Virginia Tech Football: Everything From Brent Pry’s Press Conference Ahead of Matchup Against No. 23 Clemson

What did Pry have to say about Dabo Swinney's Tigers?

Oct 5, 2024; Stanford, California, USA; Virginia Tech Hokies head coach Brent Pry walks back to the locker rooms after defeating the Stanford Cardinal at Stanford Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Stan Szeto-Imagn Images / Stan Szeto-Imagn Images

Coach Brent Pry: Uh, I'd like to first of all congratulate the basketball teams. Two nice wins to open the season last night. Congratulate the wrestling team on the start to their season with their win over the weekend. Awesome for both those teams. Was really proud of the resiliency, the effort by our team. Physical football game, tough place to play against a good team, but several guys stepped up, which I was obviously very proud of. The efforts of our quarterback, our running backs, and the whole group around them, to be honest. Obviously disappointed in the outcome of the game. We weren't able to finish, which is something that we're addressing, I'm reflecting on. We have to be better there, and it starts with me. But also, you know, disappointed in what happened at halftime with John Love and the situation with Syracuse's marching band. John's apologized. It's certainly not who we are as a program. It's not who John is. We have tremendous respect, not just for our bands, but for bands across the country and what they bring to college football. So, unfortunate situation, regrettable situation, but a lesson learned certainly. We have great respect, I do, most do, for Coach Sweeney and his program at Clemson. Really carried the flag for our league for a bunch of years, double-digit wins year after year after year, couple of national championships. So, great respect. They've got a really good football team in all three phases. I know they're disappointed in Saturday, but looking at that film, arguably this is the best team we've played from all phases. But we're excited about the opportunity. We're back in Lane Stadium, we got a sellout crowd, stripe effect. We need to get healthy and have a great week to give us the best chance to come out with a victory. I'll take some questions.

Question: I know it's early in the week. What kind of outlook do you expect with Drones and Tuten?

Coach Brent Pry: Yeah, they're both questionable right now. They're obviously better than they were. Kyron better than he was last week at this time. Bhayshul probably yet to be determined. Today we find out a lot. Hopefully, by the end of tomorrow, we feel good about both those guys.

Question: Schlee took a hit late in the game, is he fine from that?

Coach Brent Pry: Yeah, I think he's good to go. He's cleared to practice today. He's a little sore from both injuries. You know, he got had the one earlier in the game and then that one. But he's a tough guy. He's clear to practice.

Question: What about Mansoor [Delane]?

Coach Brent Pry: Yeah, he's questionable.

Question: BR, I know Xavier Chaplin was a bit iffy going into the game. How did you grade how he performed even with the bone bruise?

Coach Brent Pry: Yeah, he played solid. It wasn't his best game, but he gave us a chance to win at that position.

Question: And I wanted to ask about Layth Ghannam. We saw him practice last week, noticed he's not on the depth chart, but you mentioned a couple of weeks ago that he was as good as being in the rotation. Are you expecting him to get back?

Coach Brent Pry: Yeah, now you know he's cleared from a health standpoint. It's about getting him greased back up and being able to play with great technique and fundamentals up front. So, we'll have another week to work with him here, getting closer to ready. It may be this weekend. I hope that it is.

Question: You mentioned how you're reflecting on these close games. What have you done or what did you do over the weekend to reflect on that? How you handle situations late in games to get this team over the hump?

Coach Brent Pry: Yeah, I think, you know, for me, I went back and looked at each of the games this year. What was the mindset? What was the approach? How did I handle it personally? Whether it's time management, timeouts, how did we call the game as an offensive play caller, as a defensive play caller? What we're doing in practice, just like with the slow starts, you know, we made some adjustments. How do we find a way to start fast, you know, from a schematic standpoint, play-calling standpoint, practice mindset? So, we're doing the same thing that way. Looking at these close finishes, what do we have to do to get over the top and have a closer mentality, you know, and finish these things out? So, we're taking a hard look at it from a lot of angles.

Question: Collin had a couple really pretty balls. What did you see from him?

Coach Brent Pry: Yeah, I thought Tyler did a nice job with a plan to get him going. A couple of runs, couple of high-percentage passes. You know, he went in there with confidence, and he was able to have a little success early, which helps. He played tough, made pretty good decisions. There's a couple of throws he'd like to have back, couple of reads he'd like to have back. Obviously, the fumble at the end in a tough situation, but I thought he played a really nice game for us.

Question: You're facing a good quarterback on Saturday in Klubnik. What stands out to you in film on what makes him tick and the way he operates?

Coach Brent Pry: I think he's a competitor. He's got great feet, he's got good speed, he can peach like crazy, he's got a live arm. He's certainly much improved, he's playing with confidence, and he's got a good supporting cast. Everywhere you look, that's a returns. I think four starters up front, they give him good protection, good time, he doesn't get sacked. He's got a great arsenal of receivers, he's got a talented tight end, they've got a ground game. It's a really nice offensive unit, and he certainly leads the way.

Question: Coach, looking at comparing this part of the year last year to this year, you're obviously in a better opportunity, just need one more of the last three. What's the biggest thing you stress to your team, saying, "Hey, look, you know, we're in a good position. We still have a lot to play for," even though these coming off some tough losses?

Coach Brent Pry: Yeah, you got to put them behind you, you know, you have to learn the lessons, you have to become a better team from what's occurred. We've been able to do that all along, you know, and we're working to do that this year. We've got to come out better, win or loss, and this can still be a special year for us. They know that this is a great opportunity with Clemson at home, talented ranked team. I think we're 0 and five or 0 and six the last several against these guys. So, you know, this is why you come to Virginia Tech, to play in games like this, big opportunities. Let's go out and play our best game yet is always the challenge, you know, and now they added the narrative, let's go finish, let's get on top and let's be right there at the end and find a way to finish and close one out in a big way.

Question: Brent, you mentioned getting Layth greased up. When you look at Malachi and a guy like Dante Lovett who we're talking to later, how much is this week going to be key for them and continuing their development so that way if in case Mansoor is limited, Bhayshul is limited, those guys are ready to go?

Coach Brent Pry: Yeah, that's a big part of it. You can message to your team time and time again about preparing like a starter because you're one play away if you're the backup, you're two plays away if you're the third string. We had some great examples on Saturday. Not only did Collin and Malachi have to start the game, they both received injuries, they both had injury timeouts where Pop had to enter the game, where Jeremiah, where Coney had to enter the game. And there's a shot that Colin doesn't return or that Malachi doesn't return. If that's the case, all of a sudden you're the starter, you're the guy that the team's dependent on. So great examples for our football team of a guy that, you know, the beginning of the week is potentially number three and all of a sudden has an opportunity to be number one.

Question: Do you think Lovett, with the amount of snaps he's been able to get over his two years here, is ready to take an increased role at this point this year if he's needed?

Coach Brent Pry: Yeah, I think so. Dante's earned trust and confidence over the last year and a half, not just on defense but on special teams. He gets more and more snaps each week. We're fortunate to have Mansoor and Dorian. I think in some other programs Dante's rep count at corner would probably be higher, but Mansoor and Dorian seemed to play a bunch of snaps and play them pretty well. But I'm excited about Dante. It's a good opportunity for him today to take part in the press conference.

Question: You've shown some good resiliency and bouncing back from losses this year. Probably the Miami game is the best game you guys have played this year even though it ended a loss. It was a good bounce back from the Rutgers game. Where does that mindset come from with this team of flushing a loss and turning the page quickly enough to be ready for the next game?

Coach Brent Pry: I think the guys have been able to put the last one behind us and approach the next one about let's go be the best team we can be, let's go be the best version of who we are, the team that we know and believe we can be. I don't think we've done that yet, and I think everybody strives for that all year long. We need to go play our best game and come out of it with a victory, and that's what's going to be required against this group. That's the challenge. It's going to require our best game to go out here and get a victory, and we're certainly capable.

Question: You said afterwards you thought the communication from the officials wasn't very good before halftime. They were kind of trying to move the game along. Did you see clarity from the ACC on why that was the case or how that could be better explained to you in that situation afterwards?

Coach Brent Pry: Yeah, so we always meet on Mondays and talk through all the situations. There's certainly clarity now. There wasn't clarity in the moment with timeouts, there wasn't clarity, there was miscommunication with the time that would be on the clock. Had I had all the information and had it to do over, that's one I'd probably play out differently.

Question: In the past, I think you said Hazel or sort of your trio of guys. Is that still the case in terms of discussing game situations like that? How does that work?

Coach Brent Pry: We have one staff member in the press box that has the book on two-point plays and clock, and so he communicates on the headset. Brian's pretty busy with those quarterbacks but he's part of it, and Mike's not in a headset but he's well in tune with the game. So I may have done that differently. I didn't like second and 15. We played a pretty good half. There's part of me that would say, hey, we got a backup quarterback out here, let's take it to the locker room. But had everything been presented in the right way in a timely fashion, I may have done that differently.

Question: Just as a defensive coach, you guys had an 18-point lead. It evaporated pretty quickly in the second half. Does that sort of gnaw at you, the big plays and things that happened to lead to that?

Coach Brent Pry: Yes. Yeah, because if you make them earn it, I don't know that there's enough time left in the game to come back and win it. We give up the explosive with which you run a zero blitz. I mean, we're going to be aggressive, but you got to make the tackle. It should be a 10-12 yard gain. Then we have a mental bust. A guy blitzes when he shouldn't so we're short a force player to the side of the screen. Back-to-back series, 55-yard play, 41-yard play. Then we turn the ball over on their side. Even there, we get them to third and eight and we have a mental mistake that costs us, gives up a first down. So we didn't make them earn it. Against a good team, if you don't make them earn it, you're going to be in trouble. The things that could have gone wrong went wrong right there in a stretch of three or four series. Then the last series of the game, it's second and seven, let's get them to third and long, we don't. It's third and one. It's second and seven again, let's get them to third and long, it's third and one. Second and eight, let's get them to third and long, it goes down to the one-yard line. We just didn't do what we needed to do defensively to turn the tide right there.

Question: Brent, just to be clear, you said that had everything been presented differently, you might have played it out in a different manner at the end of the half. You mean presented to you differently by your staff or by the officials?

Coach Brent Pry: By the officials. There was misrepresentation on the time that would be on the clock and they never really got the timeouts straight. Even in the game books, it's different.

Question: Did you talk to Al about that at the ACC office?

Coach Brent Pry: I did not. We turned in Collin's play but we didn't get into that.

Question: In overtime, twice this season you guys haven't even been able to force a third down. You've been great in regulation in the red zone. What has happened in overtime? Is it fatigue from the defense or some other issues?

Coach Brent Pry: Yeah, fatigue is something we've certainly studied this week again. We feel like we're not playing at the same level down the stretch. There's a couple of games I felt that way about. So we're looking at what we're doing on that side of the ball specifically, from a conditioning standpoint, from a practice rep standpoint, from a rotation standpoint, all those things. I think it's also just about composure and poise in that situation and a mindset to win the game. We have to be the aggressor. We have to be on the attack in that situation. I don't know that the mindset's been there.

Question: You mentioned being able to close and having that mentality and being aggressive. Do you sense at all that this series of close losses has worn on the staff and/or the players in terms of their mental approach and even self-confidence?

Coach Brent Pry: No, I don't think so. I think we're a confident group coming out of this game. There are so many things that we do well, David. Our team positive session on Sunday was great, just a bunch of good clips and a bunch of things to talk about that are where they need to be. When you have a tremendous opportunity with a team like Clemson coming in, you have an opportunity, a challenge, to put ourselves in a position to finish a game and then let's go do it. I mean, that's the goal right now. I think they're excited to do that.

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