<body><div><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=2A4snI_0vJQPrcJ00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=2A4snI_0vJQPrcJ00" width="1200" height="628" ><h2>Brent Pry met with the media on Tuesday. Here is everything he said</h2>Virginia Tech Head Coach met with the media on Tuesday as the Hokies look to turn the page after being upset on the road by Vanderbilt over the weekend. "Obviously, we're all very disappointed in the outcome of the game in Nashville. You know, we didn't play well enough or coach well enough to win the game, and they did. They outplayed us and out-coached us. I give those guys credit. We have to be better. We have to have a better plan. It doesn't take away from how tremendous Hokie Nation was. The turnout was incredible. We all appreciate it as players and coaches and understand how special it is. We're very, very fortunate that way. We all look forward to the crowd for our first home game against Marshall. The students, student section, a sellout crowd. It's a special deal being back in Lane Stadium, and we're looking forward to celebrating the 99 team. You don't have many opportunities to celebrate a team that played for a national championship, and we'll do that, which is special. There's a lot of personal ties to the Marshall program for our team, for our program, for our staff, for our players. It's meaningful and this is a good team we're playing.[They are] A group that's beaten Notre Dame recently, that's beaten us, that's taken North Carolina State to the wire. We're gonna get to our best effort. They're well-coached. Coach Huff does a good job. I expect it to be a good football game."In the 20 minutes with the media, Pry gave a few injury updates, talked about Virginia Tech's slow start in Nashville, and gave his thoughts on the upcoming contest against Marshall. The entire transcript of Pry's press conference can be found below.(If accessing this story from the VTSCOOP Message Board, please click the link below to see the entire transcript.)On the Sunday practice after a loss like Saturday'sI think, first of all, it's addressing what we what we felt like was not where it needed to be. From a coaching standpoint, owning that with our team. From a player standpoint, owning it with one another. You have to kinda get to a place where you can be you know, make the corrections, make the adjustments when you get out there on the field. I think the guys did a great job with that. We're not out there banging heads on Sundays. It was still a physical game, we got guys who banged up with some nicks and bruises, but we make the corrections, we get in a good head space, and then we move on to the next opponent and dive into those guys. On Jalen Stroman's injury timeline to returnI don't know that yet. I foresee him missing a couple of weeks in this.On what that does to the safety position?Obviously, it's increased reps for Jaylen Jones, for Mose (Phillips), and for Quentin Reddish. Y]His snap count is gonna jump way up, and he'll play both the field and the boundary. And then we we've continued to train Mansoor there because of situations like this. He got snaps in camp. He was in some meetings. He's been involved there. We'll increase that. And then we've also got a situation with Braylon Johnson, Devin Alves, where we're giving those guys some opportunities, possibly even Kaleb Spencer, to play a little bit in that boundary. We've gotta find that 4th guy right now. If it gets into an injury situation, you know, Mansoor is the next guy right now, but to be the 4th guy going into the game, Mansoor's going to be your starting corner. So, somebody else has to step up and do that. On the offensive lineI think in the run game, we need to be more physical. They were shooting gaps and doing some things that we hadn't expected, and it slowed us down a little bit. I think we gotta come off the ball, be more aggressive, be more physical. At moments, we looked pretty good in the run game. We were head on head. We were moving people. And then in the throw game, I think we got beat a little bit too often. They had a little bit too much success rushing the quarterback that we'd like to see.On the OL communication in Game 1 and R. Freshman Layth GhannamThere was a few communication issues, not many. And I thought Layth, for the most part, in his first start did a pretty good job.On the linebacker depth chart in Week 2We thought Keli (Lawson) played harder, faster, what we need. Made some plays in the game, by any means he didn't play perfect or even great, but made some plays that that opened our eyes, and he's done that throughout camp. That's been a close battle with him and JK (Jaden Keller). The other piece is just a little more onus on JK at Mike to be a good compliment to Sam (Brumfield). And then the last piece is Caleb Woodson has done a nice job. He did a he did some good things in the game and deserves more snaps. On the slow starts offensivelyWe certainly dug ourselves in a hole. Nobody wants to do that. I think the mythodical drive that Vanderbilt had to start was deflating for the defense, and then to turn around in your 1st possession on offense, it's an interception. You get into 3rd and 8, you got a chance for a big sudden change stop and they make a nice throw and catch and they score, and you're down to 10 nothing. I think the momentum went their way pretty quick. We got on our heels a little bit, and it took too long to recover. We made some nice adjustments last year in how we started practice, and we did that this camp. Most practice we started with a competitive period to get the guys going. I think when you start slow, you have to have a momentum swing. You know, and I talked about it with the staff. We need to be aggressive as play callers in those situations, and we need to go make plays. You know, just swing it back, to get out of that thing quicker than we did. On the first half film review and what changes you would make if you could go backThere's a lot, obviously. You know, the first half certainly wasn't up to our expectations. Not how I expected us to start the game. I think their quarterback did a nice job. There were some differences with formations and things that we hadn't seen, and they were methodical. They stayed on schedule that first draft. You know, I still saw it as a positive to force the field goal. I don't know that our players felt that way. And then, you wanna answer offensively. You wanna go answer. We had an inside screen call that looked like it was gonna be pretty good. They had an inside blitz call. Their linebacker did a nice job, knocked the ball up in the air. D tackle makes a nice play. All of a sudden, you know, they're in the red zone knocking on the door. And we get into 3rd and 8, you know, an opportunity to get a sudden change stop, and our coverage isn't exactly what it needs to be. They make a nice throw and catch, and all of a sudden, it's 10 nothing. But, you know, we didn't get enough possessions offensively. That's certainly obvious. The last possession truly of, you know, the half was the 2 minute, which I wasn't happy with that, but we had the long drive that resulted in a field goal. We'd like to see 4 or 5 possession for offense to have a chance to kind of get it going. On Jaylen JonesI think Jaylen played with more confidence, and I think he played the way he practiced all camp. I can't say that for everybody right now, but I think he did a nice job of bringing everything, all the improvements he made, he brought that into game 1. It should be a confidence builder for him as well. Obviously, we're going to rely on him even more now with the Jalen situation.On TE Nick GalloHe's questionable. Unlikely, but questionable.On the helmet communicationI asked Kyron (Drones) And Collin (Schlee). It was just sometimes, it was about hearing it. It wasn't loud enough in the headset. You'll see them (cover the ear holes), and I saw it a lot watching some games, covering the ear holes to be able to hear it well. So, we talked about making sure our volume is what it needs to be. And when we're speaking in the mic, it was nice and loud and clear, so that there it doesn't have to be a repeat of it. But for the most part, it was pretty good, On preparing for Marshall's multiple quarterbacksYeah. I think we broke down both quarterbacks. We looked at their, you know, their film. They both played a couple of games at the prior institution. We looked at those. We looked at what they did in this game against Stony Brook. It was a little bit different with each guy, but there was a lot of similarities as well. So, I think you gotta study them independently, and that's what we've done. They're both pretty talented guys.On the defensive lineI thought that unit played well, to be quite honest. There weren't enough of a factor in the game. It was more of a perimeter issue defensively, but, I thought they played well, and the rotation was good. It was healthy. I thought Kemari (Copeland) came in, who's really been penciled in as the 5th D tackle right now, and made some good plays and earned more playing time. But I thought all those guys played well. On Kelvin Gilliam's playI thought he did a nice job. Another guy that had a good camp that carried it into the first game. I think there's 5 guys there right now that, you got a healthy rotation in all of them. JC's done a good job. All of them can play nose or 3 technique. I can't say that you've always been able to do that, here or at other places. It's challenging initially, but it helps you down the stretch, and we're fortunate to be in that place.On what Huntington, WV means to Brent Pry and his familyIt means a ton. I spent a couple years there, marriage student housing. My folks got married at 18 and had me, and, you know, that's kind of where it all started. Marshall is very near and dear to my father. It's his experience going there, why he chose Marshall, being on that, you know, the Young Thundering Herd. Taking him to that game last year, he walked around campus and walked around town, and it was emotional for him. So it means a ton. You know? And I think about Frank Loria and just what he means to this place. I mean, just there's so much that, when you dive into it that I don't ever wanna you know, we gotta go be 1 and 0 and win this game, but, man, there's a lot of layers that are emotional about Marshall, for myself, for family, for this team, for this school. So I got a lot of respect for Marshall. On his memories of Virginia Tech's 1999 seasonJust watching it on TV. Obviously, stayed close and was very proud. I remember the fourth quarter and coverage adjustment and all the things that you think about as a coach and Florida State kind of took the lead or got back in it right there at the end. But, I know it's a it's a big piece of the tradition around here. We certainly speak of it on the recruiting trails and with our team. So I'm anxious. I'm excited that we're celebrating that group. They deserve it as coaches and players.On the passing game being more horizontal in the first half against Vanderbilt than in the second halfWe wanted to work the perimeter, saw that as a strength and opportunity, to get those guys the ball out on the perimeter to open up the inside run game and make sure they're defending the whole field. And we weren't successful enough. Perimeter blocking, execution wasn't good enough. And at the same time, we always want us to threaten the field vertically as well and there were some plays called, and we got soft coverage, and Kyron checked the ball down, which he should've, that prevented maybe a big play down the field. But, we know we have to do that. You know, that that's gotta be one of our strengths, is throwing the ball, pushing the ball down the field. We saw that in the second half, and, I think as coaches and as the head coach, I gotta make sure that that happens early in the game and we're consistent with it.On the hit on Da'Quan Felton in overtimeThey felt like it was clean, and we looked at it on film. Their defender was going for the ball, and the collision occurred. You know, there were some other plays we turned in, but that one was hard to justify. I mean, I was worried about Quan in the moment. You know, I didn't see it precisely enough to know. It was just a heck of a hit, a heck of a collision. I'm glad he's okay. I'm glad he bounced up, because often enough, you see it go the other way there.On if he feels his players were in the right headspace after an offseason of national level hype surrounding Virginia TechWe've certainly talked about that the last couple days. As a reminder for the team, I think you never know for sure. But, we talked about it. You can't be there. You can't ever feel like you're better than you are. You hear me say all the time, humble and hungry. They seemed in a good head space in that locker room. I think the way the game started kinda deflated things. I think there was respect for Vanderbilt. I know as a coaching staff, we did. We certainly preached that with our team. But, you know, it's my job as a head coach to make sure that we come out guns blazing and playing really tough and really hard, and I don't think we did that. It wasn't long into the game where I felt like we lost that, and it took too long to get it back. On Takye HeathI liken him to a young J Lane. He's got ability to catch the short ball and make something happen with it. You can hand him the ball or pitch him the ball. He's got a he's got a really good skill set. He demonstrated that in camp. He was playing his best football. Had a minor injury that set him back for a couple days. But, like with a lot of these new players, you give them just a small opportunity and see what they do with it, and then it can grow from there. And I think Takye is a guy that showed us in in big moments in a game that he can make a play. So I look for him to be part of what we do offensively moving forward.On what positives, if any, he took away from VanderbiltFirst of all, I love the resiliency. It's not easy for a team to battle back. You know, it's 17-3, and to come out and find a way, not just to come back tied again, but take the lead. Obviously, we gotta finish better, but, we were able to do that. I'm proud of that. I think Kyron, it's kinda lost in in the loss, but was a career best completions, career best passing yardage in a half, really. He did some good things, and he wouldn't be happy with his performance. But, and there were some bright spots, you know, across the roster from a personnel standpoint. Some things that occurred that get us excited about some guys that we'll be able to count on. And I think just growth and development throughout the experience. I mean, we understand the expectations, and, we're certainly disappointed. What we can do is invest and get better and learn from it and have a heck of a week and go be a better team this Saturday. We have to be. I haven't lost confidence in our team. I'm excited about our football team. Certainly not what we expected and not what I expected, not what they expected. They're as disappointed as anybody. So I do expect a great week of practice and improved performance on Saturday.Injury update on Will JohnsonWill's gonna be out for a little while. Yeah. Tough guy, starter on 4 special teams, ultimate team guy, pretty tough injury, tough guy. I knew when I saw him kinda in agony out there, it wasn't something minor, because otherwise he would have bounced up, limped off if he had to. So he's gonna be out of commission for a little bit. We hope to get him back at some point down the stretch.On Benji GosnellFirst of all, I loved you know, he could've hung his head when he dropped that first one, which would have been a touchdown. Man, he bounced back and made some big plays for us, and showed his toughness, you know, yards after the catch and but, also, he did a much better job in the run game, against a pretty good couple defenses that had some size and were bending down in there. Benji was making good contact, good leverage. So, I think it's a great game for him to build on. I was happy for him and excited to see him continue to grow and develop.</div></body>

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Brent Pry disappointed, ready for the home opener against Marshall

Brent Pry met with the media on Tuesday. Here is everything he said. Virginia Tech Head Coach met with the media on Tuesday as the Hokies look to turn the page after being upset on the road by Vanderbilt over the weekend. \"Obviously, we're all very disappointed in the outcome...

Brent Pry met with the media on Tuesday. Here is everything he said. Virginia Tech Head Coach met with the media on Tuesday as the Hokies look to turn the page after being upset on the road by Vanderbilt over the weekend. "Obviously, we're all very disappointed in the outcome...

Brent Pry disappointed, ready for the home opener against Marshall

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