Tech Talk Live Notes, Aug. 25: Virginia Tech Football Coach Brent Pry

On Thursday night, Virginia Tech head coach Brent Pry joined Zach Mackey and Mike Burnop on Tech Talk Live at McClains at First & Main. The trio discussed the upcoming game against Old Dominion, team captains, Pry’s additions to the staff, and other topics of Pry’s first year as a head coach.

This season, Tech Talk Live will air on Thursdays at 7 p.m. ET across the Virginia Tech Sports Network. On weeks with conflicts, such as the game vs. Old Dominion on Sept. 2 and vs. West Virginia on Sept. 22, the show will air on Wednesday.

Brent Pry

How was the first fall camp here at Virginia Tech?

Yeah, it was a good camp. We built that thing in four phases and [this week] was our fourth phase. We had a list of things that we needed to accomplish as a team that they were aware of, and we worked at that every day. It was a good camp. The staff, the student assistants that are in up in the upper deck here, thank you all. We couldn’t have done it without them. That crew has been unbelievable, and when I say it takes all of us, I mean it, and those guys and gals have been very valuable to what we’re doing.

Takeaways from fall camp:

We’ve been efficient. We’ve grown, we’ve developed every day, there’s been improvement, and I saw it. The camp was good, it’s supposed to be tough. I wanted it to be tougher than what games will be and hopefully we accomplished that. This week now we’re in is a little bit of a lull. It’s not game week, but you’re out at camp, the guys are in school. So, we went ahead, worked on Old Dominion and got some things going, cleaned up some things that were leftover and some house organization things trying to get ready for pregame and kind of what the wrap up looks like. It’s been good.

What were your takeaways from the last big scrimmage?

Yeah, that was grueling. We wanted to make that sucker tough and we went about 95 plays. Special teams, offense, defense and kept it live for the most part. A lot of situations: red zone, third down, fourth down, four-minute, two-minute, we did it all. The guys really responded. They pushed through. There was some adversity that we got to coach them through a little bit better. It was very valuable. It was what we hoped for out of that last scrimmage, and we came out of it most importantly healthy. We didn’t lose anybody out of that scrimmage, so that was really good.

On dealing with penalty frustrations in the scrimmage:

To me, it was being in the stadium, under the lights. We went at night to simulate the night atmosphere and [the players] were heated, they were competing, which I love. But when some tough things hit how they responded. That’s what we got to learn from, and that’s coaches and players. We’ve got to do better there. I’m thankful that it happened, that first group on defense hadn’t been tested a whole lot. You know, not in that situation in the stadium.

We had a few guys that we were sitting out that night and just to have the chance to work through something like that and coach them up on how we’re going to handle things and the communication, the poise and composure, where that thing doesn’t just become unraveled. You guys have all been around games where all of a sudden that becomes a big part of it. We can control that, and the things we can control, we’re going to do that. It was good learning opportunity.

Did you feel a little more juice out of the coaches and players under the big lights of Lane Stadium?

Yeah, they absolutely did. I don’t know about the coaches, but the players felt it, and that’s why you go in there and do it. You know, it’s one thing to go in the afternoon, but under lights, the returners and everything that happens, when you come down that tunnel, the guys get excited and you tell them, “listen, this is a big evaluation night for a lot of guys, whether you’re trying to be the starter, be a backup, or make the bus. The pressure is on.”

Does seeing less turnovers frustrate you from a defensive coordinator standpoint or do you love that they’re taking care of the ball on the offensive side?

I’m very pleased with the way the quarterbacks are handling the football. I think our ball security been very solid through camp. You know, we do have to contest for more balls defensively. That’s been a point of emphasis. We can’t concede a catch. Every ball that’s thrown, we’ve got to have a chance to contest the catch and get it out. We’ve got to do a little bit better job at that, but the quarterbacks [are] placing the ball very well right now.

Has anyone turned the lights on when it’s scrimmage time? Any players you’ve seen a little bit more out of?

I hope not because if they’re not giving me that in practice then we got a problem. I don’t believe in gamers. Yeah, the emotions run high. Practice has to be at a high level, particularly when we cross the field and go against the offense or the offense goes against the defense. I think that’s a little bit of a cliché. Everybody’s emotional when they go into stadium and it’s game day, but you’ve got to perform in practice every day. You can’t think that you’re going to go out and practice just okay, or at a mediocre level, and then go turn it on Saturday. It doesn’t work that way.

Matt Johnson and Benji Gosnell’s season-ending injuries:

More than anything, you hate it for the guys. They bust their butt and they work so hard to have an injury that ends your season. There’s no outlook for return, that’s tough. I feel for those guys tremendously. They poured so much into it. They’re so invested. Two guys, some of our best workers, really committed, just eager and hungry every day. It’s going to impact our team in different ways. It’s tough on them and I feel for them but obviously, you know, it forces us as a staff to make some adjustments and think about some things without them guys.

How is the game plan coming up for Old Dominion?

The staff’s done a great job doing its prep. The GAs and the analysts, we’ve added a bunch of analysts in the offseason, those guys spend all summer looking ahead. We don’t let anybody else do that. The analysts and the grad assistants, they have to go ahead and start breaking down games, vetting the opponent, and doing the analytics so that when it does come to game week, we’re not starting from square one. We’ve already got a bunch of information.

What makes a good team captain?

First of all, you have to do a nice job educating the team on what really makes up a captain. It’s not a popularity contest. It’s leadership, it’s who rises up in adversity, who’s not afraid to tell you what you need to hear, who does everything they’re supposed to do and who can represent everybody. You know, it’s not just representing the guys that do everything, right. It’s representing everybody on the team from number one to 120.

What goes into the captain selection process?

The entire team votes. They had two votes for offense, two votes for defensive, and a vote for special teams. Then the staff votes. That’s just a piece of the information. It’s also your academics, it’s your track record from a character standpoint, it’s what you’ve done in practice, it’s your production, it’s everything. The team did a great job voting these guys in. We didn’t have to alter anything or steer anything as the staff.

Choosing seven captains:

The votes were strong, and when the votes are strong, go ahead; let’s get seven instead of four or five. When the votes say, “hey, these guys have the respect of the team, and they have a voice,” then let’s do it. The more leadership, the better.

The seven captains – Dax Hollifield, Norell Pollard, Chamarri Conner, Silas Dzansi, Kaleb Smith, Grant Wells, and Peter Moore:

Dax Hollifield has all the intangibles, he’s a vocal guy. Norell Pollard plays the game the way it’s supposed to be played; he’s got an edge to him. He’s got some dog in him, but he’s also one of our best workers, and he’s tough physically and mentally. Chamarri Conner, coming out of camp, if you had to name an MVP out of our preseason camp on defense, it would be Chamarri. Doesn’t matter if he’s at safety or nickel or wherever he is in the package, he’s a student in the game. He does everything right. He’s maybe our best worker, but also an experienced guy.

Offensively, Silas has done an unbelievable job. A guy that when I got here had one foot out the door. You talk about buying in, being coachable, being tough, and practicing through injury, everything that you want to see from a guy like that. He’s got unbelievable talent and he’s doing everything he needs to, and his votes from the football team were off the charts. It was great to see him get the captain nod. Kaleb Smith is a guy that just works and works and works. I think it’s one of those things where people want to talk about other guys, but this guy just keeps getting it done. He makes the catches, he makes the plays. He’s one of our best workers, really knowledgeable, got a great head on his shoulders.

It was awesome to see Grant get the votes that he got. As I mentioned, Grant and Jason [Brown] both have lot of respect from our football team. Grant had a ton of votes for captain, which really told us a lot. And as you mentioned, Peter Moore is just a sophomore, but he’s been in a lot of battles and really performed. He’s done that in the spring, he’s done that in the summer, he’s done that in camp. That was that was by far unanimous, and as a specialist it was great to see those. I’m excited about our seven captains. They’re going to meet with me once a week. We’re going to have high-level conversations about our football team and I feel great about that group walking in my office.

Dax Hollifield and Alan Tisdale being named to the Senior Bowl watch list:

I’m all about whatever accolades guys can get, but they will tell you and I will tell you, that preseason doesn’t carry a lot of weight with me. I want to see what you do in the season. It’s great notoriety and all that, it’s awesome, but we can’t be worried about that right now. We’ve got too much to do individually, as a unit, as a team. Preseason doesn’t mean anything if you don’t go do it.

How concerned are you about the gap between the starters and second team?

We’re going to constantly be building depth. Development at depth doesn’t stop when camp ends or when the season starts. You build that depth and develop those young guys the entire season, because you don’t know if it’s week four, six, eight or 10, or even 12, that all of a sudden somebody’s name is going to be called. When you think about build depth, if all of a sudden it’s week 10 and we’re down two corners, and this guy that was third team coming out of camp, but you’ve developed him and coached him and worked on it for 10 weeks, all of a sudden he’s ready to go and he’s a much better player by that point.

How do you decide who to play?

We’re going play the guys that are ready. I believe in playing guys that deserve to play, that you feel like you can win with. We tell them their rep ratio is going to be skewed based on how good we feel about you. We’re not putting somebody out there we don’t feel good about. You earn reps in this program, you earn starting jobs, you earn backup jobs, you earn the right to be in the rotation. Right now, we’ve got a bunch of hungry guys that are vying to get on it field.

After practice, you were talking to the scout team about being here to win every rep, to put the hammer down, to take advantage of opportunities:

Once you get into season mode, those scout team reps are super important for the for the starters on offense, defense, or special teams, and for the guys that are running the scout team. You’re trying to make your way onto the bus, make your way onto special teams, earn your right to play.

If I’m on the scout team and I’m going against Silas and I’ve got a chance to whoop him, why wouldn’t I do that and show these coaches that I can beat Silas on pass rush? That’s the only way you get better. You have to compete with every rep. The minute you come off the gas, nobody gets better. You just stay the same or you get worse, so we’ve got to get our guys doing that, and they did a pretty good job first week out.

What’s the schedule like with classes and practice?

We go out at three o’clock on Wednesdays, 3:30 on Tuesday and Thursday. That’s always the great thing about this week, when you’re not playing a game, but the guys have classes and you have normal practice time. For our group, they were a morning team last fall. There’s been some getting used to, some adjustments, I’m glad we had this week.

We made it a bonus week. We worked regular Tuesday, regular Wednesday. Today was a regular Thursday, just to get these guys ready for what next week’s going to feel like coming off a full day of classes, then going into meetings, then going to practice. It’s an adjustment and they did a nice job and I’m glad we had this week to kind of get them through it.

The tradition of the number 25:

The tradition obviously wasn’t around when I was here the first time. Coach [Beamer] was still coaching the team up, and I think it’s an awesome tradition. I thought long and hard about the best way to continue it and what would mean the most. After talking with Coach [Stu] Holt and with the history of special teams here at Virginia Tech, the emphasis that we’re putting on it, that we want to put on it, this was a statement that 25 is going to be our Special Teams Player of the Week.

That could be a fourth-team guy that’s on punt, punt return, kickoff, kickoff return, and maybe he doesn’t make a glamorous play, but man, he grades out a winner on each team, [he’s] so valuable. Or maybe it’s our punter and he has a heck of a game and a MVP-type performance. I don’t know how much more you could do than recognize the Special Teams Player of the Week by having him wear 25 the following week. We’re excited about that. We’re going to do a little piece each week where that player has a chance to talk about what it means to him. I’m thankful that that’s in place, that we’re able to do that. It’s a great idea.

When will the Special Teams Player of the Week be announced?

We’ll probably announce that on Sunday to our team, but it probably won’t come out publicly till Wednesday or Thursday.

Where do you feel like your special teams are at as a whole?

I think we’re in pretty good shape. We’ve got good competition for our place-kicking job. Our punters, our kickers, our kickoff guys are doing a nice job, our returners, everything looks good in practice. Those areas are one of those things that until you get out there, full group, live under the lights…

We put a lot of time into it. I’ve been places where you talk about emphasizing it and it doesn’t happen. I think our players understand that it’s equal parts offense, defense, and special teams. Coach Holt, to me, is one of the best in the business and he’s done a great job organizing it. The staff has embraced it and we’ve gotten a lot of hours, a lot of time in, and I feel pretty good about where we’re at.

How about your kickoff guy who takes it like a field goal?

I’m not going to sit here and pretend I know all about the kicking dynamics, but he’s got strong legs. He gets his feet in the ground at the right place. He gets all of his lower body into the kick. To be able to do that I was impressed as well. At first, I said, ‘Hey, you know, we can’t do that. I mean, come on.’ He’s done a nice job, and whatever way works, I’m for it. I learned a long time ago you play to these guys instincts, through the strength. When you coach it’s one thing, but when you coach against their instincts and what they really want to do, it’s an uphill battle.

On the support staff:

Kevin [Juszynski] just came straight from the weight room. That’s why they call him juice. He keeps pumped up, does a lot of biceps, triceps. In operations, he keeps Michael Hazel straight. Shawn Quinn, Sam/Nickel coach. We’re in our third stop together, he keeps me straight. Nicknamed bull. He just keeps on coming on, which I love. Stuart Carter, you might see Stuart running across campus, shirtless, shorts way too short, but he gets that run in every day, which I love. He and I were together at Georgia Southern in 2010 and then we were together eight years at Penn State.

Travis Wells, he’s a fan favorite already. He came out and addressed the team at the end of practice and had a quote for them. We do a quote of the day at each team meeting. Maybe John Wooden, maybe Noll. Muhammad Ali. I have one of the guys on the team stand up and read the quote, and then we talk about what it means, what it means to them or to somebody else. Travis came up at the end to practice and had a great quote, “Success Boulevard is always under construction.” Now, he claimed he came up with that quote, I don’t know. It is good quote though, for our football team. Travis is a great addition. Super excited about having him with us.

What do you think right now about where the staff is at and where it needs to get to?

The administration has been awesome. That was from right out the gate when I was hired. We were going to add five or six staff members, we knew that needed to happen. The conversation about the organizational chart and what it needed to look like, James Franklin has done a great job over the years with Mike Hazel building what our organization looked like, so to get Mike Hazel in here and to have the vision for where we needed to go to really support our players.

I’m very proud of the staff and the resources that our football team has to develop and grow as student athletes. Now, we’re not done yet. I mean, after the season, we’re going to push in some other areas as we work through this thing and what’s best for our team. Where do we need more help? Where do we need more assistance to make sure we’re providing for these guys?

How important is the logistics, the behind-the-scenes, being on the sidelines?

The organization, the planning, and the preparation is really important. Not just for the players, but it starts with the staff. If we’re not on the same page or organized, the players feel that. How can we expect that from them, to be where they need to be, and do the things we’re asking them to do if we’re not organized and all together as a staff? So, again, Mike Hazel, I’ll say this,… his hire was as important to me as Tyler Bowen and Chris Marve. He’s the coordinator of the operations piece.

We poke fun at him but he has his synergy meeting once a week, it’s kind of like a kumbaya with all the operations, recruiting, nutrition, and strength and conditioning. Everybody’s in there. Mike’s got great leadership, his vision and his organization has been awesome. That is important to us. I don’t know that it’s important to everybody. It was important to Coach Beamer. It’s important to me, it was important to James Franklin. You have to be organized and well thought out, what you want each and every day from your team and your staff.

Is that in the back of your mind, having to take the whole crew on the first road game of the year?

The expectations of how we travel, what meetings are going to look like, hotel behavior, and all the situations that occur as you take 80 players and 30 staff members on the road. Again, it takes a lot of preparation and planning to get the most out of that 24 hours. When your team walks out there, you feel good about it.

Have you seen a sense of urgency from the players now that camp is over and the focus has shifted to Old Dominion?

I think so. They know this was a bonus week so it’s not quite amped up like I hope it’ll be next week. But they’re invested, they love to compete, which was a goal of ours. I think even though we’re not talking about it as much, I think they’re thinking about Old Dominion quite a bit. It’s going to be a heck of an atmosphere on a Friday night, under the lights, and I know we’re going to have a lot of Virginia Tech faithful over there. I’m excited about that.

Are you a fan of Friday night college football since it takes away from high school football?

Absolutely not. I love high school football on Friday night. I loved it when I played it. Go back and look at the annuals, I did some big things. Lexington High School, 225 yards, two touchdowns, Rockbridge County Player of the Week. I love Friday night football. I think you put people in conflict, families that want to go to the local high school game. That’s all about community. You start putting attention on, “do we go over here and see this college game or do we go the high school game?” and it doesn’t have to be that way.

Is it going to be bittersweet going against ODU’s Ricky Rahne, one of your friends?

I’m a big Ricky Rahne fan. We’ve pulled for him since he left Penn State. I want to see him do well. I was so excited for him when he got the opportunity at Old Dominion. I thought it was a great fit for him, for a first-time head coach, for him and his family. It’s just challenging because we want to kick their butt, but I want to see him do well outside of our game. He’s one of those guys, if we weren’t playing him, I’d be talking to. We’d be exchanging ideas and doing things, but we’ve got those guys on the schedule for the next couple of years. It makes it tough, but I’d love for Ricky and I to really work together to recruit the state of Virginia, to improve high school football in the state of Virginia, and to work together to have the best two programs we can have.

Rahne’s offensive coordinator recently resigned. Have you ever had a situation where a coach left like that?

I would say two things. Number one, when it’s a coordinator, it’s more difficult. A position coach you can absorb, I’ve been around that one time, but coordinator I don’t believe so. But for Ricky’s sake, he’s an offensive guy, and he’s a good one and he’s a smart one. I put that film on from Penn State, it’s got Ricky’s offense written all over it, so it didn’t matter who was calling it. I know where the influence is. I’m not saying it’s not some adversity to overcome, but when it happens on the head coach’s side of football, they get a little better chance to work through that.

How did the players take the implementation of the new scout?

I told them after practice, I’m very proud of their attention to detail. Everything’s new for them. You go from one staff to another, and there’s all these expectations and we haven’t played nice, we’ve been pretty demanding of, “this is the way it needs to look, this is what we need to do,” and they’ve really responded. I couldn’t be more proud of the guys. Training scout teams and the organization for what an in-season schedule looks like, those guys have really been focused and attention to detail, and trying to give us as a staff everything that we want and what’s required.

Keonta Jenkins talked to the media about how excited he was to be closer to the football:

I can’t believe he said that because when we tried to move him, he wanted to stiff arm us. He thought he was a safety and now he’s like, “it’s the greatest thing ever.” But that’s part of it, right? They have to trust you that when you want to move them, it’s in their best interest. It’s in our team’s best interest. I told him, “you may have been a decent safety, but you got a chance to be a high-level outside linebacker.” To me, that’s one of the best things that you can do as a coach, is identify strengths and weaknesses and put guys in the right place. I don’t know if it’s the hard conversation, if it’s recognizing where somebody really needs to be, it just doesn’t happen.

Over my career, the coaches I’ve been around have done a great job and have taught me that that’s a big piece of it. You can have somebody out of position and they’re an average player or below, and you make a move and you put them in another spot, convincing them and demonstrating to them that it’s in their best interest in our best interest, and all of a sudden they’re good player. They can do good things. You’ve got to minimize liabilities through teaching, development, all those things, but also sometimes it’s a position change. Keonta went from being one of those guys that you didn’t really notice to all of a sudden you notice him all the time.

What is the ideal weight for Keonta to play at?

Guys worry about that more than I do. I want to put the film on and if you’re strong enough and you can fight pressure, then that weights enough. It’s more about what the film looks like. It’s not about a number, but if he’ll play hard, fast, and be tough. The weight he’s at is good, but he’s got some length to him, he can put some more weight on. I like to let kind of mother nature run its course and see where these guys go.

Johnny Jordan inheriting Brock Hoffman’s trash talking at center:

His charisma and his energy, he comes to work every day with an attitude, and I love it, he can give it to you. If I go at him pretty hard, he’s going to come right back at me. He’s one of those guys, he’s been around so long, he gets it. I feel very fortunate and lucky. I think Coach Rudolph does too that Johnny is with us.

He’s again one of those guys, he’s a six-year guy that, there was an opportunity there that he wasn’t going to be with us. I’m thankful for him and he’s done a great job leading that o-line and being tough mentally and physically. He’s a guy that’s played in a lot of games all the way back from his career at Maryland, and his career here. So he’s going to have a nice year for us.