2025 Hokies Preview Panel: Segment 2

We're back for the fourth annual Hokies Preview Panel featuring some of the best names in Hokies independent Media. This year we've got Pete Bertheaud, Dan Pultz, and Grayson Wimbish ready to preview what is a pivotal season both for Brent Pry and the future relevancy of Virginia Tech athletics.

Episode Transcript

(01:06):
None. And we are back with the

(01:49):
second-half of tonight's panel. All we got 3 Rocky crazy.
I got a feeling section Section 1 was a little pain even though
they got proud in near the end there, but with these guys here,
I love them all. Great to see you all again
fellas from 2 DPB tale from the Terradon band.

(02:11):
He is unaffiliated but he is everybody's favorite Hokie
Twitter follower, Grayson Wimbush.
Fellas, how are y'all tonight? Doing good, ready for it?
Man can't complain, just happy to be here, you know?
It's it's Christmas, fellas. You know, I look forward to this
podcast every year. This day is right here is

(02:32):
special. I got to I got to say this is a
fun group. So stoked.
Let's get into it. This is Grace.
I think you are the elder statesman here.
You've been. You've made all four of these.
Or I've made a college experience out of this.
I'm thrilled. I shout out to you guys.
I mean, they'll do incredible work.
Dan does incredible work. Pete and Sam over at 2D do

(02:52):
incredible work. I think this this Deus right
here definitely is a little bit a little bit more of loose
cannons than the than the previous gentleman.
So absolutely, absolutely thrilled to be here, guys.
Little more. Nothing to lose.
Let, let let it fly. See that's.
Right. Well, Tally, let's get it

(03:12):
started, man, because we got a bunch of stuff to ask these
guys. Let's roll.
Well, you that you good. Yeah, definitely, man.
I was trying to get my yeah, I was trying to get my stuff all
fixed back like it was supposed to be.
Yeah. So I'll get it started, guys.
And just going to say. You know.
There we go. We'll get to the state of the

(03:33):
program in December. When we get to the state of the
program in December, which D lineman will y'all say we'll be
talking about Rex Shop this year?
We're talking interior or all together.
Whatever you want, you can be inJC.
'S room who who do did the work?Yeah, you can throw whatever you

(03:55):
want out I'm. Going to say the ginger freak
dog James the junk one. You got something behind that.
You got a reason for us. I mean he.
Just the I. Bring the heat, Dan.
You know, the the energy had himon the pod really like what he
had to say, like where his head was.

(04:16):
I think him and Ben, not Ben Brown, he's a pitcher for the
Cubs. But the other Ben, the other
Ginger, yeah, Ben Bell, they're going to have, I think they're
going to, you know, I think we have some guys in the middle.
They're going to clog it up. And I think that that that
Cephus is going to set those twodudes up to raise hell.
Grayson, what you got on this one?

(04:37):
Dude, I'm going to say I I really am excited about North
Dakota State transfer Cody Huseman.
Pardon me, did I butcher that? I'm we're going to learn his
name. I'm pull.
The Curtis, you pull the Curtis,it's all good.
It's it's all good. It's Heisman.
Heisman, right? Like like the is it?
Actually, Heisman is. That Heisman but not spell the

(04:59):
same. Not spell the same, but it's
pronounced like Heisman, yeah. Cody Heisman.
So yeah, but on the on the defensive line, I'm actually,
I'd seen just some of some of the pictures on Instagram.
He just kind of seems like he hecame to Tech because of JC
Price, really likes Coach Price.I think resonates with his game
a lot and just kind of reminds me of those those old lunch bell

(05:19):
defense guys back in the 90s. He played for Coach Foster's
defense. So I'm I'm excited to see that
that young man play football. I will pick up what Dan said and
go with Ben Bell instead of Dejonkum.
I probably would have taken Dejonkum first just because of
the production he put on the field at Eastern Michigan.
I believe it was as a linebacker, but I think his size

(05:40):
and speed he will play really well.
But I'll go with Ben Bell. Very productive as a defensive
lineman a couple years back at Texas State.
Had an injury last year but he put believe it was 10 sacks and
16 TfL on the field in 13 games for Texas State.
Yep, I worry a little bit about the injuries.
He had a nagging injury in the spring.
He was in a maybe a shoulder sling or something in the fall.

(06:03):
But if he's on the field, that guy will produce.
JC Price has a tendency to get the most out of these transfers,
even in year 1. Peebles and APR both got drafted
because of their play at Virginia Tech.
And so Ben Bell I think could bethe next guy there.
There's some other like interesting names.

(06:23):
And I, I love what I think it was what Grayson just said, Like
Heisman's going to play a lot ofsnaps.
Like he as probably as a backup because it's it's Gilliam and
Copeland in the first string. But what JC Price when he got
giddy in that one moment in the post practice thing where he was
talking about Copeland and how he could be a dominant player.

(06:43):
He's high up on my list as well.Yeah.
I mean, it was interesting. So we had we, we had John come
on couple weeks back and I mean,talking to him, that's a
football player that, that, that's the type of like swag and
confidence and ability that I think we, we, we really want

(07:05):
from that position. So I'm really excited to see
what he kind of brings to the table.
Curtis, I'll let you kick off this next one here.
Can I add to that real quick? My fault.
Yeah, yeah, you're not allowed. You had your damn chance.
Hey, bro, look, man, you know, Yeah.
Well, I want to say the kid grewup in Northern Virginia, been a

(07:27):
Tech fan, didn't get an offer, ended up going the JUCO route,
Did the JUCO grind. Ended up at Arizona State.
Liked it, but realized like, hey, I need to go somewhere when
I enter the portal that I can play.
Went to Eastern Michigan, he balled out there and then he
finally gets a chance to come home and all his family gets to

(07:48):
come watch him now that like APRhad a similar path.
I mean, he went to Florida and came back.
But like, I like these Virginia kids that come back that really
want to put on for the home state and it's their last chance
to make it to the league. I think that that dude is going
to go crazy this year. I like what you just said there,
Virginia kids coming back home and and we we've been talking

(08:09):
about the edge guys and guys we feel like are going to make like
ruffle noise. But for the first time in a long
time, look at Emmanuel Hitman, 6foot three, about 310 lbs
Metolica kid. South side here, Grayson.
You know what I'm talking about,Brian, to think about that like
being like like that rebuild andknowing what we've seen from

(08:33):
saying. We're losing you just a a little
bit there. We don't have you there, bud.
Can you hear me now? Yeah.
Yeah, yeah. Lean in.
Microphone trying to adjust to it.
The old one was crazy, but with that sort of meat on the inside
and it's like why are we talkingabout them wrecking shop?
Well, if they're keeping the bars on the back end clean and
they're able to take double s where it's junk them and Bell

(08:55):
coming off where it's like we still, we have to worry about
these guys. That is exactly why I'm excited
about him maybe more than anybody.
Just sheer size. All right, let's go to the
running backroom. We got a bunch.
It's not a depth issue. Let's hope that God that it is
not a usage issue like last yearbecause there were usage issues.

(09:18):
We can get to the Syracuse game that piss everybody off, but
let's not do that. Who's going to have the most
yard from scrimmage, PB? You know, if it had been
yesterday, I would have said Terry on Stewart, but now I'm
here and he's in a boot. Sometimes this boot stuff is
just literally to protect it while they're healing and he'll
be out of it in a day and then it's fine.

(09:40):
But bully, as they call him, Terry on Stewart broke almost as
many tackles as Ashton Gente. And two years ago, his broken
tackles per carry rate was through the goddamn roof.
Like this guy is hard to bring down.
He had a sensational year for Bowling Green.
And if fully healthy. And I I think that's what's
bothering Pry a little bit is that he has had these Nicks and

(10:02):
like, you know how some coaches are like they're harder on the
guy if he comes in and maybe gets a twisted ankle and then
like, he's not what what he thought he was.
He wants he's he's grinding on him a little bit.
Like even in the commentary and one of the post practice things
he said like, yeah, he he needs to prove a little something and
iffully healthy. He would be our lead back.
But I'll I'll go with him. I won't steal another guy.

(10:25):
I will still say Terrian Stewartwill lead us in yardage this
year. I'm going Marcellus Hawkins, and
I know he's D2. What he played at school and
their mascot. What were they?
The mules. And what do mules do?
They fucking work, baby. And that's what he's gonna do.
He's gonna pull the plow. He's gonna he's gonna will us to

(10:46):
victory and this dude like the the the look, I don't I tried
not to really get too much into the offseason hype and all the
videos, but that hurdle it movedme.
I it I was bricked brother like straight up like ready.
Yeah, like let's go. Marcellus Hawkins.

(11:07):
I like his energy got a lot to prove potential further 2 year
waiver don't know yet. This year counts the most if
Terry and Stewart's in a boot need to get him out of it boot
scooping boogie. You could say we got we got a
big game next week against the Cox.
You know it's just time like let's get it doggy.

(11:30):
It's time like Marcellus Hawkinsnext man up RV one.
Let's roll, baby. Dan, if you that bricked up, you
need to get to that Atlanta strip club fast, man.
Magic City, they got great wings.
You. Gotta get your you gotta get
your mind right. If you bricked up in Atlanta,
I'll tell you that right now. I talked to Dwight Howard.

(11:57):
Dan's got the George Costanza. Think it moved.
Hey, we're not doing this shit this year where we're asking
about the prettiest girls on some college campus talking
about being bricked up in Atlanta.
I remember that last year, Tally.
I remember that you asked Dan and I some freaky shit.
Dan froze. Man, Dan, it was like, what,
Arizona State? Maybe I don't.

(12:17):
Know. Jeremiah Kony, gentlemen, new #4
on offense, excited to see him play.
And then also, I mean, it kind of makes me wonder.
I mean, there's there's Tyler Mason as well.
We see any, any glimmers of JeffEverton?
Don't know, but you know, yeah, we'll, we'll see.

(12:40):
He's. He's cleared.
I I think it's more of a workinghim all all the way back from
that injury from the offseason and whether he's going to get
any burn as a result of the depth that's out there.
But I mean, I think, you know, obviously talent wise, he's
going to be that guy. Just will this be, will it be
his turn this year? I guess kind of kind of wait and
see for sure. Braylon Bennett, Brayden

(13:02):
Bennett, I should say, deserves a mention a maybe a guy out of
the backfield. He's from coastal, kind of a
hybrid role. He could do a little bit of both
and they like him a lot. And in terms of like PFF
ratings, he was a highly rated guy as well and per touch.
And so is the is the three headed monster Bennett, Stewart

(13:23):
and Hawkins? Or is it Stewart, Hawkins and
Coney? I I don't know but probably
wants to have three. Yeah, PJ also should get some
looks in there, I would think, judging by what he did before he
got hurt. But who knows He.
Had that great run against Miamiin in that game.

(13:43):
Yeah. Phantom Hold.
Phantom Hold. Unreal.
Yeah. Yeah, unbelievable.
Very. Very luck last year behind in
the running back field, like if Prelo hadn't gotten hurt at the
time that he got hurt, we neededa back because Toton was banged
up like he really could have hadlike it it could have emerged

(14:04):
had he not gotten hurt. I I was disappointed to.
You mean ran the ball more than like 6 times versus Clemson?
Dude, I I still can't believe wedidn't give the ball.
Coney averaged like what, like 7yards a carry against Syracuse
and they they didn't give him 10?
Sorry. 9.6 A carry against Syracuse.
And he didn't get a single carryagainst Clemson, a team that
can't defend the run. I I still am not over it.

(14:25):
I'm not over. It we're not allegedly,
allegedly, Coney pulled his hamming that week during
practice. So no, because they put him on.
The name. Dan, you go back to that game,
they put him on the field a few times.
If if he had that port of hand me they wouldn't have did that.
He. Said he broke his hand or
something, something. You never know, man.

(14:47):
They had so many injuries and stuff and they happened.
I know that they're there, but. We shouldn't have lost the
Syracuse. We shouldn't have lost the
friggin Syracuse. Shouldn't have lost the
Vanderbilt either, but we didn'tkeep going.
Yeah, we keep going. We keep going.
Shelton, you're up next. Man cost these boys a bone.
See if you can get them to fight.

(15:08):
Yeah, let's talk, Let's talk defensive back.
So we got a couple rooms here. First off, cornerbacks, incoming
transfers, Isaiah Brown, Murray,commonly referred to as IBM,
which I think is a pretty cool nickname.
Cale Brown comes in from Hawaii.And then you got Joseph Reg in
from Wingate. Obviously the returners, Dante
Lovett and Thomas Williams. So you can throw in Josh Clark
there at the Richard Freshman. Now the safety room is

(15:30):
interesting because you've got Quinton Reddish coming back.
Obviously he had that kick return touchdown against against
Clemson, which is his big highlight.
But he had a few valuable snaps last season.
And then you got the four headedtransferred quartet,
Christianella, Sherrod Coble, Tyson Flowers and Isaiah Cash.
So between the quarterbacks and safeties, you know, which room

(15:50):
gives you guys more pause? Which are you more confident in
which? Which are you more kind of
looking forward to seeing play? We can start with Pete and kind
of work work a way out. I think it's got to be corner
for more concern just because the depth at safety is is
better. If we had had Josh Clark, we
know he's he's injured right nowand is probably going to miss
the entire year, I would feel differently as a whole.

(16:11):
I love the DB room, but I think the concern on the outside is
behind Dante Lovett. Like who is that, that number 2
corner because IBM is a nickel slash safety and we might do a
lot of three high safety looks where IBM could be on the field.
So I know he's been playing a little outside, but his
requirements will probably be atnickel or as a third safety.

(16:33):
So I am concerned about an outside corner.
Yeah, I would say I was before Josh Clark got hurt, I was
really excited about the corners.
I was really excited for what Josh Clark had the potential to
bring to the field. But that's not going to happen
this year, unfortunately. So I'm thinking, I definitely

(16:54):
have a little more concerned about the cornerback room by
default. But I do, I mean, they've had,
they've said good things about the progression of JoJo KREM as
a true freshman knowledge Herald, Jamar Deloach.
But Thomas Williams, he's, he's been here.
He was here last year. He has a little experience.
So I figure I don't know anything about Caleb Brown.

(17:15):
I know it came from Hawaii, but that's all I know.
And IBM had a lot of good thingssaid about him from East
Carolina, right? Yeah, why is my way of Alabama
get that shit right then? Oh my.
My my fault, bro, my fault he's.A West Coast kid.
He he Is he a Deep South kid? Yeah.
He we he don't give a piss aboutnothing but the Hokies now.

(17:38):
But what I'm saying is CB2 wouldobviously be more of a concern
just because we don't know. I mean, we don't know about the
safety room either, but I know like they got like 8 of them to
come in. So I would think at least two or
three of them will be serviceable.
I got, I like Isaiah Cash's filma lot.
He brings the boom. Sherrod Covell you hope works
out. It's another Virginia kid coming

(18:00):
back. So like we want that success
story and we wanted him bad to begin with before he went to
Clemson. So yeah, I would Cornerback
room, Long story short or short story long, whichever.
Pete and Dan, I mean really covered most of the ground
there. I mean for me guys, just so many
new names this year. I mean, like as, as we just kind

(18:22):
of watched the, the, the first couple of weeks, I'm literally
going to be sitting there with the, with the roster up on my
laptop. Like who the hell are these guys
there's? So many names in that secondary
that. Are new, but I'm like there's so
many new names in the secondary.I will say, I mean, there's
plenty of depth in the safety room.
We've acknowledged that now ad nauseam, but all I'll say is I,

(18:45):
I am such a die hard fan of Dante Lovett.
I cannot wait to watch that kid play.
He's such a dog. He wears where's the where's the
stick proudly. I mean, we've had a lot of dogs
wear the number one in the past and and he's absolutely filling
those shoes. So and I'm so glad he stayed.
I was so worried that at the endof last year, just kind of based

(19:08):
on what happened, he was going to hop in the portal and get the
hell out of town. So the fact that he's back back
in Blacksburg, thrilled about that.
To Dan's point, I am excited to see Koval play.
He was definitely the one that got away when he committed to
New Spring University, and now he's back in Blacksburg, so
thrilled about that. I will say what Dan pointed out

(19:29):
about the freshman corners is very important because we've
seen freshman corners come in and play immediately at tech
Brandon face on and Kyle Fuller in the same year, right, which
face on was unexpected. Fuller was very expected as a
five star, but JoJo Crimp could find his way on the field sooner
than later. They they've been talking about
him ever since he got here and knowledge as well.

(19:51):
So Deloach was the the high recruit that we got back in the
boat on signing day. But those other two guys seem to
be getting the most like praise throughout the spring and into
the fall. So I think those those freshman
will factor in. But Thomas Williams, not only as
a corner but as a return man, wesaw him do some things last
year. Yeah, but and everybody's

(20:12):
worried about corner, but the I think what we're going to see or
what we're probably all looking for is what are we running?
Because if we're running 3 high safety all the time, even a
nickel, because you can do it ifyou got a guy that can cover,
it's it's less stress on your depth, right?
That if we're only constant 3 high safeties, it's like, OK, we
need only three quarterbacks. I wish we could ask David this,

(20:36):
but I think IB Ms. been working some outside.
Feel like that's been the reports he's been working on the
outside, which would alleviate some depth.
And just the way he looks, he looks like an absolute dog.
Like he looks like he wants to go in there and fight people at
all times. So, and I know that can be good
or bad for a corner, but at least you know he wants to come.

(20:56):
He's got the confidence of a corner, he definitely does.
Yeah, I believe Sifka said that he is the nickel.
So when there are nickel packages, he will be on the
inside, but there's definitely room for him to play on the
outside. Yeah, he could be more of a kind
of a rotational player when they're not running nickel
packages, but he'll be the primary when you look at those

(21:19):
nickel packages. So it's it's it's going to be
interesting to see. I'm just trying to restrained
from making a very niche IBM joke here, so I'll let it move
on here. But I mean, Brian has shown the
ability to be. He'll play a freshman.
I mean, Brianne Murray was awfulwhen he played Monsour d'ulane
who died and went to heaven. I don't know, He said LSU, but

(21:43):
like, he will, they will do it if it goes bad enough on that
side. So, yeah, well.
Again, it's one of the talent. You've talked about this in the
past about the corner position and and you were in, you played
collard ball. It's one of those that that can
flip easy. Yeah, definitely.
Corner is one of those, you know, I ain't going to say easy

(22:03):
to get on the field, but it's one of the easier because it's
it's all about skill set. You know, it's all about what
you have. As long as you got the size to
kind of be able to bang against a wide receiver, you know, which
is not going to be a lineman, you know, it's all about are
your hips open enough to dance with this guy in front of you?

(22:26):
And a lot of these kids nowadaysare they can come straight out
of high school and and be ready to play.
So not saying that that's going to happen, but if it does
happen, corners, one of those positions that you see it happen
more often than any other position.
So switching gears a little bit now from talking about defense,
we're going to talk about offense a little bit.

(22:48):
The lead on the offense, which is Kyron drones at quarterback.
We've seen glimpses of, you know, greatness from Kyron, but
we also seen some, you know, some some bad spots from him,
some injuries, things like that.What do you guys think Kyron
needs to do this year to I wouldsay, I guess while some NFL

(23:11):
scouts just to play his way ontoNFL roster, what does he need to
show? What does he need to do?
He needs to find his swagger again from like the end of from
the military bowl two years ago.You know, I, I, I feel like
Kyron really started to find hisstride.
He really found his confidence two years ago.

(23:31):
Maybe he was dropping Dimes in the bucket.
Looked like a very comfortable playmaker last year.
I mean, I know he was dinged up,but it he, he regressed a little
bit last year to no real fault of his own.
I mean, he had Parker Clemens blocking for him and sacking him
periodically. And you know what, Parker, I,
I'm sure you're a nice kid. We wish you well.

(23:54):
Just, you know, on LinkedIn. But it's fine.
So I'm just, I'm just, I'm saying what everyone thinks, all
right? Exactly.
Exactly. I'm saying what everyone thinks,
but yeah, really just find find his group, find a swagger again.
If he can come out and put together a complete game against
South Carolina and and really find his his rhythm again, maybe

(24:17):
the season will go a little bit different than I think a lot of
us think it will. But yeah, that I think that's
the really the the answer right there is Fonda Swagger.
He's got it. We know he's got it.
Thanks. I think the important part for
him is if he can, because he went on Adam Brenneman and he
said that obviously what we all knew, he was very shy in the

(24:41):
pocket last year because he was very nervous about his
protection. He didn't have any faith in it.
So if this offensive line, this new iteration can give this man
some confidence building blocks to begin that South Carolina
game and he can get into a flow,I think he's that swagger will
come back. I think we're going to need to

(25:02):
see more accurate balls on a consistent basis.
And I think Monty knowing what his identity is for this offense
will help him a lot better as well because he won't be
wondering every week. Like is the game plan going to
be run the ball 8,000,000 times or is the game playing going to
be to throw the ball 8,000,000 times?
Is the game playing going to be to flip it to this dude and

(25:24):
throw it to me in the end? Like we just don't know.
Like it was reinventing the wheel every week.
Like we just didn't know what the offense was going to look
like. So I think a more consistent
vision, better blocking and him being able to re establish his
confidence and become a little more accurate with the ball and
put up more numbers will obviously go like it'll help him

(25:46):
tremendously as far as the NFL goes.
Yeah, and the Vanderbilt game, right off the bat, you could
just see there was a discomfort there.
And I know he got stepped on or whatever, but like the actual
plays, the actual presence in the pocket, it looked like he
was overthinking things. His head didn't seem clear.
And Dan said reinventing the wheel.

(26:07):
That's a direct quote from CoachPry.
Like we won't have to be reinventing the wheel on offense
every week, which has to be a direct shot at Tyler Bowen.
And Monty has come in and Kyron loved the offense right off the
bat. He should be comfortable.
He should be confident. And thank God he's healthy
because when he was in a boot atthe end of June and into July,

(26:28):
it's like, what, what's even going to happen here?
Well, he got out of that boot and he's hit the ground running.
And from everything we've heard,he looks good, looks like the
old Chiron again. So if the protection is better
and his head is clear and maybe his clear eyes, full heart, you
know what I mean? That's right, that's right.
No, but I it's the offensive piece of it with Monty and him

(26:52):
being on the same page in addition to the online is huge.
Like it's absolutely huge. And when you bring in two new
coordinators, you don't know howit's going to go.
But just hearing how much he likes the offense and Monty's
history with more mobile quarterbacks, it has me excited.
Yeah, I think. Can I do some real quick?

(27:13):
Go ahead, Curtis. Shelton's always on this.
With Kyron Shelton, you always talk about his deep ball.
That's the issue, because he's got intermediate routes, short
routes, he gets them there. He's got the gun.
If he improves that, I think that gets him.
But Sheldon, do you believe someone like Philip Montgomery
can fix that? Because you've been, because

(27:34):
that's been your thing. You've been like, yes, he's a
beast running. Yes, he's good at short routes.
But God, Sheldon doesn't say that because Sheldon's a nice
kid, but GD it. He can't hit a deep ball.
Yeah, I don't know. I mean, it's hard to say because
I feel like it takes a really good, really good quarterbacks
coach to kind of, you know, coach you in a bad in, in the

(27:55):
good habits just because it's such a, it's such a mental
position and there's so many, you know, different factors
involved. Like, you know, if you're seeing
ghosts, the protection's bad, like Grayson mentioned, you can
really start to kind of get in your own head.
So I feel like hopefully with more confidence he'll be better
there. But I feel like for me, like we
saw, you know, last year, Hokie's bread and butter, the

(28:15):
short passing game kind of got taken away.
And so Bowen didn't really have like a, he didn't really have
like an off speed pitch. Like, you know, we take away the
fastball, no off speed pitch. So Montgomery likes to throw the
ball pretty deep down field. I'm just curious to see like how
that works with Kyron's game andif the protection holds up as
well, Because I think I think there's, you know, it, it could

(28:35):
be kind of a hit or miss type ofthing.
So we'll see. Yeah, We know we're still going
to see those short routes. It's just they're not going to
be as behind the line. Like you're not going to see
negative plays come from those short routes like we saw in
Tyler Bowen's offense, where so much of that short pass the game
is predicated off screens and kind of those quick outs, things
that are at or behind the line of scrimmage.
You're at least going to see some positive yards off of this.

(28:58):
But Kyra's going to have to be more consistent with completing
those routes and he's going to have to be able to take
advantage down the field to stretch those defenses out.
And we're going to have to be consistent in the running game.
But my thing with Kyron, and I know you, you guys have hit on
it a little bit, is that he plays differently when he's
confident. And we saw the swagger come out

(29:19):
in that pit game a couple years ago.
And it kind of, you know, other than Louisville, we didn't
really see we, we was pretty consistent the rest of the year.
He played with a good degree of confidence for the rest of the
season. I think I only two games last
year where he looked really confident, at least the
confidence that we had saw in 2023.
Stanford. Stanford.

(29:40):
Miami. Miami.
Miami, too, yeah. So we only saw a couple games
where he looked really comfortable with what he was
doing, with what he was seeing, with what the expectations were
for him. Then the game plan.
I think Montgomery's going to bethat kind of that, that even
keel, that stabilizing factor for him because he talked about

(30:03):
on, you know, the, the, the interview with Adam, he, he had
been, you know, seeing a sports therapist and you're trying to
get the, the mentals of injuriesand all the stuff of being, you
know, this, this focal point of the offense.
They're going to be able to comeinto his leadership.
I think having that confidence, confidence in himself and
confidence in the guys around him is going to pay big

(30:25):
dividends this year. Also not.
Go ahead, Dan I. Was just saying not to like shit
on Quan Felton, but like I feel like he gave up on a lot of
those deep balls last year. Like if you would have just like
dove for a couple or like reached out, it might have
improved Kyron's deep ball percentage.
But I mean, I'm not a wide receiver coach, or I don't play

(30:47):
wide receivers. I was going to say.
Man in the stands. Yeah, Dwight makes a great point
there with the too much hype impact of the offense, you know,
expectations, not the same hunger.
I also think that expectations things goes on Kyron too because
not just because there's higher expectations, but as these
quarterbacks who are known to bescramblers as we Kyron got rid

(31:11):
of the best scrambler in Athlon 2 years ago.
And when they see that and when you're trying to get to the NFL,
there is this feeling that you need to show the world that you
can pass. And I feel like we came into
last season and Bowen came into last season with the four wide
receivers that came back, we're going to pass the football.
And it's happened year after year where year one they Joe

(31:32):
Rudolph and those guys, they said we ran the wrong offense
for six weeks, Year 2 where we ran the wrong offense for five
weeks. And then last year we did the
same damn thing until we were like, you know what, we should
probably give Tooten the ball. And it's that's the kind of shit
I just don't want to see again. And we should couldn't see again
because Montgomery's been in this game a long time.
And so you couple that and Kyronworking out with Cam and

(31:57):
Shadour, who are much better passers than him, and that
pressure was on him, too. And so it was a bad recipe.
Now the hunger's there. Maybe NFL is like, yeah, I need
to do what I do best if I want to get a chance to go back
there. And all all the things are now
in place to be like he plays more free and more confident.

(32:18):
Yeah, Tally, you got to say something.
Yeah, Yeah, it's. Usually, no.
I was just, I was just listeningto Pete.
And he's right. It's like you just got to do
what you're good at. You know what I'm saying?
You can't. Watching, going back and
watching that that Vanderbilt game, it's like watching Karen
play. It was drilled in his head that

(32:40):
he had to do certain things instead of just going and being
who he is. He may not ever be Brett Favre.
You know, I don't know Tom Bradyas far as throwing the ball,
pick somebody. But he can be Karen, you know
what I'm saying? What makes him good, he can go
do that. And I feel like all offseason,

(33:02):
whether it be the expectations on himself or expectations on
the other quarterbacks he was working out with, was he needed
to do these things or he needed to have this many yards passing
to be considered a good quarterback.
I, I don't, I don't fully believe that, you know what I'm
saying? Because I've seen some dog shit

(33:22):
quarterbacks make it to the NFL.I'm just telling you, like some
of them are still getting paid now and they never done nothing.
So I'm not saying that he will or won't make it.
I'm just saying to have the bestshot, you just got to go out and
be you as any player, you know, and the chips will fall what

(33:43):
they make. So I'm just hoping that he just
goes. And, you know, I ain't saying we
need to run him or we need to do.
I'm just saying Kyron's been playing football a long time and
I feel like if he takes the layups, he'll be fine.
If it's the running lane there or go ahead.
I'm sorry. I was just going to say, I mean,
to that point you just made about Kyron, like it almost felt

(34:07):
like he had to do certain thingsin the Vanderbilt game.
We were, most of us were there, right?
We saw that team that day. When your QB feels that way, the
rest of the team feels that way.It was very palpable.
It's almost like the, I mean, you can see how almost nervous
they were when we were, I firmlybelieve the better team talent

(34:31):
wise, but it's it's like we justcouldn't get out of our own way.
But it starts with Kyron drones.It's like he just seemed
uncomfortable. And as a byproduct of that, the
guys around him, you could see it.
It was it was very apparent. And so in versus South Carolina,
you can't go out there into thatbig ass stadium in front of all

(34:54):
those people and feel like you got to do something.
You got to go be Kyron drones. That's it.
And we got to go beat Virginia Tech.
You know what I'm saying? We can't go beat Alabama.
We can't go be anybody that we are not is what I felt like we
thought we were last year. Coming in with those
expectations and people getting paid plays a big part in the

(35:17):
game. It's like, let's keep it real.
Like, I love the Lord and I actually like going to church,
but if I won like $5,000,000, I don't know that I would go to
church Sunday. I would go back eventually, but
I don't know if I would go Sunday.
I probably would find some otherstuff to do before I go to

(35:40):
church, you know what I'm saying?
So bring that into like football.
A lot of these, a lot of these players, you know, get nil.
And I ain't saying that they didn't have no money, but they
get a, you know, they get a goodsum of money and they find other
stuff to do besides working or, or what their routine is.

(36:02):
And I feel like that's kind of what happened, or that's what's
happening all over college football.
You know, you. You, you, you frame a metaphor
like nobody else. I'm just saying, man, I try to.
I'm trying to bring this thing for because I know not everybody
has played sports and I'm not saying I played so much, but I'm

(36:22):
just saying some people who watch sports really hadn't
played. Some of y'all out there want to
tell people what to do and you really ain't played and that's
OK. So I try to put it in a place
where everybody can relate to it.
You know what I'm saying? It's like you probably go to
church and and worship somethingso you kind of understand what
I'm saying. But when you get paid, when you
start getting paid though it, it's different, man.

(36:44):
And when you watch some of theseplayers and you're like, that
ain't what happened to him or that ain't what happened to him.
This person is trying to get paid.
This person just got paid and itlooks different.
So I feel like we've seen some of that last year and I'm hoping
that this year all of that stuffis out the window.
And I ain't saying like, I want to be the underdog.

(37:05):
I I, I just want to be who we are.
Like if we're ranked fifty, let's go play.
If we're ranked fifteen, let's go play.
I feel like last year coming into that Vanderbilt game, we
thought we were going to walk inthere and it was going to be a
cakewalk. And when we realize it wasn't,
it was like, oh, oh, oh shit, what do we do?

(37:26):
You know, that was the feeling through the whole game.
So this is going to be a little bit, this is going to be a
little bit different. I'm not saying we're going to go
in and win because I don't, I don't know.
I, I definitely don't even want to get to that right now.
But I feel like South Carolina has the pressure on them more
than us. 100 percent, 100%, Sean, I'm going to disagree.

(37:47):
I'm going to. Disagree with Sean's got up here
because now it is. What you do in high school is
what's getting you paid in NIL. It's it used to be high school,
college, then NFL. But I'm going to make one quick
statement before we pivot to thenext question here.
And that's this. We know Philip Montgomery

(38:08):
basically had been recruiting Cowan drones since he was in
high school, right? He he was, I think what first
second offer was from Tulsa whenhe was like a junior high school
very early. So he knows who he is as a
person. He's met him, obviously, and I
think that might go a long way because for what he was doing at

(38:30):
Tulsa those years, we all saw it.
We saw it in 15 when he was running it and then subsequent
years later. Could he be the guy that unlocks
every piece of potential? Because we're going to run you
some. We're going to improve short
passes, We're going to improve the deep ball.
Because I saw you at 16, there was a reason.
I wanted you to come to my team to play.

(38:51):
There was a reason and now you know, many years later, six
years later, the opportunities arisen.
So we'll see, but let let me take the next one here.
Let's go to defense, defense, defense, defense because
everybody knows that's how you win championships.
Sam Sekis improves this defensive metric in 2025.

(39:13):
This y'all think about it and give y'all a second metrics.
All that stuff up. If you need to pull things up,
think about it. If he improves this defensive
metric in 2025, the Hokies can be a top 25 defense.
Tackling. Bang, a metric.
My bad. Yeah, I'll go.
Ahead. That's the technique.

(39:35):
Yeah, I'll go ahead. No brainer, no brainer.
The situational football last two minutes of the game.
If you look at the Hokies recordbefore the final two minutes of
the game, Brent Pry is a God andhe's on his way to a statue and
he's won ACC Championship already.
Like it's ridiculous. Like just situational football.

(39:58):
You clean it up. Especially the last two minutes
of a game. In a close game, we are cooking
with far more grease. Good answer, Dan.
It's a very good answer. I would say limiting the
explosive plays, whether that's explosive plays per game, per
drive, whatever it is, but explosive plays on offense when
you when you're the defender is one of the leading indicators of

(40:21):
like winning games. If you have more explosive
plays, there's a very good chance.
I know Shelton's all over this, but that would be my thing is if
we can, the situation of football is huge.
But we saw some big plays in thevanity game.
We saw big plays in the Syracusegame, Duke game.
Good Lord. So those are the kind of things
that Cifkis and his game plan defense, putting it all

(40:42):
together, you have to limit explosives and I I, he's kind of
talked about that a little bit. So that is a key for me.
I I. Mean, I think measurable
metrics. I mean you improved the tackles
for loss tally. I'll add four loss after
tackling. Now it works.
That that works. Tackles for loss, guys, I mean
to to tighten the screw on on pulse's point.

(41:06):
When did Virginia Tech teams last year fall apart?
The third quarter, you went intothe locker room, you might have
been up at half. You're having a great game.
I think about the Boston Collegegame Thursday night and, and
we're we're kind of laying the wood.

(41:27):
And then all of a sudden they start making a run back in the
third quarter. And, and, and then that goes to
Pete's point, explosive plays. You're letting these guys score
and catch up. It's like, dude, you have got to
play. You have got to play complete
defense in the third quarter. I mean, you could say that about

(41:48):
the offense, too, but really, I mean, that's where we fell
apart. Do you know the number Grayson
last year? Say you know the number.
Do you know the number? Number what?
No. No.
Oh. In the third quarter, no, I
actually don't know. We gave up 103rd quarter points
last year. The average is like 6, so that
would be about 75. We gave up 100.

(42:10):
We gave up almost in 12 games weroughly gave up what, almost 8
1/2 points 1/4, which is 2 1/2 points higher than all.
So that's the intent you'd. Want to be a good point, to be a
good team? You'd like to be a be better
than the average. You'd like to be behind the
average, Yeah. Not 20.
Percent worse than the average. Dan, I went down a rabbit hole

(42:31):
and I'm glad you brought this up.
And this is about the third timepeople to listen to us do it.
If 43 points in the last four minutes of games, we gave up
just 43 points, think about that.
Think about that. If you just cut that in half,
what's our record last year? I mean, if you.
Is everybody pissed off right now?
If you go with the O and five inone score games, I mean, what if

(42:54):
we're three and two? You know, what if we're two and
three? Like the whole season is
different. You know you.
Beat Vanderbilt, maybe. Pammy, you beat, I mean. 7
points in the last minute for them, just so you know.
It's it's Wildman and like, so to that point, I mean, Dan
talked about situational. You know, you guys have talked
about, you know, moments in the game.

(43:16):
And I know Sheldon is a isn't a big fan of this, but like being
able to get off the field on on 3rd down, like we, we were
pretty poor, especially in thosesituational moments, especially
in the third quarter. We could not get our defense off
the field. Sheldon, did you find it yet?
Yeah, talking about explosive plays allowed.
I didn't realize how. Bad it was, but.

(43:39):
We were, we were 100 and we were123rd in plays of 10 plus yards
allowed, 131, as well as plays of 20 plus yards allowed 127th.
And you can go pretty much down the line 30 + 40 + 50 plus all
all bottom 10. And it was pretty much every
single one. I Yeah.
Like when we we didn't bend, butwe broke.

(44:05):
I'm. Guessing, I'm guessing when
Brent Prize first ever interviewed was that long last
play from Maryland that was Bad Omen.
And these coaches have to just go coach and players have to
play. They have to like, if you can't
make a play, put somebody else in.

(44:28):
Again, I keep saying the same stuff because it seems simple to
me. It's like somebody was like,
well, they didn't have nobody else.
I'm like, they did. It's like 70 people on the
sideline. Just put somebody in.
Just put them in. My counter to that tally is if
you're running the same shitty defense, putting in a new guide

(44:48):
isn't necessarily going to help Caleb Woodson in spite of our
defense showed out last year. I just think like the coaching
as, as Dwight is pointing out, strength and conditioning
coaching has been so poor for three years that it's it has not
been the Jimmy's and the Joe's. It has been the X's and O's for

(45:10):
three years. Billy said this on a show the
other night. Billy was on the strength and
conditioning thing for a while too with Dwight and it's we are
we have been unprepared for three years to go into these
games. Remember when they decided they
were going to wake up everybody early before BC and that was
that was the secret sauce. They they are grasping at straws

(45:30):
to try to figure out how to get the team ready to play a game
from the gun. And hopefully by changing four
different coaches, we figured itout this year.
But it it the talent has not been the problem.
That's why I like I was saying like my counter is that don't
just put someone else in becauseit's still Marv's defense.
It's still not going to be run correctly.
But this is the thing, this is this is where where I go Pete on

(45:54):
that a couple of ways. So when you go on offense and
you watch a offensive lineman miss 3.
Blocks I'm. Just saying, you watch a
offensive lineman miss three blocks out of three plays, just
put somebody else in and see if they're going to miss 3 or if
they're going to miss two out ofthe three, that thing.

(46:15):
And then if you, I don't care ifyou got Ed Reed on your defense
and he misses a tackle that you need at a pivotal part of the
game. I ain't saying take him out for
the whole game, but you got to try somebody else just to get to
let them know that you have somebody else that's on your

(46:35):
behind. You know what I'm saying?
Like, I feel like the coaching staff, and that goes back to
coaching. I feel like the coaches were so
indebted to each other or indebted to certain players that
they were scared to put somebodyelse in.
Well, the. Coaching on the O line just
continued to make no sense throughout the.
Year, right? And it goes back to Vitali.
Your point is perfect. We are in the age of NIM.

(46:59):
People are getting paid. I love what you say.
You suck right now. Sit your ass down.
Well you're paying me $300,000 ayear and your ass ain't worth
it. You ain't doing $300,000 worth a
year playing. Go sit down.
I'm going to take Mr. 50K over here and if he goes out there
and busts ass, I'm going to givehim your money next year.
And I'll say this. And now you can do that.

(47:21):
The whole thing is you can do that now.
Like literally, if someone comesup to a coach and says, you
know, why did you bench him? You know, you gave him all that
money. He sucks.
Is he worth that money? Well, I guess not.
Do you want his money? I'd love to have his money then
go beat his ass out on the fieldand then you get his money.
Sorry. I.
Don't know that. Go ahead.

(47:41):
Go ahead, Dan, you've. Been I'm saying it has to be
ability over ego, because if youembarrass the name on the back
of the jersey, they just got to live with that.
But if you embarrass the name onthe front of the jersey, your
ass is getting fired. So I mean which one you want to
do, you know? Yeah, and everybody's got to
live with that. If you embarrass the name on the
front, everybody on that team has to deal with the Ram
implications of that. This is at the end of the day,

(48:03):
you got to, you got to perform. It's all of that is so true and
guys like this is pre NIL era. I'm going to throw it back a
little bit. I don't know if y'all remember.
I mean this is like early transfer portal days.
Y'all remember Jake Johnson the linebacker?
Can you say? Number 36, So I mean, there
were, there was a little while like he came in, he was a three

(48:24):
star recruit, he was playing a lot.
And then all of a sudden he kindof started to let it slip a
little bit. And Bud Foster replaced him with
Lyndell Gibson, who also, you know, started to let it slip.
But at first Johnson wasn't really cutting it the way he
used to. And Foster said, listen, Jake,

(48:46):
I'm putting Gibson in because he's getting it done at a higher
level than than you are. And then we saw Jake Johnson
transfer as a byproduct to that.But I mean like that's even just
a pre NIL example in Virginia Tech where I just I think about
where a coach said, hey, listen dude, like somebody's if you're
not getting it done, I'm puttingin the next guy.

(49:08):
It it's overall in sports, we all know that that's good
practice, play the best guy. That's not what that's not.
That was not what I was trying to say to tell.
The overarching point was I was saying the schemes were so bad
that it it wouldn't have necessarily mattered.
Now on the offensive line, it might have mattered.
And we've seen that with Montavius Cunningham, who
couldn't get on the field under the last offensive line coach,

(49:28):
they're now saying could be our best offensive lineman this
year. So like it's there was a lot of
issues in the coaching department.
Last year, well, it's it's wild that he could get on the field
last year and then turned aroundand this year he was probably
the primary reason that a Bob Schick transfers to Oklahoma
State. So, so it's it's it's a very
interesting. Thank God for that.

(49:50):
And yeah, thank God for Matt Moore.
Absolutely. Thank God for coaching change.
I mean, all of the coach we had what?
Who was it that talked about it?It was.
Me and you, Tally, we talked about it at some point.
Yeah, but I'm just saying, like tonight somebody was talking
about just the turnover and coaching or how bad of an idea
it was to hire a brand new coachand a brand new coordinator.

(50:11):
Right, Mike McDaniel, that sounds like something.
We had all of these. We had all of these, you know,
tweets and pictures about going on camping trips together
together and going catfish noodling or something.
I don't care about none of that.Like, I don't care if y'all are
friends. I hope y'all hate each other,

(50:32):
but y'all just want to win. You know what I'm saying?
Like, I want to see coaches thatare going to challenge each
other to be better. And if it's not working, you
find a way to make it work. That's what that's what I care
about. I don't care if you're taking
them on vacation and stuff at this point.
Like, yeah, it might have been cool whenever he is, but now you
got to throw that out. I just want to see competent

(50:54):
coaching and I don't like, Pete said.
I don't feel like we've had thatfor three years, you know, so.
Yeah, and and tally, to your point, I think it can go in the
other direction because we saw how much the wheels completely
fell off at Florida State last year.
So like the, the, the culture and the dynamic of the team
chemistry still matters, but because of NIL, it probably

(51:19):
doesn't carry the same weight that it carried A decade ago,
right. So you're, you're going to still
need to, to, to juggle that. But to your point, I don't, I
don't think that's moving the needle for yeah, especially
recruiting in the off seas or anything.
What's moving the needle right now is can you, do you fit what
I do well? And are you going to pay me?

(51:40):
It's true, all right, Sheldon's got a head out here, so he's got
1 he wants to throw to y'all, and I'm sure this is going to
Sheldon. Since you got a dip, put who you
think who your guy is before youdip out.
Yeah, Well, so, so we're talkingdefensive players.
We've talked a lot of guys tonight, IBM, James Jonkum,

(52:00):
we've talked, you know, safeties.
My question is who do you think is the most important player on
this 2025 Virginia Tech defence?And before you give your answer,
I will say I'm going with our defensive end who I've heard
some good things about during camp.
That would be Ben Bell, very highly talented guy out of Texas
State. I think he's going to be a big
difference maker for this team. So give me your guys top top

(52:23):
player for this 2025 defence. Dante Lovett woo Dante Lovett
Caleb like breakout season that kids going to be a star and and
I I just I'm really curious to see me how he plays against
South Carolina. He's going up against Lenora
Sellers. You know is he able to to hold

(52:43):
his own in coverage against throws from this guy who's
supposed to be you know, MichaelVick 2 point O somebody tweeted
that the other day. I'm I what?
What was it Pete, you said? I'm also Michael if.
Someone said that. The worst version.
Could just be putting. Stuff Lenora Sellers is Michael
Vick with less talent. It's like, yeah, what are?
We talking, they tried to, they tried to create a banger and it

(53:06):
just. It bonged, Pete said.
Wait a SEC, wait a SEC. I got 1.
You said something, Dan. Go ahead.
Yeah, Caleb Woodson, big problemfor this defense has been middle
linebacker. He is now, for all we know,
going to be the middle linebacker.

(53:27):
Big responsibility, pretty much the leader of the defense at
that position. You're going to need to see it
be strong. He's a stud.
I think Caleb Woodson is the most important piece to our
defense this year. I think the probably 3 best
players in the defense might have already been named by

(53:49):
Shelton, Grayson and Dan. But Tyson Flowers will be
immensely important this year. And one of the reasons why is
we've played two true freshman safeties the last two years, Mos
Phillips and Quinn Reddish and thrown those guys to the wolves.
And the play hasn't been all that great from the safety
position due to the injuries to to Stroman.

(54:09):
So bringing in a veteran like him who when you hear him talk
and you saw the interview with Colby, like that guy's a stud.
Like he is going to be a stalwart back there as long as
he's healthy, He's older, he's ared shirt junior, he's fourth
year of college football. So I am looking forward to him
quarterbacking that new look, defensive secondary.

(54:30):
And I, I'm excited to see what Tyson does because I think he's
going to be a big part of this defense.
No, that that's good, Pete. I was thinking the same thing.
Just because of how many deficiencies we've had back
there. I'm not going to say best player
on the defense, but most important, which is what the
question asked, I would have said the same thing you did just

(54:51):
because if we're playing Q back there, Q still going to have a
lot of growing pains, you know, and you're going to have to pair
him with somebody who can overcome some of those growing
pains with some experience. Cuz last year if you had Q and
you had most back there, that's a youth movement and we know

(55:14):
most would come up and hit you. Like no disrespect to the kid,
he would come up and hit you, but he would be out of position
and hit his own player and then somebody score a touchdown.
The Duke game was, was really bad for the safeties, right?
And this, this could, it could be a total game changer if you
have two guys back there knowingwhat they're doing.
Right. And that's perfect, perfect way

(55:34):
to put it. So, I mean, I, I didn't, I don't
even know that I would have saidflowers his name because I
didn't. I don't even know who.
I haven't paid attention enough to know who's going to be back
there. But that that safety position,
it's a it's a safety position, man.
Yeah. Really.
That safety. Position is is definitely
important this year. Yeah, we haven't even flowers.

(55:54):
I mentioned the Sherrod Koval. I mean, yeah.
He's kind of, you know what's crazy?
Brian is like, I feel like, I mean, I mean, Dan mentioned him
already once tonight. Cole's kind of been an
afterthought and not in a disrespectful way.
It's like no one's really talking about him.
I feel go going into this season.
And I mean, he was such a highlytouted recruiter out of Virginia

(56:15):
going down to Clemson. And I mean, it was a big deal
When? When?
We did he come in hurt though. Yeah.
He's been, he's been nicked. I don't think he played much
during the. Well, he two years ago he was
playing really well. He got hurt and then he had to
come on the field last year after an ACL and he actually
played like OK in the in the time period that he had to play.

(56:38):
So healing up from that, could he give us more like I think he
could. It's, it's been a tough Rd. for
him though. Obviously, like you don't end up
back here from Clemson unless some things have maybe gone a
little haywire. But between him, Ellis Cash,
like we, we've kind of alluded to it like we're going to find

(56:59):
enough pieces because I think it's, I think it's Q and it's
flowers to start. But there's enough here that you
really have some nice depth. Yeah.
And I know Pete, we talked aboutit after the spring game, like
Ellis probably looked the best overall in that game, but then I
know he got nicked up shortly thereafter.
And, you know, seems like he's alittle bit behind flowers in

(57:22):
Reddish at this point. And I know Reddish didn't get a
whole lot of burn during the spring either, but it it's good.
I think they're going to play a lot of guys.
I think you're going to see at least you know, other names you
named at least five, maybe even six of those guys getting pretty
considerate burned in in the safety room.
You. See that I mean.
Comment. And then you got the dark, like

(57:45):
the dark horse Jordan Bass, like, we don't know.
Is he going to red shirt? Is he going to play any like
looks pretty good in practice, but you know, a little
undersized, a little hurt. Like we don't like what we don't
know. It's going to be a carousel of
friends we made along the way. The answer to this question,
gentlemen, really is who's the most important player.
It's it's every single frigging one of them.

(58:07):
Yeah. I mean, I mean, just the
defensive performance last year specifically, I mean, just left
us all scratching our heads so many times and that really we've
talked about it ad nauseam. You know, like Dick talked about
it with you all last week. I mean, it's it's coaching.

(58:27):
And just we kind of the moment we all kind of knew this wasn't
working out with with coach Marvagain, not no disrespect to him,
was the Syracuse game and that that game kind of was a
epitomized his defenses and, andthe defenses of old.
And with coach Steve Stevekis, like we just can't have that.

(58:48):
Like you have to see a stark improvement across the board
defensively. I I loved it.
I put it on X the other day. The fact that coach Xavier DB is
coaching the inside linebackers.No, that fires me up.
Like I I love that he was one ofmy favorite Virginia Tech
football players of all, but wouldn't have it any other way.

(59:10):
So we all agree, you know, defense has got to be asked to
play with poise. We got to swarm with the
football. We got to play with confidence
and we got to we got to play mean man.
That's Bud foster mentality, lunch panel mentality.
It's it's everyone's important now.
This is, I like what you say, everyone's important because I

(59:30):
think with C, because we've talked about it earlier and I
think y'all are probably seeing it too, looking back at Wofford,
understanding where he's coming from is I do think you're not
going to get run-of-the-mill every week.
I do think, and you've heard himtalk about like we need to
occasionally be able to adjust. This is going to be a power run
team. We've got to be able to adjust.
We can't just Brian, you said this a long time ago about the

(59:50):
Fuente Air. We're just going to do what we
do Sam Seif just doesn't think like that.
You don't do what we do. You do what's going to stop
them, because if you do what youdo and what you do is what they
can absolutely feast on, then you're going to get killed every
game. And I think it goes to a point
of I think every week, if you ask me what would be perfect

(01:00:11):
every week when we go live, Pete, you guys jump on, then you
talk about it, Grayson, you tweet, you want a new player.
Well, Grayson, you're more than welcome to come on with anybody,
anytime. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I'm with you know what I'm. Saying here every now and again.
I'm not. But what I think, what I would
love to see is every week it's atweeter to talk about.

(01:00:33):
That was the guy this week. Tyson Flowers absolutely was all
over the field. Dante Lovett put this guy on
lock. They couldn't look his way the
whole game. Jacqueline Bell just kept coming
off the edge. The tackles had nothing for him.
Pause. I pause.
But you see what I'm saying is Ithink because of what Ceekus is,

(01:00:55):
and like we talk about his mind and about like what he likes to
do, I think that would be the story.
It's every week there's a new hero and every week somebody
does something great. And if that's the story, then it
goes back to what we've been talking about, what Pete alluded
to, what Tally's alluded to. We've had talent.
We have not had the coaches to put these gentlemen in positions

(01:01:17):
to be successful. Yeah.
And Curtis, when I talk about, you know, that do what we do
mentality, it kind of goes back to what Sheldon was talking
about earlier with not really having an off speed pitch or not
really having a counter punch. When I think if we do, we do,
that's your punch. But when you get punched in the
mouth of yourself, you got to have a counter punch.
You got to have something else that you can bring to the table
and adjust and take away that element that they brought to the

(01:01:41):
table that maybe you weren't prepared for or maybe you didn't
exactly think that you were going to, that they were going
to stack up the same way that they have in this matchup.
You've got to have something else in your toolbox that can
mitigate those problems that arise in a game.
You've got to have those mitigation strategies as they
come around. That's about preparation and

(01:02:03):
that goes back to coaching. Is are you talking about when
Rutgers run the same play 8 times and no 15 yards of play?
Every time. The.
Flat. That's one of.
Them the flat was so open. Football is a is, I mean, it is
a complex sport, but it's reallynot as complicated as some
people make it. I always talk.

(01:02:23):
I'm not a Alabama fan. By no means we got some crazy
fans. They all rednecks and correct.
I'll just say that anyway. But Nick Saban is the GOAT.
Like that is Nick Saban is the GOAT.
If you go study how he coached and things he did, he knew how
to change his team. If you go back and look at the

(01:02:44):
early Nick Saban Alabama teams, it was all about a pocket
quarterback and, you know, standing back and, and, and
being in the pocket and, and relying on the running game.
And then they had to shift and they had Blake Sims as a
quarterback one year and Alabamafans lost their mind.
Why do we got a quarterback backhere running around?
That's not what a quarterback does.

(01:03:06):
Well, Nick knew the game was changing.
He had to have a dual threat quarterback.
Blake Sims just wasn't the quarterback that was going to
take him to the next level. Then he went out and recruited
the players that was going to take him to the next level, like
Jalen Hurts and to And then he gets in a national championship
game and goes, hey, you got to see, but you ain't getting the

(01:03:26):
job done. And he puts in a cold
quarterback that's a young quarterback, and they go beat
Georgia. You know, again, I don't think
Brett Pryor is Nick Saban, but Ithink if you're getting paid
millions of dollars to coach a sport, you should study those
people how I study them. And if they can change players,
you can. We haven't go back to what Pete

(01:03:48):
said. We haven't coached them for
three years. And I'm not saying it's
magically going to happen this year, but I hope it magically
happens this year. Well, and that's the craziest
part is I don't think we've had the best staff in the world the
last three years to say the least, and we were still this
close to beating a top ten team,this close to having an 8-9 win

(01:04:10):
season with a few. Things.
Go the. Yeah, exactly.
All six wins, 10 loins are. Last, Last.
Year, yeah, I mean. That Medford's got a friggin
that improved this season. It's got what?
Yeah. I mean, you're hoping when we
play South Carolina that it is aclose game and that we win and
then you can reverse all of thisnarrative right off the bat.

(01:04:33):
I mean, that would be the dream scenario.
But even if Vandy is that it's a3 point game, which it very well
could be and it's on the foot ofJohn Love and we win.
Like that's the kind of stuff weneed to happen to be like, OK,
we're, we're moving in the rightdirection now.
Right. So what are the one close game
that he's won at this point? Was what the Liberty game,

(01:04:53):
right? Jesus Christ.
The Jaylen Holsten Legacy game. Yeah, jeez, the cover was bare.
What? I mean what?
And that's no disrespect to Holsten.
I love you kid, but like man, damn.
Dude, we needed some fortunate things to happen to win that
game too. We really did.

(01:05:15):
So, so we're kind of on it. I'm going to, I'm going to
actually add a little bit to this and, and, and get some
perspective because we talked about at the end of the first
segment a little bit with the Board of visitors stuff and what
what Wit's trying to put together needing 200 million to,
to feel like you're competing well in the ACC.
But I want to do it this time through the lens of Brent Pry

(01:05:38):
and his tenure here. If WIT can go out there and
secure 200 million, do we have the pieces in play where we're
still calling Brent Pryor the head coach, the Hokies in three
years? I want Dan to go first.

(01:06:01):
I'm glad I wit shout out wit manreminded me of Latrell Sprewell.
I can't feed my family on 13 million.
I want to say yes, but I don't know because you know, if he
brings in Montgomery, most qualified at the time of higher

(01:06:22):
offensive coordinator Virginia Tech has ever had.
And then you go get Sam Seekus. You bring them in completely out
of left field. We had no idea like, like who
you know, like the Snoop, the Snoop, whatever the the the
famous meme. But then you bring this dude in
and then you get to know him andhe's very calm, but he's very

(01:06:44):
intense when he speaks and he's very confident and having half
the hair, half of it should go like that thing like that is
like. He's like, it's bad.
He rocks it dude, and he doesn'tcare.
And like, he's so psychotically obsessed with the intricacies of

(01:07:05):
what the offense is doing and making sure his scheme is
complex, but yet simple enough that this players don't have to
think about it. You know, they just do it, which
is what this is what they've said.
The game still have to be playedand it has to be executed.
But I think with the money we currently have, we should be

(01:07:27):
able to win 8 or 9 a year. And that's still like should be
a floor for the ACC, in my opinion.
But we come from a different eraof watching Tech, so we got a
different perception of what Virginia Tech football should
be. Yeah.
I mean, if you get 200 million ayear, like, you should be top.

(01:07:49):
You should be top tier. ACC.
Half Perennial playoff team. Can you recite the the end of
the question one more time just to like?
Yeah. So like just kind of if, if
wit's able to get us there, if and if the pieces that prize
brought on from a staff perspective work out, will we
still see Brent Pry as the head coach in?
Three. Well, oh.

(01:08:09):
If they if they work out, hell yeah if.
They work out, yeah. But the question is like, will
we see still see Brent Pry like because if it works out,
obviously he'll still be here. But if we're O and two, he gone
like that. Like if we are O and two, it is
over for Brent Pry, without a doubt.
You cannot lose to Rutgers back-to-back years and then

(01:08:31):
Vanderbilt back-to-back years and still be the freaking head
coach at Virginia Tech. You cannot do that.
Amen. If Brent Pryor goes six and six,
he's still coaching. Yeah, I just want to let y'all
know. Oh yeah, you're correct, because
Gene at CMG Leasing says not if.Not if the first two games are
losses. If he knew this to South
Carolina and Vanderbilt, but still win six games, Pete, we're

(01:08:53):
going to be talking about this next year.
He's still going to be here. I don't think so but that that's
fine. We can have a difference of
opinion on that. I just think that it will get so
toxic so fast after Owen 2. You're going to have a big face.
It will. It will.
At least it will equal 2021 postFuente.
We think. We think Fuente's gone and then
all of a sudden wit's bringing it back.

(01:09:14):
It'll, it'll reach those levels,I want you to think.
And it'll be lame duck. So what's the fucking point?
But here's what's got to. Happen.
That's my. We said Wit doesn't get fired.
If Wit doesn't get fired, Wit's not firing him.
A night game in Lane Stadium against Vanderbilt and you lose
after losing to them the previous year.
It's over. It is over.

(01:09:36):
Steven, I disagree with that. I I think the new hires are a
last ditch effort. He messes it up this year, he's
gone. And I know, I know that wasn't
the question. The question is, you know, you
raise the money. Is he still the coach?
Yeah, maybe, maybe. But I mean, if those new hires,
he was given the chance to fire the coordinators that weren't

(01:09:57):
hacking it or letting them take it to motion to go to Ohio
State, whatever. But yeah, it's this is it for
him. This is the last season Peach
right? You start the season O and two
it's wraps. It's.
Done. There's so many like questions
that go along with stuff that I have that my mind just like
wanders about does Brett Pratt, was he the one who made the

(01:10:21):
hires? Like they say he made them, but
he doesn't make those hires whenhe comes in as a coach.
Like it was other people that had that was on the board that
had. I don't think so.
I I think that's well. It's I mean everything comes
from the top down. Wit, if Wit let if wit let a
first time head coach hire two first time coordinators, which

(01:10:43):
it seems he did. Yeah, that's on Wit too.
But Pride made those hires. There was connections from Penn
State with Bowen. There was connections from
Vanderbilt with Marv. Those are his hires.
The only thing we don't know is were there other hires that were
vetoed for one reason or another?
We know who was on the Zoom calls, Brian, when those hires

(01:11:04):
were were made. We know the Eye of Sauron was
was on there. And we all know who I'm talking
about. We all know who I'm talking
about. Yeah, I.
Understand, man, it's a it's a good old boy network and it's
all about about who somebody else knows and well, let's not
interview him because some people didn't get calls and some
people did. So I feel like a lot of times

(01:11:26):
these people watch each other's back.
Again, I don't want to get into the conspiracy, but that's why I
just be thinking like, I never am, Like, well, he's got to be
gone. And this is that.
If if wit's gone, sure, pride's gone.
I love, I love the people getting sub tweeted in these
conversations. We had 70 gets sub tweeted
tonight. We got four.
We got, we got JB getting sub tweeted.

(01:11:48):
I love it. Here's my thing.
Here's my thing, I really don't know what this year's going to
look like. Obviously, you said if the
pieces work out, which was a caveat to the question.
Yes, he's still here because everything else he's masterful
at. As far as from APR perspective,
the shit they sent Jon Gruden was masterful.

(01:12:08):
That was a hell of a box. Shout out to the marketing team.
Can we afford? It.
But what I'm saying is yeah. Right.
Here's the question. You have to pick, I think what
side of it you're on. Because if you're on Twitter and
you're doing all these tweets like, hey, we're only going to
win four, If your expectation isfour or five wins and then he

(01:12:32):
wins 6, don't call for him to get fired because he exceeds
your expectation. So if your expectation is nine
wins and he only wins 5, then yeah.
But if your expect, if you're onthere like, yeah, we're going to
win like 3 or 4 games and then he wins six or seven, you can't
call for him to be fired becausehe exceeds your expectation.
Damn, that's what they said in the board of visitors meeting.

(01:12:54):
Jean at CMG Leasing, she said that we're competitive at five
or six wins. That's what she's saying.
She's surprised we're as competitive as we are.
Yeah, she's, she's thrilled thatwe're competitive.
It's like 1. Damn, I thought she.
She also doesn't understand what.
I want to say this with Curtis, I know, but I want to say this.

(01:13:14):
I know you probably got the mostpull on this board right here.
I need you to start talking to these people and let them know
Jon Gruden looks like Chucky. You need to send me that stuff
because I would put it to betteruse than Chucky.
He's got a whole. He's got a whole freaking closet
full of it from 10 different schools.
Yeah, he don't care. He ain't going to use that.

(01:13:36):
Send that to me and Dan and Peteand we going to be wearing it in
the stadium. I want that baseball helmet.
How can I? Get that?
Hey, He. Told a really good TOTS rail
story so I'll give him that. I'll wear that helmet.
I'll wear that helmet. I'll wear that helmet the worst
I'll. Wear that helmet, Magic City.
I mean the gloves. And he got all three helmets.

(01:13:56):
The helmet stays on during the lap dance. 4 total helmets,
right, including the baseball. Helmet you're never going to.
Call out your name again. Back me up like that.
Back to what we were talking about here about the fire.
First of all, my apologies, WhitBabcock has to go first.
That's fine. Whit Babcock will have to go
first. It's it's a messy situation.

(01:14:16):
Because I want to ask you all a question.
Well, let's fire Pry for this year.
You won't to wait. You won't wait to make a third
hire. No.
No way. You won't wait to make a third
hire. He doesn't.
Get to. There's no way.
So that means you got to fire Whit by mid-october so you can
have a new AD, so you can actually hire a coach.
That's what makes it all very challenging, right?
And when I when I said price done, I didn't mean like that

(01:14:39):
night. I mean like for all intents and
purposes it's it's done, but. You need to wait the next year
though. Yeah, it'll be 2020.
Six, Well, I don't know. I don't know about that, but
like, let me, let me back up. Hold on.
I don't. No, no, no, no.
Hold on. Stop.
So you're saying you're willing to get wit fired in January and

(01:14:59):
try to make a February head coach hire?
No, that's not what I'm saying. I'm saying if it's if, it's as
bad. And this is an if because
personally, I don't think we're going Owen 2.
I want to make that clear. This is all an if.
If we are Owen 2 and then it it spirals into a bad season, You
cannot wait to make those changes.

(01:15:22):
You cannot wait. As we love to do by the way, and
like I Pete, we talked about this on too deep when you and
Sam had me on. We are traditionally we are not
that school. We're making mid season changes.
We're just not that school. But if that happens, we have to
be. You have you have no choice.
And y'all that BOV meeting what that told me and this is

(01:15:46):
disrespect to no one with knows in one way or another.
He's not going to be the AD at Virginia Tech for much longer,
whether it's by his own doing, he resigns whatever or he he
knows like I or I get fired first because it everything he

(01:16:06):
knows my job rides starting nextweekend again South Carolina and
Mercedes-Benz Stadium. My job starts, I'm basically on
a four month. Imagine the stress sitting in
that stadium if you're like, if you're with Babcock.

(01:16:26):
Like just. I mean, and, and the stress when
he's watching us lose to Vanderbilt.
Oh my God. I can't even imagine I wouldn't
sleep at night. Hey Joe Rogers gave him a a face
full in in Norfolk when when that ODU loss happened coming.
Reportedly. From him.
That that's, that's the word on the street.

(01:16:46):
Yeah, I was. I was there for that.
I had a front row ticket to. That where are you?
Where are you? Yeah, OK.
I saw that happen. Yeah.
All right. Yeah.
And so like under that, under that situation that that means
that you're probably if you go into and you actually have the
the stones to make the move, that means you're probably
firing wit sometime in October and you're having to get a new

(01:17:09):
AD in place at the latest beforethe Commonwealth Cup.
It's not good. It's not.
Good. Yeah, unfortunately, Georgia
Tech just hired him. So his name is Ryan Alpert.
He would have been great from Tennessee.
Give me give me 6 more names then Dane.
Let's Yeah. I don't know but what I'm saying

(01:17:32):
is. He said give me 6 more.
You can't say, well, the guy that just got hired.
I was making. I was being a.
Bitch. Well, listen, we all, we are all
hoping as much as it sucks, as much as we may not like what WIT
has done the last couple years, we are all hoping that we don't
have. It doesn't have to come to that.

(01:17:52):
Exactly Like we are hoping that we beat South Carolina, we beat
Mandy and we're two and O and we're not even thinking about
Whip Babcock. We're thinking about we're a 210
football team like that and we just, that's the dream.
We're. At this point then, so I mean go
ahead Dan, I'll let you finish. As far as the whole situation
goes, I think it started honestly, it started with Jim

(01:18:13):
Weaver. It it started to fall behind
there. And then WIT just didn't do
enough with what he can control.He couldn't control the ACC
commissioner making the regionalSports Network deals and that
falling through. And then we've fallen massively
behind and money. But he didn't do enough to
control what he could control. And he went, yeah, he went in

(01:18:34):
front of this board knowing thathe was about to look like shit
and he was going to have to eat a lot of shit sandwiches to beg
for money. I thought, like, he did a good
job conveying how bad it is because when you go in asking
for money, you're not like, you know, I need like 30 million.
But if you don't want to do it, that's cool.

(01:18:54):
Like, it wasn't like you got to really, like, sell the fact
that, you know, this shit's direstraits.
And I think he did that. So hopefully they cough it up.
But, you know, he did pull the Magic Johnson.
Like, I don't know, I'm not going to be here type thing, but
yeah. I think the thing that pissed me
off the most was like the the thing that we, and I say we

(01:19:17):
collectively like, and that's the fan base, but also the
athletic department needed to bebetter at, you know, regardless
of where we're at overall, like we shouldn't be in the bottom of
public institutions in the ACC for.
Athletic. But not with our enrollment, no.
Not at all, but I think Tim Sands finally realized, hey, I

(01:19:40):
got to do some shit here so. He knows his days are numbered,
mixed. There's get him out of there.
There's no better motivator thanembarrassment, and that might.
They all got embarrassed yesterday and it's it's it's
kind of crazy because everyone'shad those, whether it's David
Teal or Andy Bitter putting out the quotes and then.

(01:20:00):
You know, some of those quotes don't look very good and whether
they were taken out of context or not, they don't look very
good. And those people of of that ilk
don't like to be embarrassed. And they kind of got, they kind
of got embarrassed and. They said it cost money to win
and it cost money to lose. Well, you know, yeah.
That that was that was the best,that was the best point conveyed

(01:20:24):
in the whole thing is that if you're you're going to lose
money on this thing regardless, it's better to lose money and
have a winning product. And you know, what's funny is
like the measures that we've taken over the years to save
money, meaning playing at ODU, playing at Marshall, those have
cost us money on the back end for sure.

(01:20:44):
Because when you go to ODU, you put your head in the lion's
mouth. You lose twice.
You are damaging the brand. You are killing casual fan
interests. You are killing merchandise
sales, ticket sales. It has cost us more money with
all the dumb shit that skimping on Fuente's salary pool.
I don't even like Justin Fuente as a coach, but we skimped on
his salary pool. We lose to Liberty, we lose to

(01:21:06):
all these teams. It costs US money on the back
end because then we got to fire him.
We're paying his buyout, the whole 9 yards.
I was pretty dead after that Marshall game.
I think the Marshall game wasn'tabout money and it was more
about they came and bailed our ass out and got us boy eligible
so we had to go play a game there.
I think that's how that went. But still, it was shitty.

(01:21:27):
We should have. Beat their.
Ass little brother-in-law deal there.
Yeah, exactly. Well, let's, let's go ahead and
wrap this thing up, guys. So what we're going to do now
we, we, we've talked a lot here,but we, we got to get some
record predictions of what you guys think, how you think the
season's going to wrap up and maybe even, you know, add a
little little little blurb thereto to your explanation.
And Pete, I'll start with you since you said you don't think

(01:21:49):
we're going to fall flat on our face out the gate.
I, I don't and we could lose to South Carolina, without a doubt.
We could lose to Vandy. But I think we're getting one of
those games, if not both, We're we're going to get one.
And I think the final record will be 8:00 and 4:00 because
even if we were to go 2 and O and we look like world beaters.
Well, there was a time in life when we beat Ohio State and then

(01:22:11):
lost to ECU the next week. This is something that Virginia
Tech does. We will have stupid losses.
And so even if we turn it up a notch and we win some close
games, eight and four seems likethe record.
I think we're probably three andone in the non con and then, you
know, we'll see what happens. But like 5 and 3, three and one,

(01:22:34):
that's eight and four. That's what I'm going with.
Dan. So a couple weeks ago, man, I
wasn't really like trying to do this record prediction shit.
And then, like, recently, the spirit of college football has
retaken my soul and I'm juiced. I'm ready.
I've been, you know, I watched it.

(01:22:54):
Yeah. I watched the Josh Peyton
episode of Busting with the Boys.
I'm ready. Like, I watched that SEC stuff
on Netflix. And I think it really depends on
how South Carolina and Vandy go.I do think we get one of those.
I'm not going to say we get both, but it is kind of weird
how the script is flipped this year where you have the media

(01:23:17):
darling coming in to play the team with the hot seat coach who
brought in brand new coordinators and like 30
transfers. And now, now Diego Pavia is also
the one with expectation. And I hope we beat that dude's
ass in Lane Stadium for that. I don't hate him, I just don't
want him to beat us. So I'm thinking I teeter between

(01:23:39):
if we win one of those. I'm saying 8 is possible, but
seven and five seems to be the first thing that pops in my head
without a bowl. 7 and five without a bowl.
Guys, on January 27th of this year, after the season was over,
it's my pin tweet on my on my profile.

(01:24:00):
I said we were going to win fivegames in 2025 and guess what?
I'm I got to stand on that. I said we're going to win five
games and I really think that's the case.
I I don't know. I, I don't know, man, after last
year, you're not going to have me out here predicting a winning
record. This is the show me something
season. You want me to give you hype win

(01:24:22):
a football game. How about that?
Like I, I don't, I'm done with all this semantics and all this.
So like hunky Dory smoke and mirror shit.
No, no, show me something. Make me a fan again like I I I'm
always going to watch the. When you back when?
Racer said You got to earn it, yeah.
They they do. Straight up and you'll all deep

(01:24:45):
down, you feel that way a littlebit.
See, I'm getting fired up, man. Because now I know college
football. Now I know that my Saturdays and
one Sunday and one Friday are going to be determined by 18 to
22 year olds and that isn't thatjust a beautiful.
Thing, it's the only way to live.
It's the only. It's the only way to work
through fall. And so.
Is it fall if you're not pinningall of your your your well-being

(01:25:07):
on 18 to 20 college exactly? I, I said, I said we were going
to lose the the first two games in my tweet.
As the season approaches, I'd like to think we get one.
I don't think it's going to be South Carolina.
I, I had this thought in the cardriving home from work the other
day. I'm like, I have the worst
feeling that that that that lossor that game will end in a loss

(01:25:31):
and it will be soul crushing. Like I could see it being like
Boise State in 2010. I don't know, dude.
I just I have that feeling. And then after that, we'll go
and play Vandy probably very competitively.
You would hope, right? But I say five wins.
Bryson If we go, if we go 2 and O, you're going to start back

(01:25:52):
podcasting. If we go OO and two will I
start? If we go 2 and O, if we beat
South Carolina and Vandy, you'regoing to start back podcasting.
Never say never. I I love joining.
It's been fun just kind of beingimpended.
Going on with Dan is awesome. Going on with Pete and Sam is
the best that a bless. You guys are fantastic.

(01:26:14):
I've, but I've also said, I've also said it's, it's there's a
lot of them y'all and I like to give you all y'all shine and
I'll stay behind the keyboard and be a little shit from there,
yeah. Ask for better.
Well fellas, it has been a wonderful evening. 247.

(01:26:36):
I thought we'd be under 2, but as usual, when we bring six of
the best content guys in Hokie Nation together, y'all bring the
heat, y'all bring the info, you bring your thoughts, you bring
your feelings. And that's why I love it.
But with all that being said, that does wrap up the panel
preview episode of the Boundary Corner podcast.

(01:26:57):
Brought to you by Counts Family Pharmacy in Blocksburg.
Brought to you by Moments on theMaury in Lexington.
I'm Curtis Wilson. I'm Brian Siegler.
Jonathan Talley. Shelton already left because he
had to get to bed. We appreciate, Danny notes.
We appreciate Mike McDaniel hadn't seen Mike text with Mike
all the time, talk about his kid, appreciate it.

(01:27:17):
David Cunningham, shout out and text him a few minutes ago.
Pete, Dan Grayson, you guys are the best for being here.
We ask everybody visit boundarycornerbt.com to listen
to all of our episodes. Check the banger out last week
with Dwight too because that wasa three hour marathon and he
brought the heat. Follow us everywhere.
Follow these guys, everybody that came on here tonight,

(01:27:40):
follow them on Twitter, listen to their podcast, read David's
writing, read the stuff Mike writes.
It is good stuff out there. And as always, our buddy down in
the Roanoke Valley, Mr. Jason Long, he plays us in, he plays
us out every week. Man.
Got back to work this week teaching kids and next week his

(01:28:03):
wife hooked us up with somethingvery impressive.
So look forward to that episode.We appreciate y'all all out
there listening. And as always, let's go.