58
  He does everything at least a pretty good level, if not great
• 48:02
  level. Yeah, so you know, I, I, I think
• 48:06
  that's kind of where it is with what coach Brooks is doing which
• 48:09
  again like Robbie said y'all put Robbie's coming up you know,
• 48:12
  because Robbie told us about him even coming out.
• 48:15
  So when you see playmakers like that man in high school you you
• 48:20
  definitely want them on your on your roster.
• 48:22
  But you know we live in a new age now man.
• 48:25
  People ain't going to see it and you know, it's a lot of
• 48:28
  opportunities elsewhere, so I get it.
• 48:30
  Yeah, I was surprised by this one, just because the room we
• 48:34
  only had five, even if you had another one from the portal.
• 48:37
  You mean we didn't have 13 scholarship running?
• 48:39
  Back 13, scholarship running back.
• 48:41
  Those days are long though. We had the even 4 is to me the
• 48:44
  right amount. But I I think also, I mean he
• 48:48
  didn't look bad in the spring game.
• 48:50
  But you look at Mason who was a true freshman, he looked good.
• 48:54
  You look at Coney look good. Thomas had some big catches and
• 48:58
  I think Tally you just made a maybe even a better point there
• 49:01
  with the running backs. Toon is that do it all guy and
• 49:06
  there is nothing to meet. Toon is averaging.
• 49:10
  He is at above average blocker. He is an above average pass
• 49:13
  chesser. He can, he can go go inside and
• 49:15
  go outside and add the element of the kick return.
• 49:19
  I think that you've got to have that one extra thing that you do
• 49:22
  exceptional and with with Tootin to me it's the explosive outside
• 49:26
  runs and it's that kick return game where at any second if you
• 49:30
  screw up and you miss a tackle, he gone.
• 49:34
  Yeah, and let's let's talk about longevity of running backs too.
• 49:36
  Like you got to get on the field and and put some tape out there
• 49:40
  if you want to potentially take that, those next steps if you
• 49:43
  want to get looked at from an NFL standpoint.
• 49:45
  So you know, these guys need to get on the field in.
• 49:48
  Order to do that. And so sometimes exposure is
• 49:52
  just as good as you know level of play in terms of playing you
• 49:55
  know what power for or whatever we calling it now.
• 49:58
  What? Whatever it is.
• 50:00
  All right, we got a couple more to discuss here.
• 50:03
  Tally let you roll with this one.
• 50:06
  Antonio Cottman Junior. The defensive back was primarily
• 50:09
  at safety this spring in the portal.
• 50:14
  I'm looking here. I know we got offered by UNC
• 50:17
  Charlotte, Maybe, maybe somebody talked to him in a few days
• 50:21
  here, but. Yeah, that's different.
• 50:23
  I know somebody at UNC Charlotte.
• 50:26
  Yeah, they got Dre Blight out there now.
• 50:28
  So, yeah, they seen somebody else wearing some Charlotte
• 50:31
  stuff too. But anyway, so yeah, man, I
• 50:35
  mean, I guess I'll say surprise now I, I'm, AI was a big cotton
• 50:42
  fan, just because I like his size, you know what I'm saying?
• 50:45
  But I do know as far as scheme goes, you know it's kind of
• 50:48
  tough for a kid that has that size maybe not fast enough to
• 50:53
  play in some places you know, but too you know too big to play
• 50:57
  in some places, too small to it it it's kind of a a different
• 51:01
  tweener position that he has to play in So and and to be honest
• 51:06
  with you man, like we got a lot of people that's fighting for
• 51:09
  those positions. So, you know, I can understand
• 51:13
  somebody saying, hey, I got to go explore elsewhere as well,
• 51:17
  'cause, I mean think about our, our DB room, you know, think
• 51:22
  about the star position, people be stepping up in those
• 51:26
  positions, which is kind of why I thought he was playing was
• 51:29
  what would be the star position. But then I mean you you get
• 51:33
  somebody like like Caleb Woodson in there, it's like same class.
• 51:37
  What do I do, you know what I mean?
• 51:39
  So I understand it. It was it's I I really liked.
• 51:43
  I liked Cotton's size and I liked his potential, so hope he
• 51:46
  lands somewhere good. I was not shocked.
• 51:51
  And I'll tell you a couple reasons why, #1 is that we saw
• 51:56
  Tally was talking about there, the star position between
• 51:59
  Woodson coming on in the last year and Gabe Williams stepping
• 52:02
  in right away and making an impact this spring.
• 52:07
  You know that was kind of a Washington, you know, got got
• 52:09
  moved back to safety for the spring, definitely some
• 52:13
  competition there. But what what kind of told me
• 52:15
  that he might not be sticking out pretty good in that position
• 52:20
  was when we saw a whole lot of Tyler Childress early in the
• 52:23
  spring game and not a whole lot of Antonio Cottman that that was
• 52:29
  that was kind of a a flag for me that all right maybe, maybe this
• 52:33
  isn't quite going the way I think we wanted it to go, that
• 52:36
  he wanted it to go. So it doesn't surprise me that
• 52:39
  he's making that move. Yeah, we ain't going to put my
• 52:41
  man Childers down too much. With Childers, you're going to
• 52:44
  have to get you some cleats to stick in the ground, my boy,
• 52:48
  because you was. Hey, if you playing football and
• 52:51
  you see your feet in the earth, that ain't good.
• 52:54
  And we definitely seen your feet in the earth.
• 52:56
  So, Childers, hey, we like how you out there playing hard, my
• 52:59
  boy. But PJPJ put a move on you.
• 53:02
  Yes, he did. I'm going to kind of go with
• 53:05
  what 1872's got here. It is tough to see anybody
• 53:08
  leave, but I but I can understand Cotton leaving
• 53:11
  because if we take a look at how that safety room and how like
• 53:15
  Tally, you mentioned the star position, right.
• 53:17
  Those kind of all game stepping up big Quinton Reddish looking
• 53:21
  like he's going to be something big, right?
• 53:24
  Phillips being big. Phillips same class as Cotton
• 53:27
  and Phillips is already out there playing last year, right.
• 53:31
  Reddish looking like he is can play day one.
• 53:35
  So I get it because if they continue recruiting at that
• 53:39
  level with the safety room, if safety's one of those positions,
• 53:43
  right, that if you've got that little bit of size and you got a
• 53:46
  little dog in you, you can play early, you can play early and
• 53:50
  and I think that's kind of what it was in that case.
• 53:53
  All right. We got one more guy to discuss
• 53:55
  here and that is the linebacker man of Appomattox, Tavori and
• 54:00
  Copeland. Brian, I know go ahead because I
• 54:05
  think you were a little surprised by this and a little
• 54:07
  bit, maybe a little bit downtrodden on cope and leading.
• 54:12
  Yeah, this is the probably the one that shocked me the most, to
• 54:15
  be honest with you. Just yeah, I I thought he, he
• 54:19
  had a lot of promise. I thought it was a position
• 54:22
  where we've got some older guys. That you know in whether this
• 54:27
  year or next year probably going to kind of age out whether it
• 54:31
  it's you know heading to the NFL or or or graduating.
• 54:34
  I thought he was going to maybe have an opportunity at that
• 54:37
  point but also didn't see a ton of him in the spring game where
• 54:41
  anything stood out to me. So so that that was that was a
• 54:44
  little bit of a concern there as well.
• 54:46
  But I I liked his potential a lot.
• 54:49
  I thought he had a a high ceiling.
• 54:51
  I think he was still pretty raw but he had a high ceiling.
• 54:54
  So this one kind of disappointed me a little bit because I wanted
• 54:57
  to see kind of where that went. Tally anything on Copeland
• 55:02
  Surprise. Not surprised.
• 55:04
  I won't say surprise just because I keep, again, man, I'm
• 55:07
  always looking at length and size when you start talking
• 55:10
  about, you know where the team is going.
• 55:12
  So when you see this team getting bigger, you know he was
• 55:16
  63, but you know, 192 does this his second year, right?
• 55:20
  Yeah, you know, going into the second year.
• 55:22
  So you know, of course I know you can't just pack on pounds
• 55:26
  like crazy like that 'cause you're running around unless you
• 55:29
  old and you just sitting on the couch, you know what I'm saying?
• 55:32
  We can do it. But I can.
• 55:34
  Manage it pretty good, man, quickly.
• 55:35
  Yeah, but as far as like you know his size, you know coming
• 55:40
  out with the with the official size and weights, he's still at
• 55:44
  like 192 something like that playing linebacker.
• 55:48
  And I was like, you know, so I just in that aspect because I
• 55:53
  don't like, I don't know what he did on the field, but I'm just
• 55:55
  saying in that aspect I kind of could see it because of its
• 56:00
  size. Yeah, the the size is 1 point.
• 56:04
  And again there was a reason Caleb Woodson moved over and
• 56:07
  started playing some inside back or not just Star and Caleb to
• 56:11
  your point, Talley. Caleb does have that size.
• 56:13
  Caleb same same height as Tavore and Copeland.
• 56:16
  But Caleb's already up like 225. Yeah, he's already, he's already
• 56:20
  there mass. He's getting there mass wise.
• 56:23
  They're built, built different, man.
• 56:24
  Yeah, Yeah, you've seen him. Yeah, and the whole thing about
• 56:29
  63195. Could you still play collegiate
• 56:32
  football? Yeah, but you're probably not
• 56:33
  going to play linebacker. Are you fast enough for safety?
• 56:36
  Do you have enough wiggle to do maybe * and and again if the
• 56:41
  guys can't adjust to another position where it's always going
• 56:44
  to be, if you've got to go, go find a place that you can fit,
• 56:48
  find a place to get your education and things like that.
• 56:52
  So you know, I don't think anywhere like jaw droppers.
• 56:56
  But it was a couple like they were still young.
• 56:58
  Wish they could have stayed. All righty.
• 57:00
  So we, we, we just said right there that was 5, right?
• 57:06
  Five. Anybody out there you think
• 57:10
  maybe come in because it is exactly one week from today is
• 57:16
  when your name has to be in the portal for the to effectively go
• 57:21
  elsewhere for the fall season. I'm, I'm, I'm I'm going to do
• 57:25
  some names here real quick. Just so y'all can know, these
• 57:27
  are red shirts, seniors. Sam Brumfield ain't going
• 57:32
  anywhere. APR ain't going anywhere.
• 57:34
  CJ Mcrae's a wild card with that leg injury.
• 57:37
  What is CJ deciding to do? You can't go nowhere where you
• 57:41
  hurt. He can't go anywhere but but
• 57:44
  could he call it a career? Could he say, I'm going to hang
• 57:47
  it up because your legs injured, you're going to have to rehab
• 57:52
  Kaden Moore. Then you've got Parker Clements,
• 57:56
  Bob Schick and Wilfred Panay who's on the defensive line.
• 58:03
  Anybody y'all could see leaving. Any younger guys y'all could
• 58:06
  think leaving, you know, I see on here.
• 58:08
  What about a Devon Elvis? Saw him in the spring game.
• 58:12
  Yeah, somebody like a somebody like Elvis I could see you know
• 58:17
  just because like I said it's so much it's so much competition in
• 58:21
  those rooms. You know, I can.
• 58:24
  I can see one of those young guys finding somewhere else to
• 58:28
  to thrive. But you know, man, you never
• 58:30
  know. Are we at the scholarship limit
• 58:31
  yet? Like we we're below.
• 58:34
  By three, we got three spots. We got three spots.
• 58:36
  We can give. Yeah.
• 58:37
  So, Ramon Brown time, right? Oh yeah.
• 58:41
  Is that what time it is? Well, let's see, Brian, you got
• 58:44
  it. You get it up here for us.
• 58:45
  Yeah, let's let's take a look here.
• 58:47
  We got some offers out there. Ramon Brown we know is offered.
• 58:50
  How many? Times.
• 58:53
  How many times is that this is courtesy?
• 58:55
  Of Colby Crawford with. Shout out.
• 58:58
  Kobe is. Hard man.
• 58:59
  God's work keeping this list together.
• 59:02
  Y'all I go check it four times a day.
• 59:05
  Did Kobe get an update? Somebody had offered?
• 59:08
  I First of all, just because he made this announcement
• 59:11
  yesterday. The ones in red basically have
• 59:14
  ruled out tech. Yeah, they're either committed
• 59:17
  or they've already let tech know they are not coming here, which
• 59:20
  in this case is just Chamblee. It's just Chamblee.
• 59:23
  Everybody else has already had some sort of formal commitment
• 59:26
  out there, Hayden. Yeah, to Colorado.
• 59:30
  And then greedy Vance Junior to USC.
• 59:33
  All right. We kind of talked about it last
• 59:36
  week and now we're seeing it here and we got three spots.
• 59:41
  Y'all take a look at this. If you're out there listening
• 59:45
  tonight, who are your three? So if y'all want to put it in
• 59:51
  the chat we'll put it up here. But I'm going, I'm going to go
• 59:54
  with which one of y'all really ready.
• 59:58
  Anybody who can play offensive line, we need one.
• 1:00:04
  So we need one. I do one.
• 1:00:07
  I've never watched any tape on Christopher Adams, but it says
• 1:00:11
  he's offensive tackle. Can you come in and push
• 1:00:14
  somebody to play better? That's all I'm asking all.
• 1:00:17
  Right. So that's consensus then.
• 1:00:19
  We all believe the offensive line.
• 1:00:21
  Yes. Consensus, Brian, consensus.
• 1:00:24
  Yes. So if you want me to give three,
• 1:00:27
  I can give three right now all. Right.
• 1:00:29
  Well, we know offensive lines one.
• 1:00:31
  So who are your other two? All right, so we got if if I had
• 1:00:34
  to pick three names off this list, give me Adams, give me
• 1:00:39
  Caleb Spencer and give me a pick em between Ramon Brown or Penny
• 1:00:44
  Boone, Boone more immediate upside.
• 1:00:47
  I think Brown has more eligibility.
• 1:00:49
  So it's just kind of a pick your poison with that.
• 1:00:53
  All right, Callie, we know Chris Adams.
• 1:00:58
  Go ahead and write it on. Yeah, so Chris Adams.
• 1:01:00
  We'll say Chris Adams just because I see it you know
• 1:01:03
  offensive tackle. I'm going to say Ramon Brown.
• 1:01:07
  He's visited too much to for them to have ruled him out or
• 1:01:10
  him not to be coming. He's still been visiting think
• 1:01:12
  he just came up for the spring game.
• 1:01:14
  So hell he might. I don't know what he's doing but
• 1:01:17
  I I'm going to say Ramon Brown. I feel like I'm still salty
• 1:01:20
  because we we lost that recruiting battle and he went to
• 1:01:23
  Maryland. So just for my own selfish
• 1:01:26
  reasons give me him and I mean safety wise man just any hell
• 1:01:32
  the the the LSU safety you know I'll take him you know I would
• 1:01:36
  say Caleb Spencer but he comes from that that that private
• 1:01:41
  school there in Virginia and I don't think that they're real
• 1:01:43
  high on like that's what Copman came from.
• 1:01:46
  So I think he's the only kid. Yeah, I think he's the only kid
• 1:01:50
  that we got from them. So I I don't, I don't see that
• 1:01:53
  working out for us. I'll take him, but I just don't
• 1:01:56
  see it working out so. All right, all right.
• 1:01:59
  I'm not far behind. Y'all.
• 1:02:03
  Adams is definite. You know, get him in here.
• 1:02:06
  And in totality, to your point, regardless what the tapes is,
• 1:02:11
  make it. Say something.
• 1:02:12
  Make a statement to make other people play better, like he's
• 1:02:15
  coming. He's got two years of
• 1:02:17
  eligibility left. You want your job?
• 1:02:19
  Beat him out and the next one I'm I'm with y'all it's got to
• 1:02:26
  be a running back to me it's it's got to be Ramon.
• 1:02:32
  If they if they offer another one in the next few days here,
• 1:02:35
  that's great let's do it. That's because with Penny Boone
• 1:02:39
  it's you know unless you tell me Malachi Thomas is leaving which
• 1:02:44
  if that happens yet pull the trigger on Penny Boone real
• 1:02:46
  quick because then because you need your 1B there or you or you
• 1:02:50
  2. The the last one I'm a little
• 1:02:53
  torn about because yes. Do we need safety help.
• 1:02:58
  Absolutely. With you know right now is
• 1:03:01
  Stroman Phillips where's Quentin at But I I keep leaning because
• 1:03:10
  they made there's two offers out there the kids from Arkansas
• 1:03:14
  State and the kid from Yale. I think with CJ going down and I
• 1:03:20
  know I mentioned they they obviously we saw a little stuff
• 1:03:23
  from Jason Abbey. We saw a little stuff from James
• 1:03:25
  Jeanette right. I think they don't feel
• 1:03:29
  completely comfortable with the 4th defensive end.
• 1:03:31
  So for me give me a defensive end because if we're rushing to
• 1:03:34
  pass her we may not need the best back end play.
• 1:03:39
  So I'll I'll take just because his name's Larry.
• 1:03:43
  Give me Ezekiel. So I'm kind of with you on that
• 1:03:47
  a little bit, but you still got to.
• 1:03:49
  Have safety help in the run games that's gonna be important
• 1:03:51
  too. But don't sleep on on maybe
• 1:03:54
  Diani Hill being that kind of nickel safety hybrid that we saw
• 1:04:00
  that our our buddy David Cunningham mentioned last time
• 1:04:03
  he was on there that Tay Daley type that could maybe come in
• 1:04:07
  and kind of play that like little bit of swing nickel and
• 1:04:10
  safety and then be that type of player.
• 1:04:12
  So that might be the option that kind of shores up nickel shores
• 1:04:19
  up safety all in one player and and that that might be something
• 1:04:24
  that we go if we're trying to go that route to to help with the
• 1:04:27
  nickel position as well. Here's a Here's a question for
• 1:04:30
  Curtis, right Quick. Yeah, because we've talked a lot
• 1:04:33
  and I don't think none of us have said it.
• 1:04:34
  So I know you. The more analytical 1.
• 1:04:39
  We know who Karen Drones is. We know who Pop Watson is.
• 1:04:44
  You testify I know what you got. To say who else?
• 1:04:47
  Who else is in the quarterback room?
• 1:04:49
  That's true. And and we did offer the kid
• 1:04:51
  from UCLA who played last year. Right.
• 1:04:53
  So I'm about to say, I mean, what are we are we do we got to
• 1:04:57
  get a quarterback? Curtis, what are we doing?
• 1:05:00
  Well, if you want to play, I think what they have to do in
• 1:05:04
  that situation is they have to feel where Pop is.
• 1:05:07
  Can Pop manage the game? Is the defense good enough?
• 1:05:10
  Is the running game good enough? Where can Pop manage?
• 1:05:13
  If it's where now, he's not there to manage yet.
• 1:05:16
  Maybe you take the kid, but it's also convincing.
• 1:05:20
  This guy who played last year, go look at his numbers.
• 1:05:22
  He didn't have terrible numbers at UCLA.
• 1:05:24
  Solid numbers. Convincing him you #2 at best.
• 1:05:29
  At best you might be 3, but we need you.
• 1:05:32
  Yeah. I think the other thing is you
• 1:05:34
  know it's not just can Pop manage the game.
• 1:05:39
  We we know how Pop plays the game, right.
• 1:05:42
  So you get Pop in there. He's still a a a slightly
• 1:05:46
  undersized quarterback from from a Power Five perspective and we
• 1:05:51
  know how he plays the game. You know you're you're 1 rush
• 1:05:54
  you're you're 1 scramble away from having to get you know
• 1:05:59
  either Davi in there or you know a walk on in there.
• 1:06:04
  So that that that's a pretty rough situation to be in.
• 1:06:07
  So I mean I can see us going that route you're you're walking
• 1:06:10
  a little bit of a fine line though because you you got to
• 1:06:13
  bring in a guy that is comfortable with that position
• 1:06:17
  knowing that barring something significant happened, Pop's got
• 1:06:24
  the keys whenever Kyra moves on. It's true, all right.
• 1:06:27
  I have not seen this. So did something happen?
• 1:06:31
  Somebody right throwing out. Here I.
• 1:06:32
  Haven't seen an off that we've offered him, but I know he's in
• 1:06:35
  the portal so I think. What?
• 1:06:37
  What's? What's that kids name?
• 1:06:40
  Tom Owens I don't know who it is.
• 1:06:44
  Is it Zach? Zach Owens?
• 1:06:46
  Zach Owens. All right, yeah, no, no, no list
• 1:06:49
  yet. Now, I know a lot of times
• 1:06:51
  Colby's working throughout the day and he drops it later in the
• 1:06:54
  evening. So that is.
• 1:06:59
  See, that's why I'm going defensive end right there.
• 1:07:02
  Because if Cole Nelson or God forbid, APR goes down, I mean,
• 1:07:07
  defensive end is not looking great.
• 1:07:10
  So again, I mean, we can look at the kid from Georgia Tech, from
• 1:07:17
  Baltimore. We we know, we know Peebles is
• 1:07:20
  gone next year, right? We know fooga's gone next year.
• 1:07:25
  There there's what? What's what's so interesting
• 1:07:28
  about this is there's so many intriguing offers where we could
• 1:07:30
  literally go through this list and be like, yeah, that makes
• 1:07:33
  sense, That makes sense for this year and next year.
• 1:07:35
  That makes sense for the next three years.
• 1:07:37
  That makes sense for the next two years.
• 1:07:39
  So again, they're being selective, but I think we stick
• 1:07:42
  here and say, hold on, I'm going to put this up real quick.
• 1:07:46
  Y'all y'all agree with that. Yep.
• 1:07:52
  I agree. No comment.
• 1:07:53
  Nope, no comment. I do.
• 1:07:56
  I now I got a comment. So yes, I I do agree with it,
• 1:07:59
  you know, and as much shit as I give Grant Wells, I definitely
• 1:08:04
  am. Y'all know how I feel about the
• 1:08:06
  situation. I can't really say that because
• 1:08:10
  man, we were winning those games so handily, man.
• 1:08:12
  And he, he did sacrifice a lot for the team, man.
• 1:08:15
  He came to a a ship that was was fucked up, you know what I'm
• 1:08:19
  saying? So if they felt the need to get
• 1:08:22
  him in man, to get him some, you know to to finish out his
• 1:08:25
  college career, like I ain't mad at it now.
• 1:08:28
  I do understand what what Train is saying, you know, looking to
• 1:08:32
  the future that would have helped for for Pop to get those
• 1:08:36
  snaps. But at the same time, I do
• 1:08:38
  understand, I think this coaching staff has a little bit
• 1:08:41
  of a human element. So you know, to get him in there
• 1:08:45
  and give him, give him some burn, I can't be mad at him
• 1:08:47
  because of that. Hell, he almost scored a what, a
• 1:08:50
  70 yard touchdown if he wouldn't have failed.
• 1:08:52
  So close, so close, so close. And to Curtis's point, I mean I
• 1:08:56
  think right now a lot of this is depending on what the recovery
• 1:09:00
  timetable is going to be like for CJ McRae, right.
• 1:09:04
  So yeah, definitely, you know we think a broken leg you think you
• 1:09:07
  know 6 to 8 weeks probably in terms of healing, you're
• 1:09:14
  probably adding another you know four to six in in in rehab.
• 1:09:20
  So we're probably talking about sometime right before mid, mid,
• 1:09:26
  yeah we're talking we're talking about right before camp, right
• 1:09:28
  into camp before you're even starting to get into any sort of
• 1:09:34
  actual actual recovery outside of just you know your typical
• 1:09:38
  rehab. So is is is a month going to be
• 1:09:42
  enough time to gear him up. I think if he's if if his
• 1:09:45
  timetable is he can be full go by end of September.
• 1:09:49
  Defensive end is probably less of an issue because you probably
• 1:09:52
  aren't going to, fingers crossed, hit a major injury
• 1:09:56
  that's going to impact you depth wise that quick.
• 1:10:00
  But if if his timetable's something more like mid to late
• 1:10:03
  October, yeah, go get you a defensive end.
• 1:10:07
  Yeah, all. Right, real quick.
• 1:10:08
  Just just so it's just Thomas, we we'll take care of you here,
• 1:10:13
  man. Oh no, Thomas, you all good man.
• 1:10:16
  That's a good that's a good comment.
• 1:10:19
  But I'm I'm going to tell y'all what not to do.
• 1:10:22
  If you want to waste your time, don't do it.
• 1:10:24
  If you want to waste time do it. Get on on three and do that
• 1:10:27
  transfer portal page and just start clicking And just seeing
• 1:10:31
  like, I mean there is a just just announced a few minutes ago
• 1:10:39
  a freshman safety out of Kentucky is entering the portal.
• 1:10:45
  Kidd basically went up on rankings and I don't know if he
• 1:10:47
  played last year or not like you.
• 1:10:49
  I mean you talk about rabbit hole stuff.
• 1:10:51
  Let me go. Let me no, no, let me just let
• 1:10:54
  me go. Offensive tackle Now guy from
• 1:11:00
  Dion's kicking the guy out. Looks like he's going to
• 1:11:02
  Syracuse. Man, what the What the fuck do
• 1:11:06
  Dion got going on, man? It's just too Hollywood for me,
• 1:11:11
  man. Like I said, like I said, like
• 1:11:15
  even at the start, no shade to Dion.
• 1:11:17
  Everybody was all on the Dion train.
• 1:11:20
  You know, I'm, I'm going to just speak from my perspective down
• 1:11:22
  here where I'm at. Like I seen Alabama fans going
• 1:11:25
  and buying Colorado stuff and I was like, yeah, Dion is cool,
• 1:11:29
  you know, I understand, like we grew up watching Dion and he's
• 1:11:33
  flashy and stuff like that. But when you become a coach or
• 1:11:37
  when you get in certain positions, man, you got to.
• 1:11:40
  I just feel like he he kind of doomed himself from the
• 1:11:42
  beginning because of the way that he talked and some of the
• 1:11:45
  stuff he said. So when you hit rough patches in
• 1:11:50
  your season, like, I ain't going to feel bad for you.
• 1:11:52
  Now you got kids transferring out.
• 1:11:54
  Like when you first got there, you told kids, oh y'all need to
• 1:11:57
  jump in the portal because I'm, I'm bringing my own bags and
• 1:11:59
  they lose it. And it's a man.
• 1:12:01
  You just got to have some kind of tact when you coach yourself.
• 1:12:04
  Again. Dion could do it his way, but if
• 1:12:06
  you do it your way like that, you got to win.
• 1:12:08
  You know what I'm saying? So.
• 1:12:10
  Yeah, what the other part I want to ask is this, because both of
• 1:12:13
  y'all playing the game at high levels, especially on the lines
• 1:12:18
  you keep turning, can there be any continuity?
• 1:12:22
  I mean both of y'all because Tally you play on, you know you
• 1:12:26
  weren't a lineman, but you played at tight end.
• 1:12:28
  I mean you always talk about your buddy, you knew when he was
• 1:12:30
  going to screw up, like you knew when he was going to screw up.
• 1:12:33
  At least you could say, well, I got at least give the best chip
• 1:12:36
  of my life to maybe save him. It's tough, man.
• 1:12:42
  You can take 55 stars and put them on a line and they're going
• 1:12:46
  and they still struggle. You know what I'm saying?
• 1:12:49
  Like, it's not a given that you just go and recruit these guys
• 1:12:52
  and they're going to come in and produce for you.
• 1:12:54
  Like, especially at offensive line, like offensive lineman a
• 1:13:01
  lot of times are like some of the smartest guys on the team,
• 1:13:04
  man. They got a lot of stuff
• 1:13:05
  especially like your center position calling different plays
• 1:13:08
  out, you know, got to know where everybody is and then the
• 1:13:12
  continuity, knowing how fast this guy's going to pull.
• 1:13:17
  So I got to be able to take this step or not take this step for
• 1:13:21
  him to have his spots. You know, just different things
• 1:13:23
  like that that you just don't get when you continually switch
• 1:13:26
  up and you continuously changing and things like that.
• 1:13:29
  So what? What's been our problem?
• 1:13:31
  You know you got different coaches coming in and then you
• 1:13:34
  got different players. You can't stay with the same 5
• 1:13:37
  lineman like that's going to be a problem for him because Chadu
• 1:13:40
  is a talent man. Like Chadu is really good.
• 1:13:43
  But as we seen last year if you ain't got no line they're going
• 1:13:47
  to get him killed. So who are you putting in front
• 1:13:50
  of him? And you know then when people
• 1:13:53
  are leaving and got different things going on like like they I
• 1:13:57
  I just feel like they're getting too involved with the Hollywood
• 1:13:59
  side of it and all. We need this or you know, if you
• 1:14:02
  don't want to be here, leave. And you know you got the the,
• 1:14:06
  the players talking about it and things like that.
• 1:14:08
  I just feel like, man, y'all got to go win, y'all got to quit
• 1:14:11
  getting caught up in that hype and.
• 1:14:14
  If if things started blowing up a little bit with McClain kind
• 1:14:16
  of putting them on blast a little bit and I know I know
• 1:14:20
  corner is is different than than than offensive line.
• 1:14:25
  There's a whole lot more that goes into like you can put a
• 1:14:29
  corner out on the island say go out there you cover the best guy
• 1:14:33
  and you bring somebody else in that can do that and you don't
• 1:14:36
  you don't miss too much of A beat as long as you're talent
• 1:14:38
  wise about at the same level offensive line I mean it takes
• 1:14:44
  it takes so much development and it takes so much of continuity
• 1:14:49
  across the different positions and working with the same group
• 1:14:52
  and working with the right combination of talents and
• 1:14:55
  things like that. There's so much that you can't
• 1:14:57
  just go in there and tinker with multiple positions every year on
• 1:15:02
  that line and and think you're just going to put the put put
• 1:15:06
  five out there that you can bring in every year and it's
• 1:15:08
  going to work every time you can do it.
• 1:15:13
  I mean, but you're kind of catching lightning in a bottle a
• 1:15:16
  little bit. I mean we think about like Duke
• 1:15:18
  a couple years ago when they brought in four or five G5
• 1:15:22
  lineman and a couple FCS lineman and they ended up gelling pretty
• 1:15:25
  quick and things worked out for when they were able to kind of
• 1:15:28
  turn their season around. It still wasn't the best line
• 1:15:31
  out there, but compared to what they had before, they did a good
• 1:15:34
  job of repairing that offensive line in the transfer portal.
• 1:15:38
  But that that's kind of the exception to the rule.
• 1:15:40
  Usually it's like a one or one piecer, right?
• 1:15:42
  You bring in one guy to fill in the big hole you have that can
• 1:15:45
  kind of work with everybody else that's already there.
• 1:15:47
  And I think, you know that's where he's getting into trouble,
• 1:15:51
  is that some of these positions you can just bring in the best
• 1:15:56
  guy and it works. Wide receivers like that,
• 1:15:59
  quarterbacks like that, cornerbacks like that.
• 1:16:02
  I'd say probably even defensive end is like that.
• 1:16:04
  But not all these positions. Can you just bring in a guy and
• 1:16:07
  expect that to work time in time out?
• 1:16:11
  So it's going to be interesting to see what happens out there,
• 1:16:17
  get it and kind of reiterate to or re emphasizing both of y'all.
• 1:16:23
  Here's Robbie. So yeah, but as far as the
• 1:16:27
  Hokies go, hopefully in the next few days we get to see a few
• 1:16:31
  Portal ads, see a few Portal, maybe a couple more leaving May,
• 1:16:35
  a few guys saying they're done. Yeah, let's get a couple greens
• 1:16:39
  squares. Yeah, there you go.
• 1:16:40
  You want the green from Colby. And again, or you know, be like
• 1:16:46
  me, just go down to the rabbit hole on three transfer portal
• 1:16:48
  and say let's get that kid. And then put it in an e-mail to
• 1:16:52
  pry and be like hey. And.
• 1:16:55
  The crazy thing about, and the crazy thing about Curtis is he
• 1:16:59
  don't have time to do this. Like he don't got time to be
• 1:17:03
  going on now and going down this rabbit hole because he got so
• 1:17:06
  much stuff to do, Work kids, more kids, dog wife.
• 1:17:11
  Like you got all this stuff to do and then you go down a rabbit
• 1:17:13
  hole and then you sending us stuff and we definitely ain't
• 1:17:16
  got time to go down it. So we just got to get on the
• 1:17:18
  phone and ask you what's going on.
• 1:17:20
  Well, it it happens. You get little breaks, you get
• 1:17:23
  little pockets and you're looking at it.
• 1:17:24
  And that's how you that's the rabbit hole.
• 1:17:26
  Or it's 10:30 at night and it's like oh, oh, oh, Oh yeah.
• 1:17:30
  I have avoided it, though. I have been good to avoid it.
• 1:17:33
  Speaking of which, going back to the.
• 1:17:36
  The the Zach Owens thing man he put out earlier looks like 5
• 1:17:40
  hours ago. He's been contacted by 35
• 1:17:43
  schools. We are one of them.
• 1:17:44
  I don't know if that means that we are officially put an offer
• 1:17:48
  out there or anything. Like that he ain't coming here.
• 1:17:53
  Everywhere from Colorado to Oklahoma.
• 1:17:56
  Did. Colorado, just sign an offensive
• 1:17:59
  tackle. They going to put him in the
• 1:18:00
  portal and take this kid instead?
• 1:18:02
  Maybe. And he's.
• 1:18:05
  Listening to everything he got G fives out there all the way up
• 1:18:07
  to, like I said, Oklahoma and. USC.
• 1:18:10
  And we need this Virginia bill to go ahead and kick in so we
• 1:18:13
  can pay for us to get. AAI think we can float it at
• 1:18:17
  this point, We can float it at this.
• 1:18:19
  Point Yeah, let's do some. Let's do some we can do.
• 1:18:22
  The whole what is it? It's.
• 1:18:24
  Retroactive on on July 1st you will get your.
• 1:18:28
  We going to throw fried Oreos in all to that time come so, so we
• 1:18:33
  don't find a place with fire Oreos.
• 1:18:35
  That's a big. Boy though 66375 that's that's a
• 1:18:38
  tank. Man, I.
• 1:18:39
  Don't know if that'd work what we do but he but you probably
• 1:18:42
  look at the tape. He probably let like 5 O speed
• 1:18:46
  at 375 and I think other downhill.
• 1:18:48
  All right. What else has happened this
• 1:18:51
  evening boys? What an hour and 19.
• 1:18:54
  I don't think nothing, man. All righty.
• 1:18:58
  Well, let's wrap it up again. Wraps up.
• 1:19:00
  This wraps up. We're wrapping up this.
• 1:19:04
  Jesus Christ, I can't talk right now.
• 1:19:05
  Which one are you doing? I'm doing them all, man.
• 1:19:08
  That's going to wrap up this episode.
• 1:19:10
  The Boundary Corner podcast brought to you my Main Street
• 1:19:12
  pharmacy in Blacksburg. I'm Curtis Wilson.
• 1:19:15
  I'm Brian Siegler. Jonathan Talley.
• 1:19:18
  Check out Boundary Corner vt.com for all the episodes.
• 1:19:21
  Merchandise shop, Check A soil. We're out on Facebook, Twitter,
• 1:19:25
  Instagram, YouTube, all that fun stuff there as well.
• 1:19:29
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• 1:19:31
  We're on them all. As I told somebody at work the
• 1:19:33
  other day, we're on the mall. You click one, you'll find us.
• 1:19:36
  As always, Jason Long. Places in places out.
• 1:19:39
  Check out Jason Long music.com. Check out his live events down
• 1:19:43
  in the NRV. Also looks to all of his places
• 1:19:47
  on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, Facebook.
• 1:19:49
  We thank you y'all for listening tonight.
• 1:19:52
  And a special shout out again P ^2, The Major Pain for Darius
• 1:19:56
  Payne for giving his time for the interview.
• 1:19:58
  And as always, boys, let's go.