Dawg Days

The Hokies have recovered a bit in the recruiting rankings for the 2026 class after rough Spring of major de-commitments. We invite BCP favorite and VTScoop writer Matej Sis to help us talk through some the specific circumstances that led to this slow start. We also discuss some of the key commitments so far in this class and what we can look forward to in the coming months as this class continues to fill out.

Episode Transcript

(01:47):
And welcome back to the BoundaryCorner podcast along with my
partners, Brian Siegler, Jonathan Talley, and tonight our
special guest from 247 Hokies. Mate Sis, this episode is
brought to you by Doctor Jeremy Counts down at Main Street
Pharmacy. Excuse me, Counts Family
pharmacy. I got the old, the old tag

(02:07):
Counts Family Pharmacy, your friendly neighborhood pharmacy
three O 1 S Main St. in Blacksburg, VA and like I said
already matasys back in the house.
He does not need an introduction, he's part of the
family. BT scoop mate.
Long time no talk man. How have you been, dude?
I'm good. I mean, we, I know we were

(02:28):
talking a little bit before we went live here, but it's great
to be back. I mean, at this point it's like
it's Thanksgiving, it's Christmas and then it's our our
yearly catch up. So I know we've done it a bunch
of times in the past, but truly an honor to be here and I love
chopping it up with you guys. Yeah, man, love to have you all

(02:48):
back. I mean, obviously we usually
have you on almost 2 * a year. We usually get something in the
spring, something just before the, you know, season gets fall
camp, gets cranked back up. We we missed the first go round.
Everybody was busy doing some different stuff.
But hey, we got you back. Now we're talking recruiting,

(03:08):
we're talking Hokies. Love that you're back, Mattei.
Absolutely. Mattei sis back in the house, my
season preview relies on what this man has to say tonight.
So you're either going to get angry tally or optimistic
talent. It relies on Mattei y'all so.

(03:30):
No pressure? No.
Pressure messages. Fill it up in the chat.
Let him know which tally you want to see because it relies on
him. I'll.
Tell you, would you would you like to comment on that?
Maybe somewhere in the middle, we'll see.
I want to see optimistic tally though.

(03:50):
I think everybody wants to see optimistic Tally, but sometimes
pissed off Tally's fun too. Tally.
Oh my God. Yeah.
Tally brings out like because yeah, we we all have different
levels, right? Like everybody who's watched
this program will tell you you're you've seen it, you've
seen us happy, you've seen us angry.
I feel like Tally helps tip me and Brian.

(04:12):
Like what if Tally's not feelinggood?
Eventually we're not going to befeeling.
If Tally's feeling good, we're eventually going to be.
Tally is sort of the he is the he is the head of the roller
coaster of our emotions on this.The over analyzation king once

(04:33):
that once that roller coaster start going the wrong way, you
better buckle up. We can't get it on the right
track. It's.
A lot of fun. Well, y'all matey here tonight.
We we got a lot to know because a, we didn't get to talk earlier
in the year, but we've got a lotof different stuff we want to
talk about and we're going to lead off tonight.
And just but Tay in general kindof Hokies recruiting just not

(04:56):
running as hot as last year and we know it's not in a vacuum.
So we wanted to kind of hit on afew things and basically how you
feel they're impacting not only this year's recruiting, but
potential future recruiting. I know Tally, I'm going to let
you kick it off because obviously, you know, we'll let
you vent a little bit. Yeah.
So you know, just go ahead and asking the question.

(05:18):
I know you're pretty close to Virginia Tech recruiting and the
program. So first thing I want to say is,
you know, I was definitely not happy with how the season went.
I don't think too many people were.
But from where you're standing and what you seen results of
2024, do you think that potentially throws a kink on

(05:43):
Brent Prize job security? I mean, yeah, in terms of job
security, I mean, I I feel like we've been debating it all
offseason on Twitter. There's so much promise Last
year. I can't remember a time that,
you know, maybe goes back 10 years when people had pre season
expectations of 10 plus wins andthen, you know, to make it out

(06:06):
and only have 6. Like with the talent that they
brought back. There was so much that went into
it, so many people that were excited.
Talia, I know I saw you last year down in Nashville, but it's
like, so going from that game with all the promise and hope,
the entire stadium, week one at Vanderbilt, everyone's in there

(06:29):
already looking past Vanderbilt.And then you look, you know, at
the end of the year, it's like, what happened?
What, what did we all just go through?
And I think a lot of people are still feeling the effects of
that. And, you know, definitely from,
you know, prize perspective, he's got to figure out a way to
win now. And I think he feels that with

(06:50):
Babcock feels that everyone feels that.
I mean, they invested so much into football.
I think we saw the effects of what happened to men's
basketball as well. Like this has ripple effects.
So definitely there is some job security questions.
I mean, every graphic that comesout in in the offseason, we've
seen Brent Prize name on it. But at the same time, I think,

(07:11):
you know, whether it's a good year, whether it's a bad year,
average year, like they're goingto focus on what's next.
And you know, there's a lot thathas happened from last year's
team to the team we're about to see on the football field.
Like a lot has gone into it, a lot of changes, coordinators,
support staff, I mean, players galore.

(07:32):
I mean, this was the most activeportal in in history and
especially for Virginia Tech. So definitely a lot of lessons
learned and heading into 2025. I mean, this is this is, you
know, put up or shut up year. Yeah, I'm saying this.
I'm gonna say this for a minute,Curtis.
Oh, go ahead. Before you go, I'm.

(07:53):
Saying on I'm saying on 247, it was snapshot that came through a
thumbnail, it said, talking about the changes in the new
faces. 31 scholarship departures, 30 transfer
editions, 19 high school signees, nearly 60 new faces in
2025. Yep.

(08:16):
So I'm just saying, I wanted to throw that out.
I just want to throw that out there.
Let me ask this, Matei, what about from the recruiting
perspective? Because, you know, you kind of
went in depth there about how itwas ripple effects across
everywhere. Is is that season affecting what
we're seeing with, you know, notthat last year just felt like

(08:39):
every time we turned around, it was a guy we wanted jumping in
the boat. Like, bam, we got it.
Yes, the end of that kid beat beat Ohio State for that kid.
Beat somebody for that kid. Is is the murmurs around the
business, like we don't know what's going to happen there,
therefore that momentum and thatsteam slows down.
You know, it's interesting because I think I'm not going to

(09:01):
deny that it doesn't have any impact.
I mean, I'm thinking about all the classes, all the cycles that
I've covered. And it's like towards the
beginning, that was always a bigconcern with everyone.
When is Beamer going to step down?
Then it was Fuente. Is he, you know, is he going to
stay here for the long haul? Is he leaving?
And now it's like we're in the new era where it's kind of faded

(09:23):
into the background a little bit.
Like we're talking about all theadditions that Virginia Tech
just had to this roster after what happened last year.
I mean, when we saw most of these portal guys come in, I
don't think they had named a defensive coordinator, let alone
an offensive coordinator. And it was just commits left and

(09:46):
right and you're kind of wondering what's going on, who's
pulling the strings here? But you know, those players
specifically, I mean, I get it from a portal perspective, a lot
of these guys are jumping up to a better situation and makes
sense no matter who the coordinator is going to be.
But then when you look at it from a high school level, I
think there's so many things that change there.

(10:08):
I think they've done well. I think the staff has always
done well given their circumstances, whether it's, you
know, these guys can sell anything, whether it's we need
you to come here because we needto change the perception around
here or something. Like, yeah, last season was a
disaster, but we had five guys drafted, 11 more guys signed on

(10:29):
to a team. Yeah, it was a disaster of a
season, but we're at least getting guys to the pros.
Do you want to be a part of that?
So no matter how you spin it, there's always a way around it.
But I definitely think there is at least a slight impact of
recruits saying, OK, what is this going to look like in the
long haul? Yeah.

(10:49):
I mean, I know with with NIL thetransfer portal, you're not
seeing guys stick around like a full four years even even in,
you know, favorable conditions, right.
So sometimes new opportunities open up, they want to take
advantage of that and they move on.
But you know, when you look at the way the expectations versus

(11:13):
the, the outcome worked last year, it definitely seems like,
you know, it's hard to tell whether it was, did this class
start a little slower because ofthe way the season played out?
Did it start a little slower because you had coordinators
that were fired as a result of that?
And now you're having to re establish some of those

(11:35):
relationships that you took a year building, you know, at the
start of that, that class cycle now into, you know, the time of
year where you start seeing somecommits come through.
It's really hard to say. And you know, let's talk about
that, that NIL a little bit. So, you know, we've got
settlement details finally came out.
There's been some kind of challenges to certain language

(11:57):
throughout the process. How is this whole NIL house
settlement and stuff like that playing into how the the Hokies
have kind of set up their recruiting board this year?
Yeah, it's been super interesting.
And I mean, this is something I've, you know, remain like I
was watching it from the very beginning.
I'm sure most of us were, but itwas delayed.

(12:18):
Delayed finally came through. I think it's been interesting
because I haven't seen in terms of Virginia Tech and how they
operate, at least from a football perspective.
I haven't seen like a huge dramatic change yet in terms of
their philosophy, how they're approaching, whether it's the
portal, high school recruiting or guys on their current roster.

(12:40):
Like we've kind of seen the trend of smaller high school
recruiting classes getting guys of need in the portal.
And for the most part, like we've seen Virginia Tech retain
who they needed to retain, You know, whether that's their
quarterbacks this offseason. Last year was pretty much

(13:02):
everyone it it has, I think the biggest impact and we've kind of
seen it hit high school recruiting this year is that I
think there's a lot of short term effects from it that these
big collectives kind of offloading a lot.
And maybe we see more movement in schools that we're not

(13:24):
typically seeing that from, you know, immediately, like Texas
Tech comes to mind coming out ofnowhere.
There's plenty of other exampleslike that.
But I think we're kind of seeingright now from a high school
perspective at least, we're seeing a lot of inflation.
I think we see more guys than ever right now committed to

(13:47):
schools. I think the the available player
pool's a bit smaller than it hasbeen in years past.
But yeah, overall, I think, you know, it helped a little bit in
terms of Virginia Tech landing some of these portal guys with
the expectation that this was going to happen.
But then in terms of recruiting,I think there's some other

(14:10):
benefactors across the country. Yeah, and that's the thing
about, you know, the deal and everything, because now
everything's scrutinized, right?I mean, there's already been
reports of deals like, Nope, deals not good.
Yep, deals not good. This.
And you know, in some, in some situations that's going to hurt.
But eventually I think people will find their way to work

(14:32):
around it. And if the hoagies are having
any issues, will we hear about it?
Maybe, maybe not. I think they've got enough
individuals inside the state of Virginia that have businesses
that they can easily just say get that kid $100,000, let them
come be a speaker for your business and what what can you

(14:53):
say their business, they want topay a kid $100,000 to come speak
whatever is going to work. But let me flip back because
we've mentioned the portal a couple times.
I want to know the effects that you think you're having or
having the portal, the way it's working out or it's having on
high school recruiting. Because the way you kind of got
to look at it, if a kid thinks I'm going to come in and play

(15:13):
day one, boom, boom, boom portal, like that's my position.
Like, how can that be negative, positive in high school
recruiting? And I know some people are
saying, yeah, but those guys arelike way down the line.
And it's like it happens a lot quicker than you think.
And then you also have people who are recruiting to sophomore
in June. We we think about the recruit

(15:34):
last year, Curtis Perry. I know he didn't last.
You made TC early, mad, whatever.
I'd love to hear the back story on that.
Maybe that's JCPKS One night, give him about 10 beers in,
he'll give us the whole story. But when you see that, it's
like, well, I'm a defensive lineman and they just got that
kid in the portal. Is that my spot?
How much do you think that is inthe minds of high school kids

(15:58):
now looking at how teams are recruiting to the portal?
I think it's definitely in the minds of a lot of high school
kids and I, I think it varies per program because not only are
you looking at guys now like if you go to the 24/7 database and
you're just sorting based on, you know, five stars, 4 stars,
three stars, there is a different story for every kid.

(16:20):
There are some kids that their financial situation, they're
going to go with the highest bidder no matter what.
Doesn't matter what your programprovides.
There are some three stars the same way there are also some
four stars that, you know, believe in the vision, maybe are
a little well off. Whatever their situation is,
like they have it within them that they want to go to a place

(16:43):
where they trust the coaches to develop them and they know it'll
pay off down the road. And I think when you look at a
school like Virginia Tech, what they're at least trying to do is
avoid those guys that are just in it for the benefits, guys
that may take, you know, some money right away, but they don't
see them for the long haul. Guys that are flip flopping

(17:06):
through the recruitments. You know, there there are even
some like we already saw some guys that said, I'm committed to
Virginia Tech, but I want to take an official visit
elsewhere. And, you know, I want to see
what else is out there. And Virginia Tech has been like,
you should go see what what elseis out there, but then don't be

(17:26):
committed to Virginia Tech. And I think that's kind of their
stance on that. But in general, with the portal
like it, it also boils back to what we started talking about in
the beginning of Brent Pryde being on hot seat.
Like this is a team that's in win now mode.
They needed to bring all those guys from the portal.

(17:46):
They need to win now. So that is the priority.
I mean, obviously high school recruiting is priority as well,
but you want guys that are goingto stick around and stay there.
If OK, we believe that next season's going to be a great
year. All those guys they brought in
are going to leave. We're going to be developed and
then we're going to pick up the torch and play for a winning

(18:09):
football team. That's kind of the formula.
Yeah. I mean, I know we're dealing
with a lot of different things here.
You know, you've got the outcomeof last year, we got new
coordinators, you got, you know,new information with NIL and,
and new rules and, you know, navigating all of that.
And then obviously, you know, the way the portal in high

(18:30):
school recruiting are kind of, you know, trading places in
terms of importance, or at least, you know, starting to
match each other in terms of importance in a given year.
Looking at the 26th class, kind of let's talk about the biggest
impact. Is it that hot seat
implications? Is it the shift in recruiting
for focus, is it the new coordinators, or is it some of

(18:52):
those organizational or financial factors that are part
of the NIL landscape? Yeah.
I mean, if I had to rank them, Iwould definitely say landscape
is #1 impact right now. Just again, I think it's very
short term. I know Curtis kind of talked
about it, but I think there are some programs that maybe are

(19:13):
putting things out there a little Willy nilly and they
don't know the ramifications of it.
They're just hopeful to get top talent and figure it out later.
Second biggest impact I would say is the coordinators.
Like if you think about it for Sefke's coming into Virginia
Tech, he has never seen any of these prospects before.

(19:36):
He was in pro systems evaluatingpro guys going through, you
know, professional. Techniques and.
Yeah, exactly. So now you pluck him out of
Arizona, he's coming all the wayacross the country and he is not
only getting to know these guys,like half of them he's probably
seeing for the first time when they come to campus.

(19:58):
But now he's got to evaluate them on a different level and
build the relationship. At the same time, I think
they've gotten some guys defensively, they've done some
work there and obviously it helps that you it's not just
him, right, Like there are otherpeople, but in terms of.
And you know, it's the same thing with Montgomery.
I think he's more familiar with it, but he's still going through

(20:19):
it in terms of Virginia Tech's pool for the first time.
There's a lot of catch up there.And I think a big thing that
we're seeing right now, like I think about July 4th every year,
I mean, it's day after day, multiple commitments a day for
Virginia Tech. They try to get 80% of their
class locked up July 4th every year.

(20:41):
This year is different. This year there's only nine guys
in the boat as of right now. And these coordinators, while
they they probably could have that number right now at 1617, I
think that their approach is we need to know these guys and we
need to see these guys. We need to see them for their

(21:04):
senior season. We want to see tape.
We want to go, you know, by weeks, whatever midweek, see
these guys play football, live football, and I think that's a
big part of it right now. So I definitely think
coordinators, big part of the whole recruiting equation.
And then again, like, I don't want to diminish the hot seat,

(21:25):
but I just think the other two just far outweigh it right now.
Yep, I'm going to, I'm going to throw something in here, Matei.
Speak to it what you can if you know, but obviously just a few
weeks ago, Jayden Anderson, the wide receiver out of Green Run
went into the portal. Do you know what happened?

(21:45):
Do you have any sort of insight that you can give us or that
you're? Don't get fired.
Don't get. In trouble?
But if you can. Yeah.
Yeah, I mean, I don't want to say too much on the situation.
Obviously a lot of respect for for Jay.
I think he's a great football player.
I think everyone's very excited for him.
I just think that, you know, sometimes there's a transition

(22:07):
element from high school to college and some things get lost
in translation. And I'll, I'll kind of just
leave it at that. But you know, I obviously I
think it's tough because not a lot of people can can really
talk about it. But at the end of the day, you
just kind of wish him well because it's, you know, a guy
that wanted to live out his dream at Virginia Tech.

(22:30):
And then, you know, things happen, obviously.
But at the end of the day, it's it's best for both parties to
kind of move on and wish, wish each other.
Well. There you go.
There's also another one in hereand we're going to kind of
chuckle about this, but Peyton Falzone, he already I didn't
know he decommitted from Penn State.
Like, I mean, how tough is that just for you reporting on this

(22:55):
and like, OK, he commits to us. Oh, that's great.
He goes Penn say I make sense pencil and now he's Auburn.
Which Auburn? From everything I'm seeing tally
you can confirm this. Auburn's kind of like shit show
right now. Freeze is he's he's something
else, man. But I know one thing.
You better do something. You better do something because

(23:15):
I ain't going to play with him down there too long.
But. How does that go A.
Lot of people already. But but the humatee, how does
that even go? Like researching a kid, getting
to know, and then all of a sudden it's like it's the
freaking stock market. Like where is this kid going
today? Yeah, I mean, it, it happens a
lot. It's, I wouldn't say it's at the

(23:37):
same level, but you guys remember Demetrius Davis?
Hold off, Hey. Mass mass.
They already beat you too. I heard Auburn and all of a
sudden my mind went there straight away.
I mean, it happens a lot, right?Like the at the end of the day,
these guys are 161718 years old and all of a sudden, you know,

(24:02):
in the modern era, you're talking about life changing
money places. And, you know, I'm not quite
sure what the situation was at Penn State because when he was
committed to Virginia Tech, thatwas always the school to watch.
There was no mention of Auburn at that at that time.
And, you know, from there, it was kind of a clean cut.

(24:22):
I, I know Virginia Tech still continue to recruit him here and
there, but at that point, you know, I didn't follow as much.
So I was a bit surprised to see him flip again to Auburn again,
I don't know what the situation there is with Penn State.
If they told him, you know, go ahead and, and, and find a
situation. But it I mean, this happens

(24:45):
everywhere. He he's not alone in that.
I'll tell you, I'll say this, and this is from somebody who
don't know shit, this is just from somebody who I ain't going
to lose my job. Yeah, I ain't going to lose my
job for talking. Nowadays, these kids, the
recruiting aspect of stuff is what can I get?

(25:05):
Not all the time, but some kids is what can you offer me?
So even if they commit to a school, they'll go back to a
coach and say, well, such and such card and offer me this and
such and such may have caught and offered you that.
But what's getting lost in translation a lot with kids is
you have to be in the right position for you to produce.

(25:26):
Like my kid is a baseball player, right?
And travel ball is ridiculous. So you get so many coaches
that'll you'll be at a tournament and they see you play
and they'll come. Hey man, y'all should come over
here to this program and if my kid comes and plays on that
team, he might not like them kids, he might not like the
colors, he may not feel the samewhen he's on the field.

(25:48):
Like the kids that he played with right now, he's played with
them for probably 5 or 6 years. They're comfortable with each
other. If he strikes out three times,
it's not really going to have nobody to rag him, you know what
I'm saying? But you go to another team and
you strike out once, you may have somebody on the bench that
goes, hey, you suck. So I'll take that back to take
that back to like where we are. We're talking football, right?

(26:10):
So sometimes you can have a teamthat's really strong, a program
that's strong, or even a recruiting class that's strong
and hold together. A lot of Times Now these kids
aren't giving themselves the opportunity to even do that.
They're just going with the nextbest thing.
You know, speaking on the Jaden Anderson situation, which I
can't speak on it, I don't know it.
I don't know what happened. I'm just saying from the outside

(26:33):
looking in as a grown man, if you start a job and you're on
that job 7-8 days and then you leave that job or you get fired,
what something happened that they didn't like or something
happened that you didn't like? So we can throw all these
theories around and we can ask the questions back as to what
happened. Something happened on one end

(26:55):
that somebody didn't like or something happened on the other
end that somebody didn't like ormaybe both ends.
But you can kind of take that and use that as you will because
like I said, I don't know the kid or his family.
Definitely wish him well, very talented kid.
But us as fans, like we throw somany theories out.
I heard this so I know this and we don't we don't know nothing.

(27:16):
We don't know what's going on inthat kids household.
We don't know if that kid gets homesick and wants to go home.
We don't know if that kid gets there and says hey Ben, y'all
got too many people in this room.
We don't know what we don't. They might not like the living
situation. You know, I've had kids here in
Huntsville. Huntsville's a it's in Alabama.
So we still country, but like Huntsville's a, a city.

(27:38):
I've had kids that, you know, leave here and go to
Jacksonville State and they're calling their parents and go,
I'm in the country, man. Like you got to come get me.
I can't stay there. My kid did it.
My daughter went to JacksonvilleState and stayed again.
And she was like, I want to comeback home and go online because
there's no Chick-fil-A here. Like that's a big thing.
You never know what's happening when a kid leaves his house, you

(28:00):
know, or, or her house. So just normal stuff as fans.
I get it. I've been there.
I'm one of those people who wantto get in everything and want to
know everything and see if I canmake a call and see if I can
look at a message board. But guess what?
Right now I don't give. A fuck.
I don't care. I just want to win.

(28:20):
I don't care what's going on. I just want us to win.
That's what I want and. The thing about winning tally is
winning takes care of a lot of these.
Everything you win, winning, winning will solve a lot of the
the big problems that we have. Yeah.
It's it's not going to solve everything and and it's not
going to turn us into a powerhouse overnight, But if you
can win and win consistently, a lot of your year to year

(28:44):
problems start to disappear. And then it's all about can you
build a foundation good enough to take that big step up the
next rung of the ladder? But if you can just start
winning eight games every year, you'd get consistent with that A
lot of these other problems thatwe have start to go away.
Now let me say this before we get back to Batay, because I
know Curtis, we got to get, we got to get this man out of here.

(29:06):
He got a. Lot of these guys in man man.
Yeah, he got a, he got a lot of stuff to do.
I will say this and we'll talk about a little bit more on our
panel that's coming up. Also, our season preview, we did
have a lot that came back last year.
Great. So much return in production.
But I'm going to say this, y'allcan hate me if you want to.

(29:27):
Some people came back the same, some people didn't get better.
Just because you're returning doesn't mean you're better.
You said that last year. You leave and you come back from
summer break or whatever you call it, especially as a pro.
All of those kids want to be pros.
You got to come back better. And sometimes, man, when you get
paid, you just you kind of chill.

(29:51):
Some of our offensive lineman look like they chilled.
Our running back didn't chill. No, he didn't.
You know Dorian. That's why he got a lot more
money this year. Dorian.
Than he did last year. I think Steve Stevens said it.
He said they believe the hype. Yeah, we believe the hype last
year. I'm not saying no good.
The coordinators believe the hype.
I said that from the beginning. You know, I ain't saying we're

(30:14):
going to be so much better, but I do believe that Pratt has his
best staff from top to bottom this year since he's been here.
He is still the head coach. I'm still saying probably you
got to win. But I do think that this staff
from top to bottom is better than the Staffs he had in the
past. So want to get that out.
Y'all can talk about it in the chat.

(30:35):
I know we got to get back to Mattel Curtis.
What we got? Well.
What we got is we've been going,you know, we've been exactly
rose colored glasses the 1st 30 minutes here because that's a
who we are. We don't, we don't paint it.
We paint it like we see it, but there are some positives that
happen like what they mentioned earlier this month.
And it ain't all doom and gloom.We got 9 kids in the boat and we

(30:59):
just wanted to hit on a couple of them.
I'm going to let Brian tee it off with the first one because I
know where he's going. You know where he's going,
Tally, and I know where Tally's going.
Hey man, this is this is an offensive line focus podcast, a
trench focus podcast. So we got to talk about Thomas
Wilder, mate, tell us what type of recruit this kid is and talk

(31:19):
a little bit about how Pry has built this pipeline with that
deep run program that down. Green run 5. 7 green run.
I said deep run. Sorry green run my deep run.
Right Curtis. Getting right, Curtis.
Hey green run, my bad green run.Yeah.
I mean, I mean, first and foremost, Thomas Wilder is, I

(31:43):
mean, I think when we all lookedat this class, he was a guy that
not only the coaching staff circled as this is a top guy
that we need desperately to keephere.
But I think all fans saw that too.
And I think it helps. I talked about it before with

(32:03):
the coordinators meeting a lot of these guys before, but this
is Matt Moore as well. This is, you know, there is
crystal balls over a year ago for Thomas Wilder to go to West
Virginia and Matt Moore has keptthat connection.
Virginia Tech has kept that connection.
This is a guy that has been recruited by Virginia Tech since

(32:25):
he was 13 years old, right? Like he is growing into his
body. He is starting to play big
football and Virginia Tech is there every single step of the
way. And it does help Green run.
I think Wilder transferred therebefore last year.
But you look at, I think the domino effect has been real.

(32:48):
And you look at a guy like Keelan Adams, Brody Adams, that
was a guy that the staff just worked so hard on.
And then you have guys like Fontelle Mines coming in.
You have Matt Moore coming into the school.
All of a sudden you're recruiting guys all over the
field from that program. All the different coaches are
coming in those doors week afterweek, establishing connections

(33:11):
not only with the coaching staffand the players, but these
families that talk to one another, the community.
So I think they've shown a willingness and granted, these
are great players. Like not every high school,
especially in state, are you going to find multiple guys on
the same team that you can confidently say in our sixteen

(33:34):
man recruiting class, we're going to take two to three of
you guys. I mean, that's crazy if you
think about it. But no matter who the green run
prospects are, Virginia Tech, like we'll give them a fair
shake and we'll recruit them andhas been recruiting all these
guys for many, many years. So I think, you know, not only
is it a lot of these guys that will eventually see their former

(33:57):
teammates from the high school level at the collegiate level,
it's like it's one big communityand it it just so happens that
they're very talented at playingfootball as well.
Well, I was happy that he committed.
I was worried, but I was happy that he did.

(34:18):
Another one that I was happy to see.
Didn't really know much about him, but I do know what we need
help at. And this kid was committed to
Rutgers, Terrell Simpson, he wascommitted to Rutgers.
And I know what Rutgers look forand I know what kind of program
they have. So again, didn't know much about

(34:39):
the kid, but when I seen he was committed to Rutgers and I seen
his size, definitely got happy about it.
But wanted to ask you kind of how did that that commitment go?
How did that you know, what do we do?
What? What happened there?
Yeah. I mean, I, I think sometimes you
get aided by things out of your control.

(35:00):
And I won't go into too many details on it, but I think with
Simpson, Simpson, he's a guy that Virginia Tech recruited and
recruited. And, you know, I was pretty
pessimistic about it because I, you know, obviously I heard some
rumblings, some people on my team were saying, you know, I

(35:20):
think there is a legitimate possibility that there could be
a flip here. And all of a sudden, you know, a
guy from North Carolina, as you mentioned, Rutgers knows how to,
you could say what you want about them in the Big 10 and
their overall success rate and what have you, but they know how
to develop offensive lineman. And I think that was a situation

(35:44):
where at the time, Rutgers seemed like the best opportunity
to get a full ride to a really good program that would develop
him. But I think, you know, wasn't
too much time. But I think he really realized
the need for him to stay home orcloser to home.

(36:04):
And Virginia Tech offered the best opportunity to not only,
you know, get a full ride develop under Matt Moore, but
stay close to home. And I think that was the missing
piece that became apparent over time and the reason why they
were able to, you know, get thatflip.

(36:29):
Yeah. Definitely good flip.
We got a little birdie in our ear.
Somebody messaged us and said, Ithink we're going to flip one
soon. We're like, OK, that's that's
nice. But you hold your breath, right,
because people have messaged us before me like, oh, this is
going to happen and none never happened.
So in that one was a good case in the tallies points like every
kind of all mixes where he got recruited to the footprint guy

(36:52):
and then just his sheer size. It was like great flip.
Love it. I got one I want to hit on.
And this is a guy that recruitedway back in April and Josh
Pittman down at Suffolk, down atKingsport, a linebacker.
And. Yes, maybe what I want a little
more on this one is this was Xavier DB's first recruit.

(37:14):
He put it in the boat quick. His first chance to get out
there, hit the road, puts a pretty solid one on the board
from what you've heard. How big was being Xavier DB to
Joshua Pittman? Very big, very big.
And I think, you know, there's alot of similarities there.

(37:34):
I think at the same time, like this is a guy that, you know, 6,
three. I think he just put up like a
weight update on Twitter. He's 230 now.
Yeah. He's following the plan, then.
He sure is like this is a very dedicated, serious young man
that really wants to be successful.
And I think they view him as a guy that can do a lot of things.

(37:58):
They view him more as an outsidelinebacker, maybe a guy that
could, you know, in certain situations, rush the passer,
maybe play closer to the line, but just a really solid player.
And I think when they were looking at, you know, we're
going to them saying we're goingto take one to two linebackers
this class, they always knew in the back of their mind they

(38:19):
wanted him as one of them. So I think that's why it was so
quick. Again, only nine guys.
But of the nine guys that are inthe class, it's very clear like
these were the guys that Virginia Tech was like, we need
to say yes to. We need their commitments.
Again, like I said it a bit earlier, they could have 16 by

(38:40):
now. They decided we're not confident
on the other 7 or so. But the nine guys that they have
right now, including Pittman, like they they knew they wanted
him at linebacker. I love hearing that and let's
talk about that a little bit because you know, you talked to
a couple times at this point about, you know, maybe a couple

(39:02):
of these guys that could have been in the boat that we've
either kind of pull back on or you know, yet new coordinators
coming in want to see a little bit more before they they pull
that trigger. What other schools have
benefited from that You're looking at maybe like the top 20
in the state is, is there certain schools that have

(39:22):
benefited maybe from us taking alittle more of a slower approach
this cycle as a result of those new coordinators?
Yeah, I think you know it. It definitely varies in terms of
like, you know, definitely there's another in state school
that has benefited, you know, other ACC schools, but I, I've

(39:44):
also seen like I know there, there is one battle with Texas
Tech. I'm, I'm trying not to like say
all the names here, but I think just in general, like there are
other schools that have benefited definitely from
Virginia Tech kind of waiting out the process.
Like you can kind of put it together like when the official

(40:08):
visits happened late May. Into June, like a lot of these
guys are, are pushing to commit,right And we've seen so many
commitments to various differentschools where Virginia Tech was
in the top five, the top three, sometimes even it was 2 schools
that a recruits choosing from. And, you know, I want to be

(40:29):
clear in some instances of that happening, you know, that
recruit decided I want that other school.
But there have been opportunities for Virginia Tech
to add. And they said, you know, we're
just not confident right now. We want to see some more film.
And all the best of them as as they make their commitment and
have a spot somewhere else. Nice.

(40:52):
We've mentioned a couple times, Nah, Nah, Nah.
That's where we're stuck at right now.
And you obviously pay attention to the portal to the class size
to maybe see this guys that you thought would make an impact by
their third season. It's just like they're just not
coming to fruition. Where do you see where do you

(41:12):
see this class landing? What's your number?
Just like, again, playing the scholarship game, playing the
they're going to need this from the you're you're logged in.
Where are you throwing your darnsand?
I think we're going to land about here.
Yeah. So I, I would say this, I mean,
last year they got 20 high school guys.
And if you think about it, most of that was done.

(41:35):
And I always bring it up, but like early July is when the
spree starts throughout July, maybe early August, maybe you
get like sprinkle in one to two,like September, October.
And then all of a sudden, like last year, I think Virginia Tech
was 16 or 17 guys. And then all of a sudden you

(41:55):
have a late flip. And then you add a guy like JoJo
Krim and you know, you're able to kind of you, you've already
developed these relationships and maybe you can take a couple
more guys as you figure out the numbers.
So I kind of see the same thing this year.
Like, I know it's been a little slower to start, but I

(42:16):
realistically can see Virginia Tech like 15 or 16 and then they
could push up from that closer to signing day.
Because I, I do think there's going to be like I keep saying
it, but so many guys committed already and I think there's a
lot of prospects of Virginia Tech's going to fight for.

(42:40):
I don't know, like a lot of themare long shots.
But at the same time, like you never know what could happen
leading up to signing day. Is is there a coach that leaves
or moves on so many different factors?
So I see it as somewhere between16 to 18, maybe even pushing 20.
OK, it's. A little bit bigger than I

(43:01):
thought when you start talking about that bigger number being
20. But I guess I got to ask, man.
I mean, I don't know how much you can tell me, but I at least
got to got to ask you, you know,names that I guess we haven't
talked about, the names that youmay be hearing that we're
targeting. What are some names that you can

(43:22):
give us that may be Hokies by December?
Yeah, I mean, it's it's an interesting list.
I right now is a dead period andwe just saw a huge spree.
So I won't say it's the most exciting list, but in terms of,
you know, guys that they could be targeting, Cole Bergeron, a

(43:44):
guy out of Louisiana high three star prostyle quarterback, I
think he's like 6 four and a half.
He's a guy that, you know, they've identified Montgomery.
He's someone that has Virginia Tech on top right now.
I think they're in the, you know, they very much want to add
a quarterback to this class. And he seems like the favorite

(44:06):
in in my opinion. I think in terms of like bigger
star power, T Ron Richardson, Hopewell guy.
I think if Virginia Tech can pull this one out, he's the guy
that everyone looks at at the end of the cycle and says that's
the gem of the class. Like including Thomas Wilder.

(44:29):
I think he's that good. Penn State, Oklahoma, Syracuse,
they're all in on him. But yeah, he's a big one for
this cycle. I think, you know, the biggest
fish that's probably out there, I know I've seen like Elijah
Golden, he's announcing pretty soon, I think on the 26th.

(44:51):
He has Notre Dame, Bama, Oklahoma and then Virginia Tech
in his Final Four. I think that one's like an
absolute long shot, but you justnever know.
Like they recruited him for a very long time.
Personally, if Notre Dame and Alabama are calling, I'm
listening. But he's still someone that's,
you know, in the conversation atleast and that they're pushing

(45:12):
for other guys. I know Jalen Burrell has been an
interesting one. He's a high three star.
I think he's listed as a safety.I believe he's playing wide
receiver for his high school program.
And I, you know, I'm not sure ifhe's looking to go the route of
wide receiver or not, but he's someone that definitely Virginia

(45:35):
Tech wants to monitor through senior season.
Charles Belser, linebacker out of Philadelphia.
He's got Michigan State, UCF andVirginia Tech in his top three
right now. He's another guy I think
Virginia Tech would want to add from a inside linebacker
perspective. And then, you know, a name to

(45:59):
watch. Got to mention Green run again.
But Shawn Church junior, he's another quarterback, big lanky
guy. I think he's like 63190 or so
could play multiple positions. But yeah, with and also Zay
Cleveland as well. Like I know he's already in the
boat, but it's just, it's just funny how much Green run can

(46:22):
give to Virginia Tech. But he's he's someone I think
again, like with a big senior season, I could I could see that
happening. But again, I think like the
names, I always say that I feel like I say this every time I'm
on here, like the names always change, right?
But I think the idea is that they're looking for a

(46:42):
quarterback, couple wide receivers, maybe add to the O
line and D line. If it's, you know, someone they
can really add to that group with.
And then I think they rounded out with couple safeties, A
linebacker and maybe another cornerback.
And I think you're talking aboutlike a nice class.
Oh, and definitely a tight end. They definitely need a tight

(47:03):
end. Definitely need a tight end.
Yeah, definitely. Let me let me ask you this,
Matei. I mean, you talked about some of
the, the schools in the mix for these kids that are still, you
know, haven't committed yet. When I look through kind of the,
the, the commitments for the state of Virginia and, and kind
of look in the footprint in general, I'm seeing Syracuse in

(47:26):
a lot of these battles either either already have a, a verbal
commit or are pretty high in, inthese final, final round outs.
Here is, is Fran Brown making a big push down in the
Mid-Atlantic this year In general #1 and #2 we've already
seen a couple flips that are there's some flip opportunities

(47:49):
for the Hokies that you've already identified that we
should keep our eyes on. Yeah, I'll say with Fran Brown,
I mean, it's, it's not to the same degree as like a, a Texas
Tech. I mean, this is just my opinion,
right? But like I think when I talk
about or have talked about tonight about some of those
short term impacts of like some schools are operating in a

(48:14):
different way than others. I think Syracuse is one of those
programs like they're seeing thebenefits of, you know, some of
the rules changing and they're you know, I think they're I
think Fran Brown is legit as a recruiter.
I think he's a great staff for it.
I mean they just got blanking onhis name now, but they just got
that five star guy over Michigan, which was a big

(48:37):
shocker. But and Miami.
But yeah, I think Fran Brown hashas done a good job in term in
terms of flips. I think Amari go from who's
committed to Syracuse now, he's a guy that Fontelle Mines has
been recruiting a lot. I think you know, athlete guy

(49:00):
would play wide receiver at Virginia Tech.
He's someone I would keep an eyeout for.
Dizier Carter over at Rutgers, another Rutgers guy.
But again, wide receiver. Just my opinion.
I just think Fontelle Mines the way that he operates, he's going
to continue to recruit guys tillthe very, very end.

(49:23):
And we've already seen some cases where he's gotten some
flips from it. But overall, I think that could
end up winning out over the longhaul.
I think both those guys are probably still long shots.
I know everyone's like Carter's Carter Scruggs, like can
Virginia Tech get them from Clemson?
That one's long gone. But you know, Virginia Tech will

(49:46):
continue to recruit him. I mean, Darius Gray, even though
he's uncommitted, he's not goingto commit to Virginia Tech
spoiler alert. But again, I'm trying to address
the fans here. But you know, that's someone
they're going to continue to recruit.
And you know, maybe a guy like Isaiah Simmons at Pitt to add

(50:07):
another linebacker. I know Virginia Tech was high on
him, he chose Pitt. But those are kind of the guys
I'm looking at right now. I think go and Dizier Carter,
probably the most realistic, butstill a flip is a flip alone is,
you know, very unrealistic, but those are guys simply because

(50:29):
Fontelle mines and and the history there.
Yeah, when I when I brought thatquestion up and brought Syracuse
into the discussion, I was hoping you were going to say
Amari Go's name. So.
Yeah, yeah, send eight O 4 kid down at TJ.
So, but it's really funny how you well, how you mentioned Fran
Brown, what he's doing, but the biggest thing that he did last

(50:50):
year was win 10 games. If that guy was 3 and 10 last
year, no one would be looking at, no one would be looking at
Syracuse. But you win 10 games, you're the
hotness. Also the billionaire donor maybe
says, OK, here's an extra 5 million this year.
He kicked ass last year. Exactly.

(51:11):
Yeah, I mean, pulling Calvin Russell was a big deal.
Yeah, Calvin, Yeah. Yeah.
Huge deal. You might play both sports there
too. You're you're muted there, bud.
I'm on mute. Yeah, you are on mute.
Yeah, we can hear you now. Check.
Check. All good.

(51:31):
Y'all can hear me? Yep, we can hear you.
I can't hear y'all one moment boys.
That's a problem. There we go, technical
difficulties here. We're back.
Let's jump off recruiting for a few minutes here and let's just
come up with our mirrors here. You know, you were you were
having a conversation with us before we jumped on the night
about how, how is Matei sis going to take the key of the

(51:55):
landline in the kick off of the 2025 season?
Matei, if you make it, we're probably going to have you back
that next week just to recount your journey because what he's
got to do y'all? It's it'll be a great story.
But let's talk a little bit about this piece in general.

(52:15):
And we've mentioned their names a couple times and there's also
a few other guys that have not been mentioned thus far.
But what did you feel about the moves, the hiring of Philip
Montgomery, the hiring of Stamp,Steve, just the absolute
stealing of Matt. I don't know why you give up
that guy to keep you do what yougot to do along with some of the

(52:39):
other staff moves. You know, Xavier coming to staff
where Brent Pry is to me. I think somebody mentioned in
the chat earlier, he did what people who are having average
team has to do. You have to shake up.
You have to change. But when you started seeing
those come in in January, where was your head at Ford?

(53:00):
Yeah. I mean, I think initially
looking at Sefke's, like I was trying to understand it at the
time. And I think there's so many
factors that go into it. And I know a lot of them are
probably well documented by now.Like there's been much discourse
about it. But you probably weren't going
to get a guy that, you know, like Brent Pry at the end of the

(53:22):
day is still a defensive coach. Like he's going to be looking
over your shoulder. You're not going to get a Uber
experience guy to come in who maybe only has one year with the
program. Like if it's worst case
scenario. And I think what they got, like
I'm intrigued by it. I think I still need to see like
what it's going to look like on the field 'cause I think

(53:43):
sometimes where my head goes when you bring professional guys
to the college ranks is they've just done this.
Multiple systems, multiple schemes, you know, they pick
guys out in the portal that maybe play a certain technique
and then they go off the field and they bring on someone else.
And that works in the pros because everyone's a pro.

(54:05):
Will that work at the college level?
What happens if you need to simplify the plan?
Like, I have a lot of questions like that, but I do think as a
coordinator, as a guy with, you know, raw football IQ, I really
like it. And I think like the ideal
version of what Virginia Tech's defense looks like, like really

(54:27):
excites me. I think it's just kind of wait
and see mode on that front. Then I think with Montgomery,
like obviously had Bowen go to Ohio State as offensive line
coach and you know that that kind of, you know, all of a
sudden you need to fill that void.
But I like Montgomery a lot because I think there was just

(54:50):
when you look at the offense, like obviously there were a lot,
there were there were some highs, but there are also a lot
of lows. And I think Montgomery's a guy
that will come in and kind of even it out.
And if not, you know, still likeI I think he's gonna try to
maximize what he has and not do too much with the pieces or, or,

(55:12):
you know, like, and I think Bowen sometimes got a little too
creative and it didn't quite work out.
But I I am excited about Montgomery.
But I think in a simple way, like where cefkeys is maybe more
of the creative. I want to see how it's going to
go down Montgomery. I have, you know, it's the

(55:34):
experience and kind of the simplicity that I like there.
Obviously. Matt Moore.
What more can you say? A+ higher.
Like again, we talked about it abunch, but Sefke's Montgomery,
they're coming into a new situation.
Matt Moore was like, I'm going to bring all my guys and I have
pre-existing relationships. It's going to help out this next

(55:56):
recruiting class. So everything he's done outside,
like we haven't fully seen the development yet.
Like I'm I'm still waiting to see.
I think it's going to come out pretty soon, but like the height
and weight on the roster, I'm one of those guys that's pretty
excited about that. See all the weight room stuff

(56:16):
with Ferg, but I'm, you know, outside the development and on
field products like Matt Moore has done everything and more to
bring some hope to the offensiveline room.
So very excited about Matt Moore, like he's already paying
off dividends there. Yeah, very, very excited about

(56:38):
Matt Moore and, you know, kind of looking back at, you know,
what you're saying about about seekers, I feel like his Wofford
experience is going to come intoplay in terms of how he's
deploying some of that personnel.
I think it's going to be interesting to see what if he

(57:01):
can scale it up. So like he's he's he's had the
Wofford experience, he's had theNFL experience, like, you know,
Virginia Tech power for college football.
It's kind of somewhere in the middle of those two from a
talent perspective. And is he going to be able to
make that type of adjustment? Because you still need to be
innovative and bring new ideas to the table to be competitive

(57:21):
there. But you also need to be able to
do a lot with sometimes at leastgoing to be one or two positions
where you don't quite have the talent that you'd like to have.
Right. We getting close man, Don't
worry. Man, I'm just old.
Man, I'm just old. Been working hard.
All day. Got ready, got ready to talk and

(57:43):
did next thing you know it y'allwants to come.
So somebody said what put that up Brian?
What does it say? What's Steven?
What's Steven say the last? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You know, stuff like that, man, I feel, I feel you, Steven, I'm
with you. But I guess I'll ask the next
question of form a tape. Do you have any expectations for

(58:07):
this year and if you do kind of where are?
They this is where, of course, Tally's asking the question,
will he be optimistic, Tally, orwill he be?
He gave you a whole hour, whole hour, and he's gonna finally.
He sure did, to be honest with you.

(58:28):
I'm somewhere in the middle. I I truly am somewhere in the
middle. I think there are so many
unknowns last year. You look at the roster, I mean
we've gone through it like a million Times Now, but there are
so many expectations. Like there are a lot of knowns
this year. I think you brought it up
earlier, tally 60 new players onthe roster.

(58:49):
Like there's a lot of unknown. There's a new scheme on both
sides of the ball and there's a lot of pressure as well.
I think the good news, I don't feel like the ACC as a whole is
or I, I know the schedule is kind of, you know, there's a
couple really tough opponents next year and a lot of teams in

(59:12):
the middle, but I don't feel like there's a ton of like the
talent compared to last year feels down.
So I think there is a path for Virginia Tech.
I think my realistic upside for them is, you know, 84 is for me,
like that's me trying to be as realistic as possible.

(59:34):
But I think I I land somewhere at 6:00 and 6:00 at the end of
the day. Yeah, I get it.
I understand. Kind of the same.
So y'all don't get to see no tally, you just get the regular
one right now. The middle you get to see the
middle right the. Mid tally you're doing Mike you.
Get to provide to me it So what it.

(59:55):
Is Mike. Oh, Mike.
Yeah. You know, that's like, I like
what you say there because the 8:00 and 4:00 is the good,
right? But until the head coach proves
certain things can be managed right, because we go through the
last two seasons of certain things have been managed right.

(01:00:16):
I don't think we're sitting herequestioning anything.
You know, you think about the end of the Vanderbilt, the end
of the Rutgers game, the end of the Duke game, the the the
Syracuse debacle. Is, is, is is.
I'll give you all some opium. As much as we bitch and
complain, this team was very close to winning 9 and 10 games
last year. And if that had been the record

(01:00:37):
next to it, a tally, be a lot happier.
I throw in stuff, I'd be a lot happier.
Yeah. So to me, he's made the changes
in one aspect, and Sally has said it numerous times.
Can he change himself? Because that's what it takes.
He's made all the pieces around him, right?

(01:00:58):
Can he learn from those guys? Can he learn from other people?
Start making other decisions? I think we got one more Brian,
before we you got something you want to say go.
Ahead. Yeah, I just, I will, I will
piggyback on that a little bit. I mean, at some point at the
day, I think Pride does a very good job of evaluating the
program. But it at the end of the day, if
you, if you're doing your evaluations and you make your

(01:01:20):
adjustments, at some point you've got to get better or you
got to go. And so that's where we're at
right now. I think he's done the things he
needs to do from a self evaluation standpoint.
We need to see it put into action or we're going to be
having the same discussion next year, except the seats going to
be on fire and it's going to be if you don't win 8 plus games,

(01:01:41):
you're probably gone. We're going to be we're going to
be facing that type of situationthis time next year.
So that's where I'm at. But let's go, let's go back one
little 1 little more round of, of, of recruiting stuff real
quick here before we let you getout of here, but say so we had
this, this really good 2025 class.
We feel really good about it. What's a commit that you think

(01:02:05):
is going to be a household name come December?
Household name from this last class let me. 2025 that's a big
class. There's 20 people so.
Yeah. Do do we want transfers or are
we talking like? No, no, no high school.

(01:02:25):
Like high school, just the high school guy, any guys, it's going
to be a pretty immediate impact whether the guys that had, you
know, had some some reps in the spring or whether it's somebody
that sure and. That's the thing I was going to
say. That's the thing with the
portal. There are some guys we've got
that we've got the tape right against Elite Cop like I got.
That's true football. I think in terms of high school

(01:02:48):
guys, Sheldon Robinson's the name that jumps out.
And the thing that makes me veryhappy about him is I had that
feeling before he signed, like he was gonna play.
I, I think the coaching staff thought that.
And not only has he showed up and started to develop and
really, you know, take shape in a college weight room, I think

(01:03:12):
he's someone that can get onto the field.
And I know there's a ton of bodies in that DB room.
I just think he's very versatileand there could be a package for
him. Like again, we talked about it,
it's win now mode. They're going to play a lot of
older guys, a lot of these transfers.
But if there's one guy to step up from the freshman class that

(01:03:32):
is undeniably has that talent toget on the field, I think it's
Sheldon Robinson. Yeah.
I mean, you, you mentioned him and I think that's interesting
because, you know, you say we definitely brought in a bunch of
safeties in the transfer portal,But what we don't really have is
a a ton of entrenched guys at, at those position groups.

(01:03:52):
Like everybody that's coming in is either new or young.
So there's going to be some opportunity to get fight for
some reps in that room. So I, I like that pic.
I think, I think he's going to have a, a really good career.
So I'm looking forward to seeingwhat he can do as well.
All right. And, and, and I've got one more
thing because I got a message saying when's the basketball
segment? And this is kind of off.

(01:04:14):
I don't I don't think I sent youanything on this, but I saw you
make a post You're you're clearly paying attention to Neo.
I mean, how excited. I know you, you're primarily
focused on football, but y'all cover all aspects.
What was that like to see a guy,you know how talented he is,
Everybody does. But when you see that and it's
like he's he's going to he's going to play in Cast Palace.

(01:04:37):
I mean, I, I've been watching some of the highlights that have
been everywhere of him playing for the Greek national team.
And I can't believe a guy that big can move like that and is
coming to Virginia Tech. Like, I just can't believe it.
And I got to give a massive shout out to Chris Arvin, who
writes for us on Vt Scoop, 'cause he's been calling that

(01:04:58):
for months. He's been hitting us in the
Slack channels and just talking about it.
So I, I've gotten to watch him quite a bit over the last couple
months and I know there's a lot of stress with the whole NBA
decision and him eventually picking Virginia Tech.
But yeah, he's just, he's so good.

(01:05:19):
I, I am very excited for, for basketball, unlike last season,
like, no, Mike Young did what hecould out of it, but like, they
put everything towards football.So much stuff happened right
before the season and it, it wastough.
Like, it's tough when Virginia Tech can't, you know, pull it
together for college basketball.So I'm very excited for next

(01:05:43):
year. Yeah, I mean, I think it's going
to be a fun team to watch. It's not going to be a
frustrating team to watch like it.
This past year's team was at times.
Whether that translates to enough wins to be competitive in
the ACC, that's remains to be seen.
But it's it's at least going to be a fun team to watch this
year. I'm going to watch every game
and who knows if they're how many they're going to win, but I

(01:06:05):
I will definitely be watching I.Think it's going to be more than
last year. There's going to be quite a few
more than last year because I think what's been mentioned a
couple times and on here and with just talking with different
people, you look at this team, the way it's shaped, it's like
it's competitive. Like we're long, we got size.
So and we've got the one thing Tally's been begging for for the

(01:06:26):
last three or four years, Just give us one guy who can make the
plays off the ball. That's the Greek kid.
The Greek kid can do that shit. So it's like we are up two
points. We need 2 points to extend this
lead. Give him the ball, he's going to
go score. We actually got somebody with
length that can handle the ball too.
I like, I feel like we've been missing that component.
Like there's a, there's a ton ofbig guards in the ACC and like,

(01:06:50):
you know, we're running out, youknow, 511, six foot kids.
And no offense to them, they were good shooters, but they
weren't exactly rangy kids and and elite ball handlers that
could really match up with some of those other ACC guards.
It's just crazy. I'm just thinking about it and
just a little bit of a tangent here, but it's like if you were

(01:07:10):
in a coma last year and you wokeup today and you're like, what
has happened with Virginia Tech athletics?
It's like you have 60 new guys on on Virginia Tech's football
roster. All of a sudden Mike Young is
bringing in German 7 footers, Greek guys to play basketball.
I mean, how much things can change in a year is it's just
crazy. Yeah, for real.

(01:07:31):
I just need somebody to be good.Basketball, baseball, football,
softball, wrestling. String something together, man.
Give me some hope. Hey, wrestling and softball gave
you a little bit of hope. They were.
Yeah, and I mean women's soccer,they went on a run too.
So I mean, there, there wasn't like I, I, I think because

(01:07:53):
wrestling probably had a little bit more expectations than they
necessarily follow through on. That was a little
disappointment, even though it was a good season, You know,
there wasn't a whole lot to really, you know, hold on to
this year. So it, it, it's nice to have a
little bit of hope back at leastfor, for basketball.
There's at least some hope for football in that we at least

(01:08:14):
know we're not going to do the same thing we did last year
because we brought in a whole bunch of new players and
coaches. So it's going to look different.
Even if the outcomes the same, it's at least going to look
different. So there's something to to
really latch onto from that perspective as well.
So, you know, we'll see. We will wrestling last year

(01:08:34):
wrestling did to us this year it's like winning nine games
when we were winning 10 and 11 every year. 20 years ago, oh, we
only won nine games. This year, oh man, like, and now
it's like, give us 9 games. We'd be ain't ain't no telling
what the episode would look likein December if we won nine games
this year. Yeah.
State of the program would go hard man.

(01:08:55):
Yeah, that's nothing. We shouldn't win.
We need to win 10. I got I got to hit mate with
this before he leaves because I I have to, you know, he knows
how I feel about his rankings, man.
I'm he's been getting better. He's been getting better.
But I did a little bit of research and a little bit of
watch and I haven't done a lot because they don't piss me off.
But T Ron Richardson, I did a little bit of research on him

(01:09:18):
and a little bit of film study. I don't know, man.
It kind of looked like he's better than a three star.
I'm going to tell you. That's what I'm I'm just saying,
man. I said the same thing I said.
I'm saying when it's all said and done, he could be the gem of
the class if he were to choose Virginia Tech.
Right, right. Yeah, I look at his I looked at

(01:09:41):
some of his offers and I mean off a list is is is crazy and
talent is crazy. Size is good.
So I was like, man, this this kid is is is nice.
So again, haven't been paying a lot of attention to recruiting
because y'all know why. But if you want to check out any

(01:10:01):
kind of Virginia Tech recruitingor recruiting in general right
now, go look at T Ron Richardson.
T Ron. Richardson and.
Take. Him out 11 player in the state
of Virginia I think. Yeah, he's right behind Wilder.
Behind Wilder #11 player but Tay, you got anything you want
to add or plug before we wrap this night up?

(01:10:22):
I'll say it's always a pleasure to come on here.
Always fun, not too much to plug.
If you haven't checked us out atVt Scoop, please do.
Massive shout outs as always to Evan G Watkins and Colby
Crawford. I know he's been on here
recently, but or maybe a couple months ago, but those guys have

(01:10:43):
been holding down the Fort in the offseason, so go give them a
follow and yeah, come check us out at Vt Scoop.
Offseason's almost done, I think.
What is it? Six or seven more Saturdays till
we're back. Cannot wait.
I think we're easy, man 48 days,49 days until.

(01:11:03):
Do anybody got do anybody got NCAA 26?
I got it. I got it.
You got it. Is it better or worse than last
year? It's better.
I mean, it's still a little glitchy at the beginning, but
it's it's got a lot of attributes to make it better
than me. I know Tally was real happy when
Sam and was in that thing. No comment.

(01:11:23):
We're going to keep this show good, man.
We ain't going into it losing their minds.
I can't tell you, man. I just wonder, I pay attention
to details the older that I get instead of just like gameplay.
So I'm playing with the Hokies, of course, and I'm just
listening to them talk about like Kyron.

(01:11:44):
And they're talking about, well,you know, last year, if he had
if they had come down with this Hail Mary at Miami, a whole
season might have turned around and been different.
I'm like, how much time do they put into these games, man?
But this is what they're saying on the game.
So if y'all ain't checked it out, I'm pretty sure everybody
then checked it out in the in inthe in the chat.

(01:12:04):
So it's good man, I like it. I like the.
You got to add new king, man, new king.
Oh my God, I thought he was gonethis week.
You got to add Robbie. I thought he was gone.
You got to add, Josh. I got a new king.
New king, throw that. Throw that PSID in there.

(01:12:25):
Yeah, man, y'all put them, put them, put them gamertags in
there, see what we got. They'll get us a game going.
There we go. No new king.
You ain't playing with Miami. Pick another team, buddy.
I don't see that ugly ass orangeand green.
Shaw man, Uma Taye, again, we really appreciate you joining us
tonight. And again, that wraps up this
episode of the Boundary Corner Podcast brought to you by the

(01:12:48):
Counts Family Pharmacy. I'm Curtis Wilson.
Brian Siegler. Jonathan Talley.
And with our wonderful guest from BT Scoop 247 Sports, Matei
Sis, we are part of the College Shuttle network.
Check out boundarycornerbt.com to listen to all of our
episodes. Also Twitter, Facebook,

(01:13:10):
Instagram, follow us, subscribe to the YouTube channel as well.
We also on any podcast source you can possibly think of that
impressed my oldest son today when he asked you on Spotify
there. I'm like, yeah, I'm on Spotify.
Yeah, I can watch you like, yeah, I guess you can.
I don't know. Anyway, always check out our

(01:13:30):
music, man, Jason Long, who plays us in, plays us out every
week. Check out Jason Long music.com
where you can link to all of hismusic, Apple, Spotify, YouTube,
Facebook pages. He is going to be this Saturday,
fresh off his trip to the Big Apple, going to be at the Grand
Village Farmers Market down in Roanoke, and then on August

(01:13:51):
10th, Music on the Mountain at Mill Mountain Discovery Center.
Check that out in Roanoke as well.
I'm sure, I'm sure the Chelsea market in Grand and Village is
about the same. About the same, right?
About the same. We appreciate you guys for
always listening, always in the chat out there.
And as always, let's go. Oh geez.

(01:15:21):
None.