2025 Hokies Preview Panel: Segment 1

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:56):
And welcome back to the BoundaryCorner podcast, a part of the
College Huddle Nettler, along with my partners Brian Siegler,
Dalvin Talley and Shelton Moss, I am Curtis Wilson.
This episode, as always is brought to you by Doctor Jeremy
Counts down at the Counts FamilyPharmacy, your friendly
neighborhood pharmacy Three O 71S Main St. in Blacksburg.

(01:17):
Also brought to you now by the Moments on the Maury.
You're looking for the weekend getaway but still need to make
it to Blacksburg for the game. The Moments of the Maury is
exactly what you are looking for.
On by a proud hokey and located just outside West Virginia,
little over hour drive from Blacksburg, it gives it all to
you, fishing, kayaking, canoeingor just relaxing by or in the

(01:38):
river right out the back door. Check out the link in our
comments section and on their Instagram page.
At Moments on the Maury fellas, A tradition unlike any other is
graced us once again. We're back, baby.
We're back baby. 2025 Hokies preview panel It's it's

(02:00):
something. This is what fear for.
We're year 4 at this point. I think we started back in back
in 22 was the first one we did. 22 the night that it was 11
people on screen at once. Yeah, yeah, we got a little
better about what we're doing asfar as layout is concerned.
But and also thankfully the the software we used to do this

(02:23):
thing has gotten better in the process to make make what we do
look a little bit cleaner, but. You know what?
First year, it's kind of crazy. Yeah.
This thing has gotten so much better because I'm pretty sure I
wasn't on that first year. I don't know if Sheldon was on
that first year. Oh, me and Shelton wasn't on it.
It was trash. Hey, it's got much better.

(02:44):
It's got much better year after year, baby.
Well. Trash was improved.
No, I'm joking. Shelton how you doing man
tonight? Dude, I've been good, man.
We're we're getting closer to gotime here with the with the
season. Obviously my season 2, but I
was, I was, I was thinking as I was driving, driving back home,
You know, it's like no matter what happens in the football

(03:06):
offseason, whether it's positiveor negative or neutral, I feel
like once August rolls around, you always get that super
excited feeling inside of you that football's finally back and
it's really a feeling like no other sport can really provide.
And so I'm just glad that all the offseason negativity has
sort of faded away and we're kind of start, you know,
starting to get back in to thinkof things here.

(03:27):
And we could. We can just watch some ball.
Ain't that the truth? I have to agree with you 100%
regardless. Like right now, you're at that
point where if you've been upsetwith the team, you're getting
less upset, right? Tally?
Tally's been, you know, Tally was fart on him, but it's
getting closer. He's interviewed some players,
he talked with some people, he'sseen some shit and now it's, you

(03:48):
know, we are what, 10 days, 11 days, 11 days, 11 days to go
time. 11 days to go time man. Like Sheldon said though, man,
it's all about like sports fan, just life, you know what I'm
saying? Like whenever football comes
around, you know that the season's changing.
Like here in Huntsville, it started like a storm came

(04:11):
through today. So it went from like 92 to 80
within like an hour. I was like, oh, OK, maybe fall's
coming around. So you know what I'm saying,
with football brings fall, with fall brings, you know, the
leaves changing colors and things like that, 'cause my wife
don't really care about football, but she loves fall
time. So yeah, it's that time, man, we

(04:33):
are. It is almost upon us.
Yes, it is. And tonight as always with the
panel, we have got some of the best in basically the Hokie you
can call it podcast, you can call it writing, you can call it
everything. These are guys are some of the
best out there. The world.
In the. World in the world, Curtis.
Best hokey guys in the world. We got 2 panels tonight.

(04:57):
Let's bring on and, and The thing is that what I love about
it, all six of them, it's it's no longer like we were talking
in here before we jump on, it's like a reunion, like family
reunion. We haven't seen everybody in a
while, you know, talk to everybody, but it's like family
reunion. I love it.
Let's bring them on and introduce them real quick.
Boom, boom, boom. Before we get into it, starting

(05:19):
first here, Mike McDaniel of theHokie Hangover Podcast, the BC,
the BC Podcast, ACC Sons of Saturday Hoops, still writing
for Sports Illustrated, still a father.
As Tally said to him, he looked a lot older.
Good to see you, Mike. Still getting carried though.

(05:39):
Still go carried though. All good.
That's a good all good. In the middle layer, managing
editor of Tech Sideline D Connor.
What is up my man? Hey, this is you guys were
talking about a tradition unlikeany other.
It's an honor to be back. I always enjoy chatting with you
guys. Thanks for having me.

(06:00):
All right. Hey, DCDC got the hat, the side
kind of hat, the hat kind of sideways today.
So I know he's feeling pretty good.
He's feeling. Good.
He got a little sun there too, last but.
Not for practice though. Not from practice.
We can get into that in a secondLast, but certainly not Lee, Co

(06:21):
host of the Victory Live podcast.
Man did some play by playing screen games.
It's always good to have him back.
Danny knows what's going on. Not too much, guys.
Like David said, it's an honor and a privilege to be back on
one of the best traditions in inHokies football before the
season. And and it's an honor also to be
a part of such an awesome community of, of creators that

(06:43):
love this team and love this program and, and love their alma
mater. So hopefully, hopefully we could
spread a little bit of positivity, but we're also going
to be real here over the next several minutes.
You know what's real, Danny? What's that?
That mic that you got? Yeah.
Sound like a boss? Hey, hey, I, you know, I, I've

(07:05):
done a lot of radio shows in DC from this seat right here with
this microphone. I I have to at least sound like
a professional right now. Like a tone.
So Danny Noakes. Yeah, Danny Noakes.
Well, we are here. To talk about Hokies football.
So let's get that started. Brian Siegler.
Yeah, I mean, we're going to start it like this.

(07:25):
I mean, and, and you know, Danny, you alluded to it a
little bit when we talked about this being a tradition and, you
know, wanted to bring some positivity, but also wanting to
be real about expectations and kind of what we want to see this
year. I'm going to start with
offensive line. I mean, this is a we we focus on
the trenches here, you know, unabashedly.
We we definitely have have our hopes of of victory and defeat

(07:49):
kind of pinned on what's going to happen in the trenches.
So we're going to start with offensive line.
It seems like it's kind of set with the starters there with,
you know, remark and Garrett at the tackles.
You got a altooner there and Lathan and Cunningham holding
down the guard positions. I'm going to start this one,
Mike and we'll we'll go kind of around the horn here on on what

(08:10):
you guys think, but I'll start with Mike here.
In your opinion, who is the mostimportant offensive line starter
in this unit as it in terms of what's going to dictate Hokey's
success for this year? I've been beating this drum on a
couple different podcasts. It's Montavius Cunningham
because because it's the guy that we all thought last

(08:35):
offseason when he entered the portal and came to Virginia
Tech, we all thought that he wasgoing to be a guy who was going
to contribute right away. He wasn't that guy, right?
Or was he? Kind of nowhere to be found
right on an offensive line that was, I would say, suspect for a
lot of last year. Right now, he's being relied

(08:58):
upon as one of the guys to come in and contribute and, you know,
really be kind of a stalwart on a reworked offensive line with a
new coach and all these new faces.
Now, Virginia Tech's heavily relying on him.
So we can look at this one of two ways.
One, he's improved a lot. He's healthier.

(09:21):
He's in a better place, right? And it's a new coach anyway, so
maybe he's just improved and developed.
Or we can look at it as VirginiaTech had nobody else to put
there. We're going to find that answer
out really, really quickly against South Carolina.
And I think he's the most important guy all year.
Virginia Tech's had trouble, they trouble towards the end of

(09:42):
the Fuente era. They've had trouble now
obviously throughout the first three years of pry of really
having consistency up front on the offensive line, whether it
be health or just overall production.
And this is kind of a make or break year, right?
You bring in, you bring in Matt Moore to patch things up.
You bring in, you know, a host of transfers, 2 of them came

(10:03):
over with Matt Moore from West Virginia.
It, it really needs to be good right away, especially with an
offense that is going to be breaking in.
So many new faces, so many new playmakers at the skill
positions, at receiver especially, a lot of young guys
are going to have to contribute.So you've got to figure out
offensive line and most importantly got to keep Kyron

(10:25):
drones upright, which was an issue last year obviously.
And the season really started going sideways when he wasn't
healthy. Absolutely.
I agree with that. Danny, I'll let you take a
second here. Well, I think I think it's Remac
and and obviously he's probably coming in with the most
experience, you know, started all 13 games at West Virginia
last year and and Virginia Tech,despite the struggles over both

(10:47):
the last few years of Fuentes time and with with Brent prize
first few years, they they have found some gems in the transfer
portal and and they're going to need some more outside of Remac
this year. We'll get into some of the other
positions all over the rest of the offense and the defense too,
But I, I just think that he brings in a lot of experience
and is a talented player too. So I, I know our buddy Dwight

(11:10):
Vick, a former offensive linemanhimself, is, is always harping
on the offensive line, needing to be better, needing to be
aggressive, needing to have an attitude.
And he's absolutely right about that.
It's just going to make the offense's job a lot easier.
And, and Mike already talked about how important it's going
to be for Kyron drones to, to bekept upright this year, for tech

(11:31):
to, to have any decent chance at, at winning more than six
games. And not to mention their their
backfield, who there's a lot of new faces in the backfield this
year as well, But there's also alot of talent and, and a lot of
experience and other programs that's, that's going to get some
touches there that, that that'll, that Kyron Jones will
be handing the ball off too. So it's all going to start up

(11:53):
front. I think Remack is a guy that can
come in and, and could sort of establish that mentality that
they're going to need to have to, to to win football games
this season. I think if they are going to win
more than six games, it's going to have to look like classic
Virginia Tech football. They're going to need to run it
down people's throat on offense and they're going to with a few

(12:14):
big plays on the outside. And then they're going to need
to play really stout defense. So I think Remack is my guy.
Yeah, you mentioned Remack and we we obviously knew when he was
coming in, he was going to be a pivotal part of what this
offensive line was going to be about.
And we've seen we had a couple of depth charts as far as the
first unit offensive line throw out there that for whatever
reason had Remack on the left side next to Lathe and not on

(12:40):
the right like we had expected next to Cunningham.
Speaking of Cunningham, David, tell me what you think about
this one and and let me know if there's any truth to these
shuffling of the guard or if you've mostly seen Remack line
up it right there. Yeah, Remack has mostly been on
the right, exactly what you saidat the beginning.
I'll take a different route thanMike and Danny.

(13:01):
I'll go with Kyle Altuner, the center retro freshman.
He's going to start at center. And this is a guy who was
recruited originally to West Virginia by Matt Moore.
He's from Maryland, so he's a DMV guy, Our Lady of Good
Counsel, pretty good high schoolprospect.
Matt Moore, the new offensive line coach, he knows his lineman

(13:22):
and he's a guy who tons of praise for Altuner, not just
him, but Pry as well. When Brett Pry spoke with us at
ACC media day, he said he and Matt Moore had a conversation
about just what the offensive line was going to look like.
And Matt Moore said that's my guy at center, Kyle Altuner.
He's like, you're talking about retrofreshman, a guy who hasn't

(13:43):
played a snap in college and he goes, that's my guy.
And it kind of tells you the confidence that they have in him
that, you know, he hasn't touched a college football field
yet in a real game. And he's going to be this barter
and it's there's not really, there's no competition.
It's going to be him, his maturity.
The the coaches have praised that aspect.

(14:03):
Just the way he leads. He doesn't play like a like a
retrofreshman or a freshman. He he plays like a guy who's
been doing it for a long time. Danny and Mike made really good
points about how important this offense is in in in terms of the
run game in the offensive line and keeping Kyron drones
upright. A red shirt freshman in the
middle of that offensive line that that's a little bit scary,

(14:27):
but at the same time, it seems like he's going to be a guy that
they're going to be able to relyon not just for this year but
for years to come. And I think that's exciting
because you're a Virginia Tech fan and you're looking for some
young guys like who are young guys that we can watch out for
that are going to be in this program for a long time.
Remember, this is the transfer portal era.

(14:48):
I'm and go all the time. But with Matt Moore at the helm,
I feel pretty confident that that Kyle Altuner is going to be
here for a while. And Brent Pryor said that's a
guy who could potentially be a long time Virginia Tech captain
for years to come. So I'm excited if he might not
burst out of the gates in in week one against a, you know, a
really good South Carolina defense.
But I think he's going to have abig year.

(15:10):
Yeah. And I mean, when we looked to
last year, there was like a moment before I think some
injuries set in for for Altoona,where he was even, yeah, at West
Virginia potentially pushing forsome, some very early snaps.
So to see him come in here and really pick up right where he
left off before those injuries last year kind of derail, that
is it's pretty big. And I'm looking forward to it.

(15:31):
I'm going to kick it over to Shelton and let him ride with
this next one. Yeah, we're talking defense now.
Obviously it's been almost abouthalf a year since Sam Kiev has
got got hired as Virginia Tech'snew defensive coordinator.
Obviously, you know, we see it. He's very analytical and process
driven and just super detail oriented.
He talks a lot about situationalfootball.

(15:52):
So when you guys think about thedefense under Sam Tsukas, what
excites you the most about the potential of this group?
Let's start with Deacon and thengo to Danny.
Yeah. I think his ability to mix
things up and, and something that he's said that stood out to
me was, and all coaches can say this, but I think he's actually
one that's going to do it because he has done it in the

(16:14):
past is base, his defense and his game plan around what other
teams are doing. He's not just going to sit down
as the previous defensive coordinator did and run the same
stuff over and over regardless of situation.
He's a guy who will adapt as he has under his, when he was in
the NFL, under those head coaches and also in his time at

(16:36):
like Wofford, adapting to different styles of offense that
he's facing. That excites me the most.
And I think he truly understandsfrom talking with players and
talking with him and, and even Brent Pry, I, I think my feel is
that Cfkis has a very good understanding for this group's

(17:00):
personnel and how to use them and how to put them in the right
situations. And I don't think you would say
that about the previous defensive coordinator.
And I think that is an immediateuptick, an immediate boost.
Virginia Tech might not have as much talent, might not have a
necessarily an APR last like last season or a Dorian Strong

(17:21):
or a Monsoor Delaine, but I think Tech has more safety
depth. I think the defensive line,
there's a lot of really talentedguys and and a bit of depth.
I think the linebacker coaching is better and Sheldon to go back
to Sifkis. I think his ability to really
get the most out of this group is what is going to make it is

(17:42):
what is going to take this defense I think to potentially a
new level. Like, I don't think Chris Maher
was able to kind of squeeze the most juice out of this group,
even though he had a lot of talent.
I think Seifkis will do that. Danny, what about you?
What? What excites you the most?
Yeah. And, and to sort of piggyback
off of what David was saying, it's, it's just going to be so

(18:03):
crucial, especially at the beginning of the season and
particularly in this kickoff game against South Carolina, to
adapt to what they're going to do, game plan for what South
Carolina's going to bring out there.
Because Lenore Sellers is the type of player that would give
Virginia Tech fits even if Bud Foster was still around.
I mean, those mobile quarterbacks are, are for any
defensive coordinator. It doesn't matter if you're Bud

(18:24):
Foster or or Brent Venables backwhen he was still with Clemson.
Those guys are hard to game planfor.
So the ability to adapt and, andnot just to to game plan, but to
also make adjustments within thegame.
They're they're going to have tobe able to do that on the
offensive side of the ball too. And I think that's one of the
the not well, the former coaching staff because they're

(18:46):
starting with two the a new offensive and defensive
coordinator. But one of the things that they
were not always good at was making in game adjustments.
And that's something that that they're also going to, I think
be better positioned to do with Steve Kiss there at defensive
coordinator. It, it certainly can't get a
whole lot worse. But I, I, I heard someone say
the other day that they're, theythink that the linebackers of

(19:09):
this group could sort of surprise some people.
And I, I definitely think that that's true.
Guys like Jaden Keller can couldmake an impact on that side of
the ball from that, from that position from wherever they
decide to put him on the field. But again, it's going to start
up front similar to to the offensive line, right?
The defensive line, that's wherethe, the they'll be able to, you

(19:31):
know, get some things going for sure.
All right, now Mike McDaniel, otherwise known as Mid major
Mike by some, some people think that Sam Sidkis is also a mid
major defensive coordinator. What would you say to the haters
who are are skeptical of disability and what excites you
about the defense, Mike? Pry hired Chris Marv as a guy

(19:55):
who struggled recruiting at Florida State and was a middle
of the road. So I would call him mid
linebackers coach, right? And you had him be your defense
coordinator, the way I look at it, right, hiring CMC KISS from
the NFL and the experience, the guys he coached under, what they

(20:15):
were saying about him when he was hired, you know, those
coaches that worked with him at the professional level.
I don't see how this goes worse than it did the first three
years. I don't I don't see it right and
if it does go worse, probably only gain one year of it just
considering the where we're at in the tenure for pry anyway, if

(20:38):
this defense ends up being really bad, I am really excited.
Like Danny and David both just said, I'm really excited to see
if this defense is able to be flexible, right?
Are you able to change personnel?
They brought in literally a million safeties.
They, they brought in so many different guys in the secondary.

(21:00):
You know, Seekers is talking about this being multiple.
You know, do they run 425? OK, if they do that, maybe that
makes a lot of sense, right? Because you bring in all the
safeties, you brought in all thecornerback depth, you bring in
more depth on the defensive line.
Young guys are going to contribute.
I'm really excited about Kamari Copeland.
He seems like he's finally healthy.
Is he going to, you know, finally step up and be the guy

(21:20):
that we want him to be? He could be kind of an X Factor
up front. Obviously there's Calvin
Gilliam. There is some experience on the
defensive line still, even though you'd lose a guy like
APR, can you try to replace him in the aggregate, right?
Can you find a way to have some of these young guys step up and
and contribute in a meaningful way?
Danny brought up Jaden Keller. He's one of the important guys

(21:42):
on the defense. I think because of how the highs
have been so good with him and the lows have been so low.
If we get an improvement at linebacker with Xavier Adibi as
the linebackers coach, if we getan improvement there, that's
almost a bigger deal to me, right, Is, you know, Cifkis
coming in. I'm hoping with ADB, the

(22:03):
linebackers are just coached better because I think the
defense was so up and down. David and I talked about this on
my podcast, but the defense was so up and down last year.
The one thing that stood out washow poorly the linebackers
played at times, and that was obviously a position that Marv
coached. I'm really hoping that the
linebackers take a huge step forward.
I think that would really help this defense because I think

(22:24):
when Tech's been at its best in the first three years
defensively under prize. But because the linebackers
played well, right, they're filling the right gaps.
There's no questions about what they should be doing.
When they've been kind of caughtflat footed, that's when
everything's kind of gone to hell defensively.
I think back to the Syracuse game last year was a total
disaster with the linebackers. So I'm just hoping the

(22:44):
linebacker plays a lot better. And I think with the Seifkis and
ADB, the ADB addition, I'm I'm really hoping that things are
trending in a better direction there.
Good stuff. Yeah, it should be noted Mid
Major Mike was a facetious comment, but to the point about
Seifkas being at Wofford, I willsay there is a a very strong
legacy of Wofford coaches comingto Vt and having success.

(23:05):
So I'm hoping we can keep that Spartanburg pipeline going
strong here. This we know.
Yeah. Well, Mike kind of, you know,
hit on some things that we were looking at talking about anyway.
So we talked about linebackers, which is going to be very
important, you know, this year. But also, even when Brett Pratt
was hired, you know, with him being a defensive coach and

(23:28):
being in love with Michael Parsons, you know, linebacker
and stuff like that, we expect to see certain linebacker play.
So I'll ask you guys kind of, weknow that Woodson is a lot for
the most part from what I think who else is going to be kind of
a starter that you guys would belooking at on that unit when
we're talking about linebackers this?

(23:49):
Process if y'all you were there,David, I heard your voice, he
said. There's still a battle at inside
and and everybody on this panel knows Caleb Woodson is starting
the man's captain and the man's unbelievable last year.
Yeah, well, first of all, I think Caleb Woodson can be one
of the best defensive players onthis team.

(24:12):
Like, I don't, I mean, he's a he's AI believe they named him.
They named him a team captain today for a reason, like, or
this weekend for a reason. You know, he's the real deal.
Jaden Keller, It's really, does the light come on?
As Mike McDaniel said, does the light come on for Jaden Keller?
That's the big question. The two guys behind him are are

(24:32):
are competing for those spots. Antoine Santiago, he's the
Temple transfer and Michael Short, the North Carolina
transfer. They're two guys who are very
solid who have some experience yet to be seen if they're
actually going to start. But I think for a while, Tech
will at least to start. Tech will will feel pretty

(24:53):
confident about putting those guys in.
But I think it's really Keller'sspot to lose.
He's the incumbent. He's the guy who was here the
entire spring. Those two guys didn't come until
a little bit more towards the summer.
It's can he can he get better with Xavier DB as his head

(25:14):
coach? I think he can.
But I do think you'll see a pretty solid rotation with short
and and Santiago in there as well.
Also, you know, Caleb Wooden's going to need breaks eventually.
And then the other name in the in the linebacker room I'd keep
an eye on is Noah Chambers. He's the the the Maryland kid

(25:34):
from Damantha. I don't know that he would he'll
play this year, but he's a guy who has made some plays in
practice. He there was a pass rushing
drill where he absolutely blew up a line, a running back and
knocked him into Elijah Brooks, the running backs coach.
Again, I don't know if he'll play this year, but they I think
I feel better about the linebackers than I have in the
last couple years. And it's funny, somebody just

(25:56):
asked about about Chambers. I don't know if he'll, he's very
young. He might need to put on some
weight red shirt, as my colleague Chris Coleman would
say. But I think I think the
linebackers are more well-rounded and there's more
depth this year. I think there's also this theme
with Tech just all over the field where they've been
consistently inconsistent over the first three years of Brent

(26:17):
Prize era. And and for a guy like Jaden
Keller, who we've already talkeda good bit about, if you're
specifically looking that linebacker position, him needing
to be consistent is going to be tremendously important this
season. And, and David mentioned the
position battle he's sort of in right now.
I think if he loses that position battle, you're in a
little bit of trouble. And, and hopefully in that

(26:38):
scenario, it's more about the guys behind him playing well
than it would be about Keller struggling.
Because I think in, in reality, you're going to see all of them
on the field and you're going toneed all of them on the field
at, at different points throughout the season.
There's going to get guys that are going to get banged up.
There's, there's going to be different packages for different
guys get on the field for a different time during the game

(26:58):
depending on the scenario. So I, I just, I look at him and,
and it's already been said, the highest of highs, the lowest of
lows. Those high highs, though, sure
are sweet. And the guy, he looks like a
ball hawk. He he can fly over the all over
the field when, when he's, he's mentally prepared to do so.
So I, I just, it's hard for me to take my eyes off of him and,

(27:19):
and what Keller can do this year.
Well, let me you know. I agree with what Danny says,
but for the most part, but whenever you start looking at
stuff, I mean, no, I, I wasn't saying that to be, you know,
crazy, But I'm just saying like when you start to look at like
players who have been at a school a while, you know, or

(27:40):
even captain or you know, who goes and talks to the media or
who goes the media day, things like that.
Sometimes that just doesn't haveto do with what's going on on
the field. So when I look at somebody like
Jaden, Jaden Keller, I hope he takes another step.
But you know what I say I'm agreeing with Danny on is I hope
that there are people behind himjust pushing it or you know that

(28:02):
with some of the transfers that's coming in young guys,
'cause I just want a coaching staff that leaves it all on the
field. Like, stop worrying about the
next GameStop, worrying about next year.
Let's try some. Put somebody else in.
If you're not doing your job, Monster Delane, you can't
fucking make a tackle. Come stand over here by me and

(28:23):
let's drink some water. I don't care how much you're
getting paid in NIL. I don't care if LSU wants you.
You know, you can't get Cam Wardon the ground.
You can't get Club Nick Dubnick,whatever his name is on the
ground. Come over here and let's hang
out and talk for a little bit. Let's talk about your next
school. I just want a a coaching staff
that will take a chance and be like who's over here on the

(28:45):
sideline? Hey, you've been practicing.
OK, let's try you because I watched the offensive line.
That was horrible. There is no way that there was
not somebody on the offensive onthe side of the field that could
go in and give you 2 plays whileyou bring somebody to the side
and say you ain't fucking blocking.
Change your shoes. Your shoes are stuck in the

(29:07):
ground. Put some different shoes on.
There's a reason why the offensive line coach was fired.
Oh my God. I mean, just so no, I mean that
Danny was, you know, spot on with the things he was saying.
I just thought about that when he was saying it, and I was
like, no disrespect to Killer, but I've seen him and I hope
that he miraculously comes out and, like, just blows it up this

(29:29):
year. Right.
But at a certain. Yeah.
But at a certain level, it's like, are we really going to
see, like, once you've been seeing a guy for so long, it's
like, is that really him? You know what I'm saying?
I seen Parker and I knew what toexpect of him.
And I kept and I kept going, Youknow, man, maybe he's going to.
He didn't take. Yeah.
He took a step backwards on the quarterback's foot.

(29:50):
That's what he needed. So it's.
Just got to to your point, the only thing that I say from a
positive standpoint on Keller still being the guys that it's
never been about his physical attributes and his ability it's.
And his highs are really high, like up here.
And he said yeah. It's between the ears.
So if he can put the between theears part together, then you

(30:11):
might have something. So yeah, I I think that's the
one saving grace of Keller stillbeing in this conversation is
that if that mental piece does come into play, you're not
worried about him from a physical standpoint.
What I do like, go ahead, go ahead.
No, go ahead, Tyler I. Was just going to say what I do
like too, is that we went out and recruited some linebackers.
Like if y'all think a lot of times some of the linebackers

(30:33):
that we've had, you know, converted safeties, converted
wide receivers. No disrespect to Lawson, but
I've seen him get turned into a werewolf.
He got stiff armed and started running like a werewolf.
I don't want to see that. Brunfield was cool.
They said he was really smart. He also looked really small when

(30:55):
he was in there. He didn't he couldn't bring no
ass to a hole. So pause.
Anyway, I need some people that can hit, you know what I'm
saying? Like I need some people that
look like Caleb Woodson, that can go downhill and hit, you
know, I seen Q Reddish come up again, so I think it was
Stanford. Who like he was a true freshman
last year and I was like, that'sprobably the best Taco I've seen

(31:16):
out of this team all year. So just things like that, man,
just like when you really get back into it, like now it's
about to be football season. This is stuff that's just been
in the back of my mind that I haven't thought about and now
that I'm going down and be like,Oh, they brought this guy in.
Oh, they brought this guy in. Stop bringing people in and not
playing them. You know, I'm I'm just hoping

(31:37):
give give him a chance. You know, Cunningham should have
had a chance. He may not be.
He may be garbage. You know, I don't think he is,
but I'm just saying he may be, but he couldn't have been no
worse than what we seen last year.
So if you're coaching on the sidelines, like give somebody
else a chance if it ain't getting it done.
But but I'm sorry, I didn't mean.
Mike got us into this so I won'tlet Mike finish his out.

(31:59):
Mike tally ass, who's going to be in there?
Inside linebacker you brought up.
I think you bringing up Keller set him off.
Danny got it worse, so you got to pull it down so we can move
on. I think I brought him up first,
didn't I? Kind of.
It was Danny's fault. You know the build.
It was build slow build. It was a yeah, it was a slow

(32:21):
build. I'm really hoping that Keller
has not hit his ceiling. I'm, I'm where everybody else is
at. I hope Keller's the guy because
I hope he's put it all together between the ears, like Brian
just said, Like that's my, that's my thing.
He's been really, he's been really good.
He's been really bad. But it's like, like Brian also

(32:44):
mentioned, it's never been a physical thing, right?
So, no, we'll, we'll see. I, I would prefer to have a guy
with experience in the middle ofthe defense, You know, I, I
would prefer not to be relying on freshmen, sophomores in the
middle of the defense if we can avoid it.
So. Understood on that and you know,
I think bringing in the two transfers was the big piece

(33:05):
there because they have significant stamps.
They play at collegiate speed onboth sides.
So we'll see what happens there.All right, I'm going to put you
on the Wayback machine because this is going to scare you all
three. Well, Danny, probably more so
you because it's going to make you realize something.
A deep breath. The Hokies have not had a 1000

(33:27):
yard receiver since 2016. First of all, go ahead cry
Isaiah Ford. Well we have not even been close
since 2018. Can anybody name who that was
2018? Was it Damon Hazleton?
Damon Hazleton. Hazleton.

(33:49):
Was like 890 something. So with that being said and it
y'all been playing attention, which I know y'all do and I did
the research last week. Montgomery a shit ton 1000 yard.
Wide receivers. He's had a bunch who
exceptionally close to 1000 yards.
So I'll, I'll pitch it to you, Danny Noakes.

(34:11):
If, if, if this were to happen this year, pull up your roster
list. Who do you think could get 1000
yards in this offense this year?Well, I think, I think Donovan
Green is probably where that conversation starts just as a
guy that that comes over from Wake Forest and was a a starter
for them, but he was, I believe he was the top ranked Wake

(34:36):
Forest recruit in their program's history at when he
went to when he became a Demon Deacon.
So Donovan Green is someone thatthat comes over highly touted
and with experience and and now he's a a grad student here at,
at in Blacksburg. And I feel like it's an an
opportunity for him to really cut it loose.
You know, he's going to get to play with Kyron drones.
So we all know talk about a guy with a really high ceiling

(34:58):
drones when he's on it sure is alot of fun to watch.
And and green just seems like a guy you know, saw he's built
well. He he he's had some injury
problems, though, right, He's had some injury issues
throughout his career. So, you know, can he stay
healthy? But that's a guy that if he
doesn't come through or he gets hurt, it's, it's I, I don't

(35:21):
think that there's any shot thatanybody else has hitting 1000
yards on that, on that, in that wide receiver room.
David. I mean, I, I think Danny hit the
nail on the head. Donovan Green is definitely, I
think the most explosive guy in that room.
And right now in, in preseason camp, you know, we've seen
Chan's Wiggins is banged up fromPrice said earlier today that it

(35:44):
doesn't look like he's going to be available for the opener
against South Carolina. Keelan Adams has been banged up
to Kai Heath has been banged up.I I think a lot of that stuff is
very minor. Not to worry anybody.
I think a lot of that stuff is very minor.
But those guys have to stay healthy.
And the guy Jenny just mentioned, he's been great when

(36:04):
he's healthy. If he's not, you know, that's a
problem. One of the guys that I think
Tech is going to rely heavily onthis year is Isaiah Spencer,
transfers in from Jackson State.I believe he he was a terrific
receiver at the FCS level. He's got a little bit of
versatility, can play inside, can play out.

(36:27):
And I think, you know, maybe he doesn't necessarily have the
rapport with Kyron drones that he he does right now because he
came in so late over the summer.He wasn't here for the spring.
And also Kyron, you know, didn'tpractice a ton in the spring.
But I think Isaiah Spencer's a guy who nobody's really talking
about because he he's AFCS transfer, but I think he's a guy

(36:50):
that he could have a really big breakout year.
I'm not sure he can hit 1000. And I don't know that there are
many guys that can. I think it'll be a group effort.
But I think Isaiah Spencer's a guy who could potentially have a
big breakout year. And, you know, you've seen the
way that I think back to last year, the way the Hokies used a
guy like Jalen Lane should have used him more.

(37:11):
As we talked about earlier. I think Isaiah Spencer can be a
guy like that, that you just getthe ball in his hands.
He's very shifty. He's very, very quick.
And there's there's another obvious answer in the room,
which is maybe where Mike might go.
But I think Isaiah Spencer can be a breakout guy.

(37:31):
Yeah, my answer was going to be Donovan Green too.
But in the essence of just kind of being different.
I am just really intrigued by Cam Selden.
Like I'm really hoping he he steps up and he can be a guy who
can contribute. I don't know if he'll be 1000
yard receiver, but we've heard too many good things about him,
right? Like gorgeous or raving about
him. I hope he can step in and be the
guy that everybody is talking about, right?

(37:52):
He can put together on the fieldfor purposes of 1000 yard
receiver conversation. My answer was Green.
Just because of the experience, the fact that he's got, you
know, like over 100 career receptions, he's got like 1800
yards receiving. So when he's healthy, he's
proven that he can be a really steady presence on the offense.
And I think Virginia Tech's going to need somebody to be

(38:13):
really steady in that receiving room.
It's a lot of like 6162 a 180 LBguys.
It's not surprising me that there's a bunch of injury issues
already. That is something I'm really
concerned about. Cam Selden kind of bucks that
trend a little bit. So I mean that's something to be
a little bit encouraged about. He's stockier receiver that I

(38:36):
think can go over the middle, catch a pass.
You're not worried about him notgetting up.
I'm really concerned about that with several of the receivers.
I think I'm going to play significant snaps this year.
So are these guys ready in this offense?
We'll see kind of what it looks like the Philip Montgomery
offense to the past if it's beena lot of a lot of crossing
routes, a lot of shifty receivers, kind of in the mold

(38:59):
of what Virginia Tech's got in their receiving room, running
routes over the middle of the field.
And Tyron drones, I love them. He's thrown a hospital ball or
two. I'm a little concerned about
this receiving group man. I'm I'm really concerned about
them all staying healthy. And then the guys that are
healthy, who's going to be able to contribute to be the most
consistent. So I'm hoping for a big year for

(39:21):
Donovan Green 'cause if it's notgoing to be him, who is it going
to be? I know everybody's looking at
Aidan Green. It's like wide receiver one if
it's not going to be Donovan Green.
The thing about Aidan Green is like, is he wide receiver one
just because we kind of need himto be like, is this kind of like
how Caleb Smith was and you're 1of pry where it's like, are we
really sure he's ready to take that next step?

(39:43):
Obviously, I think Aidan Green is a better player in Caleb
Smith and I don't want to sit here and slander Caleb Smith on
this podcast, but that's just kind of like the receiving
group. That's kind of those are the
types of concerns I have. It's like, is this guy the wide
receiver one by default? Like we'll see.
So big, big questions with the past catchers in my mind.
Yeah, I mean, you, you talk about Aiden Green there.
And I think the the weird thing that we're looking at is, you

(40:06):
know, I think someone said on Twitter the other day it was
like, well, we're talking about the youth in the wide receiver
room. And it's really, it's not really
youth like most of these guys are at least red shirts
sophomores or older, but not very many of them have played
significant snaps, especially for the Hokies.
So it's more of that experience and that experience with this

(40:27):
unit than necessarily it is an age thing.
So it's going to be interesting to see how that shakes out.
Sheldon, I'll let you kick the next one out to these these
gentlemen. Yeah, we're talking Philip
Montgomery now. James, you guys know all of us,
the coordinators get all sorts of criticism, rightly or
wrongly. And obviously we don't need to
re litigate all of the discoursearound Tyler Bone, who's now

(40:47):
moved on to Ohio State. But you know, between play
selection, personnel usage, the passing game, quarterback play,
what what element of the offensedo you feel like Montgomery can
really come in and kind of cleanup in comparison to last year?
Let's start with Mike and then work our way left to right.
I'm hoping it's not the same game plan every single game.

(41:10):
Feel like we've seen that a lot with the recent offensive
coordinators, not just Bowen. So I'm hoping that there is at
least something different we canshow the opposing team every
week. I think there are enough
playmakers and there are enough.I mean, I just talked about the
questions with the receiver. There's all different types of
running backs that Virginia Techcan run out there too, right, In

(41:31):
terms of what they're able to doand their skill sets.
I'm hoping that the running gamelooks a little bit different.
So I think it's going to have tobe without Tooting in the
backfield. Obviously losing a bell cow back
like that, I think you're going to have to get a little bit more
creative. I really like the guys they
brought in at running back, but it is going to look different
this year, right? I would prefer, and I know that

(41:52):
the running element of drones game is so crucially important
to what he's able to do and without his legs, right, If he's
confined to the pocket, that's not really who he is, even
though I do think when healthy, he's really developed into a
fine pocket passer when he's needed to be.
So I would prefer if they don't run drones into the ground.

(42:14):
And I think they have so many running backs that they can kind
of take the onus off of him. But the biggest thing I'm
looking for, it was a lot like we've just talked about with CF
Kiss on the defensive side, flexibility in the game plan, so
many new faces, a lot of guys that I think the Tech coaching
staff feels good about in the receiving core, even if I don't
particularly feel good about things there, they seem to, at

(42:36):
least that's what they're saying.
And I I do feel good about the running back room though.
And I think if you get anything out of the offensive line this
year, any sort of steps forward and improvement and you can be a
bit more flexible in the game plan.
I think that's really what I'm looking for in terms of what
Montgomery can bring to the table.
It's, it's a very broad answer, but I think he's going to bring

(42:58):
more consistency. And by that, I mean, kind of
going off what Mike said, Tyler Bowen, it felt like early in the
year he did not get the game plan right.
It took him a couple weeks to get the game plan right.
And then he was hit or miss. And you talk about, you talk
about a a game plan he got right.
You look back at that Syracuse game last year where Virginia

(43:21):
Tech was starting Colin Schlee and two backup running backs and
Malathai Thomas and Jeremiah Kony and had a sizable lead and
put up terrific numbers before things went downhill in the
second-half. It was the opposite the next
week where Kyron Drones and Bashel Tooten should not have
played hurt against Clemson. They didn't give a running back

(43:42):
outside of Tooten a a touch. And it's like, what so and and
that was Clemson's worst rushingdefense in like 30 years.
So it's, it was just, it was like sometimes Tyler Bone was on
and sometimes he was off. And I think Phillip Montgomery,
he's so experienced. You look at his last stop was at

(44:03):
Auburn. And it's so funny because if
anybody reads anything about Hugh Freeze and the way he kind
of runs his program, he's very hands on and wants to do
everything himself and doesn't like he hires an offensive
coordinator and doesn't let the guy coordinate.
I think Bill Montgomery has the keys to kind of do whatever he
wants. And I my thought is that unlike

(44:26):
Tyler Bowen to what Shelton asked, I think Philip Montgomery
knows exactly once what he wantsto do from Week 1.
Like he comes out there with a game plan and goes, this is how
we're going to play. It's not hey, we're going to try
to figure it out. It's hey, we've got a concept,
we've got a game plan. I think he's he's got the

(44:47):
opportunity to really put text best foot forward from the
beginning and kind of like Cephus use the guys to the best
of their ability. We were talking earlier about
getting Jalen Lane touches. He like there were so many
weapons on last year's team thatprobably should have gotten the
ball more. You got to figure out who those
guys are this year and get them the ball.

(45:09):
Like that's college football nowadays.
That's football period. Get the ball in your best
players hands and if it happens to be a Cam Selden, if it
happens to be a Tucker Holloway on a reverse right, if it
happens to be a Marcellus Hawkins or a brave inventor,
you've got to get them the ball.That's the bottom line.
I think that you will see an immediate improvement in exactly

(45:31):
what David is talking about in the ability to recognize who
needs to get the ball 'cause it might change from game to game,
right? We talk about having a different
game plan going depending on whothe opponent is.
I think Montgomery with his experience will be able to much
more easily recognize who needs the touches in that game to to
effectively attack a defense. We talked about consistency,

(45:54):
talked about in game adjustments.
I, I similar to what we were talking about on the defense
side of the ball. I don't see how it can get much
worse from from that standpoint.And on the offensive side of the
ball, there was no consistency and there were often times not
great in game adjustments, right.
Two more things that I would sayabout Montgomery coming in is I
would hope that with that experience in the passing game,

(46:17):
you can find a way to to ski Donovan Green or Aiden Green
open hit on some of those big plays.
They don't have to be touchdowns, but open the defense
up a little bit because then that gives your running backs a
chance to to get it going. It's usually establish the run,
then go over the top. It's going to depend on who the
opponent is. It's going to depend on where
you can attack a defense. And I I have hurdle it.

(46:40):
It sounds like Brent Pry and andthis staff is high on Marcellus
Hawkins in the backfield. It really sounds like they
really like him. He's going to get a lot of
touches, whether it's him or Braden Bennett who comes over
from Coastal Carolina, who's really exciting and the bowling
ball, Terry on Stewart, who has been missing some time as we
understand it recently has it didn't practice today.

(47:00):
All three of those guys can contribute on on the offense.
So when you factor in a dual threat like Kyron, you know
there are some tools there for them to to make some explosive
plays this year, more than we saw last year, which when you
when you had drones Tooting and Lane not being able to take
advantage of those guys as as often as they should have was

(47:22):
was really disappointing. I think that'll change this
year. Yeah, you talk about like
getting guys the football and riding the hot hand.
Let's let's think back a little bit.
Let's think to I'll go even backfurther, let's go pit in 2016
when we just kept throwing thosefades to as they afford like

(47:43):
riding the hot hand when when something's working, just go
back to the well having the feelof that.
We want to see that a little bitmore, not not being so rigid to
what the game plan is and being able to adapt on the fly and and
be able to ride that hot hand. I mean, I I played, I played
offensive line in him and Sydney, my head coach was also
our offensive coordinator and hedid not play collegiate

(48:06):
football. He was a basketball guy, but he
understood playmakers and how toget playmakers the ball, and
that's what it's all about. Just don't do dumb shit.
That's all I asked for. I mean, it's not that hard.
Just don't do dumb shit. Just don't do dumb shit is what
we was doing. We was wasting plays.
We was putting Colin Schlee in to like run motion.

(48:30):
Listen, so you take somebody offof the field. 11 months.
Yeah, you never, Yeah, you never.
You never build off of that, youknow what I'm saying?
It's just wasted plays, like yougot to do something in the year.
You got to throw like a double reverse pass or something off of
that plate if you're going to continue doing it at the
beginning of the game or the beginning of the the year.

(48:52):
Because when you think back to last year, like even when we
talk about Clemson, and I don't want to go all into that, but
when you talk about like a game like Clemson, like we, I watched
it again for some reason and we lost it 24 to 14.
And I think they were like 23rd in the in the nation or
something. And we ran the ball like one

(49:14):
time or two times that game. No running backs hurt,
quarterbacks hurt. I get it.
Injuries happen. But but I, I don't know, man, I
just, I think that you can't do any for as close as we were to
win. And I really don't think you can
do worse as a collective coaching staff as we did last
year. That's just how I feel.

(49:36):
We did a lot of dumb shit, like we didn't use people that we
should have used. We run plays.
What what do you say? How many field?
Yeah. Oh, we need to limit it.
So anyway, I'm I'm going to go, I'm going to get off my
soapboxing and go to the next thing because somebody was
bringing up a couple of, you know, playmakers and we think

(49:58):
about, you know, Kyron being a playmaker, but also the
offensive line. Who else do you guys think that
we need to have a big year that will fuel the the hokey success
besides Kyron or the offensive line?

(50:18):
Who wants to start? I just put it out there because
I know that's going to be hard, so I was hoping somebody would
be brave. I'll.
Go. Yeah, You go ahead, Mike, You go
ahead. I was just going to say, I think
the three, the three running backs you mentioned, Danny, I
think collectively we need them to be like at least a full

(50:39):
tooten. Exactly.
Right. Or a little bit more than that,
considering there's three guys there, right?
Obviously not the best news thatTerry on Stewart hasn't been
practicing. Hopefully that's temporary and
we can see him back on the fieldsoon.
He'll be ready for the opener. But we need those three guys you
mentioned, Danny Bennett, Hawkins and Stewart.

(51:01):
We need them to be able to replace the production of base
Holtuton that. That's what Virginia Tech needs
in the running game, 1000% And that's why you brought these
guys in, and that's why you brought in so many of them, and
that's why you kept Jeremiah Coney around.
Like you have depth at running back.
We need to use it. We have to find the right

(51:22):
combination that. That's just extraordinarily
crucial in my opinion. Yeah, and I think it I think it
goes back to something I said earlier in the broadcast,
gentleman, which is that for Tech to to be as successful as
it is they can be this year withthis roster.
I think it on offense, it is going to start with the running
game and, and to to, to really play good defense, obviously,

(51:45):
but control the clock and find away to get one of these guys in
the rhythm. If it's Hawkins, feed them,
right. They've been talking a lot about
Hawkins in the offseason. Well, if he's the guy, then feed
him. If it's Bennett, who's got a lot
of experience coming over from coast of Carolina, give him the
ball. If if it's a if it's a cold day
in November in Blacksburg against Louisville, November 1st

(52:07):
and you got to ride Terry on Stewart to the promised land,
then do it. You know, and and the offensive
line obviously is going to have a a major role to play in that
success as well as will Kyron drones, because Kyron drones is
a very capable runner. But as Mike said, you got to be
careful not to overwork him and,and get him into a situation
where he, he's getting dinged upbecause when he gets dinged up,

(52:28):
he's just not the same guy. We saw that last year.
So I, I, I really have been harping on the running game.
It would be nice to see someone like Donovan Green.
I saw one of our, one of our listeners also threw Benji
Gosnell in there, which I, I love as a pic as well, because,
you know, I think he's going to,he's going to have to come up
with some really big catches, maybe on 3rd down in the red
zone, wherever it is, they're going to rely on him too.

(52:49):
He's got some experience, but I think it all starts with the
running game for the offense. This is what I'm going to throw
in. This is what I'm going to throw
in as well, guys, because everything I was saying is
really good. And I think Curtis may have said
it earlier when you just talked about going back into a, you
know, Virginia Tech style football team.

(53:12):
Maybe it was Curtis or Mike, butwhatever.
You know, sometimes you just arewho you are.
You know what I'm saying? I'm not saying that we're going
to have this high-powered pass an offense that's going to be,
you know, rivaled organ or somebody like that.
I'm not saying that. But what I do know is that we
are not a strong enough team to just run the ball down people's

(53:35):
throats. I just don't think that we will
ever be that. So we have to be capable enough
to get some motherfuckers off the line.
We have to be able to push the ball down the field, whether
that's using 10 wide receivers to catch, you know, a pass each,
just to do something different to get people off of the line so

(53:56):
we can run the ball. They have those receivers.
I challenge everybody who watches this show.
If you're a Virginia Tech fan, pick one game a season and waste
your money. Just go watch that game.
Go sit in the stands and just look at stuff that the camera
doesn't show because I I'm beingon like getting on coaches and

(54:20):
stuff like that. But sometimes plays are called
right. Sometimes wide receivers are
running open and we can't get them the ball or the quarterback
doesn't throw the ball. So there's some things that are
going right that you don't see on TV, but some of these players
just don't get the chance. Again, I've seen Takahiti in the

(54:41):
first game last year when we went to Nashville and I was
like, he looks faster than all the other wide receivers, and
then I never got to see him do anything.
So things like that, I'm just like, stop wasting it.
Let's find a way to put the put the ball in this person's hands
because we kept running them on these like fake jet sweeps and

(55:02):
things like that. But we just again, never went
back to them. So I hate to keep harping on
things like that, but whenever Ithink about like who will be
important to this team to have success, I think it's going to
be, you know, on offense, I think it's going to be somebody
that nobody's called out like, and I'm not saying they're going
to just, you know, blow us away.Somebody like what?

(55:23):
Somebody in the in the, in the chat, said Benji.
I'm thinking, you know, maybe a third wide receiver or something
like that. Because if you look, last year
our wide receive was our top wide receiver had like 500
yards. And then right after him you had
maybe like 400. Then after that it was like 350
or something, right? So if you can bump all of those

(55:45):
up just a little bit, you know, the top guy, if he has 600, the
guy behind him has 500, the guy behind him has 400.
We're, we're making up those yards that Tooting had that he
was fighting people off in the backfield to get or you're
making up those yards that Kyron's trying to run and get
them. We need to find a way to do

(56:05):
that. And I think it's going to be
somebody who steps up that we just, we don't know who that is
yet. So I just it's just my $0.02.
I I just don't want kyron dronesto be like 60 to 65% of the
rushing attack now the Tooting on the roster anymore.
That's that's just my concern. Right, we're going to.
We're going to fall into that that because and, and I, I would
be worried more worried about that, I guess, if Bowen was

(56:27):
still calling plays because he'shad the familiarity and he's
like, all right, look, we we know what Kyron is like let's
just run him. It's like, no, there's a reason
why he brought all these guys in.
So I'm not as concerned about that with Montgomery calling
plays. But that's just a general
thought that I have is I just don't want Kyron to take over
the running game because we don't have tooten in the
backfield anymore. That's why he went out and paid

(56:48):
all these guys the money to bring him in out the portal.
Let's use them. Let's let's try to get let's try
to replace Tooten's production some way somehow and not have it
so be heavily dependent on on what Tyron's able to do and you
know, with his legs. So.
He kind of close this out, man. Yeah, I mean, I, I was going to
before somebody even commented. I was going to say Benji, yes.

(57:10):
Now, I think the tight ends, himand Harrison St.
Germain, and those are two guys who've played some snaps.
You got a new position coach there and Brent Davis, he slid
over from the off and the line. He's a triple option background
guy. I think that this group's
blocking, we're both run blocking, particularly run
blocking because they won't passblock as much, obviously.

(57:33):
But I think that group's blocking is going to be much
improved considering Brent Davisas the position coach.
That was my feel from talking with him at at the program's
media day a couple weeks ago, that they've really, really
harped on that. But Benji Gosnell, how many
times last year did Tech do a good job of scheming him open?

(57:53):
He was a guy. I thought that Tech actually did
a pretty good job of getting himthe ball.
Maybe he could have done it more, but there were one or two
big, big plays where it was likean unbalanced formation.
And all of a sudden Benji Gosnell's wide open down the
middle of this field. He's a guy that I mean, he was a
highly touted 4 star recruit fora reason that was originally

(58:15):
committed to Ohio State. Like get him the ball, right?
That that goes back to that conversation kind of what Brian
was talking about. Like he's talented, get him the
ball. And I think in Harrison St.
Germain, if, if, if you want somebody outside of your, your
really talented running backs and your wide receivers who are,
are, are kind of still improvinga little bit to, to get some

(58:37):
touches. You got 2 Widers or two tight
ends that have been doing it fora while.
Get them the ball. And I think they're both pretty
versatile. They both got pretty good hands.
And you think back to that Military Bowl and back at the
end of 2023, each of them had a touchdown catch in that game.
These guys can't catch the ball.So I think they can add a
different wrinkle to this offense if used properly.

(58:59):
I'm going to. I'm going to throw this out
there before I pitch over to Brian.
Somebody mentioned his name earlier.
You asked me what fuels a success on the offensive side of
the ball. It's going to be, I think Cam
Selvin. It's the versatility and we know
some of the stuff that Monty does with the beers and stuff
that's made for a Kim Selden type player.

(59:21):
Like some of those beers and stuff.
You want a player like Kim and he's coming in.
I think there's a chip there. He went to Tennessee because
because because they all leave Virginia and go somewhere, get
shat on, get shat on and then they come back home.
APR went to Florida. They shat on him and basically
said you can't play. What would that son of a bitch

(59:42):
do last year? I think is the key because if
you tell me you're talking like 500 yards, he gets to 1000
all-purpose running and receiving like 604 hundred.
You want to talk about game planning?
You couldn't game plan for that even going in week.
Like what are they going to do with them?
They're going to run an inside beer.
They're going to sneak him in the backfield and maybe run a

(01:00:02):
dive off of like a motion. Think about that.
Put him in a slot motion into the backfield.
And then just run it down the gut.
As big as he is, it's 62216. He's a great athlete.
He is a great athlete. He's a, he's a great athlete.
He comes over a former running back, right and, and now is
going to contribute as a wide receiver.
He is the type of guy that if they can get him going early, he

(01:00:26):
is going to be tough to to game plan for.
And we've talked a lot about game planning and making sure
that that coaching staff is mixing it up.
He does seem like the type of guy that was written off by an
SEC school and can come in and and make an impact.
But it just we just have to see,you know, that Kyron drove is
going to have to take a step forward, both as as a as a

(01:00:47):
passer and hopefully they they scheme a little bit better for
him in the run game so that they're not just completely
reliant on him to pick up what they're going to miss without
Tooting. Right.
I agree. Ron ready.
Yeah, I mean, you know, I, I, I think we, we've held it back
long enough. Let's go ahead and pull this one
out there with Babcock went to the board of visitors with the

(01:01:08):
presentation effectively saying football's behind and not just
behind, pretty far behind kind of about, you know, somewhere
around 9 or 10 of the ACC overall looking for basically
within the next, you know, year or two needing to get to 200
million when you're looking at probably what, one forty, 144

(01:01:31):
million operating as of this upcoming year.
It what's going to come out of this?
Because I feel like it's when I looked at it, it was kind of
twofold. It was like this is absolutely
needed. Why are we just having this
conversation? Hopefully the board of visitors
takes their head out of your youknow what?

(01:01:55):
So I, I can speak on take the lead on this if you guys want.
I was, I was in the room on on Monday at the Board of visitors
meeting and I, I thought Whit Babcock's presentation was very
good. I thought it resonated very well
with the BOV it people on Twitter I've seen ask why is

(01:02:15):
this just now happening? Why is this just now happening?
Well, a good chunk of the presentation was about the house
settlement, which just got past this year, and about the ACC
settlement with Florida State and Clemson, which just got past
this year and what that means money wise.
There are things in there that Tech could have been doing a
long time ago. That's a conversation for later.
But the bottom line is, yes, Virginia Tech needs to win

(01:02:39):
football games, and yes, Virginia Tech needs to be better
in men's basketball, which is going to happen, by the way.
Yeah, but you have to fund the athletic program correctly,
whether it's direct or indirect support from university, even to
match UVA, you have to come up with different ways to fund
athletics and to give athletics more resources if you want to be

(01:03:02):
competitive. There are a lot of really good
quotes in there if you're interested.
We we covered it a lot this week, a podcast and two stories
over on Tech sideline. A lot of quotes from wit about
are these resources do not meet the expectations.
You know, Tech ranked the lowestout of all the public schools in

(01:03:23):
the ACC, 14th overall in budget,right?
That's going to go up, as Brian said, to 144 million in fiscal
year 26. But at the same time, everybody
else is going up too. And which point, which again, I
thought resonated very well, is you can either step up or get
left behind. And it's not that athletics has

(01:03:45):
not been a priority, but it's that this is an inflection point
because of the house settlement,because of the ACC settlement,
that this is an this is a huge moment because if you do not
take advantage of this, if you're not prepared going into
this, you're going to get left behind.
And the board of visitors today earlier came out with a couple

(01:04:06):
big statements that you probablysaw on Twitter talking about
how, you know, we're basically saying we understand we are
going to find a way to come up with money Now with Babcock had
a list of, you know, $52 millionin investments.
Don't know that all of them willhappen, but of course you don't
you don't you know if you you shoot for the moon and and you

(01:04:29):
know you take what you can get right.
Wit's not going to wit's not going to ask for 30 million.
If he wants 30 million, he's going to ask for 50 million,
right. But there are ways Virginia
Tech, Virginia Tech has to figure out how exactly it can
boost the revenue. It's not like you just snap your
fingers, flip a switch and it's there It's going to take some
time. But I came out of that board of

(01:04:50):
visitors meeting on Monday and also after this stuff today,
thinking this board is on board with what Witt wants to do.
They are on board. It's just going to be a matter
of how the Hokies come up with the money.
So I think Virginia Tech fans should feel pretty good about
just the the the the message gotthrough.
Yeah. I think they're, I, I was sorry,

(01:05:12):
Brian, I think, I think they aregoing to get some of that money
that they're asking for right now.
I, I think that the, the board seems to be receptive to it.
It, it seems like everyone realizes the urgency of the
moment. I think that they are going to,
to rise to that moment. They're going to, but there's 2
problems, right? Because there's there's the
financial side of this and then there's just the on field

(01:05:33):
product because, and I think it was either Mike or David this
week, I saw one of y'all say there is plenty of room to win 8
or 9 games in the ACC right now with where Virginia Tech is at
right now. And they're not doing it.
And it's because of bad decisionmaking, right?
Brent Pry, a first year head coach, hired a first year
offensive coordinator and a first year defensive coordinator

(01:05:53):
when he had never run a program before that.
That's just a lack of common sense.
That was stupid. So there there's just bad
decisions being made all over the place.
And we don't have to get into some of the decisions that have
been made by the higher ups in the athletic department like
with Babcock. But it it's twofold because you,
you have to, you have to obviously have the resources
nowadays, but you gotta you, youhave to have the results on the

(01:06:17):
field too, which which they're not doing right now.
So once they start to figure that out and there's a couple
more wins on the board every single year, you're just going
to have some more money trickling in naturally, too.
Yeah, Mike, before I kick into you, I want to say one thing
real quick. And this this kind of stood out
to me and and was I think one ofthe better points that wit made

(01:06:39):
in the process was that this is going to cost you either now to
get better or later if you don't.
So either way, this is gonna this is gonna be money that is
is gonna cost you. So Mike, I'm gonna let you jump.
And I know you guys had a had a pretty big conversation about
this recently as well. Yeah, and I, I think that that's

(01:07:00):
kind of what wit meant, right? Everybody like took it on
Twitter and ran with it and was like, well, I'm, I'm either
going to be here or I'm not going to be here.
I think his whole point was we can deal with this now or we can
deal with this later. But like we're going to have to
like have a come to Jesus momentat some point about the money,
right? Because for every Texas and
Texas A&M and Georgia and Alabama and Notre Dame, you

(01:07:21):
named the blue blood, right, that has more money than God and
has a bunch of donors that are contributing in a meaningful
way, a bunch of very, very wealthy donors.
There are schools like Virginia Tech there.
There's six or seven or 10 or 20other schools that are dealing
with the exact same thing with an athletic director that's
going to the university and saying we need help from the

(01:07:45):
university. This is not all going to come
from our donors. We have to find another way to
get the money right for footballif we want to be competitive
moving forward. It's not just football.
Of course, it's men's basketballtrickles on down, but football
is the cash cow at all of these FBS schools.
It just is. There are two points like Danny
just mentioned, took the words right out of my mouth.

(01:08:07):
It's the money. It's also the right leadership
in place, right? And there's enough money for
Virginia Tech to be competitive in the ACC right now.
There is not enough money, or coaching for that matter, for
Virginia Tech to compete at the national level the way a lot of
fans want them to compete, right?

(01:08:27):
And it's one thing to be a top 10 or 15 program going on 2
decades ago now, right? A a consistent 10 win program
that some years like 99 can be more than that.
And it's another thing to do that now in this environment.

(01:08:48):
And the ACC is different now. The landscape of college
football's a lot different now. You need to have the money and
with revenue sharing and NIL andeverything else that these
coaches and these athletic departments are dealing with it,
it's a lot different landscape than it was.
And for Virginia Tech to be competitive on the national

(01:09:09):
scale, the way that a lot of thefans expect and want it to be
from the old days, there needs to be a financial commitment
from the university because thisis not going to be coming from
the donors. If you want to elevate this
thing, not just to like 8 or nine wins in the ACC, 'cause I
think the money's there now to do that, you know, not just to
be A10 win program again, but ifyou want this program to be, to

(01:09:33):
be playing at an elite level, which is I think what with
Babcock was trying to get acrossto the board of visitors.
We don't just want this thing tobe 9 or 10 wins and kind of be
what we were before where we were just happy to to be
competing in the ACC guys. We don't know what the ACC is
going to look like in five years.
It's going to be a lot different.
Is it even going to be a conference anymore?

(01:09:53):
That's up for debate. We don't know, right?
So Virginia Tech's got to be ready for whatever the next
stage of realignment and TV deals that are coming in the
next 5 years, all the expansion at a College Football Playoff
and what that's going to look like.
Virginia Tech's funding right now for the football program is
not in a place where this program is ready to compete at a

(01:10:16):
national level at a consistent top 20 to 25 level.
Money is a big part of that. The leadership with the coaching
staff, which it'll be either these guys that are currently
there or it won't be. Tech's gonna have to figure that
answer out, too, but I think a lot of what wit, Babcock said.
And I was just reading, I was really just reading David's

(01:10:36):
Twitter, like on Monday. I was just kind of scrolling
through. You did a hell of a job, David.
You did a hell of a job, you. Guys did fantastic, you and Andy
and David Thiel, everybody. I was really just scrolling
through all the tweets. Wit was right about a lot of
stuff. Everybody's mad at Wit for a lot
of reasons, and a lot of them are justified.

(01:10:57):
But guys, he's right. Like he's right about this.
Like everything he said in the presentation was spot on.
Like he's, he's right. Like tech's got to figure this
out. So I'm encouraged by the board
of visitors listening. It scared me that some of them
were like, oh, we had no idea. It's like, OK, well, we got to
figure it out then. Maybe they need to get off the

(01:11:20):
board of visitors then if they. Don't it scared me get that?
Yeah, it was interesting to me that like, I get maybe you're
holding back some of this information while you're waiting
to see how the house settlement is shaking out and you're
waiting to see how some of theseother things with the ACC and
Clemson and Florida State play out.
But we had a funding problem relative to the heavy hitters in

(01:11:46):
the ACC for over a decade at this point.
It's, it's just very interestingthat they weren't Privy to a lot
of how that has evolved and how that is, you know, eroded over
the last, you know, decade and 1/2.
But for one second, Brian. But that's on Wit.
Wit should have been presenting that shit to them all the time.

(01:12:09):
Listen, that's my point. Like I, I, I.
It's all. It's all I.
Get that there is a lot of moving targets there and that
you, you may want your you're trying to hold back maybe what
you want to say until you actually have a full picture.
But at some point you can't continue to fall behind when you
at least know the parts that aren't going to change, right?
Like there needed to be some conversations in the interim.

(01:12:31):
Complacency. Pressure.
Complacency, man. Just pressure pressure will bust
pipes or make a diamond. Wid is getting that pressure
putting on his ass right now. He bingo.
He I ain't saying he listening to Joe Rogers, but I'm just
saying he he hears the noise andhe knows what's coming and he
was trying to do all of this. Well, let's talk about

(01:12:52):
wrestling. Let's talk about baseball.
Let's talk about grab ass and I don't know what he's talking
about. But then he realized that's a
great sport. You know, then he realized like
if this is the cash cow, we probably need to do this.
I think Sean just put up a post or or a comment that said, you
know, you got to be able to sellthe vision.
Listen to me. And then I'm I know we got to go

(01:13:13):
to something different. I seen a man in Blacksburg.
Excuse me. I don't know what you call him a
man. Don't counsel me.
I seen a person in Blacksburg that was born a male sucking
dingalings in the dark and get on a laughed and then the person
who unalived them never went to jail.

(01:13:33):
Anything is possible. If you got a plan and you got a
vision, go hire that dude who who was who was the the lawyer,
go hire him to sell the vision. We probably get all the money,
I'm just saying. I didn't see that one coming.
Yeah. That was the right tally for the

(01:13:55):
right. That was the.
One that was the left turn, but that was he hated.
Hey, in certain towns across this wonderful country of ours,
if you play for the football team you don't go to jail for.
Shit, that's what I'm saying man.
I've seen some crazy. Stuff.
I know that down in Athens, that's for sure.
No, you, you kill people. They have.

(01:14:15):
They have it. They get DUI, running into
people, running over curves, jumping on the sidewalk.
Nobody ain't going to jail. So all right, sell it, sell it.
All right. Real quick.
This is kind of the last one. Not a big question.
Don't go. Don't go in depth because I know
y'all got all your media pieces and David Deacon, I don't know

(01:14:36):
if you can even release it here yet.
Just give me a record. I'm going to start with Danny
knows because I know he probablyof the three of y'all can.
What's the record? Don't go.
That's right. Yeah, very simple.
And I'm going six and six. And for me that's, that's the
optimistic route. I really, I, I look at this

(01:14:58):
schedule and I see 5, but like there's so many, there's so many
what ifs, right? Which I think a lot of it'll
come with injuries, but this coach Brett Pry has shown me 6
and 6 is just about the ceiling.And with a a a lot of roster
turnover despite Drones coming back, I just don't think I can

(01:15:18):
go higher than that. Yes, Mike, I'm.
Going to give it to you, Mike, because kind of, I don't know,
you might be bound by legal obligations.
No, no, no, Curtis. I'm good all.
Right, Dick, David, Mike. We'll wrap up with D.
M6 and six. Hey, he's saying we're making a
bowl this year. Remember a couple years ago he

(01:15:39):
got on his ass when he said we weren't making a bowl?
We did make a bowl that year. We.
Got to look. Yeah, 6:00 and 6:00.
We'll make a bowl game. That's a military Bowl play, 2
lane, probably. That'll be good.
Yeah. Six and six, six and six.
Opening two games, really tough,brutal November.
Worried about drones, his health, questions at receiver,

(01:16:02):
offensive line. It's got to, it's got to be
better, or else this is not going to be good.
So yeah, six to six too many questions all.
Right. We kind of last man standing
here what you got. He's.
Going up there. Oh. 7:00 and 5:00.
I, I, I think, but now I think the most pivotal game on the

(01:16:24):
schedule is Vanderbilt and that that kind of changes everything.
But I think Tech gets that game at home under the lights.
I think, yeah, the schedule's much more difficult, but I think
the coaching staff is better. And I think that's the ultimate
difference. I think having coaches that know
how to adjust in game, it's likewhat a concept, right?

(01:16:47):
I mean, like having having coaches that can coach, it's
amazing what that will do for the program.
And I, I genuinely think I thinkthis schedule is much more
difficult, but I think the coaching makes that much of a
difference and I think they can win seven games.
And I, I genuinely think that this depending on, again, it's

(01:17:08):
really tough to say all this because we haven't seen a ton of
it yet. But I think if the staff can put
the guys in the right things like this group, not as much
talent as last year, but they can do some stuff, especially in
some of those ACC games. November, it gets a little
scary, you know, Louisville, Thursday, Miami, back-to-back to

(01:17:30):
back. But I'm going seven wins, which
I did. You know, it's funny, Mike and I
had talked about this recently. I did not realize I was going to
be the optimist here because I remember a couple years ago when
I said five wins and Tally got on my ass for saying, oh, David
said they're not going to go to a bowl game.

(01:17:50):
Guess what, Tally? I'm an optimist here.
That's right. Hey, you, if you're dumb again,
David, you should have. You should have.
You should have flipped it around.
You should have been with daddy this year.
All right, that. Makes me feel.
Better. No, I'm just.
Playing man. It's only A1 game difference.
Hey, I was feeling good that year, but I no matter what you
said this year, David, I was going to say, Yep, that's a good

(01:18:11):
pick buddy, because I don't knownothing.
I can see five, I can see eight.I mean, anywhere in between,
it's going to be, it's one of those weird years where like
because of how much turnover he had, how much new we have on the
staff, like there's not a lot ofknown quantities.
And we thought we had a lot of known quantities last year in
between injuries and fumbling bythe staff.

(01:18:32):
We we didn't turn that into winds.
So we'll see. A lot of stuff there.
I will say if it's if it's six and six, I don't think pride
keeps his job because I think it's going down with him.
Stop, stop. We just had a BOV saying we're
fucking poor Mike. He ain't getting fired unless
it's absolutely. Atrocious.
Only if only if wit. Only if WIT gets fired, Yeah.

(01:18:54):
Wit would have to get fired in October then.
October. For that to make sense, that is.
You guys are opening a can of wire?
So we'll bring you back on in December, David, then we'll
I'll. Be more than happy to listen.
Mike, David, Danny, it's great seeing y'all again.
Hopefully at some point we crosspaths during the season, whether

(01:19:15):
in Blacksburg, Richmond, wherever.
We appreciate you guys joining us as always.
Again, check Mike McDaniel out on Mike your on everything but
hokey hangover, David Cunninghamon tech sideline.
Check out Danny Noakes on Twitter and with victory Life
podcast. As always, we are brought to you
by Count Stanley Pharmacy in Blacksburg and our new sponsor.

(01:19:38):
He's lighting up the comments inthere.
He's he's getting his money's worth moments on the Mori check
out and Brian we got one more thing right yeah we're going to
run this Obviously you guys knowthat at this point we're we've
got a. Giveaway of two tickets to the
Cal down a kickoff concert down in Atlanta.
So I'm going to let let let us show a little video here, tell
you a little bit about it and we'll talk a little bit more on

(01:20:00):
the backside with with three newguys.
Hey, Hokie Nation. It's your man Brian from Bounty
Corner. Podcast Get ready to kick off
the 2025 season in style. Our good friends over at the
Hokie Way are hosting the Countdown to Kickoff concert
featuring the always fantastic band OAR.
Join fellow Hokies alumni and fans for an exclusive, proud

(01:20:22):
event at the iconic Tabernacle in Atlanta, GA.
That's right, Hokie Nation is taking over the Tabernacle to
celebrate the start of the Virginia Tech football season.
Matt, tell the people more. Mark your calendars.
The concert's happening. Saturday, August 30th at. 7:00
PM the night before our opening game against South Carolina.

(01:20:42):
This is more than just a. Concert it's a chance to support
a great 'cause every ticket you buy will further the Hoagie Ways
mission of enabling student athletes at Virginia Tech to
promote and support our incredible charitable partners.
And before the concert, make sure to catch a special on
location broadcast of Tech Talk Live from the venue.
Were Zach Mackie and Mike Burnaball interviewing special
guests? And here's a special

(01:21:03):
announcement. Boundary Corner podcast is
giving away. Two free tickets to the concert.
Visit boundarycornervt.com/concert for
details on how you can enter. This is your official welcome to
the new football season. So.
Start jumping For more details or to secure your tickets now,
visit thehokeyway.org/concert and be sure to use that code

(01:21:26):
Boundary corner. One word to save 10% off your
order. See you in Atlanta and go,
Hokies.

All Episodes

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal

On Purpose with Jay Shetty

Dateline NBC

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}2025 Hokies Preview Panel: Segment 1

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;}NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal

On Purpose with Jay Shetty

Dateline NBC

All Episodes

2025 Hokies Preview Panel: Segment 1

NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal