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Rebuilding A Program · Boundary Corner Podcast

1:51
And welcome back to the boundary Corner podcast, along with my
1:54
partners. Brian Siegel.
1:56
And Jonathan tally, I'm Curtis Wilson and this episode is
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brought to you by. Dr. Jeremy counts at the Main
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Street Pharmacy in Blacksburg, if you love this podcast, the
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Hokies the town of Plattsburgh. Make sure you are supporting
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towards the thing. You love and support.
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So next time, you're in Blacksburg head on down to 301
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South Main Street, fellas. I don't know if you noticed, but
2:29
there's some new music in the intro there for this episode.
2:32
This is, yeah, yeah, that's our man.
2:35
Jason long with a little cover of Midnight Rider.
2:37
They're not a lie. You know who originally recorded
2:41
Midnight Rider, right? Midnight?
2:43
Rado. Pretty sure that's by the Allman
2:47
Brothers. He got it.
2:49
Yes, I'm in Brothers. You know who's The big fan of
2:51
the Allman Brothers, right? I think I know somebody somebody
2:55
that was talking about playlist a few weeks back.
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Hey, coach Brent pry. I yeah, so so boundary corn
3:04
podcast listeners with all that being said, It is an absolute
3:10
pleasure, to Welcome to the boundary Corner podcast.
3:13
Today, not only is he a big, Allman Brothers fan but he is
3:17
the head coach of your Virginia Tech.
3:19
Hokies, welcome coach. Brent fry coach Frey.
3:23
How you doing? I'ma tell you had me worried for
3:26
a minute. I was like, okay, I hope they
3:30
don't think that's Gregg. Allman wasn't bad, but certainly
3:35
not Gregg Allman here. Be great almond though.
3:42
Absolutely hard. But I buddy when we told him we
3:45
thought about having you on he's like I'm going to record it
3:48
because he's putting out a CD and a few days here, love it.
3:53
He was said he wanted to do the tip of the cap.
3:55
Not only to the Allman Brothers but to coach Pride because he I
3:58
buddies down in Roanoke. Tell me his name again.
4:02
Jason long great will tell him. I appreciate it.
4:06
We absolutely will Coach Has everything been man?
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We know you are busy as heck. These last few months here?
4:14
Yeah, it's been a good good spring.
4:18
And then, of course, the assistants hit the road
4:20
recruiting and we've been doing hokey club events around the
4:24
state which have been well received.
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And now, we're just got all our guys in for summer, on Sunday
4:31
night. We had a big team meeting and so
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they're already rocking and rolling and lifting and running
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and getting things going. So, Also own into phase 3.
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When you know, you just said the, the tailgate and over last
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night last night, right. You sure did?
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Yeah, we had a great. We flew out yesterday.
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At before lunch, we had a great lunch.
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With some very important donors and supporters of the program,
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Mike Vick was in attendance, Kendall, Fuller, and obviously
5:01
some prominent guys that support the program and that lasted a
5:05
couple hours and we went over to two silos.
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As in, you know, had a nice nice time there, met a ton of people,
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my wife, Amy goes with us to those things and shake a lot of
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hands, kiss, a lot of babies and share that hokey love.
5:22
Yes sir. Yes sir.
5:24
Well coach, you already mentioned phase 3 and you know
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as we kind of wrapping up the spring and everything here,
5:29
we're about halfway through the calendar year, how do you feel
5:33
overall phase one, the winter workouts and you as you call
5:36
them and Phase 2 spring practice.
5:38
How do you feel It went for the team.
5:40
Yeah, I'd say I was pleased. Phase one was much more
5:43
competitive. That's a combination of morning
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workouts, football sessions weight room a lot of one-on-one
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reps in agility, cone work. Matt drills, we documented all
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the Reps and called out winners and the level of compete just
6:03
rows and rows and rows as we went.
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So, very pleased there. I think our Our pad level, our
6:10
footwork, things like that improved, as well as the compete
6:14
level, then Phase 2 Spring ball, you know, that's where guys
6:17
getting opportunity. That hadn't been in it too deep
6:20
previously and all the sudden they're inserted and they're
6:22
getting meaningful reps. And you know, I thought the
6:26
fundamentals were there, I thought there was growth at each
6:31
position. I thought there was Improvement.
6:34
You don't do your whole package in the spring but there was
6:37
improvement with what? What we did install offensively
6:41
and defensively. Well, talking about spring.
6:46
Practice a little bit, we know you've been coaching a long,
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long time. Coach kind of new to head
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coaching. So, last year being your first
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year and it's being your second year where there any particular
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areas of focus that you kind of input it this year or focused on
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this year more than last year? Yeah, I think this I think you
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know, it's steals get but it still gets back to identifying
7:14
the weaknesses. With each guy on your roster and
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that could be the best player on the team.
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It could be number 125 but you have to be able to talk to
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identify those weaknesses and talk to those guys about it and
7:27
how do we improve on them? You know, that's a big area
7:30
emphasis and I think in year one it's hard to know enough about
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each guy. If you hadn't been around up
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enough, yeah, you know, and that's all on the field.
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That's off the field, that's all of it.
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So when you have a whole cycle with them and you just feel a
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little better about what, you know, and you can work on
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things. Felt like we did a good job.
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They're much better job, myself and the staff.
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And then the additional piece is just, you know, really being the
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best head coach a can be yes, sir definitely has waited half
8:01
my time back in the defensive room.
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I was able to spend a bunch of time right here.
8:06
At this desk, don't head coaching duties the from the so
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kind of going back to that as well.
8:14
That was there any things that you kind of scrap from last year
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now that you're putting more of that head coaching hat on most
8:22
of the time, if your scrap anything from last year that you
8:25
did and kind of what led to that if you did.
8:28
Yeah, to be honest, just spit, not spending the time in that
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defensive room. You know, not feeling like,
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okay, I got to go back there from 9 to 11 and from from three
8:38
to four, and just gave my calendar.
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A lot more freedom to do other things within the program within
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the community on the University campus just was able to be a
8:50
better more well-rounded head coach.
8:52
I feel like that's awesome. I love hearing that I'm just
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now. Yeah it's definitely nice
8:59
earring that you know some Beyond a focus On those head
9:03
coach do. That's definitely something that
9:05
we like to hear what position group from the spring and in the
9:09
winter workouts. Do you think kind of exceed your
9:12
expectation kind of during the course of those two phases.
9:16
Yeah I think the wideouts showed the most Improvement, they had
9:21
to longest way to go. Well they might have been right
9:25
last last year but I'll tell you coach mines, has done a fabulous
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job recruiting and coaching that group.
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We've had some As develop, Stephen does nail Tucker.
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Holloway's Avion, Bradshaw. We've recruited some Highschool
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guys. That were excited about
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developing Aiden. Green Marcel Baylor, the chi,
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he's penix, Fitzgerald. I mean, when you talk about the
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three transfers Felton, Lane, and Jennings, all three of them,
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have a chance to be in the starting lineup and if not,
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they're going to be in a serious role.
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Location. So we really helped ourselves
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are we couldn't separate well enough last year.
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We didn't catch the ball. Well enough, we weren't fast
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enough, we didn't have depth so I think we got a chance to have
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a true six. Maybe seven that we feel really
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good about catching the ball Route 1 and yards after catch,
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you know, some of those guys needed, you know, we got to have
10:27
some guys who make some big-time plays and Big Time moments.
10:29
That's that's a big step forward from last year with you know,
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the only Kayla Smith was the the big reliable but you didn't
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really have a whole lot of consistent output Beyond him.
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So outside of him, there wasn't much, you know, and he was, he
10:43
was up and down with his health and you know how many snaps you
10:46
can play and if he was going to play, but I think we're in a
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much better place there. I love coach how you just speak.
10:54
So candidly saying that wide receiver group was last last
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year and how they've taken those tried.
10:58
That's wonderful to hear and, you know, you mentioned some of
11:01
those transfers including Jalen Lane, you know, we didn't get to
11:04
see Jalen, you know, at the spring game because he was a
11:07
little banged up and those are things that can be unforeseen
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and there ain't no reason to take any unnecessary risks.
11:13
This is a spring game, you're wrapping up at face.
11:16
No reason aggravated Nick but that's certainly impacts the
11:20
balance of the game and these boys that I had to ask this
11:23
question because I've talked about it several times on the
11:26
podcast that make that doesn't mean I got to answer it.
11:29
It doesn't trip. In this.
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Now, couple years, do you foresee any change to the spring
11:37
game format? Given the limitations, you know,
11:40
we knew Xavier Chaplin was out on that white team this year and
11:43
that was a big loss for them. How do you see that going
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forward? Or is that something
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self-evaluation constantly. Yeah, I think that's an annual
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evaluation on how you want to do it.
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You know for us right now we still needed four, quarters game
12:01
Operation game management. The whole team and staff needed
12:05
that in the stadium. As we get further down the road.
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If we get to a better place which I hope we will, maybe it
12:12
can be a little more geared towards just, you know, seeing
12:15
guys work and little bit more like a scrimmage situation
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rather than game situation and, you know, get more out of it
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that way. But also let me tell you when
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you hit that last practice you don't want to lose anybody.
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Yes sir you know the haze almost in the barn.
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There's Going to be a handful of guys, every year that need that
12:37
game. That need the evaluation, you
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know, that need to experience. And they're generally not in
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that line up. There may be a backup guy that
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surfaced or somebody that was banged up early in Spring.
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And you say, you know what, it's worth the risk, we got to go get
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him a good day, but I've lost starters in the spring game and
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other places other years and that's a bad feeling.
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So, we came out of that thing healthy, which was put a smile
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on everybody's face. Absolutely.
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That's a big step towards the summer, right?
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Nobody's barely injured. It's hard to get better when
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you're in that training room. Hey gum right?
13:17
Yeah, definitely. But another one of those
13:20
required by law questions. Coach, now you're not required
13:23
by law to answer, but I'm required to ask about the
13:27
quarterback battle just a little bit, but just touching on it a
13:30
little bit different. What areas did you see growth
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with Wells and drones in that Phase 1 & 2?
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Like what areas did each one of those growing more?
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Yeah I say this great is a he's a better student of the game.
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He made better choices. Really proud of what coach
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Bowens at how coach has impacted that room being in there every
14:00
day. In the relationship, he's built
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with Grant and Chiron in the young guys.
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So I think the decision making by Grant and then with Chiron
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you just saw a guy get better each and every day he just
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slowly but surely from practice, one to practice 14.
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Look like a different quarterback.
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I mean you got to opposite ends of the spectrum.
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You got Wells whose a three-year starter at the college level.
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Level you got Chiron. Who's never started a game?
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But has a really, really good skill.
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Set can spin it. He's 63 nearly 235.
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He's got could speed one of the stronger guys, on our team.
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So, you know, both those guys, I thought really showed some some
14:54
good things this spring, and then the young guy, pop Watson,
14:58
Dylan Wiki, I thought they both did some good things.
15:02
I'm pleased with where they're at is fresh.
15:05
Men and Papas able to go out and make a few Splash plays in the
15:09
spring game, which was good. But quietly Dylan went out and
15:15
managed his couple of series really well, I didn't have an
15:18
opportunity to make a play, but man, he made really good
15:21
decisions. And sometimes, as you said,
15:23
those lines are patched together and those quarterbacks got, you
15:26
know, it's a little bit tougher to manage and operate.
15:31
Yeah, and speaking of Dylan I mean he had that one ball.
15:33
I think that went off of receivers hands on a deep ball,
15:36
they're kind of laid the in the spring game.
15:37
So that was a good chance to see what he could do.
15:40
Kind of get the ball down field, let's kind of rewind.
15:43
A little bit though, heading into spring, practice.
15:46
He had to make some changes to the makeup of your offensive
15:48
staff with Coach Rudolph, coach, Glenn, moving on.
15:52
How do you feel coach Bowen and Coach hold have adjusted to
15:55
these changes so far? This offseason yeah it's been
15:58
great. You know I I'll start Art with
16:00
Boeing. I my gut wanted him to coach
16:02
quarterbacks. When we started this thing, you
16:05
know, a long time ago, Wiki bustle and you guys know Rick.
16:08
Okay, I'm hired me as a 31-year old coordinator at Louisiana
16:13
Lafayette. And man, I tell you what, I'd
16:17
coached a ton of dbe's, I'd coach D line, never coach
16:20
linebackers and I just said, you know what, I need to do it to be
16:26
the best coordinator? I can be I need to go do this
16:28
from the linebacker position and so I had that gut you know that
16:32
gut feeling and just didn't move on it, you know.
16:35
So Tyler had been a tight end guy and a really good one but,
16:40
you know, so I'm very pleased, you know, he got more involved
16:44
in that room. The stretch and then, you know,
16:48
this winter, this spring seen him in you know the work that's
16:51
done with those guys. Those quarterbacks at this level
16:55
they got to live the life every day.
16:57
They got to be chomping at the bit for the game plan.
16:59
They got to be in that film room all the time.
17:02
Now, there's just things that are necessary, be to be a good
17:05
quarterback in power 5 ball. And you know, and I think Tyler
17:10
has really he's laid out of a really good plan for those guys.
17:15
Help me and further process. And so, it's been a good move
17:20
and thence to hold, he's just a good football coach.
17:23
He's coached running back, she's coached ID, and she's coached
17:26
him daggone. Good tight ends and so that was
17:28
easy. He's a really first guy, it was
17:32
easy to move out to the tight ends and you got good leadership
17:36
by guy, like Nick Gallo out there who is going to help that
17:39
transition. And when you're the Special
17:41
Teams, coordinator you work with all the positions.
17:44
Yep. Oh, he already.
17:45
He had relationship with those guys.
17:47
And that, you know, that was I'm very pleased with the direction
17:50
that went with the addition of Elijah Brooks who I've known for
17:54
a long time, what he did at DeMatha on the recruiting, front
17:59
on the coaching, front on a development piece, all of it.
18:03
And then, you know, seeing them at Maryland, you know, those
18:05
last three years I was at Penn, State, and coaching against Tim
18:10
and and recruiting against him and understanding, you know my
18:14
clock. Locksley and knowing Mike and
18:17
just how they recruit there. And so it was it was we were
18:20
fortunate to get Elijah and then Ron crook Ron's a guy didn't
18:25
know as well but so many people I trust and respect for years
18:30
and years reached out about Ron and said the right things that
18:35
are meaningful to me. That made sense for Virginia
18:38
Tech, that makes sense for Brent pride and make sense for our own
18:42
line room. So feel great about both those
18:44
guys Footprint guys, which, you know, you guys hear me.
18:47
Say that all the time. Oh yeah.
18:49
Plenty of ties. They strengthen our ability to
18:53
be really good in our footprint. So to me, it was, you know, we
18:57
were a win-win. Yeah.
18:58
It sounds like that with Coach Brooks and Coach crook coming
19:01
in, they were able to hit the ground running and those 15
19:03
practices. And clearly, you know, you talk
19:06
about footprint, you know, from our buddy, Robbie talking about
19:10
being up in the state of West Virginia and like, Ohio.
19:14
And I Obviously Elijah that DeMatha connection man.
19:17
I mean when he came on and we I read his biography and it said
19:21
he is the winningest coach in the map of History because
19:24
that's what that's like, because I go back there.
19:27
And the first thing I thought of somebody you work with, I
19:29
thought, Billy Hite was that demand the connection for so
19:32
many years and getting another one, and you're getting the most
19:35
successful coach. That's big stuff.
19:37
Yeah. Good higher force.
19:39
And, you know, you got great family and he's been in, he's
19:43
been in high-powered League. And you know, for four years and
19:47
it just, you know, you look for certain things, you don't know
19:49
if you're going to get a guy who's going to check every box.
19:52
But I tell you, we got awful close for me and then Ron when
19:55
you talk about Ron and I joke about it.
19:57
But, you know, there's all these Tiny's programs in the state of
20:01
West Virginia and Pennsylvania, right?
20:04
So, you know, he coached at Glanville my mom's a Glanville
20:09
grad, right? When I was young, we would take
20:11
trips to Glanville. He coached it at West Virginia.
20:16
Tech my dad coached at West Virginia Tech.
20:19
You know, he coached at Clarion my dad coached at Clarion, you
20:22
know, he's from Parkersburg. I mean, we were, we were at
20:25
Louis County forever for four years.
20:27
And so there's just all these small College relationships and
20:32
you know what those places are about, and the products of those
20:35
places and I know what they did for my dad and what they did for
20:39
me and you coach at places, like East Stroudsburg and You know,
20:44
so that meant a lot to me in, you know, in the process and in
20:47
the evaluation and what we're going to do for us, definitely
20:51
coach. We talk about those coaches and
20:53
Coach hires not long after spring, you made hired at most
21:00
Hokies are very familiar with mr.
21:02
James Johnson Bible Jake. Nobody straight Noble.
21:07
Jackie, we know, we know he had been in the building a lot or as
21:12
of late Before that official announcement and his title.
21:16
And see its title is director of high school relations.
21:19
Can you speak a little bit more about specifically what his job
21:23
entails? Or what his role entails?
21:26
Yeah. So he's just checking higher at
21:28
that spot. Glenwood fear.
21:30
Beach, there Glenwood was a head coach in Virginia Beach and then
21:34
down in Charlotte, and these positions are about building
21:38
relationships with high school recruits and their families.
21:42
He's and High School coaches assistance in head.
21:47
It's about these guys diving in and knowing the assistant
21:50
principal at a school in Charlotte.
21:53
Well, used to be a coke with them.
21:54
It's about a guy being from Richmond being from Virginia
21:58
Beach. Having roots in our footprint
22:02
particularly in the state of Virginia it's you know neither
22:07
one of those guys is evaluating film right.
22:10
Well that's not really what there.
22:12
They may be sitting in there when we're looking at a guy and
22:15
I'm sure double Jo get better as time goes, but I know this, he
22:19
can evaluate athleticism, you know, definitely.
22:22
But when you talk about people skills and likeable personality
22:28
and positive energy and all these things that you want, when
22:32
people visit our program and come into our facility Coach
22:37
Johnson, has all of that. He's very well throughout stood
22:40
in the area. He's very Well, respected in
22:44
this department very well thought of across the
22:47
Commonwealth. So that was a he was kind of a
22:51
latecomer to the idea of hey, you know, what do you think
22:56
coach, would you be interested in this?
22:58
He had, he had a cyst in opportunities at several places
23:02
at good places, and he's got such a passion for Virginia
23:05
Tech. He been around our program
23:09
enough. He sat in many staff meetings,
23:11
many team. We knew what we were about and
23:15
he wanted to be part of it, you know which which may be awful
23:18
proud and excited to get him on board with us.
23:22
We appreciate you guys coach putting it on there about what
23:25
that high school relations is because I think a lot of people
23:28
were thinking, oh, they're filming.
23:29
They're out there at the games on Friday nights.
23:31
Looking at these players. Thank you for finally
23:33
clarifying, that and some house. Let's talk a little bit more
23:36
about recruiting day. One, never forget it.
23:39
You said we're going to recruit the state of Virginia, 6, I
23:42
right. 80s from Blacksburg your about 18 months in the year. 10
23:45
year, how do you feel your vision is starting to level up
23:49
with the caliber of players you want to play football in
23:52
Blacksburg? Yeah, we've uh we've got a
23:56
really good job. I think investing in the state
24:00
and in the footprint, you know, it's not always easy for the
24:04
assistance because they just, you know, they want to go
24:07
recruit the 10 best linebackers in the country, you know?
24:12
And so there's been some education and some, you know,
24:15
some direction and Leadership for me to say, Hey listen, it's
24:18
instead of you going to Texas to see a guy in flying back and get
24:21
one visit in a whole day if you recruit the footprint.
24:25
And you go see these four or five guys you know more than
24:29
likely one or two emerging to develop into a player that we
24:32
would want. Uh-oh, they've done a good job.
24:35
Putting in a time, I told a story at that donor luncheon,
24:38
yesterday, that first December. I was hired, we went in Warwick
24:45
High School, Mike Vick School, took a picture with the Jersey,
24:49
you know, and they didn't have me both for sin and seen a
24:52
Virginia Tech coach and six years.
24:55
Hmm, that's crazy. - and that's just a different philosophy.
24:59
I'm not knocking that last punch.
25:01
But for me, you know, And how we're going to do it, man.
25:05
I want to be the front runner. There's a prospect that might
25:07
fix cool. We got all the reason in the
25:09
world to think, even if he becomes a national recruit
25:12
everybody in her mother wants, you know man this is Mike's cool
25:17
guy relationship with Mike Weir in there every year.
25:20
Here we go. No I don't think there should be
25:23
a good player in the state of Virginia that has a better
25:26
relationship with anybody with any staff more than ours.
25:30
They may choose to go somewhere else and they will But the
25:33
relationship piece we got to win that.
25:36
Yeah, definitely, definitely. That's that's a that's part of
25:41
not talking too much about the other bunch of like you said,
25:43
but that's part of the things that were missing with
25:46
recruiting and what US fans were kind of frustrated with.
25:50
So glad to hear you say that coaching.
25:52
Also, something else you mentioned was the portal.
25:56
We've seen this offseason to Stronger, use of the portal to
25:59
feel some spots on the roster. Is it going to be your ' going
26:03
forward to, you know, use the poor that way, is it still going
26:06
to be kind of a availability and fit thing.
26:11
Yeah, uh I need and fit you know, where we feel like we need
26:16
an older guy or did we lose you know that we not do well enough
26:22
with our freshman class at a particular area that says we
26:25
might need to go to the portal you know, for a guy or two, you
26:31
know, do you lose a guy me weave?
26:32
You know, this roster is really flipped and then we've got,
26:37
we've got 30 37, new players, 36 new players, you know, since
26:47
that, since the season ended. Yeah.
26:53
It's but to do that, you know, there's got to be action in the
26:55
portal, right fortunate. We only had one player hit that
26:59
thing since we've been here that we didn't want to see go.
27:04
That was the wide receiver, Caleb Smith.
27:05
But we feel like in the trade, you know, in a negotiation we
27:10
were able to get three receivers out of the portal that we feel
27:14
really good about. So, you're a little bit like a
27:17
GM these days, you know, we're trying to build your Stir retain
27:22
your roster and make it as strong as you can.
27:26
Yeah. And you talk about the guys that
27:28
left, you know, with Caleb obviously ultimately medically
27:32
retiring from football, you know.
27:33
You don't know if that was going to necessarily be something that
27:36
happened to you. Anyway, so the trade-off there
27:39
is definitely in Virginia Tech's favor.
27:41
I feel like and yeah, not always work to do.
27:43
We support and Caleb through the whole thing and whether he chose
27:47
to return to Tech or move on and my buddies the off.
27:51
Bunch of coordinator at Notre Dame and we were talking and
27:55
upfront with one another and it's unfortunate for Caleb.
27:59
It didn't work out. But you know, my interest, you
28:01
know, first is Virginia Tech and I feel very good about what
28:04
we're able to do and that portal to me, right.
28:08
It's what's scary sometimes guys is you can recruit a high school
28:11
player for three and four years and get to know everything about
28:15
him and his family. You might have to make a
28:18
decision on the prospect in the transfer portal in two or three
28:22
weeks. Yeah, so doing your homework and
28:25
calling the high school and calling the former College.
28:28
You'll call them people in the community, you know, crossing
28:31
your t's and dotting your eyes to make sure this guy not only
28:34
is the player we need him to be but really more importantly.
28:38
He's also culturally going to fit with the way we do things.
28:43
Yeah, you know, we're going along with the transfer portal.
28:45
Let's talk in a little bit because that's a new step in
28:48
this whole process as well. You know, we hear on this
28:52
podcast, you've historically supported the idea of Ni L but
28:56
came down pretty hard on the NCAA in terms of how it was
28:59
implemented between kind of punting the responsibility and
29:02
then kind of slap dashing a loose framework there together
29:05
to kind of get it going. But my question for you is how
29:09
his ni L coupled with kind of the lakh sir.
29:12
The transfer portal rules impacted the way you approach
29:15
recruiting and retaining players and roster management in
29:19
general. Well, it's all of that, right?
29:21
It's everything is said, I mean, roster management retention is
29:27
something that's there all the time.
29:29
So that's one of the reasons I'm very upfront with our team.
29:35
One of the reasons that communication is one of our five
29:39
fundamentals, we have to be able to have hard conversations.
29:42
Relations with one another, if you're thinking that that you
29:47
may want another opportunity somewhere that you're going to
29:49
chase some money or chase a move up the depth chart come in and
29:53
let's talk about it. Let's make sure you're not
29:56
basing a decision on something that's not real or
30:00
misinformation. Let's talk through it.
30:02
Going to same for me. If I've got issues with a guy
30:06
and I'm thinking, we might need to move on.
30:08
We're going to talk about it. I told you guys before.
30:10
We went out for the spring. I told the entire team I said
30:15
we're over seven scholarships. I said now I can't keep
30:19
everybody that's in this room. We're also over spots on the
30:23
roster in general. So whether you're a scholarship
30:27
player or walk-on player, there's competition all over the
30:29
place to see who we move forward with and I said it's my job as
30:34
the head coach to make this most the most competitive roster in
30:38
the country. That's my job.
30:40
If I'm not doing that I'm failing everybody in Here, we
30:42
all want to win a championship, the fans, the administration to
30:47
staff the families, the players that the Letterman.
30:51
So to do that, the roster has to be as competitive as we can be.
30:55
I tell him, I told you, I'm bringing somebody into take your
30:59
job, that's what I'm doing. So you better be on your toes
31:03
that's as real as it gets understand, is they understand
31:07
the climate of things? What, what?
31:10
What's scary is? You know, we had a player he
31:13
wasn't into Portal and he gets inducements to go to other
31:18
places. You know, we're able to kind of
31:21
talk through it. And hey man, do you like it
31:23
here? First of all?
31:24
Because I love it here. Well then, let's find a way to
31:27
make this work, right? Yeah.
31:30
So, but then, if you, okay, so you wrap it up and January comes
31:35
along that portal window, closes.
31:37
And you go into Spring ball and everything goes good.
31:39
And every well, guess what? The poor the window.
31:42
Oh opens again. Yeah, you know there's people
31:45
poaching players off other rosters that aren't in the
31:49
portal. Third party entities.
31:52
I'm not saying that your coaches in some cases, it is, there's
31:55
proof out there. There's text message users, you
31:58
know, but a lot of times its third party people, it's an
32:01
assistant coach at the high school.
32:03
You know, somebody trying to maybe make a buck or just kind
32:06
of steer the boat a little bit. So it's a constant battle.
32:12
Again just trying to be honest with these guys and where we're
32:15
at and and I think that's the best policy man, some
32:18
transparency about things. 100% Goethe.
32:22
I love hearing you had that conversation telling all 125
32:26
guys, not just 85, guys, everybody's competing,
32:30
everybody's competing top to bottom.
32:33
And I look at the class of twenty three, you had a huge, we
32:37
had a huge amount enrolled early in the spring semester ahead of
32:41
time. Tally said it a couple times
32:43
watching the spring game, I can't you be at a senior prom
32:46
right now and he's out there getting somebody on the field.
32:50
Um, How much of a benefit is it getting those guys on campus in
32:55
January for you as a team? Yeah.
32:59
It's, you know, anywhere I've been as long as the guys mature
33:03
enough and ready for college, it's a benefit and most times
33:08
those are the guys that want to come early.
33:11
They're anxious and they can do the school work to get out
33:14
early. You know, the guys that are
33:16
struggling and can or want to play around and have fun all
33:20
Bring and they're not interested in doing.
33:23
But you know, when I was at Penn State and had recruited Michael
33:27
Parsons, He was a defensive end with his hand in the dirt and I
33:31
knew I wanted to give him a shot at linebacker.
33:34
Well had he not come into spring and got 15 practices in a ton of
33:38
meetings. He never could have done it as a
33:41
freshman. He led our team in tackles but
33:44
if he hadn't been there early you know we got guys out here,
33:47
they're get giving themselves a chance to help us because of
33:50
that. At.
33:50
So, you know, it's definite benefit, it's not for everybody.
33:54
And certainly not every school allows it.
33:58
But, you know, we signed 26 high school players, 13 of them from
34:03
the state of Virginia, sir, but that's important but also the
34:07
fact that 22 of them won state championships, there was twenty
34:11
one of them were the captains of their team 800 win percentage
34:16
for their senior year, just a lot of qualities that screaming.
34:20
Surety and ability to come early and have a chance to practice.
34:25
Well in the spring and give themselves a leg up on helping
34:29
us in the fall. Definitely you hit on a couple
34:33
of the, you know, recruiting class that you had last year and
34:37
some of the players and stuff for the end of 22 when you were
34:41
hired, did the 23 cycle, you talked about being a little bit
34:46
behind Regional recruiting opponents because Cuz of the
34:50
relationships that were built for the school.
34:53
Before you got here. Do you feel like this 2024 class
34:57
is kind of the first class that you're not playing catch-up that
35:01
you're, you know, kind of out front on some of the, some of
35:04
the prospects? I don't know if out front
35:07
because to me if we work recruiting them in ninth grade
35:11
we're behind. Yeah.
35:14
And there's some of these guys that hadn't been to Virginia
35:17
Tech until we started recruiting them as Graders right?
35:23
You know so we're still going to be behind not as much right.
35:27
You know certainly which I feel better about but you know a lot
35:31
of decisions were made on that 23 class on some of those upper
35:35
tier guys and you know, I feel great about our class but also
35:39
you want to be able to have a chance with each and every good
35:42
Prospect in our state to have recruited him from ninth grade
35:46
on definite you know. And maybe they're not to the
35:50
Aspect as a ninth, or tenth grader that they become but man,
35:53
they've come to your Camp. They've seen you in your, in
35:56
their school. They've been to a game because
35:58
they got an invitation, like, there's so many things you can
36:00
do. Yeah, you get a lot.
36:03
Like, sometimes, you get those late bloomers where if you have
36:05
a relationship in ninth grade, and guys, start turning the
36:09
corner of 10th grade 11th. Grade year, you're in a good
36:11
position to kind of close the deal, because you were kind of
36:14
there there from the get-go. Yeah, let me, let me ask you
36:18
this though. So, we know that like, there's a
36:20
ton Factors that play a role in the recruiting process whether
36:23
it's skiing fit playing time that, you know, programs on the
36:28
education side of things. You got, n, IL opportunities,
36:30
kind of, everything's out there. As far as you know, what goes
36:33
into making decision to play for Virginia Tech.
36:35
What I'm curious to hear your opinion on is how much does
36:38
winning football games, make recruiting and retaining players
36:41
easier for you and your staff. I think winning games is very
36:45
important, obviously, that's that's the ultimate on the
36:49
field. That's the ultimate goal.
36:50
Alright. But at the same time, I think
36:54
the belief And the way we're doing things, I think the belief
36:59
in how people are treated. I think the belief in the
37:03
experience is all important to, I'm not going to sit here and
37:07
say, guys are going to be happy when in three games because
37:09
they're not, nobody is. But as long as everybody feels
37:13
like, we're going in the right direction, we're doing the right
37:15
things, there's improvements. That's that's what I hope for.
37:18
And I think that's what's really important right now, with where
37:21
we're at as a program. I love hearing it that way
37:27
coach. All right, before we get to some
37:29
more topics with head coach, Brent, pry, we are going to take
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38:39
right before we went in our break, there about three games?
38:42
That was your first time last year as a head coach and didn't
38:46
have a ton of the top in Talent going into battle each week, but
38:49
you guys fought every week tooth.
38:50
And now, I think we all saw that as a fan.
38:53
But what were some of your big Lessons Learned From that
38:56
experience? It's and what adjustments are
38:58
you making, you know, so far to get prepared and being a better
39:03
position for 2023? Yeah, first of all, just being a
39:07
full-time head coach is going to help me manage a game manager,
39:11
weak, man, at your calendar, all those things.
39:14
But I think the two most important things we learned that
39:18
we have to reteach and coach in the preseason is we've got to be
39:23
able to battle through adversity.
39:25
Much quicker early in the year, bad things would happen.
39:30
We'd get in a slump. It'd take too long to climb out
39:33
of it once. We overcame it and we started
39:37
realizing it. Hey just because we were down
39:39
14, nothing, nobody panic, just keep playing man, you know?
39:44
And then as the season went on, we couldn't close out a team,
39:49
you're up on Georgia, Tech, you're up on NC State.
39:52
It's, you know, it's a Thursday night, primetime game in
39:55
Raleigh, and we're kicking the snot out of these guys, and we
39:59
couldn't close it out. We played not to lose instead of
40:02
playing to win and so those things, Things are great
40:06
examples to really good examples that I have to do a better job
40:10
of as a head coach early on being proactive with situational
40:14
football definitely. Well you kind of touched on a
40:19
couple of games. What you just was talking about
40:22
there but not to put words in your mouth but earlier when we
40:27
were talking you said last year kind of focusing on the defense
40:31
you feel like it kind of held you back from being the best
40:34
head coach? Those games you just mentioned
40:38
what those a couple other games where you felt like were
40:43
impacted by that. You kind of being more involved
40:46
with the defense to be in the whole head coach or the best
40:50
head coach. I don't know that probably,
40:53
there was At least a minor impact every week.
40:58
You know that, you know, being that being a DC Under head
41:01
coach, you know, that was preseason camp that was meetings
41:05
at was that was everything and I do think it was very valuable, I
41:09
wouldn't do it. If, you know, I needed my
41:12
footprint on that defense and not that I don't trust the
41:15
coaches in that room, but I wasn't hired here because I was
41:18
a great offensive play caller, you know, I wasn't hired here
41:22
because of my looks, I wasn't hired here.
41:24
You know a big piece of it was the Offense, we played over the
41:27
years and so have I if I wasn't going to get in there and
41:30
establish that and get a strong foundation in that room, so I
41:36
feel very good about that but it was time to step away and to see
41:40
Chris call that game up at Liberty and a great job he did.
41:45
And then to you know, the freedom for me to be involved on
41:49
offense defense and special teams for 60 minutes was
41:53
invaluable that much. I do know Talent.
41:56
Opening difference in that game of not having to be on that
41:59
defensive headset making adjustments being able to be on
42:03
the offensive bench being on the offensive headset with Coach
42:07
bone in the staff. I mean it was just different.
42:09
It was different and I was I was definitely better that day when
42:14
you said you weren't hired here because of your looks but some
42:17
of the women do get a little excited about your big ears.
42:19
So you might not want to cut that anymore.
42:23
I don't know. My wife has a love-hate with it
42:25
man. An long as I keep it a little
42:28
bit trim. She's good, they're keep going,
42:30
keep it tight, keep it tight game.
42:32
Let me get gangly. I mean, you talked about the
42:35
Liberty game a little bit us as a fan, as a fan perspective.
42:40
Again, we watch this team. We are pinned down with the
42:42
team, every, every every week watching that Liberty game, it
42:47
kind of seemed like the team put everything together.
42:51
I mean, we were fighting. Every like you said, we were
42:52
fighting every week. We were in most of those games.
42:56
Either up and not able to hold on with that.
42:58
Liberty gang was a little bit different.
43:00
It's like even the commentators you kept hearing them, say this
43:03
is what Virginia Tech football is supposed to look like defense
43:06
turning into offense and running the ball to close the game out,
43:10
like going back and seeing that game kind of did that make you
43:14
feel kind of where you want to be as a head coach.
43:17
That's not what we played complimentary ball that day.
43:23
You know. We didn't play Perfect.
43:25
Yeah, we did. I make big mistakes.
43:27
We work through things they had moments but we were able to
43:31
battle back and I thought we did a good job managing the game and
43:34
all three phases, you know. It's you know to me it's a sign
43:40
of who we can be but certainly not where we want to be.
43:44
You know we've got to be better in all areas but it was nice to
43:48
see that on display you know to put a kind of stamp on.
43:53
Hey guys listen that's the example.
43:56
Right? That's the direction.
43:57
That's our to we can be. And then some I tell you what
44:02
the end of that Liberty game was like the best feeling.
44:05
And I know it had to be as a coach because when y'all got
44:08
that ball back out for that, if you force that fourth down stop
44:12
and any offense went down the field, you had guys blocking
44:15
their butts off on the outside. You know, got the I think Jalen
44:19
got the first down and you got to go on Annie.
44:22
I love that as a football fan when you literally that other
44:26
team sits there and they have their heads and because they
44:28
know I can't do anything about that's a good feeling and you
44:32
know that game a lot happened at the end man.
44:35
There was a sir. Yeah, the strip's.
44:38
I I mean we Coach Bo and jumped on the headset and said, hey, it
44:42
was third down. We were in 4-minute mode which I
44:45
want to roll out and give us a chance to get the first down and
44:49
close the game and start down. I said, do it?
44:51
I said but he can't throw the ball and complete.
44:54
We got to make them burn their time.
44:56
Out a wide-open receiver or he can't run for the first down.
45:01
Take the sack, take the sack, they'll burn their time out.
45:06
The only have one left will punt we pump.
45:09
We get to strip sack, right? We get the ball back.
45:13
I'm on the offensive headset. I said, hey guys, the only way
45:16
they can win the game is that they let us score and push this
45:20
thing to 0 t. So if they're smart, they're
45:23
going to try and help us in the end zone.
45:25
So coach him. Running backs up and sure
45:27
enough, that's what they did. Yeah.
45:29
And you help ensure staff and players did a great job because
45:32
they almost tried to help us in the end zone.
45:35
What just taking a knee? We went down to make sure that
45:38
clock ran out, like, it was able to awesome.
45:41
Yeah, I gotta run, man. I got two appointments waiting
45:44
on me, and you guys have been great.
45:47
I appreciate it. We appreciate you coach.
45:51
Thank you. Thank you, coach.
45:52
We appreciate the time. You have a good night.
45:54
Listen. Thanks for what you guys do it.
45:56
Means a lot for Hokies man everywhere.
45:57
Okay, appreciate you. Appreciate you coach.
46:00
You have a good low key. And that was Brent price.
46:05
Folks, boys, man. Real 100%.
46:12
I tell you. You could.
46:14
It's kind of crazy, like, just looking at how candid he is.
46:19
You talk with three guys. He's only, you know, we me and
46:21
Curtis got to shake his hand a couple times.
46:24
You know, back last year at the at the tailgated at Hardy would.
46:28
But I mean other than that, he doesn't know who we are,
46:31
probably right? But he took, he took the time to
46:34
not only talk to us, but to be very transparent about things
46:40
that happened. Last year, things about
46:42
recruiting things about the spring.
46:44
So, I mean, nothing nothing but great things to say about how
46:47
coach pry is when he's when he's talking to folks about the
46:50
program W until he's, you can tell he's genuine and what he's
46:54
saying and doing. So that's good and trying to
46:57
bring people around the program with that same same mind and
47:01
heart. So you know that's We got to see
47:03
some good stuff happening from that, you know, because of the
47:07
portal. You got some people who didn't
47:11
come here and probably would have never come here, unless we
47:14
got a coach like this and the staff like this and they leave
47:18
their respective programs and now they're hokey.
47:21
So absolutely. I got my ass real quick question
47:24
because I was a little nervous a little nervous when you're
47:28
really nervous when he first popped on like his we what we
47:31
started chatting with him but I'm It's a within just a couple
47:35
minutes just how he talks. He just he just so genuine and
47:41
you just know like why is he such a good recruiter how's he
47:46
get those messages across some of those we heard in this
47:49
podcast that a little bit rough because he's real.
47:52
Yeah I onion goes how to deliver the.
47:56
I think sometimes it's knowing how to deliver the news.
47:58
Not necessarily what the news is.
48:00
Right. Right.
48:01
And so I mean sometimes if Transparent with how you are
48:04
talking to someone, and you show that, you know, you show that
48:08
you care about them. But you have to accept the
48:11
realities of the situation that we're working with here and I
48:14
think he's able to translate that pretty well in how he
48:18
approaches those conversations, both with the players and how he
48:22
interacts with fans and media and things like that.
48:24
So beautiful. All right.
48:27
Well boys. That was fun.
48:28
We again, we thank coach Frey for joining us today for this
48:33
and that is going to wrap up this episode of The Boundary
48:36
Corner podcast brought to you by Main Street.
48:38
Pharmacy, in Blacksburg. I'm Curtis Wilson, I'm Brian
48:42
Sigler. I'm Jonathan tally.
48:45
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49:32
along with a few other ones as well, boys.
49:35
I was fun. Never third you today, right?
49:39
Leveling up man, leveling up. Maybe we.
49:41
Thank you all for listening. I hope you enjoy it as much as
49:44
we did and let's go. Okay.