Latest / Boundary Corner Podcast / The Return

Transcript

The Return · Boundary Corner Podcast

• 0:58
  Whether you like it or don't like it, learn to love it
• 1:03
  because it is the best thing towards.
• 1:19
  And welcome back to the Boundary Corner podcast along my partner
• 1:23
  Brian Siegler, I am Curtis Wilson and part of the College
• 1:28
  Huddle Network. And as always, we are brought to
• 1:32
  you by Moments on the Mori. Looking for a weekend getaway
• 1:37
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• 1:47
  If you want to make the Blacksburg from there, that's
• 1:49
  just a little over an hour. So if you are thinking about a
• 1:51
  game day weekend in the fall, might want to look now to get in
• 1:54
  there. It gives you everything you can
• 1:56
  think of mountain getaway, fishing, kayaking, chilling by
• 2:00
  the river, having a nice cold one right out the back door.
• 2:03
  So check out the links in the comments section or visit them
• 2:06
  at moments on the Maury on their Instagram page.
• 2:09
  We are back, buddy. We are back.
• 2:12
  We are missing our our compatriots tonight, but we are
• 2:16
  back. Well, you know, things happen.
• 2:19
  Last week, things happened, man. It's, it's been one of those
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  things where this spring, like just, you know, little thing
• 2:26
  here, little thing there, everyone's busy.
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  We got sports. I, I know all of us have at
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  least one kid doing something. I've heard you, you've got a
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  whole brood of them doing something.
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  So it's always interesting, especially when you know, you
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  were down in Florida. I was up north for a little bit.
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  Well, last week was wild because we, we, we get the e-mail and
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  say, Hey, you know, he, he can come home tonight.
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  And Brian's like Curtis, I'm like, dude, I'm at the Orlando
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  Magic basketball game this. Is happening tonight.
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  And you're like, I don't know where you I am assuming you were
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  not. I had a 12 hour car ride.
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  There you go. So it was like nothing happened.
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  But I think we pulled back in at like 9/30, 10:00 so.
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  Hey, is what it is. But you know what, lucky for us,
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  he was kind enough to make a little room on his schedule.
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  And tonight we're going to introduce y'all.
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  I don't know if this is the first interview he's done since
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  getting this position, but former hokey offensive lineman,
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  now the director of player development, Tyrell Smith, joins
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  us tonight for Lil Thalt. Tyrell, how are you tonight?
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  I'm great, I'm great. First off, let me start by
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  saying that the intro you guys have that is big time.
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  That's really my my first time really seeing it.
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  So you guys have a great thing going right there.
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  But I'm I'm glad to be here. I appreciate y'all having me and
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  I'm excited. Awesome, man.
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  Like I said, I appreciate you being flexible with everything.
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  I know we were we had a couple a couple false starts there.
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  Yeah, sometimes that that that's something that happens as
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  offensive lineman, right. So.
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  Trust me, I know, unfortunately. Hey, so we, we appreciate you.
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  You're taking the time tonight circling up with us and you have
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  just a good conversation and talk a little hokey football.
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  I love it. I love it.
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  Anytime I get to talk Virginia Tech, I'm all for it.
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  We, we know that man. I'm going to say this by the
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  way, everybody, if you visit the website where Terrell Smith is
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  clearly the director of player development, they're still using
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  your old football headshot, man. No.
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  Did you know? That see, I got to talk.
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  I got to talk to Travis Wells because I asked him about that
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  because my mom said she went on the website to check it out and
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  she saw the old me. She's like, I almost didn't
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  recognize you. So I got to get that updated.
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  But it's good to see that it is still up there and everything
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  like that though. It's still up there from when
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  you play because when I when I was pulling it up, I was just
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  doing some research. I'm like wait a second, that's
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  I'm 98% sure that is the. I think it's a 2021 actually
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  the, the cause I've got, I've got, I've got the, the roster
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  page from your, your 2021 season has a different photo, but very
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  similar. I think it might be like a 2020
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  or 2019 photo that they've got in there.
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  They they pulled that out of the archives, man, I'm telling.
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  Yeah, man, yeah, man. You get named there like just
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  just find a headshot. Exactly.
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  We got to get it on here. That's exactly what it was.
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  Well, let's talk about let's talk about your journey to BT
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  First. You know clearly, you know you,
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  you were recruited by Coach Frank Beamer.
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  I'm trying to think was it was Grimes or Cyril's?
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  Yep. So got recruited by Coach
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  Beamer. Coach Jeff Grimes was the one
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  that came up to New Jersey and first met me up at my high
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  school, told me they liked me and wanted me to come down to
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  camp. So I did that in June of 2014.
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  I lied June 2013, sorry. June 2013, went down to camp,
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  performed well, I thought, didn't earn a scholarship that
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  day. So I was kind of like, OK, on to
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  the next school kind of thing. So I Remember Me and my mom, we
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  went down to Miami the next weekend for a camp down there.
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  Right before the camp, Coach Grimes calls me and says, like,
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  you did a great job, we're going to offer your scholarship.
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  So I'm in Miami. I'm jumping around in the hotel
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  room through the roof because at the point I only had a a UMass
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  offer. So to get the Virginia Tech
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  offer was huge for me. So got that offer, and then I
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  think about a week later, I committed and then have been a
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  hokey ever since. Yeah.
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  And and. I love hearing that man, that
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  like it's, it's so cool. Like when you get those
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  opportunities and the thing that you always wanted kind of comes
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  to fruition and it's like, all right, that, that that's step
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  one. Now I got to.
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  Now I got to go to work though. Exactly, exactly because you,
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  you get the scholarship and obviously that's a a huge
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  moment, but as you said, it's really just the beginning.
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  So from from getting the scholarship that day to
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  finishing out my senior year, senior year on a on a high note,
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  trying to be on a high note at least doing that, and then
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  having a little of a speed bump when I had to go to prep school,
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  I had to go to prep school for a semester.
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  So I spent that at Cushing Academy up in Massachusetts, and
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  I then enrolled in Tech in January of 15th.
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  Very, very nice. We'll talk about that piece of
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  the journey too, because you obviously you, you get
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  recruited, you get that offer and then I've got to go path
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  like, do do you think that really, because I'm going to say
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  this, we're speaking with the guy who holds not one, but two
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  master's degrees, which is just unbelievably impressive.
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  But do you think maybe that part of your journey really when you
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  got into school was like, I need to focus.
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  Yes, I'm here to, I've got a football scholarship.
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  Great, wonderful. But you know what, football's
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  not going to last forever. Let me focus on my studies
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  because what Bachelor's in criminology.
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  Yes, Sir, impressive Master's in but informational technology
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  like education. Yes Sir.
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  Which I mean, you know, I, I, I work with a few people like that
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  in my profession. And then you got also your
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  masters in agriculture. Yep, Yep, with the concentration
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  and leadership. So that's kind of how it ties
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  back into what I'm doing now. But but yeah, so that's the the
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  the educational side of things, but.
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  The. Having to go to prep school for
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  a semester, I think as much as I I hated it, to be honest, I
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  think it humbled me a lot coming from a a powerful high school.
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  Don Bosco prep is a year in year out, puts a ton of talent in
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  Division One schools going there and kind of getting offered by
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  Virginia Tech. Maybe I was a little bit high
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  and then to to see that I had to go to prep school made me
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  realize a few things, which I think helped me a bit.
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  So I got here to Virginia Tech in January 15, just realizing
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  that, all right, you're on a football scholarship, but
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  there's also a lot of academic work you got to do as well.
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  So that's kind of was my mindset when I got here.
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  And like you said, I was able to get here, do my thing
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  athletically, but also more importantly academically, and it
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  kind of helps with how I deal with the players now and
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  recruits. It's always fun to hear that
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  journey piece and and that, you know, sometimes you get that
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  adversity and, and how do you handle it?
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  How do you work through it? But I mean, obviously, you know,
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  looking at at the way you carried yourself at Virginia
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  Tech, always impressive. One thing I want to talk about,
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  because this is a, this is a very player LED thing, or at
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  least it was at the time, like getting voted captain three
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  times. Like what did what did that mean
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  to you as as, as that, that part of your career, especially I
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  know that you know some of that you were dealing with with an
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  injury during some of those seasons.
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  Yeah, so first year was 2019. So obviously you get here as a
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  young player and you see all the older guys, Jonathan McLaughlin,
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  Augie Conti, Sam Rogers, Chuck Clark.
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  You see all those older guys and you look up to them and like,
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  whoa, like in a few years, I wish I could be half of that
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  because those guys were just some of the best team mates I
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  ever had on and off the field. So going into 2019, that was my
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  red shirt senior year, my my fifth year.
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  That was going to be my last year.
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  Obviously that's something I thought about, but I knew it was
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  out of my control. So to get voted captain that
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  year meant a ton to me. To have the the respect of my
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  team mates, I think was huge for me and I think that I think set
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  me apart from a lot of the the other captains in in history at
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  Virginia Techie and other places throughout as a three time
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  captain, I wasn't the the star player.
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  I wasn't the starting left tackle, starting right tackle.
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  As as everyone knows, I only started one game in my career.
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  So I did it in a in a different way.
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  I was able to capture my teammates and the coaching staff
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  in a way that I wasn't exactly the the star player, but I had
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  their respect and leadership enough in the locker room that
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  they were able to wanted to vote me as a captain go.
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  Ahead. Go ahead, Curtis.
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  I was going to. Say you, you just got to love to
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  hear that with the words that just came out of your mouth is I
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  wasn't the starter, but everyone had my respect.
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  Everyone knew, I am assuming from you I was going to put the
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  team first. I was going to do the right
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  things and every piece and they saw that because even though you
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  only started one game, you still played in 67 games in your
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  career, which is still impressive.
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  We did not get into PFF and get snap count.
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  We we didn't go to that snap count or.
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  Not I think the GPS that that that's definitely a Virginia
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  Tech record for games played. Definitely got to be right.
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  Yeah, actually. I was talking to Travis when I
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  first got here and he was like, the record still stands and he
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  said I don't know if everyone's going to ever break that record.
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  So luckily for me that that number will will will stay in
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  history. That's awesome.
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  Well, let's go back to that on field because again, 67 games
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  from 2016 to 2021, What do you say, Ron?
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  Do we ask for three or do we ask for four?
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  Let's do 3. Let's do 3.
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  Let's. Let's keep it.
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  Let's keep it. We don't want to give him too
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  many things to pour over here. OK, so let's go just of your
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  time 20/16/2021 like the top three moments, games, moments
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  that you were there for clearly. What's the first one?
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  And when I said what's the first one that comes to mind like this
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  game this year, you know what I'm saying first.
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  One is 2016. I think that Thursday or Friday
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  night we have Miami at home. We we beat him at home the way
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  Coach Fu had us going that week when Coach Fu, Coach Fuente got
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  into town, he was like everyone else in the ACC is going to feel
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  us and like Miami. They didn't respect us for
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  anything. So he had us going that entire
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  week. So for us to to get big name
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  Miami to come into town on a Thursday night where we know
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  Lane is crazy for that win was was huge for us.
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  So that one comes to mind right away.
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  I'd say secondly is my last year playing 2021 season opener, we
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  got North Carolina. I think they're they're 10th in
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  the country. So for for them to be tempted in
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  country and us to to go out and play our game and just all day
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  long. We started off high and kind of
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  took a low in the middle of the game, but huge win.
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  That one comes to mind right away.
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  I love that one to death. And then?
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  Also in. 2021 beating UVA on their field.
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  At any time I can embarrass it and just beat UVA, I'm going to
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  take full advantage of it. It's pretty clear how I feel
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  about them. So to, to plan our flag in the
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  middle of their field, I get chills thinking about it like
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  that's, that's our field. So we're we're going to get it
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  back. Man, you you pick you pick some
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  good ones there and I mean you talk about the UNC opener.
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  That was like the the first real game post Covic in like yes,
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  every time there's like the season is about to start, they
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  show that clip. Oh my.
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  Goodness, that clip. That's like, and it is funny
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  because like I, I love seeing that.
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  I love seeing the energy in that crowd, but like the cameras were
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  not that great. Like I I we like they didn't
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  even really capture the full essence of lane with with that,
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  but like it was the. ESPN first game of prime time
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  that Friday night and it was like what is this?
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  Because you could just see I mean the whole place was the
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  camera. They had the orange everything's
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  shaking knowing they were going. It's like well, this is cool,
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  but man, this camera because when that when that gets
• 15:19
  dropped, which it will preferably get dropped in about
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  6 months. No, we're not.
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  We're five months now because Oh my God, we're.
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  Because it's April. Because it's April in five
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  months. That first weekend, that will
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  pop up and at least one comment, at least one comment on Twitter
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  will be something to cameras. Hey, I had no clue because I
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  think the same thing when I see it.
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  Like you would think it was back in the back in the day or
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  something like it was 2021 not too long ago, but 720.
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  One looked like 2008. Literally like couldn't believe
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  it. What?
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  OK, so that's the three moments and I understand those because
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  2016 a they came in, people were like they're going to beat Tech.
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  It's you know, even though Tech had a good, we had a good start
• 16:07
  to the season, their Miami's going to beat them.
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  We smoke them, but let's go back to this.
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  Three moments are great. First time you walk through that
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  tunnel as a player, Like, what's the feeling?
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  Because I think for you it would have been 2016 Liberty, correct?
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  Yep. Yep, spot on, spot on.
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  But what was that feeling the the March for Merriman?
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  I mean, it was a noon game. Everything you can see and feel
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  like. Just what what went through your
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  mind? I know that's a decade.
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  It's a decade ago, which I hope that doesn't make you too sad,
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  but it was a decade ago. But what what went through your
• 16:47
  mind walking that line? Yeah.
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  Obviously that that previous year 2015 where I red shirted
• 16:54
  didn't get didn't dress any games or anything like that.
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  So you see it and obviously everyone sees the videos and
• 17:00
  everything like that, but that Liberty game to finally strap my
• 17:05
  pads on, walk from Merriman through the tunnel.
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  I was like so filled with joy. I didn't really know what to
• 17:12
  expect or what to do once I ran out the tunnel because it was it
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  was my first time. You've seen the the cool
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  pictures of guys like jumping up and waving their arms and things
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  like that. But I was so like enamored by
• 17:24
  all of our fans and the the pyrotechnics going off.
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  I'm just looking up and I had no clue.
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  I think I almost tripped on a teammate or something.
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  But as as more games started to come, I kind of was able to kind
• 17:37
  of capture what was truly going on.
• 17:39
  But no matter it was the first game or the last game in lane in
• 17:43
  my career, like I still got chills and still like to be in
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  that moment. One of the best college football
• 17:50
  entrances in the country. I love it to death.
• 17:56
  Yeah, I mean, every time we hear somebody talk about what that
• 17:59
  experience is like, and I'm always curious, it's like, are
• 18:02
  you the type of person that's trying to soak it all in or are
• 18:05
  you trying to like lock in like tunnel vision?
• 18:08
  Yeah, ready for what's about to come at you so the.
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  Thing the thing one before being voted a captain, obviously I got
• 18:16
  to run out all the time and it was honestly amazing touching
• 18:19
  the hoagie stone and running out.
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  But then when you get voted when you're a captain, you have to go
• 18:24
  out before the team runs out. So the captains will walk out
• 18:27
  and it's a different entrance. But it's honestly it's pretty
• 18:30
  unique because it's you and three or four others and
• 18:33
  everyone's clapping for you kind of thing.
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  So I don't say, I don't even remember the last time I ran out
• 18:39
  to Enter Sandman, but just being out there for it on the field
• 18:44
  and having all your teammates run out and kind of hyping them
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  up was still an amazing thing that I wish I could get back
• 18:51
  sometimes. Are you going to ask Coach
• 18:54
  Franklin just one time? Can I just be in the line with
• 18:56
  all of us? Don't please no you.
• 18:58
  You should see at practice like we we have some competitive
• 19:01
  periods offense versus defense, like I'm on the offensive side
• 19:04
  naturally and I'm like, coach, let me go like let, let let me
• 19:07
  go, let let's one of these defensive GAS or coaches go and
• 19:10
  let's see what happens there creating.
• 19:15
  The what is it? The Hunger Games G Staff
• 19:20
  edition, literally. Literally like there was one
• 19:22
  time during winter workouts we're going to do like the
• 19:26
  position coaches to finish it off and I'm I'm trying to go,
• 19:28
  I'm like, I need the offense to win and coach Frank's like get
• 19:31
  out of there. I'm like, all right, coach,
• 19:32
  sorry about that, but I just want to win.
• 19:35
  I wanted to win. He's.
• 19:37
  Like, put me back in, I still got some juicy.
• 19:39
  Let's go, baby. Exactly.
• 19:43
  Well, let's shift a little bit because there's the time as the
• 19:46
  players here in those moments, it's always great to hear the
• 19:49
  journey. But you've had a journey post Vt
• 19:53
  and let's start first in 2022, a year after graduate.
• 19:57
  By the way, nice job. Like get out of College in 2021,
• 20:01
  less than a year. He's got a job as the Rutgers
• 20:04
  player development assistant to Greg Schiano.
• 20:07
  Like how'd that come about? And.
• 20:10
  You know, how was that role at Rutgers being like your first
• 20:13
  foot into, you know, the, I would say the managerial side of
• 20:17
  college football? Yeah.
• 20:20
  I think for me when I when I in my career, when I knew I wasn't
• 20:23
  going to the NFLI wanted to stay close to football.
• 20:27
  I didn't know how that was going to work out, but I knew I wanted
• 20:30
  to be involved with the guys in in some way.
• 20:34
  So my high school offensive coordinator, Drew Lascary, he
• 20:38
  he's currently the assistant quarterbacks coach for the
• 20:40
  Jacksonville Jaguars. He worked at Rutgers at the
• 20:43
  time. He was the safeties coach.
• 20:45
  He said I got a job for you. He says it's entry level, but if
• 20:50
  you want to work in football, this is going to be a great
• 20:52
  opportunity. So I got to Rutgers in 22 as a
• 20:56
  player development assistant and kind of did a lot.
• 20:58
  It was a mixture of recruiting, mixture of recruiting, a little
• 21:04
  bit of academics and kind of just understanding how the the
• 21:08
  behind the scenes of football worked.
• 21:10
  So we, we, we touched a lot of different things, but I think
• 21:13
  it, it helped me a lot because sometimes we help the operations
• 21:17
  crew, we'd help the recruiting department, you're helping the
• 21:20
  position coaches with film and things like that.
• 21:22
  So it's helped me a lot, not only from my director, but also
• 21:26
  Coach Schiano. Obviously he knows a ton, so
• 21:30
  being able to work for him was was definitely huge for me.
• 21:35
  Love hearing that. And you know, like I said, I
• 21:37
  think, you know, I appreciate you kind of highlighting some of
• 21:40
  the things that you're doing in those roles.
• 21:41
  I think that's important. And I know that you know, having
• 21:45
  having talked to some other folks around, like I know
• 21:47
  sometimes depending on where where you're at, sometimes that
• 21:51
  role can look a little different and things like that.
• 21:53
  So I appreciate that when you when you had the first, first
• 21:57
  step away from Rutgers moving on to Boise State, shifting over
• 22:02
  into a strength and conditioning role, what was that like?
• 22:05
  How how did that kind of shift in terms of what your focus was
• 22:09
  and kind of building, you know, those tools in your toolbox as,
• 22:13
  as you know, working in the in the in the football realm, off
• 22:17
  the field? Yeah, the.
• 22:19
  Those jobs when I was at Rutgers, I really couldn't never
• 22:23
  imagine that I'd end up in Boise, ID.
• 22:26
  But it it brought me back to Virginia Tech because Ben
• 22:29
  Hilgart, who was my strength coach for six years, he got the
• 22:33
  head coaching job, head head strength coach job at Boise
• 22:36
  State. He called me for an opportunity.
• 22:40
  And like I said, when I was at Rutgers, it was kind of on the
• 22:42
  bottom. And this was a step up in my
• 22:44
  career and I thought it could benefit me.
• 22:46
  Went out to Boise for a year and learned a ton.
• 22:49
  Being in the being in the weight room on the coaching side, it,
• 22:53
  it teaches you a lot. You see the kids at their their
• 22:55
  weakest point and you get to, to build them up.
• 22:58
  So I thought that was something huge for me, whether that was in
• 23:02
  the weight room or just as a person.
• 23:04
  So I learned a lot when I was out in Boise.
• 23:06
  Absolutely loved it. We won the Mountain West out
• 23:09
  there, but nothing but great things about the, the, the state
• 23:14
  of Idaho and in Boise. Have you guys ever been?
• 23:17
  Never been. Never.
• 23:18
  Been out there I will I will have to get out like so we're
• 23:21
  we're planning a cross country trip next year.
• 23:23
  So I might have to like take a little detour up there in Idaho
• 23:26
  and see what it's all about, I'm telling.
• 23:27
  You that the blue, the blue turf is pretty unique.
• 23:29
  It was a it was a good year spent out there.
• 23:32
  What a what a shift in shift in scenery, though, because
• 23:38
  Rutgers, I mean like not far from the metro areas up in, you
• 23:42
  know, New York and New Jersey and Boise, ID By the way, what
• 23:46
  was the coldest it was ever while you were there?
• 23:48
  Just like do you remember like negative like 9 Like what am I
• 23:52
  doing it? It got low and we'd have similar
• 23:55
  to everywhere in the country, you have those early morning
• 23:57
  workouts and you look at you wake up and you look at the
• 24:00
  weather and you see 0°. I'm like, what?
• 24:02
  What did I like? What am I doing with my life?
• 24:04
  Like I was like, is this what I really want?
• 24:06
  But no, it was great out there. But like you said, coming and
• 24:10
  growing up in New Jersey, working at Rutgers, being 45
• 24:15
  minutes away from New York City and then going out to Idaho was
• 24:18
  a little bit of a shock for me. But I think it was good.
• 24:22
  It kind of taught me to slow down a little bit, appreciate
• 24:25
  the scenery and everything that it had to offer.
• 24:28
  Yeah. I mean, I know, I know you, you,
• 24:30
  you know, you've had a lot of time in, in that area, you know,
• 24:35
  both in, in your younger days before college and then
• 24:38
  obviously with your time in Rutgers and.
• 24:42
  It can get. Cold in, in, in, in New Jersey,
• 24:45
  but I think it's a different type of cold in Idaho, yeah.
• 24:49
  It 100% is like the first time I saw zero.
• 24:52
  I went into our equipment manager the next day I said I
• 24:55
  need the biggest jacket, whatever you have back there.
• 24:58
  Like I need 2 of them. Love it, love it.
• 25:02
  All right, so from there, you spend a year, like you said,
• 25:04
  with someone you knew and been Hilgard, you know, your former
• 25:07
  strength conditioning coach and I mean, you said it, you guys,
• 25:11
  you win the Mountain West Conference, you go through a
• 25:13
  different experience. How did you get back to Rutgers?
• 25:17
  Was this was this you seeking it, or is this someone picking
• 25:20
  up the phone saying, hey, somebody's left?
• 25:24
  Yeah, you crushed for us. We want you back in this
• 25:26
  building. Yeah, it.
• 25:27
  Was a it was a unique situation. So like I said, we we won the
• 25:30
  Mountain West that year and our head coach got let go at the end
• 25:33
  of the season. So our contracts were, as you
• 25:36
  guys know, in this business, when the head coach gets let go,
• 25:39
  everyone gets let go. So at that point was kind of
• 25:42
  searching for a job and someone had left that Rutgers.
• 25:46
  So they called me and said, all right, we had you here as a
• 25:49
  player development assistant. We now want you to assist the
• 25:52
  director in running the department.
• 25:54
  So got let go from Boise and I think like a week or two later,
• 26:00
  Rutgers offered me the job. Moved back out to New Jersey for
• 26:04
  a little bit of a more advanced role from what I was doing
• 26:07
  previously. I was an assistant in the
• 26:09
  department. Now I'm helping hire all the
• 26:12
  assistants in the department, so it was a little bit different,
• 26:15
  but honestly I think it's really prepared me for where I am now
• 26:18
  to to see more of what really goes on, help the guys more off
• 26:22
  the field, dealing with their issues has truly prepared me for
• 26:26
  what I'm doing now. That's awesome, man, and you
• 26:30
  know, like I said, you've had these three roles now and you
• 26:33
  know, you've taken that kind of step up as you've gone along.
• 26:37
  So I know that that, you know, that feels good is in terms of
• 26:40
  like, you know, career and and all that you like you, you know,
• 26:42
  you're building towards, you know, those type of goals,
• 26:48
  taking that step away from being a player development assistant,
• 26:53
  moving up into the assisting the director.
• 26:56
  What how did that kind of shift the the responsibilities that
• 26:59
  you had day-to-day with the players now that you've got, you
• 27:04
  know, some of these other duties that are assigned to your role,
• 27:08
  correct. So.
• 27:10
  Working our records the first time to the second time was
• 27:12
  honestly completely different. The first time I was doing a lot
• 27:15
  more of the grunt work as opposed to the second time.
• 27:19
  Now I'm kind of telling guys what to do, where to go.
• 27:22
  But it allowed me to have a little better relationships with
• 27:27
  the players because I wasn't running around as much.
• 27:29
  And I think that's what I valued as a player was having the staff
• 27:33
  members who could take 20 minutes and and really hear
• 27:37
  what's going on in their lives outside of football because
• 27:40
  everyone wants to talk football, but sometimes these kids just
• 27:43
  want to have someone to talk to and open up in a different way.
• 27:46
  So when I had that was opportunities, that's where I
• 27:49
  was able to connect with a lot of players on a different level.
• 27:53
  And that's, that's, that's awesome to hear.
• 27:55
  And I think it's someone you know, of you're, I'll, you
• 27:59
  played the game and then you, I love you saying you did the
• 28:03
  grunt work of the, the player development, but then you
• 28:05
  assisted in strength conditions. So you know, the mentality of
• 28:07
  those coaches, the player development and then, you know,
• 28:11
  coming back in that kind of higher level role looking, I'm
• 28:14
  not saying you're setting the agendas, but you might get more
• 28:17
  input on setting the agendas. Really love seeing that.
• 28:20
  And I'm going to come back in a few minutes definitely to talk a
• 28:23
  little bit more about that. But but I'll but I want to
• 28:25
  capture this because we're in this journey and you know,
• 28:29
  you're still at Rutgers last year and, you know, coach
• 28:32
  Franklin gets hired, which I'm sure you know, college football
• 28:35
  world. You you heard it frankly, going
• 28:39
  to my alma mater. That's interesting.
• 28:42
  But how, hey, how are you approached about taking over
• 28:47
  being the director? And then on top of that, the
• 28:51
  emotions, because we know you love this place.
• 28:54
  Yeah. And when, how had the situation
• 28:57
  happened? And then what was the emotions
• 28:59
  like you getting that phone call as a former Hokie, as a former
• 29:02
  team captain, as a former Letterman?
• 29:04
  Yeah. They want you to come home
• 29:06
  because what you've done is exemplary and they want you to
• 29:09
  run this department. For sure.
• 29:11
  Honestly, it all happened because of the the connections
• 29:14
  and the work that I was able to do at Rutgers.
• 29:17
  There was a few people that used to work at Rutgers that moved on
• 29:21
  to Penn State and when they took the job down here, they kind of
• 29:26
  started talking and somehow my name came up.
• 29:30
  And then this was in I think the end of December, around in
• 29:34
  December, the conversations really started to happen.
• 29:37
  I remember I landed in Mexico because the the season at
• 29:42
  Rutgers finished. I was assuming I was going to
• 29:45
  return. So we're on vacation.
• 29:47
  We had our time off. So I landed in Mexico.
• 29:49
  I get off the plane and have a text from coach James Franklin
• 29:52
  saying can you talk? I'm like, oh, I was like, yeah,
• 29:55
  I can. So I, I connected to the Wi-Fi
• 29:58
  real quick in the, in the Cancun airport.
• 30:01
  He we talk a little bit and he kind of introduces the, the
• 30:05
  possibility of me joining his staff.
• 30:07
  So once I got back to United States, we, we scheduled an
• 30:12
  interview. I came into town and they were
• 30:14
  speaking about what I was able to do at Rutgers academically
• 30:17
  and recruiting wise, but also the opportunity to do it here,
• 30:21
  where I played, where my, my sister goes here now the, the
• 30:26
  place that I was here for seven years.
• 30:29
  Nothing but great things to say about this place.
• 30:31
  So to, to get to relate to these guys.
• 30:34
  Like I remember when the indoor was just dirt.
• 30:38
  So like to see them work working out in there every single day or
• 30:41
  walking across campus to McBride like I used to do it.
• 30:44
  So I, I truly relate to these guys in a different way.
• 30:47
  And I think that really helped me get the position, but also
• 30:51
  the work that I was able to do at my previous stop.
• 30:55
  Yeah, that and you kind of answered a little bit, but I'll,
• 30:57
  you know, one of the things I was curious about is like how,
• 30:59
  you know, in your current role relative to what was going on at
• 31:04
  Rutgers. Like, you know, it sounds like
• 31:07
  you're able to kind of talk to them on a on a different level.
• 31:10
  Just because not only have you lived it generally, you've lived
• 31:15
  it very specifically being in Blacksburg, you know, doing the
• 31:18
  things that these that they're doing day-to-day, understanding
• 31:21
  the relationships with some of the, you know, professors on
• 31:24
  campus and all all those things. So there's, there's a lot of
• 31:27
  things that you can speak to with a, a level of insight that,
• 31:30
  you know, maybe some of some of the other peers in in your
• 31:33
  position historically may may not have been able to do.
• 31:36
  Yeah. And one thing that I've noticed,
• 31:38
  what these guys are they everyone says like, yeah, I
• 31:41
  played here, I did this, this and that.
• 31:42
  But when they actually Google your name, like, oh, you played
• 31:46
  here like for, for this amount of years, you were a cat.
• 31:48
  Like it takes them a little bit longer.
• 31:51
  They hear it all the time from so many different coaches
• 31:53
  throughout the recruiting process and things like that.
• 31:55
  But once you start working at, at A, at a school for me here
• 32:00
  and then I tell my story. I, I get introduced to the team,
• 32:03
  but then it takes them some time naturally, because they have a,
• 32:05
  a million different things going on.
• 32:08
  I still have some guys coming to him like bro, like you played
• 32:10
  here for seven years, like, and you were a three time captain,
• 32:13
  like, so it, it, it takes a little bit of time, but no,
• 32:17
  they're, they're great once they, they understand, like I
• 32:20
  walked your shoes, like everything I'm telling you is
• 32:22
  out of experience. A lot of things you're going
• 32:25
  through. I went through here as a player,
• 32:26
  whether on the field, off the field, I can relate.
• 32:29
  And then seeing familiar faces in the training room or on
• 32:32
  campus, it helps because some of the classes they're in, for
• 32:36
  example, I may have taken a class and I may know a thing
• 32:39
  that can help them get through it a little bit better.
• 32:41
  So it helps a ton I think. And that's.
• 32:46
  Awesome, awesome to hear. Well, let's let's talk about
• 32:49
  this a little bit because obviously you're coming in with
• 32:52
  player development. You know, you know, you're going
• 32:53
  to have a relationship with the kids, but you clearly are going
• 32:56
  to have to have a relationship with the coaching staff.
• 32:59
  And now I'm trying to think, let's see, you're 21.
• 33:04
  I'm trying to think, was anyone from your last year here still
• 33:09
  in some sort of role? Yep.
• 33:13
  So Coach Crist, Brian Crist, he's like a senior analyst,
• 33:19
  coach, goof who? Govey, Winslow, Jeron, Hugh was
• 33:24
  on the staff as well. And then Jarrett Ferguson was a
• 33:28
  strength coach. He wasn't here in my last year,
• 33:30
  but my first year he was on the staff.
• 33:32
  But besides that. The staff.
• 33:36
  Is pretty much all new. So what's it been like
• 33:40
  cultivating that relationship? Because really it's, I'm
• 33:42
  assuming speed dating, right? Because it's been 3 months since
• 33:45
  you set foot on campus and exactly.
• 33:48
  I get to know everybody. In some way, shape or form it.
• 33:51
  It was as soon as I got to campus, I was like, all right,
• 33:53
  let me learn all these coaches, let me learn their recruiting
• 33:55
  area, let me get to know these guys so I can see how I can best
• 33:58
  help them. So immediately learning these
• 34:01
  guys where they're from, what's their their history so I can
• 34:04
  help them better with our current players and in
• 34:08
  recruiting. So Victoria Hall, I had a a good
• 34:12
  relationship because he was at records with me.
• 34:13
  So that one I kind of checked off the list.
• 34:16
  But then the other guys, Nick Perry got in tight with him
• 34:19
  right away. Anthony Midget, especially Coach
• 34:23
  Moore as well, just because he's offensive line coach.
• 34:26
  Those are some of the guys who Norval McKenzie, he actually
• 34:28
  texted me today and had me working on a recruit.
• 34:32
  So just getting in with these guys, telling them my history,
• 34:35
  what I've been able to do in recruiting and getting certain
• 34:37
  commits. And they've been they've trusted
• 34:40
  me already. They they put some
• 34:42
  responsibility on me. I want you to talk to this kid.
• 34:45
  Let's get him here to campus kind of thing.
• 34:46
  So it was as soon as I got to campus.
• 34:49
  All right. How can I build a relationship
• 34:51
  with these position coaches and how can I help them help us?
• 34:55
  Yeah, you see you, you talked about the that support role with
• 34:58
  the staff like I know we've we've we've talked about the
• 35:00
  player relationship piece. You know, how important is it
• 35:04
  with, you know, your relationships with the staff as
• 35:06
  you're building that out for, you know, your role as a support
• 35:11
  to, you know, the the greater vision of of coach Franklin and
• 35:14
  and the rest of the staff, I think.
• 35:16
  It's very important because they have to trust you and there's
• 35:18
  going to be times like yesterday I I hosted an event for our
• 35:22
  players and when they when the coaches see it on their players
• 35:25
  schedule, they want to know that they're in good hands.
• 35:27
  If I was a some crazy person, they couldn't trust me, they
• 35:31
  would they would probably be hesitant to allow their players
• 35:33
  to go to that meeting. So to to build that, that trust,
• 35:37
  for them to trust me, I think is very important.
• 35:39
  But also like you said, we're all working towards the same
• 35:42
  goal. So for them to say, OK, I know
• 35:45
  that Terrell will be able to get this job done, whether it's our
• 35:48
  players, whether to recruit, our guys are in good hands with him.
• 35:52
  So just letting them know what I've been able to do, being
• 35:56
  genuine in my conversations and relationships with them, I think
• 36:00
  is the an important piece. And it's been good so far, and I
• 36:04
  hope we're going to keep it rolling.
• 36:06
  Nice. So let's let's dive into that
• 36:09
  now that we're here. We're we are now at Terrell
• 36:12
  Smith, President Day Director of Player Development for the
• 36:14
  Virginia Tech Okies. What does it entail?
• 36:17
  You've mentioned the recruiting piece.
• 36:19
  You mentioned grades you've mentioned, but like on on a
• 36:23
  given day, what are two or three things you may do or may be in
• 36:28
  charge or may have to delegate the responsibility of?
• 36:30
  Because I think for a lot of us and when he said we were getting
• 36:33
  you, I'm like, great. I've always wondered what the
• 36:35
  player development guy does. It's entitled.
• 36:39
  So obviously you you kind of helped us.
• 36:41
  You're assisting with recruiting in some way, shape or form,
• 36:44
  correct? What are the other sides?
• 36:47
  Yep. So it's it's a big portion of
• 36:48
  recruiting, like I said, helping out recruiting, talking to
• 36:52
  families, hosting at practice and things like that.
• 36:55
  But also the main focus of the player development department is
• 36:58
  the life after football. We're we're trying to set these
• 37:01
  guys up. If football were to end today,
• 37:03
  they'd be in a better position to go professionally in whatever
• 37:09
  field that may be. Obviously we hope that all these
• 37:12
  guys go to the NFL and play a long career, but we know that's
• 37:15
  not the case. And even for the ones who do go
• 37:18
  to the NFL, at some point they're going to need to fall
• 37:20
  back on a degree or something like that.
• 37:22
  So whether it's a networking night that we're hosting next
• 37:25
  week or an internship, finding an internship in town, we're
• 37:29
  trying to better prepare these guys for for life after
• 37:33
  football. So that's a mixture of it.
• 37:35
  Community service is huge. We have a huge a few different
• 37:39
  events going on this week and next week that our guys are
• 37:42
  going to be attending. So recruiting, life after
• 37:45
  football, community service, academics.
• 37:48
  I actually still class check every single day.
• 37:52
  It's important. Some of the guys they kind of
• 37:54
  laugh at me for for going out on campus checking them, but I
• 37:58
  think it's important for them to be present front row 10 minutes
• 38:01
  early, as Coach Franklin always says, and they've been great.
• 38:04
  So it's kind of a wide-ranging, but truly trying to build the
• 38:08
  the man outside of football. Yeah.
• 38:12
  And I think when you, when you talk about preparation as a
• 38:15
  player, like doing the little things right and doing them
• 38:21
  right consistently is such an important part of it.
• 38:24
  I think that. Word, the consistent word is the
• 38:26
  biggest piece repeatedly over and over again.
• 38:29
  Like obviously someone can do it one time, but when it's easy,
• 38:32
  when it when it's difficult and it's the the 23rd time, can you
• 38:34
  still repeat and do what you have to do at a high level?
• 38:39
  Yeah, I mean, just just like as a as a player, when you, when it
• 38:41
  gets, it's the fourth quarter, man, chips are down.
• 38:45
  You you've got to be able to perform in those situations and
• 38:47
  you got to do it in, in, in real life too.
• 38:49
  When, when things are hard, when things are, are are not
• 38:52
  necessarily stacked in your favor.
• 38:54
  You got to make sure that you're going out there consistently
• 38:56
  doing the right thing so you can reach the goals that you want to
• 38:59
  achieve. Exactly.
• 39:00
  And I, I tell these guys all the time sometimes when I know they
• 39:04
  have papers they have to submit late at night and then just do
• 39:07
  it at 11:59. Like I know it's difficult now,
• 39:09
  but you're going to be, you're going to thank yourself in a few
• 39:12
  years when when you're playing career, maybe done that.
• 39:14
  You did this because you now graduated with a Virginia Tech
• 39:17
  degree. And when you walk into whatever
• 39:19
  business and they see Virginia Tech graduate on your resume,
• 39:23
  they're like, wait, like he, he did something meaningful.
• 39:26
  And I think that's very important.
• 39:28
  Yeah. And, and as it gets into the
• 39:29
  professional world, like getting like deadlines, meeting that
• 39:33
  deadline, getting that work done, being accountable, being
• 39:36
  present, but also I am assuming without hearing networking
• 39:39
  events, it's also being outspoken, knowing when to speak
• 39:42
  to people, knowing sometimes we're not to speak like.
• 39:45
  But the other thing I want to know, and this is a little bit
• 39:49
  away from that is are you involved with the strength and
• 39:52
  conditioning? Because obviously you've got a
• 39:53
  background in it, you know, obviously be in the strength
• 39:57
  condition of seven years as a player, coaching it for a
• 39:59
  seasons. Is that a part of player
• 40:01
  development as well in your aspect of maybe like nutrition
• 40:04
  goals, weight goals? Yeah, it's it's, it's not
• 40:08
  directly in in my in my job description what Coach Franklin
• 40:13
  has it built out as. But I'll give credit to our
• 40:16
  strength coach, Coach Chuck Lowsey.
• 40:19
  When I interviewed, I kind of told him about my background and
• 40:22
  that I was a strength coach at Boise.
• 40:24
  So there's been a few times where they'd be testing or they
• 40:27
  need an extra coach in the weight room and he'll call me
• 40:30
  down there. So I still get the fix, for lack
• 40:34
  of better words, for being down there And, and I I give all the
• 40:37
  credit to coach Chuck Lowsey for thinking of me to, to be down
• 40:41
  there and help the guys. So there's been a few times I've
• 40:44
  been down there and kind of helping the guys get after it.
• 40:47
  I love with the other duties as a sign is something you like
• 40:50
  doing. Exactly.
• 40:51
  Like. You know what?
• 40:53
  I. Mean like if you mean to tell me
• 40:54
  I can spend an hour or two down in the weight room changing
• 40:57
  weights out and helping the guys, like I'm like, let me get
• 41:00
  a set in while I can. But it's been great.
• 41:03
  Well, it's awesome to, it's awesome too that you have that
• 41:06
  because it's like you're effectively, so I end up a
• 41:09
  wedding ring there, but you're effectively like, I'm the
• 41:11
  accountability expert, but plus he calls me down and he's
• 41:15
  chewing you out about not hitting a certain match and he
• 41:17
  knows you can exactly. You know what?
• 41:20
  I just heard that. I'm like, wait a second, what's
• 41:23
  going on over here with the academic side?
• 41:25
  What's going on with the other side?
• 41:26
  Like it, it it all. It all connects.
• 41:29
  It it. All connects and it's like you
• 41:31
  having that former hand in you know strength and conditioning.
• 41:36
  It's not foreign to you. They can't come in the air and
• 41:39
  talk to you about well so and so happened strength condition
• 41:41
  really that happened. I worked in that for a year and
• 41:44
  did seven years old. I've never heard that happen.
• 41:46
  Let's have a conversation and. Then and then it gets fun too.
• 41:49
  Like at the end of the day, these guys are competitive and
• 41:53
  I, I still think I'm competitive and there's going to be times
• 41:56
  when I'm in the weight room with them and they move weight pretty
• 41:59
  fast and I, I get on them and, and they try to put their hands
• 42:02
  on me. So you, you got to bump back a
• 42:04
  little bit just to show them you still got it.
• 42:05
  But when you have Johnny Garrett, Justin Terry, Kyle 203
• 42:11
  huge offensive lineman trying to get you on my guys.
• 42:13
  So like chill, like I can't keep up anymore.
• 42:16
  But no, those guys are awesome. So you know, you talked about
• 42:22
  working with the offensive line a little bit.
• 42:24
  Do you have as far as those relationships are concerned, do
• 42:27
  you feel like you still kind of drawn to your former position in
• 42:31
  terms of those relationship building or do you have kind of
• 42:33
  a good mix across the board? I'd say it's a it's a good mix
• 42:37
  across the board. I will be honest though, when I
• 42:40
  first got here, I did learn all the offensive line names first,
• 42:45
  you know what I mean? Just just naturally that's my
• 42:47
  position. I, I feel like I still fit in
• 42:50
  with them. But no, it's, it's the entire
• 42:52
  team now, whether it's Christian Eppling, the long snapper, Bryce
• 42:57
  Baker, one of our transfer quarterbacks, like I said, the
• 43:00
  old line, Keyshawn Brown, our, our transfer receiver.
• 43:04
  I, I got a pretty, pretty good wide mix of relationships with
• 43:07
  these guys and still looking to grow more and, and deeper with
• 43:11
  these guys. Very nice, very nice.
• 43:17
  Love to hear you now. How crazy has this spring been?
• 43:20
  How crazy has spring ball been? I mean, is it get there at 5,
• 43:24
  leave at 9? Like are you still?
• 43:26
  I'm trying to look, are you still in the?
• 43:28
  Office, yeah. So it's, it's, it's pretty long
• 43:32
  days, honestly. When this was scheduled, we had
• 43:37
  AI had a 5:00 meeting and that meeting went 2 1/2 hour or so.
• 43:41
  It went to 7:30. And I'm like, all right, like I
• 43:44
  have, I'm going to get on this call.
• 43:46
  So it kind of worked out perfectly.
• 43:47
  But the days are long regardless.
• 43:50
  I'm sure I've been seeing people walk back and forth with a whole
• 43:52
  bunch of papers in their hands. So there's always work being
• 43:55
  done. So yeah, it's, it's pretty
• 43:58
  early. It's going to be that 5:00 AM
• 43:59
  start for the most part, and you guys know how it is.
• 44:03
  Sometimes you can work all night.
• 44:05
  There's always something you can adjust or fix.
• 44:07
  Especially for these position coaches trying to draw up the
• 44:11
  best look to see how bulletproof their their scheme may be or
• 44:14
  something like that. But the coaches are doing a
• 44:17
  great job. I give a bunch of credit to
• 44:19
  them. Sometimes I see them early in
• 44:21
  the morning and there you can see their eyes, bloodshot just
• 44:24
  from lack of sleep. But it's all because they want
• 44:27
  the best for these players. Yeah, it's always fun seeing
• 44:33
  like I coached a little bit, I played, I played D3 when I was
• 44:36
  in college. Like it's, it's fun seeing the
• 44:39
  guys that stay late and do all that and get up early and in
• 44:43
  there, but they still have that intensity when they get there.
• 44:47
  And it's like, I'm not, I'm not sure how you're doing this, but
• 44:50
  I, I love the way that you're approaching it because that
• 44:53
  gives juice to everybody else. Exactly.
• 44:56
  Exactly, and I think it's important for because obviously
• 44:59
  the the players are are physically drained from
• 45:01
  everything that they go through here, but the coaches have to be
• 45:06
  kind of a light and they have to be the juice.
• 45:08
  You know what I'm saying? Because the players are drained,
• 45:10
  we have to bring the energy for these guys because they feed off
• 45:13
  of us. If they see that we had a bad
• 45:15
  day or we have no energy, that's what they're going to put out on
• 45:18
  the field. And that doesn't help any of us.
• 45:19
  So regardless of how early or how late of a night it is for
• 45:23
  us, we always have to be at our highest because that's what the
• 45:26
  players see and then it allows them to perform a little bit
• 45:29
  better. Love it, love it.
• 45:33
  By the way, I was I was doing some research here.
• 45:36
  You are the one who planted the flag at 2021.
• 45:40
  It was. We've got it right here.
• 45:41
  He's pinned it to the top of at Terrell Smith 79.
• 45:45
  I will never. Take that off I will never take
• 45:49
  unless going. Away unless I get.
• 45:51
  To remake it somehow that that video will always be on the top
• 45:55
  of my account. I, I, I love it, man.
• 45:57
  I love it in every sense. And listen, it's late.
• 46:01
  You have given us almost 45 minutes of your time.
• 46:04
  We really appreciate it. I think, I think, I think there
• 46:07
  are people watching out here tonight that listen to the
• 46:08
  podcast and stuff tomorrow, see the replays and truly see a how
• 46:13
  much this job means to you, like how much this place means to
• 46:16
  you. And I hope for those who are
• 46:18
  younger, we're not younger. We remember you getting
• 46:21
  recruited, remember you played, we remember you getting hurt.
• 46:23
  We remember you getting the extra year of eligibility.
• 46:26
  Like he got 7. Well, he got hurt.
• 46:28
  What are they supposed to do? The man got hurt.
• 46:30
  He should get an extra year of eligibility.
• 46:32
  He generally got hurt. He didn't like have a sprained
• 46:34
  wrist and said. No, you know I can't come.
• 46:37
  To see I know that's a pop shot at some people doing certain I.
• 46:42
  Hear you, I hear. You, yeah, but well, again,
• 46:46
  Darrell, we appreciate you taking your time, giving us
• 46:49
  great conversation this evening. Get if you're allowed to go
• 46:53
  home, get some sleep. We know it's another grind day
• 46:55
  tomorrow because spring game isn't exactly 10 days from
• 47:00
  today. Yes, I unfortunately am not
• 47:02
  coming. Brian will be until maybe they
• 47:04
  all run across each other somewhere, no?
• 47:07
  Honestly, I can't wait. The guys have been busting their
• 47:10
  tail all spring. Obviously there's been a new
• 47:13
  energy with with coach well, with Coach Franklin in town.
• 47:17
  We can just see it from just the amount of energy on campus and
• 47:22
  everything like that. So to see Hokey Nation full on
• 47:26
  next Saturday, I think it's going to be awesome.
• 47:29
  Yeah, I'm excited. We got a We're going to be doing
• 47:31
  a live stream with a couple other guys up on Chicken Hill
• 47:34
  before the game. Nice.
• 47:36
  It's going to be a nice little spread there.
• 47:38
  Oh my. Goodness, drinks, we're going
• 47:40
  to. Have have have the live stream
• 47:41
  going get a couple, you know, people from the tailgate in
• 47:44
  there yeah, maybe a good time. Excited to see that, excited to
• 47:48
  see what you you boys are kind of cooking up over there.
• 47:51
  And I know there's going to be hopefully 66,000 others there
• 47:55
  with me that are gonna get to see it as well.
• 47:58
  Exactly. Let's keep our fingers crossed
• 48:00
  for nice weather. If we have nice weather, Oh my
• 48:02
  goodness. Hokey Nation's gonna be out
• 48:03
  there strong. I can't wait the.
• 48:05
  The weather the the temperatures are looking really good so far I
• 48:08
  know weather, you know, rain we it's it's we're still too far
• 48:12
  off to tell about that, but the temperatures are looking pretty
• 48:15
  nice so far so. Let's I need it.
• 48:18
  Let's keep it holding. As long as the.
• 48:19
  Temperature. OK, you if this is a nice warm
• 48:22
  rain, mostly everybody can deal with that.
• 48:24
  It's when it's, especially when. It's just a shower and not like
• 48:26
  oh. We can.
• 48:29
  Deal with that, We can deal with that, Purdue 20. 24 exactly.
• 48:35
  You were not here then. But that was the the the noon
• 48:38
  kit that started at what time was it 63630?
• 48:43
  Me and myself, Brian, our partner tally, we were in South
• 48:47
  end zone and like that hill started coming down like he
• 48:51
  still swears to this day. He's like, I thought I was going
• 48:53
  to. Die because of this.
• 48:56
  Thing coming through, but listen, take care of yourself.
• 48:59
  We hope to talk to you in the future, yes.
• 49:01
  Sir, I appreciate you guys, truly thank you for having me.
• 49:04
  Thank you, Terrell. Have a good night.
• 49:05
  Yup, y'all. Do the same.
• 49:08
  Oh, right, that was fun. That was a good.
• 49:10
  Time, man, that was. You know what, it's always good
• 49:14
  to get, hey, it's always fun to talk to former Hokies.
• 49:17
  Always, always. And again, a guy we can remember
• 49:22
  playing, I do remember the injury history, like because he
• 49:24
  legitimately got hurt. I think it was 2020 and like he
• 49:30
  he truly deserved the extra year where I know I'm kind of laying
• 49:35
  out other people like trying to get 7th and eight years for like
• 49:37
  spring wrists and I got mono and I need to.
• 49:40
  Yeah, yeah. Trinidad Champlis.
• 49:42
  Yeah, You really don't deserve that year.
• 49:45
  You had mono. It's like a month and you could
• 49:47
  have played. What about the?
• 49:48
  Quarterback up the road. He's 25.
• 49:52
  Get a job. But for real, thanks again,
• 49:57
  Terrell. We know you're going to have to
• 49:58
  log off here. Take care of yourself, man.
• 50:00
  Hopefully we cross paths soon. Well, Brian, let's hit a few
• 50:04
  other things before we wrap it up tonight.
• 50:09
  We. Had couple recruits in the door
• 50:13
  for 2027. Brock Frisby from Archbishop
• 50:18
  Spaulding up in Severn, MD, back to the Catholic roots and
• 50:21
  another one, Alexander Taylor from Saint Francis Academy, both
• 50:25
  defensive lineman, both in that 6263 range, 26265, A very solid
• 50:32
  start to the 2027 cycle in the footprint.
• 50:38
  St. Francis, obviously good
• 50:40
  relationship there over the last few years, but not with the
• 50:42
  Archbishop. I I'm going to do a little
• 50:44
  research while you chit chat on them, but I'm trying to think of
• 50:47
  the last guy from Archbishop we've got.
• 50:49
  Definitely feels like it's been a long, long time.
• 50:51
  I'm trying to think. Too And like you know, when we
• 50:53
  look at them, you know, both have, you know, pretty solid
• 50:58
  offer sheets. I, I think when we, when we look
• 51:02
  at what this staff is doing, especially with some of these
• 51:06
  early targets, you know, we saw it in the wrap up to the 26th
• 51:13
  class where you had a bunch of offensive lineman like a very
• 51:18
  trench focused approach. And we're seeing that coming
• 51:23
  into fruition, right. Again, you know, with this class
• 51:26
  being very trench focused out of the gate, you know, we know
• 51:30
  probably from a long term standpoint, some of the more
• 51:34
  blue chip talent in this class is going to probably be
• 51:36
  committing. You know, between May, May to
• 51:39
  September is probably when most of those you know are are going
• 51:43
  to be be committing. So, but, but you know, you're,
• 51:48
  you're the meat of your, of, of your recruiting class is going
• 51:54
  to be guys like Brock Frisby, by the way.
• 51:59
  Men. Sort of lame.
• 52:01
  One of the only guys that I can even find.
• 52:03
  That was five years ago. Yeah.
• 52:06
  And I mean, I know we've been certainly hitting those Maryland
• 52:14
  Catholics a lot harder in the last few years.
• 52:18
  So it doesn't shock me that we're starting to make some
• 52:19
  headway back in some of these schools.
• 52:21
  So really excited about the way we can kind of make some noise
• 52:28
  in the Mid-Atlantic now recruiting just because there
• 52:30
  there's so many, there's so much talent coming out of the that
• 52:33
  area every year. And you know, when you get a
• 52:38
  chance to pull from these programs that are they know,
• 52:43
  they know what it is to win. They they're, you know, they're
• 52:47
  doing it in a way that feels very collegiate, but even even
• 52:52
  in high school at that, at that level.
• 52:54
  So it it, you know, you get guys that are coming in kind of ready
• 52:58
  to compete. And I think that's important,
• 53:01
  yeah. That's always important is
• 53:03
  getting the guys here early because I think in today's age
• 53:07
  development's going to be tougher.
• 53:09
  I think Coach Franklin knows that.
• 53:11
  But that's the thing. If you can get guys who are
• 53:12
  already kind of already size wise built, you're liable to
• 53:18
  hold onto a quicker versus a guy who's slightly under schedule.
• 53:20
  He needs to gain 25 lbs. Well, can't take that back.
• 53:25
  It's really tough to gain £25 a year.
• 53:27
  Not that it's impossible, but to do it correctly, it's really
• 53:31
  tough to do it in a year to do on a way.
• 53:34
  Where you're better for it. Yeah.
• 53:37
  That that that's that's the struggle.
• 53:39
  I mean, I, I think if you go out there and, you know, especially
• 53:43
  kids that are already prone to, you have, have bigger bodies
• 53:47
  anyway, 25 lbs can come on the wrong way pretty quick.
• 53:52
  It, it's hard to put on 25 lbs the right way, especially when
• 53:58
  you're already somebody that's 63, you know, 260-5270.
• 54:02
  So when when you look at guys like that coming in, I mean,
• 54:05
  it's important to have again, a good framework and good size to
• 54:09
  begin with. And you've also from a process
• 54:15
  standpoint, from a preparation standpoint, you've been doing it
• 54:20
  college light, not just, you know, public school, high school
• 54:24
  type deal. And, and I know that's gotten
• 54:26
  more intense in the last decade or so as well, but you know,
• 54:32
  these these schools have been doing it that way for a very
• 54:35
  long time. 100% Let's start this up there Ron give Andretti and
• 54:42
  everybody out there because you kind of you kind of laid it out
• 54:46
  a little bit for Terrell there, but what's going on?
• 54:51
  Sorry guys, wish I could. I got a nine and 11.
• 54:55
  If I tried it I'd be there by 5 the. 11 is the is is what's
• 55:00
  hurting you and that's. The one I am a coach for, I am a
• 55:03
  coach for the Hokies. If if if they were both in the
• 55:06
  morning, like early morning, if they they.
• 55:09
  Were both at night, it's possible you could have did a.
• 55:11
  Flying trip with with Charlie. I could have, it would have been
• 55:16
  pretty crazy, but unfortunately the way it looks is they are not
• 55:21
  so I mean it is best. Case theory You're pulling in 30
• 55:28
  minutes after the game started. Probably a. 100%, But yeah,
• 55:32
  later for everybody that's out there watching, if you haven't
• 55:34
  followed Brian, I know you put it on Instagram, you put it on
• 55:37
  Twitter, you put it on Facebook, everywhere.
• 55:39
  But since Andrea is out there listening, we've got a little
• 55:42
  crowd. You can tell him what's going
• 55:43
  on. Yeah.
• 55:44
  So I know that we've talked about this.
• 55:47
  This is the fourth year now that Dan Poltz, PB and myself, we've
• 55:53
  kind of been putting together this pre game show.
• 55:56
  Last year was a post game show, but it's a show on Spring game
• 56:00
  live streaming, talking about the game, talking about the
• 56:03
  expectations, talking about what we want to see, what we'd like
• 56:07
  to see, and just enjoying the fact that the spring game is
• 56:15
  such a unique and special time for I think fans to get
• 56:19
  together. You know, it's one of those
• 56:24
  things where you get to enjoy football, you get to enjoy
• 56:27
  fellowship with people that love the same thing you do and you
• 56:31
  won't see a loss. I mean, you're guaranteed not to
• 56:36
  see a loss. So you go into the stadium, you
• 56:40
  don't have this misplaced expectation that can get
• 56:43
  crushed. You don't have this dread that
• 56:47
  could become a reality. You just have I'm a go in here
• 56:50
  and I'm a watch the football and I might find some things out
• 56:53
  about this team and it's going to be a good, you know, two to
• 56:56
  three hours. And that's that's all you can
• 56:59
  really, you know, hope for. It's such a good time.
• 57:03
  But we're doing the pregame show again.
• 57:05
  It's going to be live on Chicken Hill live from the tailgate noon
• 57:12
  on April 18th before the spring game.
• 57:17
  There's going to be a bourbon table.
• 57:19
  There's going to be food. Shout out to Steven Wright going
• 57:24
  to be helping with the with the host and he's going to be
• 57:27
  chefing it up here he is a meat smoking and Blackstone grilling
• 57:32
  expert. And that's coming from somebody
• 57:34
  that also considers himself that bro knows what he's doing.
• 57:39
  So come by, get some food, listen to your boys and some
• 57:43
  others. Chat up some football, take a
• 57:46
  sip of bourbon. And for those that want to help
• 57:49
  contribute to the festivities, you know, this is a free event.
• 57:53
  But Steven will have his Venmo out there if you want to
• 57:55
  contribute to some of the some of the libations.
• 57:58
  But as far as drinking is concerned, it is going to be
• 58:02
  BYOB outside of like, you know, some, some bourbon tasting.
• 58:07
  Then go Steven. Because I've, I've been just one
• 58:10
  of a couple Stevens tailgates. Stevens stuff is on point
• 58:13
  bourbon wise. It's up there like it really is.
• 58:16
  Yeah, so if you're doing some tastings, getting some food, you
• 58:19
  know, throw Steven some bones, but otherwise it's a free event.
• 58:24
  Just come hang out and listen to U.S. chat a little bit.
• 58:26
  All right, do this for everyone and and you'll do it again next
• 58:31
  week too, as we kind of do the preview of the game.
• 58:35
  If you're looking at Lane Stadium from the front, where's
• 58:40
  Chicken Hill? Just so because Chicken Hill,
• 58:42
  it's one of those things, it's like lots 1 and 2 are there, you
• 58:46
  know you've got other lots as well.
• 58:47
  But just so everybody, if you have not like Andretti's never
• 58:51
  been and I think he is coming so.
• 58:53
  If if you're at the if you're looking at South end zone.
• 59:00
  It's. Directly across the street up on
• 59:03
  the hill when we're actually up on the the upper part of Chicken
• 59:06
  Hill, not the lower part of Chicken Hill lot right on the
• 59:11
  the apron that that fronts the road there.
• 59:15
  So if you, if you stand at South end zone and look, look, look
• 59:19
  further South, right up on the hill baby.
• 59:23
  There you go, just find South end zone.
• 59:26
  Look, S, you'll probably see them now, obviously next week,
• 59:30
  Brian, I think Callie's going to be back.
• 59:31
  By the way, Callie couldn't join us tonight because in the season
• 59:35
  basketball banquet for his son, good for his son again, making
• 59:39
  the team and having that banquet.
• 59:41
  But next week, obviously, we're going to preview, we're going to
• 59:43
  talk about things we're looking forward to at the spring game.
• 59:46
  You know, what we want to see out of it, you know, and I don't
• 59:52
  want to get too deep into that as we wrap up in the next few
• 59:54
  minutes here. But there's so much, you know, I
• 59:57
  didn't get to see the full interview, but seems like James
• 1:00:00
  Franklin wants to take the quarterback battle into the
• 1:00:02
  fall. I'm not shocked by that, not at
• 1:00:05
  all. Just from the mentality probably
• 1:00:08
  of who James Franklin is. That doesn't shock me.
• 1:00:12
  But the question goes probably is anybody on a throat count
• 1:00:18
  snap counts? You know what I'm looking
• 1:00:21
  forward to? I want to know the format.
• 1:00:24
  Y'all know how ballistic I am about the right format and how
• 1:00:29
  disappointed I am when you have the wrong format.
• 1:00:33
  Because if everybody knows the right format is offense versus
• 1:00:37
  defense, where you can play one V ones, you can mix and match 2
• 1:00:41
  can play 2, you can play 1V2, you can play 2V ones, you can
• 1:00:45
  mix them all up. That's the right format.
• 1:00:49
  And I know Coach Pryor had sold several years.
• 1:00:51
  He never had the depth to do that.
• 1:00:55
  I think at times my opinion is death be damned because you
• 1:00:59
  really want to know where you're at.
• 1:01:02
  Because what we always talk about, Brian, there's certain
• 1:01:04
  guys, if you just put them on the field in the heat of
• 1:01:07
  competition, they shine through. Yeah, I, I think it's, it goes
• 1:01:13
  two ways for me because I feel like a standard game format with
• 1:01:19
  a split roster feels more like a game.
• 1:01:23
  So I think that's better for the casual fan if I want to evaluate
• 1:01:31
  what I have up front, what I have from a depth perception.
• 1:01:35
  Like guys like me like to see the format that you're referring
• 1:01:39
  to just because I can see how that first five is working
• 1:01:43
  together on the offensive line. I can see what we're comfortable
• 1:01:47
  with and not comfortable with from a from a stunt perspective
• 1:01:51
  or a blitz perspective on defense.
• 1:01:53
  I can see some of the the more base coverages that we're
• 1:01:56
  running. I can see some of the bread and
• 1:02:00
  butter routes that we're running.
• 1:02:01
  I can see those things with the players that I anticipate to see
• 1:02:05
  doing it on Saturdays in the fall.
• 1:02:09
  So that that's where I like that format better, but I understand
• 1:02:15
  that a split roster, you know, one team scores on offense only,
• 1:02:21
  the other team scores on offense only.
• 1:02:23
  I know that plays better for the casual fan because it it is more
• 1:02:28
  of a traditional game flow. You're you're not having to
• 1:02:33
  worry about, well, how does the defense score points?
• 1:02:35
  And like, like you don't get into anything abstract like
• 1:02:38
  that, like. Obviously.
• 1:02:42
  We obviously we understand 3 and outs are good for the defense,
• 1:02:45
  interceptions are good for the defense, two overall downs are
• 1:02:48
  good for the defense. You can make it work, yeah.
• 1:02:53
  Fumble recoveries are good for the defense.
• 1:02:57
  Good for the. Defense, yeah.
• 1:02:58
  And you know, as long as you know what that scoring is like,
• 1:03:01
  and you know, as people that play fantasy football as well,
• 1:03:05
  like we, we, we, we kind of know, we know if you're pretty
• 1:03:09
  pretty distinctly what, what the flow is going to be like for,
• 1:03:13
  for something like that. But I like I said, I get, I get
• 1:03:15
  why it's, you know, it works better for the casual fan.
• 1:03:19
  And I get why it's a struggle if you don't have the depth because
• 1:03:22
  it is hard already to get 2 full offensive lines.
• 1:03:31
  It's true, and we were. Struggling to even get there the
• 1:03:35
  last three years. Well, I can remember a couple of
• 1:03:38
  those years. We immediately looked at the
• 1:03:40
  roster and saw the offensive lines and it's like, that team's
• 1:03:43
  going to win. It doesn't even matter who's on
• 1:03:45
  the other team. It was like when you're usually.
• 1:03:48
  Missing at least one one offensive line starter from the
• 1:03:51
  game full stop usually, and then the best.
• 1:03:55
  Backups part of the. Next one the best Best starter,
• 1:03:58
  best two starters are on one side and the best.
• 1:04:01
  Backups on the other side, it's just like, yeah.
• 1:04:04
  And I'm like. OK, well, they they're going to
• 1:04:06
  they're going to win this and you know, should it's happened,
• 1:04:10
  you add to that, you know, have not having your two best
• 1:04:13
  quarterbacks available in last year's spring game.
• 1:04:16
  It was really hard to weather aside it was, it was really hard
• 1:04:21
  to to really take a lot of things away from that game last
• 1:04:25
  year because of the offensive line situation, because of
• 1:04:29
  having both of your your one and two quarterbacks out of that
• 1:04:33
  game and you've got your true freshman running the quarterback
• 1:04:37
  positions in the spring game. Yeah, there was there was a lot
• 1:04:41
  of things going on in last year's spring game that I think
• 1:04:47
  made it a worse product than it could have been.
• 1:04:50
  And then you throw on top of that 38° feels like 32 at
• 1:04:55
  kickoff and it's. Raining and it's miserable.
• 1:05:00
  That, that was, that was some of the, you know, more unexpected
• 1:05:04
  bad weather in Blacksburg that I've seen well.
• 1:05:08
  Well, hold on, was was that weather almost as bad as the Pit
• 1:05:12
  game in 2019? Now it was worse, and I tell you
• 1:05:18
  why. Because that was the end of
• 1:05:19
  November. And I'll tell you why it's worse
• 1:05:21
  because the wind was blowing the whole time.
• 1:05:24
  Like at least in that game, it was cold and it was pouring, but
• 1:05:29
  you you didn't have the wind whipping the whole time.
• 1:05:32
  The problem was, is that it was already cold.
• 1:05:35
  It was drizzling most of the day, but the wind was blowing
• 1:05:39
  constantly. It was cold and it was that bone
• 1:05:44
  chilling wind cold that like, you know, you get just a little
• 1:05:49
  bit comfortable when it stops and then it comes right back and
• 1:05:51
  you're like bitch and and. I'm going to assume last year
• 1:05:55
  too, you weren't directly in the seats under the overhang.
• 1:06:00
  I was. Not under the overhang, no.
• 1:06:01
  I was right on the 40 yard line. Still the.
• 1:06:07
  Best purchase. Tickets 5 or 6 rows up, still
• 1:06:10
  the. Best tickets ever was that game,
• 1:06:14
  which was great to be at. The tickets we purchased were
• 1:06:17
  literally what? West End zone?
• 1:06:20
  Yeah, W stands. Yeah, W stands.
• 1:06:24
  W stand right near the tunnel. Right near the tunnel, but
• 1:06:29
  literally one row back under the overhang.
• 1:06:32
  The poor people in front of us got drenched and we're just
• 1:06:35
  sitting back here. Yeah, dry we were.
• 1:06:39
  We were a row and a half behind the cut off.
• 1:06:42
  Perfect, perfect. But again, we're going to talk
• 1:06:47
  more about next week, things we're looking for and things
• 1:06:50
  like that as we preview the spring game.
• 1:06:53
  And Brian, anything else to wrap up tonight?
• 1:06:57
  Because Terrell was such a fun interview, Man, I always love
• 1:07:00
  interviewing guys like that because they're going to give it
• 1:07:02
  to you straight. There's a, there's a reason that
• 1:07:05
  we, you know, we kept coming back to and saying we want to
• 1:07:07
  get him in here. We want to get him in here.
• 1:07:09
  Like we wanted to make this work.
• 1:07:12
  You know, first go round, there's a little bit of a
• 1:07:14
  miscommunication on on what night he was available.
• 1:07:17
  Then, you know, last week we had the situation where he's like, I
• 1:07:20
  can go. I was like, we can't
• 1:07:21
  unfortunately. We're fascinated.
• 1:07:25
  Yeah, Yeah. Yeah, we're either going to be
• 1:07:27
  in a car or at a game, but yeah, it it.
• 1:07:31
  I'm glad it worked out. He was great, you know, love,
• 1:07:35
  love his journey. And he was one of those players
• 1:07:37
  that you always rooted for as a hokey, like you did it the right
• 1:07:42
  way, led by example it. Also I think.
• 1:07:48
  That's, you know, that, that that was always big for me
• 1:07:50
  seeing guys doing it the right way and making sure they were
• 1:07:54
  helping others on their journey as well.
• 1:07:56
  Like that's, that was that was huge.
• 1:07:59
  And he and he always did it that way.
• 1:08:01
  So really happy that we were able to get him on here and have
• 1:08:04
  that conversation with him. 100% well, with that being said, we
• 1:08:08
  appreciate the real Smith for joining us tonight.
• 1:08:11
  And that will wrap up this episode of the Boundary Corner
• 1:08:14
  podcast brought to you by moments on the Mori in
• 1:08:16
  Lexington. I'm Curtis Wilson.
• 1:08:19
  I'm. Brian Siegler visit.
• 1:08:20
  Boundarycornerbt.com to listen to all of our episodes while
• 1:08:24
  you're there, follow us Twitter, Facebook, Instagram.
• 1:08:27
  Make sure you subscribe to that YouTube channel for us as well
• 1:08:31
  as your favorite podcast source. We're on them all, trust me,
• 1:08:35
  we're all. As always, we let our buddy
• 1:08:38
  Jason Long play us in, play us out.
• 1:08:40
  Check him out at jasonlongmusic.com where you can
• 1:08:45
  connect to all of his good stuff, his music on Apple and
• 1:08:51
  Spotify, his YouTube channel, his Facebook pages.
• 1:08:54
  Also taking a look. Begin after.
• 1:08:56
  Lately he has been. Doing a lot of live shows he
• 1:09:00
  will be doing to this upcoming weekend and they were greater
• 1:09:04
  Roanoke Valley area on the 10th which I believe is Friday night.
• 1:09:09
  He is going to be down at Pollard, one O 7 S down in
• 1:09:12
  Vinton, just outside Roanoke and then on Saturday 8:00 to 10:30
• 1:09:17
  at Crooked Shoreline down in Daleville.
• 1:09:20
  So definitely go check him out there.
• 1:09:23
  We appreciate y'all all for listening.
• 1:09:25
  We appreciate y'all in the chat as well.
• 1:09:27
  And as always, let's go. Hokies.
• 1:10:28
  Music.