Virginia Tech's Return To Dominance? | Sports Junkies

coach Brent Pride Virginia Tech football head coach they open up against Vanderbilt you can listen to pregame starting at 10: a.m. right here on 1067 the fan what's up coach coach how y'all doing this morning can you can you believe the season is just a few days away man this is and by the way I'll be at the Vanderbilt game all right and I've never been to Nashville um and I'm bringing my wife and my my two daughters I got a senior down there at in blackburg now she's going to be driving to Nashville from from blackburg so that like six hours eight hours no it's probably like five about six it's about six five and a half six yeah uh so anyway I can't wait um it's here let's just talk about most important position on the field quarterback right now all right Chiron Jones who really played well at the end of last year get right into it let's get right into it um how much better is he uh the the one thing that really impressed me about KD last year coach is man he takes care of the ball um yeah he sure did for a firsttime starter you know I I thought he did an excellent job there and you know I hope he can he can maintain that great decision making and you know he's very levelheaded when the ball snapped you know he just he doesn't make a lot of you know snap decisions or hasty decisions or he's really kind of methodical and he he goes through his reads and so he's he's very mindful of the football hey I'm curious um EB mentioned he was watching Hard Knocks mhm and uh Caleb Williams having sit Downs with the head coach mhm how often do you have like meetings with just your quarterbacks or do you delegate that to your offens coordinator your quarterback's coach like what is the interaction as a head coach with your quarterback yeah I would say as far as position meetings you know coach Bowen and Coach Christ handle those Kiron and I have have a lot of conversations MH I'd say um you know a decent amount more than last year he's not a real talkative guy but um you know as he stepped into more of a leadership role there's more things that he and I have to discuss U he's now you know been named a captain so there's there's things there that you know that are kind of on on our plate together but um you know he's I think he's more comfortable talking with me there's more things that I want to discuss with him um so you know that relationship certainly is growing coach one of the impressive things about you guys in the off season and we've talked about transfer portal you were able to convince your guys to stay and at one point I read you guys kept 21 of 22 starters you could correct that number but you you kept a lot of guys so guys weren't lined up at the door at the transfer portal door eager to get out um and we'll talk about the guys you brought in too but just talk about um you know convincing some of these players who may have been thinking about leaving um to stay and to kind of continue the success of what you're building off of a of a bowl season because you guys played to Lane in the bowl and navy I was there um um talk about just convincing these kids hey you know what this is the place for you man yeah I don't know if convincing is the right word okay you know we did a nice job uh not just myself but staff members of gathering information even before the season was over you know what is what is Quan Felton you know what's the information we can give him and his family to make the best choice you know is is he considering going to another program for more money is he considering throwing his hat in the NFL you know you know everything from the the numbers at at wide receiver that would be coming and entering the draft uh you know the dollar amounts to you know what other wide receivers and other programs are making you know and then of course you know the ability to talk about our offense and and continuing the momentum and with KD returning and you know that all those things you know giving these guys as much information because I want them to stay for the right reasons right and um you know they have strong relationships with their position coaches they have very strong relationships with their teammates MH I think uh that was probably the most significant thing they they like playing together they have a strong Brotherhood you know they like the process they like being at Virginia Tech and they believe we can be you know we can be good we could be better and if if they all came back together and you know the last question I asked each one of them and those retention meetings was you know don't you know I guess something that I asked of them more than a question don't come back to be the same guy mhm you know if you're going to do this and recommit to this it's it's to be better so and I think to a man they've pretty much done that just kind of talk about the receivers that KD is gonna be throwing to you mentioned uh dcoin and um he was your leading receiver last year uh almost 700 yards eight eight scores Jaylen Lane good player uh Jennings was um going to be your number one but then he went down with a serious injury in the Purdue game he comes back first of all how's his health and then just talk about the unit in general of the receivers that you really love yeah I think um you know you mentioned those guys and you know Jay Lane Quan proven production out there Ali certainly somebody that's had success at other places and other moments had a big game for us to open the year he's had a great Camp I think he's probably playing his best football right now another addition that uh you know to that group that agreed to come back was Steve gnell who came off of uh you know a major knee surgery in the bowl game an injurying the bowl game and and looks great good and you know so you got four old guys that are you know playing their last year that they're all grad transfers right they're all grad guys yeah yep they all get it um and then you know you've got Aiden green who's really come on as a secondy year player had a tremendous spring good off season you know he's going to factor in and be in the mix um so it's a good room there's a lot of you know there's young Talent there's um there's these old old heads that um you know understand how to practice and have really you know high goals and aspirations for our team and for themselves and that was big you know when when KD wanted to come back and Jay Lane wanted to come back and basaw that you know the other guys you know got them excited you know to to Spur maybe some other opportunities and I think that carried over to the defense with Dorian and and monor and APR and these guys all deciding to come back and you as you mentioned it trickles into the transfers right these guys that you're recruiting go man the Hoke's got a lot of guys coming back that have been productive they've got momentum and so it helps you go out there and recruit those older guys to come in and fill some need areas talking to coach uh coach Brent pry from Virginia Tech third season was three 3 and eight his first season improved to seven- six with the bowl win so 8- six overall in season two I'm curious so we were talking about this before you jumped on uh about ali Jennings in particular and he's been this Virginia Tech's third school it's his sixth year of college football so we were just guessing he's 24 years old who's the oldest guy on the team like what's the range I'm sure you have some 17 year olds but is 24 the oldest mhm yeah we've got uh I think we've got two guys at 24 and then Bob shik our offensive lineman uh he's either about to turn 25 or it's already turned 25 wow so you got six and seven years difference between some of these guys yeah that's wild well all right so you mentioned you mentioned the portal so talk about the you you kept a bunch of players talk about the kids you brought in you brought in Nas peoples who was from duke he was one of the best defensive linemen in the conference last year you brought in kelvin Gilliam uh I think he's from Oklahoma um you brought in a linebacker but just talk about especially on the defensive side your defense was good last year but um yeah we got I think we really got some things squared away down the stretch and played pretty well right but um you know we lost 3D tackles to graduation and and collectively they were a pretty good group so we needed to to help ourselves there and you know in Nas there was a previous relationship uh with our Corner coach coach Derek Jones and and the family uh from the recruitment at Duke and so we had an immediate in and uh you know worked really hard Duke Duke and Coach Diaz rightfully so worked really hard to keep him and um you know we're fortunate to have him and then Kelvin Gilliam was a was a was a young man that we knew about from Richmond he's a Highland Springs guy which we have a couple of those guys on the team and uh you know wasn't having much success out at Oklahoma uh liked our scheme our structure and uh you know saw the success that APR had you know going off to a program in another League uh where maybe they think the grass is greener returning home to Virginia Tech you know as as APR did and having big success so you know kelvin's going to play a lot of football for us this fall and then Sam Brumfield you know a little bit different scenario not not all the ties but you know several of us know coach stock still you know the longtime head coach at Middle Tennessee for quite some time and just tremendous respect and trust and how he ran his program and the type of kids he recruited and you know so my conversation with Coach stock still and you know his you know his passion and his his you know just sentiment towards Sam Brumfield you know it really had a chance to we had some candidates but we needed a a true mik to throw into the mix and there was there's no guarantee Sam wins a job but he did good he's had a tremendous off season he's really worked he's a great teammate I think it's a testament you know he's named captain you know and he's been with us since January so you know we've we've been fortunate you know we work really hard and and vet these candidates really really hard to make sure that we're getting the right guys and so far we've been pretty successful that way they've helped us on the field and they've been really good in that locker room and on our campus coach pry looking at your schedule Virginia Tech of course opens at Vanderbilt but there's a two we stretch and I'm just wondering what the travels like how you prepare for it where you head to Miami and then you go all the way to play Stanford what is that going to be like for you guys MH yeah we obviously you know I don't like to look ahead but when you're talking about planning and preparation and travel I mean you have to especially with trips like you mentioned so you know the operation staff you know they dove into that you know this summer what's what's the best way to handle the the short week with Miami you know then we've got you know an extra day for the Stanford trip and you know as of now we're going to travel out there on Thursday I think fair amount of teams are doing that that are playing a West Coast game but not everybody um and then we're open the week after which is also interesting and how you plan for that and I think we follow with a Thursday night game so yeah you know there is there there's got to be a lot of thought into that and uh you know you you make a lot of phone calls you ask a lot of questions and you kick it around quite a few times before you settle on what you think will be best you know for our team how how crazy is it that uh and your dogs are are talking in the background too that's awesome uh how crazy is it that you're gonna play Stanford on the road in a conference game yeah it's you know I don't think that's set in yet you know until we're out there and you know even when you know game hits and you're looking at their film and studying those guys and you know and then you you know you get out there and you know you're all the way on the west coast and you know playing a team that nobody in in at Virginia Tech's very very familiar with right how are you guys feeling as a staff and you know I'm sure the players are all pumped up for the for the year and conference realignment 12 team playoff how are you guys feeling as a staff about the possibilities of and you know where you guys rank in the conference do you feel like right now your team good enough on paper on the field um to to contend for an ACC Championship yeah I think everybody in our organization believes we can do that but we also you know we all understand that there's work to be done and that we'll have to be a team that gets better each and every week you know we're not the type of team right now that can go play poorly and win a game you know we need to play well in all three phases play complimentary ball we need to continue to get better we need to continue to have young guys grow and develop and learn and be more trustworthy on the field um you know and and in the end you got to make decisions and you gotta play well you know there's I've seen been around plenty of more talented teams that don't win the game so you know we got to continue our preparation stay humble stay hungry you know to have a chance to to do some things that we could do real quick before before we let you go I'm sorry um I got to ask you about Dante it damaa we're damaa guys two of us went to damaa Dante love where is he's a damaa kid great kid I met him on his recruiting trip um and where where is he on the depth chart right now because he's a good player yeah he's G he's he's our second boundary corner you know behind monore so he's he's going to play a lot of football for us he'll have a a significant role on special teams he's getting better all the time we're excited about EMT laws you know a young guy in the program that more than likely red shirt but you never know um you know so deth has been good to Virginia Tech we're going to continue that yes sir coach FR actually going to ask you a personal question we know that coaches work long long hours how often do you walk your dog during the uh college football season is it just one dog or you got multiple dogs it almost sounded like two well let me tell you we got one real dog and then we got one that's four pounds walking it down the sidewalk is enough that's your wife's dog yeah you're exactly right that is her dog right you got the big dog and she's got the small dog but are you responsible for the dog during the regular season no I'm not no no no no there's none of this I'm running home at lunch to let the dogs out right uh all right coach uh we're pumped man uh this is going to be great of course we air the games and uh we want to get you on again uh in the next few weeks but good luck against Vandy hey I appreciate you I got a question for you guys have you seen our billboard up over there with our DMV guys oh where is it no is it exactly do you know I I I don't know exactly but it's been up about a week so you got to check it out all right we'll be on a lookout but our listeners when you if you tell us where it is they'll tell us yeah there you go got to give us the address it might not be on our commute yeah we'll find it billboard now telling you we'll find it we're proud of it highlights a bunch of guys from up that way appreciate y'all all right thank you you coach thanks thanks a lot Bud coach pry third season at Virginia Tech improved them from three and eight to eight and six last year with that bowl win it's unbelievable how you're all in on Tech now you are just all in it's great both of his daughters went there spent a lot of time there spent a lot of money um yeah you're right because I was not a hoke fan for many many years yeah you're all in now great all in man yeah and he's easy to talk to he's a nice guy he's great