Tech Talk Live Notes: Brent Pry Previews No. 24 NC State

On Wednesday night, Virginia Tech football head coach Brent Pry joined Zach Mackey and Mike Burnop on Tech Talk Live. They discussed the recruiting, the upcoming game against NC State and other topics.

This season, Tech Talk Live will air on Thursdays at 7 p.m. ET across the Virginia Tech Sports Network.

Brent Pry

How was the bye week and how has practice been?

Good, it’s been a good six or seven days, the guys were locked and loaded. We had some good practices where we split up what our approach was. We mixed in North Carolina State, we mixed in some development work and we mixed in some good-on-good competition. Then we were able to give the guys about a day-and-a-half off. We took some off some other guys that needed an extra day or two just to kind of get well. So it’s been a good off week.

How was recruiting during the bye week?

It was awesome. It leaves you with a really good feeling. When you get up, you jump on that plane early, and the entire staff was running around the state of Virginia, dipped outside and into the footprint a little bit but mostly in the Commonwealth. I was in seven schools Friday, two games Friday night. The reception we get, you’d think the record was reversed. The coaches are so appreciative to see us, the prospects are excited about our message and our vision for this program. There’s just so many Hokies out there across the state. There’s a lot of goodwill right now and a lot of support.

Was recruiting the state always a focal point at every school you’ve been at?

I think the state’s obviously important, maybe not quite so much at Vanderbilt, but Tennessee was good to us, we dove into it pretty hard. I’ve always had the approach that I learned from Coach Beamer. When you can have prospects and their families or coaches drive in to see your school and see your program, that’s an advantage, you can just build a better relationship when you’re more accessible. There’s so many people in the state of Virginia to have ties back to Virginia Tech, that’s obviously helpful that our network is so big. That was certainly true in Pennsylvania, not so much at Vanderbilt. Recruiting your footprint, to me, that’s a big emphasis, wherever you are, but particularly at a place like Virginia Tech.

Signing day is two months away. What is your biggest need?

I feel really good about our class, I’m excited about it. Not just talent, but the type of guys and being right for Virginia Tech. It’s not finished, we’ve got some needs we still have to address. We have to see what happens with the portal activity from our end. From the other side, are there going to be some guys that won’t be on our roster come December 15? I’m sure there will be.

Our roster’s going to look different from graduation, and there’ll be portal activity. What are the additions, what are your greatest needs that you think can be helped through the portal? What’s available? What can you get? I still believe the best plan for Virginia Tech is a strong high school signing class every year. Guys that want to be here for the right reasons that you’re going to have time to grow and develop.

What type of player are you looking to recruit out of high school?

Number one, and it’s never more glaring to me than it is right now, we have to have guys that just absolutely love the game, have tremendous passion for what they do. It is very difficult to be a student-athlete in today’s times. It takes a special commitment, a special approach, a special investment, and it takes the right type of young man. That goes back to home training, that goes back to the high school program they’re a part of, in their determination.

Those are all traits that are really important because you can certainly have a talented guy, but if he doesn’t have most of those qualities, him reaching his potential is a long shot. We’re going to invest in the right type of guys that are going to come in here and work, invest, and believe. That’s been very important in the process.

How has Hokie Nation played a part in recruiting?

This fan base and our game day atmosphere, the cities that we play in in this conference are all a selling point. They’re all important in the process for a young man, they want to play in a great environment. They want to be celebrated by a fan base. I think for families it’s important. Not only can you come to Blacksburg six or seven weeks a season and see your son play, now you can go down to Raleigh, you can go to Clemson, Winston-Salem, all these places close by with good weather and good cities. It’s an easy get to. It really makes a lot of sense to me for families and our footprint.

How is it going back to small communities and seeing Friday football?

I hate being away from the family on Friday nights, but when you walk into those stadiums and you see all the folks dressed in their high school teams colors, and moms, dads, aunts, uncles, the barber, the grocery store clerk, that’s what’s great about the game. That’s how I grew up. My dad was a high school football coach for several years. It’s a big deal and everybody looks forward to those games on Friday nights and they get excited when they see Virginia Tech come out on that sideline evaluating guys, it’s a big deal. That’s one of the good things about being on the road is going to those high school games.

How was practice this week?

There’s definite development, some of it maybe sees the field this fall. You get four games with freshmen and can still redshirt them, so we’re getting to that point where we try and get some guys some games in and getting some experience. Then there’s some guys that it doesn’t equate to this season, but it’s certainly helping their growth and development, getting those extra scrimmages.

We did some scale that was just developmental work, we did some inside run that was developmental work, just to break it down and give these guys the best chance at learning and playing the game. Keeping it simple with the calls and then evaluating the film and coaching them off the film.

How much of development is trying to keep a positive mindset and learn their way onto the field?

That’s part of coaching, that’s part of mentoring these guys. It is challenging because a lot of them are celebrated in their hometowns, like we talked about. They’re the biggest thing since sliced bread in their county, probably some of them in their region, in the state. Then they come here and they’re lined up next to other guys that were just like them. The competition is strong. That’s why you have to have guys that love to compete, that aren’t afraid of competition, that thrive in it. They want that opportunity. Iron sharpens iron, guys understand that. This type of program we want to have.

Has this season gone by fast?

I think it’s gone pretty fast. We really are in this time capsule, and it’s one game at a time. You’re doing everything you can during the week, making decisions on scheme, on personnel, on practice, what are you going to script in this eight-minute period to maximize your opportunity to win.

You get caught up in it, and all sudden, you look at the calendar, and you say, “Man, we’re pretty far into this thing.” I just can’t look too far ahead. I’m a big believer in that you have to have these guys focused on winning the game at hand and more so just having a great practice that day.

Was it nice having the bye week last week to give the guys a break?

I think so. I mean, it’s tough. The losses, it had been close a couple of weeks, the frustrations, I think it’s been good for the guys to take a deep breath. A bunch of them got to go home on Saturday and spend some time with family. I think that’s always good. I thought we had a little momentum at the end of that Miami game. We’ve tried to capture that, we’ve talked about it some, it was another example of us doing things well enough to win a game. We just have to do it for four quarters.

You’ve talked about playing a complete game and starting fast. It seemed like the game you were able to do that was Boston College:

Sure did. Flip the script there. We had a nice takeaway in the beginning and went down and punched it in on a fourth down. Miami’s the flip side. You turn it over and they go down to score too easily. I think you’re exactly right. It’s something that we obviously talk about and hope to do each and every week.

One thing you’ve emphasized recently is players doing all they can to force a turnover:

You have to be thinking that way. Right now, the guys, I’ve mentioned in the past couple of weeks, they press at times, and when you’re pressing, you’re not going to make a play on the ball. You have to play aggressive, play loose, play fast, and when you’re pressing, you’re not doing those things. I have to do a better job getting the defense to be more comfortable. We certainly encourage it in practice.

I think that’s where it starts. You can make a play on a ball and be wrong in practice, and you live another day, you line up again. Push the limits, test the limits in practice, go after the ball, be aggressive, and you’ll feel more comfortable doing that in ballgames.

You talk about playing complete games. There aren’t a lot of teams doing that. Did you watch any college football games last weekend?

Yeah, it’s unbelievable. I think it’s a lesson for our team and for our staff, just a level of consistency that’s necessary and what it can do for your team. You can’t be impatient, you have to stick to the process, stick to the plan. We’re going to do a good job with that here.

What is the health of the team going into this matchup?

It’s pretty good. Obviously, Dorian [Strong] has been a big loss for us, arguably one of our best players defensively and we’ve missed Dorian. Hopefully here sooner than later we get him back in the fold. He’s had a positive attitude, been in a good place. We’ve got several guys that have been playing banged up, Armani [Chatman], TyJuan [Garbutt], Kaleb [Smith], Keshawn [King], that are just kind of getting through the week. We have to get to a better place and hopefully after some downtime, we can be a complete four-quarter team with a healthy group.

Mansoor Delane has played well:

He’s an exciting guy. To be honest, he has a unique demeanor about him. You’re talking about a guy that really didn’t get much preseason camp, came out there and really learned safety first, then made the move to corner and transitioned really well. He’s a quick learner, that’s what I’d ID him as.

He has a good skill set for either one of those positions, to be honest, and the game is not too big for him. He’s been impressive. Obviously, he’s made some mistakes, and he’ll continue to do that some. He’s a guy that has a bright future, I love his attitude. He’s only going to get better and better.

How did you guys handle the schedule this week, coming into a Thursday game off a bye week?

It was a little bit different. Yesterday, which was a Sunday, was a Tuesday practice. We hadn’t experienced that before. We gave the guys off Saturday, we were on the road recruiting Friday. They trained with Coach Galt and his staff. We had a good Tuesday, Wednesday, rigorous practice, backed off a good bunch on Thursday. Then we gave them a day-and-a-half off. I think the guys are in a good place. Now we’re back on schedule for Thursday night.

This is Virginia Tech’s 35th Thursday game since 1994. Did you watch those games back in the day?

I was part of a couple here. That was always my routine. Didn’t matter where I was coaching on Thursday nights. Amy, and I, we kind of butt heads over what we’re going to do because the last thing she wanted to do was sit there and watch football game. Little did she know, she’d be watching our future team when I’m watching the Hokies on a Thursday night. When you think of Thursday night college football, I don’t know if there is another team that comes to mind first. It’s Virginia Tech.

Do you see the establishment of the run game as a key part in this upcoming matchup?

I think so. With their quarterback shift, I think it’s become a bit more important to them. Obviously, that’s something we’ve been searching for, to be better in the run game. We have some things that we tweaked that we hope will allow us to have some success running it. I think it’s one of those games, similar brands of ball, particularly with [Devin] Leary out, just physical teams. You want to play sound defense and create some takeaways and play well on special teams. I have a lot of respect for their head coach, their staff, and the way they go about their business and what they’ve done with their program.

What impresses you about Jack Chambers?

I went back and watched some of his Charleston Southern stuff and he’s a dynamic guy. He can certainly run the ball, but he throws it better than you think. He’s probably not happy with the way he’s throwing the ball to this point, but when you look back over his career, he’s been a pretty accurate passer. He’s certainly a dual-threat guy and it’s not like he’s a young man out there. This guy’s played a ton of football, and he wouldn’t be the backup if they didn’t feel like there was confidence there and to give them the chance to win.

Have you seen a difference with the NC State team now that Leary is out?

I think formation and motion-wise, they’re doing some different things to help facilitate their run game, give that quarterback some options and confuse some guys. They’re going to motion tight ends a bunch, arc those guys, pull them, and a lot of it is to create some space and some separation for the quarterback runs.

They threw the ball down the field with Leary, I don’t know if that’s as big a part of their plan [now]. Their perimeter screen game’s been there. The screen game and outlet throws to the backs have been there. All that I expect to stay same. This is a talented offense, it wasn’t just Leary. They have a couple wideouts, a nice tandem in the backfield, and good-sized offensive line.

What are your thoughts in hidden yardage with special teams?

We have to make a play or two, we have to get some returns going, we have to minimize their returns. We blocked a punt earlier in the year and it helped us be in a game, would be great to block a kick again this week and get that field position.

Was it good to see Peter Moore bounce back?

We need him, Peter is a captain. He’s talented. The Pitt game, that was an enigma, that’s not really who he is. It was good to see him come back and now we’re going to need him again this week.

NC State has lots of tackles for loss and interceptions:

They have a nice group. They really do, and I think they’re well-coached, they play sound, they don’t make a lot of mistakes, they don’t give up explosive plays. It’s a veteran group, they’re a couple years into the package and into the system. They’re functioning pretty well together.

What can we expect out of the offense against NC State?

We’ve got some nuances, some things we tweaked, try and generate a few more explosive plays, get the run game going. You can do that a couple of ways. We have to make sure we’re maximizing our personnel, playing the guys that are playing the best right now. We have to make sure that we’re not so vanilla that people can really get a bead on us. You have to keep people honest. We talked about a few things.

Is there a plan to get guys like Jadan Blue and Connor Blumrick more involved going forward?

You’re talking about a lot of guys that have potential. When you look at a guy not having the stats that you’d like to see him have or need him to have, it’s not always about that individual. It’s about protection, it’s about reads, it’s about what the defense does. It’s about the quarterback, it’s about not being able to run the ball well enough. There’s a lot of things that go into it that affect what one individual can do.

What is the status on Stephen Gosnell?

He actually made a real nice catch in practice yesterday. He’s probable for the game. It’s looking pretty good at this point. We’re going to give it a few more days.

What is your relationship with Charley Wiles, defensive line coach at NC State?

Charley is an awesome guy, have a ton of respect for him, great family. I know Charley very well, spent time over the years, was really good to me when I was at Virginia Tech. We’ve kept a healthy relationship over the years and talked quite a bit, would run into each other on the recruiting trail. I’d spend time coming to visit Virginia Tech and those guys came over to Vanderbilt at one point. I’m not surprised that his front at North Carolina State is playing well.

Have you crossed paths with NC State head coach Dave Doeren much?

We didn’t interact with him much. We had a guy that hit the portal at Penn State, a guy trying to crack the two-deep up there, we helped him get to NC State and play for Charley. There was a conversation then, but not too much. I do respect what he’s done over his career. The way he’s done it, I’m not surprised to see him have the success he’s having at NC State.

How has Grant Wells played recently, especially in respect to turnovers and confidence?

When you look at his interception ratio, even with the opening game, it’s pretty good. There’s a couple throws he’d like to have back I’m sure, but we’ve also had some drops. He was sacked six times against Miami. Some of that was the o-line, some of that was a combination of things. I think he is playing more confident. He’s an accurate guy that can make good decisions, make all the throws, and can run the football. We need him to continue to get better each week down the stretch here for us to do what we’re capable of doing.

What is one of your best recruiting stories?

Something that happened this last weekend, I’m sure a lot of listeners know Chief Wilson, retired Blacksburg police chief. Our director of player personnel was looking for an escort, somebody to help us get from one game to another on Friday night, to make sure the traffic didn’t bog us down. We wanted somebody to help assist, and he worked through it and he ended up calling Chief Wilson.

We come out to leave the hotel and head to our first game, and there’s this big red pickup all souped up and a couple of guys in plain clothes, looked like tough guys leaning against it. I’m like “Mike, what was going on?” He’s like, “Well, we’re going to follow these guys.” I’m like, “Who are they?” He’s like, “Undercover SWAT team.” I’m like “What? We need a SWAT team to escort us to the game?” He’s like “Well, it’s what Chief Wilson worked out for us.” So we go to these high school games, they get us parked right up front on the grass by the field, then they walk in with us.

It didn’t matter where myself or Coach Mines, whatever coach I was with, wherever we went on the sideline, if I looked over my shoulder, there was a SWAT team. Their athletic director, he was talking about beefing up security at their high school games. They’ve had a little bit of trouble. I said, “Well, listen, you don’t have any worry tonight, because you see them guys right there? They’re SWAT team.” He’s like, “Oh, man. I do feel better coach. Can you bring them next week?”