Tech Talk Live Notes: Brent Pry On BC, Mike Young On South Carolina

On Wednesday, Virginia Tech football head coach Brent Pry and Hokies men’s basketball head coach Mike Young joined Zach Mackey and Mike Burnop on Tech Talk Live. Pry discussed the upcoming game at Boston College on Saturday (Noon ET, ACC Network) while Young previewed the team’s game vs. South Carolina on Friday night in Charlotte (9:30 p.m. ET, ACC Network).

Brent Pry

How are things going?

Good, Wednesday practice was a little different. Normally, I’m over here on Thursday, so it was a sprint. I can’t promise I used soap or shampoo in the shower, but I got here on time. This was a much better Wednesday than last week. I thought last week was just okay. We talked about it. And going into Thursday last week. They came out today and did a really nice job.

You touched on that a couple times this week that during the course of last week, practice wasn’t great.

Yeah, we’ve got to look at it and [ask], ‘Why wasn’t there the poise?’ Just that temperament that we’ve played since we started this thing and we talked about it and they get it. I think we take more pride in that than anything. so it was good practice today. Good practice yesterday. That one stung a little bit, obviously, that was a tough Sunday. But the guys bounced back, coaches bounced back, made the corrections, which you have to do no matter what, win, lose, draw, and then move on to the next opponent, which we’ve got a good one in BC.

You said it wasn’t the same energy you had for Syracuse. How quickly into the game can you kind of get a sense of that as the head coach?

I think the pregame was good, to be honest. When you go back and look at things it was the way the game started. They made a few plays and we didn’t and we just kind of lost that step and they gained it. They got a little momentum and we lost momentum. And it just kept going that way for the first couple of series. You hear me talk about complimentary balls and we weren’t doing things well on either side. And we even had a bad punt. So things just kind of were mounting up and I think the guys took a step back right there instead of stepping forward.

It felt like the script had been flipped from that Syracuse game a few weeks back where you put them on the front foot immediately. This time, they did that to you.

I thought we were fortunate, 14-3 and easily could have been 14-7 at half if we had played well. That’s a good football team over there in Louisville. It really is. But the disappointing thing was just the temperament that we’re used to playing with and we didn’t execute on defense very well. I don’t want to take anything away from those guys because we’ve got to tackle those backs. But we didn’t play our best game, for sure. We didn’t coach our best game. So it was a good week for us. It was a good eye-opener and I told them we got to always stay humble and stay hungry and be ready to go.

You mentioned that it could have been 14-7. Walk us through that scenario. That was a nice drive at the end of the first half and then you got called for the pick play. Did you agree with that?

I think it was a judgment call. But it easily could have gone that way. I’ve seen worse not getting called. He didn’t do exactly what we coached him to do. He could have played it a little safer and just bladed it he caused some interference, but you see it all the time and it doesn’t get called. It could have gone either way with a different crew. Maybe they don’t call it and we’re right there on the four-yard line, first-and-goal and got changed to go 14-7, but John Love did a nice job again, kicked it through and we got some points before we went into the half.

What about the job Love has done? He’s been Mr. Reliable for the most part this season.

Yeah, knock on wood. He’s just a redshirt freshman, so he’s young. We give him a lot of grief. We were hollering at him today. And we did a two-minute situation and the offense is driving with both groups and they get into field goal range and Coach [Chris] Marve is icing him and calling timeouts and everybody’s getting at him and he kicks them both through. He did a good job and it’s really important to John, he practices like crazy. He’s a bright guy. I think he’s got a really good future here for us. I’m glad he’s a Hokie.

Louisville had those couple of big runs. What can the linebackers do better from your perspective? You mentioned last week that they’re a work in progress.

Yeah, honestly, I think we got a bunch of two bag fits, it’s like 10 years ago when you’d get empty. And everybody was trying to defend empty and nowadays you get two backs and it’s not what you’re used to seeing. They did a good job and got us some stuff that we hadn’t seen as much of, we just didn’t fit it great. And that was all across the board right there. And then, like I’ve said before, I mean, when the ball gets to that third level, you have to get it on the ground. I think it was apparent or we just didn’t tackle well enough in the back forward to minimize those plays and just line up play again and get the stop.

Isaac Guerendo ended up getting a majority of the carries for Louisville. What did you think about him?

He’s a good back. We recruited him as well. You recruit a bunch of guys when you start looking in the portal and he was a guy we got to know when he visited our place and I’m very thankful that we got Bhayshul [Tuten], obviously. … I think they’ve got a one-two combination as well that they feel good about and Guerendo was the hot hand and was running well and obviously was a big impact in the game.

Another big impact you think about are those sudden changes. Those make such a big difference.

Yeah, that’s what we do on Fridays, we put the defense in a sudden change situation and the first thing we do is call them up. Coach Marve talks to them all about the mindset and have the temperament and it’s not, ‘Woe is me,’ it’s, ‘Let’s go swing the momentum right back our way.’ And what do people like to do in sudden change? Gadgets or take a shot or try and take advantage of it, but we’ve got to be better there. Obviously, with really good defenses, that’s what you do. You can turn people back in those situations.

Everyone talked about kind of getting behind the chains. It just seemed like you were constantly kind of playing the game from behind.

Yeah, and that’s what Louisville had done really well. They were making you miss early on first down, pinning 10, get you behind the sticks. And sure enough, it happened to us. It’s almost like hey, just have a one- or two-yard gain on first down, get to second-and-8, get to second-and-7. I mean, you got a chance but it seemed like the first part of that game and in the beginning of the second half, we’re second-and-15, second-and-18, which leads to third-and-long and we’ve gotta be better there on first-and-10, that’s always critical. People underestimate how important first down is.

It was hard to get a long play, too. Were they playing more of a prevent or just like keeping everything in front of them?

When you have a good front who are really active like they are, you can keep them guys in the back end in the shell. You don’t have to put the pressure on them. When you can win more one-on-one battles up front. That’s what they’ve done all year long, and they certainly had their success on Saturday.

Is that one of the better defenses that you’ve seen in the last two years here at Virginia Tech?

Yeah, I think so. They do some good things, but again, their offense complements what they do. Florida State had a good group, they could really run explosive in some areas, but I thought Louisville’s defense just played consistently, all three levels, played good defense.

It was crazy that the team was ranked 13th and didn’t sell the game out. Kind of makes you appreciate what Hokie Nation is all about.

Yeah, you hear that out in North Carolina and some others they were No. 10 in the country and had a bunch of empty seats. And we’re so proud of our fan base and Hokie Nation and what they do. I mean, we’re in the middle of a rebuild, and we got five out of six sellouts. That’s awesome, we’ve got one of the best home environments, not just in the ACC but in college football and a lot of places. It’s one of the best home game environments in the country. And our guys love playing there. And I challenged them all week because let’s go to Boston College, let’s go win at their place, and we’ve got to step up and do what we need to do to get a win on the road and I think they’re excited about, it to be honest.

Is some of that kind of a double-edged sword in the sense that you have one of the best run outs in all of college football and you have a great fan base selling out every single game, and then you’re going on the road and have to create that same energy to start games?

Yeah, maybe there’s a learning curve there for your team. You have to understand how you have to go play on the road and every stadium you go on the road is different. Some of them will be good, some will be sparse. Some of it will be turf, grass. What matters is that 100 yards we talk about, and I think that’s part of learning and growing as a player and as a team what the expectations are and learning to have your poise and confidence whether it’s at home, away or neutral site, it doesn’t matter. 

Are you a superstitious kind of guy? 

I’m not.

Have you thought about maybe changing up the road itinerary just to do something different?

I mean, we’re gonna run them through the stadium. When you ask the guys who played at Boston College, and there’s not a lot of them that raised their hand, you go, ‘Wow, maybe we’ll go through there on Friday and take a peek at it.’ But I’ll take three pieces of gum out to the game. And I don’t put any in my mouth as long as it’s going well. If we’re not playing well, I start chewing like crazy.

Everyone’s going to be watching now to see if you are chewing the gum or not. Do you chew one at a time? 

Yeah, just one at a time. But you keep feeding it if it’s not going well or it is going well. But I think it is part of a mature team, being able to stay focused and locked in and execute, whether you’re at home or away, and we’ve got to be better there. We’ve got to take the next step on the road.

You mentioned on Friday you’re gonna take the team over to the stadium. What’s the game plan there?

Yeah, we did that at the beginning of the year, down at Lane Stadium, our place and just walked across the field. We kind of squared it up at the 50 and just talked a little bit and a lot of places I’ve been in my career, we did that on Fridays. We visited the stadium of the team that we’re playing and just kind of walked the field. Sometimes you did a warm up out there, but we’ve got a lot of young guys that are in the mix plan, freshman and redshirt freshmen and so we’ll see, we’re gonna do it. We’re not gonna take long, it’d be 15 minutes out there. Get back on the bus and get to the hotel.

You talked about how we’re gonna learn from this loss. What do you think you’ve maybe learned?

Well, number one, I think it’s about the confidence and the poise we need to start the game. I thought we kind of did that down at Florida State, kind of understood that but we didn’t look like ourselves to start the game. And that starts with me. We’ve got to be better there. In our program, it’s all about communication, and talking through things and we hit it right in the face on Sunday, like what’s going on? We’ve got to be better with this. Why didn’t we play our best? And so you start talking about things and working through things and you hope to come up with the answer.

Obviously, a very different game up front between Syracuse and Louisville. Cole Nelson had that lone sack. How was the front kind of different between Syracuse and Louisville?

Well, we couldn’t stop the run and if you can’t stop the run, the sacks aren’t gonna come, so we’ve got to do a better job there. And I think our defensive line actually played a solid football game, fundamentals, techniques, they didn’t push us around, it didn’t look like that. I thought maybe coming off the field they did, but when you watch the film, it wasn’t that way. It was our second and third level that needed to play a little better.

Kyron Drones still has so much to learn, but there’s so much of upside with him.

Yeah, he sure does. He gets better all the time. And it’s like a lot of guys on our team, just being able to improve and play your best game and guys still getting better. We’ve got a bunch of guys that haven’t reached their potential and that takes time. You keep working and correcting and technique and fundamentals and that’s the goal to have everybody, all 120 to reach their potential, whether they’re the best player or number 122. And that’s about learning and growing and experiencing and Kyron’s a guy that gets better through experience and the things that he goes through in practice and in games, he generally doesn’t make the same mistake twice.

This is a Boston College team that’s one of the hottest teams in the country right now and has won five straight games.

I know Jeff Hafley, the head coach. He’s doing a good job. He’s in his fourth year and they’re controlling the ball. They’re running the ball. They’ve got the number one run offense in the league. They’re blocking well, they’ve got good size up front and make good decisions.

Tell us about the quarterback, Thomas Castellanos.

He’s like a running back/defensive back. He’s tough, he’s gritty. He can put his foot on the ground and get north and south. He can break a tackle, he’s quick. He’s not very big, but he’s tough. He manages the game, complements the running backs very, very well. You gotta defend all of it and they get in there. They’ll bring extra tackles in the game and everybody across the board is about 315, 320. And now he just runs behind those guys.

What’s the one key to be able to stop Castellanos?

You have to contain the edges because he gets around the horn sometimes, but you also have to penetrate up front. They just do a nice job. They get tight splits and they just kind of try and move you off the line of scrimmage and he gets behind it until a crease shows. So we’ve got to be good up front right off the get-go. We’ve got to create a new line of scrimmage and we’ve got to edge the defense.

We know he’s a heck of a runner. What do you see from him in the passing game?

I think he’s still making the throws. They don’t ask him to do too much. It’s quick throws, it’s key screens, it’s slants and then he throws shots down the field. I think we’ve got a good plan for him.

Another guy out of the backfield is their running back, Kye Robichaux. What do you see from him?

Yeah, he’s a good back. He’s smart. He runs tough. He’s got good shots. He’s got good hands. I think he fits the offense very well.

What do you see out of their defense? The way that offense works, they love to control the clock. Sometimes they’ll get 80, 90 plays in the game.

Yeah, they bend but they don’t break and they don’t have to play a lot of snaps right now. We’ve got to change that. That formula has got to look different. They’re able to give some things up and a couple of first downs but they tighten up in the red zone. I think the last five weeks they haven’t given up more than 24 points. They’re giving themselves a chance each and every week.

What about that secondary for Boston College? Their defensive back, Elijah Jones, leads the ACC in interceptions. He’s in the top-five in the country in passes defended.

They do a great job. I’d say particularly Elijah, he’s a good player. He’s well coached. He’s got good size and length, plays the ball well. I think they’re very pleased with the year he’s having. We’ve got to make sure that we’re aware of where he is. And when we’re throwing a ball, what kind of position is he in.

You talked about how they’ll bring in those extra offensive linemen. That makes it some serious beef up front.

They bring in two extra tackles. They put one of their backup linemen who is 6-7, 318 and they put him in number 44 and line him up at the tight end position. And then they bring in another extra lineman who lines up a guard and he’s 6-5, 325. So they’ve got a lot of beef.

Boston College is the least penalized team in the country right now with just 38 penalties. They play real discipline, don’t they?

They sure do. And it shows up in their execution. We talked to our guys about that, you can’t kind of do it one way in this area and not in the other. You’ve got to be detail-oriented and lots of focus and accountability, whether it’s over here with a discipline piece or an execution piece.

Anything you see that stands out on special teams?

They’re pretty solid. The thing I would tell you is they’ve had multiple fakes. Multiple looks to block a punt, so we’re expecting anything out of this group.

Have you released who’s wearing No. 25?

We have not. That’s a tomorrow night thing we do on Thursdays.

Is the Lunch Pail staying?

Yep, same guy [Norell Pollard].

Any final thoughts for this weekend?

I’d tell you I’m going to be really disappointed if we don’t have an improved effort out there. Just temperament, demeanor, attitude, these guys are hungry to play well. And it is a good football team we are playing. I think Jeff [Hafley] does a great job, he’s in his fourth year and they’ve come a long way and they’re doing a lot of good things, but we can too and if we play like we are capable, I think it should be a good football game and come out of there 1-0 and with a good victory on the road. 

Mike Young

It was a good start for you guys to get that win over Coppin State. What did you like?

We have a long way to go. I knew we would. I knew that going in. But coming out of 29 assists on 32 made baskets, that’s encouraging. We rebounded the ball well. I temper my comments and thoughts. Coppin is a developing team, you’re gonna see a lot better, we’ll see a lot better on Friday night, so we stay the course, hang in there and keep your feet on the ground and get better.

There is a clip going around from Monday night when you were talking about the freshmen and kind of how they still need more time. You told Anthony Romano [of WDBJ7] at the press conference that’s why he’s behind the camera. The freshmen played well at times, but obviously you saw room for improvement.

I think the world of Anthony Romano. I think he does a great job and what’s life without a little fun? Anthony knew exactly where I was coming from. I don’t care what sport it is. You were no different as a freshman couple years back, you’ve got to see plays, you’ve got to see plays, you’ve got to be there. Guarding it and seeing it on film is one thing and then to do it, moving 100 miles an hour with really good players in front of you, that’s challenging, but they are eager. They are conscientious and they want to make the right play. They want to do everything they can to help our team win. But there’s gonna be growing pains, there will always be growing pains with young people and Friday night will be another great experience for them. So I’m proud of Jaydon Young and Brandon Rechsteiner, they’re going to be very good players they’re good players now. Just need a few more miles under the wheels.

You’ve had the luxury the last few years of having some pretty good big guys inside. Keve Aluma, Grant Basile and Justyn Mutts. Lynn Kidd comes out the other night gets his first career double-double. He’s come a long way since back in the day.

He’s different from Aluma. That’s not a slight on Lynn. It’s certainly not a slight on Keve Aluma, one of my favorites of all time. We need that presence, we need that production from our frontline. I thought Mylyjael Poteat played well in limited minutes, we’re trying to manage him as we get into it and take care of his body and his legs. He’s doing great. He feels good. Just don’t want to step on the gas too much here early on.

That game got out of hand in the second half, but Sean Pedulla ended up with 26 minutes in the game. You’re able to take him out a little bit more. Is that where you would like to see his minutes?

He’s gonna play more than 26 minutes, that you could bet on. I’m hoping that’s not 38, 37; I would love to be able to get him to 32, 31 maybe the same thing with Hunter Cattoor. But again, Rechsteiner backing up Pedulla and Jaydon Young backing up Cattoor, and you get the game like Fridays and a young person makes a mistake. And talk to me all you want about playing through mistakes. Well, that’s hard. Every possession is critical. And I’ve managed it throughout my career. We’ll get it right and we’ll do what’s best for our team.

Robbie Beran, the big guy inside, had a little bit of a rough night, kind of got in foul trouble. You think he was a little bit maybe too amped up? He only played like 15 minutes.

Yeah, Robbie’s a thinker. And that’s OK. But there comes a time you gotta lay your ears back and go and let’s say we had that conversation today in our film study. He has great intentions and he wants to play good basketball and I thought that comes across as being tentative, which comes across as being soft, which walks you into mishaps, which walks into a couple of really bad fouls. And I thought Mekhi [Long] did very well. It’s good to see him on the floor and helping our team win. But we’ve got to be hitting on all cylinders. Robbie Beran’s gotta be a good player for us. He will be, Mekhi Long. We need those guys playing night-in and night-out and I’m certain that we will get them there.

You had 43 rebounds to 22 rebounds against Coppin State. I know there was a big emphasis throughout your offseason work.

We didn’t rebound the ball very well. Honestly, in our two scrimmages it scared the fire out of me. We will have a good rebounding team. It’s going to have to be a collection of all five guards who are going to have to do their job and escape the lane and box out and pursue balls. We’ve got to get quality numbers from Robbie and Mekhi at that four spot. Defend and rebound, defend and rebound. Do that every night. You’ll give yourself a chance to win them all. And it’s still a work in progress in that category. But I thought Monday was a positive step.

You guys also forced 19 turnovers and turned it into 30 points. That helps when you get some of those live ball turnovers and turn them into easy baskets.

It helps when they turn and throw it to you a couple of times too. I’ll take those any day of the week. 

You had 29 assists, which places you fifth in the country right now. You guys moved the basketball well.

We have good players that are unselfish and want to make the right play. It turned out well the other night, sometimes just making the easy play. Just make the old nickel and dime, hit a couple of singles and then good things happen for you. I was encouraged by getting the ball on multiple sides of the floor. On a number of occasions, we had a couple of one-two pass possessions, which drives me crazy. We’re still working and that’s typical. We’re still working and still encouraging better shot selection. We’ll get there all of our teams do, but we’re a little farther ahead in that area than we typically are.

MJ Collins plays so hard. He didn’t shoot the ball particularly well the other night, but you have to take a gasp when he hits the deck a couple times like he did last year.

He’s tough and he plays really hard. I thought he’s searching a little bit offensively. It’s going to be fine. He’s shot the ball really well. He admits that he’s gotten down with regularity in the preseason. He didn’t score as well as he has coming into the game. That’ll work itself out. He’s got to continue to be a frontline defender, rebounder, mover, screener, I’ve challenged him to be a guy we can put on the other team’s best backcourt player. When I have the opportunity to move Cattoor to the second or third best backcourt player, Cattoor sees things and disrupts offenses and what the other team is looking for. I’m not ready to go there just yet, but it’s coming, MJ is coming on in that area.

How does a game like that against South Carolina get on the schedule? Been a long time since you played the Gamecocks.

I don’t recall. Their head coach and I, Lamont Paris, went back to about 2016-17. He came to Chattanooga, which is in our league. He had been with Bo Ryan at Wisconsin for quite some time. We competed against each other and then I came here. He continued on and built that Chattanooga program into a winner and they won it in 21-22, something like that. And then got the South Carolina job.

I know that there’s a very nice rivalry with the Hokies and South Carolina through football. I guess we’re in the same league together at some point in years past. I’ve told you I would like to take our team to Charlotte and compete there every year if I could. We have so many Hokies in Mecklenburg County. I love that city. We all do. And I enjoy the Spectrum Center a lot. I’ve played there many times throughout the years and it’s a great downtown arena, an NBA arena and a good opponent and I know our team will be fired up to play.

The only thing you don’t like about it is it’s probably gonna start at like 9:30 or 10 o’clock at night.

Tip off time is at 9:30 and we’ve got two games in front of us. UVa and Florida at seven. The likelihood of us beginning at 9:30 is slim to none and the chance of me getting back to Pebble Beach Drive before 3 a.m. is slim to none. So you take the good with the bad.

They’ve got some new guys out there, but a veteran backcourt. Meechie Johnson averaged 12 points last year, Jacobi Wright averaged seven points. What have you thought of those two?

Well, they’re really the new people, Meechie is a good player, I think Meechie transferred from Ohio State a couple of years ago. Dynamic, getting you leaning one way and taking it back the other way, wants to decline a bunch of ball screens. Here’s the ball screen, he’s going back the other way. That’ll be a pivotal matchup for Cattoor and obviously feel very good about Hunter being matched with Meechie.

Ta’Lon Cooper was at Minnesota last year and we played against him. Point guard. Big, good vision, not a great athlete, but he’s physical. He’s a big, strong person who came to our place last year, late November early December and had 13 points and played a pretty good ballgame. Pedulla will match up with him. They’ve got a Wofford transfer, of all the places that has helped them, in B.J. Mack. He’s big, the size of a Buick and will back you down in the post and he’s a great passer and doesn’t have a lot of lift. But man, he could really shoot the ball from distance. So he’s a good player and that’ll be a critical matchup for our frontline guys and we’ll bounce some things around early on and hopefully we can find something that sticks.

Obviously, the women are playing in Charlotte on Thursday night. Will you guys go to that game?

Yeah, a good friend of mine who I go way back with is running the tournament and he was kind enough to make it possible for our team to go down. So we’ll get in about six. We’ll eat, we’ll watch film, seven, 7:45 and then we’ll let our team go down and support the women’s team. They want to go and for good reason, should be a heck of a ballgame. And then we’ll get them back and get them settled in for the night. So that’ll be a great game, it’d be a great game for us, it’d be a great game for women’s athletics as a whole.