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2024 Hokies Preview Panel · Boundary Corner Podcast

0:23
Music. And welcome back to the Boundary
0:47
Corner Podcast. Along with my partners Brian
0:49
Siegler, Jonathan Tally and Shelton Moss, I am Curtis Wilson
0:54
and this episode is brought to you by Doctor Jeremy Counts down
0:58
at the Main Street pharmacy, your friendly neighborhood
1:00
pharmacy, three O 1 S Main St., Blacksburg, VA Gentlemen,
1:05
tonight I think, as the kids say, I think we got a banger
1:09
absolute. Banger I, I put it out there in
1:15
the X sphere, the Twittersphere earlier.
1:18
Definitely one of my favorite episodes that we do every year
1:22
at this point. This is now the third year in a
1:25
row that we put this one together.
1:27
The 2024 preview panel. It's right up there.
1:30
We stated the program in the lexicon of our episodes.
1:33
It's something I get excited about.
1:36
We always have a drink. So cheers, cheers, cheers.
1:40
Look how far we done come. I wouldn't even.
1:43
I wouldn't even own the first one.
1:45
I know. I don't even think I watched it.
1:47
I think I I I watched it afterwards, but I don't think I
1:51
watched it live. I wasn't on it.
1:53
Hey, we were shooting bad. What was that, 2022?
1:56
That was a rough year, man. Yeah, Hey, that was a rough
1:59
year, man. But guess what?
2:01
We here now, baby 2024 preview panel.
2:07
We got Young Sheldon in the building, Curtis in the
2:09
building, Brian in the building along with a heap of guests
2:12
coming on. I think everybody should be
2:14
feeling good right now. Yeah, man, we got a, we got a
2:17
crew that's deep again. We're rolling 10 deep with
2:21
panelists this year. We got 3 segments.
2:24
We're going to kind of break them down into kind of their own
2:27
little, little themes here. So me and Tally got the first
2:32
segment coming up here in just a moment.
2:34
It's the fun Bunch 2024. It's going to be a blast.
2:38
Can't wait to introduce those guests.
2:41
Panel 2, we got Hokie's height by the numbers.
2:44
We're going to take a statistical dive into kind of
2:46
what the height for this 2024 season's all about.
2:51
And then last but not least, segment 3, What does being back
2:55
look like? And that we're just going to
2:58
take a look when we see something at some point in the
3:02
future, What's what's that going to look like?
3:04
How what's it going to feel like when the Hokies are finally back
3:07
into that national relevance? I feel like we're kind of
3:09
climbing into that segment right now.
3:12
So fellas, how we feeling I. Feel great, Feeling good.
3:18
I feel great. All right, all right.
3:21
So what we're going to do, I'm going to go ahead and Curtis
3:24
Sheldon, we'll see you later. We got there, we got there.
3:30
All right, so without further ado, let's introduce the
3:36
panelists for the Fun Bunch 24 segment one.
3:41
And we got to start with the guy that helps us out here.
3:44
He pays the bills. He fills your pills.
3:47
Your friendly neighborhood pharmacist, Lord Doctor Jeremy
3:53
counts. Oh hey, hey everybody.
3:57
It's good to be live. I love it when we do this.
4:01
He's back, he's ready. He's got a drinking hand, he's
4:05
got a absurd photo of himself in the background.
4:08
He is in his hall. He is ready to accept the the
4:13
court at his leisure. Pay your fucking fealty.
4:20
I'm a simple man, Brian. Simple man.
4:23
I just demand fealty. And bows.
4:26
Hey man, we'll see what we can do.
4:28
I got no problem on anything that that he has to say, just
4:32
let you know. Next tonight, this man is the OG
4:37
of Hokey Twitter. He's the host of Virginia Tech
4:41
is for Legends, and he is the legend himself.
4:45
VT4L. Yes Sir, yes Sir.
4:48
Give it up for Don V Vito. How we doing?
4:53
Good evening. Good evening.
4:54
Thanks for having me full gang in the building.
4:56
Jeremy, could they check my boy? Every time you have money again,
5:01
I will. Every time I see shit, you know,
5:06
every time I see you, man, I have to take a double take.
5:08
I'm used to the locks, man. I'm used to the locks.
5:12
And now what? It's been like a year since you,
5:15
since you had them, had them cut.
5:17
No, like five months. Five months.
5:20
So I'm still getting used to it. Spring game on it like just
5:23
before that. Yeah, like a month before the
5:25
spring game, Yeah. I love it.
5:28
Love it. How you been living, Chief?
5:31
Man bless Black and highly favored my boy, you already know
5:34
me. There it is.
5:37
Next up, this man needs no introduction.
5:42
He comes correct with great video content.
5:45
He gives even better takes. He is the man, the myth, the
5:48
legend, Grace and Wimbish. Gentlemen, how we doing?
5:53
It's great to be back for another one.
5:54
I appreciate you guys having me very, very.
5:57
Fired up having you on man. Love having you on again.
6:00
Had to had to bring you on for the fun bunch because that's
6:03
what you bring to the table. You got fun energy, but you tell
6:07
it like it is, and that's what we like about you.
6:09
Appreciate that. Thank you.
6:12
And last but certainly not least, it's the big man on
6:16
campus, Dan Pulse. He hosts the Tales from the
6:19
Terrordome podcast. Give it Up for my Man Dan.
6:24
So y'all how we living? Living good man, living the
6:28
dream. I know you.
6:28
Happy to be here. What's everybody drinking on?
6:31
Everybody got some some alcohol in hand or we sipping on
6:34
something different. Oh yeah, I got a Parkway Get
6:37
Been IPA because I'm vowing this time for, you know, this is what
6:42
#5 and every single time I get completely blacked out drunk and
6:47
this time I am going to go the distance.
6:52
Going the distance, he is not going to distance you.
6:56
Going to make it always time to never.
6:57
Go to the hell no, he ain't making the distance.
7:00
Hey, you might make it. I got a corona over here till.
7:03
Till we till we hit the end stream thing tonight.
7:06
Oh yeah, that's true. Normally we go for like 3 hours
7:09
straight on state of the program and I'm just like pounding them
7:12
the entire time. Even when I moved to beer, I'm
7:14
just blasted by the end of it. Yeah, you either you either
7:18
sucking back to J MO's or you're, you're hitting some Ipas
7:20
with a regular stream. So.
7:24
I can't. Help myself.
7:25
You can't, man. You got to do it.
7:28
We got we got some folks out there in the the listing world,
7:32
YouTube out there on Instagram Twitter a little bit everywhere.
7:36
So if y'all want to hit us up ask some questions for the panel
7:39
throw them in there We'll we'll put them on the screen.
7:42
We'll see what they got to say, but you know let's start with
7:45
something a little fun here. We every year, you know what we
7:51
haven't gotten it yet, but every year we get these depth charts
7:53
right we get these depth charts for the first week of the season
7:56
and everybody has a fucking conniption right.
7:58
So they they, they see a depth chart, they're like, why is this
8:02
person still starting? Why, why is this person ahead of
8:05
this person? And, and, and like everybody has
8:07
a freak out. So, you know, we got a bunch of
8:11
positions where there's some battles, there's some guys that
8:14
we kind of think you're kind of taking the next step.
8:16
They're trying to get into that, that next realm.
8:18
All right, what players are going to be week 1 starters in
8:21
names on that first depth chart where that or designation is
8:26
doing a ton, a ton, a ton of heavy lifting.
8:29
And Dan, let's start with you. Man, and I mean this with no
8:34
disrespect, but Josh Fuga would probably be the first name that
8:39
comes to mind only because Kamari Copeland, The hype is
8:44
there this offseason. He's putting up the numbers in
8:47
the weight room. He looks good out there on the
8:50
field. The way you know, JC likes to
8:53
rotate players in and out. We saw it last year.
8:58
Will feel Darius pain. He didn't start, but by the end
9:01
of the season he was getting significant reps.
9:05
So if I had to guess, I would say that Josh Wiggler would
9:09
probably be the first person that came out of my mouth on
9:12
that. Yeah.
9:13
That was definitely one of the names that popped into my mind
9:16
too. The hype behind Copeland is is
9:19
so strong. I mean, going out there,
9:21
breaking the squat record, coming in highly, you know,
9:25
highly touted. He had a interception in the
9:30
spring game out there running like a a linebacker playing
9:35
defensive tackle. So I mean, this guy kind of does
9:38
a little bit of everything. Grayson, what you got for us?
9:42
I'm just more so curious. I mean, I think offensively from
9:45
a skill perspective, you kind of know who's going to be out
9:49
there. But I, I think the obvious and
9:53
again, no disrespect, the obvious concern is the offensive
9:57
line. So I, I think it's going to be a
9:59
matter of where guys are lining up where on the offensive line.
10:05
So you know, how much movement are we going to see based on
10:09
kind of performance against Vanderbilt?
10:12
Will the coaches move, move the guys around?
10:14
So I don't have any anyone particular name, but it's maybe
10:19
Caden Moore where we're going to see him, Parker Clemens, where
10:24
we going to see him? Yeah, I, I think that's probably
10:29
my biggest question mark, if you will all.
10:33
Right, Grayson focusing on the offensive line.
10:35
I always love that. Yep.
10:37
Veto. Hold on, Hold on before we go to
10:39
veto because yeah, yeah, these two, these two guys right here
10:42
was real diplomatic and I appreciate that.
10:45
But I want to throw something in before we go to the next two
10:48
guys because I feel like they going to be a little bit more
10:51
real. Grayson, it ain't no I want to
10:56
see the only all we need to see by some of them offensive
10:59
lineman names is you fucking block somebody or you're going
11:04
to work at Dick's Sporting Goods.
11:06
That's all we need to see. Yes.
11:08
Indeed. My bad now, Vito, I'm sorry.
11:11
You can ask Vito the question you was asking Vito.
11:13
How are you feeling about it? Ask the question.
11:15
Ask the question again. Please.
11:16
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we got week 1 starters in
11:19
name only. Who's going to have that more
11:21
designation that's doing a whole lot of heavy lifting?
11:25
OK the OR designation. OK I just had to make sure I
11:29
heard the thing right. That's Benji guys nil.
11:33
Benji guys nil. I seen Nick Gallo on like pre
11:35
season list. No disrespect bro, I don't want
11:38
to smoke Benji guys nil is my answer.
11:41
I don't want to smoke bro. I ain't no mass.
11:43
I ain't going to disrespect. I'm all yours Benji guys, Nil is
11:46
my answer. Whoa, whoa, whoa.
11:48
So what Vito's saying he thinks Benji going to play, Nick's the
11:53
one that's going to be on the other side of the OR is going to
11:56
be Benji playing. Benji should be playing about
12:00
that. He's he's saying Nick's going to
12:02
get that starting designation, but that or going to really be,
12:05
it's really Benji. Shit if he's playing like he
12:08
does in college football 25 he going to win the Heisman.
12:14
Don't let that college football get you fucked up.
12:17
Get your bets. I'm just going to go ahead and
12:18
tell y'all. Ali Jennings already won the
12:21
Heisman twice for me so and and he only played one year.
12:25
Man, I had I had David Balfour out there throwing that thing
12:28
like and running like Lamar Jackson.
12:32
So don't let that don't let that college football get you messed
12:35
up. So no, the show man, I see, I
12:39
see Will just hopped in shout out to the people, man that's
12:43
out there. I know the hurricane been coming
12:45
through. My boy will he he he's on
12:49
tonight. Hurricane has been tan.
12:52
I think it's in South Carolina. So a lot of people have been
12:55
dealing with that. So, you know, prayers to them,
12:57
people houses getting flooded and cars floating away and stuff
13:00
like that. So y'all are praying people say
13:03
a prayer for the people that's been affected by the hurricane.
13:06
Absolutely. It feels like the the summer
13:09
decided to give us all the rain at one damn time and and did not
13:13
spread it out at all this year. So it's hitting a lot of people
13:16
tough. So yeah, keep them in your
13:18
thoughts out there before we move on.
13:21
Jeremy, what do you, what do you got on this?
13:23
Who's who's got that or designation that really should
13:25
be that starter? Man y'all want a real answer and
13:28
none of us know fucking shit like.
13:30
This is just. Fucking started.
13:32
We don't know who's going to show out.
13:34
We don't know who's going to be a fucking gamer out there.
13:36
We don't know what's that? Well, you know, we're talking
13:37
about Copeland. There's a ton of hype.
13:39
You know, he did those fucking squats.
13:41
I what's it fucking matter if it doesn't translate the God damn
13:44
field? Like what's it fucking matter?
13:48
Like the offensive line is my biggest concern as a unit, but
13:51
you never know if they took a step forward.
13:53
You don't know what's going on in the weight room.
13:54
We're sitting around like, who's going to overtake this?
13:56
We don't fucking know. So that's my answer.
13:59
None of us fucking know. That's a pretty good answer.
14:07
But most of the time I was about to say, when you see somebody
14:12
play for six years and they ain't blocked nobody for six
14:15
years, and then they go to the spring game and somebody puts
14:19
them in a blender every play and then they get punched in the
14:22
face in the first practice, they might not need to be the
14:25
starter. I'm just saying that's just my
14:28
opinion. We got the.
14:30
Footage. We got the footage bro.
14:33
There is documentation for some of these folks now.
14:35
It's a new year a. New year and steps get taken,
14:39
but. I hope you, I hope you got room
14:43
for stalkers over there at the at the pharmacy, because some of
14:47
them, some of them lineman, if they don't fucking block, they
14:51
going to be overnight stocking for you.
14:53
I'm telling you. You need some new pharmacy tax.
14:56
It's common. I could use a few.
15:00
Well, depends on how they play. I mean, who says that Jeremy
15:03
will hire them? That's good.
15:05
That's true too. Go.
15:06
Get a job. I'm a.
15:07
Spiteful fucking creature. I'm a very spiteful creature.
15:11
Yep, we know. Yeah, I would hire you, but you
15:14
missed that block against Miami, so.
15:16
Fuck it up. Yeah.
15:18
No. Yeah.
15:19
You remember what happened. You remember whenever you that
15:22
Kyron got hit that hard? Yeah.
15:24
No, I don't think so. No, I, I I could see a few
15:29
things with the offensive line. That's my biggest concern.
15:31
But also, it's hard to say in a lot of ways with offensive line
15:36
because it's it's a unit that needs to be cohesive and if
15:39
there's one breakdown, everyone can look bad.
15:41
It's hard with swapping in and out on the offensive line.
15:44
But of course there are some people who very obviously miss
15:47
blocks and you've got to take care of it.
15:49
But that unit more than any other unit, I think is hard to
15:53
gauge whenever you're just swapping in and out.
15:56
But we'll see. That's my biggest concern,
15:58
though, is the offensive line. Yeah, when we look at the
16:00
offensive side of the ball, that's definitely going to be
16:02
the biggest concern. You know, when we look at the
16:06
the depth that's returning, I mean, you, you we pretty much
16:09
returning the entire skill position players less, you know,
16:13
maybe Daquan, right? It it, it's going to be
16:18
something of can. Does the offensive line look
16:21
demonstrably better than they did last year?
16:23
Do they do anything different? Are they, are they nastier?
16:27
That's what that's kind of what I'm looking for.
16:29
Do we have a little bit more dog in us on the offensive line?
16:33
We started seeing some of that come to fruition as the season
16:35
went on. Last year is the the start of
16:38
the year. It was rough.
16:39
Kyron came in. I think that he brought a little
16:41
bit more mentality to that room, a little bit more leadership in
16:46
terms of being a leader on the field, in terms of leading by
16:50
example. And I think they fed off that
16:53
energy a little bit. And we'll see if that kind of
16:55
carried over into the offseason. We'll see if the coaches coached
16:57
him up on that aspect of it as well.
16:59
He's also really fucking hard to tackle, so that makes their job
17:02
a little easier. So he's going to make any
17:04
offensive lines job just a little bit easier.
17:07
But yeah, they they've got to step up this year because we
17:09
could have all these great skill positions.
17:11
We have Kyron out there just bombing it and just running like
17:14
trucking people. But what's it fucking matter if
17:17
we can't block? You can't.
17:19
You can't be running drones the way you ran him last year.
17:22
No, it's not sustainable. And definitely not the way you
17:25
ran it against Tulane in the bowl game, because that was
17:27
well. The the weather.
17:29
I know, I know, I know. The conditions impacted that a
17:31
bunch. You couldn't, you couldn't
17:33
really sling it around very much.
17:34
But he carried that load. But he ended up pulling it out
17:37
for us. But Sally, what you got?
17:40
So yeah, I was just going to kind of go to veto and ask him.
17:44
I know last time he was on, which like I said, it was 2022,
17:48
they took y'all asked him a couple questions and he talked
17:51
about, you know what, what game would he gauge the team by?
17:56
And I think he he went with ODU first and a lot of people kind
18:00
of, you know, shook their heads so didn't understand what he
18:03
said. He had a couple of other ones in
18:04
there but ODU, which was really good answer.
18:09
I think Dwight was the only one who kind of agreed.
18:10
And maybe Jay Glock was like, yeah, you know, I can kind of
18:13
see that. But you were real high on that
18:15
veto when you talked about what team you would look at or what
18:20
game you would look at and be like, OK, that lets me know what
18:23
kind of team we got. So I'm going to go ahead and ask
18:26
you again, kind of, you know, what game in the first half of
18:28
the season this year are you looking at?
18:30
What you going to be like? Hey, this set the expectation
18:33
for the rest of the season. Yeah, when I was on 20/22, I
18:38
think the question was what's the biggest game of the year?
18:42
That's probably what led to the laughing because everybody was
18:45
saying whoever they thought was our biggest opponent.
18:48
And my logic was none of them games matter if we look like how
18:53
we look versus ODU, which turned out to be true.
18:57
So that that's what that was. That's pretty much what the
18:59
question was. What were the biggest games?
19:01
I think I said Liberty. We won that one.
19:04
I said like Liberty, ODU and somebody else.
19:06
You said North Carolina State as well.
19:09
I. Probably did.
19:10
So yeah, that's my logic at the time was the Fuente era at the
19:15
end even versus the Richmonds and them game was a toss up.
19:22
They lost even lost some of them.
19:23
So I know the beginning of the Brent Pryor era was the Fuente.
19:30
It was a lot of Fuente people and stuff involved.
19:33
So now we prove treat the whole like a hoe like we we whooped
19:38
ODU last year. So it ain't no ODU this year.
19:41
It's Rutgers. I don't helmet watch like I
19:45
don't look at Rutgers and say Virginia Tech should beat
19:47
Rutgers as it went. No, hell no.
19:49
Rutgers smacked the shit out of this last year.
19:51
So I would say Rutgers. Most Virginia Tech fans that's
19:55
not tapped in probably think another dud, but hell no.
20:00
Rutgers is well coached, physical discipline don't do
20:03
nothing to lose games and that'll be the guy.
20:06
I think it's September the 21st or the 27th.
20:09
You will know everything you need to know if if.
20:12
At home we get punched in the face and you see them fold.
20:16
It'll be a long season, so. Rutgers, Yeah, yeah.
20:21
Then even go with that, you know what I'm saying?
20:23
I mean, real good answer because not only that, even if you go
20:27
out and you play a team like a Rutgers and you go out there and
20:30
you have a physical game because they going to give you a
20:33
physical game, you know what I'm saying?
20:35
So that means your depth is going to have to come into play,
20:37
you know what I'm saying? That means that people that's
20:40
second and third in line is going to have to be ready to
20:42
play because when you play a team like Rutgers, that's
20:45
something you can feel the next week and guess who you got the
20:48
next week after you play Rutgers, Whether you win or lose
20:50
that game, you got to go and you got to go play Miami.
20:54
You know what I'm saying? So perfect answer.
20:57
You know what I'm saying? There ain't no wrong answer, but
20:58
that's a real good answer because Rutgers is one of those
21:01
teams. Again, if you just helmet
21:03
watcher, you just, you know, take a look at the schedule and
21:05
say I know we going to win all these games.
21:07
Like, Nah, man, Rutgers, A-Team, like Rutgers, knowing they
21:10
coached his background, knowing what they gave, like I think
21:13
they had 35 passing yards last year and beat us handily like 35
21:18
to 16 or something. So.
21:20
Their quarterback and running back ran all over our.
21:23
Ass Last year, I just remember whatever his name is, Kyle
21:27
Menungi Menungi, whatever his name is, it was like a third and
21:32
one and he ran for like 52 yards.
21:34
Like you're not supposed to be like you're not supposed to be
21:37
doing that. You know what I'm saying on the
21:40
third and one like you supposed to get that 2 yards and then
21:43
y'all run the next play. Now they they they they out for
21:46
blood. So the same way that people.
21:48
Are. Yeah, but the same, in the same
21:51
way that, you know, some of us fans are looking at stuff and
21:55
saying all these people are putting us as you know, sleepers
21:58
for ACC Championship or, or sleepers for, you know, playoffs
22:04
and stuff. I don't look at a lot of stuff.
22:06
And they got Rutgers on that too.
22:07
They're like, oh, this is my sleepless team.
22:08
So yeah, Rutgers is going to be a team to watch out for.
22:12
Yeah, I, I know a guy who I, he's a, he's a pharmacist.
22:16
He went to Rutgers and big name in the pharmacy industry and he
22:21
has already been texting me talking shit about it.
22:24
So they're feeling pretty fucking confident.
22:27
Rutgers, I think Vito's right. I think that is going to be the
22:31
biggest one. If we go and we handle that and
22:35
we're undefeated, rolling into Miami and Miami still good.
22:38
If we can be the team that knocks Miami off their peg, then
22:43
I will think we're legit. If Miami's got a good season
22:46
rolling, they've got all that talent and it's actually
22:48
clicking for them and we're the team that comes down and smacks
22:51
them in the mouth and shuts them the fuck up.
22:53
That's when I know we're legit. You got to handle business at
22:57
Rutgers. But then, yeah, then go to, I
22:59
mean, that, that three-game stretch, right there's, I mean,
23:03
that's kind of coffin corner early in the season because then
23:07
after Miami, you're flying across the country to
23:09
California. And I mean, Stanford, you know,
23:12
everyone wants to talk about they're not going to be a great
23:14
team and who cares? It's a three hour time
23:16
difference. This is our first regular season
23:18
game. We're playing in California.
23:19
You don't know what that's going to do to us.
23:21
So Rutgers, Miami, Stanford. That's Coffin Corner.
23:25
Yes, Stanford's going to be the interesting one because I mean,
23:28
on paper that's a dub, but there's so many like factors
23:32
that play into how that game can go down because of the travel.
23:37
You never really played this opponent before, not recently.
23:41
The only other matchup that I can recall is the against Andrew
23:44
Luck in the bowl game. So I mean, it's it's basically a
23:48
brand new opponent. You're coming off a physical
23:52
Rutgers team and probably at least on the front half of the
23:55
schedule, the best, most talented team that you'll play
23:57
in Miami taking that trip. So even if you come out good on
24:01
those two, it's a prime setup for a let down game, right?
24:06
So. You know well, listen.
24:07
Those are going to be the interesting ones there.
24:10
Now listen, this is not a question that is on anything.
24:13
I just want to throw this out because I got you fine gentleman
24:16
on here. We've mentioned a couple of
24:18
schools, we mentioned Rutgers, Miami, Stanford.
24:22
I know a lot of y'all go to games and have seen games or you
24:28
know, even look at games on TV. So I'm going to ask this
24:30
question out of the people that we play, who has the best
24:34
looking fan base? Whether you like men or women?
24:36
I'm not no judge. I'm just saying who do we play
24:40
that has the best looking fan base?
24:42
Dan, you got to go, man. Of course it's going to be Dan.
24:47
Come on, Dan, don't be scared. Wholesome Dan lead off bitch.
24:51
Yeah, who got the out of the opponents?
24:56
Marshall. Right.
24:57
Who we play, man, I said. Men or women?
24:59
Hey, no, Marshall got. Some sneaky.
25:02
Marshall got some sneaky ones, but I mean, people probably want
25:06
you to say Miami, but I don't know if it's really Miami, you
25:12
know, like who could? I don't know.
25:16
I'm sure Stanford's got some really nice girls.
25:20
Dang, you got to pick one, man, I said.
25:22
One. We kind of move quick, pick one
25:25
team. You want us to come back to you?
25:28
Yeah, I mean, that's fine. He's you can't do that Grayson.
25:33
Grayson, who got the. You know what, I I like that
25:35
answer. Selfishly it's it's I would say
25:38
Clemson Southern girls, man, they're beautiful.
25:41
Shout out to the Clemson Tigers. Great you.
25:43
Have a You have a a conflicting relationship with that Clemson
25:47
fan base. Hey man, we'll get into that
25:50
fuck. Clemson.
25:51
Hey, listen, let Jeremy not it's.
25:53
Going to be SMU Well. We're playing Clemson, have
25:56
never done one thing wrong to me.
25:58
They. They wouldn't have dancing.
26:00
Tech girls are different. We'll talk about that, all
26:03
right. You know what you got to say,
26:05
man? Stanford made an All American
26:08
linebacker crash out for an invisible chick.
26:10
He could have. He could have smashed anything
26:15
in the country. It's easily standard.
26:21
I wasn't expecting that, but that's actually pretty a pretty
26:24
good go ahead. And shut it down.
26:26
Go ahead and shut it down. Well, I mean, we got to ask.
26:29
We got to ask Jeremy just because he hears Jeremy.
26:31
Come on, give us an answer. What you got to say?
26:34
All of them. Fucks are ugly.
26:35
Are you seriously we're playing them?
26:37
What do I fucking care what they look like?
26:38
Fuck all. Them.
26:40
Man, I give a shit about US winning.
26:42
I don't give a shit what their fan base looks like.
26:44
They're all shitty to me. Fuck, I want to win.
26:50
Hey. That's a happily married man
26:53
right there. Hey, that's a.
26:55
That's a that's a good answer, Emily.
26:57
'S hot as shit. I am fuck about these like girls
27:00
that are going to these games don't know shit about fuck, fuck
27:03
them. Well, well, Jeremy, listen,
27:06
that's, that's good, man. I'm glad we got you riled up
27:09
because I got one that I got to ask you.
27:10
This is specific to you. So you, you came right in on
27:14
time. We know that you right in the
27:16
middle of Blacksburg. Thank you for your service.
27:20
You over there at the at the pharmacy doing your thing.
27:22
Don't pop another one just yet. Slow down.
27:24
But anyway, we know that you're in there every day.
27:26
We know you're getting the vibes in Blacksburg every day.
27:29
Us as fans, you know, we get the preseason hype or hopium every
27:33
year. Every year we say this is it,
27:35
this is it. You know, we we going to be good
27:37
this year or you know, so if this person take this step.
27:41
So my question to you is we getting some hype this year and
27:46
what do you feel like the do you feel it's true hype vibes around
27:50
Blacksburg or do you feel like it's we gaslight, how's it been
27:57
in Blacksburg? I will tell you why.
27:58
It's real hot vibes because people are scared that the hype
28:04
is this much. Normally during this time we
28:07
I've got people coming in, they're buying in so much that
28:10
all the the talk, the preseason talk, all the hype, they're
28:14
really high on the opium and they're coming in and they're
28:17
talking about it and they're really up now.
28:20
I get that. But there's like this level of
28:22
seriousness to it. Like, are we seriously going to
28:25
do this? Like I, I think it makes sense
28:28
in my brain, but I've been hurt before.
28:30
There's like this level of seriousness to the conversation
28:33
that hasn't been there for a while.
28:36
So people are hyped and they are legitimately hyped.
28:39
Like it's making sense to them logically.
28:42
It's not just all emotional. And they're kind of reconciling
28:45
that and bringing it out and they don't know how to feel
28:49
about it because we've been hurt so many times.
28:51
That's how I know it's real. Well, I kind of came up with
28:54
that. Yeah.
28:55
That's why where I kind of came up with that from is because I
28:58
can remember like one of the things that sticks out to me is
29:02
like when we had David Wilson and, you know, ESPN came and
29:05
they was following him around, you know, showing his car and
29:07
kind of what he was doing on his day-to-day.
29:09
Like that's not manufactured. That's not fake hype, you know
29:13
what I'm saying? Like that was real national
29:16
hype. You know, I've been seeing Kyron
29:17
out with with with Sanders and and, and Ward and they've been,
29:21
you know, working out all offseason.
29:23
And then you see the receivers working out with them as well.
29:26
And then you see these people that starting to come in and,
29:28
you know, want to interview and want to see kind of what our
29:32
stars look like and, you know, what they have outside of just
29:36
playing. So I feel like that hype was
29:38
real too. But again, I'm not there in
29:40
Blacksburg. So I did kind of want to ask
29:43
you, you know what I'm saying, how you felt about it.
29:46
Anybody else got anything added on that?
29:49
It's it's full on that and then it's a follow up with do you
29:53
think the offensive line will hold up?
29:54
So yes, there are. There are.
29:55
Concerns and it's normally the offensive line.
29:58
Yep. That checks that checks.
30:01
Let's let's throw one out since we're talking about kind of the
30:04
players and and the process. I think the big thing that we've
30:08
seen with this staff since they came in, when we talk about the
30:11
vibes, just the feeling around is that, you know, we got a
30:15
renewed commitment to focusing on recruiting the state of
30:18
Virginia, the footprint in general with the state of state
30:21
of Virginia in particular. And most of you guys that are on
30:24
the panel have Virginia roots, right?
30:26
So has this renewed focus on the state of Virginia made y'all
30:33
more invested in the recruiting process?
30:36
And Vito, let's lead out with you on this one.
30:39
Oh yeah. Oh yeah, definitely I was.
30:41
I'm always invested in the recruiting process.
30:44
I always say it. I always, I always say
30:49
recruiting got to make sense. You can't just throw darts at a
30:53
map and just say hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.
30:55
I'm not even the stars person. A lot of people think I'm a
30:58
stars person because I'm a 757 person.
31:01
I'm not just talent is talent. Like you can look, you can.
31:04
You don't need to watch hours of film to know if somebody can
31:07
play or not. So if the recruitment makes
31:10
sense and it's within the footprint, it all makes sense to
31:13
me. Nice, Jeremy, what you got?
31:18
See, I'm kind of conflicted on this because I want us to have
31:21
those great relationships in state.
31:23
I want us to go to these high schools and I want to bring our
31:27
kids in and I want us to, if there is a quality player in
31:31
this state, I want them to go to Vt because that is the school
31:35
that you go to if you're a football player in Virginia.
31:38
That being said, I don't give 2 fucking fucks where we get our
31:41
players from. I just want to win, you know?
31:43
I don't give a shit if Texas to Vt worked and it was actually a
31:47
fucking thing. I wouldn't care as long as we
31:49
were winning. But yes, on another level, I
31:52
think it's really good that we make these in roads because I
31:56
want us to get good players and I don't want them to have to
31:58
leave because we should have that pipeline and that
32:01
pipeline's fucking important. That's why I care.
32:05
In the grand scheme of things. On like a emotional level, I
32:09
don't give a shit. On intellectual level, I don't
32:12
give a shit except for the fact that we need those pipelines.
32:17
Hey, Grace. You do, Grace.
32:19
Before you go, are you, are you counting the, the, the bucks
32:22
that are that are going on At this point you got a little
32:24
tally. Sheet counting them.
32:25
Yeah, yeah, I'm going to designate you.
32:28
We got about 20 right now, anywhere between 20 and 25.
32:31
If we don't get to 50 by the end of segment one, we're doing
32:35
something wrong. I'm going to get another
32:37
postcard again. I'm going to get another
32:39
postcard telling me to not sponsor this podcast because it
32:42
curses too much because I was the one cursing on the podcast
32:47
and that person didn't realize. That's what it's about.
32:49
All right, Lean in, lean in, Germ.
32:52
The answer to this question is 1,000,000%.
32:55
Yes. I've started caring more because
32:57
listen, y'all, I don't know if you heard recently Coach Pride
33:00
came out and he was talking about how when he was at Penn
33:02
State, that staff under James Franklin when he was DC, they
33:06
knew that any kid from the Commonwealth of Virginia, they
33:11
could pick handpick and they would get him because the
33:15
previous regime they just they just how do I say this nicely
33:21
didn't. Do a good job, didn't give a
33:22
fuck. Pardon my French, I don't cuss
33:25
on podcasts a lot, but they didn't give a fuck.
33:28
So now you have three of the top 15 kids in the Commonwealth of
33:33
Virginia and Fontel Mines is out here cooking with Jim
33:37
Kavanaugh's grill seasoning. Yeah, you bet your ass I care.
33:42
That means something to me. Sorry that.
33:45
Was beautifully put. That was beautifully put.
33:47
Yeah, yeah, yeah. What you got?
33:50
I mean, if we're being honest, the fact that we even have to
33:53
think about this shit is crazy. Like we should just recruit
33:58
Virginia. Like it should have always just
34:00
been like, hey, you catch Virginia Tech, you fucking
34:03
recruit Virginia. Like that's it.
34:05
Like we shouldn't even be like, man, really glad we're back in
34:08
Virginia now. Like we should have just always
34:10
been here. Yeah, obviously.
34:14
The school resides in we're we're recruiting the fuck out of
34:16
it now. Yeah, like I like, I like the
34:19
fact that we're like, we're doing it.
34:21
I definitely my, I think the fact that we recruit Virginia
34:25
also coincides with the fact that I have my own goddamn
34:28
podcast. And I, it mean content is
34:30
content. So if you keep up with
34:31
recruiting, you should talk about when there's nothing going
34:34
on. So I think like, hey, it goes
34:38
hand in hand. But yeah, I'm definitely way
34:40
more invested probably than it should be, to be honest.
34:43
But yeah. All right, so I think we've held
34:46
our load in long enough. We're going to get to this
34:49
question. And I know, I know everyone here
34:51
is excited about it. We don't want to get our head
34:54
ahead of ourselves with predictions yet.
34:57
But looking at that Clemson game in November, what's the over
35:02
under on how many times Jeremy yells at Dabo to fuck himself
35:06
with the new Spring hymnal on November 9th?
35:09
Whatever it is, Amber, the over, whatever.
35:13
It is. I don't know what y'all talking
35:15
about I am a sweet innocent Jeremy and in the stands now I
35:20
shout very nice very nice insults to the refs now because
35:26
I offended a lot of old people in the West stands.
35:28
So I moved to the east stands because I offended so many old
35:30
people in the West stands and it's just a better environment
35:33
for me but I still watch it now. Now I yell that the the
35:41
referee's wife has overcooked chicken and people are
35:45
snickering about it behind her her back.
35:48
Now I yell that the referee's mother is actually not all that
35:55
pretty. I don't scream obscenities at
35:59
ball games anymore. Has a child.
36:03
I am doing better. I am doing better because I've
36:06
embarrassed him. Before father Good screaming.
36:09
Suck my Dick, I'll murder your family over and.
36:12
Over do we genuinely like? Elderly people around me.
36:15
So do we genuinely not like Clemson or do we just not like
36:19
them because they win? Like, why don't we like?
36:22
Fucking hate Clemson. No, no, no you don't.
36:25
You got to understand what it was like during that ball game
36:27
where they came to fucking Blacksburg and it's like
36:30
everything shifted. Everything shifted.
36:34
They were suddenly the team to beat and it stayed that way.
36:37
They rolled into Blacksburg and they fucking had our number.
36:40
And ever since then it's been that way.
36:43
Just because they're winning, I don't give a fuck.
36:45
They could not have national champions.
36:46
They could not have this or that.
36:47
They could not have a terrible God damn entrance that everyone
36:50
hops up. They could not have stupid
36:52
fucking fans and half of them are just fucking bandwagon ass
36:55
fucking fans. They could not have some of the
36:57
dumbest fucking God damn people on earth.
37:00
They could not have a charlatan head coach that uses pseudo
37:04
religion as a fucking recruitment model.
37:07
They could have not have all those things and I'd still
37:10
fucking hate them because they were the the team that beat us
37:14
at that point where everything felt like it shifted.
37:17
So fuck them. I will fucking hate them.
37:19
And I don't have to put fucking words on it, labels on it.
37:23
I don't have to do anything. I can just fucking feel my
37:25
emotions. I have something to talk about.
37:29
Clemson, I have something to do. You know it.
37:31
I know what. If you ask me on Twitter.
37:32
News, how I feel about the Tigers.
37:34
Let me just say this really quickly in the off chance that
37:37
this man is listening right now, the ACC Network and Eric McClain
37:41
were in Blacksburg this week. Eric, I got nothing but respect
37:45
for you. I think you're you're the man.
37:47
The way you kind of put on from Virginia Tech.
37:49
I think you like what we got going on.
37:51
So respect to Eric. Eric makes Clemson kind of hard
37:54
to hate his head ball coach on the other hand, to Jeremy's
37:59
point, makes it very easy. I will never me personally, I
38:04
will never be able to prove the new spring money laundering and
38:08
I know that I drive hokey fans crazy with that.
38:11
You can't. You can't audit a church.
38:12
That's why it's so fucking genius and that's why he's so
38:16
mad that he doesn't have the best game anymore because we got
38:19
in IL. He can't do that anymore.
38:22
Jeremy, what? What does God's NIL stand for?
38:25
New Spring isn't liable, is that?
38:27
Is that what that stands for? Because like before NIL was in
38:31
place, God's NIL. You know, how did Trevor
38:35
Lawrence and Travis Etienne show up in 2020 with Louis Vuitton
38:39
bags and $1000 top coats? Hey, listen, you don't make that
38:44
money working at the campus bookstore.
38:48
Where does it come from? Maybe an offering plate.
38:51
And the pastor loves to shake hands with the congregation when
38:54
those guys are are there on Sundays.
38:57
So my problem with Dabo is he preaches his gospel and it.
39:01
But if that was really actually going on under the table, I hate
39:06
you like I you're not the guy you say you are.
39:10
So he's the worst kind of con man.
39:11
He's a con man that uses fucking religion to get money out of
39:15
people's pockets. He's the worst kind of fucking
39:17
person. And Dabo, if you ever hear this,
39:20
fuck you. To finish my point, finish real
39:24
quick in summation, gentlemen, I also share the sentiment with
39:28
Jeremy. We ruled the roost, the roads,
39:31
the ACC went through Blacksburg for so long.
39:34
And then finally there was that shift where they took over and
39:39
they ruled the roost for way too long to the point where it
39:43
became annoying. And now I'm like, dude, we're
39:46
done with you. Well, Hokies are back up, let's
39:48
go. And that's how everyone else
39:50
should feel. So I'm done, I'm done.
39:52
End of that round. All right, tally what you got
39:54
for him. I was just going, hey man, they
39:57
just gave me a lot. I just was going to ask Vito
39:59
that he have anybody that he hate like that.
40:01
I mean, because I ain't got that much hatred for nobody.
40:04
So I'll go ask Vito that he have anybody he hate like this.
40:08
I don't hate Clemson, bro. I don't get mad bro.
40:10
I get money. We won't what they got.
40:13
So why would I hate like you become what you hate?
40:16
So why would I hate Clemson? We want to be Clemson.
40:19
Nobody on the Clemson podcast is doing a segment about Virginia
40:22
Tech right now. Fair.
40:25
Is there any? Is there any fan base?
40:29
They put it out. They were like, oh, Virginia
40:31
Tech might upset us. So I mean.
40:34
They actually talk about our shit all the time.
40:37
They get so fucking worked up over it because there before
40:41
they were, yes we were there before they were there.
40:45
They hate any mention of us being even close to legitimate.
40:49
Again, they can't fucking stand it.
40:51
On top of that, if you start talking entrances, they get
40:54
their fucking pants and he's in such a wad they cannot handle
40:58
it. It is incredible.
41:00
Yeah, they talk about us a lot. Fuck them people.
41:05
Hey, so. We get to settle it on the
41:09
field. So yeah.
41:10
So we won't like we got to. Plan.
41:12
I was going to say, man, we going to see them.
41:15
They come into the house this year.
41:16
So that's going to be, you know what I'm saying, all hands on
41:19
deck. We need to go out there and do
41:21
what we got to do and and show them that we back if that's what
41:25
it is. Speaking of that, I'll just ask
41:27
this question because we was kind of tipping around what
41:32
number or if Blank improves, the Hoagies will win 10 games.
41:38
So what room, what room needs to improve for us to win 10 games?
41:44
The offensive line, our skill positions could be just flat
41:50
this next year and if the offensive line improves, we win
41:53
10. Games.
41:55
Yeah, that's that's the answer to the question.
41:57
We have depth at every position on the team except offensive
42:02
line. And as the season progresses,
42:04
y'all, it's only going to get more difficult as you get into
42:08
the meat and potatoes of our schedule.
42:10
And all things considered, we have an easy schedule.
42:13
We play Clemson that we just talked about on November 9th.
42:18
If you don't go in that into that game in Lane Stadium with a
42:20
healthy, cohesive offensive line, their defensive line is
42:25
going to eat our lunch. And and so you like, it's just
42:28
what it is. They get great defensive lineman
42:31
and it's not just them, dude. Even Rutgers, like you have to
42:34
build that chemistry and they have to stay healthy.
42:37
You got it. That receiver, running back, QB,
42:39
you got it. That linebacker, defensive back,
42:42
everywhere. Defensive line.
42:43
You got it everywhere except the offensive.
42:45
Line, Dan, what you say? Defensive line can't stop the
42:53
run. I don't give a shit about
42:54
weightlifting records. You got to stop the run.
42:57
RDBS are good. Make them pass the ball, get
43:00
some picks, pick sixes, short field, can't stop the run.
43:05
Doesn't really matter, you're playing from behind the whole
43:07
time. Dan, are you saying that you're
43:09
concerned with the defensive line?
43:10
Because that's one of the units I was the least concerned about.
43:13
No, I'm saying like it looks good right now, but it's got to
43:16
show up. Yeah, that's true.
43:18
We don't know shit. And that's what we said, just
43:21
that the question was what, what room needed to improve for us to
43:25
get to the 10 like so Vito again, right, A lot on the
43:30
field. Yeah.
43:32
Yeah, squad 680 lbs. But we need to stop the run.
43:36
You see what I'm saying? Got to happen.
43:40
I, I, I, I go away from everybody else and I just say
43:43
quarterbacks, OK. At this point, everybody knows
43:47
Karen Jones is a dual threat quarterback.
43:49
Everybody knows that. Our OPS know it.
43:51
We know it. So at this point, if Karen Jones
43:54
can up his game to another level, then we'll win the 10
43:59
even with offensive line problems.
44:02
Yeah, true. Well, that's The thing is, even
44:05
if they know him, he's a dual threat quarterback.
44:06
That's a great thing about Kyron.
44:08
He's a fucking tank and we shouldn't rely on that too much.
44:13
I don't want what happened to Draw to happen to him that where
44:17
he's just getting beat up so much.
44:19
I don't want that to happen. But the great thing is, is if
44:23
something breaks down we can at least rely on him to get
44:27
something done because he's just so hard to bring down.
44:30
And they can game plan for it as much as you can, but good luck
44:33
fucking stopping it when he's got a good like a full head of
44:36
steam coming at him. This.
44:38
Season makes me think y'all of like the 2009, 2010 team with
44:43
Tyrod Taylor where that those offensive lines, all things
44:46
considered were not that good, but the superior talent around
44:51
Tyrod Taylor and on that on those defenses at that point it
44:55
didn't really matter. You know, we we were still
44:58
winning games because of just Jarrett Boykin and Danny Cole
45:02
and Ryan Williams and Darren, well, Darren Evans in 2009.
45:06
But yeah, like you didn't really have to think about it.
45:10
Yeah, since we're talking. About dudes we're.
45:11
Plays that broke down, that's what like if you remember during
45:15
that time period, it wasn't like these awesome design plays where
45:18
Tyrod showed up. It were they were plays that
45:21
just full on broke down and we won with our straight up fucking
45:25
athleticism. Tyrod would pull some shit and
45:28
just fling it and things would happen.
45:31
He would have made so many people.
45:33
It wasn't like this great design we were for the longest time.
45:37
I feel like coasting on having superior athletes and things
45:42
like tie rod and I. I think we're really coming a
45:45
long way as far as putting a good game design together,
45:49
getting the right people into a system, because I loved what we
45:53
were doing under under Frank. But there was always talk on
45:56
what we were doing offensively because a lot of times we didn't
45:59
have the greatest game plan. And of course back then it was a
46:02
little more, you know, you're on the edge of the unknown at that
46:06
point with what you do with dual threat quarterbacks.
46:09
We didn't have a lot of proof of concept even in the tie rod
46:13
days. We definitely didn't have it in
46:14
the big days. He revolutionized the entire
46:16
game. But now you can game plan for
46:20
him and you can actually put this offenses around, especially
46:25
with the RPO system. But it's hard with someone like
46:30
Drones to stop that when it's coming down, and it's good to
46:34
have that again. But we can't have that wear and
46:37
tear on them. We can't have it.
46:39
That's why the offensive line's so important, because we can't
46:41
have them get beat up. And as much as I loved back
46:44
then, whenever Tyrod make all these awesome plays by evading
46:47
everyone, Drones isn't going to be able to do that.
46:51
He's going to be taking hits whenever those plays breakdown.
46:55
That's why it's different and we can have a ton of great
46:59
athletes, but he's still going to be taking these hits and we
47:02
need to limit those hits because it's it's not like back then
47:05
because of that. He's big, he's elusive, but he
47:10
doesn't have that quickness that.
47:12
Like Tyrod had. Well, that's why I think what
47:15
Vito said, yeah, I think that's why what Vito said makes so much
47:18
sense because even when you do have a bad offensive line and
47:22
they just like he had a bad offensive line last year, he was
47:27
still making the throws. He was still evading people who
47:30
still scoring. So yeah, we don't want him to
47:32
take those hits because we want him to be healthy and we want
47:36
him to up his stock so he can go to the NFL.
47:39
So if he UPS his game like Vito, like Vito's here, he can speak
47:43
for himself. But.
47:44
What I mean by up his game, I don't mean by doing more the
47:47
same shit I mean by making more Reeves, getting the ball out
47:50
better, getting the ball out accurately, regressing as a
47:53
passer, not running more or running over people.
47:57
Yeah, hit his windows. He hit his Windows, man.
48:00
He hit a couple of the passes that we missed.
48:03
Got a little bit better options out there.
48:05
Not options, but a little bit more experience.
48:08
Ali coming back, man, you, you just never know what will
48:10
happen. So I was thinking more like
48:12
linebacker for that answer, but that's actually a pretty good
48:16
answer. What Vito came.
48:17
I mean, everybody's answer was good.
48:18
No wrong answer there. What I'm hearing though is we
48:22
got some good stuff going. We just need everybody to stay
48:25
healthy and keep keep moving forward.
48:28
Brian, what you got for us? Yeah.
48:30
I think we're going to kind of wrap up this segment with this
48:32
one. So we had a lot, lots of
48:33
positive things happening this offseason.
48:36
Yeah, you got new uniform release.
48:38
You got, you know, fan appreciation day just went down.
48:41
We got to play as the Hokies in college football. 25, something
48:44
we haven't done in over a decade.
48:47
And of course, you know, there's been a lot of cool content
48:50
coming out of Hokie Nation. Interviews, interviews with
48:54
coaches, interviews with players, all that fun stuff.
48:57
You know, recruiting's on a nice little trend up, even though we
49:00
hit a little roadblock here the last, you know, couple weeks.
49:04
I'm gonna pitch this to Dan first.
49:05
I'm gonna let everybody get in on this.
49:07
What's been the thing that's got you the most hyped for the 2024
49:09
season? Probably the expectation, see
49:16
how they handle it. Normally when we get hyped,
49:19
we're hyped up. The hokey way is to lose a
49:23
really dumb game, whether it's like Boise.
49:26
Well, not Boise State necessarily.
49:28
JMU, ECU, Syracuse and the Dome, which we're going there this
49:34
year, so that'd be nice to stop that.
49:37
Matt Ryan at home in the rain cost us probably a potential
49:43
chance to go to the national championship hype to see on the
49:49
depth at multiple positions. And I guess what I'm looking
49:53
forward to is to see how they all handle expectation because
49:59
last year there wasn't any. We were terrible coming off
50:01
three and eight. Like it was kind of whatever.
50:04
And then we started out bad and then something happened and we
50:09
caught fire. We didn't win a bowl game.
50:11
So. But this year, especially with
50:17
the, you know, edition of College Football 25, everybody
50:21
using the Hokies, Josh Pate beating the drum, all these
50:25
people like him, like media people beating the drum.
50:28
Herb St. Fowler hyped about Virginia Tech
50:31
again to see how they focus in and drown out the noise.
50:39
I'm interested to see how that goes.
50:41
Yeah, I'm pumped about that because I think it's funny, a
50:45
lot of these national guys, they, they like to see when
50:49
Virginia Tech's doing well. Like it it you see that a lot
50:52
like you, you people talk about college football is better when
50:55
Virginia Tech's doing well. So I'm excited to see what
50:59
that's about. Grayson, what do you got?
51:01
Yeah, I mean, outside of the palpable excitement, I would say
51:05
the most in 14 years for Virginia Tech football team
51:11
returning off of an offseason, you know, everyone's talking
51:14
about drones and whatnot on the new uniforms.
51:17
That's that's huge. But then the duo of Dorian
51:21
Strong and Mansour d'alene and seeing how those two play this
51:26
season, just, you know, Virginia Tech is always in the DBU
51:31
question. But I've talked to multiple
51:34
people about this, Brian. We've chatted about it.
51:37
Those two, I firmly believe, and this might be a hot take.
51:39
It might not by the time this season is done, I think have the
51:43
potential to be as good or if not better of a duo than Brandon
51:48
Flowers and Macho Harris. You know, in that, yeah, up up
51:53
there. That's that's saying a lot.
51:54
That's rarefied. In 2007, Macho and Brandon both
51:59
had five interceptions each. Let's see if the lane and strong
52:05
can outdo that. I would love to see that.
52:07
And and Brandon Flowers and Macho Harris.
52:09
Those are my guys, two of my favorite Virginia Tech players
52:12
of all time. But I I want to see those two
52:15
guys eat this year. Couple of pick sixes too.
52:20
Vito, what you got? As far as my excitement for the
52:24
season upcoming, it's just what I do.
52:28
I've been covering this team, I've been covering Virginia
52:30
Tech. I've been a content creator
52:32
since 2009, so it's just what I do.
52:35
I cover the hoagies. I talk shit whether we win or
52:38
lose. I'm going to be on Twitter
52:39
talking shit. I'm going to be part in talking
52:41
shit. That's what I do.
52:45
It's in me, not on me. There we go, Jeremy, what about
52:52
you? What you got?
52:54
Proof of concept. It's it's the same reason we
52:57
were all trying to get ourselves all fucking jacked up and circle
53:01
jerking the living shit out of each other till we're raw and
53:04
bleeding all over our underwear back in the food days because
53:08
we're just like, Oh no, he's got his own guys.
53:10
We're going to like prove exactly what he was trying to
53:12
do. Oh great.
53:14
And then it fell straight on its fucking face.
53:16
So right now it to me like I love everyone being excited.
53:22
I love all the hop we're getting.
53:24
I love all of it. I love the position groups
53:26
mostly. I love all of it, but it's proof
53:30
of fucking concept. And if we can come out and we
53:33
smack people in the mouth that we need to, and if we can come
53:36
out and we can show that the systems that we're putting
53:38
together are clicking and we have a cohesive fucking game
53:43
plan and we come out and we fucking execute and we've got a
53:46
God damn program again, you show me that and I'm on fucking
53:49
bored. I don't even care if we lose a
53:51
few games over something that happened.
53:54
Shit happens in football. It's fucking football.
53:57
But you show me you've got an actual plan.
54:00
You show me that you're putting this program back on the map and
54:04
we're on the right path. You show me that I'm going to be
54:08
fucking happy. That's why I'm excited about.
54:10
That's what I'm socked for. I, I mean, you can't, you can't
54:15
get no better than that, I guess.
54:17
But what I'll throw in and to end this segment with, with what
54:21
I have to say is I guess my height for 2014 is draft
54:27
expectations. Because if we get, I don't know
54:32
what the number is, but we'll say seven, we get seven people
54:35
drafted. That means we had a pretty good
54:37
year. That means some people took a
54:39
step and you know what I'm saying?
54:41
We, we did what we were supposed to do and we got six 7-8 people
54:46
going to the league to represent Virginia Tech.
54:49
You know what I'm saying? I don't want to see people
54:50
leaving and transferring and going somewhere else and walking
54:53
across the stage and saying such and such a quarterback from
54:56
Tennessee. I don't want that to happen no
54:58
more. I want them to say from Virginia
55:00
Tech and call some names. So that's what I'm going to be
55:03
looking for. That's what I'm excited for
55:05
because we got the talent there. I just, you know, and, and
55:09
hoping these young men and praying these young men can, you
55:11
know, go out, have a healthy year and, and, and play to their
55:14
capability so we can see them walk across that stage, because
55:16
I know that's a lifelong dream for them.
55:19
And it also, you know, like I said, it, it makes our program
55:22
better. So that's what I'll add to it.
55:26
Way to put a bow on it, Tally. I appreciate that.
55:27
And that's going to wrap up this first segment of the 2024
55:32
Hoagies preview panel. Want to thank Dan Grayson, Vito,
55:36
Jeremy, taking the time with us tonight, having a little fun
55:41
saying fuck a lot. You know, I think, I think we
55:44
did. We hit our quota.
55:46
We'll see if the other guys in the back have two segments try
55:50
to match you. It's a it's a high bar, Jeremy.
55:52
It's a high bar. Yeah.
55:55
I'm just definitely a high bar. Jeremy.
55:58
Definitely a high bar man. We appreciate all y'all jumping
56:01
on everybody who watching. Please check these gentlemen
56:04
out. They put a lot of work into the
56:07
different things they do on Twitter but also their content
56:11
creations. Don V formerly Don V Fridays Vt
56:16
foil now y'all go give a listen. One of my favorite listings
56:19
throughout the week. Jeremy just started him a new
56:22
podcast is Blacksburg's on the Rocks.
56:24
On the rocks. He's not talking about rocks
56:26
outside. He's talking about alcohol being
56:28
poured over ice. You don't got to tell us about
56:31
it right now, Grayson. We going to pull him back in,
56:34
let him start podcasting with us as well.
56:36
One day we're going to get him back.
56:38
Dan still doing this thing over there, Terra Dome interviewing
56:44
every day, getting people from 10 years ago, 30 years ago.
56:48
Keep doing what you're doing. We appreciate all you guys.
56:51
Like I said, everybody lock you in, check each other out, follow
56:55
everybody and all that good stuff, man.
56:57
So we can go to Nashville and do what we got to do.
57:00
Yep. And.
57:01
Thanks guys. Appreciate it guys.
57:04
And we're going to go ahead and take a little pause from our our
57:08
sponsor here and he's in the top right here.
57:10
So check this out. I can probably save you a lot of
57:14
money and I can take a lot better care of you.
57:16
That's pretty much it. My name is Jeremy Counts and I'm
57:19
a pharmacist. I want to operate Main Street
57:21
pharmacy here in downtown Blacksburg.
57:23
My brother's a pharmacist, I'm a pharmacist, my uncle's a
57:25
pharmacist, my dad's a pharmacist.
57:27
I remember he would give me M&M's to count in little pill
57:30
counters. This is something I've always
57:32
done, and I'm just lucky that what I know so well is something
57:35
that I can do and feel good about it and get back to people.
57:39
Pharmacies are your frontline defense.
57:41
Pharmacy's job is to make sure you're getting optimal care.
57:44
For the lowest price possible. Also, we take the pressure off
57:47
of emergency rooms. I'll tell people immediately
57:49
when they need to go to the doctor, or I'll tell them if
57:51
they just need a cream over the counter.
57:53
If there's something that isn't commercially available, if it's
57:56
something that's not available in a certain strength or a
57:58
certain form or anything like that, we'll make it.
58:01
Tailor made medications. Some of those options save
58:03
people a lot of money. What motivates me, I get to take
58:05
care of people and limit Blacksburg.
58:07
That's all neat. All righty, and we are back.
58:15
Well, me and Shelton are back and Brian and Tally have got
58:19
into the green room Chill for a little while here, but we're
58:22
going to get segment 2 popped up here and we're telling this
58:26
hokey hype by the numbers and we've got some great guests.
58:30
We got some more stuff to talk about.
58:32
How long? Just go ahead and say it.
58:33
We're going to be under on the F bombs this segment, not even a
58:36
doubt about it. What do you think, Sheldon?
58:40
Yeah, it's going to be hard to top that previous segment, I
58:43
know. So we got some, I'd say
58:46
enigmatic personalities, some some exuberant faces and voices
58:50
in that, in that, in that Group One.
58:52
But hopefully we can keep the ball rolling, have a good
58:54
segment too. Absolutely, we're going to keep
58:55
it rolling with four guests who have been on with us before and
58:59
we are enjoying having them back tonight.
59:01
Going to start out here, man in Blacksburg himself from tech
59:05
sideline David Cunningham. Hey David, how you doing
59:08
tonight? I'm all right, man Thanks.
59:10
Yeah, I don't I don't think I will be able to meet the Jeremy
59:14
F bomb quota, unfortunately. But I technically I will write
59:18
this off as work. This is what I do for.
59:21
I mean, this is what I do for a living and I've got AI got some
59:24
professionalism to keep. Luckily, you know, Jeremy is not
59:30
Jeremy and Main Street Pharmacy are two separate entities.
59:32
So that's that's good. Me, I basically tech sideline
59:37
all the time, so it's going to be hard for me to separate.
59:39
Very nice. All right, next here he is a
59:42
host with Dwight Victoria at the Vt for Life.
59:47
Also, Danny, I don't know if you're still doing this or not
59:49
because I haven't talked to you in a while.
59:50
Are you still hosting up in DC? Whenever they gave me the call,
59:55
Curtis, you know, it's great to be here.
59:57
I'm wondering if this is now the most anticipated event of the
1:00:02
hokey offseason the the Hokies preview panel with with everyone
1:00:06
that comes in here every single year.
1:00:07
You guys do a great job and I'm I'm honored to be a part of it.
1:00:10
Well, Danny and we enjoy having you back this year, man.
1:00:12
Always good to see you. Always good to talk with you.
1:00:14
Next, our buddy from over at T Too Deep, Pete B Pete, we said,
1:00:24
what do you say tonight man? What's going on fellas?
1:00:26
How you doing? How'd you like the first
1:00:28
segment? Oh, I know, I know.
1:00:31
And you know what, it's funny, like after watching that and
1:00:33
then seeing the Main Street Pharmacy commercial and the
1:00:36
dichotomy between the two, that was really, it just made me
1:00:40
crack up. And I just want to say FUF U2.
1:00:43
And to each and everyone of you on the panel here with me now,
1:00:46
it's cool because I never got a chance to really talk to to DC
1:00:50
or Danny before, so this is awesome.
1:00:52
Love it, love it. All righty.
1:00:54
So lastly who we've got coming back with us.
1:00:58
If you watch this show, y'all know the next guy we have on
1:01:02
basically our lifelong friends of Brian and Irish.
1:01:05
He is also a high school football coach down in the state
1:01:07
of North Carolina. He is fresh in out from camp
1:01:10
today our buddy coach Robbie Compton.
1:01:13
Robbie, what's going on, brother?
1:01:16
Watch out Jeremy. Here I come, buddy.
1:01:21
Oh, that's awesome. Robbie, how's Cam going?
1:01:23
Man, I'm a teacher too, I keep this on my desk and I just throw
1:01:26
it at people every now and then because I can't use the word.
1:01:30
Love. It these are good man got brand
1:01:33
new turf field. We're trying to get used to the
1:01:34
heat of of practicing on and just trying to push through some
1:01:39
things, try to get better every day.
1:01:41
Love to hear it, man, love to hear it.
1:01:42
So y'all, I want to kind of start it this way because I need
1:01:47
everybody to close their eyes for a second and picture this.
1:01:49
It's roughly 320 days ago, it's night time, it's Lane Stadium,
1:01:55
and we're about to kick off against Pitt.
1:01:58
If I threw a Franklin on each of y'all's desks wherever you're
1:02:02
sitting, handed to you and said 100 bucks 2024 pre season, the
1:02:06
Hokies are going to be considered a top 25 team.
1:02:11
Tyron Jones is a dark horse for the Heisman.
1:02:14
People are talking about winning the ACC, going to the playoff.
1:02:19
A would you have taken that bet? And now how do you justify it,
1:02:24
David? Yeah, I was.
1:02:28
I didn't think about the spot they were in.
1:02:30
No, I mean, I like it would have been none of those.
1:02:34
I don't think anybody really thought those things were
1:02:36
possible. I think a lot of people in the
1:02:38
program didn't really see it, right.
1:02:42
It's also one of those things where it does you don't you
1:02:45
don't really think it can maybe be accomplished until it it
1:02:47
happens. But I mean, at that point,
1:02:49
Virginia Tech is sitting at 1:00 and 3:00, right?
1:02:51
Virginia Tech is just coming off a loss at Marshall.
1:02:55
Like that's a team that Virginia Tech beat on the ground early in
1:02:59
the game and just decided to stop running the ball.
1:03:01
Like you get to a point where I think everybody kind of just
1:03:05
threw their hands up and said what is going on?
1:03:08
And Curtis, if you had told me that, if you had said, yeah,
1:03:11
I'll give you $100. But I'm, I'm no way, no way.
1:03:14
I don't think anybody's taking that just because at that point
1:03:18
we had not seen how dynamic for a long period of time Kyron
1:03:23
drones was. We saw Bashel Tooten's ability
1:03:26
in spurts. I don't think the defensive
1:03:28
really played up to par. The run fits were terrible.
1:03:31
Like there were a lot of things that went wrong.
1:03:33
And credit to the staff, they turn things around and it's kind
1:03:37
of crazy. We're sitting here, you know,
1:03:39
middle of August, and this is a team that has high expectations.
1:03:43
Danny, what about you, man? Would you?
1:03:44
Would you have taken the bet with me?
1:03:46
Absolutely not, Absolutely not. And and it's real simple for me
1:03:49
guys, because I, I remember talking about the state of this
1:03:53
team at that moment in time with, with Dwight and Mike Vick
1:03:56
on our podcast last year. And at that point in the season,
1:04:00
we hadn't seen the coaching staff figure out how to make
1:04:03
adjustments, not even from game to game, but within the game.
1:04:07
What whatever it came down to, we we hadn't really seen them
1:04:10
put together a full performance from the top with the coaching
1:04:14
staff down to the players going out and executing.
1:04:16
Now Kyron Jones ends up coming in and, and really starts to,
1:04:21
you know, cement himself not just as a starter, but as a star
1:04:24
pretty, pretty early on. And and that pit game was, was
1:04:27
definitely one of those early showings of that.
1:04:29
But would I have taken the bet at 1:00 and 3:00 going into that
1:04:34
pit game that they they'd be sitting in this position right
1:04:36
now? Absolutely not.
1:04:37
Even though I did have a good bit of confidence that they were
1:04:39
going to go out and be pit that night.
1:04:41
It it just hadn't it. We hadn't had any tangible proof
1:04:44
that they could put everything together at that point.
1:04:47
All righty, Pete. Yeah, getting to six and six
1:04:51
after those first four games felt impossible.
1:04:55
And I remember listening to David and the TSL guys talk
1:04:58
about it and and how many more games would we win last year?
1:05:02
And I would say that I was a little bit less panicked than
1:05:06
most. But nevertheless, I was
1:05:08
thinking, OK, maybe three again, maybe we'll get to three wins.
1:05:13
Like it just we were playing so unhokey, like in terms of a
1:05:18
historic sense. And that pit game did turn
1:05:21
things around. And Pitt is a team that has
1:05:24
given us problems over the years.
1:05:26
And so if you lose that game and then you lose to Florida State,
1:05:28
like it could have really unraveled, but it didn't.
1:05:31
And I'm I'm so grateful we're in the position we are now because
1:05:35
it makes this preview a lot more fun.
1:05:38
Absolutely, Robbie. What about you, man?
1:05:40
You had seen the team that spring, you'd seen drones, and
1:05:42
then they're one and three. What did you think?
1:05:45
Would you have taken the money from me?
1:05:47
If any of you know my gambling, my online gambling habits, you
1:05:50
would say this idiot's going to take this.
1:05:54
I can't. It's a parlay to me.
1:05:56
You just listed off too many things for me to take.
1:05:59
And I was like, yeah, surely I'm going to take that bet and I'm
1:06:02
going to lose on one by a point. Damn.
1:06:06
LeBron James. No, there's, you know, I have, I
1:06:13
have some, some pretty good professional relationships with
1:06:16
some of those coaches there. I've I've been in, I've been in
1:06:20
some meeting rooms and some things with several of those
1:06:23
coaches before they got to Blacksburg, things like that.
1:06:27
I knew where they were headed and what they were going to try
1:06:30
to do. I just wasn't sure how long it
1:06:32
was going to take. So in my mind to to say a year
1:06:37
from now, it would have been hard to say that to see them
1:06:41
build to what they have in this quick of a time.
1:06:44
I think it's pretty impressive If you to give me 2025, I
1:06:50
probably leaned a little more, but 2024 seemed a little little
1:06:54
crazy at that point in time. But I, I, I'm excited about what
1:06:59
they put together and where they're headed.
1:07:01
And All in all, no, I don't, I don't think I would have taken
1:07:04
that 320 days ago tell. Them.
1:07:07
What about you, man? I know we've talked about this a
1:07:10
little bit, but. Yeah, it was man.
1:07:13
It just, it seemed like it turned on a dime.
1:07:15
I mean, you're coming off that loss to Marshall.
1:07:18
I think everyone collectively is kind of questioning, you know,
1:07:21
the process and and where the where the program is headed, at
1:07:24
least externally. I don't think internally it
1:07:26
seemed like they, they kind of had their heads on straight, but
1:07:28
I think it's a, it's a testament to Brent Pryor that he kind of
1:07:31
kept things going and, you know, kept everyone focused.
1:07:34
There was no, you know, finger pointing or infighting or
1:07:37
internal division. And I think that's a, that's a
1:07:39
testament to the culture that he built that they could just, you
1:07:41
know, they went through some adversity, they came back from
1:07:44
it and they got better week by week.
1:07:46
We saw Karen droves progress throughout the course of the
1:07:48
season and they ended up going 7:00 and 6:00.
1:07:50
So I think it's just a remarkable, remarkable
1:07:54
progression there. So continuing on, Speaking of
1:07:59
Brent Pry, he has been mining the transfer portal this
1:08:02
offseason as he has done a lot and he Pry said before that he
1:08:07
wants to build this program on the backs of high school
1:08:09
recruiting and sort of use the portal to supplements.
1:08:13
So us this qualify by excluding Aeneas Peebles because I think
1:08:18
he was sort of the consensus big time get out of the portal this
1:08:21
this past year. Who do you guys see being the
1:08:24
biggest transfer impact, the biggest impact player?
1:08:29
I'm going to transfer class this year.
1:08:31
We'll start with Pete. I think it's going to be
1:08:34
Bromfield if you ask me. I mean, yes, peoples is is a
1:08:38
would be a great choice, but with the depth across the D
1:08:41
line, who knows how much of an impact that he might have
1:08:46
relative to what Brumfield could do.
1:08:47
If you think about the problems we had at middle linebacker last
1:08:50
year and the tackling issues in general and the fact that, you
1:08:54
know, he had 81 tackles for Middle Tennessee State that
1:08:58
would have led us last year. I know it's different teams,
1:09:01
whatever. Two years ago, our leading
1:09:02
tackler had 82 tackles. So this is the kind of impact,
1:09:05
the guy who in Brumfield, who was still coming into his own
1:09:09
last year on AG5, he's at another seasoning, better
1:09:12
coaching now, playing for a power school.
1:09:15
And I just feel like if he can study that middle linebacking
1:09:20
core and we can even get a Dax level when Dax was in playing
1:09:24
his senior year, like that could be a monumental change.
1:09:27
So I'm going to go with Bromfield.
1:09:29
Yeah, definitely doing a lot for the linebacker core there.
1:09:32
Danny biggest impact transfer. I love what Pete said because I
1:09:35
think Brumfield needs to have the biggest year of the guys
1:09:39
that that are coming in from the transfer portal because that is
1:09:42
is the weakest position on the defense and and where they're
1:09:45
gonna need the most help. Who I think it'll actually end
1:09:47
up being, though, is Peebles, and I know that that's.
1:09:50
Really. But most of what all of us
1:09:52
probably think to to some degree, but I've been hype on
1:09:56
him since since the word got out.
1:09:58
I I think he's a great player. I think he's got all the
1:10:00
physical tools to be dominant and the reality is if he plays
1:10:03
well, he's going to help Brumfield and the inside
1:10:06
linebackers out. Your interior defensive line
1:10:08
plays well. It just makes everybody's life
1:10:11
behind them easier. Not just not just the PAT, you
1:10:14
know, the passing coverage, which Virginia Tech's obviously
1:10:16
got strong pass defense, but being able to defend the run.
1:10:20
They, they can really be a well-rounded unit and it all
1:10:23
starts up front. You kind of, you feel the love
1:10:25
for Sam Brunfield. I mean, here's the thing.
1:10:29
There aren't too many guys to choose from because Virginia
1:10:32
Tech returns so many that it's, it's a, it's a tough question.
1:10:36
Those are the top 2 answers. And I think both of those guys
1:10:39
will have the two biggest impacts.
1:10:40
I think I would probably, I, I, it's tough.
1:10:44
I think Peebles will probably have the biggest impact.
1:10:46
I think Brumfield is the most needed.
1:10:48
But just for sake of this argument, I think Montavius
1:10:52
Cunningham is, is going to be an, he's going to play an
1:10:54
interesting role. He, he might not win the job.
1:10:57
And right now he is not playing with the ones in practice at
1:11:01
right guard. It's Bob Schick, but he's
1:11:04
somebody who had gotten consistent reps at his previous
1:11:09
institution. He's somebody who has experience
1:11:13
and what wrong Crook has slowly done with that room.
1:11:16
He's. Transformed it into a room that
1:11:19
last year could barely go 6 deep, now can go way, way
1:11:24
deeper. And I think Cunningham is a big
1:11:27
piece of that. Injuries are part of football.
1:11:29
At some point some of those guys are are going to have to play
1:11:32
Montavious. Cunningham is going to have to
1:11:34
have an impact. And the fact that Virginia Tech
1:11:36
is a guy like that with that kind of experience, even if it
1:11:40
was at Georgia State, having somebody with that experience
1:11:45
over, say, a freshman or a retro freshman or a sophomore in that
1:11:48
role is crucial, I think. And so Brumfield and Peebles, I
1:11:52
think they're top two options. But I think you can't really
1:11:54
overlook Cunningham because, again, he might not start, but
1:11:58
he will have an impact in some capacity.
1:12:02
All right, Robbie, we got a vote for Montavas Cunningham, a
1:12:04
couple for Brumfield, one for Peebles.
1:12:06
Who do you think is kind of the biggest impact on the transfer
1:12:08
class this year? In my opinion, I think a lot of
1:12:12
it's going to come. We sat at the end of last season
1:12:16
looking at what are we going to do with the defensive line,
1:12:19
where are we going to get depth? And there's three added right
1:12:23
there on the defensive line, I think from the transfer portal
1:12:26
in in Perry, Gilliam and Copeland who came in and they
1:12:33
provide a future at that position.
1:12:39
And I think that's a big thing. We people's coming in is going
1:12:43
to be amazing. I think he's going to be the
1:12:45
star of that defensive front. I think he's going to really
1:12:48
give a lot of things. I mean, he's shown it several
1:12:51
years of Duke, he's going to help tremendously.
1:12:55
But just the fact that that we've got the depth and those
1:12:58
three guys coming in, it's hard for me to pick just one, but
1:13:01
that room getting better that much quicker.
1:13:04
I think it's going to add a lot to the future of the thing.
1:13:08
They're going to help now by having depth, but they're just
1:13:10
going to be that much better later because of those three.
1:13:13
I think 1, there's what, 3 red shirt sophomores.
1:13:18
They're all relatively young and they're going to be there at
1:13:21
least at least two seasons. I would think So.
1:13:25
I mean you're, you're looking at, I think that was a big thing
1:13:28
now. I think Brumfield right behind
1:13:29
them. And if you didn't know, I'm a
1:13:31
defensive coordinator, so I I look more at that defensive
1:13:34
stuff, but that that front is going to help Brumfield even
1:13:42
more, going to keep pressure off those linebackers, let them play
1:13:45
with the speed and the aggressiveness that they do and
1:13:48
they can rotate guys in. I know as a coach, offensive
1:13:52
line coaches don't like to rotate guys outside of that
1:13:54
five. They like to get that
1:13:55
continuity. And when we can put four guys
1:13:58
out there and then two plays later put four more guys in
1:14:00
front of them and move them around, it gets tough for four
1:14:04
quarters. And I mean, I think that's going
1:14:06
to be a big thing with with those three big guys coming in
1:14:09
there. In the first segment, if if you
1:14:11
don't mind if I jump in here or something, they talked about
1:14:13
like, oh, we don't really know what these guys are going to be
1:14:16
Copeland, whatever people, we are hearing practice reports,
1:14:20
right? We do hear positive things about
1:14:22
the coaches and not every piece of hype that a coach says his
1:14:26
gospel, right? We heard it about Lofton.
1:14:28
We heard it about Keller for a couple years.
1:14:30
We're hearing it again about Keller.
1:14:31
But think about the hit rate out of the portal last year, just
1:14:35
like drones, Jennings, Tooten, Felton, APR Lane canteen and and
1:14:41
then like that's a pretty good hit rate.
1:14:43
That's I mean, Freddy and Stone Snyder were the only two that
1:14:47
didn't really hit right. So this year you got Peebles
1:14:50
only hearing good things, Brumfield good things, Copeland
1:14:53
good things, Spencer Perry also good things, maybe even a
1:14:57
Gilliam in there a couple times, maybe not so much.
1:15:00
Either way, think about that hit rate that our coaches, they
1:15:03
don't just go and grab from the portal.
1:15:06
They are evaluating and pulling guys that we think are going to
1:15:10
make a big impact. So it's very exciting.
1:15:12
They, they know what they're getting out of those guys.
1:15:14
They're pulling them in. I can tell you from personal
1:15:17
experience coaching against peoples that that that he's a
1:15:21
man they're going to have, they're going to get they're
1:15:25
going to get good quality plays out of him, even if it's just
1:15:28
for this year. He's a real deal.
1:15:31
And and I saw Kamari Copeland play in high school.
1:15:34
He's not just a fancy squat number that's showing up there.
1:15:37
He he's going to be ready to play and he's going to want to
1:15:41
play every snap they'll give him and he's going to be ready to
1:15:44
go. I mean, I like you said, it's,
1:15:48
it's a big thing to hit like they did in the Portal last
1:15:50
year, but this, this crowd's definitely going to give them
1:15:54
all they want and make them compare them to them, in my
1:15:56
opinion. Yeah, I'm, I'm going to say this
1:15:58
and then I'm going to pivot over to David because he mentioned it
1:16:01
a little bit already. As much as I love the defensive
1:16:04
line, I trust JC Price. A lot of people doubted JC
1:16:09
Price. JC Price definitely knows how to
1:16:11
coach and what you said Davis a few minutes ago talking about
1:16:16
Montavious Cunningham, because last year I felt we had six guys
1:16:21
that could actually play the offensive line.
1:16:23
David, you're seeing in practice more and more, what's that
1:16:27
number this year? Is it 8?
1:16:28
Is it nine? Could we see ten guys
1:16:31
potentially rotating in or? I wouldn't say rotating, but are
1:16:35
we seeing a point where we're going to have eight definite
1:16:38
rotations and there's going to be some younger guys getting
1:16:40
reps at certain spots? Yeah, well, I think, I think one
1:16:46
of the most interesting things is what was just said, which is
1:16:49
some of a lot of offensive line coaches don't rotate a ton.
1:16:52
But it is important to have depth when you get into
1:16:55
situations where you need it, right.
1:16:57
Guys are are going to have to play.
1:16:59
From what I've seen, Curtis 8-9 is kind of where Tech is right
1:17:04
now. Now granted we haven't had a
1:17:06
chance to see scrimmages yet. It's what I've gathered from
1:17:10
chatting with Ron Crooked Media days last week or two weeks ago.
1:17:14
If he wants to have ten, I think he he has about 8 right now.
1:17:18
I think bring bringing in a guy like Montavious Cunningham helps
1:17:21
guys like Leif Ganem and Johnny Garrett.
1:17:24
They're pushing for for those spots.
1:17:27
So that gives you kind of eight right there.
1:17:29
There is probably a 9th or 10th guy around.
1:17:32
So I think it it'll be interesting to see how how it it
1:17:37
really shakes out. But I would agree with you,
1:17:40
Curtis, when you say Virginia Tech only really had six guys
1:17:43
and that's that's that I'm. Giving you six?
1:17:46
You're giving me six? Yeah.
1:17:48
You're being nice about 6. I mean, this, this was a unit
1:17:51
that at times did, did not necessarily play super well.
1:17:56
But I think as the season went on, Ron Crook and Tyler Bowen
1:18:02
and Brent Davis, who has a big role with that group, former
1:18:05
Army offensive coordinator, they scheme stuff up so well that
1:18:10
they hid a lot of deficiencies. And I'm curious, another year
1:18:15
under everybody's belt. Ron Crook had an entire
1:18:18
offseason to work with these guys.
1:18:21
Instead of just getting there right before spring.
1:18:23
Ball, what does this group look like in Ron Crook's second year?
1:18:27
Everybody now has, I mean, they bring everybody back.
1:18:31
Like every single player from that group is back.
1:18:34
So you would think everybody takes a step forward and you
1:18:36
bring in some young guys like I've got I've got my eye on
1:18:40
somebody like Lathe Ganem. Can he push for one of those
1:18:42
tackle spots? He's somebody that Brent Pride
1:18:46
has spoken pretty highly on and like Pete said, don't take
1:18:49
everything as gospel. But overall, that room has been
1:18:53
elevated and I think it will only continue to be elevated.
1:18:58
And a guy like Montavius Cunningham, who I mentioned
1:18:59
before, he, he kind of plays an interesting role in that because
1:19:05
he is somebody, if that doesn't have him, that that's one fewer
1:19:09
guy and you need all of the the big guys up front that you can
1:19:12
get. I I think I think Cunningham is
1:19:19
going to play a big part in being able to move a lot of
1:19:22
places because he's got experience to guard, he's got
1:19:25
experience to tackle. He's somebody that can really
1:19:28
step up and fill a lot of needs. And I think that's one of the
1:19:31
big things they're looking at is he's such a utility for whatever
1:19:36
they need. You have guys that are
1:19:38
challenging for spots in different places, but you've got
1:19:41
a guy that I know I can plug in and play multiple places.
1:19:44
I think that's big for them as well.
1:19:47
Yes, let's let's keep getting some thoughts from from Robbie
1:19:51
here because I know he's a ball mower of sorts.
1:19:54
So we want to manage the hype a little bit and had a question
1:19:58
about safeties. So safety play was a problem for
1:20:01
Tech last year. You know, run fits were a big
1:20:03
problem and part of it was injuries, part of it was
1:20:06
inexperienced, part of it was targeting, you know, guys just
1:20:08
not being on the field when they you'd like them to be.
1:20:11
Last year we kind of saw the the trio of Jalen Stroman, Moss
1:20:14
Phillips and and Jalen Jones get a lot of reps there.
1:20:17
How do you see that safety unit shaking out this season and just
1:20:20
what does Tech need to do to kind of get better at that spot?
1:20:23
Because I think it's kind of the one of the one of the few weak
1:20:25
spots I can see on this team. My honest opinion, I think a lot
1:20:30
of the like we you talked about targeting, part of that is
1:20:34
aggressiveness. I like that part.
1:20:37
I like the aggressiveness part. You just have to learn how to
1:20:40
tailor it back and use it properly.
1:20:43
I think a lot of it was was inexperience in the game not
1:20:48
being consistent with certain things that they had last year.
1:20:52
And I think that aggressiveness is going to be the the thing
1:20:55
that separates several of them. I know in, in the spring, first
1:20:59
spring practice I was at this year, I went to their coaches
1:21:03
clinic. We saw a spring practice, I
1:21:05
think it was Phillips come through.
1:21:07
And I mean, he laid a shot on one of the receivers early in
1:21:12
practice. And I mean, the official that
1:21:15
was there threw a, threw a flag for targeting in that.
1:21:19
I mean, they've got to learn how to harness that aggression and
1:21:23
use those things. Now the fact that they're all
1:21:26
playing together once again, that consistency, playing
1:21:29
together longer, working together, I think it's going to
1:21:31
help that room. Overall.
1:21:33
You're getting more of a feel from the coaches.
1:21:36
More experience will be better, should translate to better play
1:21:41
on the field. And the, the fact that you have
1:21:44
two corners out there that are, that are funneling things in,
1:21:49
shutting things down on the edge really gives you and ability to
1:21:53
be a lot more aggressive with one of those safeties, if not
1:21:56
both of them to, to help in the run.
1:21:59
So I don't think you, you try to step too far away from that.
1:22:02
You keep that aggressiveness. Just learn how to, to put it in
1:22:05
the right places. And I think you'll see a lot of
1:22:08
that. If we remember correctly, the
1:22:10
guy that that's coaching the safeties was always good about
1:22:13
being very, very aggressive in his own right.
1:22:18
And that's a, that's a thing Virginia Tech's been known for
1:22:21
with their safeties. I mean, you look at them,
1:22:24
they've, they've always been aggressive.
1:22:26
So this targeting things kind of it, it's an ever changing thing
1:22:32
and it takes a lot to get used to.
1:22:34
And just when you get used to the aspects of what you should
1:22:37
be doing, they kind of change it up again.
1:22:40
So I think that's going to be part of it.
1:22:41
And just understanding how they're going to play together
1:22:44
and finding the right rotation for four or five guys there that
1:22:47
can really help. I think the big part about you
1:22:50
say aggressiveness, because safeties have to be aggressive.
1:22:53
You coach them. I'm sure you don't tell them to
1:22:55
play with kids gloves with the guys.
1:22:57
It's like you've got to hit people because your space hit
1:23:00
them. But I think maybe what could
1:23:02
really help this team a lot is having those calls last year
1:23:05
because now you get the video right?
1:23:07
And I'm sure Pearson's pulling them up.
1:23:09
I'm sure Marvin's pulling them saying guys look, love the
1:23:12
aggressiveness. Look where your head placement
1:23:13
is. Get the shoulder first.
1:23:16
Get this, get that. These are the things we can fix.
1:23:19
Because what you, you can talk about aggressiveness and if a
1:23:23
guy isn't aggressive back there, you can't teach that because by
1:23:26
all means, Cam Chancellor used to lay people out, right?
1:23:29
Oh yeah, absolutely. Everybody can remember his name
1:23:33
escapes me right now, but the guy, the safety, yeah.
1:23:40
Why was that escaping? That was when he went to the
1:23:42
Skins. He had the whole medical deal.
1:23:44
The pit hit the. Pit hit.
1:23:46
Thank you, Pete. The pit hit.
1:23:48
Great moment. Great moment.
1:23:50
Clean shoulder, just laid the kid out.
1:23:53
So I like, I like you. I like hearing that, Robbie.
1:23:56
I also like the little cover behind practice that
1:24:00
unfortunately most Phillips laid the crap out of one of our
1:24:03
receivers. But that's all good and well.
1:24:05
All right, I'm going to move over to Danny next.
1:24:07
Danny, it is very clear that Tooten is the number one back.
1:24:13
There is no doubt about it. There is no argument from the
1:24:17
four guys we had on the 1st, from our two Co host to anybody
1:24:20
on this panel to the two gentlemen will bring on Labor.
1:24:22
He's he's already won. But we got to look deeper.
1:24:25
Last year, Malachi Thomas, he carried the ball 83 times.
1:24:30
From what you're seeing, what you're reading, what you're
1:24:32
hearing, your overall feel, what you saw in the spring game, is
1:24:35
he going to get that much run this year?
1:24:37
Are we going to see some younger guys steal his share?
1:24:41
We know it's funny because it's a good thing I'm not sitting
1:24:43
here as the head coach of Pitt right now, Pat and Arduzi,
1:24:45
because I asked a very similar question to that man maybe 8:00
1:24:50
or so years ago with the ACC kickoff.
1:24:52
One of his first years guy by the name of James Conner was,
1:24:55
was coming back off of cancer, right?
1:24:57
But they also had another running back by the name of
1:24:59
Khadri Olson who ran for north of 1000 yards.
1:25:01
And when I asked him about getting both of those guys
1:25:04
involved, he kind of condescendingly put me down and
1:25:08
said why would I give the ball to anybody other than James
1:25:10
Conner? And I thought, well, you got two
1:25:12
useful backs there Coach. I feel like you could probably
1:25:14
use both of those guys. And I think here at Tech this
1:25:17
year, you've got two very capable backs in in Tooten and
1:25:21
Malachi Thomas. I I also remember back in 2021,
1:25:24
one of the first glimpses that we got of Malachi Thomas in that
1:25:27
Syracuse game, one of Fuentes final games goes for north of
1:25:31
150 yards, 3 touchdowns. No one had done that since David
1:25:34
Wilson. That's an incredible game.
1:25:36
Syracuse wasn't very good, but that was still pretty
1:25:39
impressive. And the guys had some some
1:25:40
injury issues. He did that last season, but but
1:25:43
was a a contributor in every game last year.
1:25:46
Ideally you're you're hanging with Tooten for for most of the
1:25:49
game and the guy is so dynamic. How could you not, right?
1:25:52
I mean, he could catch the ball out of the backfield.
1:25:54
Obviously he's he's great on the edge and between the tackles.
1:25:57
The offensive line will have a lot to do with the success of
1:26:00
Tooten. Their health, Tooten's own
1:26:02
health will will play into that as well.
1:26:05
But you also have to factor obviously in Chiron drones and
1:26:08
and his dual threat ability and and how much harder that is for
1:26:12
for a defense to prepare for. It only helps tooten.
1:26:15
It only helps Malachi Thomas. That and and I think the last
1:26:18
thing that I would add to to the running back conversation here
1:26:21
is, you know, for the spring game, it was the PJ prelo show
1:26:24
for for at least early on, right.
1:26:26
He had a couple of touchdowns. He had a lot of production.
1:26:28
They were giving him the ball a lot.
1:26:30
And I, I'm, I'm a little bit biased because Pearson's my guy.
1:26:33
He was my Co host on the on the tailgate show for for a couple
1:26:37
of years. I I love him to death, but PJ
1:26:40
really showed, I think what he can do there and it and it's a
1:26:42
very capable third option, although you know, they've got a
1:26:45
couple of other guys in Kony and Mason with Kony being the only
1:26:48
of the three that I just mentioned that have seen game
1:26:51
action other than Malachi and and Bashal Tooten.
1:26:54
So I think there's there's just an just an absolute overflow of
1:26:59
talent in the running backroom this year, which is a great
1:27:01
problem to have. But I think it's it's going to
1:27:04
be the Tootin show, man, as it should be.
1:27:06
What do you got, Nick Shelton? Yes, so let's go Pete here.
1:27:14
Last year, Jalen Lane led the team in catches with 41 and
1:27:21
Dequan Feldon had 38. Obviously the Hokies get Allie
1:27:24
Jennings back this year. I've sort of referred to that
1:27:26
group as a big three because, well, they're the big three
1:27:28
between Lane, Jennings and Felton.
1:27:32
Outside of those three guys, anyone in the wide receiver room
1:27:35
you expect to maybe pop off or give, you know, take a take a
1:27:39
leap forward and maybe provide some some depth in that room as
1:27:42
like a four or five option? Well, I think it's a little too
1:27:46
easy to say Aiden Green. I feel like that's the guy that
1:27:48
we were talking about him in the spring, he had the cool catch in
1:27:52
the bowl game and he's got the right frame for it and all that
1:27:55
kind of stuff. So I will, as far as a pop goes,
1:27:58
I'll leave Aiden Green off because I expect him to be
1:28:01
battling with Steven Gosnell for that 4th receiver spot,
1:28:05
especially with Gosnell maybe being a little iffy early on.
1:28:09
Although the practice reports indicates that the man has
1:28:12
worked his butt off this summer to get back.
1:28:16
Think about an XTB, right? Like that's someone that we
1:28:19
thought, oh man, he made a lot of plays last year.
1:28:21
He could, he could potentially pop this year.
1:28:23
He had one catch last year. One, I know he ran the ball, had
1:28:27
some cool plays. He had one catch.
1:28:29
He's also, he put on a little bit of weight, but he's not that
1:28:32
big. Same thing for Takahi, the guy
1:28:34
who was injured but got a lot of hype before the season as a
1:28:37
young guy that players were watching out for.
1:28:40
So let's move all the way down. If you want to go a little
1:28:43
exciting, a little bit of pop, let's go with a Brody Adams.
1:28:46
I know we are loaded at receiver.
1:28:48
It seems inconceivable that we'd want to even burn a red shirt on
1:28:51
a Transwiggin or a Brody Adams. But this kid set so many
1:28:54
records. He's doing well in camp.
1:28:57
From everything I know you guys are on the boards.
1:28:59
I know you were seeing this stuff.
1:29:01
He's looking like the part of what he was coming out of high
1:29:05
school being our our highest ranked recruit, depending on the
1:29:08
service you look at. And so I think he's going to
1:29:10
play and it might not be a ton, but if you're looking for a pop,
1:29:14
if you're looking for more than one catch as a freshman, I think
1:29:18
it's Brody. And he, I'm not even sure he's
1:29:20
going to get that richer. Maybe he does because we do have
1:29:23
this wealth of depth. But if injuries come, if he
1:29:26
outperforms some of those guys, that's who I'm looking for to
1:29:29
pop is is a Brody. I mean, you could say Chance
1:29:32
too, because Chance had an excellent spring.
1:29:34
And then there's Chance Fitzgerald that has a year on
1:29:37
both of those guys, but maybe not as as highly touted as as
1:29:42
those two younger guys. 100% And from all sounds of it is those
1:29:47
guys are going through and with Wiggins and Adams, they showed
1:29:50
up in, they showed up in the winter.
1:29:53
They're they've gone through, they've gone through winter
1:29:55
camp, they've gone through spring ball, they've gone
1:29:57
through summer training. They're not really they're
1:30:00
they're not defectively behind. I got one more thing, Sheldon,
1:30:03
before you ask your next question for the whole group.
1:30:06
This is coming from, this is coming from Tally, David.
1:30:10
David, are we making a bowl this year?
1:30:11
Because if I can recall, 365 days ago you said we weren't
1:30:16
well. Yeah, I saw Tally's comment.
1:30:20
What I said, I said tech was five and seven, and tech
1:30:22
finished six and six. I mean.
1:30:24
What? You guys started the show with
1:30:27
the question, Curtis, you asked about taking a bet.
1:30:31
Virginia Tech was one in three, man.
1:30:34
I'm with Tally, was the guy on here talking about eight win
1:30:37
team last year? That was me, that was me and we
1:30:41
finished with seven and we started the wrong quarterback
1:30:43
for at the beginning of the season.
1:30:45
So I mean. I'm gonna stick by that.
1:30:48
Yeah, yes, Virginia Tech is going to make a, a, a bogey.
1:30:52
I mean, I'm sure we'll get the predictions later.
1:30:54
Curtis, do you mind if I chime in on one thing that you said
1:30:57
about the wide receiver room? It's funny.
1:30:59
So I practice on what's today, Today's Tuesday.
1:31:02
I practice on Friday. Last week, Brent Pryor walked up
1:31:05
to me. I wouldn't.
1:31:06
I was looking at 1 field. He walked up behind me and
1:31:09
tapped me on the shoulder and was like, dude, I tell you who's
1:31:14
going to be a really great story this year is Steven Gosnell.
1:31:16
He's like that guy. Steven's wearing blue right now,
1:31:20
but he is he basically after tearing his ACL in the military,
1:31:27
Bowl said. He.
1:31:29
He's going to rehab almost faster than anybody else has
1:31:32
ever had ever rehab from an ACL. He's basically full go.
1:31:37
He's just wearing blue. Brent Pryor was like, I've
1:31:39
never, he told me he's like, I've never seen a guy wear blue
1:31:42
dive as much and be as physical as much in practice as Steven
1:31:46
Gosnell. I think he is maybe the most
1:31:49
crucial guy to that wide receiver room.
1:31:52
He didn't have as many catches, but almost every single one of
1:31:57
those were third down catches last year.
1:31:59
But he was a go to guy in key spots.
1:32:02
Now. I think the biggest question is
1:32:05
what is the the run pass split look like?
1:32:08
I think that will answer a lot of these questions.
1:32:10
Danny, you talked about the running backs.
1:32:12
Pete, you talked about the wide receivers.
1:32:14
There's talent all all over the board.
1:32:16
It doesn't really matter who gets the ball.
1:32:18
You know, they're probably going to do good things with it.
1:32:21
You even look at the tight end room.
1:32:23
You saw Benji Gosnell and Harrison St.
1:32:25
Germain both catch passes in the in the military bowl.
1:32:28
And you've got a guy back in Nick Gallo who's a reliable
1:32:30
option, albeit he is not, you know, the the a guy who catches,
1:32:34
you know, mobile touchdowns season.
1:32:36
But you've got options all over the field.
1:32:38
How Tyler Bowen kind of balances this thing, you know, mixing up
1:32:43
the runs versus mixing up the passes.
1:32:45
Virginia Tech has weapons all across the board.
1:32:47
And I I think credit to Bowen and all the position coaches and
1:32:50
to Brent Pryor for kind of revamping this entire offense.
1:32:56
Curtis, you, you open the show talking about last year,
1:33:00
Virginia Tech was one in three. And I think there were a lot of
1:33:02
people questioning what in the world Tyler Bowen was doing
1:33:05
through the first four games. Part of that is probably
1:33:07
starting the wrong quarterback, but now that you know, got Kyron
1:33:11
drones in place, you got everybody back.
1:33:13
What does this offense look like?
1:33:15
A lot of expectations. But when you have everybody back
1:33:18
and you've Got Talent across the border, man, it's all systems
1:33:21
go. And I think that is the most
1:33:23
exciting part this year. It's like this could go one of
1:33:26
many ways, but it's not like there's a situation when when
1:33:32
Virginia Tech is playing, it's not like, oh man, you know,
1:33:35
they're you know, Virginia Tech doesn't have wide receiver depth
1:33:37
there. Oh man, Virginia Tech doesn't
1:33:38
have running back depth or tight end depth, right?
1:33:41
It it's there across the board. And I think that is something we
1:33:44
have not seen for a really long time.
1:33:47
And David, it is unbelievable. All this stuff you laid out in
1:33:50
terms of the depth and just think about two years ago when
1:33:53
Caleb Smith is our leading wide receiver, probably our four
1:33:57
through 6 wide receiver would be the number 2 on this team.
1:34:01
I mean, and, and maybe even farther down.
1:34:03
That's how the depth has been built out in such a short period
1:34:06
of time. And including the past catchers,
1:34:08
the tight end, it's unbelievable.
1:34:10
And this is going to be a problem for Tyler Bone in terms
1:34:13
of how do you balance it? It's a good problem, but it's
1:34:17
it's the Team USA basketball problem of like, I don't know
1:34:20
who to play because all these guys are pretty good.
1:34:24
Yeah, it'll it'll definitely be interesting to see how that go
1:34:26
ahead. Go ahead, Robbie.
1:34:28
That's what I was going to say. I mean, when we've all followed
1:34:31
this long enough, when was the last time you could name 6 wide
1:34:34
receivers at Virginia Tech that you could say, I feel fine with
1:34:39
any of them playing at any point in time?
1:34:40
That's true. That's true.
1:34:42
It's been, I mean, we're talking, we might be getting
1:34:44
closer to 1900s, as my kids say. I mean, we're getting, we're
1:34:49
getting back to a point at the end of the 90s towards the early
1:34:53
2000s before you can talk about 5 or 6 receivers that can do
1:34:58
that. And then we were in college,
1:35:00
Robbie. That was a.
1:35:03
Clowny. Yeah, we were in college doing
1:35:05
stupid. Things, yeah, there's probably
1:35:07
why my memory is bad, but you've got the the running backs to
1:35:12
back it up. You've got the tight ends to
1:35:14
help there. I mean, it's just like you say,
1:35:17
it's, it's a problem to see if you can spread out all of the
1:35:21
balls and and all of the carries and everything.
1:35:24
But it's a great problem to have as a coach.
1:35:27
It's a great problem to have. And if the if the players buy
1:35:30
into the fact that we're successful because of how the
1:35:35
group works together and not just I got to catch my balls to
1:35:39
get to the next one, man, the Sky's going to be the limit.
1:35:43
That's why when Shelton brought up the 41 catches As for the
1:35:47
leader last year, is that is that the ceiling like for the
1:35:52
leader? Like what's the most that any
1:35:54
player on this team could even have like 50?
1:35:57
Like Allie Jennings had five in the first game.
1:36:00
And that was before we kind of knew who Felton and Lane and all
1:36:02
those guys were. But if you extrapolate that out,
1:36:05
that would be 60 catches. He's not going to probably get
1:36:08
60 catches this year. If he gets 50, that'd be
1:36:10
excellent. But but Pete, but hold on.
1:36:12
I want to go back to some Don B said in segment one y'all were
1:36:15
listening. If Kyron drone takes that step,
1:36:18
there's no telling what the leading receiver is going to end
1:36:21
up with because he he threw 285 were here his temps last year.
1:36:25
If you tell me he improves and and y'all heard it process it
1:36:29
directly to us. I'm sure David he said it to
1:36:31
you, Danny. You've probably heard him say
1:36:33
it. The windows have please put it
1:36:35
in the right spot. He's getting it better into the
1:36:38
windows. If that happens, we, we, we
1:36:41
might be sitting here in December and saying, holy crap,
1:36:45
the leading receiver did have 65 catches.
1:36:49
That's in like in, that's on. That's on Kyron.
1:36:51
And it's based on completion percentage and, and how many
1:36:55
snaps they get, right? Because if the defense plays
1:36:57
better, we're going to get more offensive snaps.
1:37:00
And if Chiron completes more passes, there's going to be more
1:37:02
catches. So it will all kind of work in
1:37:04
harmony. But that's an interesting
1:37:05
thought, Curtis. Yeah.
1:37:07
And I think the the other thing is you've got to balance Bashel
1:37:10
Tooten too. Like my biggest impression from
1:37:13
those first four games last year is they didn't use enough.
1:37:16
I mean, think about the think about the Purdue game.
1:37:18
Grant Wells was the starting quarterback at the time.
1:37:20
Virginia Tech I don't think had five rushing yards like it was.
1:37:24
It just did not work like against Marshall.
1:37:27
Bashel Tooten ran the ball well. And then Tech just stop running
1:37:31
the ball. But he's a potential. 1000 yard
1:37:34
rusher sitting in that room. So you've got all these wide
1:37:37
receivers and it's like you've got a guy in Bashel Tooten and
1:37:40
Kyron drones who could be 1000 yard rusher in himself, right.
1:37:44
It's and that's what that when you guys talk about, man, this
1:37:48
is a big problem for Tyler Bowen.
1:37:50
You bet you'd rather have this than have what you know, it
1:37:54
happened in 2021 and 2022. Where is your only option?
1:37:59
Yeah. By the way, I pulled up Andy
1:38:01
Bitter's story from a couple weeks ago on the wide receiver
1:38:03
room. My colleague and he about.
1:38:06
I wanted to get the Gosnell fact right.
1:38:08
Gosnell had 22 catches last year. 16 of them were first
1:38:11
downs. So that kind of just shows you
1:38:14
his ability, right. And, and Pete, you mentioned the
1:38:17
freshman. I think Chan's is the one that
1:38:20
has really stood out the most to me.
1:38:21
I, I, I think he and, and Keelan Adams are, are, are two really
1:38:25
good talents. But I mean, like you said,
1:38:27
Robbie, if, if you guys have eight to 10 wide receivers that
1:38:32
you can name that you feel confident about, man, like, you
1:38:35
know, it's, it's going to be really, really interesting to
1:38:38
see how Fontell mines, you know, and Elijah Brooks.
1:38:43
These guys kind of just manage their rotation at their specific
1:38:49
position because there are only so many catches to go around.
1:38:53
Think, think about the possibility we could be looking
1:38:56
four months from now. We can have, you could be
1:38:58
looking at 4 wide receivers with 30 to 40 catches or more, five
1:39:03
or six touchdowns. You've got two rushers 800 yards
1:39:05
apiece, one being a quarterback, and you've got Malachi Thomas
1:39:09
who could run for 5-6 hundred. Where where does that put you at
1:39:14
the end? Offensively, it puts a lot of
1:39:17
points on the board is what it does.
1:39:19
A lot of yards, a lot of points. And I mean, that's, that's a big
1:39:21
thing. If you get a lot of yards and
1:39:23
not a lot of points out of it, then we'll find a problem.
1:39:26
But. We got a big problem, Sheldon.
1:39:27
It's going to be hard for those those kind of yards not to turn
1:39:30
into points. Yeah, by the way, to answer your
1:39:33
question, Robbie, when was the last time we had this many
1:39:35
receivers we could depend on? I'd go in 1971, Don Strzok led
1:39:39
the country in passing yards, Air Raid offense, very prolific
1:39:41
through to Mike Burnett, by the way, a lot of people forget
1:39:43
that, but he did. He was a, he was a Mike Burnett
1:39:47
merchant, They would say so. But looking forward to seeing
1:39:52
how the passing game evolves this year.
1:39:54
So let's talk about everyone's favorite topic, the schedule.
1:39:57
I would like to dive into the opponents this year.
1:39:59
I am a big believer that you should never, ever overlook a
1:40:02
single opponent, take nothing for granted and comfortable this
1:40:05
unpredictable sport that we all watch and love.
1:40:08
Now, we saw Virginia Tech have a lot of trouble with Rutgers last
1:40:12
year with a physical team. I think we could see a lot of
1:40:15
the same this year. Even though that game's gonna be
1:40:16
out lane, I think that's an opponent that I look at on the
1:40:18
schedule that's, you know, gives me a little bit of concern.
1:40:21
So I will pose a question to you guys.
1:40:23
Let's start with Danny, who is in opponents on this schedule
1:40:26
for Virginia Tech that you think might be a little bit underrated
1:40:29
and could give this team a little bit of trouble that maybe
1:40:31
fans aren't taking seriously enough?
1:40:33
Well, I think the obvious answer there is, is definitely Rutgers,
1:40:37
you know, because Rutgers hasn't really been an established
1:40:41
consistent winning football program in in quite some time.
1:40:44
And they've, they've had some interesting things happen to
1:40:47
that program over there. You know, I would say I would
1:40:49
as, as I look up and down the schedule, though, I think going
1:40:52
to Stanford is a game that is, is probably going to be a pretty
1:40:58
big headache. You're going to the other side
1:40:59
of the country. You're, you're going almost as
1:41:01
far away from Blacksburg as you can go.
1:41:04
And it's a team that you're not particularly familiar with at
1:41:07
the stadium that, that no one in this program is particularly
1:41:10
familiar with. So I, I look at that, I look at
1:41:13
that Stanford game and, and with them coming in, being members of
1:41:16
the ACC, now the pressure's going to be ratcheted because
1:41:18
that's going to be a conference game.
1:41:19
You need to go and win that. But you know, like you guys are
1:41:23
talking about it. I think each and every one of
1:41:25
these games is, is going to take a unique mental prep
1:41:29
preparedness to, to go and win these games.
1:41:32
You know, you're talking about the, the, the talent at both
1:41:36
wide receiver and, and, and running back and how it's going
1:41:39
to be difficult for Tyler Bowen to figure out where he ends up,
1:41:42
you know, giving most of the, the looks to.
1:41:45
But it's going to change from week to week depending on who
1:41:47
they're playing, depending on what your opponent's strengths
1:41:49
are. Because the reality is their
1:41:51
passing game's going to need to be better some days and the
1:41:53
running game's going to be going to be need to be better some
1:41:57
days, right? Like against Rutgers, you
1:41:59
mentioned Shelton, physical football team might be a little
1:42:01
bit harder to run the ball. You're going to probably need to
1:42:03
hit some things over the top to to and not turn the football
1:42:06
over right. That's that's always the the
1:42:08
first key thing that that any team needs to do to go and win
1:42:11
football games. But if we're talking about
1:42:12
schedule games that give me a little bit of heartburn outside
1:42:16
of the obvious ones like Miami and Clemson and and since you
1:42:19
already mentioned it in Rutgers, Shelton, I'm I'll say Stanford.
1:42:23
OK, Stanford. It is Deaconna, an opponent this
1:42:26
year that Hokies cannot afford to overlook.
1:42:29
I think Georgia Tech is you know, I don't I don't wanna.
1:42:33
Sorry. De Curtis, did I take your I?
1:42:35
Took my answer. I'm with you, Deaconna.
1:42:37
It's it. No, no, I, I.
1:42:39
Think you know, I think Rutgers is the obvious one in in my
1:42:43
opinion Rutgers is the biggest game on Virginia Tech schedule
1:42:46
because it's the first good test against a good team.
1:42:50
Virginia Tech has not beaten a good team in the brunt priority
1:42:52
yet. That's why Rutgers is up there
1:42:54
but nobody's over. I don't think anybody really
1:42:56
under looking Rutgers. I think those people who I mean
1:43:00
those people who know football understand that that Rutgers is
1:43:03
a really good testing trenches. I I think Georgia Tech is just
1:43:06
interesting though. I mean, this is the the battle
1:43:09
of the Techs. This is the battle of the brands
1:43:12
and Georgia Tech is a team that Jamal Haynes last year ran for
1:43:17
almost 1100 yards as Georgia Tech's running back.
1:43:20
Haynes King had almost 800 yards on the ground as Georgia Tech's
1:43:24
quarterback. That is maybe the only other duo
1:43:27
in the in the ACC returning that has a potential thousand yard
1:43:32
rusher at running back and at quarterback like Virginia Tech.
1:43:36
And I think that is that is one. Where?
1:43:39
Georgia Tech. In under, under Brett Key, it is
1:43:43
just this very unique team. Now this schedule, if you've
1:43:47
seen the Yellowjacket schedule, it's all over the place, maybe
1:43:50
the toughest in the ACC. So how they come in mentally
1:43:54
will be very, very interesting. But I think that is a game that
1:43:58
Virginia Tech should win. It's at home.
1:44:00
It's the better team, but it will have to stop the run.
1:44:05
And if you watched Virginia Tech play last year, you know that
1:44:08
stopping the run was a struggle at time.
1:44:10
So I think that is a game we will know, I think by then
1:44:15
whether or not the Hokies can stop the run well, whether they
1:44:17
can fit the run well, something they did not do well in 2023.
1:44:21
But that that Georgia Tech game is is quiet, you know, kind of
1:44:25
comes after that Thursday night Boston College game.
1:44:29
And depending on where Virginia Tech is, you got Clemson looking
1:44:32
down the road not too far after Syracuse.
1:44:35
It falls in a peculiar window in in October where it'll be a
1:44:40
little bit chillier in Blacksburg and if the Hokies are
1:44:42
on a high, that's a team that that could scare you PP besides
1:44:47
obvious Miami and Clemson, who is the team that is keeping you
1:44:50
up in the IT? You know that Stanford was a
1:44:55
good answer by Danny because Troy Taylor in year two.
1:44:58
I thought like there could be a little bit of a leap there,
1:45:01
something that people aren't prepared for.
1:45:02
And just the fact that it's after Miami, it concerns me
1:45:06
because it's back-to-back roadies on corners of the
1:45:09
country that are very far away. But the Dome, I I think TSL
1:45:14
talked about the Dome a little bit.
1:45:16
That's terrifying. I'll just I'll go with an with
1:45:18
with an easy. We're not overlooking it because
1:45:20
it's game one, but we overlook it because of the opponent.
1:45:23
And that's Vandy and you got Diego pissin Pavia coming over
1:45:28
from New Mexico State. You got Jerry kill, a guy who
1:45:31
was in our building and improved our run game and our team on
1:45:35
their side as the assistant to the head coach.
1:45:37
Clark Lee, their head coach has now taken over the DC duties,
1:45:40
which is probably an act of desperation, but nevertheless a
1:45:44
little bit more of a focus on the defensive side of the ball.
1:45:48
And they got Tim back as the offensive coordinator.
1:45:50
So you have a completely new system, new scheme, new
1:45:54
quarterback and I don't know if you guys been paying attention
1:45:57
to Vandy on on online or whatever.
1:45:59
They feel confident. I don't I'm not sure exactly why
1:46:02
because they lost like the last 10 games of their season, but
1:46:04
they feel confident and I don't want to go down to Nashville
1:46:08
just thinking that's a walk over.
1:46:11
Like this is a game we absolutely need to be ready and
1:46:14
focused for. I know pry we'll have them ready
1:46:16
and focused. It's just it is a game that I'm
1:46:20
going to the game. I I don't want to be in
1:46:22
Nashville after a loss. And so it is keeping me up at
1:46:25
night just just a little, just a little.
1:46:28
All right, Robbie, underrated opponent.
1:46:30
Who does Vt need to take seriously?
1:46:34
I don't know if it's so much the opponent as it could be the
1:46:37
mindset. As a coach, we look at, OK,
1:46:41
you're going to have a huge rivalry game and I'm pretty sure
1:46:45
it's a night game against Miami. But early next.
1:46:49
Week you have Stanford, who you're going to, if I'm correct,
1:46:54
you're going to travel to you're going cross country.
1:46:57
So you come off of a huge game with a lot of emotion.
1:47:01
You're traveling across country knowing that you're going to
1:47:05
play a team that's not very good technically and you've got a
1:47:10
week off afterwards. I, I think to me that's, that
1:47:15
scares me as a coach. Where's the mindset for that
1:47:19
game sitting in between us with a most emotional game to start
1:47:25
off with and then a bye week afterwards?
1:47:28
That that that one concerns me not because so much of the
1:47:31
opponent, but just the dynamic of the entire situation.
1:47:36
It bothers me a little bit. We always look at opponents as
1:47:40
coaches right before a bye week as OK, we got to get through
1:47:44
this to get to a spot where we can rest a little bit.
1:47:47
And when that opponent is not the spectacular hard fought
1:47:51
people that you got to earn that bye week, you already start to
1:47:55
think about that. And the coaches have to have to
1:47:58
work through that and say, well we can't overlook these guys.
1:48:01
We're going cross country to play them after after a.
1:48:05
Brawl. In Blacksburg with Miami.
1:48:08
South Beach. Still, yeah, you got to travel
1:48:13
down there and go through that emotion and then travel across
1:48:16
country. I think that's a big thing that
1:48:18
they're going to have to overcome, and I think that's
1:48:20
where they win. But, you know, yeah, one of
1:48:25
those close ones that makes us all drop some little Jeremy's
1:48:30
here, you know what I mean? I just.
1:48:34
Kind of problems me a little bit all.
1:48:36
Right. All right, so Connor, you did
1:48:38
take mine. Georgia Tech scares me.
1:48:40
And Pete, you mentioned it, the Carrier Dome.
1:48:43
It's almost like what Robbie said, get there and there's a
1:48:48
certain number of wins next to your name.
1:48:50
And Clemson's on the horizon in Blacksburg.
1:48:53
The build is coming up. That game scares me.
1:48:57
I hate that place. I hate that place.
1:48:59
That's all you got to think that that place sucks.
1:49:02
The players hate it. Too that I hate it.
1:49:04
I've had two former players, one at NC State and one at Clemson,
1:49:08
that have played multiple games in that Dome and they said it is
1:49:11
the absolute worst place in the world to play because you can't
1:49:14
hear a damn thing. Even when they're.
1:49:17
Terrible. You can't hear a damn thing.
1:49:22
All right, so we're going to wrap up this segment real quick
1:49:25
here, and I'm going to take what we took from the first one.
1:49:29
Don't give me an illicit response.
1:49:32
If Blank improves, the Hokies will win 10 games.
1:49:35
Raleigh. Consistency, if they're
1:49:38
consistent with what the run fields we talked about, the
1:49:42
rotations, the the offensive line consistency, that's what we
1:49:48
didn't see a lot of times until the very end last year.
1:49:52
At the beginning, consistency hurt us.
1:49:54
If the consistency gets better throughout the team they're
1:49:59
going to, they're going to get there.
1:50:01
Pete. I was run, Fitz and Robbie kind
1:50:06
of said in his answer. But that's, that's the thing for
1:50:08
me. I was it's going to go with
1:50:09
tackling, but more specific run fits.
1:50:11
We saw it against Purdue, saw it a couple other times last year.
1:50:14
If that gets better, this defense will take a giant step
1:50:17
forward. And it was a good defense last
1:50:20
year, it was a top 25 defense, which we all, how do we wrap our
1:50:23
heads around as bad as the run feels were early, still a top 25
1:50:26
defense, Danny. Impressiveness.
1:50:28
I'm going to stick with my theme of the running game and and I'm
1:50:31
just going to say the running game, right, the running game,
1:50:33
if that improves, they'll win 10 games because someone at some
1:50:37
point here. Over the last. 45 minutes have
1:50:39
mentioned Tootin has the potential to be a 1000 yard
1:50:42
rusher. Tootin should be a 1000 yard
1:50:44
rusher. There's no doubt in my mind.
1:50:46
He was at what, 850 or something last year and and they really
1:50:49
didn't figure out how to use him.
1:50:50
They didn't really figure out how to use anybody on their
1:50:52
offense until the fifth game of the season.
1:50:54
So if if Tooten, it has a good season and the running game
1:50:58
overall is effective. I think obviously Tooten himself
1:51:02
is having a Goodyear. Malachi Thomas is probably
1:51:04
subbing out in or subbing in and and providing some support for
1:51:08
that. Also run the ball well.
1:51:09
That also means you're blocking well.
1:51:11
And, and for Virginia Tech, I heard the guys in the first
1:51:13
segment talking about this. They don't have a ton of depth
1:51:16
on the offensive line. So they need health to to make
1:51:19
it through a a physical ACC season.
1:51:22
If you're talking about running the ball effectively and doing
1:51:25
it consistently like Robbie was saying, so I'll I'll I'll say
1:51:28
the running game if they're able to do that and and the one guy
1:51:30
didn't mention there is Kyron drones.
1:51:32
He can also be the the absolute nightmare for defensive
1:51:36
coordinators to try and stop in the run game.
1:51:38
David. If Virginia Tech's play in the
1:51:42
trenches improves, the Hokies will win 10 games, I think.
1:51:48
I mean, Chris Coleman, Mike, all your Tech sideline wrote about
1:51:50
this today. This is the JC Price we've heard
1:51:55
through the Grapevine has said that this is a better defensive
1:51:59
line unit than last year. And that's saying a lot because
1:52:03
last year's defensive line was pretty good.
1:52:05
You've got the transfers we already talked about.
1:52:07
You've got Antoine Powell, Ryland Cole Nelson, Keyshawn
1:52:10
Burgos, CJ McRae. That is a loaded defensive line.
1:52:14
But there were some games last year, NC State, Louisville,
1:52:18
Florida State, those guys got pushed off the ball.
1:52:21
Rutgers, the hokey Rutgers. If the Hokies can be better in
1:52:26
on both sides of the ball, in the trenches, and I already
1:52:29
talked about the offensive line, if the Hokies are better in
1:52:34
those trenches where the battles are won, they're going to win.
1:52:37
They will have the good opportunity to win 10 games
1:52:40
because if you go into that Rutgers game and you are pushing
1:52:43
Rutgers around, not like what happened last year, you have
1:52:47
control of that football game. I think everybody in here would
1:52:50
agree that that is one of the biggest keys to football and I
1:52:54
think we saw it at times. Virginia Tech defensively, that
1:52:59
defensive line just eight teams up last year, the teams that
1:53:02
weren't very good. Taking that next step is to do
1:53:05
it against good. Teams, Yes, Sheldon, I'm going
1:53:09
to let you cap it off here. I'll go safeties, man.
1:53:13
I mean, I think they they got the linebacker.
1:53:15
You improved. You know, the online is going to
1:53:17
get better with experience. I'm just kind of concerned about
1:53:19
that safety room because they they had some struggles last
1:53:22
year. You still got a little bit of
1:53:23
experience there and you know, they they their their poor run
1:53:26
fits kind of led to a lot of big plays in the secondary.
1:53:28
So they get that safety room a little bit fixed up.
1:53:30
I think the defense will take a big step and the offense kind of
1:53:32
you expect them to be pretty good.
1:53:34
That that'd be the best recipe I think for ten wins.
1:53:37
All righty. Well listen guys we have talked
1:53:40
just under an hour here. David, Danny, Pete, Robbie,
1:53:46
thank you all for joining us Robbie.
1:53:47
Robbie is going to stay on with this.
1:53:48
Robbie was supposed to be in our third segment.
1:53:51
Shout out Mike McDaniel. Mike Mcdaniel's got sick kid at
1:53:54
home. Mike was going to join us he
1:53:56
couldn't. We love you Mike.
1:53:58
I hope the kid feels better tomorrow.
1:54:00
David, Pete, Danny, I hope to see y'all sometime this season.
1:54:04
Cheers boys and go Hokies, we got a little something something
1:54:08
for y'all now created by our man at BCP, Jack Day.
1:54:13
Transfer from Coastal Carolina who has not played in three
1:54:17
years. From. 38 The snap gets away.
1:54:21
Oh boy, this is a whole mess. Whole Dominion is going to pick
1:54:25
it up. It's going to be a scoop and
1:54:28
score touchdown. Monarchs, Robert Kennedy.
1:54:35
The Safety. One of the greatest and most
1:54:48
intimidating venues in all in college football.
1:54:53
Keeps the legs. Churning.
1:55:01
And he has spun around and dropped, and that is Norell.
1:55:13
He dies. The temperament, the attitude,
1:55:19
the way we set our God. To play the game here.
1:55:26
This time intercepted. He's near the Brotherhood.
1:55:34
That's when. Virginia attacks the muscle.
1:55:55
That videos got me ready to play.
1:55:59
Damn right. By the way, shout out to Jack
1:56:03
Day, all that stuff all the content y'all see on Instagram,
1:56:07
Twitter with those reels and stuff his Jack he is he is kind
1:56:14
of the man effectually behind the scenes doing stuff for us in
1:56:20
Lego there you go Jack all day day, absolutely absolutely
1:56:25
fellas. We got to segment three, hey.
1:56:28
We're under two hours starting segment 3.
1:56:31
That's an improvement. We wanted it to be with 90
1:56:33
minutes. We made it.
1:56:34
We wanted it to, barely, but we made it because Brian ain't here
1:56:36
yet. Unfortunately, we couldn't meet
1:56:39
the quota that that Jeremy sent in the first one.
1:56:42
No, no, not even. Only think we have one.
1:56:46
Hey you. Threw a couple there, Robbie.
1:56:49
We got to take the alcohol from there just.
1:56:50
Show it. I just show it.
1:56:52
Just the we're. Getting ready to go back to
1:56:56
school. I got to get in school mode.
1:56:58
I got to cut those down a little bit.
1:57:00
I can't be throwing those out in the middle of class.
1:57:02
There we go, all righty. Well we have finally got to
1:57:06
segment 3. Robbie's going to stay with us.
1:57:08
He was supposed to be here in segment 3.
1:57:10
Again, Mike McDaniel will hope the kids OK man.
1:57:14
But fellas, we got to that. Have been on with us before.
1:57:18
Always a fun time. First man I want to introduce,
1:57:22
he is one of the sons of Saturday, former Virginia Tech
1:57:27
offensive lineman Mr. Billy Ray Mitchell.
1:57:33
What's going on? Good to see everybody.
1:57:34
This is one of my favorite nights every single year.
1:57:37
I have to say just hats off to you all for putting this
1:57:39
together. I know this is not easy.
1:57:41
I get a little I tell Pete all the time.
1:57:43
I get a little squirrely when there's more than two people in
1:57:45
here and you guys are running with the with the what is it the
1:57:49
NFL box that they run? But you're talking to him.
1:57:53
So you guys do a great job. I appreciate y'all putting this
1:57:55
together. So Billy, we, we always got to
1:57:58
know you're always somewhere different.
1:58:00
Where are you tonight? Cross country bill.
1:58:03
So I did just sign, I did just sign a lease in Charlotte, NC,
1:58:07
but I'm spending this month in, but I'm spending this month in
1:58:11
San Diego. So I've been in San Diego since
1:58:15
since July 26th. I leave August 25th or 26th.
1:58:20
So I'm out here in Crown Point enjoying some time with a bunch
1:58:23
of buddies that I met out here during during my cross country
1:58:26
trip. And then then I'm going to
1:58:28
chill. I need to stop traveling around
1:58:30
is a lot of fun, but I I need to be able to go to a restaurant
1:58:34
and get the get the regular and have people know what I'm
1:58:36
talking about. So excited so.
1:58:38
Charlotte's going to be the roots for at least the
1:58:40
foreseeable future, then. Charlotte, I signed a 16 month
1:58:44
lease. It's my first lease since 2019.
1:58:47
So excited to excited to be there.
1:58:49
I'm excited, excited to to lay some roots down.
1:58:52
It's going to be nice. I'm about an hour and 20 minutes
1:58:55
north of Charlotte. We'll have to catch up one day.
1:58:58
Coach, we will do that. We will do that, Coach, Looking
1:59:00
forward to it. I just got a question.
1:59:04
You said a sixteen month lease. Yeah, because I'm spending two
1:59:08
out here in California. If I'm trying to actually
1:59:10
evaluate, you know, Charlotte is this, am I long for Charlotte?
1:59:14
We can't just do 10 months. So, you know, I say, hey, look,
1:59:17
I need your price match. Give me 16 months.
1:59:19
You got the pool, you got some nice amenities here.
1:59:22
I'm going to sign for a little longer, but you're going to give
1:59:24
me a price break. You're already giving me the two
1:59:26
months for free. So technically it's a 14 month
1:59:28
lease. I'll only be there for 15.
1:59:29
The math makes sense in my in my head, so.
1:59:32
Sons of negotiating. That's right.
1:59:35
That's right. You got it.
1:59:36
You got to, you got to make it shake somehow.
1:59:38
So it ended up working out. I will answer Pat because I did
1:59:42
want to talk about it. This was a cop from one of the
1:59:46
coffee shops in Blacksburg. It is a Hokies pep band Jean
1:59:50
long sleeve shirt. Shout out to all of the the
1:59:54
thrift stores in Blacksburg. They do a great job.
1:59:57
But one of my favorite favorite cops as of recently.
2:00:00
So thank you Pat for teeing me up to brag about my shirt.
2:00:07
Well, this next guy needs no introduction.
2:00:10
He is the the OG the the the founder of I think honestly
2:00:18
everything from content creation and and things on Twitter
2:00:22
because he's been doing it pretty much since he hung up the
2:00:25
cleats. Dwight Vick Dwight, How we
2:00:27
living, man. I'm good, I'm good.
2:00:31
You got a lot of you got a lot of headroom there.
2:00:33
You're making yourself look shorter than you really are.
2:00:35
I don't know why it's looking like there.
2:00:36
We go there. We.
2:00:38
Go. Yeah, I don't know, man.
2:00:40
Am I, you know, my Wi-Fi here is am I am I glitching?
2:00:43
Am I good? No, you're good.
2:00:45
OK, Loud and. Clear you.
2:00:46
Look, good, good, good. Yeah, y'all got me on this TNT
2:00:51
Lakers versus Memphis time, man, 1030 football man.
2:00:54
I'm like bro, like I'm sitting here like, you know what I'm
2:00:59
saying? I mean, you know, ads.
2:01:00
But now it's been great, man. It's great to be back on.
2:01:02
You know, I'm like Billy, man, this time of year it kind of
2:01:04
sluck up on me the season. You know, I've been following it
2:01:07
and see all the stuff, the sons of post and you guys Curtis
2:01:12
always doing great work. Like I said, the sons and
2:01:15
everybody, man, just you know, tech's got a great podcast
2:01:18
family, so I appreciate y'all having me on man.
2:01:21
So I'm going to say to share my insight.
2:01:23
I'm not the guru. I just speak on what I know
2:01:26
this. If this podcast was about
2:01:27
electrical engineering, I wouldn't be on here.
2:01:30
You know what I'm saying? I speak on.
2:01:32
I speak on what I know. Let.
2:01:34
Me, let me let me say one thing on that note.
2:01:36
I think, I think we have been so spoiled these last few years
2:01:41
with an ACC championship in men's basketball, ACC
2:01:44
championship in women's basketball, Final Four.
2:01:46
And I'm kind of I'm fired up for basketball.
2:01:49
I'm fired up for football season.
2:01:51
And then we got it. We got to figure it out.
2:01:53
Coach Duffy, I'm hoping that you that you continue the success
2:01:56
with women's basketball. I hope that men's basketball has
2:01:59
a good year this year because the off seasons have been a lot
2:02:02
easier than they have been in Virginia Tech history when
2:02:06
football kind of was struggling to keep it together.
2:02:08
So let's squeeze all of the juice out of this football
2:02:11
season and let's find a way to keep it rolling when when we do
2:02:15
get into the offseason. We've been very, very lucky
2:02:17
these past few years. So.
2:02:18
Yes, Wilson. Yeah, it it's it's nice having
2:02:23
having those winter sports, those spring sports kind of
2:02:25
carry that that path through the offseason, give you something to
2:02:29
talk about. And it's it's nice winning a
2:02:31
little bit and and being able to celebrate that, celebrate that
2:02:35
in Blacksburg, celebrate the community and celebrate what
2:02:37
Virginia Tech's all about. A. 100%.
2:02:40
So let's kick it off here. You know, we've got, I want to
2:02:45
throw this one to Billy because you know, we've, we've been
2:02:48
talking a lot on Twitter. We talked off off camera, we
2:02:52
talked on the phone, You know, let's talk scholarship limits in
2:02:56
NIL. So we're going to, we're going
2:02:57
to get right into the to the grease here real quick because
2:03:01
we had the, you know, the, the new rule out there, scholarship
2:03:04
limits are up. You can use NIO money, you can
2:03:09
commingle that with athletic department money.
2:03:11
Now everything is kind of treated the same.
2:03:14
You got coaches wearing we pay players shirts at practice.
2:03:17
Damn. Sell me on this being a net
2:03:21
benefit for the Hokies under Brent Fry.
2:03:24
So first and foremost, for those that don't know, I do work in
2:03:28
the NIL space. I work for a company called
2:03:30
Student Athlete NIL on the scholarship limits situation.
2:03:36
I'm going to have a hard time selling you on this being a
2:03:38
positive for Virginia Tech or really anybody that is in a blue
2:03:42
blood program. And the reason that I say that
2:03:44
is you look back 40 years ago, 30 years ago, and why Alabama
2:03:49
was so dominant, why Army was so dominant, why Oklahoma was so
2:03:52
dominant is they could take everybody.
2:03:54
They could take 30 kids in a class, they could take 40 kids
2:03:57
in a class and it really didn't matter.
2:04:00
Now we're at a point where you have this scholarship limit that
2:04:03
is up to what, 100 and 10105 different players?
2:04:06
You're having all those players on scholarship, so these blue
2:04:08
blood teams can take more players and put them on
2:04:11
scholarship than they could previously.
2:04:13
I'm not sure that that helps a ton for the Virginia Techs of
2:04:17
the world, the NC States of the World, kind of that tier.
2:04:22
I do think that it's good for baseball who is operating with
2:04:24
11.7 scholarships and that's now up to 34.
2:04:27
Softball had 12, they're now up to 25.
2:04:29
So that's great. That specifically, I'm not sure
2:04:33
how that helps. I do think that it kind of
2:04:35
resets the deck with, I feel bad for a lot of the kids that were
2:04:39
in high school these last couple of cycles because schools had to
2:04:42
retroactively handle keeping kids that had these COVID years,
2:04:46
these red shirt years on their books and not being able to
2:04:50
extend scholarships to some of these really talented high
2:04:52
school players. So I think it's a day late and a
2:04:55
dollar short on that change. This probably would have made
2:04:57
more sense to do three or four years ago.
2:05:00
Now, switching over to the same pot.
2:05:05
Look, I think it's really interesting and I have no inside
2:05:08
information on how Tech is going to do this.
2:05:10
I can speak to what maybe some schools are considering doing or
2:05:15
some schools are doing based upon what the state laws are.
2:05:19
Basically, with this money being the same pot, you are going to
2:05:22
be able to offer benefits to people like priority points.
2:05:25
Let's say if Virginia Tech wanted to say, hey, if you
2:05:28
donate to the NIL fund of Virginia Tech, we'll give you
2:05:31
priority points because for right now, you're not really
2:05:34
able to offer university benefits.
2:05:36
Back to giving to NIL. So you know, the crazy situation
2:05:42
about NIL is in its name, Name, image, and likeness is just
2:05:47
paying players. It's not name, image and
2:05:49
likeness. If I ask all of you to name
2:05:52
every single person that you see on a commercial or has a brand
2:05:58
deal in the MLB or the NFL or the NBA, it's not every single
2:06:03
player on the team. But we're led to believe that
2:06:06
every single Power 5 program in America has four to $12 million
2:06:12
worth of name, image and likeness players on their
2:06:16
roster. They don't, newsflash, but they
2:06:19
do have players that are worth that amount to the school based
2:06:23
upon their skill level. So I think that this gets us
2:06:27
closer to tapping into some of that TV money, tapping into some
2:06:31
of those MMR deals with the Learfields and the Playflies of
2:06:35
the world. And I don't want to.
2:06:35
I don't want to bog this down in a conversation that is way
2:06:39
bigger. And I won't be able to give an
2:06:40
awesome answer in 5 minutes. But I highly encourage you all
2:06:43
to check out the episode that we did with Olivia Nuss.
2:06:46
I did just retweet that on our feed.
2:06:48
She's the head of legal affairs at Student Athlete NIL.
2:06:51
She used to work for NILSU in Baton Rouge.
2:06:54
She's fantastic, very, very educated on the matter.
2:06:58
But I do think that opening this up to where universities can
2:07:02
participate and offer their donors some benefits back for
2:07:06
helping put the team on the field, that's going to help
2:07:10
level the playing field a little bit.
2:07:11
We still need to figure out how we stop the bidding war every
2:07:15
single year that is completely out of control.
2:07:18
And you're almost in a situation where, well, I hope our
2:07:21
quarterback, every school, I hope our quarterback plays
2:07:23
really well, but not too well because then he won't be on, he
2:07:26
won't be on our team the year after.
2:07:27
So it's a little bit of an interesting conundrum, but
2:07:31
crazy, crazy world. Yeah, I mean, we, we are in a
2:07:34
situation now where it's like you want you want players to do
2:07:38
well. But I think as where Virginia
2:07:41
Tech has kind of put itself in the totem pole, they're not a
2:07:45
blue blood where like as soon as you get that good season, you've
2:07:49
got a bidding war. They've got more money, they've
2:07:51
got more coffers. They can go in and pay
2:07:54
proportionally more players to to join their roster, right?
2:07:58
So we're kind of at that point where we do pretty well.
2:08:02
We, we do well enough, but we can't, we can't pay 22 guys what
2:08:07
they could get at places like Alabama or even places like a, a
2:08:13
Boston College in some cases or Maryland.
2:08:16
Like sometimes we're going to have to make that business
2:08:18
decision of, you know, do do we match that offer?
2:08:21
Do we try to do something else? And I know Price talked about,
2:08:24
you know, when when guys come to him and say, Hey, I, I was
2:08:27
offered this. The first thing he says is, Hey,
2:08:30
do you like playing here? Do you like being here?
2:08:33
Do you like being in blacks or do you like being a Hokie?
2:08:35
And I think that has that culture piece has really went a
2:08:38
long way in helping us kind of maintain the roster that we have
2:08:42
coming into this season and and helped us have that that roster
2:08:46
that is, you know, from a returning production standpoint
2:08:50
right at the top of the country. And I have to say too, I'm not
2:08:53
in any way against players are receiving compensation.
2:08:57
They've been missing out for years on the compensation that
2:08:59
they deserve. I have a problem with the way
2:09:02
that it is it was handled by the NCAA, which is they threw their
2:09:05
hands up in the air on NIL and the transfer portal at the exact
2:09:09
same time. And it created chaos.
2:09:11
And I do want to extend a a tip of my cap to triumph in that
2:09:17
team Collectives are trying to solve for an impossible problem
2:09:22
at every one of these schools. Again, it is trying to find a
2:09:25
way to generate advertising dollars and fundraising for
2:09:32
numbers that are exorbitantly higher than what a normal
2:09:36
company would pay to work with some of these athletes.
2:09:39
That's just the reality of the situation.
2:09:41
Not all of them, but some of them.
2:09:43
So I do have to tip my cap and say fantastic job by Triumph and
2:09:48
the coaching staff to keep this team together Because you know,
2:09:51
you you zoomed back ten years ago and you looked at this
2:09:53
roster midway through the season, you say, hey, we're
2:09:55
going to be pretty good next year.
2:09:57
Midway through last season, we're like, if we could keep
2:10:00
like half of this team, we'll be pretty good next year.
2:10:03
And they were able to do that. And that's why we're being
2:10:04
talked about so much this offseason.
2:10:07
Appreciate it Billy all. Right, Kelly, What you got, man?
2:10:11
Just hit on that on on, on a little bit of of that.
2:10:16
What Billy's talking about the I don't want to get into it too
2:10:19
deep, but I with, with what they're doing with NIL, which is
2:10:24
sometimes kind of crazy and transfer portal, which is crazy
2:10:27
as well. It pushes some kids to JUCO and
2:10:30
things like that. But I think it's kind of a
2:10:33
adverse effect for us. I think it helps us a little bit
2:10:35
more than it hurts us because from where I sit down here in
2:10:40
SEC country, they've been doing that.
2:10:42
They've just been doing it behind closed doors.
2:10:45
That's why they had so many stockpiles of kids sitting and
2:10:47
waiting two and three years because these somebody who owns
2:10:52
a horse for them would be like, oh, I'll pay that kids.
2:10:55
You know, I'll pay for him and his family and his mom to move
2:10:57
to Alabaster AL to get a job and all of this stuff for three
2:11:03
years until he can get on the field, as long as he don't
2:11:05
leave. So it's been happening at
2:11:08
school, so why not make it to be fair as equal as you can to be
2:11:14
fair? Sally, it hasn't just been
2:11:16
happening at SEC schools. I mean, going, going, I wasn't
2:11:20
this caliber of recruit, but I went to high school with these
2:11:22
calibers of recruits and it wasn't just like these three
2:11:26
schools who came in and said, hey, we can, we can take care of
2:11:28
some things. A ton of schools were doing
2:11:31
this. It's just not.
2:11:32
Behind of course, of course and. I, I do agree with you that this
2:11:36
puts that this puts it in a really good position.
2:11:39
And you know, my seat from working with, with Liz and
2:11:44
Georgia, which was incredible over the last two years.
2:11:46
Like that was one of the truest examples of NIL because the
2:11:51
businesses that were working with them and how seriously they
2:11:53
took their podcast and working with these businesses, they saw
2:11:56
actual ROI in that investment. They didn't just say, hey, Liz
2:12:00
and George are good at basketball.
2:12:01
So we're just going to, you know, work with them to make
2:12:04
something happen. You know, there was a real
2:12:08
embracing from the fan base's perspective and the business's
2:12:11
perspective. And even though Georgia couldn't
2:12:13
participate in NIL in the same capacity that that Liz did, they
2:12:17
had a huge impact on the Blacksburg community on and off
2:12:20
the court through NIL. And opportunities like that are
2:12:22
what make it so special. So I have to tip my cap to the
2:12:25
both of them as well. Definitely, definitely.
2:12:29
Well, yeah, man, we appreciate your.
2:12:31
First of all, I'm going to go on this too.
2:12:33
Then we'll we'll get back to the the normal scheduled broadcast.
2:12:37
I'm glad you said that you got a job because I've got a lot of
2:12:41
messages about does Billy work? Is his family the mafia?
2:12:48
How is he? Able to travel all over these
2:12:50
places. So the man said that he works.
2:12:55
Y'all heard it here first. He may be rich, but his family
2:13:01
is not. Tally, tally, my I'm from New
2:13:04
Jersey, but my parents are not in the waste management
2:13:06
business. OK, I'm not a I'm not a
2:13:12
Cartarello, I'm not a Philippelli.
2:13:15
But no, I mean, I will say when I, when I was laid off from the
2:13:19
technology job a couple years ago, Sons of Saturday was, and
2:13:22
you guys know this, this is, I'm not going to say it's a full
2:13:25
time job, but you know, you're working with advertising, you're
2:13:27
getting on, you're recording them.
2:13:28
And here we are at it's 750 here, but it's 1050 over there.
2:13:31
We're burning some midnight oil. It's work.
2:13:33
We enjoy talking about Virginia Tech.
2:13:34
I will say there are times that it's more fun to talk about
2:13:37
Virginia Tech going through 66 football seasons and three and
2:13:41
10 football seasons. You're you're getting ready to
2:13:44
press record and you know, Pat and I might look at each other
2:13:46
and be like, all right, we got to do 45 minutes on this.
2:13:52
But you know, it is, it is a ton of fun to be part of the
2:13:55
conversation. But yes, do you have a job?
2:13:57
Do you have health insurance there?
2:13:59
To my knowledge, there is no, there is no Billy Ray fund.
2:14:02
It'd be nice if there was though.
2:14:05
Right, right. Well, I'll ask this question.
2:14:09
Just talking about, you know, Dwight getting you involved a
2:14:11
little bit as well as you Billy talking about the both of you
2:14:14
guys having, you know, being a part of teams from the past.
2:14:18
They've had some pre season hype.
2:14:19
You know, Dwight, the 98 team and then you know Billy, the 17
2:14:23
team that was loaded with NFL talent all across it.
2:14:26
And you guys, you know, seen the the pre season hype and, and the
2:14:30
talent that was on the team. Now I'm seeing what we have now
2:14:34
with the hype and the talent on the team.
2:14:37
How do you, you know, how did y'all handle those expectations
2:14:42
and kind of how do you think Coach Pryor and his staff are
2:14:44
handling those expectations of getting that hype but also still
2:14:47
going out this year and performing?
2:14:52
Well, I mean, I, you know, I've been asked this question before.
2:14:55
I think it, you know, I was watching the other two segments
2:14:57
you guys did with everybody on Danny and those guys about all
2:15:01
the players and which room. But I've always said, and I say
2:15:03
it every year, if you look at the great Virginia Tech teams
2:15:06
over the last 2527 years, the teams that win the conference
2:15:10
will get to the conference championship game and win 9 to
2:15:12
10 games are teams that have leaders.
2:15:16
You know when you have leadership, regardless of how
2:15:18
many stars you return, that always helps.
2:15:20
But if they are not, if they're unselfish and they locked in and
2:15:23
then an extension of Pride and Pearson and JC and Marvin, those
2:15:26
guys, then your locker room's going to be fine.
2:15:28
Like your locker room has to be right.
2:15:31
I've seen I always talk about the 2003 Hokies right before
2:15:35
they went into the ACC in 2004. I, I stand on this as a case.
2:15:39
I stand on business on this one. That 2003 Hokies team was
2:15:43
loaded. You had Keith Willis at tight
2:15:45
end, you had Kevin Jones, you had Brian Randall, You had Jay
2:15:48
Grove at center, You had Ernest Wilford.
2:15:50
You had a loaded squad. They won games at Texas A&M.
2:15:54
They they were picked to battle Miami.
2:15:57
They even beat Miami that year, broke their 31 game-winning
2:16:00
streak. This is when Miami was loaded,
2:16:03
right? But they underachieved.
2:16:05
They lost to Boston College that year at home.
2:16:08
They lost to UVA. It was the UV as first time
2:16:12
since beating us since 1998. That team underachieved because
2:16:17
you know, they had Vegas Robinson and Vince Hall at
2:16:19
linebacker, but they weren't a unit.
2:16:22
So in a lot of ways, people ask me how great will tech do?
2:16:25
I always say I feel great because if the guys are the not
2:16:28
just starters, because you can be a backer, but be a leader.
2:16:30
If the guys understand what pride his staff want, what JC
2:16:33
and those guys want, then your team will be unified.
2:16:36
If if it's look at me and you know, we're not locked in, but
2:16:40
you know, I'm going to get my paper or I got to get my numbers
2:16:43
or I'm trying to improve my draft status, the team is going
2:16:46
to underachieve and that and not to pick on Miami or other teams,
2:16:49
but that's what you've seen sometimes.
2:16:51
And you say, wow, that team is loaded.
2:16:53
How did they not win 8 or more games?
2:16:55
Well, they had a bunch of selfless guys.
2:16:58
One thing about being around the locker room, being around Tech
2:17:00
at the spring game and just knowing some of those guys in
2:17:02
the locker room, they're locked in, they seem very unselfish.
2:17:06
So I think with Kyron as his leader and the rest of those
2:17:10
guys, you know, keeping those guys, a big factor a lot of guys
2:17:12
returning was Kyron, Kyron. So they wanted to come back and
2:17:16
run it back. Tooting could have left, a lot
2:17:18
of guys could have left. So you kind of see what you saw
2:17:21
at Clemson that one year for about 5-6 years where Dabo was
2:17:25
able to get a lot of future NFL players to return and win 11 or
2:17:29
12 or more games. I'm not saying we're going to do
2:17:31
that, but I do feel good because I feel like the leadership is
2:17:34
there. This is why I said on your your
2:17:37
podcast about a year ago that the biggest issue I saw with
2:17:41
Virginia Tech the last few years, the end of the Fuente era
2:17:43
as well as the first years with pride is that they had no idea
2:17:47
how to win. When you have guys that know how
2:17:49
to lead, you know how to go on the road.
2:17:51
You know, when I was at Tech and when I played or even the guys
2:17:54
that came after me that one, those guys know how to win on
2:17:57
the road. And if they didn't win the game,
2:17:58
like I remember when Billy was at Tech, they went toe to toe
2:18:01
with Alabama for 3/4 and that was a future national
2:18:04
championship team because they had a great leadership.
2:18:08
They had a day. It wasn't like they were going
2:18:09
to win 11 games that year. But I just feel like it always
2:18:13
starts in the locker room and I feel like if our guys that are
2:18:17
on the field and doing what needs to be doing.
2:18:19
Like I don't know if it was Suns or Saturday that shared it or
2:18:22
Tech Triumph, but it was a video I shared in my Instagram story
2:18:26
of Kyron, Kyron and the receivers.
2:18:27
It was 945 at night and they were in the indoor practice
2:18:31
facility getting throws in and they were just drenched in sweat
2:18:34
and they were locked in. To me, that's a small things
2:18:37
that you saw back when I played or even after I played with
2:18:40
Tyrod and those guys. That's the leadership that won't
2:18:43
be. It's not measurable until you
2:18:45
see them play on the field. On that, on that note, I wanted
2:18:50
to say a couple of things. Number one, it's not always
2:18:52
about having leadership on a team that is potentially
2:18:57
competing for a conference championship or potentially
2:18:59
competing for a spot in the playoff.
2:19:01
It is just leadership period. Like I remember that six and six
2:19:04
team that had to get bowl eligible and one of Coach
2:19:06
Beamer's last seasons. And I'll never forget when we
2:19:09
were staring in the face. I can't remember how many games
2:19:11
we had to we had to win to get bowl eligible, but they had a
2:19:15
players only meeting and Kyshawn Jarrett got up, Dietrich Bonner
2:19:19
got up. A bunch of those dudes got up
2:19:21
there and just talked about how important it was, how much it
2:19:23
meant to them to send out Coach Beamer the right way.
2:19:26
And having people that are willing to step up and step into
2:19:29
that role where coaches can inspire you only so much and
2:19:33
coaches can only say so much. But when you have somebody in
2:19:35
that locker room that is going through exactly what you're
2:19:37
going through and it's talking about how it how much it means
2:19:40
to them, especially to some of those young guys, that's pivotal
2:19:43
and that makes a huge difference.
2:19:44
I also think the difference between what really separated
2:19:48
that 2016 team was two things #1 when that team started to get
2:19:53
some buy in after the first two games of the year, when people
2:19:56
realized, OK, Gerardo is a dude, this wide receiver room is
2:19:59
awesome. We got punched in the face by
2:20:02
Tennessee and it brought everybody right back down to
2:20:05
earth and everybody had to go back to fundamentals and
2:20:07
understand, OK, if we're going to be who we can be.
2:20:11
We're going to have to tighten some things up and that team did
2:20:13
that and then that team went to the ACC Championship and had a
2:20:16
the best year we've had since 20/12/2011.
2:20:21
On the flip side, that team had so many players who had played
2:20:25
for so many years together. John McLaughlin was one of those
2:20:28
players who as a freshman was going out there against Alabama.
2:20:31
You look at a Wyatt Teller who had been through multiple
2:20:34
offensive line coaches, had been through the ringer.
2:20:36
Sam Rogers walk on, all these guys who had so much respect and
2:20:41
had been through it and could take those younger players that
2:20:44
had to contribute or those players that came in and get
2:20:46
everybody reading from the same set of notes made such a big
2:20:50
difference. And we have that continuity now.
2:20:53
And Coach Fry, I think one of the things that he said that is
2:20:55
so pivotal was it was a difficult decision to pick who
2:20:59
went to ACC media day. Like that was an actual
2:21:02
conversation of I wonder who's going to go and somebody's going
2:21:06
to get left out. Because can't remember the last
2:21:08
time we had a team where you can identify somebody in every room
2:21:14
who has the leadership qualities that you're looking for on a
2:21:16
team. Every single room on this team
2:21:19
has a leader that she would feel comfortable going into Saturday,
2:21:23
Thursday or Friday with. And we haven't had that in a few
2:21:26
years across every single room. And I think that is a huge
2:21:30
difference between this year going into going into it.
2:21:32
Just don't have to have that Tennessee conversation.
2:21:36
Don't have to have that early season.
2:21:39
Everybody loves you and then you underperform.
2:21:41
Now, I'm not saying that Tennessee team wasn't good.
2:21:43
That was a really good Tennessee team who didn't know how to use
2:21:45
Alvin Kamara, but we didn't have to our potential in that game.
2:21:49
Yeah. Those turnovers definitely
2:21:51
didn't help either though. No, I.
2:21:53
Didn't. No, I didn't.
2:21:53
They did ball security for three hours on on that Monday or
2:21:57
Tuesday after that. Well, Billy, but Billy, just to
2:22:00
your point, that team I watched, I remember that was on my
2:22:03
birthday, September 14th. So I watched it.
2:22:05
I was up in DC at a bar with a bunch of people.
2:22:08
Man, I was looking at that game and everyone was mad at me
2:22:11
because I went on Twitter and I said This is why I didn't go
2:22:14
because it was at that racetrack, right?
2:22:17
And I said until until Virginia Tech can handle hype and
2:22:21
expectations, I'm not taking the bait.
2:22:24
And and then people like, oh, how you going?
2:22:26
I'm not turning my back on those guys.
2:22:27
Cam Phillips and those guys are my brothers.
2:22:29
I'm talking about the fact that the 2007, was it 2007, 2008,
2:22:36
2007 game against Miami when we had Percy Harvard and 68
2:22:40
recruits on the sideline, maybe 200 and Miami beat as they beat
2:22:43
the brakes off us. That's the hit with Daryl Tapp
2:22:45
slam the quarterback or the Tennessee game, which I feel
2:22:48
like if we don't turn the ball over, we win that game.
2:22:51
So what you're talking about, Billy, is being able to handle
2:22:54
hyping expectations. Coaches pretty much say the same
2:22:57
things. Everybody puts their spin on it.
2:22:59
You know, some guys show videos, some guys will, you know, have
2:23:03
another guest speaker come in. Everybody right now across the
2:23:06
nation feels like they can have a chance to win games and win
2:23:08
their conference. The difference is not just the
2:23:11
talent, but the players that anoint themselves as leaders
2:23:14
that make sure that nobody's skipping a rap in the weight
2:23:16
room. Billy, you know this and you
2:23:18
know, conditioning, you know, making sure the third stringers
2:23:20
are giving us a good look on Scout, all that stuff.
2:23:24
I saw it, I saw Antonio Freeman do that.
2:23:26
I saw guys challenge back up. So there's a culture.
2:23:29
And you mentioned continuity. I think that's the biggest thing
2:23:31
I feel good about this season. It's like that hopefulness with
2:23:35
the continuity. On that point too, and again,
2:23:39
I'm I'm, I'm just, I'm just speaking from this year
2:23:41
specifically. One of the things that was
2:23:43
pointed out after that Tennessee game was going into the game,
2:23:47
the entire staff was saying, guys, we have a great game plan.
2:23:51
We match up fantastic with them. And it shouldn't be a surprise
2:23:54
when we come out and we punch Tennessee in the mouth.
2:23:56
And if you look at the broadcast of that game and if you look at
2:24:00
the body language, if I could recall the body language
2:24:01
correctly on the sideline, there were some people who were like
2:24:05
shocked we were beating Tennessee because we're just
2:24:08
coming off a six and six year. We were six and six the year
2:24:11
before. And people were like, Oh my God,
2:24:13
we're playing in front of 160,000 people and we're taking
2:24:16
it to Tennessee, this SEC team with all of this talent.
2:24:19
And that's where it caught up to us.
2:24:21
And that was the message all week after that game was it was
2:24:24
like, until you guys believe how good you actually are, you will
2:24:28
continue to have these let downs in situations like this.
2:24:31
And that's why I always push back on the notion from and it's
2:24:35
not just Virginia Tech fan base, it's every fan base.
2:24:38
I don't like that we're ranked or I don't like that people are
2:24:40
talking about us. If you don't want the noise of
2:24:43
expectations and you don't want the excitement of being in the
2:24:48
game of being talked about, you should go cheer for Duke.
2:24:52
You should go cheer for State. Seriously.
2:24:57
Like that whole mindset, That whole mindset of I don't want
2:25:00
expectations, I want to just surprise people.
2:25:03
No, I want the target on our back.
2:25:05
That is what makes it special. That is what makes it getting up
2:25:08
and watching every single Saturday and then also going
2:25:11
into work on Monday and seeing your buddy who sits across from
2:25:16
you who into Arkansas or your buddy who sits across from you
2:25:18
who doesn't even watch college football.
2:25:19
And they said, man, I was tuned into Virginia Tech.
2:25:21
Y'all got a good football team this year.
2:25:23
And everybody's having those conversations right now more
2:25:26
than they have in the last 10 years.
2:25:27
And that's the type of expectation that Virginia Tech
2:25:30
should have and you should want as a fan for the team that
2:25:33
you're rooting. For 100%, absolutely.
2:25:38
What was my man's name to play for West Virginia?
2:25:40
The quarterback wound, I think it was 2017 year going into
2:25:44
2017. What's?
2:25:45
My last name to play for it will grill.
2:25:48
So yeah. So kind of thinking about that
2:25:50
you know kind of going back to something like that.
2:25:52
What Billy's saying you know going from that 16 year to that
2:25:56
17 year. That was a big game.
2:25:58
You know, playing at FedEx Field, us going to play West
2:26:01
Virginia old rivalry like Oz was on that game, like everybody got
2:26:08
so as as much as we, you know, as much as we jump on fool and
2:26:12
and and that for and that regime them first games, man, he would
2:26:16
get deep in that bag man, and them expectations that was on
2:26:20
the team was met a lot of to like going into that game.
2:26:24
It was a lot of hype around that game and and they came in and
2:26:28
they kind of did the damn thing. Honestly, you know what I'm
2:26:31
saying watching that. I remember watching that on TV
2:26:33
like damn, and people like you say it going into work and it
2:26:36
was like, man, I was watching y'all last night at shoot
2:26:38
Virginia Tech. They look good like that looked
2:26:41
like what what our Virginia Tech team looks like.
2:26:44
Robbie, what you thinking about all this hype and stuff we
2:26:46
talking about we. From a coaching perspective, we
2:26:51
talk about the hype and the things all the time.
2:26:55
Now I'm dealing, I'm dealing with with much different athlete
2:26:58
and, and high school athletes and things like that and what
2:27:00
we're talking about here. But I mean, we had I I've
2:27:03
coached some teams that, you know, year in, year out that
2:27:07
targets on their back. That hype is, is built and it's
2:27:11
like, it's like walking a tightrope.
2:27:13
And we got you got to, we always talked about height will fit you
2:27:18
up to be humbled. If you fall too far into that
2:27:21
height and listen to the people telling you about how good you
2:27:24
are as a player. If you don't have the leader
2:27:27
that they can humble everybody and be able to tell them, Hey,
2:27:32
we, we got that height because of what we've done.
2:27:35
And we've got to continue to do that to keep that height.
2:27:38
You're going to get humbled real quick.
2:27:40
I'm going to tell you what, I've been humbled.
2:27:42
I've been humbled a few times as a coach.
2:27:45
I've seen teams get humbled because they believed in that
2:27:49
height. But like you, like it was said
2:27:52
before, you have to buy into that height too, because you
2:27:56
have to have that kind of raw aggression, that raw emotion of
2:28:03
yeah, we're. Going to We're going to live.
2:28:04
To that height and you've got to have the people to steer it the
2:28:07
right way, just like you got to have that pole to to walk that
2:28:11
tightrope. You got to keep that balance and
2:28:13
it's a thin line, but you have to find it and use both your
2:28:17
advantage. A good comparison that I have
2:28:21
not to not to leverage it all the way back to high school, but
2:28:23
my senior year, I mean, coming in, Paramus Catholic was ranked
2:28:28
#8 in the country. We had Jabril Peppers was
2:28:30
returning kicks. He's playing running back.
2:28:32
He was quarterback. Sometimes we had, you know, I
2:28:35
think we sent eight or ten kids to Division One schools.
2:28:38
And that whole year running through the season, everybody's
2:28:41
telling you how good we are. And then we go and we play Don
2:28:43
Bosco, Terrell Smith School in the middle of the season, ESP NS
2:28:46
there we get alternate uniforms from Adidas.
2:28:48
It was pretty crazy. And they came out and they
2:28:50
kicked our ass up and down the field all game.
2:28:54
And if we didn't have that reset moment where you have those
2:28:58
conversations with your team and then you're trying to say, hey,
2:29:02
look, we're going to piss away this incredible opportunity
2:29:05
because you think that it's just owed to you to to be good and
2:29:08
beat all of these teams and just and just run roughshod
2:29:11
throughout the rest of the the rest of the season.
2:29:13
And then that set us up for an opportunity.
2:29:14
We've played Brandon Wimbush and Brandon Wimbush and and Minka
2:29:19
Fitzpatrick in the state championship and if we didn't
2:29:21
have that moment in the season because we weren't mature enough
2:29:24
to handle it in the pre season, probably don't win that game the
2:29:28
last year, the last game of the season.
2:29:30
So just hoping that we can avoid that.
2:29:33
And Coach Pry has preached this all season.
2:29:35
How important it is to not get invested in the hype, how
2:29:38
important it is not to get invested into how good people
2:29:40
are telling you you are. You need to believe that you're
2:29:43
that good and you need to put in the work to live up to the
2:29:45
opportunity that you have based upon the talent and the
2:29:48
seniority and the continuity that you have on your team.
2:29:50
Yeah, Billy, he, he definitely gave y'all a hell of a sound
2:29:54
bite talking about expectations. And.
2:29:58
And all that, so that, that was, that was a great sound bite.
2:30:02
And it's, it's definitely been something that sounds like
2:30:03
that's been been preached top down.
2:30:05
But let's talk about that coaching continuity and, and,
2:30:08
and how, how they impact that roster.
2:30:11
You know, when we look at this coaching staff, you know, this
2:30:14
time last year they'd only been together about five months total
2:30:17
as far as a, a, a whole staff with the the swapped outs in
2:30:22
last spring and all that. Yeah, now it seems like they're,
2:30:25
they're running like a well oiled machine.
2:30:28
Robbie, I'll let you start with this one.
2:30:29
What effect does this type of staff continuity have on a team
2:30:33
and particularly a veteran and and leader heavy team like this
2:30:37
one? It's it's going to be
2:30:40
immeasurable. I mean, to, to be able to see
2:30:44
the, the schemes that are put in the consistent coaching points
2:30:49
day in day out over a longer period of time.
2:30:53
I mean, I, I talked to coach Crook last year at, at the
2:30:57
coaches clinic that we went to. He had been in Blacksburg for
2:31:01
like 9 days at that point. He was sleeping on a couch in an
2:31:05
apartment that him and the, the new running backs coach had come
2:31:10
in and kind of were written week to week until they could get
2:31:13
everything settled. That's how quick everything
2:31:16
turned around and got in there and to see the improvement in so
2:31:21
many areas, especially with the online just in in the quick
2:31:25
period of time through the spring into the fall.
2:31:28
Just the fact that that's continuing for a whole year now,
2:31:32
getting that the same verbiage, the same teaching that can that
2:31:37
continuity, that consistency all the way through is going to
2:31:40
make, I mean things immeasurable.
2:31:43
And with the the the carryover of every coach being back, every
2:31:48
coach being back in the same place as they were.
2:31:51
I mean, I, I think that's, that's going to pay huge
2:31:55
dividends in the end. And, and putting things together
2:31:58
and the players continuing to hear the same thing.
2:32:01
They're not getting a different coach every season, things like
2:32:06
that, that I mean that that'll drive a thing in the ground.
2:32:09
And I think that I think that's going to be big for them.
2:32:11
Just kidding. Continuing to hear the same
2:32:14
teaching and buy into those things, Dwight.
2:32:17
What do you got on this one? Sorry, I, I, you know, I, I
2:32:23
agree. I think, you know, I've been
2:32:25
recruited 20 plus years, but I work with kids.
2:32:28
You know, I have a son that's, you know, that's in that
2:32:30
situation. I work with a lot of kids, a lot
2:32:32
of kids who are going to UVA and Virginia Tech, you know, I
2:32:35
mentor them. And I do think continuity
2:32:37
amongst your coaching staff and that brotherhood, you feel it
2:32:40
like Virginia Tech, it's a unique school because of its
2:32:43
location and where it's at and the fact that they have the, you
2:32:46
know, hashtag or whatever this is home, you know, mantra that
2:32:49
they push. I think when you see coaches
2:32:52
that really enjoy being Hokies, I think I tried to warn people.
2:32:56
When Prague, you know, came back, it was kind of like when
2:32:59
Joe Gibbs came back to the Washington Redskins, now
2:33:02
commanders, everybody thought he was going to hire everybody from
2:33:05
the good old days. And I was like, you know, he
2:33:07
can't do that. That would be really wack.
2:33:09
You know, you can't get everybody from that day.
2:33:11
It's a different time. So, you know, as much as I would
2:33:13
love to see all my, my, you know, I call him The Avengers of
2:33:16
those superhero coaches, the truth of the matter is he got
2:33:20
some guys, he retained the right guys and he got some guys that
2:33:23
also knew him from other places. So, you know, having Marv, a guy
2:33:27
he can trust and he's mentoring a guy that really took a big
2:33:30
step forward last year, you know, having JC, who bleeds
2:33:33
Virginia Tech, you know, punched his hand in a locker or wall
2:33:36
against Maryland the ball game and broke it.
2:33:38
You saw him getting emotional and that big win to become bowl
2:33:41
elligible at UVA. Pearson Prelo, who Greg wins
2:33:45
when he was a defensive coordinator with Washington and
2:33:47
the New Orleans Saints, said Pearson was the smartest
2:33:49
football coach he ever coached. And I played with Pearson for
2:33:52
four years and he is like a little Torian Grey.
2:33:55
Like he's just a great mind and a great recruiter.
2:33:58
We're seeing that. I think having guys that you
2:34:00
know, you know, coach DJ AKH cheater and then you know, just
2:34:05
all those guys, Jerry Ferguson, who was the great fullback who's
2:34:07
working in the strength and conditioning room, you know,
2:34:10
respectfully, I said this. I said, you know, Beamer left
2:34:12
with blueprint, some of the stuff that need to be upgraded
2:34:15
and modified and evolved into the modern day.
2:34:17
But as far as the importance of relationships, I've always said
2:34:21
that when I've been on different podcasts like too deep or Suns
2:34:23
of Saturday or even this one, I've always said it's the
2:34:26
relationships that will help. You know, the relationships will
2:34:31
get you players because parents and kids can see like if you've
2:34:34
been recruited obviously like Billy touched on, which is crazy
2:34:37
right now, this NIL stuff. I'm mad because I was on the NC
2:34:40
2A games and I ain't getting no paper.
2:34:43
I was on, I was on three of them, bro.
2:34:45
All I got was just a rating. I think they rated me at 79.
2:34:48
I was in my fields. But now he's got, he's got to.
2:34:52
File a lawsuit. Yeah, you know, you know, it is
2:34:55
what it is. I'm not a hater.
2:34:56
I'm happy for these young guys, but it's a different game now.
2:34:59
But to have coaches that want to stay, that aren't trying to get
2:35:02
the bag and want to be there, it's a good feeling.
2:35:04
I think it makes sense. I don't want to get all corny
2:35:06
and make it more than what it is.
2:35:07
I just think those relationships matter when it comes to just
2:35:11
having coaches that understand prize vision and, and what he
2:35:14
wants, you know, Because the last thing I'll say about this
2:35:17
is when a head coach, and Billy talked about this a few years
2:35:22
ago in the Twitter space, a head coach is so much more than a
2:35:25
coach. He's Aceo.
2:35:25
He's got to do tech tech talk live.
2:35:28
He's got to go down to Tidewater and Richmond and Northern
2:35:31
Virginia, do coaches clinics and speak or you know, fundraising.
2:35:36
You got to have guys from your administration, you know, main
2:35:40
office staff to your assistant coaches to the janitorial staff,
2:35:43
your trainers, everybody's got to have your back.
2:35:45
You got to have people in that office and in that meeting room
2:35:48
and those meeting room over in Castle that really know what
2:35:51
pride wants you when his back is turned and he has to be able to
2:35:55
trust those guys. And I think when you have people
2:35:57
around you who trust, it's just the energy is right.
2:36:00
You know, it's just a great thing he's got going on right
2:36:03
now. It'll you know, it'll be
2:36:04
interesting if we keep having success, if we can retain all
2:36:07
these guys, because I think that would be very nostalgic on how
2:36:10
it used to be. But you know, I love the energy
2:36:13
around the program when it comes to the coaching staff and having
2:36:15
the right guys that used to be there.
2:36:17
Like, you know, you got Cam Phillips back, Xavier DB, but
2:36:21
they're not in positions. They're they're in positions
2:36:23
where they're going to grow as coaches.
2:36:24
You're not. Unfortunately, we all love
2:36:26
Justin Hamilton, but he was put in the unfair situation where I
2:36:30
think pride knows these guys need this, they need that.
2:36:33
So he's he's doing it where they can grow and learn and
2:36:35
eventually get a promotion, whether at Tech or somewhere
2:36:37
else. Yeah, I really like Dwight's
2:36:40
point about Pride kind of sticking to the Beamer
2:36:43
blueprint, but modernizing it in the way that needs to be
2:36:45
modernized. I think he's done a really good
2:36:48
job bouncing those two things, so let's keep the combo going,
2:36:51
one. Second, I wanted to add, I
2:36:52
wanted to add one thing on this, on the coaching continuity,
2:36:56
couple things. Cam Phillips and Isaiah Ford had
2:36:59
two different coaches. They had Morehead and they had
2:37:01
Wiggins. You look at Wyatt Teller, he had
2:37:03
three different offensive line coaches, Coach Grimes, Coach
2:37:06
Searles, Coach Vice. And just look at how coaching
2:37:11
turnover effects a guy like Dabo Sweeney, effects a guy like Nick
2:37:15
Saban. It affects everybody.
2:37:17
And the one thing that I think is lost on this staff that, you
2:37:21
know, we're very quick to criticize, we're not very quick
2:37:24
to realize how things have improved.
2:37:26
Two years ago, the verbiage around Coach Bowen was this
2:37:30
guy's trash. He doesn't know how to call an
2:37:31
offense. He doesn't know how to adjust.
2:37:33
He doesn't know how to make end game adjustments.
2:37:36
I don't know how much clearer I could be on this.
2:37:38
Coaches are just like you and me.
2:37:41
They're just like players. They learn, they adjust and they
2:37:46
get better over time. It's not as simple as we bring
2:37:49
somebody in and they're good or bad and they're going to be the
2:37:52
same person every single year. Coach Compton, I'm sure you are
2:37:56
a much better coach today than you were ten years ago, right?
2:37:59
Nothing has changed. Nothing has changed from Coach
2:38:03
Bowen the person. It has just changed as he has
2:38:06
grown with the game. So I think these guys being
2:38:09
together, having trust, having the ability to adjust and learn
2:38:14
along the way and grow with their team, we're going to
2:38:17
continue to see that. And I think that we need to give
2:38:21
props to a situation like that because I'm sure people were
2:38:24
very, very critical of a Coach Beamer early in his career, but
2:38:27
also a Coach Wiles early on in his career and also a Coach
2:38:31
Foster very early on in his career.
2:38:33
Coaches grow just like players grow.
2:38:36
That's a that's a really good point.
2:38:39
That's a really good point. Before I let Sheldon go, but I
2:38:42
do want to say this, Billy, me and Dwight Victoria said.
2:38:46
I think we were on the show together, maybe on a space.
2:38:49
I'm not going to judge the coach until he gets talent.
2:38:51
I don't care about the XS and OS right now.
2:38:55
I need to know who he gets. I can't judge Coach Bowen until
2:39:00
he gets a player. He we need talent.
2:39:03
So when he brought talent in, I said OK, now we get to seek any
2:39:07
coach. If you can't get the talent, it
2:39:09
don't matter how XS and OS you are, you're not going to win as
2:39:12
many games as somebody who goes out and gets Kyron drunk.
2:39:15
So it was on the Twitter. Space.
2:39:17
It was on the Twitter Space when me, you and Laura Johnson had
2:39:20
like over 350 people in there after the ODU loss.
2:39:24
We won that joint until like 2:45 in the morning.
2:39:26
That's when you saw your mercy. I can't do no more of them too
2:39:30
old man. Tally, if you and me show up to
2:39:33
a Thanksgiving party, right? And they're, they're
2:39:36
broadcasting, hey, Tally's going to put down some food.
2:39:38
Billy Ray's going to put down some food.
2:39:40
And we show up and grandma at this Thanksgiving dinner, her
2:39:43
food is trash. You can't judge if I'm going to
2:39:46
show up and I'm going to eat a lot of food.
2:39:48
So when we show up to a Thanksgiving dinner that has
2:39:51
been prepared, they got the good Mac and cheese, they got the
2:39:53
good mashed potatoes, they got the good Turkey, then we can
2:39:56
actually show how we could put down some food that is a crazy
2:40:00
reference to use. But I, I completely agree with
2:40:03
you, Don't judge, don't judge somebody's ability to coach or
2:40:06
do anything if they're not given the tools to do it correctly.
2:40:08
So. Well, prime company have a lot
2:40:12
of food to work with coming. In this season.
2:40:15
They've got the, they've got the, they've got the full
2:40:17
buffet, the full full house. Hope is our 4th in returning
2:40:22
production this year according to Bill Collin of ESPN, and 2nd
2:40:25
in returning production on offense.
2:40:28
And I think we look at some of the position groups to focus on
2:40:31
the offense. You look at offensive line, I
2:40:33
look at two guys in particular on the left side, Xavier Chaplin
2:40:36
and Braylon Moore, who were retro freshman last year, but
2:40:38
you know, had a full year of experience under their belt.
2:40:40
They come back as sophomores this season and they're
2:40:42
surrounded by some old guys like Hayden Moore and Parker Clements
2:40:46
and Cunningham from Georgia State.
2:40:49
So opening the question, I guess, you know, I wanted to
2:40:51
start with Robbie just to kind of get get his thoughts on this.
2:40:55
You know, we keep talking about continuity.
2:40:57
How integral do you see the offensive line being to kind of
2:40:59
the overall operation of the offense this year?
2:41:02
And just what value do you think, you know, having having
2:41:05
the guys who, you know, come back from last year and kind of
2:41:08
take their bumps and bruises as they did in 2023, How, how
2:41:11
valuable can that experience be for, for their growth this
2:41:14
season? Oh, the experience is going to
2:41:16
be just having those guys playing together more under the
2:41:22
same, the same verbiage, the same systems, the same teachings
2:41:28
day in and day out over that time.
2:41:30
I mean, they're just going to grow closer together.
2:41:33
I talked about it in that last segment.
2:41:37
Offensive Lines from my experience, don't do a lot of
2:41:40
rotating. Now you have might have to mix
2:41:42
and match when you have to fill somebody in some things like
2:41:45
that. But there's not a lot of
2:41:46
rotating because you build that chemistry knowing exactly how
2:41:50
the guy besides you is going to move and attack and, and, and
2:41:54
take on different things. And I think that's going to be
2:41:57
the, the fact that you had two young guys come in there
2:42:00
learning a lot from some of the older guys.
2:42:03
You have a coach now that's in his second year going through
2:42:06
this. They're going to continue to
2:42:08
build with the it's going to build confidence in what they're
2:42:13
doing. They understand things more.
2:42:15
They feel better with each other.
2:42:16
They're building that chemistry. And I think that's going to be a
2:42:18
big thing for them pushing forward.
2:42:20
And I think it's just going to make them better in the long
2:42:23
run. And the guys behind them are
2:42:25
going to see the same things and continue to push it up.
2:42:29
Dwight, I want to ask you a question and this is kind of how
2:42:33
I'm thinking about this. All season, every one of those
2:42:38
offensive lineman header have heard everybody talking trash
2:42:41
about that unit. All offseason they've heard
2:42:43
non-stop about how bad this unit is, how horrible they are.
2:42:48
How if I saw Parker Clements in an alley, it's on site.
2:42:51
First of all, none of you are fighting Parker Clements.
2:42:54
Zero of you are fighting Parker Clements and you would lose.
2:42:58
But we, when we interviewed Kyron, he's I brought this up
2:43:02
and he was like, look, they all hear what you're saying, like
2:43:04
they all hear you guys. At the end of the day, you look
2:43:07
back at guys like I'll say it again, Jay Glock, Wyatt Teller,
2:43:10
Christian Darasaw, these are all guys who got better year after
2:43:13
year after year after year. And this time they're coming
2:43:16
back with a quarterback who is a playmaker, dynamic running
2:43:20
backs. We talk about Tooting a lot.
2:43:22
Malachi Thomas is going to be fantastic because he's healthy.
2:43:25
Finally, I'm so excited to watch this unit play because I feel
2:43:30
like Virginia Tech fans could not have honestly a lower
2:43:34
expectation for this unit. And I think, I think they're
2:43:37
going to come out and I think they're going to, they're going
2:43:38
to improve dramatically this upcoming year just based upon
2:43:41
the continuity, based upon the amount of talent that they have
2:43:44
behind them. I am so, so excited to watch
2:43:48
this unit play. And, and on that note, too,
2:43:51
losing Daquon Wright, incredible talent.
2:43:53
Daquon Wright is an incredible talent.
2:43:56
You are replacing Daquan Wright with Gallo, Saint Germain and
2:44:00
Gosnell, who are all difference makers in the run game.
2:44:03
If you have a defensive end who's giving you problems,
2:44:06
you're going to stick Nick Gallo over there and you're going to
2:44:08
have him, you're going to have him double team.
2:44:10
You're going to have him help out and help out where he needs
2:44:12
to help out. So I think that you have three
2:44:15
tight ends who all can contribute in the run game are
2:44:17
going to make a huge difference. It'll be interesting to see if
2:44:19
we do any type of H back situation or have them in the
2:44:22
backfield, how we're going to utilize them specifically
2:44:25
manipulate the pocket. But I got my eyes on this
2:44:28
offensive line and I'm I'm very, very bullish on them.
2:44:33
And I don't think it was as bad as it, as everybody says it was
2:44:35
towards the end of last year like.
2:44:37
Everybody called historical. We.
2:44:40
Like everybody was talking about how it was awful.
2:44:42
Look, they had their problems and they had their issues, but
2:44:45
we also had multiple games where we rushed for over 100 yards
2:44:49
towards the end of the season when they finally understood the
2:44:51
scheme, which changed three or four times throughout the year.
2:44:54
We talk about how important it is from a chemistry standpoint.
2:44:57
What about knowing where you need to go If we're changing our
2:45:00
scheme week to week because we're trying to figure out A,
2:45:03
who's going to be our starting quarterback and B, what type of
2:45:06
offense we're going to run to match the starting quarterback
2:45:08
that we have, That's a huge challenge not just for the
2:45:10
quarterback, but the offensive line because you're not doing
2:45:13
the same thing week to week. So I can't wait to watch these
2:45:16
guys get out there and do their thing.
2:45:18
The one thing that I the one thing that I've seen from from
2:45:21
last shit that I'd give the the offensive line credit on, but
2:45:25
also the guys that's back there running the ball, it's like once
2:45:28
they seen that Tooten Tooten's not going down with, it's hard
2:45:32
to get him down with one person. You know, it's hard to get Karen
2:45:35
down with one person. But what I hate to see is that
2:45:39
somebody that's running the ball in those early games, Tooten was
2:45:42
getting killed. It was two and three people
2:45:44
hitting him in the backfield. Later in the season you start
2:45:47
seeing even if the lineman messed up, they were going to
2:45:50
the ball, they were going to get somebody.
2:45:53
Even if they hit the wrong person, we're going to hit
2:45:55
somebody. So because they knew that their
2:45:57
runners were staying up. So I seen I think a Brody
2:46:01
Meadows the most like downfield still blocking, going and find
2:46:05
somebody to hit. You know, seeing stuff like that
2:46:07
does give you, I don't want to say hope because I think that
2:46:11
the line will be fine. I think they have enough leaders
2:46:14
to be like, Hey, you got to get your ass in gear.
2:46:17
So I don't want to say hope, but it it does give me like, and
2:46:20
they have people pushing them. When you have some depth and you
2:46:22
have people behind you that say, hey, if you mess up, I'm going
2:46:25
to take you out. That does change a little bit of
2:46:27
what you do as well. You know what I'm saying?
2:46:29
Because I mean, I see it all the time, like when my son's
2:46:32
playing, he he's the only center field on his team.
2:46:34
When they bring another kid in and he plays center field too,
2:46:37
he UPS his game a little bit. So that's kind of what I want to
2:46:40
see because of the depth piece and you know, having a little
2:46:43
bit more people that can go in and rotate into places and
2:46:47
figure out who's the best five week in, week out on the
2:46:51
offensive line. Well, also too, I, I just think,
2:46:54
you know, Billy touched on it. I think if you have an offensive
2:46:57
line coach you're familiar with, you know, I talked to Tyler
2:47:00
Bowen back in April at the spring game and Tyler Bowen was
2:47:03
telling me on the sideline during the Friday walkthrough he
2:47:05
was like, yeah, Victoria man, we feeling real good around here
2:47:08
because everybody kind of knows what they're supposed to be
2:47:10
doing versus last year. We're all trying to figure it
2:47:13
out. You know, I'm paraphrasing, but
2:47:14
that's basically what he was saying, which you can see.
2:47:17
I just think when I look back at my career and I'm looking back,
2:47:19
you know, and UNC and other teams, you know, Billy made a
2:47:22
fantastic point about, you know, Dabo losing Venables and the
2:47:26
other guy. Like when you lose great coaches
2:47:28
and you can't replace them with guys that fit your culture and
2:47:31
that did not, there's no continuity.
2:47:33
The players suffer. You know when I had Coach
2:47:35
Grimes, not the Grimes y'all know that was with Fuente, but
2:47:37
another Grimes. Really, really great coach.
2:47:40
He was there my red shirt year, my red shirt freshman, sophomore
2:47:43
and junior year. He was tough as nails.
2:47:46
This is a guy that had a heart attack during the game.
2:47:48
He had a heart attack during the Boston College game and still
2:47:50
called us all before he drove himself to the hospital.
2:47:54
He end up leaving to go coach at Arkansas because he was an FCC
2:47:56
guy. But then Stein Spring who was a
2:47:57
tight ends coach to go over him as a online coach and we kept
2:48:01
the same verbiage. Ricky Bussell was AOC, so the
2:48:04
same offense that drunken Miller ran, Maurice Josejo, Al Clark
2:48:08
ran in as well. Same offense Mike ran.
2:48:09
So when you're in office alignment, if you're a backup
2:48:12
and you, you know, you're getting time and blowouts,
2:48:14
you're getting in to give me 5 plays rest and you step up and
2:48:19
you know you're going to be good.
2:48:20
And then on top of it, like Billy said, you know, that's one
2:48:23
thing I'm not jealous of. I'm jealous of the NIL, but I'm
2:48:26
not jealous of social media. I'm so glad we did not have X
2:48:30
AKA Twitter when I played, man, because there's so many guys
2:48:32
that think they know. Like for example, I remember
2:48:34
last year we ran, we ran 4th and 1:00 and we didn't get it.
2:48:41
Everybody was like this line, this play calling sucks.
2:48:44
And I was like actually the tight end and the backside
2:48:48
tackle missed their block. They did a run blitz and they
2:48:50
did, they whiffed on it. That's why he got tackled in the
2:48:52
backfield. I'm one of those guys that
2:48:54
watches the offensive line every play on all levels.
2:48:57
So it's one of those things where you have to pay attention.
2:48:59
But I, I, I think a lot of stuff, man, we're going to learn
2:49:03
first week, man, against Vanderbilt, which is good.
2:49:04
That's a good, that's a good game to start off with.
2:49:09
I know, I know talking from conversations with with Coach
2:49:13
Crook, he he's a man that's built on the mentality and, and
2:49:18
that's one thing that's it's taken some time for him to, to
2:49:21
push into that online room. I by no means have have doubted
2:49:25
them. I know they've had rough times.
2:49:27
But he pushes a mentality like he he sets those guys up to
2:49:31
understand, regardless of what anybody says and what anybody
2:49:35
believes, we've got to be the hardest workers on this field.
2:49:38
And you talk Billy talking about getting downfield and, and these
2:49:43
guys being the people that you see running downfield.
2:49:47
That's a mentality that crooks putting in there.
2:49:49
I guarantee you that it's a culture he likes to build and
2:49:53
and push in. And when he get the more they
2:49:56
buy into that mentality and push into that culture, the better
2:49:59
they're going to get. And then they're going to bring
2:50:01
those younger guys, bring the new guys that come in, they
2:50:05
start to take in that mentality. And I know I'm coming here
2:50:08
because of this. And this is the way that we play
2:50:11
and it's just going to continue to breed that success.
2:50:14
I think it's going to push it, I mean, even further in the years
2:50:17
to come, as long as they can keep that that group together.
2:50:21
One final point 2 on the old line is that, you know I've said
2:50:24
this before, back when I used to work for Rivals and 247, it is
2:50:28
the hardest position to recruit and it's the hardest position to
2:50:31
transition to the next level. D1D2 or D3.
2:50:34
Like I was a monster in high school, but I only faced a
2:50:37
couple of guys that were on my level.
2:50:38
Some guys I look like the, you know, the kid from the blind
2:50:40
side when he was driving that redhead D line all the way into
2:50:43
the parking lot. You know what I'm saying?
2:50:44
Because I was going against the guy that came to my belly button
2:50:47
because, you know, you might go against the Phoebus or Oscar
2:50:49
Smith, but then there's a couple of weeks where you're going
2:50:51
against a team that's just terrible.
2:50:53
Like, you know, playing, playing Gloucester.
2:50:55
Gloucester was horrible. Like I knew I wasn't going to
2:50:58
play like into the first half because I was like, man, these
2:51:01
guys are terrible. And they weren't bad kids.
2:51:03
They were just not on our level. So, you know, just because
2:51:06
you're really dominant in high school, what whatever states you
2:51:09
play in, it's the verbiage and understanding the fronts and
2:51:12
knowing how you might see one front before the the the ball is
2:51:16
stepped and they may switch. So like that transition is hard.
2:51:21
And then if you don't know the offense, the offense and the
2:51:23
verbiage, like, you know, identifying the mic and there
2:51:26
are very few high schools. And I mean, of course schools
2:51:28
like IMG and I'm sure Billy played or seen some schools like
2:51:31
that up in Jersey, but not every school in high school.
2:51:36
Virginia, DC, Maryland are like, oh, okay, I need you Mike to
2:51:40
identify the Mike linebacker. I need you tell me, where's the
2:51:43
wheel? Like, you know, it's like block
2:51:45
the guy in front of you, you know, like bro, like you know,
2:51:49
then you get the tech or whatever.
2:51:50
Maryland, you hear whatever you like.
2:51:52
Hey, son, where's the wheel? You know what I'm saying?
2:51:55
Like head up, like even blocking with your head up.
2:51:57
It's small things like, and that's why I love like we got a
2:52:00
kid I love up here. Coming to check he's at Forest
2:52:03
Park. I just interviewed him on
2:52:04
Princeton County media day. He looks, he's a great looking
2:52:07
lineman. He's good.
2:52:08
But I told him, I said, hey, you got to get in the habit of
2:52:11
studying film. You got to get in the habit of
2:52:13
conditioning because Billy knows this, especially when Mike
2:52:15
Gentry was there. We conditioned like receivers.
2:52:19
We did condition. You think I'm tripping?
2:52:22
We we, we conditioned bro. And that's another thing.
2:52:26
But anyway, I don't want to take up too much.
2:52:27
I just know that the old line is always one of those spots where
2:52:31
you know, everyone's not going to have a Georgia or an Alabama.
2:52:34
I always tweet, you know, look at the line like Georgia has.
2:52:37
They make everything look good. But if you can get some guys
2:52:40
that play as one in their physical, you're going to have
2:52:42
you're going to have a lot more wins and losses. 100% let me go
2:52:46
into this because so much of what y'all three are talking
2:52:50
about is culture and announced very early and it probably was
2:52:54
in the motion months ago. Was the on field roles now for
2:52:59
guys like Adibi, for Brent Davis going to be able to effectively
2:53:02
now work with the offensive line and have a voice?
2:53:06
How big is that? Because we're making the point
2:53:09
about the continuity, right? Everybody who got named to
2:53:12
effectively associates with the exception of Cam Phillips had
2:53:16
been in there. How big is that?
2:53:18
Is the culture is going to continue to get preached?
2:53:21
Billy, I'll let you go with this one because, because, because
2:53:24
it's your former teammates on there, right?
2:53:27
Yeah, I mean, not Winslow, but Cam, I mean Cam, Cam, Cam is one
2:53:33
of the is, is one of the best wide receivers to ever play at
2:53:36
Tech. And his ability and his age to
2:53:39
connect with these kids. Like when I've talked to Tucker
2:53:43
or some of these other guys about his impact, it's not just
2:53:46
his knowledge of the game, it's his knowledge of being in their
2:53:49
shoes and going through what they're going through.
2:53:52
And I think that that plays a huge role.
2:53:54
At the end of the day, if you have AI don't mean to be Aegis
2:53:57
here, but if you have a staff that is compiled of, you know,
2:54:00
4050 sixty year old men, there's not a whole lot they're going to
2:54:04
be able to talk to and relate to with players on their team.
2:54:07
And the fact that you have a a Winslow and a Cam Phillips and
2:54:10
guys who have gone through this and been there before, that
2:54:13
makes a huge difference. And then on the flip side, you
2:54:16
know, I'm not, I'm not advocating for too many cooks in
2:54:18
the kitchen here, but you know, like, there's no way other way
2:54:22
to slice it. Coach Kill had an effect on
2:54:24
Virginia Tech's offense in 2019. That was another brain that was
2:54:28
able to sit in the meeting rooms, breakdown what was going
2:54:30
on on offense and be able to bring a different recipe to the
2:54:35
table, a different opinion to the table and kind of look at
2:54:38
things for what they are. So I think, look, it's huge.
2:54:42
And I love that coach prize leading into having former
2:54:45
players on this staff. I love that former players want
2:54:48
to come back and be a part of this staff as well.
2:54:51
It makes a huge difference. And speaking specifically to
2:54:54
guys like Cam and Adibi, having somebody that you can go and not
2:54:59
ask necessarily, hey, where do I go on, you know, 49 wing, snap,
2:55:04
whatever. Having a guy that you can go and
2:55:06
ask him about his experience and his time at tech and how he
2:55:10
handled different things in his day-to-day, I think that makes a
2:55:12
huge difference. And I love like this isn't
2:55:14
broadcast because he's not that kind of guy at all.
2:55:17
Isaiah Ford's been back to tech a bunch of times mentoring the
2:55:21
guys, talking to him, helping him out.
2:55:24
He's prioritized getting back and they've prioritized asking
2:55:27
him to come back and work with these wide receivers.
2:55:30
And I think that that's fantastic that his opinion is
2:55:34
being sought after and he's interested in coming back and
2:55:36
and doing that. So shout out to Isaiah.
2:55:41
Yeah, I think the staff has done a really good job of leaning on
2:55:45
their alumni, like leaning on the football alumni a lot more
2:55:48
than I think we are used to. And and that's not just a knock
2:55:52
on on Fuente, because I feel like even going back to the
2:55:56
latter days of Bieber's time, there wasn't quite as much of
2:56:01
that as you would have liked. And I love seeing that aspect
2:56:04
kind of coming back into the Blacksburg culture and the hokey
2:56:08
culture. It's probably easier.
2:56:10
It's probably easier to to do that when it's not.
2:56:14
I'm trying to think of what it would be like if, you know, a
2:56:17
camera Isaiah were to come back with the same staff that was
2:56:20
here, right? Like the fact that there's a
2:56:22
disconnect and there's a new group that you're getting
2:56:24
familiar with and it's not Isaiah going back.
2:56:27
And then the coaching staff has familiarity with Isaiah from
2:56:29
when he was a 16 year old boy growing up in Florida.
2:56:33
They're coming out and they're looking at this as an
2:56:35
opportunity to grow in coaching and grow in that field.
2:56:38
And it's not just going back to where you started with the same
2:56:41
faces and the same familiarity and the same situation.
2:56:45
You're joining a new staff, bringing your opinions from your
2:56:49
time and your experience with a different staff and a completely
2:56:51
different setup, and then applying that to what they're
2:56:53
building now. So I think there's a stark
2:56:55
difference there too. Yeah, that's a great point.
2:56:59
I think that's a great point. B, When you talk about even in
2:57:04
the Beamer ladder years, you know, I remember when I was
2:57:07
there, you know, you could tell it was time for Coach Kavanaugh
2:57:10
and a lot of those guys to to retire.
2:57:12
But I think when I look at some of the struggles bringing in
2:57:17
guys like Leffler, Leffler is a good OC, but you got to think
2:57:22
about the backs we had with JC Coleman, Sean McKenzie, and
2:57:26
Marshawn Williams from Phoebus. And there's another guy I'm
2:57:29
forgetting. We had a lot of backs, right?
2:57:32
But I felt like, because I used to do the pregame show with Kyle
2:57:35
Belly during that time. So I was there and we went on
2:57:37
before Bill Roth and MM Burnup. And then we did the postgame and
2:57:41
then we went in the depressor. And I could tell at that time
2:57:45
that I used to tell Kyle, I said we got to get some young blood
2:57:48
up in here, man, because it was like basically a lot of older
2:57:52
gentlemen that really can, you know, even though Beamer was
2:57:55
dancing and had his hat to the back and was doing, you know,
2:57:57
the surf and all of that, the rest of the coaching staff, a
2:58:01
lot of our methods became antiquated and outdated.
2:58:03
You heard but Foster talk about that when Fuente got hired, when
2:58:06
Fuente came in and was like, we got to change our recruiting
2:58:09
pitch with the letters because Foster had said we were using
2:58:13
the same graphics from the 90s, you know what I'm saying?
2:58:16
So having guys like Cam and them in the locker room and you know,
2:58:19
guys that recently did it in the NFL or XYFL, also being able to
2:58:24
speak their language, understand the music they're listening to,
2:58:27
it's huge. That's why I feel it's a good
2:58:28
balance because the coaching staff is not also, they're not
2:58:32
they're older, but they're still not out of touch.
2:58:34
Like it's just, it's a good balance.
2:58:36
And culture is one of those things I've been saying, you
2:58:39
know, you heard how probably between me and Brendan Hill, we
2:58:42
probably said that word 1000 times on X because that's what I
2:58:47
saw in the later years of Beamer.
2:58:49
And then when Fuente, after his first three years, they were
2:58:51
real successful. I felt like the brand took a
2:58:54
major hit. I was listening to Suns this
2:58:56
Saturday one time and I'm glad Billy said that because if they
2:58:58
had a call and I would have called in and say it, Billy said
2:59:01
listen guys, he told him. He said, I'm sorry to inform you
2:59:04
guys, but Virginia Tech is not the school y'all think it is
2:59:07
anymore. Our brand is trash.
2:59:09
And I kept trying to tell people that because if you remember, we
2:59:13
missed out on Desean Han, who had us number one.
2:59:17
I I took him. He's not even take him.
2:59:19
He's following me At Virginia Tech on his first visit, he met
2:59:21
Tyrod Taylor and Cam Chancellor. We were number one.
2:59:24
We dropped the five. He went to Alabama.
2:59:26
Josh Sweat went to Alabama. I mean, Florida State, all
2:59:30
right, Florida State, we were his number one.
2:59:32
Stein Spring had them. We finished number two behind
2:59:34
Florida State. Kevin Ford, Ricky Slade, junior,
2:59:37
top five players in the nation, top five backs chose Penn State,
2:59:41
both of them, even though one of them was already there.
2:59:44
We kept finishing the second. This Derek Noddy, who plays in
2:59:46
the NFL was a big time because of lineman in the 757 chose what
2:59:52
you call it Florida State as well.
2:59:54
So we lost that edge. Our brand was so bad because the
2:59:57
coach red tech was outdated and antiquated.
3:00:00
The Beamer ball thing was great. That lunch pail was still
3:00:04
impactful, but it was almost like, yeah, you guys have the
3:00:07
history, but you're going 6 and six and and kids.
3:00:12
Kids are not kids these days, probably.
3:00:16
They know who Michael Vick is. They didn't grow up watching
3:00:19
Michael Vick. Like you can only retweet these
3:00:22
videos for so long and it's almost like today you're not
3:00:26
going up to people in Chicago and saying, man, you're a Bulls
3:00:29
fan like Michael Jordan. Like they don't know they did.
3:00:32
They didn't live through Michael Jordan.
3:00:33
They don't know what Michael Jordan is.
3:00:34
They know Lonzo Ball and finishing as a lottery team for
3:00:38
the last 20 years and having no playoff success outside of the
3:00:41
blip of Derek Derrick Rose. The coaches that are able to
3:00:45
keep up with the times. And I said coaches.
3:00:48
I really just mean coach Nick Saban is the only guy in my
3:00:53
opinion, who did this perfectly. He at the exact right time,
3:00:57
realized defense is not going, defense alone is not going to
3:01:01
win the national championships. And he went out and he got the
3:01:04
best offensive coordinator that was available every single
3:01:06
cycle, prioritize the fast-paced offense and prioritized new
3:01:11
offensive schemes. And that is why he had his first
3:01:15
dynasty. And he had his second dynasty
3:01:17
because he wasn't headstrong and was able to adjust as the game
3:01:21
adjusted. Nick Saban back in 2006 probably
3:01:24
wasn't taking pictures and Lamborghinis and driving guys
3:01:28
down to what whatever version of in and out they have in
3:01:31
Tuscaloosa. But he played the game a little
3:01:33
bit and we're going to see if Dabo Sweeney did.
3:01:36
Spotlight on him. Right now, is he going to
3:01:39
crystals, is he going to be able or jack-in-the-box, is he going
3:01:42
to be able to make those adjustments the same way that a
3:01:46
Nick Saban did before? So jury's out on that.
3:01:51
Nick Saban, he was a Nick Saban was yeah, he he he was, he was
3:01:54
different along with that offense.
3:01:57
I mean, yeah, along with him changing that offense.
3:01:59
You was used to him having those big old defensive lineman like
3:02:03
Terence Cody. And he realized I can't win like
3:02:06
that no more. I'm going to change that up.
3:02:08
And he started getting lineman. He started getting lineman that
3:02:12
were big, but they ran fast as well.
3:02:14
So Nick was just a little bit ahead of his time most of the
3:02:17
time. But Dwight was hitting on a
3:02:19
couple of things. We've hit on a lot of stuff
3:02:21
tonight. I do want to hit this question,
3:02:23
though, to kind of go along with like Dwight was saying about our
3:02:28
brand and like Billy, I said, so this statement, the Hokies are
3:02:33
back. You know a lot of people have
3:02:35
been throwing it around thinking it when will when will you see
3:02:40
an example or blank? What happens when you know the
3:02:45
Hokies are back? Oh, man, who started that?
3:02:48
Who started that statement, man? Who everybody, everybody
3:02:50
started. Let me tell you.
3:02:51
Let me tell you, let me tell you when I when I will say the
3:02:54
Hokies are back despite the winnings and things like that.
3:02:58
This is when I would think the Hokies are back.
3:03:01
When our social media team takes a look and goes Michael Vick,
3:03:08
you could pick five quarterbacks or you can pick 10 quarterbacks
3:03:12
and you can do it during Black Black History Month.
3:03:14
You can go Michael Vick all the way up to Kyron drones and you
3:03:18
just do 2 clips of them and say this is Virginia Tech.
3:03:22
That's how I know we back. That's what Virginia Tech is.
3:03:25
Even when you think I don't care if they're black or white.
3:03:28
But when you think about quarterbacks and mobile
3:03:31
quarterbacks across the nation, you think about Virginia Tech
3:03:35
and the way that they play football, when they start
3:03:38
tapping into that and when we see that Virginia takes back,
3:03:43
I'm so. Glad.
3:03:45
I'm so glad you brought this up because I wasn't going to bring
3:03:47
it up. But my good friend John Robinson
3:03:51
from New Jersey grew up in Englewood.
3:03:53
He called me up and he goes, hey, I'm watching.
3:03:57
John Robinson is an African American from Englewood, and he
3:03:59
says, hey, I'm looking at all this hokey hype and I think I'm
3:04:04
buying in. And I said, well, what's the
3:04:07
difference now? I mean, Miami's got a bunch of
3:04:08
hype and all these other teams got a bunch of hype.
3:04:10
And he says, I mean, to be honest, I looked at your roster
3:04:14
and behind quarterback, you don't have a Colton, you don't
3:04:17
have a Todd, you don't have a Henry.
3:04:21
You have a tyrant lined up behind behind center.
3:04:24
You know who has those? You know who has those names
3:04:26
now? Clemson.
3:04:29
Clemson has the K and the Chads and the the offensive lineman
3:04:35
names. I don't see the Tajas in the in
3:04:37
the in, the in, the in the Kwan's and in in in.
3:04:43
In, in, in all seriousness, like the I, I think, I think to
3:04:49
answer your question and tie this back into it, I think it's
3:04:51
a couple things for me. It's playing meaningful football
3:04:54
in November. We talk about this on our show
3:04:56
all the time. Playing meaningful football in
3:04:57
November is something that Virginia Tech prided itself on
3:04:59
doing for over a decade. I think that's huge #2 home
3:05:04
field and Virginia Tech is more than just an entrance.
3:05:07
Like I say this a ton. I got a ton of Flack after the
3:05:11
West Virginia game where my dad texted me after the West
3:05:15
Virginia game and he said you guys should stop doing Enter
3:05:17
Sandman. Now, obviously, he was being a
3:05:19
little facetious here, but he said it's just got to get old
3:05:23
watching you guys do this incredible thing and then come
3:05:27
out and it doesn't live up to that expectation when when that
3:05:30
is not the first thing And the only thing that people associate
3:05:34
with Virginia Tech is you better TuneIn for the 1st 90 seconds.
3:05:38
That's going to be huge. It's going to be awesome.
3:05:41
And then lastly, and I want to credit this to Kyron, it's
3:05:44
playing with the swagger. It's playing with I'm not the
3:05:48
nail, I'm the hammer. And Virginia Tech was not doing
3:05:51
that in the first half of last season.
3:05:53
And the most pivotal moment in Virginia Tech under this era was
3:05:59
when Kyron threw that first touchdown against Pittsburgh and
3:06:02
he went down the field. And you don't typically love
3:06:04
this. He talked to every single DB
3:06:08
line. He called that shit.
3:06:10
And it and it wasn't necessarily about him, him doing that.
3:06:14
And and it was just necessarily he was putting, he was exuding
3:06:19
the confidence that Virginia Tech has not had for a long
3:06:22
time. Because I remember when I went
3:06:23
into that game and I scanned my ticket and I'm talking about
3:06:27
that game going into it, this Pittsburgh game, I'm like, this
3:06:29
has an opportunity to be a devastating night in Lane
3:06:34
Stadium. If we go out here and we lose to
3:06:36
Pittsburgh and we're one in three, one and four, like
3:06:41
everybody's in trouble. That week of Twitter, that week
3:06:43
of in the athletic department everywhere would have been a
3:06:46
disaster. And his ability to come in as a
3:06:50
starter in that position and exude so much confidence.
3:06:53
And we've all seen the video of the Oklahoma State quarterback
3:06:56
when he got in the game and his hands were shaking and he wasn't
3:06:58
ready for the moment. He didn't have that at all.
3:07:01
And he was ready for that moment.
3:07:02
He met that moment, he grew. And he even had that moment
3:07:06
where he had the he had the fumble sack situation where they
3:07:09
turned over and plus territory. But he he didn't blink at all.
3:07:13
And I think, I think when Virginia Tech exudes that
3:07:17
confidence, they are the team that this backward is stupid.
3:07:21
My opinion, I think it's kind of silly because you're never back.
3:07:24
You have to live up to it every single week and every single
3:07:27
year it goes back to the there's no, there's no earned
3:07:30
expectations and there's no earned results.
3:07:34
So you're never back. You are in it and Virginia Tech
3:07:37
is in it. When they had damn, that was
3:07:39
pretty good. I'll actually get myself on the
3:07:41
back. You're never.
3:07:42
Back and. When you got, when you're, when
3:07:45
you're in it, it's you're exuding confidence.
3:07:46
You're playing meaningful football in November.
3:07:48
That's that's my opinion on it. Man, I'm I'm going to say this
3:07:52
Billy took a little bit of my answer, but I'm just I'm going
3:07:54
to take a little bit further. We will be back when we take
3:07:58
care of business and win games we're supposed to, especially on
3:08:00
the road. Virginia Tech's first three
3:08:02
years in the ACC they were Rd. warriors.
3:08:04
David Till did a big article. They were very reminiscing the
3:08:07
Florida State where they came in ACC and O four.
3:08:09
They won every rogue in the first three years in the ACC.
3:08:12
They were 16 and one on the road.
3:08:14
They won a critical game against Miami and O 4 to win the ACC
3:08:18
outrage. They beat UNC that year at UNC,
3:08:20
Mike Emo ran for 204 yards. They also won other games on the
3:08:26
road, including into a solid Wake Forest team like they were
3:08:28
wrote. They had another game that
3:08:30
following year in O 5, the inaugural ACC Championship game,
3:08:33
when they played in front of a sold out NC State crowd.
3:08:36
My cousin Marcus and those guys went crazy.
3:08:38
If you remember, he threw the touchdown and they went in the
3:08:40
end zone. They posed and took the
3:08:41
pictures. They had attitude.
3:08:43
People don't realize. Again, just a historical
3:08:45
perspective. The ACC did not want Tech in
3:08:48
there because we were known as goons.
3:08:50
We were assholes. Roniel Whitaker, Jimmy Williams.
3:08:54
We had an attitude. We were very physical.
3:08:56
Pop in the Wake Forest game. When Wake Forest won the ACC
3:08:59
that year, we were ranked and they were ranked.
3:09:01
We went down there and beat them 27 to six.
3:09:03
That's the hit. When Aaron Ralph's pop dude, DV
3:09:07
picked up the ball, didn't realize it was still alive, and
3:09:09
he kept running. We scored.
3:09:10
We we smacked everybody. We had a tough loss that year.
3:09:13
So subsequently Georgia Tech and wait for us play for the ACC
3:09:17
that year. But we had an attitude when we
3:09:19
were Rd. Warriors, like we can't say we
3:09:21
back and then go to Vanderbilt and we're going to the fourth
3:09:24
quarter. Vanderbilt's up 20, Virginia
3:09:26
Tech 9. If that shit's happening, I
3:09:28
don't want to hear that back shit because I mean, at the end
3:09:31
of the day, the same people saying we're back, we'll be in a
3:09:33
Twitter space with all of us talking about man, probably got
3:09:36
to go, man, he got to go. He got to that's what's going to
3:09:39
happen. So Virginia Tech, that whole
3:09:42
we're back. If we're if we're back, it's
3:09:44
because the brand is matching the expectations.
3:09:49
One thing about us, we got the nickname, which I hate, but I
3:09:51
get it, the chokies, because we had expectations and we would be
3:09:55
in these big games or we would be ranked top five, top ten and
3:09:58
we couldn't finish it. That tough loss to Boston
3:10:01
College, the Matt Ryan, Matt Ryan game.
3:10:04
I told people I did a radio show every Thursday morning in my
3:10:07
morning segment. I told Big Dog sports radio
3:10:10
Rick, I said Rick Watson, the next step for me is I sent this
3:10:14
to tally on his Twitter space is when pro starts getting those
3:10:19
Mount Rushmore recruits like Beamer did, the Kevin Jones is
3:10:23
the Michael Vicks when you start.
3:10:24
And I don't really want to use Mount Rushmore because it's not
3:10:26
enough heads, but you know what I mean, a game changer.
3:10:28
And I said in that Twitter space, Yep, I'm going to call
3:10:31
it. I said Kyron Jones looks like
3:10:34
that first recruit, right? That's going to take the game to
3:10:36
the next level. So you're you know, one thing
3:10:38
I've realized that over the decades that Virginia Tech was
3:10:41
relevant is that, like Billy said, we were playing meaningful
3:10:44
ball in November. We also had players that were
3:10:48
very physical, that had attitudes.
3:10:49
They're all tapped, those guys, you know, Whyatella, you know,
3:10:52
just taking people down field and, you know, even though
3:10:55
sometimes he's a bit extra, I loved it.
3:10:56
We had an attitude. Virginia Tech just used to be
3:10:59
very tough and we won games on the road because we came in your
3:11:03
house and we took it to you. Our fans always showed up and we
3:11:06
used to match that energy. So like Vanderbilt and Rutgers
3:11:10
in those games. I personally think Rutgers.
3:11:12
I was watching the segment before I jumped on everybody,
3:11:14
like Rutgers this, Rutgers that. If Virginia Tech plays that
3:11:17
game, they should beat Rutgers by three scores.
3:11:21
I don't know why this height. Did y'all see what Rutgers did?
3:11:23
Rutgers beat us for throwing only 35 yards last year.
3:11:26
You know what happened against Rutgers?
3:11:27
We did not match. Their energy on the O line and D
3:11:31
line. We didn't match.
3:11:32
It wasn't like they did anything special.
3:11:34
If we start them on 4th and one, we get the ball back, but our
3:11:36
linebackers got they got crushed and that's the part about making
3:11:40
the play. I don't want to name every
3:11:42
household lineback in Virginia Tech football history, but when
3:11:45
you hear about Virginia Tech being back and the attitude, the
3:11:48
chip, it was a mindset they had. It didn't matter when you lost
3:11:52
these three players. The next three players came in
3:11:54
that Gator Bowl. When I mentioned Jimmy Williams,
3:11:56
he got suspended because he pushed the referee.
3:11:59
What people don't realize is Brandon Flowers and Eric Green
3:12:01
held it down that game. They, you know, 'cause you
3:12:03
didn't miss a beat when Jimmy Williams went out.
3:12:06
And that's the part about depth and attitude and the chip on
3:12:08
your shoulders. I, I, I, I think like the
3:12:12
statement I said about Rutgers. That sounds crazy.
3:12:13
It's not in the, I'm not thinking it's the Rutgers of
3:12:15
old. I'm just saying, like, to me,
3:12:17
it's the same thing with OD. If we go down and play them on
3:12:19
my birthday and we're in a dogfight in the third quarter, I
3:12:23
got a lot of questions. I got a lot of questions.
3:12:26
I'm going to have some serious concerns.
3:12:28
I might not even get into Twitter Space if we struggling
3:12:30
with them because it's it's not about disrespecting them.
3:12:33
It's just where we should be. The, the one thing I'll say
3:12:37
about Rutgers is the area that I don't want to say it concerns
3:12:42
me, but the area that I'm most interested in is two things.
3:12:46
Greg Schiano is a ball coach. He is a fantastic ball coach.
3:12:49
He's going to have a great scheme.
3:12:50
When you come into come into that game and #2 we're going to
3:12:53
learn so much about our team because what I can hang my hat
3:12:56
on with Rutgers is they're going to compete up front.
3:12:59
If you go back and you turn the film on, when they played Ohio
3:13:02
State, I believe this game was at Rutgers, but they played Ohio
3:13:05
State. They were in that ball game up
3:13:06
until the fourth quarter. So I agree with you, Dwight, if
3:13:09
we play our game and play up to our potential, we should win
3:13:13
almost if not every single game on our schedule.
3:13:15
Like that is just that is just the truth.
3:13:17
That is not how college football usually pans out.
3:13:20
But I, I agree with everything that you said.
3:13:22
It is that it is that attitude and that expectation that we're
3:13:26
not just coming to show up to win the game.
3:13:28
We're coming here to wear your ass out for four quarters.
3:13:31
A physical brand of football that nobody wants to play
3:13:34
against with you and is rare, extremely rare in the twenty 20s
3:13:38
and 20 tens. Not a lot of teams do that
3:13:39
anymore. No, and I'll say this with the
3:13:41
ruckus thing. The reason I'm more confident
3:13:43
against Rutgers is we have them at home.
3:13:45
The one thing and and Curtis and Brian and Tally talk about this
3:13:49
last year on their part. We finally got back to taking
3:13:52
care minus the NC State loss and the Purdue loss where we played
3:13:55
six hours later. We finally look like Virginia
3:13:58
Tech of the old at home in Lane State.
3:13:59
We we, we, we know what to do at Lane.
3:14:02
So Rutgers is coming to Lane where I feel really good.
3:14:05
If we had to go up there again because they, they were like, I
3:14:07
believe it was a sold out crowd. They had the the the Red Rocket,
3:14:12
Rutgers has had has a talent. You're right about coach Craig.
3:14:15
But I just feel like when you are a ball control offense and
3:14:19
you know they're going to run it on 3rd and five and you know, if
3:14:21
you have the D line and linebackers that JC talked
3:14:23
about, we got to be able to take those teams and get a block,
3:14:27
punt or get a turnover fumble and get up.
3:14:29
You know, it's it's not always going to be on the offense.
3:14:31
But I feel like like with Shelton talked about the weapons
3:14:34
we have on offense, we didn't use that.
3:14:36
We didn't use them against Rutgers last year.
3:14:38
We were out there just kind of running Chiron all over the
3:14:40
place anyway. We'll see.
3:14:42
That's the beauty of this, right?
3:14:43
We'll see in about what, a few more weeks?
3:14:46
More weeks we'll. Get to see what they do.
3:14:49
I'm excited. I'm excited that that's what's
3:14:51
when I kind of circled because to Billy's point, you're going
3:14:55
to get four quarters with Rutgers.
3:14:58
They're they're, they're not going to back down.
3:15:00
They're they're going to be well coached.
3:15:01
They're going to be prepared and you're going to have to go out
3:15:05
there and earn it. Now, I think if you if you just
3:15:07
look at the guys, I think we got the guys and to Dwight's point,
3:15:13
you got the lane, lane advantage and and prize shown that he can
3:15:18
take care of home. So it's that's going to be an
3:15:21
interesting game. And I think he kind of sets up
3:15:23
that nightmare run that we have with Miami on the road and then
3:15:27
going out West of Stanford. So it's going to be interesting
3:15:30
to see how we play in that game and how that sets the tone for
3:15:33
those next two as well. I think, I think Rutgers is.
3:15:37
The is the same. Sorry, Billy.
3:15:38
I was going to say I looked it up.
3:15:39
Last year, Rutgers was seven to six like us.
3:15:41
They were one in four on the road.
3:15:43
That's why I said that. One in four on the road.
3:15:45
That's why I said that. Yeah, I think, I think Rutgers
3:15:47
also is a has a little bit of a problem with an unfortunate name
3:15:51
because if if you're not nobody on this call, but a lot of
3:15:54
people are like we're playing Rutgers Week 3 at home.
3:15:57
Is Rutgers has that name that kind of rolls off for your
3:16:00
tongue where you're like Rutgers, who is Rutgers.
3:16:02
I'm just telling you, Rutgers coach Puck Greg Schiano, they
3:16:04
have a good defensive line, a good offensive line.
3:16:07
I'll be honest, I would feel a lot worse about this game if
3:16:10
Winset was still the quarterback.
3:16:11
You're damn right if Winset was still their quarterback would
3:16:15
not feel as good. Would we?
3:16:16
I mean, he couldn't, he couldn't hit the broad side of a barn if
3:16:18
he. Was.
3:16:20
Running all over. Him and that him and.
3:16:25
I'll, I'll take and I'll take Dorian out there covering those
3:16:30
those wide receivers against whatever wimps that could do on
3:16:32
3rd down and long and just run for scrambling for first downs.
3:16:36
He kept running. He kept running on us, that's
3:16:38
what I'm saying. They went they went 27 for 220
3:16:42
those two last year, they both broke 100 in that game, in that
3:16:46
game. And the one the big back was the
3:16:48
4th and one Dwight that you basically said we got wiped out.
3:16:51
But I'm I'm, I'm we're going to wrap it up here.
3:16:54
But you know, we kept saying when are we back?
3:16:56
When are we back? We're going to be back.
3:16:58
If it's a year from now is it's the expectation.
3:17:02
It's that expectation we want every year we want.
3:17:05
You said it, You gave a great monologue earlier.
3:17:07
We want to be good. We want that expectation.
3:17:10
We want to win every year. And if that's when it's going to
3:17:13
become, that's what it was. I'm a fan of 29 years now.
3:17:18
Jesus Christ. I'm old.
3:17:19
Not as old as Dwight, but still not as old as Dwight.
3:17:24
You got to get it. But for but for the better part
3:17:27
of my life for 20 years, it was we're a top ten team.
3:17:31
We can go make a national title run.
3:17:33
We can win the ACC, we can win the biggies.
3:17:35
We can do these things. When you start saying that
3:17:39
again, every time you think of Virginia Tech football, that's
3:17:43
when you're back. Because it's no wonder what,
3:17:45
what can we do this year? Snow?
3:17:46
This is what we're going to do this year.
3:17:48
That's, that's what I was going to say with Virginia Tech's back
3:17:52
when the six of us have to sit here and shut up about, all
3:17:57
right, which game on his schedule is going to cause us a
3:17:59
problem? Six of us are sitting here
3:18:03
going, all right, who the hell is after that?
3:18:05
Because we really don't care. We don't care who we're going to
3:18:08
go after. Yep.
3:18:09
Who's next? Well, Dwight, Billy, Robbie, we
3:18:14
really appreciate y'all joining us and that.
3:18:16
Is thank you guys, man. Thank you.
3:18:18
This is this is a great production every year.
3:18:20
You guys do a great job, seriously.
3:18:22
And to everybody here, to Dwight, Billy Ray, Robbie, Pete
3:18:29
B, Danny notes Mike McDaniels. Even he couldn't be with us
3:18:32
tonight. David Cunningham, Jeremy, Dan
3:18:35
Grayson, Don V, my fellow compadres here, Brian Talley,
3:18:40
y'all we, we put Sheldon the bed, he says, y'all, I'm done,
3:18:43
I'm done. Check out if you're listening
3:18:46
right now, check out all of their content.
3:18:50
Check Vt, check Victory Lifeout, check Sun's a Saturday out.
3:18:55
Robbie's coaching. If you're down in the North, if
3:18:57
you're down in North Carolina and you see North Wilkesboro
3:18:59
Vikings playing, go check him out on the sidelines this year.
3:19:02
It may not be real pretty. Well, yeah, that's we'll give.
3:19:06
It all we got baby. But I'm going to say this.
3:19:08
We are brought to you by the Main Street Pharmacy in
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Blacksburg. I'm Curtis Wilson.
3:19:12
Brian Siegler. Jonathan Tally.
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