Latest / Boundary Corner Podcast / 2025 Hokies Preview Panel: Segment 1

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2025 Hokies Preview Panel: Segment 1 · Boundary Corner Podcast

• 0:56
  And welcome back to the Boundary Corner podcast, a part of the
• 1:00
  College Huddle Nettler, along with my partners Brian Siegler,
• 1:03
  Dalvin Talley and Shelton Moss, I am Curtis Wilson.
• 1:07
  This episode, as always is brought to you by Doctor Jeremy
• 1:09
  Counts down at the Counts Family Pharmacy, your friendly
• 1:12
  neighborhood pharmacy Three O 71 S Main St. in Blacksburg.
• 1:17
  Also brought to you now by the Moments on the Maury.
• 1:19
  You're looking for the weekend getaway but still need to make
• 1:22
  it to Blacksburg for the game. The Moments of the Maury is
• 1:24
  exactly what you are looking for.
• 1:27
  On by a proud hokey and located just outside West Virginia,
• 1:30
  little over hour drive from Blacksburg, it gives it all to
• 1:34
  you, fishing, kayaking, canoeing or just relaxing by or in the
• 1:38
  river right out the back door. Check out the link in our
• 1:41
  comments section and on their Instagram page.
• 1:43
  At Moments on the Maury fellas, A tradition unlike any other is
• 1:50
  graced us once again. We're back, baby.
• 1:55
  We're back baby. 2025 Hokies preview panel It's it's
• 2:00
  something. This is what fear for.
• 2:02
  We're year 4 at this point. I think we started back in back
• 2:06
  in 22 was the first one we did. 22 the night that it was 11
• 2:12
  people on screen at once. Yeah, yeah, we got a little
• 2:16
  better about what we're doing as far as layout is concerned.
• 2:19
  But and also thankfully the the software we used to do this
• 2:23
  thing has gotten better in the process to make make what we do
• 2:26
  look a little bit cleaner, but. You know what?
• 2:29
  First year, it's kind of crazy. Yeah.
• 2:30
  This thing has gotten so much better because I'm pretty sure I
• 2:34
  wasn't on that first year. I don't know if Sheldon was on
• 2:36
  that first year. Oh, me and Shelton wasn't on it.
• 2:40
  It was trash. Hey, it's got much better.
• 2:44
  It's got much better year after year, baby.
• 2:47
  Well. Trash was improved.
• 2:50
  No, I'm joking. Shelton how you doing man
• 2:52
  tonight? Dude, I've been good, man.
• 2:55
  We're we're getting closer to go time here with the with the
• 2:58
  season. Obviously my season 2, but I
• 3:01
  was, I was, I was thinking as I was driving, driving back home,
• 3:03
  You know, it's like no matter what happens in the football
• 3:06
  offseason, whether it's positive or negative or neutral, I feel
• 3:10
  like once August rolls around, you always get that super
• 3:13
  excited feeling inside of you that football's finally back and
• 3:16
  it's really a feeling like no other sport can really provide.
• 3:18
  And so I'm just glad that all the offseason negativity has
• 3:23
  sort of faded away and we're kind of start, you know,
• 3:25
  starting to get back in to think of things here.
• 3:27
  And we could. We can just watch some ball.
• 3:30
  Ain't that the truth? I have to agree with you 100%
• 3:33
  regardless. Like right now, you're at that
• 3:34
  point where if you've been upset with the team, you're getting
• 3:37
  less upset, right? Tally?
• 3:39
  Tally's been, you know, Tally was fart on him, but it's
• 3:42
  getting closer. He's interviewed some players,
• 3:44
  he talked with some people, he's seen some shit and now it's, you
• 3:48
  know, we are what, 10 days, 11 days, 11 days, 11 days to go
• 3:53
  time. 11 days to go time man. Like Sheldon said though, man,
• 3:57
  it's all about like sports fan, just life, you know what I'm
• 4:03
  saying? Like whenever football comes
• 4:05
  around, you know that the season's changing.
• 4:08
  Like here in Huntsville, it started like a storm came
• 4:11
  through today. So it went from like 92 to 80
• 4:16
  within like an hour. I was like, oh, OK, maybe fall's
• 4:20
  coming around. So you know what I'm saying,
• 4:21
  with football brings fall, with fall brings, you know, the
• 4:24
  leaves changing colors and things like that, 'cause my wife
• 4:27
  don't really care about football, but she loves fall
• 4:29
  time. So yeah, it's that time, man, we
• 4:33
  are. It is almost upon us.
• 4:36
  Yes, it is. And tonight as always with the
• 4:38
  panel, we have got some of the best in basically the Hokie you
• 4:43
  can call it podcast, you can call it writing, you can call it
• 4:46
  everything. These are guys are some of the
• 4:48
  best out there. The world.
• 4:50
  In the. World in the world, Curtis.
• 4:52
  Best hokey guys in the world. We got 2 panels tonight.
• 4:57
  Let's bring on and, and The thing is that what I love about
• 5:00
  it, all six of them, it's it's no longer like we were talking
• 5:04
  in here before we jump on, it's like a reunion, like family
• 5:07
  reunion. We haven't seen everybody in a
• 5:08
  while, you know, talk to everybody, but it's like family
• 5:11
  reunion. I love it.
• 5:13
  Let's bring them on and introduce them real quick.
• 5:16
  Boom, boom, boom. Before we get into it, starting
• 5:19
  first here, Mike McDaniel of the Hokie Hangover Podcast, the BC,
• 5:25
  the BC Podcast, ACC Sons of Saturday Hoops, still writing
• 5:29
  for Sports Illustrated, still a father.
• 5:32
  As Tally said to him, he looked a lot older.
• 5:35
  Good to see you, Mike. Still getting carried though.
• 5:39
  Still go carried though. All good.
• 5:41
  That's a good all good. In the middle layer, managing
• 5:45
  editor of Tech Sideline D Connor.
• 5:49
  What is up my man? Hey, this is you guys were
• 5:52
  talking about a tradition unlike any other.
• 5:56
  It's an honor to be back. I always enjoy chatting with you
• 5:58
  guys. Thanks for having me.
• 6:00
  All right. Hey, DCDC got the hat, the side
• 6:03
  kind of hat, the hat kind of sideways today.
• 6:06
  So I know he's feeling pretty good.
• 6:08
  He's feeling. Good.
• 6:10
  He got a little sun there too, last but.
• 6:14
  Not for practice though. Not from practice.
• 6:17
  We can get into that in a second Last, but certainly not Lee, Co
• 6:21
  host of the Victory Live podcast.
• 6:23
  Man did some play by playing screen games.
• 6:25
  It's always good to have him back.
• 6:27
  Danny knows what's going on. Not too much, guys.
• 6:30
  Like David said, it's an honor and a privilege to be back on
• 6:33
  one of the best traditions in in Hokies football before the
• 6:37
  season. And and it's an honor also to be
• 6:40
  a part of such an awesome community of, of creators that
• 6:43
  love this team and love this program and, and love their alma
• 6:46
  mater. So hopefully, hopefully we could
• 6:48
  spread a little bit of positivity, but we're also going
• 6:50
  to be real here over the next several minutes.
• 6:54
  You know what's real, Danny? What's that?
• 6:58
  That mic that you got? Yeah.
• 7:00
  Sound like a boss? Hey, hey, I, you know, I, I've
• 7:05
  done a lot of radio shows in DC from this seat right here with
• 7:08
  this microphone. I I have to at least sound like
• 7:10
  a professional right now. Like a tone.
• 7:13
  So Danny Noakes. Yeah, Danny Noakes.
• 7:16
  Well, we are here. To talk about Hokies football.
• 7:19
  So let's get that started. Brian Siegler.
• 7:23
  Yeah, I mean, we're going to start it like this.
• 7:25
  I mean, and, and you know, Danny, you alluded to it a
• 7:28
  little bit when we talked about this being a tradition and, you
• 7:32
  know, wanted to bring some positivity, but also wanting to
• 7:34
  be real about expectations and kind of what we want to see this
• 7:37
  year. I'm going to start with
• 7:39
  offensive line. I mean, this is a we we focus on
• 7:42
  the trenches here, you know, unabashedly.
• 7:45
  We we definitely have have our hopes of of victory and defeat
• 7:49
  kind of pinned on what's going to happen in the trenches.
• 7:51
  So we're going to start with offensive line.
• 7:53
  It seems like it's kind of set with the starters there with,
• 7:57
  you know, remark and Garrett at the tackles.
• 8:00
  You got a altooner there and Lathan and Cunningham holding
• 8:03
  down the guard positions. I'm going to start this one,
• 8:06
  Mike and we'll we'll go kind of around the horn here on on what
• 8:10
  you guys think, but I'll start with Mike here.
• 8:12
  In your opinion, who is the most important offensive line starter
• 8:17
  in this unit as it in terms of what's going to dictate Hokey's
• 8:21
  success for this year? I've been beating this drum on a
• 8:26
  couple different podcasts. It's Montavius Cunningham
• 8:29
  because because it's the guy that we all thought last
• 8:35
  offseason when he entered the portal and came to Virginia
• 8:38
  Tech, we all thought that he was going to be a guy who was going
• 8:41
  to contribute right away. He wasn't that guy, right?
• 8:47
  Or was he? Kind of nowhere to be found
• 8:50
  right on an offensive line that was, I would say, suspect for a
• 8:55
  lot of last year. Right now, he's being relied
• 8:58
  upon as one of the guys to come in and contribute and, you know,
• 9:05
  really be kind of a stalwart on a reworked offensive line with a
• 9:10
  new coach and all these new faces.
• 9:13
  Now, Virginia Tech's heavily relying on him.
• 9:15
  So we can look at this one of two ways.
• 9:18
  One, he's improved a lot. He's healthier.
• 9:21
  He's in a better place, right? And it's a new coach anyway, so
• 9:25
  maybe he's just improved and developed.
• 9:28
  Or we can look at it as Virginia Tech had nobody else to put
• 9:31
  there. We're going to find that answer
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  out really, really quickly against South Carolina.
• 9:36
  And I think he's the most important guy all year.
• 9:39
  Virginia Tech's had trouble, they trouble towards the end of
• 9:42
  the Fuente era. They've had trouble now
• 9:45
  obviously throughout the first three years of pry of really
• 9:48
  having consistency up front on the offensive line, whether it
• 9:51
  be health or just overall production.
• 9:53
  And this is kind of a make or break year, right?
• 9:55
  You bring in, you bring in Matt Moore to patch things up.
• 9:59
  You bring in, you know, a host of transfers, 2 of them came
• 10:03
  over with Matt Moore from West Virginia.
• 10:06
  It, it really needs to be good right away, especially with an
• 10:10
  offense that is going to be breaking in.
• 10:12
  So many new faces, so many new playmakers at the skill
• 10:15
  positions, at receiver especially, a lot of young guys
• 10:17
  are going to have to contribute. So you've got to figure out
• 10:20
  offensive line and most importantly got to keep Kyron
• 10:25
  drones upright, which was an issue last year obviously.
• 10:28
  And the season really started going sideways when he wasn't
• 10:30
  healthy. Absolutely.
• 10:32
  I agree with that. Danny, I'll let you take a
• 10:34
  second here. Well, I think I think it's Remac
• 10:37
  and and obviously he's probably coming in with the most
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  experience, you know, started all 13 games at West Virginia
• 10:44
  last year and and Virginia Tech, despite the struggles over both
• 10:47
  the last few years of Fuentes time and with with Brent prize
• 10:52
  first few years, they they have found some gems in the transfer
• 10:56
  portal and and they're going to need some more outside of Remac
• 10:59
  this year. We'll get into some of the other
• 11:00
  positions all over the rest of the offense and the defense too,
• 11:03
  But I, I just think that he brings in a lot of experience
• 11:06
  and is a talented player too. So I, I know our buddy Dwight
• 11:10
  Vick, a former offensive lineman himself, is, is always harping
• 11:15
  on the offensive line, needing to be better, needing to be
• 11:18
  aggressive, needing to have an attitude.
• 11:19
  And he's absolutely right about that.
• 11:21
  It's just going to make the offense's job a lot easier.
• 11:24
  And, and Mike already talked about how important it's going
• 11:27
  to be for Kyron drones to, to be kept upright this year, for tech
• 11:31
  to, to have any decent chance at, at winning more than six
• 11:35
  games. And not to mention their their
• 11:38
  backfield, who there's a lot of new faces in the backfield this
• 11:41
  year as well, But there's also a lot of talent and, and a lot of
• 11:45
  experience and other programs that's, that's going to get some
• 11:48
  touches there that, that that'll, that Kyron Jones will
• 11:51
  be handing the ball off too. So it's all going to start up
• 11:53
  front. I think Remack is a guy that can
• 11:55
  come in and, and could sort of establish that mentality that
• 11:59
  they're going to need to have to, to to win football games
• 12:03
  this season. I think if they are going to win
• 12:05
  more than six games, it's going to have to look like classic
• 12:08
  Virginia Tech football. They're going to need to run it
• 12:11
  down people's throat on offense and they're going to with a few
• 12:14
  big plays on the outside. And then they're going to need
• 12:15
  to play really stout defense. So I think Remack is my guy.
• 12:20
  Yeah, you mentioned Remack and we we obviously knew when he was
• 12:22
  coming in, he was going to be a pivotal part of what this
• 12:24
  offensive line was going to be about.
• 12:26
  And we've seen we had a couple of depth charts as far as the
• 12:31
  first unit offensive line throw out there that for whatever
• 12:34
  reason had Remack on the left side next to Lathe and not on
• 12:40
  the right like we had expected next to Cunningham.
• 12:43
  Speaking of Cunningham, David, tell me what you think about
• 12:46
  this one and and let me know if there's any truth to these
• 12:49
  shuffling of the guard or if you've mostly seen Remack line
• 12:52
  up it right there. Yeah, Remack has mostly been on
• 12:55
  the right, exactly what you said at the beginning.
• 12:58
  I'll take a different route than Mike and Danny.
• 13:01
  I'll go with Kyle Altuner, the center retro freshman.
• 13:05
  He's going to start at center. And this is a guy who was
• 13:08
  recruited originally to West Virginia by Matt Moore.
• 13:12
  He's from Maryland, so he's a DMV guy, Our Lady of Good
• 13:16
  Counsel, pretty good high school prospect.
• 13:18
  Matt Moore, the new offensive line coach, he knows his lineman
• 13:22
  and he's a guy who tons of praise for Altuner, not just
• 13:26
  him, but Pry as well. When Brett Pry spoke with us at
• 13:30
  ACC media day, he said he and Matt Moore had a conversation
• 13:34
  about just what the offensive line was going to look like.
• 13:37
  And Matt Moore said that's my guy at center, Kyle Altuner.
• 13:40
  He's like, you're talking about retrofreshman, a guy who hasn't
• 13:43
  played a snap in college and he goes, that's my guy.
• 13:47
  And it kind of tells you the confidence that they have in him
• 13:50
  that, you know, he hasn't touched a college football field
• 13:53
  yet in a real game. And he's going to be this barter
• 13:56
  and it's there's not really, there's no competition.
• 13:58
  It's going to be him, his maturity.
• 14:01
  The the coaches have praised that aspect.
• 14:03
  Just the way he leads. He doesn't play like a like a
• 14:07
  retrofreshman or a freshman. He he plays like a guy who's
• 14:10
  been doing it for a long time. Danny and Mike made really good
• 14:14
  points about how important this offense is in in in terms of the
• 14:18
  run game in the offensive line and keeping Kyron drones
• 14:21
  upright. A red shirt freshman in the
• 14:23
  middle of that offensive line that that's a little bit scary,
• 14:27
  but at the same time, it seems like he's going to be a guy that
• 14:31
  they're going to be able to rely on not just for this year but
• 14:34
  for years to come. And I think that's exciting
• 14:36
  because you're a Virginia Tech fan and you're looking for some
• 14:40
  young guys like who are young guys that we can watch out for
• 14:43
  that are going to be in this program for a long time.
• 14:45
  Remember, this is the transfer portal era.
• 14:48
  I'm and go all the time. But with Matt Moore at the helm,
• 14:52
  I feel pretty confident that that Kyle Altuner is going to be
• 14:54
  here for a while. And Brent Pryor said that's a
• 14:57
  guy who could potentially be a long time Virginia Tech captain
• 15:00
  for years to come. So I'm excited if he might not
• 15:03
  burst out of the gates in in week one against a, you know, a
• 15:05
  really good South Carolina defense.
• 15:07
  But I think he's going to have a big year.
• 15:10
  Yeah. And I mean, when we looked to
• 15:12
  last year, there was like a moment before I think some
• 15:15
  injuries set in for for Altoona, where he was even, yeah, at West
• 15:19
  Virginia potentially pushing for some, some very early snaps.
• 15:22
  So to see him come in here and really pick up right where he
• 15:25
  left off before those injuries last year kind of derail, that
• 15:28
  is it's pretty big. And I'm looking forward to it.
• 15:31
  I'm going to kick it over to Shelton and let him ride with
• 15:33
  this next one. Yeah, we're talking defense now.
• 15:36
  Obviously it's been almost about half a year since Sam Kiev has
• 15:41
  got got hired as Virginia Tech's new defensive coordinator.
• 15:43
  Obviously, you know, we see it. He's very analytical and process
• 15:48
  driven and just super detail oriented.
• 15:50
  He talks a lot about situational football.
• 15:52
  So when you guys think about the defense under Sam Tsukas, what
• 15:56
  excites you the most about the potential of this group?
• 15:58
  Let's start with Deacon and then go to Danny.
• 16:01
  Yeah. I think his ability to mix
• 16:03
  things up and, and something that he's said that stood out to
• 16:07
  me was, and all coaches can say this, but I think he's actually
• 16:11
  one that's going to do it because he has done it in the
• 16:14
  past is base, his defense and his game plan around what other
• 16:19
  teams are doing. He's not just going to sit down
• 16:22
  as the previous defensive coordinator did and run the same
• 16:24
  stuff over and over regardless of situation.
• 16:27
  He's a guy who will adapt as he has under his, when he was in
• 16:33
  the NFL, under those head coaches and also in his time at
• 16:36
  like Wofford, adapting to different styles of offense that
• 16:41
  he's facing. That excites me the most.
• 16:45
  And I think he truly understands from talking with players and
• 16:49
  talking with him and, and even Brent Pry, I, I think my feel is
• 16:56
  that Cfkis has a very good understanding for this group's
• 17:00
  personnel and how to use them and how to put them in the right
• 17:03
  situations. And I don't think you would say
• 17:05
  that about the previous defensive coordinator.
• 17:08
  And I think that is an immediate uptick, an immediate boost.
• 17:13
  Virginia Tech might not have as much talent, might not have a
• 17:17
  necessarily an APR last like last season or a Dorian Strong
• 17:21
  or a Monsoor Delaine, but I think Tech has more safety
• 17:24
  depth. I think the defensive line,
• 17:26
  there's a lot of really talented guys and and a bit of depth.
• 17:29
  I think the linebacker coaching is better and Sheldon to go back
• 17:34
  to Sifkis. I think his ability to really
• 17:38
  get the most out of this group is what is going to make it is
• 17:42
  what is going to take this defense I think to potentially a
• 17:45
  new level. Like, I don't think Chris Maher
• 17:48
  was able to kind of squeeze the most juice out of this group,
• 17:52
  even though he had a lot of talent.
• 17:53
  I think Seifkis will do that. Danny, what about you?
• 17:57
  What? What excites you the most?
• 17:58
  Yeah. And, and to sort of piggyback
• 18:00
  off of what David was saying, it's, it's just going to be so
• 18:03
  crucial, especially at the beginning of the season and
• 18:05
  particularly in this kickoff game against South Carolina, to
• 18:08
  adapt to what they're going to do, game plan for what South
• 18:12
  Carolina's going to bring out there.
• 18:13
  Because Lenore Sellers is the type of player that would give
• 18:16
  Virginia Tech fits even if Bud Foster was still around.
• 18:19
  I mean, those mobile quarterbacks are, are for any
• 18:22
  defensive coordinator. It doesn't matter if you're Bud
• 18:24
  Foster or or Brent Venables back when he was still with Clemson.
• 18:28
  Those guys are hard to game plan for.
• 18:30
  So the ability to adapt and, and not just to to game plan, but to
• 18:35
  also make adjustments within the game.
• 18:38
  They're they're going to have to be able to do that on the
• 18:40
  offensive side of the ball too. And I think that's one of the
• 18:43
  the not well, the former coaching staff because they're
• 18:46
  starting with two the a new offensive and defensive
• 18:48
  coordinator. But one of the things that they
• 18:51
  were not always good at was making in game adjustments.
• 18:54
  And that's something that that they're also going to, I think
• 18:57
  be better positioned to do with Steve Kiss there at defensive
• 19:00
  coordinator. It, it certainly can't get a
• 19:02
  whole lot worse. But I, I, I heard someone say
• 19:06
  the other day that they're, they think that the linebackers of
• 19:09
  this group could sort of surprise some people.
• 19:11
  And I, I definitely think that that's true.
• 19:13
  Guys like Jaden Keller can could make an impact on that side of
• 19:18
  the ball from that, from that position from wherever they
• 19:20
  decide to put him on the field. But again, it's going to start
• 19:24
  up front similar to to the offensive line, right?
• 19:27
  The defensive line, that's where the, the they'll be able to, you
• 19:31
  know, get some things going for sure.
• 19:33
  All right, now Mike McDaniel, otherwise known as Mid major
• 19:37
  Mike by some, some people think that Sam Sidkis is also a mid
• 19:41
  major defensive coordinator. What would you say to the haters
• 19:44
  who are are skeptical of disability and what excites you
• 19:47
  about the defense, Mike? Pry hired Chris Marv as a guy
• 19:55
  who struggled recruiting at Florida State and was a middle
• 20:00
  of the road. So I would call him mid
• 20:02
  linebackers coach, right? And you had him be your defense
• 20:06
  coordinator, the way I look at it, right, hiring CMC KISS from
• 20:10
  the NFL and the experience, the guys he coached under, what they
• 20:15
  were saying about him when he was hired, you know, those
• 20:19
  coaches that worked with him at the professional level.
• 20:23
  I don't see how this goes worse than it did the first three
• 20:27
  years. I don't I don't see it right and
• 20:30
  if it does go worse, probably only gain one year of it just
• 20:34
  considering the where we're at in the tenure for pry anyway, if
• 20:38
  this defense ends up being really bad, I am really excited.
• 20:42
  Like Danny and David both just said, I'm really excited to see
• 20:47
  if this defense is able to be flexible, right?
• 20:50
  Are you able to change personnel?
• 20:52
  They brought in literally a million safeties.
• 20:56
  They, they brought in so many different guys in the secondary.
• 21:00
  You know, Seekers is talking about this being multiple.
• 21:02
  You know, do they run 425? OK, if they do that, maybe that
• 21:05
  makes a lot of sense, right? Because you bring in all the
• 21:08
  safeties, you brought in all the cornerback depth, you bring in
• 21:11
  more depth on the defensive line.
• 21:13
  Young guys are going to contribute.
• 21:14
  I'm really excited about Kamari Copeland.
• 21:16
  He seems like he's finally healthy.
• 21:18
  Is he going to, you know, finally step up and be the guy
• 21:20
  that we want him to be? He could be kind of an X Factor
• 21:23
  up front. Obviously there's Calvin
• 21:26
  Gilliam. There is some experience on the
• 21:27
  defensive line still, even though you'd lose a guy like
• 21:29
  APR, can you try to replace him in the aggregate, right?
• 21:33
  Can you find a way to have some of these young guys step up and
• 21:37
  and contribute in a meaningful way?
• 21:39
  Danny brought up Jaden Keller. He's one of the important guys
• 21:42
  on the defense. I think because of how the highs
• 21:46
  have been so good with him and the lows have been so low.
• 21:49
  If we get an improvement at linebacker with Xavier Adibi as
• 21:52
  the linebackers coach, if we get an improvement there, that's
• 21:55
  almost a bigger deal to me, right, Is, you know, Cifkis
• 22:00
  coming in. I'm hoping with ADB, the
• 22:03
  linebackers are just coached better because I think the
• 22:06
  defense was so up and down. David and I talked about this on
• 22:09
  my podcast, but the defense was so up and down last year.
• 22:12
  The one thing that stood out was how poorly the linebackers
• 22:14
  played at times, and that was obviously a position that Marv
• 22:17
  coached. I'm really hoping that the
• 22:19
  linebackers take a huge step forward.
• 22:21
  I think that would really help this defense because I think
• 22:24
  when Tech's been at its best in the first three years
• 22:26
  defensively under prize. But because the linebackers
• 22:29
  played well, right, they're filling the right gaps.
• 22:31
  There's no questions about what they should be doing.
• 22:34
  When they've been kind of caught flat footed, that's when
• 22:37
  everything's kind of gone to hell defensively.
• 22:39
  I think back to the Syracuse game last year was a total
• 22:41
  disaster with the linebackers. So I'm just hoping the
• 22:44
  linebacker plays a lot better. And I think with the Seifkis and
• 22:47
  ADB, the ADB addition, I'm I'm really hoping that things are
• 22:51
  trending in a better direction there.
• 22:53
  Good stuff. Yeah, it should be noted Mid
• 22:55
  Major Mike was a facetious comment, but to the point about
• 22:58
  Seifkas being at Wofford, I will say there is a a very strong
• 23:02
  legacy of Wofford coaches coming to Vt and having success.
• 23:05
  So I'm hoping we can keep that Spartanburg pipeline going
• 23:08
  strong here. This we know.
• 23:11
  Yeah. Well, Mike kind of, you know,
• 23:13
  hit on some things that we were looking at talking about anyway.
• 23:16
  So we talked about linebackers, which is going to be very
• 23:19
  important, you know, this year. But also, even when Brett Pratt
• 23:22
  was hired, you know, with him being a defensive coach and
• 23:28
  being in love with Michael Parsons, you know, linebacker
• 23:31
  and stuff like that, we expect to see certain linebacker play.
• 23:35
  So I'll ask you guys kind of, we know that Woodson is a lot for
• 23:39
  the most part from what I think who else is going to be kind of
• 23:44
  a starter that you guys would be looking at on that unit when
• 23:47
  we're talking about linebackers this?
• 23:49
  Process if y'all you were there, David, I heard your voice, he
• 23:55
  said. There's still a battle at inside
• 23:58
  and and everybody on this panel knows Caleb Woodson is starting
• 24:02
  the man's captain and the man's unbelievable last year.
• 24:07
  Yeah, well, first of all, I think Caleb Woodson can be one
• 24:09
  of the best defensive players on this team.
• 24:12
  Like, I don't, I mean, he's a he's AI believe they named him.
• 24:14
  They named him a team captain today for a reason, like, or
• 24:18
  this weekend for a reason. You know, he's the real deal.
• 24:22
  Jaden Keller, It's really, does the light come on?
• 24:25
  As Mike McDaniel said, does the light come on for Jaden Keller?
• 24:29
  That's the big question. The two guys behind him are are
• 24:32
  are competing for those spots. Antoine Santiago, he's the
• 24:36
  Temple transfer and Michael Short, the North Carolina
• 24:39
  transfer. They're two guys who are very
• 24:41
  solid who have some experience yet to be seen if they're
• 24:47
  actually going to start. But I think for a while, Tech
• 24:51
  will at least to start. Tech will will feel pretty
• 24:53
  confident about putting those guys in.
• 24:57
  But I think it's really Keller's spot to lose.
• 25:00
  He's the incumbent. He's the guy who was here the
• 25:03
  entire spring. Those two guys didn't come until
• 25:06
  a little bit more towards the summer.
• 25:09
  It's can he can he get better with Xavier DB as his head
• 25:14
  coach? I think he can.
• 25:16
  But I do think you'll see a pretty solid rotation with short
• 25:20
  and and Santiago in there as well.
• 25:22
  Also, you know, Caleb Wooden's going to need breaks eventually.
• 25:26
  And then the other name in the in the linebacker room I'd keep
• 25:28
  an eye on is Noah Chambers. He's the the the Maryland kid
• 25:34
  from Damantha. I don't know that he would he'll
• 25:36
  play this year, but he's a guy who has made some plays in
• 25:40
  practice. He there was a pass rushing
• 25:42
  drill where he absolutely blew up a line, a running back and
• 25:45
  knocked him into Elijah Brooks, the running backs coach.
• 25:49
  Again, I don't know if he'll play this year, but they I think
• 25:52
  I feel better about the linebackers than I have in the
• 25:54
  last couple years. And it's funny, somebody just
• 25:56
  asked about about Chambers. I don't know if he'll, he's very
• 25:59
  young. He might need to put on some
• 26:00
  weight red shirt, as my colleague Chris Coleman would
• 26:02
  say. But I think I think the
• 26:05
  linebackers are more well-rounded and there's more
• 26:08
  depth this year. I think there's also this theme
• 26:11
  with Tech just all over the field where they've been
• 26:14
  consistently inconsistent over the first three years of Brent
• 26:17
  Prize era. And and for a guy like Jaden
• 26:19
  Keller, who we've already talked a good bit about, if you're
• 26:22
  specifically looking that linebacker position, him needing
• 26:25
  to be consistent is going to be tremendously important this
• 26:29
  season. And, and David mentioned the
• 26:31
  position battle he's sort of in right now.
• 26:32
  I think if he loses that position battle, you're in a
• 26:35
  little bit of trouble. And, and hopefully in that
• 26:38
  scenario, it's more about the guys behind him playing well
• 26:41
  than it would be about Keller struggling.
• 26:43
  Because I think in, in reality, you're going to see all of them
• 26:46
  on the field and you're going to need all of them on the field
• 26:49
  at, at different points throughout the season.
• 26:51
  There's going to get guys that are going to get banged up.
• 26:53
  There's, there's going to be different packages for different
• 26:56
  guys get on the field for a different time during the game
• 26:58
  depending on the scenario. So I, I just, I look at him and,
• 27:02
  and it's already been said, the highest of highs, the lowest of
• 27:06
  lows. Those high highs, though, sure
• 27:07
  are sweet. And the guy, he looks like a
• 27:09
  ball hawk. He he can fly over the all over
• 27:12
  the field when, when he's, he's mentally prepared to do so.
• 27:16
  So I, I just, it's hard for me to take my eyes off of him and,
• 27:19
  and what Keller can do this year.
• 27:22
  Well, let me you know. I agree with what Danny says,
• 27:25
  but for the most part, but whenever you start looking at
• 27:30
  stuff, I mean, no, I, I wasn't saying that to be, you know,
• 27:33
  crazy, But I'm just saying like when you start to look at like
• 27:37
  players who have been at a school a while, you know, or
• 27:40
  even captain or you know, who goes and talks to the media or
• 27:44
  who goes the media day, things like that.
• 27:47
  Sometimes that just doesn't have to do with what's going on on
• 27:50
  the field. So when I look at somebody like
• 27:53
  Jaden, Jaden Keller, I hope he takes another step.
• 27:56
  But you know what I say I'm agreeing with Danny on is I hope
• 27:59
  that there are people behind him just pushing it or you know that
• 28:02
  with some of the transfers that's coming in young guys,
• 28:05
  'cause I just want a coaching staff that leaves it all on the
• 28:10
  field. Like, stop worrying about the
• 28:12
  next GameStop, worrying about next year.
• 28:14
  Let's try some. Put somebody else in.
• 28:17
  If you're not doing your job, Monster Delane, you can't
• 28:20
  fucking make a tackle. Come stand over here by me and
• 28:23
  let's drink some water. I don't care how much you're
• 28:25
  getting paid in NIL. I don't care if LSU wants you.
• 28:28
  You know, you can't get Cam Ward on the ground.
• 28:31
  You can't get Club Nick Dubnick, whatever his name is on the
• 28:34
  ground. Come over here and let's hang
• 28:36
  out and talk for a little bit. Let's talk about your next
• 28:39
  school. I just want a a coaching staff
• 28:42
  that will take a chance and be like who's over here on the
• 28:45
  sideline? Hey, you've been practicing.
• 28:46
  OK, let's try you because I watched the offensive line.
• 28:49
  That was horrible. There is no way that there was
• 28:53
  not somebody on the offensive on the side of the field that could
• 28:57
  go in and give you 2 plays while you bring somebody to the side
• 29:00
  and say you ain't fucking blocking.
• 29:03
  Change your shoes. Your shoes are stuck in the
• 29:07
  ground. Put some different shoes on.
• 29:10
  There's a reason why the offensive line coach was fired.
• 29:13
  Oh my God. I mean, just so no, I mean that
• 29:17
  Danny was, you know, spot on with the things he was saying.
• 29:19
  I just thought about that when he was saying it, and I was
• 29:22
  like, no disrespect to Killer, but I've seen him and I hope
• 29:26
  that he miraculously comes out and, like, just blows it up this
• 29:29
  year. Right.
• 29:30
  But at a certain. Yeah.
• 29:32
  But at a certain level, it's like, are we really going to
• 29:34
  see, like, once you've been seeing a guy for so long, it's
• 29:37
  like, is that really him? You know what I'm saying?
• 29:41
  I seen Parker and I knew what to expect of him.
• 29:43
  And I kept and I kept going, You know, man, maybe he's going to.
• 29:46
  He didn't take. Yeah.
• 29:47
  He took a step backwards on the quarterback's foot.
• 29:50
  That's what he needed. So it's.
• 29:53
  Just got to to your point, the only thing that I say from a
• 29:56
  positive standpoint on Keller still being the guys that it's
• 30:00
  never been about his physical attributes and his ability it's.
• 30:04
  And his highs are really high, like up here.
• 30:06
  And he said yeah. It's between the ears.
• 30:08
  So if he can put the between the ears part together, then you
• 30:11
  might have something. So yeah, I I think that's the
• 30:14
  one saving grace of Keller still being in this conversation is
• 30:17
  that if that mental piece does come into play, you're not
• 30:20
  worried about him from a physical standpoint.
• 30:23
  What I do like, go ahead, go ahead.
• 30:25
  No, go ahead, Tyler I. Was just going to say what I do
• 30:27
  like too, is that we went out and recruited some linebackers.
• 30:30
  Like if y'all think a lot of times some of the linebackers
• 30:33
  that we've had, you know, converted safeties, converted
• 30:37
  wide receivers. No disrespect to Lawson, but
• 30:40
  I've seen him get turned into a werewolf.
• 30:43
  He got stiff armed and started running like a werewolf.
• 30:47
  I don't want to see that. Brunfield was cool.
• 30:51
  They said he was really smart. He also looked really small when
• 30:55
  he was in there. He didn't he couldn't bring no
• 30:58
  ass to a hole. So pause.
• 31:01
  Anyway, I need some people that can hit, you know what I'm
• 31:04
  saying? Like I need some people that
• 31:06
  look like Caleb Woodson, that can go downhill and hit, you
• 31:09
  know, I seen Q Reddish come up again, so I think it was
• 31:11
  Stanford. Who like he was a true freshman
• 31:13
  last year and I was like, that's probably the best Taco I've seen
• 31:16
  out of this team all year. So just things like that, man,
• 31:19
  just like when you really get back into it, like now it's
• 31:22
  about to be football season. This is stuff that's just been
• 31:25
  in the back of my mind that I haven't thought about and now
• 31:28
  that I'm going down and be like, Oh, they brought this guy in.
• 31:30
  Oh, they brought this guy in. Stop bringing people in and not
• 31:33
  playing them. You know, I'm I'm just hoping
• 31:37
  give give him a chance. You know, Cunningham should have
• 31:39
  had a chance. He may not be.
• 31:41
  He may be garbage. You know, I don't think he is,
• 31:44
  but I'm just saying he may be, but he couldn't have been no
• 31:46
  worse than what we seen last year.
• 31:48
  So if you're coaching on the sidelines, like give somebody
• 31:51
  else a chance if it ain't getting it done.
• 31:52
  But but I'm sorry, I didn't mean.
• 31:54
  Mike got us into this so I won't let Mike finish his out.
• 31:59
  Mike tally ass, who's going to be in there?
• 32:03
  Inside linebacker you brought up.
• 32:05
  I think you bringing up Keller set him off.
• 32:08
  Danny got it worse, so you got to pull it down so we can move
• 32:12
  on. I think I brought him up first,
• 32:14
  didn't I? Kind of.
• 32:16
  It was Danny's fault. You know the build.
• 32:18
  It was build slow build. It was a yeah, it was a slow
• 32:21
  build. I'm really hoping that Keller
• 32:25
  has not hit his ceiling. I'm, I'm where everybody else is
• 32:27
  at. I hope Keller's the guy because
• 32:30
  I hope he's put it all together between the ears, like Brian
• 32:33
  just said, Like that's my, that's my thing.
• 32:38
  He's been really, he's been really good.
• 32:40
  He's been really bad. But it's like, like Brian also
• 32:44
  mentioned, it's never been a physical thing, right?
• 32:46
  So, no, we'll, we'll see. I, I would prefer to have a guy
• 32:50
  with experience in the middle of the defense, You know, I, I
• 32:54
  would prefer not to be relying on freshmen, sophomores in the
• 32:58
  middle of the defense if we can avoid it.
• 33:00
  So. Understood on that and you know,
• 33:03
  I think bringing in the two transfers was the big piece
• 33:05
  there because they have significant stamps.
• 33:08
  They play at collegiate speed on both sides.
• 33:11
  So we'll see what happens there. All right, I'm going to put you
• 33:13
  on the Wayback machine because this is going to scare you all
• 33:16
  three. Well, Danny, probably more so
• 33:18
  you because it's going to make you realize something.
• 33:21
  A deep breath. The Hokies have not had a 1000
• 33:27
  yard receiver since 2016. First of all, go ahead cry
• 33:35
  Isaiah Ford. Well we have not even been close
• 33:40
  since 2018. Can anybody name who that was
• 33:45
  2018? Was it Damon Hazleton?
• 33:47
  Damon Hazleton. Hazleton.
• 33:49
  Was like 890 something. So with that being said and it
• 33:53
  y'all been playing attention, which I know y'all do and I did
• 33:56
  the research last week. Montgomery a shit ton 1000 yard.
• 34:01
  Wide receivers. He's had a bunch who
• 34:03
  exceptionally close to 1000 yards.
• 34:07
  So I'll, I'll pitch it to you, Danny Noakes.
• 34:11
  If, if, if this were to happen this year, pull up your roster
• 34:15
  list. Who do you think could get 1000
• 34:18
  yards in this offense this year? Well, I think, I think Donovan
• 34:23
  Green is probably where that conversation starts just as a
• 34:27
  guy that that comes over from Wake Forest and was a a starter
• 34:30
  for them, but he was, I believe he was the top ranked Wake
• 34:36
  Forest recruit in their program's history at when he
• 34:39
  went to when he became a Demon Deacon.
• 34:41
  So Donovan Green is someone that that comes over highly touted
• 34:46
  and with experience and and now he's a a grad student here at,
• 34:49
  at in Blacksburg. And I feel like it's an an
• 34:52
  opportunity for him to really cut it loose.
• 34:54
  You know, he's going to get to play with Kyron drones.
• 34:56
  So we all know talk about a guy with a really high ceiling
• 34:58
  drones when he's on it sure is a lot of fun to watch.
• 35:02
  And and green just seems like a guy you know, saw he's built
• 35:06
  well. He he he's had some injury
• 35:09
  problems, though, right, He's had some injury issues
• 35:11
  throughout his career. So, you know, can he stay
• 35:14
  healthy? But that's a guy that if he
• 35:16
  doesn't come through or he gets hurt, it's, it's I, I don't
• 35:21
  think that there's any shot that anybody else has hitting 1000
• 35:24
  yards on that, on that, in that wide receiver room.
• 35:27
  David. I mean, I, I think Danny hit the
• 35:30
  nail on the head. Donovan Green is definitely, I
• 35:33
  think the most explosive guy in that room.
• 35:36
  And right now in, in preseason camp, you know, we've seen
• 35:41
  Chan's Wiggins is banged up from Price said earlier today that it
• 35:44
  doesn't look like he's going to be available for the opener
• 35:48
  against South Carolina. Keelan Adams has been banged up
• 35:51
  to Kai Heath has been banged up. I I think a lot of that stuff is
• 35:56
  very minor. Not to worry anybody.
• 35:57
  I think a lot of that stuff is very minor.
• 36:00
  But those guys have to stay healthy.
• 36:01
  And the guy Jenny just mentioned, he's been great when
• 36:04
  he's healthy. If he's not, you know, that's a
• 36:08
  problem. One of the guys that I think
• 36:12
  Tech is going to rely heavily on this year is Isaiah Spencer,
• 36:17
  transfers in from Jackson State. I believe he he was a terrific
• 36:21
  receiver at the FCS level. He's got a little bit of
• 36:24
  versatility, can play inside, can play out.
• 36:27
  And I think, you know, maybe he doesn't necessarily have the
• 36:30
  rapport with Kyron drones that he he does right now because he
• 36:34
  came in so late over the summer. He wasn't here for the spring.
• 36:37
  And also Kyron, you know, didn't practice a ton in the spring.
• 36:40
  But I think Isaiah Spencer's a guy who nobody's really talking
• 36:45
  about because he he's AFCS transfer, but I think he's a guy
• 36:50
  that he could have a really big breakout year.
• 36:52
  I'm not sure he can hit 1000. And I don't know that there are
• 36:55
  many guys that can. I think it'll be a group effort.
• 36:59
  But I think Isaiah Spencer's a guy who could potentially have a
• 37:01
  big breakout year. And, you know, you've seen the
• 37:05
  way that I think back to last year, the way the Hokies used a
• 37:08
  guy like Jalen Lane should have used him more.
• 37:11
  As we talked about earlier. I think Isaiah Spencer can be a
• 37:15
  guy like that, that you just get the ball in his hands.
• 37:18
  He's very shifty. He's very, very quick.
• 37:22
  And there's there's another obvious answer in the room,
• 37:24
  which is maybe where Mike might go.
• 37:26
  But I think Isaiah Spencer can be a breakout guy.
• 37:31
  Yeah, my answer was going to be Donovan Green too.
• 37:33
  But in the essence of just kind of being different.
• 37:35
  I am just really intrigued by Cam Selden.
• 37:38
  Like I'm really hoping he he steps up and he can be a guy who
• 37:41
  can contribute. I don't know if he'll be 1000
• 37:44
  yard receiver, but we've heard too many good things about him,
• 37:47
  right? Like gorgeous or raving about
• 37:48
  him. I hope he can step in and be the
• 37:50
  guy that everybody is talking about, right?
• 37:52
  He can put together on the field for purposes of 1000 yard
• 37:57
  receiver conversation. My answer was Green.
• 37:59
  Just because of the experience, the fact that he's got, you
• 38:02
  know, like over 100 career receptions, he's got like 1800
• 38:06
  yards receiving. So when he's healthy, he's
• 38:07
  proven that he can be a really steady presence on the offense.
• 38:11
  And I think Virginia Tech's going to need somebody to be
• 38:13
  really steady in that receiving room.
• 38:17
  It's a lot of like 6162 a 180 LB guys.
• 38:21
  It's not surprising me that there's a bunch of injury issues
• 38:24
  already. That is something I'm really
• 38:26
  concerned about. Cam Selden kind of bucks that
• 38:29
  trend a little bit. So I mean that's something to be
• 38:32
  a little bit encouraged about. He's stockier receiver that I
• 38:36
  think can go over the middle, catch a pass.
• 38:38
  You're not worried about him not getting up.
• 38:41
  I'm really concerned about that with several of the receivers.
• 38:43
  I think I'm going to play significant snaps this year.
• 38:45
  So are these guys ready in this offense?
• 38:50
  We'll see kind of what it looks like the Philip Montgomery
• 38:52
  offense to the past if it's been a lot of a lot of crossing
• 38:55
  routes, a lot of shifty receivers, kind of in the mold
• 38:59
  of what Virginia Tech's got in their receiving room, running
• 39:02
  routes over the middle of the field.
• 39:03
  And Tyron drones, I love them. He's thrown a hospital ball or
• 39:09
  two. I'm a little concerned about
• 39:11
  this receiving group man. I'm I'm really concerned about
• 39:13
  them all staying healthy. And then the guys that are
• 39:16
  healthy, who's going to be able to contribute to be the most
• 39:18
  consistent. So I'm hoping for a big year for
• 39:21
  Donovan Green 'cause if it's not going to be him, who is it going
• 39:25
  to be? I know everybody's looking at
• 39:28
  Aidan Green. It's like wide receiver one if
• 39:30
  it's not going to be Donovan Green.
• 39:32
  The thing about Aidan Green is like, is he wide receiver one
• 39:35
  just because we kind of need him to be like, is this kind of like
• 39:38
  how Caleb Smith was and you're 1 of pry where it's like, are we
• 39:41
  really sure he's ready to take that next step?
• 39:43
  Obviously, I think Aidan Green is a better player in Caleb
• 39:46
  Smith and I don't want to sit here and slander Caleb Smith on
• 39:48
  this podcast, but that's just kind of like the receiving
• 39:51
  group. That's kind of those are the
• 39:53
  types of concerns I have. It's like, is this guy the wide
• 39:55
  receiver one by default? Like we'll see.
• 39:57
  So big, big questions with the past catchers in my mind.
• 40:01
  Yeah, I mean, you, you talk about Aiden Green there.
• 40:03
  And I think the the weird thing that we're looking at is, you
• 40:06
  know, I think someone said on Twitter the other day it was
• 40:10
  like, well, we're talking about the youth in the wide receiver
• 40:12
  room. And it's really, it's not really
• 40:14
  youth like most of these guys are at least red shirts
• 40:17
  sophomores or older, but not very many of them have played
• 40:21
  significant snaps, especially for the Hokies.
• 40:24
  So it's more of that experience and that experience with this
• 40:27
  unit than necessarily it is an age thing.
• 40:30
  So it's going to be interesting to see how that shakes out.
• 40:33
  Sheldon, I'll let you kick the next one out to these these
• 40:35
  gentlemen. Yeah, we're talking Philip
• 40:37
  Montgomery now. James, you guys know all of us,
• 40:40
  the coordinators get all sorts of criticism, rightly or
• 40:43
  wrongly. And obviously we don't need to
• 40:45
  re litigate all of the discourse around Tyler Bone, who's now
• 40:47
  moved on to Ohio State. But you know, between play
• 40:52
  selection, personnel usage, the passing game, quarterback play,
• 40:56
  what what element of the offense do you feel like Montgomery can
• 41:00
  really come in and kind of clean up in comparison to last year?
• 41:03
  Let's start with Mike and then work our way left to right.
• 41:07
  I'm hoping it's not the same game plan every single game.
• 41:10
  Feel like we've seen that a lot with the recent offensive
• 41:13
  coordinators, not just Bowen. So I'm hoping that there is at
• 41:17
  least something different we can show the opposing team every
• 41:20
  week. I think there are enough
• 41:23
  playmakers and there are enough. I mean, I just talked about the
• 41:26
  questions with the receiver. There's all different types of
• 41:28
  running backs that Virginia Tech can run out there too, right, In
• 41:31
  terms of what they're able to do and their skill sets.
• 41:35
  I'm hoping that the running game looks a little bit different.
• 41:38
  So I think it's going to have to be without Tooting in the
• 41:40
  backfield. Obviously losing a bell cow back
• 41:42
  like that, I think you're going to have to get a little bit more
• 41:44
  creative. I really like the guys they
• 41:46
  brought in at running back, but it is going to look different
• 41:48
  this year, right? I would prefer, and I know that
• 41:52
  the running element of drones game is so crucially important
• 41:56
  to what he's able to do and without his legs, right, If he's
• 41:59
  confined to the pocket, that's not really who he is, even
• 42:02
  though I do think when healthy, he's really developed into a
• 42:06
  fine pocket passer when he's needed to be.
• 42:08
  So I would prefer if they don't run drones into the ground.
• 42:14
  And I think they have so many running backs that they can kind
• 42:16
  of take the onus off of him. But the biggest thing I'm
• 42:18
  looking for, it was a lot like we've just talked about with CF
• 42:21
  Kiss on the defensive side, flexibility in the game plan, so
• 42:25
  many new faces, a lot of guys that I think the Tech coaching
• 42:30
  staff feels good about in the receiving core, even if I don't
• 42:33
  particularly feel good about things there, they seem to, at
• 42:36
  least that's what they're saying.
• 42:37
  And I I do feel good about the running back room though.
• 42:41
  And I think if you get anything out of the offensive line this
• 42:43
  year, any sort of steps forward and improvement and you can be a
• 42:46
  bit more flexible in the game plan.
• 42:47
  I think that's really what I'm looking for in terms of what
• 42:50
  Montgomery can bring to the table.
• 42:55
  It's, it's a very broad answer, but I think he's going to bring
• 42:58
  more consistency. And by that, I mean, kind of
• 43:02
  going off what Mike said, Tyler Bowen, it felt like early in the
• 43:06
  year he did not get the game plan right.
• 43:09
  It took him a couple weeks to get the game plan right.
• 43:12
  And then he was hit or miss. And you talk about, you talk
• 43:16
  about a a game plan he got right.
• 43:18
  You look back at that Syracuse game last year where Virginia
• 43:21
  Tech was starting Colin Schlee and two backup running backs and
• 43:25
  Malathai Thomas and Jeremiah Kony and had a sizable lead and
• 43:29
  put up terrific numbers before things went downhill in the
• 43:32
  second-half. It was the opposite the next
• 43:36
  week where Kyron Drones and Bashel Tooten should not have
• 43:39
  played hurt against Clemson. They didn't give a running back
• 43:42
  outside of Tooten a a touch. And it's like, what so and and
• 43:48
  that was Clemson's worst rushing defense in like 30 years.
• 43:51
  So it's, it was just, it was like sometimes Tyler Bone was on
• 43:55
  and sometimes he was off. And I think Phillip Montgomery,
• 43:59
  he's so experienced. You look at his last stop was at
• 44:03
  Auburn. And it's so funny because if
• 44:06
  anybody reads anything about Hugh Freeze and the way he kind
• 44:10
  of runs his program, he's very hands on and wants to do
• 44:14
  everything himself and doesn't like he hires an offensive
• 44:16
  coordinator and doesn't let the guy coordinate.
• 44:18
  I think Bill Montgomery has the keys to kind of do whatever he
• 44:21
  wants. And I my thought is that unlike
• 44:26
  Tyler Bowen to what Shelton asked, I think Philip Montgomery
• 44:31
  knows exactly once what he wants to do from Week 1.
• 44:35
  Like he comes out there with a game plan and goes, this is how
• 44:37
  we're going to play. It's not hey, we're going to try
• 44:40
  to figure it out. It's hey, we've got a concept,
• 44:42
  we've got a game plan. I think he's he's got the
• 44:47
  opportunity to really put text best foot forward from the
• 44:51
  beginning and kind of like Cephus use the guys to the best
• 44:55
  of their ability. We were talking earlier about
• 44:58
  getting Jalen Lane touches. He like there were so many
• 45:02
  weapons on last year's team that probably should have gotten the
• 45:04
  ball more. You got to figure out who those
• 45:07
  guys are this year and get them the ball.
• 45:09
  Like that's college football nowadays.
• 45:11
  That's football period. Get the ball in your best
• 45:13
  players hands and if it happens to be a Cam Selden, if it
• 45:17
  happens to be a Tucker Holloway on a reverse right, if it
• 45:21
  happens to be a Marcellus Hawkins or a brave inventor,
• 45:24
  you've got to get them the ball. That's the bottom line.
• 45:27
  I think that you will see an immediate improvement in exactly
• 45:31
  what David is talking about in the ability to recognize who
• 45:34
  needs to get the ball 'cause it might change from game to game,
• 45:37
  right? We talk about having a different
• 45:38
  game plan going depending on who the opponent is.
• 45:42
  I think Montgomery with his experience will be able to much
• 45:46
  more easily recognize who needs the touches in that game to to
• 45:50
  effectively attack a defense. We talked about consistency,
• 45:54
  talked about in game adjustments.
• 45:56
  I, I similar to what we were talking about on the defense
• 45:58
  side of the ball. I don't see how it can get much
• 46:00
  worse from from that standpoint. And on the offensive side of the
• 46:03
  ball, there was no consistency and there were often times not
• 46:07
  great in game adjustments, right.
• 46:09
  Two more things that I would say about Montgomery coming in is I
• 46:13
  would hope that with that experience in the passing game,
• 46:17
  you can find a way to to ski Donovan Green or Aiden Green
• 46:21
  open hit on some of those big plays.
• 46:24
  They don't have to be touchdowns, but open the defense
• 46:26
  up a little bit because then that gives your running backs a
• 46:29
  chance to to get it going. It's usually establish the run,
• 46:31
  then go over the top. It's going to depend on who the
• 46:34
  opponent is. It's going to depend on where
• 46:36
  you can attack a defense. And I I have hurdle it.
• 46:40
  It sounds like Brent Pry and and this staff is high on Marcellus
• 46:43
  Hawkins in the backfield. It really sounds like they
• 46:45
  really like him. He's going to get a lot of
• 46:47
  touches, whether it's him or Braden Bennett who comes over
• 46:50
  from Coastal Carolina, who's really exciting and the bowling
• 46:53
  ball, Terry on Stewart, who has been missing some time as we
• 46:56
  understand it recently has it didn't practice today.
• 47:00
  All three of those guys can contribute on on the offense.
• 47:03
  So when you factor in a dual threat like Kyron, you know
• 47:09
  there are some tools there for them to to make some explosive
• 47:11
  plays this year, more than we saw last year, which when you
• 47:15
  when you had drones Tooting and Lane not being able to take
• 47:19
  advantage of those guys as as often as they should have was
• 47:22
  was really disappointing. I think that'll change this
• 47:24
  year. Yeah, you talk about like
• 47:27
  getting guys the football and riding the hot hand.
• 47:32
  Let's let's think back a little bit.
• 47:34
  Let's think to I'll go even back further, let's go pit in 2016
• 47:40
  when we just kept throwing those fades to as they afford like
• 47:43
  riding the hot hand when when something's working, just go
• 47:47
  back to the well having the feel of that.
• 47:50
  We want to see that a little bit more, not not being so rigid to
• 47:55
  what the game plan is and being able to adapt on the fly and and
• 47:58
  be able to ride that hot hand. I mean, I I played, I played
• 48:01
  offensive line in him and Sydney, my head coach was also
• 48:03
  our offensive coordinator and he did not play collegiate
• 48:06
  football. He was a basketball guy, but he
• 48:09
  understood playmakers and how to get playmakers the ball, and
• 48:13
  that's what it's all about. Just don't do dumb shit.
• 48:16
  That's all I asked for. I mean, it's not that hard.
• 48:19
  Just don't do dumb shit. Just don't do dumb shit is what
• 48:23
  we was doing. We was wasting plays.
• 48:25
  We was putting Colin Schlee in to like run motion.
• 48:30
  Listen, so you take somebody off of the field. 11 months.
• 48:34
  Yeah, you never, Yeah, you never.
• 48:38
  You never build off of that, you know what I'm saying?
• 48:40
  It's just wasted plays, like you got to do something in the year.
• 48:43
  You got to throw like a double reverse pass or something off of
• 48:46
  that plate if you're going to continue doing it at the
• 48:49
  beginning of the game or the beginning of the the year.
• 48:52
  Because when you think back to last year, like even when we
• 48:55
  talk about Clemson, and I don't want to go all into that, but
• 48:57
  when you talk about like a game like Clemson, like we, I watched
• 49:02
  it again for some reason and we lost it 24 to 14.
• 49:08
  And I think they were like 23rd in the in the nation or
• 49:11
  something. And we ran the ball like one
• 49:14
  time or two times that game. No running backs hurt,
• 49:17
  quarterbacks hurt. I get it.
• 49:18
  Injuries happen. But but I, I don't know, man, I
• 49:21
  just, I think that you can't do any for as close as we were to
• 49:27
  win. And I really don't think you can
• 49:29
  do worse as a collective coaching staff as we did last
• 49:33
  year. That's just how I feel.
• 49:36
  We did a lot of dumb shit, like we didn't use people that we
• 49:40
  should have used. We run plays.
• 49:42
  What what do you say? How many field?
• 49:46
  Yeah. Oh, we need to limit it.
• 49:49
  So anyway, I'm I'm going to go, I'm going to get off my
• 49:52
  soapboxing and go to the next thing because somebody was
• 49:56
  bringing up a couple of, you know, playmakers and we think
• 49:58
  about, you know, Kyron being a playmaker, but also the
• 50:01
  offensive line. Who else do you guys think that
• 50:07
  we need to have a big year that will fuel the the hokey success
• 50:11
  besides Kyron or the offensive line?
• 50:18
  Who wants to start? I just put it out there because
• 50:22
  I know that's going to be hard, so I was hoping somebody would
• 50:24
  be brave. I'll.
• 50:27
  Go. Yeah, You go ahead, Mike, You go
• 50:29
  ahead. I was just going to say, I think
• 50:30
  the three, the three running backs you mentioned, Danny, I
• 50:33
  think collectively we need them to be like at least a full
• 50:39
  tooten. Exactly.
• 50:41
  Right. Or a little bit more than that,
• 50:43
  considering there's three guys there, right?
• 50:47
  Obviously not the best news that Terry on Stewart hasn't been
• 50:50
  practicing. Hopefully that's temporary and
• 50:52
  we can see him back on the field soon.
• 50:54
  He'll be ready for the opener. But we need those three guys you
• 50:58
  mentioned, Danny Bennett, Hawkins and Stewart.
• 51:01
  We need them to be able to replace the production of base
• 51:06
  Holtuton that. That's what Virginia Tech needs
• 51:09
  in the running game, 1000% And that's why you brought these
• 51:14
  guys in, and that's why you brought in so many of them, and
• 51:17
  that's why you kept Jeremiah Coney around.
• 51:19
  Like you have depth at running back.
• 51:21
  We need to use it. We have to find the right
• 51:22
  combination that. That's just extraordinarily
• 51:26
  crucial in my opinion. Yeah, and I think it I think it
• 51:29
  goes back to something I said earlier in the broadcast,
• 51:32
  gentleman, which is that for Tech to to be as successful as
• 51:35
  it is they can be this year with this roster.
• 51:38
  I think it on offense, it is going to start with the running
• 51:41
  game and, and to to, to really play good defense, obviously,
• 51:45
  but control the clock and find a way to get one of these guys in
• 51:49
  the rhythm. If it's Hawkins, feed them,
• 51:51
  right. They've been talking a lot about
• 51:53
  Hawkins in the offseason. Well, if he's the guy, then feed
• 51:55
  him. If it's Bennett, who's got a lot
• 51:57
  of experience coming over from coast of Carolina, give him the
• 52:00
  ball. If if it's a if it's a cold day
• 52:03
  in November in Blacksburg against Louisville, November 1st
• 52:07
  and you got to ride Terry on Stewart to the promised land,
• 52:10
  then do it. You know, and and the offensive
• 52:12
  line obviously is going to have a a major role to play in that
• 52:15
  success as well as will Kyron drones, because Kyron drones is
• 52:19
  a very capable runner. But as Mike said, you got to be
• 52:22
  careful not to overwork him and, and get him into a situation
• 52:25
  where he, he's getting dinged up because when he gets dinged up,
• 52:28
  he's just not the same guy. We saw that last year.
• 52:30
  So I, I, I really have been harping on the running game.
• 52:33
  It would be nice to see someone like Donovan Green.
• 52:36
  I saw one of our, one of our listeners also threw Benji
• 52:39
  Gosnell in there, which I, I love as a pic as well, because,
• 52:42
  you know, I think he's going to, he's going to have to come up
• 52:44
  with some really big catches, maybe on 3rd down in the red
• 52:48
  zone, wherever it is, they're going to rely on him too.
• 52:49
  He's got some experience, but I think it all starts with the
• 52:52
  running game for the offense. This is what I'm going to throw
• 52:55
  in. This is what I'm going to throw
• 52:57
  in as well, guys, because everything I was saying is
• 53:00
  really good. And I think Curtis may have said
• 53:04
  it earlier when you just talked about going back into a, you
• 53:08
  know, Virginia Tech style football team.
• 53:12
  Maybe it was Curtis or Mike, but whatever.
• 53:14
  You know, sometimes you just are who you are.
• 53:17
  You know what I'm saying? I'm not saying that we're going
• 53:18
  to have this high-powered pass an offense that's going to be,
• 53:24
  you know, rivaled organ or somebody like that.
• 53:27
  I'm not saying that. But what I do know is that we
• 53:31
  are not a strong enough team to just run the ball down people's
• 53:35
  throats. I just don't think that we will
• 53:37
  ever be that. So we have to be capable enough
• 53:40
  to get some motherfuckers off the line.
• 53:43
  We have to be able to push the ball down the field, whether
• 53:46
  that's using 10 wide receivers to catch, you know, a pass each,
• 53:52
  just to do something different to get people off of the line so
• 53:56
  we can run the ball. They have those receivers.
• 54:01
  I challenge everybody who watches this show.
• 54:04
  If you're a Virginia Tech fan, pick one game a season and waste
• 54:09
  your money. Just go watch that game.
• 54:12
  Go sit in the stands and just look at stuff that the camera
• 54:15
  doesn't show because I I'm being on like getting on coaches and
• 54:20
  stuff like that. But sometimes plays are called
• 54:23
  right. Sometimes wide receivers are
• 54:26
  running open and we can't get them the ball or the quarterback
• 54:31
  doesn't throw the ball. So there's some things that are
• 54:33
  going right that you don't see on TV, but some of these players
• 54:38
  just don't get the chance. Again, I've seen Takahiti in the
• 54:41
  first game last year when we went to Nashville and I was
• 54:44
  like, he looks faster than all the other wide receivers, and
• 54:48
  then I never got to see him do anything.
• 54:50
  So things like that, I'm just like, stop wasting it.
• 54:54
  Let's find a way to put the put the ball in this person's hands
• 54:58
  because we kept running them on these like fake jet sweeps and
• 55:02
  things like that. But we just again, never went
• 55:04
  back to them. So I hate to keep harping on
• 55:06
  things like that, but whenever I think about like who will be
• 55:09
  important to this team to have success, I think it's going to
• 55:13
  be, you know, on offense, I think it's going to be somebody
• 55:16
  that nobody's called out like, and I'm not saying they're going
• 55:19
  to just, you know, blow us away. Somebody like what?
• 55:23
  Somebody in the in the, in the chat, said Benji.
• 55:26
  I'm thinking, you know, maybe a third wide receiver or something
• 55:30
  like that. Because if you look, last year
• 55:32
  our wide receive was our top wide receiver had like 500
• 55:35
  yards. And then right after him you had
• 55:37
  maybe like 400. Then after that it was like 350
• 55:41
  or something, right? So if you can bump all of those
• 55:45
  up just a little bit, you know, the top guy, if he has 600, the
• 55:49
  guy behind him has 500, the guy behind him has 400.
• 55:53
  We're, we're making up those yards that Tooting had that he
• 55:58
  was fighting people off in the backfield to get or you're
• 56:00
  making up those yards that Kyron's trying to run and get
• 56:03
  them. We need to find a way to do
• 56:05
  that. And I think it's going to be
• 56:07
  somebody who steps up that we just, we don't know who that is
• 56:10
  yet. So I just it's just my $0.02.
• 56:13
  I I just don't want kyron drones to be like 60 to 65% of the
• 56:17
  rushing attack now the Tooting on the roster anymore.
• 56:19
  That's that's just my concern. Right, we're going to.
• 56:22
  We're going to fall into that that because and, and I, I would
• 56:25
  be worried more worried about that, I guess, if Bowen was
• 56:27
  still calling plays because he's had the familiarity and he's
• 56:30
  like, all right, look, we we know what Kyron is like let's
• 56:33
  just run him. It's like, no, there's a reason
• 56:35
  why he brought all these guys in.
• 56:36
  So I'm not as concerned about that with Montgomery calling
• 56:39
  plays. But that's just a general
• 56:41
  thought that I have is I just don't want Kyron to take over
• 56:44
  the running game because we don't have tooten in the
• 56:46
  backfield anymore. That's why he went out and paid
• 56:48
  all these guys the money to bring him in out the portal.
• 56:51
  Let's use them. Let's let's try to get let's try
• 56:54
  to replace Tooten's production some way somehow and not have it
• 56:57
  so be heavily dependent on on what Tyron's able to do and you
• 57:01
  know, with his legs. So.
• 57:03
  He kind of close this out, man. Yeah, I mean, I, I was going to
• 57:07
  before somebody even commented. I was going to say Benji, yes.
• 57:10
  Now, I think the tight ends, him and Harrison St.
• 57:13
  Germain, and those are two guys who've played some snaps.
• 57:17
  You got a new position coach there and Brent Davis, he slid
• 57:20
  over from the off and the line. He's a triple option background
• 57:23
  guy. I think that this group's
• 57:26
  blocking, we're both run blocking, particularly run
• 57:30
  blocking because they won't pass block as much, obviously.
• 57:33
  But I think that group's blocking is going to be much
• 57:36
  improved considering Brent Davis as the position coach.
• 57:40
  That was my feel from talking with him at at the program's
• 57:42
  media day a couple weeks ago, that they've really, really
• 57:45
  harped on that. But Benji Gosnell, how many
• 57:49
  times last year did Tech do a good job of scheming him open?
• 57:53
  He was a guy. I thought that Tech actually did
• 57:56
  a pretty good job of getting him the ball.
• 57:57
  Maybe he could have done it more, but there were one or two
• 58:01
  big, big plays where it was like an unbalanced formation.
• 58:06
  And all of a sudden Benji Gosnell's wide open down the
• 58:08
  middle of this field. He's a guy that I mean, he was a
• 58:12
  highly touted 4 star recruit for a reason that was originally
• 58:15
  committed to Ohio State. Like get him the ball, right?
• 58:18
  That that goes back to that conversation kind of what Brian
• 58:20
  was talking about. Like he's talented, get him the
• 58:23
  ball. And I think in Harrison St.
• 58:25
  Germain, if, if, if you want somebody outside of your, your
• 58:31
  really talented running backs and your wide receivers who are,
• 58:34
  are, are kind of still improving a little bit to, to get some
• 58:37
  touches. You got 2 Widers or two tight
• 58:39
  ends that have been doing it for a while.
• 58:41
  Get them the ball. And I think they're both pretty
• 58:43
  versatile. They both got pretty good hands.
• 58:45
  And you think back to that Military Bowl and back at the
• 58:48
  end of 2023, each of them had a touchdown catch in that game.
• 58:51
  These guys can't catch the ball. So I think they can add a
• 58:55
  different wrinkle to this offense if used properly.
• 58:59
  I'm going to. I'm going to throw this out
• 59:00
  there before I pitch over to Brian.
• 59:03
  Somebody mentioned his name earlier.
• 59:04
  You asked me what fuels a success on the offensive side of
• 59:08
  the ball. It's going to be, I think Cam
• 59:10
  Selvin. It's the versatility and we know
• 59:13
  some of the stuff that Monty does with the beers and stuff
• 59:17
  that's made for a Kim Selden type player.
• 59:21
  Like some of those beers and stuff.
• 59:22
  You want a player like Kim and he's coming in.
• 59:25
  I think there's a chip there. He went to Tennessee because
• 59:29
  because because they all leave Virginia and go somewhere, get
• 59:32
  shat on, get shat on and then they come back home.
• 59:37
  APR went to Florida. They shat on him and basically
• 59:39
  said you can't play. What would that son of a bitch
• 59:42
  do last year? I think is the key because if
• 59:44
  you tell me you're talking like 500 yards, he gets to 1000
• 59:48
  all-purpose running and receiving like 604 hundred.
• 59:54
  You want to talk about game planning?
• 59:56
  You couldn't game plan for that even going in week.
• 59:58
  Like what are they going to do with them?
• 59:59
  They're going to run an inside beer.
• 1:00:00
  They're going to sneak him in the backfield and maybe run a
• 1:00:02
  dive off of like a motion. Think about that.
• 1:00:06
  Put him in a slot motion into the backfield.
• 1:00:09
  And then just run it down the gut.
• 1:00:10
  As big as he is, it's 62216. He's a great athlete.
• 1:00:15
  He is a great athlete. He's a, he's a great athlete.
• 1:00:17
  He comes over a former running back, right and, and now is
• 1:00:21
  going to contribute as a wide receiver.
• 1:00:22
  He is the type of guy that if they can get him going early, he
• 1:00:26
  is going to be tough to to game plan for.
• 1:00:28
  And we've talked a lot about game planning and making sure
• 1:00:30
  that that coaching staff is mixing it up.
• 1:00:33
  He does seem like the type of guy that was written off by an
• 1:00:37
  SEC school and can come in and and make an impact.
• 1:00:40
  But it just we just have to see, you know, that Kyron drove is
• 1:00:44
  going to have to take a step forward, both as as a as a
• 1:00:47
  passer and hopefully they they scheme a little bit better for
• 1:00:50
  him in the run game so that they're not just completely
• 1:00:52
  reliant on him to pick up what they're going to miss without
• 1:00:55
  Tooting. Right.
• 1:00:57
  I agree. Ron ready.
• 1:00:58
  Yeah, I mean, you know, I, I, I think we, we've held it back
• 1:01:01
  long enough. Let's go ahead and pull this one
• 1:01:03
  out there with Babcock went to the board of visitors with the
• 1:01:08
  presentation effectively saying football's behind and not just
• 1:01:12
  behind, pretty far behind kind of about, you know, somewhere
• 1:01:15
  around 9 or 10 of the ACC overall looking for basically
• 1:01:22
  within the next, you know, year or two needing to get to 200
• 1:01:27
  million when you're looking at probably what, one forty, 144
• 1:01:31
  million operating as of this upcoming year.
• 1:01:36
  It what's going to come out of this?
• 1:01:38
  Because I feel like it's when I looked at it, it was kind of
• 1:01:41
  twofold. It was like this is absolutely
• 1:01:43
  needed. Why are we just having this
• 1:01:45
  conversation? Hopefully the board of visitors
• 1:01:51
  takes their head out of your you know what?
• 1:01:55
  So I, I can speak on take the lead on this if you guys want.
• 1:01:58
  I was, I was in the room on on Monday at the Board of visitors
• 1:02:01
  meeting and I, I thought Whit Babcock's presentation was very
• 1:02:05
  good. I thought it resonated very well
• 1:02:08
  with the BOV it people on Twitter I've seen ask why is
• 1:02:15
  this just now happening? Why is this just now happening?
• 1:02:18
  Well, a good chunk of the presentation was about the house
• 1:02:20
  settlement, which just got past this year, and about the ACC
• 1:02:24
  settlement with Florida State and Clemson, which just got past
• 1:02:26
  this year and what that means money wise.
• 1:02:29
  There are things in there that Tech could have been doing a
• 1:02:31
  long time ago. That's a conversation for later.
• 1:02:34
  But the bottom line is, yes, Virginia Tech needs to win
• 1:02:39
  football games, and yes, Virginia Tech needs to be better
• 1:02:41
  in men's basketball, which is going to happen, by the way.
• 1:02:44
  Yeah, but you have to fund the athletic program correctly,
• 1:02:49
  whether it's direct or indirect support from university, even to
• 1:02:53
  match UVA, you have to come up with different ways to fund
• 1:02:59
  athletics and to give athletics more resources if you want to be
• 1:03:02
  competitive. There are a lot of really good
• 1:03:04
  quotes in there if you're interested.
• 1:03:06
  We we covered it a lot this week, a podcast and two stories
• 1:03:10
  over on Tech sideline. A lot of quotes from wit about
• 1:03:15
  are these resources do not meet the expectations.
• 1:03:20
  You know, Tech ranked the lowest out of all the public schools in
• 1:03:23
  the ACC, 14th overall in budget, right?
• 1:03:27
  That's going to go up, as Brian said, to 144 million in fiscal
• 1:03:31
  year 26. But at the same time, everybody
• 1:03:34
  else is going up too. And which point, which again, I
• 1:03:37
  thought resonated very well, is you can either step up or get
• 1:03:42
  left behind. And it's not that athletics has
• 1:03:45
  not been a priority, but it's that this is an inflection point
• 1:03:50
  because of the house settlement, because of the ACC settlement,
• 1:03:54
  that this is an this is a huge moment because if you do not
• 1:03:57
  take advantage of this, if you're not prepared going into
• 1:04:00
  this, you're going to get left behind.
• 1:04:02
  And the board of visitors today earlier came out with a couple
• 1:04:06
  big statements that you probably saw on Twitter talking about
• 1:04:09
  how, you know, we're basically saying we understand we are
• 1:04:14
  going to find a way to come up with money Now with Babcock had
• 1:04:17
  a list of, you know, $52 million in investments.
• 1:04:20
  Don't know that all of them will happen, but of course you don't
• 1:04:26
  you don't you know if you you shoot for the moon and and you
• 1:04:29
  know you take what you can get right.
• 1:04:30
  Wit's not going to wit's not going to ask for 30 million.
• 1:04:34
  If he wants 30 million, he's going to ask for 50 million,
• 1:04:36
  right. But there are ways Virginia
• 1:04:40
  Tech, Virginia Tech has to figure out how exactly it can
• 1:04:43
  boost the revenue. It's not like you just snap your
• 1:04:45
  fingers, flip a switch and it's there It's going to take some
• 1:04:48
  time. But I came out of that board of
• 1:04:50
  visitors meeting on Monday and also after this stuff today,
• 1:04:53
  thinking this board is on board with what Witt wants to do.
• 1:04:58
  They are on board. It's just going to be a matter
• 1:05:01
  of how the Hokies come up with the money.
• 1:05:03
  So I think Virginia Tech fans should feel pretty good about
• 1:05:06
  just the the the the message got through.
• 1:05:10
  Yeah. I think they're, I, I was sorry,
• 1:05:12
  Brian, I think, I think they are going to get some of that money
• 1:05:15
  that they're asking for right now.
• 1:05:16
  I, I think that the, the board seems to be receptive to it.
• 1:05:19
  It, it seems like everyone realizes the urgency of the
• 1:05:23
  moment. I think that they are going to,
• 1:05:26
  to rise to that moment. They're going to, but there's 2
• 1:05:28
  problems, right? Because there's there's the
• 1:05:30
  financial side of this and then there's just the on field
• 1:05:33
  product because, and I think it was either Mike or David this
• 1:05:36
  week, I saw one of y'all say there is plenty of room to win 8
• 1:05:41
  or 9 games in the ACC right now with where Virginia Tech is at
• 1:05:44
  right now. And they're not doing it.
• 1:05:46
  And it's because of bad decision making, right?
• 1:05:49
  Brent Pry, a first year head coach, hired a first year
• 1:05:51
  offensive coordinator and a first year defensive coordinator
• 1:05:53
  when he had never run a program before that.
• 1:05:56
  That's just a lack of common sense.
• 1:05:58
  That was stupid. So there there's just bad
• 1:06:01
  decisions being made all over the place.
• 1:06:03
  And we don't have to get into some of the decisions that have
• 1:06:05
  been made by the higher ups in the athletic department like
• 1:06:07
  with Babcock. But it it's twofold because you,
• 1:06:11
  you have to, you have to obviously have the resources
• 1:06:13
  nowadays, but you gotta you, you have to have the results on the
• 1:06:17
  field too, which which they're not doing right now.
• 1:06:19
  So once they start to figure that out and there's a couple
• 1:06:23
  more wins on the board every single year, you're just going
• 1:06:27
  to have some more money trickling in naturally, too.
• 1:06:30
  Yeah, Mike, before I kick into you, I want to say one thing
• 1:06:32
  real quick. And this this kind of stood out
• 1:06:34
  to me and and was I think one of the better points that wit made
• 1:06:39
  in the process was that this is going to cost you either now to
• 1:06:45
  get better or later if you don't.
• 1:06:48
  So either way, this is gonna this is gonna be money that is
• 1:06:52
  is gonna cost you. So Mike, I'm gonna let you jump.
• 1:06:54
  And I know you guys had a had a pretty big conversation about
• 1:06:57
  this recently as well. Yeah, and I, I think that that's
• 1:07:00
  kind of what wit meant, right? Everybody like took it on
• 1:07:03
  Twitter and ran with it and was like, well, I'm, I'm either
• 1:07:05
  going to be here or I'm not going to be here.
• 1:07:07
  I think his whole point was we can deal with this now or we can
• 1:07:09
  deal with this later. But like we're going to have to
• 1:07:12
  like have a come to Jesus moment at some point about the money,
• 1:07:15
  right? Because for every Texas and
• 1:07:18
  Texas A&M and Georgia and Alabama and Notre Dame, you
• 1:07:21
  named the blue blood, right, that has more money than God and
• 1:07:25
  has a bunch of donors that are contributing in a meaningful
• 1:07:28
  way, a bunch of very, very wealthy donors.
• 1:07:31
  There are schools like Virginia Tech there.
• 1:07:33
  There's six or seven or 10 or 20 other schools that are dealing
• 1:07:38
  with the exact same thing with an athletic director that's
• 1:07:41
  going to the university and saying we need help from the
• 1:07:45
  university. This is not all going to come
• 1:07:47
  from our donors. We have to find another way to
• 1:07:50
  get the money right for football if we want to be competitive
• 1:07:53
  moving forward. It's not just football.
• 1:07:55
  Of course, it's men's basketball trickles on down, but football
• 1:07:57
  is the cash cow at all of these FBS schools.
• 1:08:01
  It just is. There are two points like Danny
• 1:08:05
  just mentioned, took the words right out of my mouth.
• 1:08:07
  It's the money. It's also the right leadership
• 1:08:10
  in place, right? And there's enough money for
• 1:08:13
  Virginia Tech to be competitive in the ACC right now.
• 1:08:17
  There is not enough money, or coaching for that matter, for
• 1:08:21
  Virginia Tech to compete at the national level the way a lot of
• 1:08:25
  fans want them to compete, right?
• 1:08:27
  And it's one thing to be a top 10 or 15 program going on 2
• 1:08:34
  decades ago now, right? A a consistent 10 win program
• 1:08:39
  that some years like 99 can be more than that.
• 1:08:44
  And it's another thing to do that now in this environment.
• 1:08:48
  And the ACC is different now. The landscape of college
• 1:08:51
  football's a lot different now. You need to have the money and
• 1:08:55
  with revenue sharing and NIL and everything else that these
• 1:08:59
  coaches and these athletic departments are dealing with it,
• 1:09:02
  it's a lot different landscape than it was.
• 1:09:05
  And for Virginia Tech to be competitive on the national
• 1:09:09
  scale, the way that a lot of the fans expect and want it to be
• 1:09:13
  from the old days, there needs to be a financial commitment
• 1:09:16
  from the university because this is not going to be coming from
• 1:09:21
  the donors. If you want to elevate this
• 1:09:22
  thing, not just to like 8 or nine wins in the ACC, 'cause I
• 1:09:25
  think the money's there now to do that, you know, not just to
• 1:09:28
  be A10 win program again, but if you want this program to be, to
• 1:09:33
  be playing at an elite level, which is I think what with
• 1:09:35
  Babcock was trying to get across to the board of visitors.
• 1:09:38
  We don't just want this thing to be 9 or 10 wins and kind of be
• 1:09:43
  what we were before where we were just happy to to be
• 1:09:46
  competing in the ACC guys. We don't know what the ACC is
• 1:09:49
  going to look like in five years.
• 1:09:50
  It's going to be a lot different.
• 1:09:51
  Is it even going to be a conference anymore?
• 1:09:53
  That's up for debate. We don't know, right?
• 1:09:55
  So Virginia Tech's got to be ready for whatever the next
• 1:09:59
  stage of realignment and TV deals that are coming in the
• 1:10:03
  next 5 years, all the expansion at a College Football Playoff
• 1:10:06
  and what that's going to look like.
• 1:10:08
  Virginia Tech's funding right now for the football program is
• 1:10:10
  not in a place where this program is ready to compete at a
• 1:10:16
  national level at a consistent top 20 to 25 level.
• 1:10:19
  Money is a big part of that. The leadership with the coaching
• 1:10:22
  staff, which it'll be either these guys that are currently
• 1:10:25
  there or it won't be. Tech's gonna have to figure that
• 1:10:29
  answer out, too, but I think a lot of what wit, Babcock said.
• 1:10:34
  And I was just reading, I was really just reading David's
• 1:10:36
  Twitter, like on Monday. I was just kind of scrolling
• 1:10:39
  through. You did a hell of a job, David.
• 1:10:41
  You did a hell of a job, you. Guys did fantastic, you and Andy
• 1:10:44
  and David Thiel, everybody. I was really just scrolling
• 1:10:47
  through all the tweets. Wit was right about a lot of
• 1:10:52
  stuff. Everybody's mad at Wit for a lot
• 1:10:54
  of reasons, and a lot of them are justified.
• 1:10:57
  But guys, he's right. Like he's right about this.
• 1:11:00
  Like everything he said in the presentation was spot on.
• 1:11:02
  Like he's, he's right. Like tech's got to figure this
• 1:11:06
  out. So I'm encouraged by the board
• 1:11:09
  of visitors listening. It scared me that some of them
• 1:11:12
  were like, oh, we had no idea. It's like, OK, well, we got to
• 1:11:17
  figure it out then. Maybe they need to get off the
• 1:11:20
  board of visitors then if they. Don't it scared me get that?
• 1:11:23
  Yeah, it was interesting to me that like, I get maybe you're
• 1:11:27
  holding back some of this information while you're waiting
• 1:11:31
  to see how the house settlement is shaking out and you're
• 1:11:33
  waiting to see how some of these other things with the ACC and
• 1:11:37
  Clemson and Florida State play out.
• 1:11:39
  But we had a funding problem relative to the heavy hitters in
• 1:11:46
  the ACC for over a decade at this point.
• 1:11:50
  It's, it's just very interesting that they weren't Privy to a lot
• 1:11:55
  of how that has evolved and how that is, you know, eroded over
• 1:12:00
  the last, you know, decade and 1/2.
• 1:12:01
  But for one second, Brian. But that's on Wit.
• 1:12:05
  Wit should have been presenting that shit to them all the time.
• 1:12:09
  Listen, that's my point. Like I, I, I.
• 1:12:11
  It's all. It's all I.
• 1:12:12
  Get that there is a lot of moving targets there and that
• 1:12:15
  you, you may want your you're trying to hold back maybe what
• 1:12:19
  you want to say until you actually have a full picture.
• 1:12:22
  But at some point you can't continue to fall behind when you
• 1:12:25
  at least know the parts that aren't going to change, right?
• 1:12:28
  Like there needed to be some conversations in the interim.
• 1:12:31
  Complacency. Pressure.
• 1:12:33
  Complacency, man. Just pressure pressure will bust
• 1:12:36
  pipes or make a diamond. Wid is getting that pressure
• 1:12:41
  putting on his ass right now. He bingo.
• 1:12:43
  He I ain't saying he listening to Joe Rogers, but I'm just
• 1:12:46
  saying he he hears the noise and he knows what's coming and he
• 1:12:50
  was trying to do all of this. Well, let's talk about
• 1:12:52
  wrestling. Let's talk about baseball.
• 1:12:54
  Let's talk about grab ass and I don't know what he's talking
• 1:12:56
  about. But then he realized that's a
• 1:12:58
  great sport. You know, then he realized like
• 1:13:01
  if this is the cash cow, we probably need to do this.
• 1:13:03
  I think Sean just put up a post or or a comment that said, you
• 1:13:08
  know, you got to be able to sell the vision.
• 1:13:11
  Listen to me. And then I'm I know we got to go
• 1:13:13
  to something different. I seen a man in Blacksburg.
• 1:13:16
  Excuse me. I don't know what you call him a
• 1:13:18
  man. Don't counsel me.
• 1:13:19
  I seen a person in Blacksburg that was born a male sucking
• 1:13:24
  dingalings in the dark and get on a laughed and then the person
• 1:13:30
  who unalived them never went to jail.
• 1:13:33
  Anything is possible. If you got a plan and you got a
• 1:13:37
  vision, go hire that dude who who was who was the the lawyer,
• 1:13:43
  go hire him to sell the vision. We probably get all the money,
• 1:13:49
  I'm just saying. I didn't see that one coming.
• 1:13:51
  Yeah. That was the right tally for the
• 1:13:55
  right. That was the.
• 1:13:55
  One that was the left turn, but that was he hated.
• 1:14:00
  Hey, in certain towns across this wonderful country of ours,
• 1:14:05
  if you play for the football team you don't go to jail for.
• 1:14:08
  Shit, that's what I'm saying man.
• 1:14:09
  I've seen some crazy. Stuff.
• 1:14:11
  I know that down in Athens, that's for sure.
• 1:14:13
  No, you, you kill people. They have.
• 1:14:15
  They have it. They get DUI, running into
• 1:14:18
  people, running over curves, jumping on the sidewalk.
• 1:14:21
  Nobody ain't going to jail. So all right, sell it, sell it.
• 1:14:26
  All right. Real quick.
• 1:14:28
  This is kind of the last one. Not a big question.
• 1:14:30
  Don't go. Don't go in depth because I know
• 1:14:32
  y'all got all your media pieces and David Deacon, I don't know
• 1:14:36
  if you can even release it here yet.
• 1:14:39
  Just give me a record. I'm going to start with Danny
• 1:14:42
  knows because I know he probably of the three of y'all can.
• 1:14:45
  What's the record? Don't go.
• 1:14:47
  That's right. Yeah, very simple.
• 1:14:50
  And I'm going six and six. And for me that's, that's the
• 1:14:54
  optimistic route. I really, I, I look at this
• 1:14:58
  schedule and I see 5, but like there's so many, there's so many
• 1:15:03
  what ifs, right? Which I think a lot of it'll
• 1:15:05
  come with injuries, but this coach Brett Pry has shown me 6
• 1:15:10
  and 6 is just about the ceiling. And with a a a lot of roster
• 1:15:15
  turnover despite Drones coming back, I just don't think I can
• 1:15:18
  go higher than that. Yes, Mike, I'm.
• 1:15:22
  Going to give it to you, Mike, because kind of, I don't know,
• 1:15:25
  you might be bound by legal obligations.
• 1:15:27
  No, no, no, Curtis. I'm good all.
• 1:15:29
  Right, Dick, David, Mike. We'll wrap up with D.
• 1:15:33
  M6 and six. Hey, he's saying we're making a
• 1:15:37
  bowl this year. Remember a couple years ago he
• 1:15:39
  got on his ass when he said we weren't making a bowl?
• 1:15:42
  We did make a bowl that year. We.
• 1:15:44
  Got to look. Yeah, 6:00 and 6:00.
• 1:15:46
  We'll make a bowl game. That's a military Bowl play, 2
• 1:15:49
  lane, probably. That'll be good.
• 1:15:51
  Yeah. Six and six, six and six.
• 1:15:54
  Opening two games, really tough, brutal November.
• 1:15:57
  Worried about drones, his health, questions at receiver,
• 1:16:02
  offensive line. It's got to, it's got to be
• 1:16:05
  better, or else this is not going to be good.
• 1:16:08
  So yeah, six to six too many questions all.
• 1:16:12
  Right. We kind of last man standing
• 1:16:14
  here what you got. He's.
• 1:16:17
  Going up there. Oh. 7:00 and 5:00.
• 1:16:19
  I, I, I think, but now I think the most pivotal game on the
• 1:16:24
  schedule is Vanderbilt and that that kind of changes everything.
• 1:16:29
  But I think Tech gets that game at home under the lights.
• 1:16:34
  I think, yeah, the schedule's much more difficult, but I think
• 1:16:37
  the coaching staff is better. And I think that's the ultimate
• 1:16:39
  difference. I think having coaches that know
• 1:16:44
  how to adjust in game, it's like what a concept, right?
• 1:16:47
  I mean, like having having coaches that can coach, it's
• 1:16:51
  amazing what that will do for the program.
• 1:16:53
  And I, I genuinely think I think this schedule is much more
• 1:16:56
  difficult, but I think the coaching makes that much of a
• 1:17:00
  difference and I think they can win seven games.
• 1:17:02
  And I, I genuinely think that this depending on, again, it's
• 1:17:08
  really tough to say all this because we haven't seen a ton of
• 1:17:11
  it yet. But I think if the staff can put
• 1:17:15
  the guys in the right things like this group, not as much
• 1:17:19
  talent as last year, but they can do some stuff, especially in
• 1:17:23
  some of those ACC games. November, it gets a little
• 1:17:26
  scary, you know, Louisville, Thursday, Miami, back-to-back to
• 1:17:30
  back. But I'm going seven wins, which
• 1:17:33
  I did. You know, it's funny, Mike and I
• 1:17:35
  had talked about this recently. I did not realize I was going to
• 1:17:38
  be the optimist here because I remember a couple years ago when
• 1:17:42
  I said five wins and Tally got on my ass for saying, oh, David
• 1:17:47
  said they're not going to go to a bowl game.
• 1:17:50
  Guess what, Tally? I'm an optimist here.
• 1:17:53
  That's right. Hey, you, if you're dumb again,
• 1:17:55
  David, you should have. You should have.
• 1:17:57
  You should have flipped it around.
• 1:17:58
  You should have been with daddy this year.
• 1:17:59
  All right, that. Makes me feel.
• 1:18:01
  Better. No, I'm just.
• 1:18:02
  Playing man. It's only A1 game difference.
• 1:18:04
  Hey, I was feeling good that year, but I no matter what you
• 1:18:08
  said this year, David, I was going to say, Yep, that's a good
• 1:18:11
  pick buddy, because I don't know nothing.
• 1:18:13
  I can see five, I can see eight. I mean, anywhere in between,
• 1:18:16
  it's going to be, it's one of those weird years where like
• 1:18:20
  because of how much turnover he had, how much new we have on the
• 1:18:23
  staff, like there's not a lot of known quantities.
• 1:18:26
  And we thought we had a lot of known quantities last year in
• 1:18:29
  between injuries and fumbling by the staff.
• 1:18:32
  We we didn't turn that into winds.
• 1:18:34
  So we'll see. A lot of stuff there.
• 1:18:36
  I will say if it's if it's six and six, I don't think pride
• 1:18:40
  keeps his job because I think it's going down with him.
• 1:18:42
  Stop, stop. We just had a BOV saying we're
• 1:18:45
  fucking poor Mike. He ain't getting fired unless
• 1:18:48
  it's absolutely. Atrocious.
• 1:18:49
  Only if only if wit. Only if WIT gets fired, Yeah.
• 1:18:54
  Wit would have to get fired in October then.
• 1:18:56
  October. For that to make sense, that is.
• 1:18:58
  You guys are opening a can of wire?
• 1:19:01
  So we'll bring you back on in December, David, then we'll
• 1:19:04
  I'll. Be more than happy to listen.
• 1:19:09
  Mike, David, Danny, it's great seeing y'all again.
• 1:19:12
  Hopefully at some point we cross paths during the season, whether
• 1:19:15
  in Blacksburg, Richmond, wherever.
• 1:19:18
  We appreciate you guys joining us as always.
• 1:19:20
  Again, check Mike McDaniel out on Mike your on everything but
• 1:19:24
  hokey hangover, David Cunningham on tech sideline.
• 1:19:27
  Check out Danny Noakes on Twitter and with victory Life
• 1:19:30
  podcast. As always, we are brought to you
• 1:19:33
  by Count Stanley Pharmacy in Blacksburg and our new sponsor.
• 1:19:38
  He's lighting up the comments in there.
• 1:19:40
  He's he's getting his money's worth moments on the Mori check
• 1:19:44
  out and Brian we got one more thing right yeah we're going to
• 1:19:47
  run this Obviously you guys know that at this point we're we've
• 1:19:50
  got a. Giveaway of two tickets to the
• 1:19:51
  Cal down a kickoff concert down in Atlanta.
• 1:19:53
  So I'm going to let let let us show a little video here, tell
• 1:19:57
  you a little bit about it and we'll talk a little bit more on
• 1:20:00
  the backside with with three new guys.
• 1:20:04
  Hey, Hokie Nation. It's your man Brian from Bounty
• 1:20:06
  Corner. Podcast Get ready to kick off
• 1:20:09
  the 2025 season in style. Our good friends over at the
• 1:20:12
  Hokie Way are hosting the Countdown to Kickoff concert
• 1:20:15
  featuring the always fantastic band OAR.
• 1:20:19
  Join fellow Hokies alumni and fans for an exclusive, proud
• 1:20:22
  event at the iconic Tabernacle in Atlanta, GA.
• 1:20:25
  That's right, Hokie Nation is taking over the Tabernacle to
• 1:20:30
  celebrate the start of the Virginia Tech football season.
• 1:20:33
  Matt, tell the people more. Mark your calendars.
• 1:20:37
  The concert's happening. Saturday, August 30th at. 7:00
• 1:20:39
  PM the night before our opening game against South Carolina.
• 1:20:42
  This is more than just a. Concert it's a chance to support
• 1:20:44
  a great 'cause every ticket you buy will further the Hoagie Ways
• 1:20:47
  mission of enabling student athletes at Virginia Tech to
• 1:20:50
  promote and support our incredible charitable partners.
• 1:20:53
  And before the concert, make sure to catch a special on
• 1:20:55
  location broadcast of Tech Talk Live from the venue.
• 1:20:58
  Were Zach Mackie and Mike Burnaball interviewing special
• 1:21:00
  guests? And here's a special
• 1:21:03
  announcement. Boundary Corner podcast is
• 1:21:05
  giving away. Two free tickets to the concert.
• 1:21:08
  Visit boundarycornervt.com/concert for
• 1:21:11
  details on how you can enter. This is your official welcome to
• 1:21:15
  the new football season. So.
• 1:21:17
  Start jumping For more details or to secure your tickets now,
• 1:21:21
  visit thehokeyway.org/concert and be sure to use that code
• 1:21:26
  Boundary corner. One word to save 10% off your
• 1:21:29
  order. See you in Atlanta and go,
• 1:21:32
  Hokies.