Virginia Tech football head coach Brent Pry and running back Marcellous Hawkins joined Zach Mackey and Mike Burnop on Thursday’s edition of Tech Talk Live.
The Hokies are 0-2 and have an opportunity to bounce back this weekend as they host Old Dominion at 7 p.m. ET /on Saturday in Lane Stadium (ACC Network).
Brent Pry
Coach, thanks for coming out and joining us.
Happy to be here. Thanks to everybody for coming out tonight and everybody listening.
What stood out to you as you went through film from the Vanderbilt game?
We made too many mistakes in the second half. The only thing that was really a trend, there were a lot of guys who were trying to do more than what we ask them to do. After that first drive, they started reaching and stretching and getting out of their gaps. Just do your job, do your 1/11th. There was a lot of encouraging things on that film, a lot of good stuff in that first half in all three phases. Clearly, against a good team that Vanderbilt has, you can’t make the mistakes we made in the second half. And it just compounded. We had some injuries up front so we couldn’t protect and we’re going three-and-out. Then the defense is on the field for extended drives. They fed each other in the wrong way.
Touch on the first half. It was going well.
It really was. We were balanced, spread the ball around. That first drive was 14 plays. It couldn’t have started any better for us. I do think that we had opportunities to make that a touchdown, and we’ve got to do that wherever we can against a good team. We were better in the red zone, we had two touchdowns down there. We also settled for field goals twice.
You said that Kyron Drones gets his confidence from running the football. Have you ever been around other quarterbacks that are like that?
Honestly, he’s the first guy. I’ve been a defensive guy and I’ve seen tough guys. We obviously have a plan for him to protect himself a little bit better when he runs the ball, where we call his number and all of those things. I told him going into the season, “I’m going to give you one or two. I know what it does for you, I know you want to hit somebody.” That first DB that he got a hold of, he was shaking his head on the ground. I wasn’t sure that he was going to get up and get back in the game. He does feed off of that, he gains confidence, he’s a tough guy, he’s physical. I thought he was pretty smart, too. He took a shot on the goal line, but he’s come out of these first two weeks pretty banged up and bruised, but healthier than maybe last year at this time. We have to be able to run him.
Vanderbilt had four first-half possessions and turned it over twice. It only had seven all of last year. That had to feel good, even with the long touchdown on the broken play.
That’s disappointing again. Even if they hadn’t gained the momentum in the second half, it’s a much closer ball game much later in the game if we don’t give them a freebie right there. That’s Cover 3, a pretty easy one to execute and we didn’t get it done. Make them earn everything they get. We know the quarterback is a good player, he’s done it against everybody. I thought the interception was great team defense. There were two guys, Ben Bell and Kody Huisman, both who had great rush on [Diego] Pavia. He threw a bad ball and Quentin Reddish made a heck of a play and made a nice catch. Then you follow it up with a good gang tackle and a big hit in there and the ball comes out and you get a red-zone turnover.
Those are the things you have to do against good teams. That was the message to the guys: ‘Listen, things that we’re doing well, we’ve got to continue to do. We’ve got to cover and punch so much better in this game. Every single one of them. We’ve got to continue to do that, can’t take a step backwards. The things we’re doing well, we’ve got to keep doing well. Let’s improve on the things that are correctable, let’s keep improving with technique and getting some of these younger guys better.’
Did you feel like in the second half it kind of compounded on itself with the defense being out there so long?
It really did. You’re three-and-out offensively, you’re not getting the stops you need. That second drive that Vanderbilt had, we had a second-and-18 and then a third-and-9, we didn’t get off the field. We had a third-and-8 and didn’t get off the field, a third-and-seven too. There were opportunities to end drives and we made it too easy on them.
The chunk plays really got the best of you. You talk all the time about limiting them.
Absolutely, and that’s where they kicked our butt. We got them into some long yardage situations, which is what you want. When they’re off schedule and behind the sticks, that’s when you kind of lick your chops. We had a guy out of position a couple of times, we had a guy trying to do too much, I think Sam [Siefkes] would like to have a call or two back in those situations. There’s a couple that they earned, which I get that, they’re going to do that.
Give us an update on the injury situation regarding the offensive line.
We’re still a work in progress. We’ve got a couple of guys that are really questionable right now. The first guy we had to pull was Montavious [Cunningham]. He’s got something that he’s battling right now. He wasn’t playing well enough with the injury, we felt like it was in his best interest and ours. He comes out of the game and then Johnny Garrett gets hurt right before the half. Brody Meadows didn’t dress, [Jaden] Muskrat dressed but couldn’t play. We’ve got some guys that need to step up at that position. That’s going to be the case for the next couple of weeks, we’re pretty beat up there. I like Tomas [Rimac], [Kyle] Altuner and Layth [Ghannam]. They played their best games. They’ve got to be the cog, the guys that elevate everybody up there. Get that whole five playing together.
Tomas has really made himself available wherever he’s needed, hasn’t he?
That’s the thing right now, he may have to play some guard for us, he may have to play left tackle, he may have to play right tackle. He’s smart, he’s mature, he’s a man of few words. I’m very glad he’s with us. He is a large human that’s got experience. He strains, he can move people, he’s got pretty good feet, he’s a guy that will play at the next level.
For 21 plays in his first time out there, Aidan Lynch didn’t do so bad.
I told him today at practice that the nerves are over. He’s no longer a redshirt freshman. Get ready, I’m not giving you any grace. He’s a tough kid. Great parents, he came to Tech for the right reasons. He’s big, but he’s still got to get stronger. He’s got a great frame on him, he’s very conscientious, he’s only going to get better week-by-week.
How reliable has the kicking game been for you guys?
It’s everybody. I don’t know if you saw Kyle Lowe’s kickoffs, he had one out the back of the end zone, he hit a cheerleader I believe. I told him if he put one in the stands, there would be a nice steak dinner for him. He’s got a heck of a leg and it’s good to see him being consistent right now. Nick [Veltsistas], for a first-time starter, he’s really stepped up and been consistent. He’s pretty good with hangtime and distance. I like what he’s doing. And then obviously John [Love], he just keeps elevating his game. I’m so proud of him and what he brings to the program. Like I said last week, you’re going to have to show me a guy out there that’s more accomplished and means more to a team than John Love.
How about Tucker Holloway getting involved in the offense?
Tuck’s worked his butt off to get back. Pretty good injury, he’s been very dedicated, he’s tough, he’s gotten bigger and stronger. We’ve got to get him going in the return game, we talked about that all week, that’s a weapon for us. We’ve worked really hard, when we get the opportunity for him to touch the ball, we’ve got to make the most of it.
What about the vertical game on offense? Would you like to see more attacking down the field?
I think so. We talked and there really wasn’t an opportunity in the first half with the way we were dishing the ball around and having success, it just wasn’t right. In the second half, when we knew we were kind of shorthanded up front, let’s look at our protections and give Donavon [Greene] and Ayden [Greene] a chance. Kyron’s got the arm to put it down the field, and I think we threw it down the field once and it was PI. We certainly talked about that because that should be a weapon for us. That is one of our strengths to me, throwing the ball up. We need to do more of that.
Touch a little bit on Ja’Ricous Hairston.
He only played about 13 plays. He had a winning grade, he did a nice job. He’s coming all the time, he’s a guy that keeps getting better. I think in the day and age of the transfer portal, everybody wants to see quick success, he’s a guy that walked on here and earned a scholarship and he just keeps getting better and keeps improving. If he stays at it, he’ll be a really good player for us. He’s athletic, he’s tough, he works like crazy. We saw what he can do a little bit on Saturday. He’s only going to get better and better. Great family, local boy, I’m happy for him.
Twelve different guys were targeted offensively on Saturday. Do you sit down with the staff and talk about wanting to get the ball in this players hands more?
We like the way we spread the ball around. As a defensive play-caller, that’s tough. When you can zero in on a guy or two and you can take them out of it, it makes them [one dimensional]. When you can spread the ball around… [Isaiah] Spencer, [Cam] Seldon, Terion [Stewart], Hawkins, Holloway, Donavon — you’ve got a lot of guys that can do a lot. I thought we established the run with those backs and with Kyron. He ran pretty smart, protected himself, with the exception of the first couple, which he gets a pass for those. I think that’s an element that we need in our offense. Right now, if you’re Old Dominion, you’re working on that. You have to figure out how to defend the quarterback runs just like we’re doing with them.Marcellous Hawkins is going to come in after you leave. Talk about him and his game.
He’s a small college guy that transferred in here, he didn’t play a lot last year, he had an injury. When we watched his film, he really fit the type of back we wanted with a well-rounded guy. When I got the chance to meet him and his family, great energy, very positive, very determined. You talk about a guy that had next to nothing on resources, locker room and meals, he was at a D-II school, and you bring him into Virginia Tech, where he’s pretty well taken care of. He’s just flourished, he appreciates it. He had a minor injury in the spring that kept him from showcasing some things early, but we’ve certainly gotten excited about him. I thought he ran the ball pretty well in Week 1. We challenged him to break a few more tackles and run a little harder, I thought he did that too.You mentioned in your Tuesday press conference that you had 11 things down on your notepad. Minor breakdowns, that kind of thing?
Gap accountability, losing leverage. The biggest trend we had was guys trying to do too much, it’s tough seeing that. When things don’t go well, guys start trying to make a play outside of their framework. I tell guys all the time, I told Micah Parsons for two straight years, ‘I need you to be where you’re supposed to be for those first two seconds and then let your instincts take over.’ We didn’t do that. We had guys pre-snap making their mind up that they were going to do something outside of what Sam was asking them and it got us in more trouble.Have you ever called a play that you knew was not going to work? I mean, at some point, the players have to have some responsibility to do their 1/11th.
Listen, nobody does it intentionally. We showed a video to the team today, it was Bill Belichick and Nick Saban on the sideline. I introduced it saying, ‘Arguably the greatest college coach and the greatest NFL coach.’ The video ran for two-and-a-half minutes. It was them on the sideline and all it was is them saying, ‘Do your job’ over the years with the Patriots. The head coach of these teams that have won championships and Super Bowls, do your job. You just need all 11. You can make the wrong call as a play-caller, but if all 11 do it and do their job, it’s got a chance of being pretty good. I think it resonates with the guys, that was the message. It’s hard to play good defense, especially when somebody isn’t where they’re supposed to be.How do you walk the fine line of getting after the players and building confidence in them?
A lot of thought goes into that. You have to hold them accountable for the things that we didn’t do right. It’s not a secret. There’s no room for sensitivity. You don’t have to be disrespectful, you don’t have to rant, really. ‘Listen, man, you know where you were supposed to be. Why weren’t you there?’ Then you have to get the honest answer so you can get better from it. The thing about it is there’s a lot to be encouraged about. You can take elements of South Carolina and elements of Vanderbilt and put it out there against anybody and feel like you have a chance to be competitive and be in the game in the fourth quarter. That’s what we leaned into.I’ve been doing it long enough and I explained it to the team at the beginning of the week. You can go back to teams here at Virginia Tech and 1995 — Coach [J.C.] Price was playing, [Coach Pierson] Prioleau was playing. The same team that lost to a very average Cincinnati group in Week 2 is the same team that beat Texas 11 weeks later in the Sugar Bowl. It’s just about getting better each week and becoming the team you can be. We’re more of the team that played well against South Carolina and the first half of Vanderbilt than we are the noise and negativity. We’ve got to keep working to improve.
When do you get a feel about how a team handles adversity?
We have good leaders, and I’ve been saying that all offseason. Those guys are driving this thing. I’m helping them, the coaches are helping them, but those guys are driving this thing. They’re not going to settle for anything less than our standards and expectations. I feel good about that. We have a good challenge against Old Dominion, that’s a good football team. They were in it all the way to the end against Indiana. If you watched the game, Indiana blocked a punt and returned a punt, otherwise that thing is neck-and-neck in the fourth quarter. We got our hands full with this group, their quarterback had two explosive 70-plus yard runs for touchdowns. One of those quarterbacks had one of those against us last year. They’re a good group and Ricky [Rahne] does a good job. They’ll come in here, and like I say all the time, a lot of those guys would like to be playing in Tech uniforms, so it’s their Super Bowl. They’ve got something to prove.
Colton Joseph is the leading rushing quarterback in the country right now. How do you approach that?
You have to defend that guy like crazy. Sometimes one hat isn’t enough. You put a defensive end on him, even a guy like Ben Bell or [Keyshawn] Burgos, he can give them a little juke and all the sudden he’s around the corner. They spread you out with their formations so you don’t have a lot of depth to your defense because those guys are out there covering those stacks. They do a nice job schematically, and he’s a heck of a runner. Indiana’s no slouch and he took two the distance on him.
It was sad to see the news about Jason Henderson, the Monarchs’ great linebacker who had to medically retire.
Those things break your heart. He was a competitor and a great linebacker. He stayed loyal to Ricky and those guys at Old Dominion. Sometimes you get those injuries that are super tough to come back from no matter how hard you battle and battle. I wish him the best. I know a lot about him from competing against him and also from Ricky. If he wants to get in the coaching business, he’s certainly got an ear over here that will try to make it work for him.
What do you see about that defense as a whole?
Stingy. That’s the best red-zone defense I’ve seen in a little while. They were good against us last year. Indiana had first-and-goal at the 1-yard line and didn’t score. These guys are a really good red-zone defense, arguably one of the best.
ODU has only allowed two touchdowns in nine red-zone drives. That’s pretty good.
I think they’re leading the country or right there in the top five. We’ve got to have a good plan when we get down there inside that 10-yard line. We need a good plan to score touchdowns and not run John Love out there.
Interesting start to the year. You coached against Shane Beamer, who used to be here; Vanderbilt, who you used to coach for; and now against your good buddy, Ricky Rahne.
I think I’m too nice to all of those guys. They’re talking crap on me behind my back and I’m just being buddy-buddy with them.
How’s practice been?
It’s been good. The guys are resilient. I say it every time: After a tough loss, these kids bounce back quicker than we do. As coaches, we go into our little fortress in Merryman and gameplan and we don’t have to go anywhere with DoorDash. We can have lunch brought to us. The players are out there on campus, in town, at their apartment complexes, they’re out there hearing the noise. I tell them to keep their chin up and be prideful. Tell people that we’re going to get it.
Is it nice to have a captain like Kelvin Gilliam that can put a little fire under the guys?
We had a guy getting sideways in practice yesterday. He’s a pretty good player, and they got all over him. Him and Caleb [Woodson], they’re out there being bold and all this and then you look back and there’s Kemari [Copeland] standing there and he’s got their back. We have really good leadership. To me, that’s really important. There’s a lot of season left and these guys are doing a great job with that.
Another night game in Lane Stadium on Saturday. Walk us through what the next 48 hours look like.
We had a no sweat Thursday with a bunch of walk-throughs. We’re out there for about an hour and 15 minutes, special teams, offense and defense. We’ll crank it up tomorrow. Fast Friday, everybody hitting 85 percent of their max speed. We’re out there for about an hour and 15 minutes with helmets and spider pads. Last-minute things. More than anything it’s polish and rehearsal. There shouldn’t be many mistakes. We go through a lot of situations in the kicking game, offense, defense and even punt after safety. Onside kicks, onside prevent, two-minute defense, two-minute offense, victory, all of that stuff so when we hit that situation, we’ve practiced it.
After practice and a couple of meetings, we go to the hotel. We’ll have dinner and tomorrow Chief [Anthony] Wilson and Tomas are giving their share to the team. They’ll get up and talk and hopefully share something pretty personal with the group. We’ll have some motivational videos and different things. Then on Saturday, since it’s a night game, in the afternoon we do a walk-through with the offense while the defense meets and then we flip-flop for a defense walk-through while the offense meets. Then we have a bus that comes over to Merryman, those guys can jump on that bus do recovery. Contrast, cold tubs, roll it out, stretch. They spend an hour doing that and then they come back to the hotel for the pregame meal, last thoughts and let’s go.
How did the visits go last week and how many do you have this weekend?
We followed up, we do call night on Wednesday nights. We jump on the phones for an hour, hour-and-a-half and talk to these guys. They were so complimentary and so excited about the atmosphere in Lane Stadium, it was awesome. Those kids want to play in that type of environment, and we offer that. A bunch of guys that we’re recruiting pretty hard had some good experiences.
Got a bunch coming this weekend?
We do. Still got a big group, we capped last weekend off. We wanted to keep it where we could do a nice job with the guys that were there so we funneled them to this weekend and next. There’s still some good guys coming in.
