Friday’s season-opener at Old Dominion was full of mistakes for Virginia Tech.
Brent Pry’s first game in charge of the Hokies featured 15 penalties for 106 yards, four interceptions and a special teams gaffe for the ages. Ahead of their first ACC game against Boston College on Saturday, they’ve tried to put Norfolk behind them.
Speaking with the media on Tuesday, Pry said Tech practiced on Sunday to address the errors, make corrections and get some closure from the first game of the year.
“We had a normal Sunday, which is a team meeting, one group will lift, one group will watch film,” Pry said. “Then we’ll all go out and practice, and practice is structured where it’s a warmup to get them physically kind of greased up and get the kinks out, the soreness out. Then it’s a correction period, multiple periods.
“We dive in, and one of the things I ask the staff, both sides of the ball and even on special teams, the mistakes that were made, what are we doing in practice to correct them? How are we going to fix the penalties that are correctable? What do we need to do to make sure they don’t occur again? So those things are addressed in the meetings and then addressed on the field.”
Pry said there isn’t a consequence for penalties unless they’re a blatant disregard for the program’s expectations. In his mind, penalties come down to a lack of discipline or lack of detail, and those are the ones the Hokies worked to fix on Sunday.
“There are in-game penalties that occur,” Pry said. “There were several I didn’t agree with that were discussed in the locker room pre-game with officials. But too many penalties, obviously. You eliminate four or five penalties, could be the difference in the game. You take away one takeaway, could be the difference in the game.”
Then there were the interceptions. Grant Wells was picked off four times, though Pry said there didn’t appear to be a common denominator. He referred to Wells’s experience as a veteran, too, and said he expects the Marshall transfer to rebound and play well.
The Hokies also had clock management issues late in the game. They let 28 seconds run off the clock because the staff didn’t realize Old Dominion declined a penalty, leaving the clock running before Pry had a chance to call timeout. The head coach referred to it as “a great learning situation,” one of several on Friday.
“You want to talk about those, discuss those,” Pry said. “We talked about things that happened in other games over the weekend to continue to educate ourselves and prepare us to make the best decisions in game. But we’ve got to do a better job there at the end, particularly me.”
Injury/Eligibility Notes
Pry highlighted a few players who have missed time for a slew of reasons on Tuesday.
Wide receiver Kaleb Smith: Pry labeled the captain as “day-to-day.” Late in the first half at ODU, Smith was injured on a deep pass, and he came up holding his leg a few plays later. “He’s a tough young man,” Pry said. “If he can go, he will. … He’s doing everything he can.”
Linebacker Alan Tisdale did not travel to Norfolk with the team due to an eligibility issue. He’s “week-to-week,” though he was last week’s Scout Team Player of the Week. Tisdale has spent most of his time with the scout team, though he’s taken some reps on the varsity field. “He’s got our support and he’s doing everything he can to get it right, as are we,” Pry said.
Cornerback Brion Murray was suspended for the season-opener at Old Dominion due to traffic violations. On Aug. 31, Pry called it “a lesson for the whole team.” Pry informed the media that Murray has been reinstated and will play cornerback for the Hokies against the Eagles.
Running back Jalen Holston did not practice much leading up to the ODU game. He was very limited due to his injury all week, but Keshawn King carried the load (19 rushes, 111 yards) against the Monarchs. “I look forward to him having a good week of practice to get back to his A game,” Pry said.
Depth Chart Notes
Virginia Tech released its updated depth chart ahead of the Boston College game on Tuesday. Here are some notes and takeaways:
After a great performance, Keshawn King is the No. 1 running back on the depth chart for Virginia Tech. Holston, who is still recovering from an injury as previously mentioned, is the No. 2 back.
Jaylen Jones and Christian Moss are now into the two-deep at wide receiver. The Hokies’ depth is scarce behind Smith and Lofton, especially with Jadan Blue not at 100%.
C.J. McCray wasn’t 100% leading up to the Old Dominion game and wasn’t listed in the depth chart at defensive end. Ahead of the Eagles, he’s the No. 2 end behind TyJuan Garbutt, indicating he’s healthy.
After missing some time with an injury, Keli Lawson is listed as the No. 3 Sam linebacker. He’s also one of four Will linebackers on the depth chart, meaning he’s practiced at two positions. Jayden McDonald, Jaden Keller and Tisdale are the three other players at Will.
Print
This one is on the Pry team. VT was not, for whatever reasons, ready to play.
It is time for excuses to stop. Losing is one thing. Losing in this manner is unacceptable and that starts at the top.
It is not a matter of supporting anyone. It is a matter of being ready, tending to detail, and putting forth your best effort. None were done Friday night.
My guess is that this will be a different team this week and that the ODU game was not indicative of the program.
can’t argue any of that. I just hope this was an outlier and not the norm.
Did Beamer win his first outing. I’m pretty sure not. This will take time.
At VT it was thumping to Clemson, we all sat there in new maroon with lots of hope.
Biggest thing for me going forward is seeing how they respond? It is the last coaching staffs fault for the current state of the roster (talent level, development wise), but all of the penalties in game one I put that on the current staff.
So can this coaching staff correct and improve those things? Time will tell. Penalties and self inflicted stuff should be able to be cleaned up. Talent/development wise that is what it is and will take more than one offseason to address. But regardless of talent there is no reason to have that many penalties and turnovers.
To be clear I am, by no means, already off the Pry and co. train. I am on and full steam ahead. Friday’s game was just another reality check of how much work there is to do and it is, unfortunately, not going to be a quick fix.
I’ll say this I’d rather start on the bottom and it start trending upwards and be built to sustain that upwards trend vs having a great first season (like Fu did) and then steadily decline after that. Even if the early years suck, let’s build it the right way so that when things turnaround it is able to be sustained.
Week one sucked but we still have plenty of games left. I just want to see no one quit or check out. And also improved play as the season goes along. See some young guys that are getting some PT improve as the season goes. Sometimes wins may not reflect that, but as long as there is some type of improvement (even without the wins) with the players I think that can be an indication of whether they are on the right path or not.
Just how bad is the 2d QB on the depth chart??????????? 4 ints in first game by a guy with a rep as turning it over too much????? I wouldn’t have allowed him on the bus!!!
Good thing for us you are not the coach.
well said, i agree with you
Ditto.
I tire of the 4 interceptions comment. Interception #3 hit the receiver dead in the hands … who then bobbled it in the air for the DB to catch it. I’d argue that is more of a fumble than a TD. A receiver not holding on to a very, very catchable ball isn’t on Wells in my opinion.
And the 4th interception was a hail mary on the final possession. Wells put up a catchable deep ball and it didn’t work out. that happens 99% of the time there is a hail mary pass.
Only 2 INTs are on Wells
^^^
LOL
..oh, dave
The WR depth chart is a big mystery. Blue has a resume as does Smith but the rest of these guys are unknown quantities. Got to hope Lofton, Gosnell and Jones emerge as productive players.
It’s going to be another long fall in Blacksburg but it takes time to rebuild a football program.
That’s my thought too. If the game is rough, I know I’ll still love being in the ‘burg.
Sorry but when guys who are Jr/Sr and are unavailable due to unpaid parking tickets and “eligibility issues” that’s a maturity issue, an “attention to detail” issue. The fact that we had multiple issues of the sort from holdover players tells me what I’d suspected…we need more players who pay attention to detail and can take care of little things. Same thing on the field with the penalties Friday we had several by veterans. Because THAT is exactly the type of stuff that crops up IN games. Lack of attention to detail. Now if this staff can teach accountability (not done overnight) then I believe we’ll be on the right track
Another indicator of the failings of the former staff as well. Looks like it is going to take a while for the program to get rid of the stench.
But the former staff never had that many penalties