Virginia Tech Football: Everything From Head Coach Brent Pry's Press Conference Ahead of Matchup Vs Old Dominion

Brent Pry addressed the media.

Brent Pry Media Availability 9/12/2024 /

Brent Pry addressed the media ahead of Virginia Tech's highly anticipated matchup against Old Dominion. Coach Pry and the Hokies won last season's matchup against Old Dominion and he was asked questions about the upcoming against the Monarchs.

Here's everything from Brent Pry's press conference ahead of the matchup against Old Dominion:

1. Do you typically have your coaches do up downs?

Brent Pry: "When they make a mistake, you know, whenever they give up an explosive play defensively. Right now he's got them doing up-downs and, you know, just a couple, so I guess he made a mistake. So he owned it. He did some up-downs, like 10 of them, I think he went overboard there, but he made his point. You know, coaches make mistakes too."

2. We saw Tuten in blue today, I'm guessing from that play at the end there?

Brent Pry: "Yeah, he got hit pretty good. But, you know, I'd say he ninety percent. He got some reps, got some practice in, but we wanted to make sure that the scout team group didn't come up and get after him too good. So, it was the right thing to put him in blue, he'll be fine."

3. Gallo and McDonald weren't participants today?

Brent Pry:" Gallows still, you know, he's progressing, which is encouraging, he's not ready for this weekend. McDonald has sustained an injury, he's being evaluated now. We'll see how long that takes, but he won't be available this weekend."

4. Do you feel for a guy like Gallo? Geared up for senior season last year, comes back for another shot at it this year, and is still dealing with stuff?

Brent Pry: "Absolutely, yeah, it's very unfortunate. I mean you know, he had a tough decision when he decided to come back, you know, last year, and then that happened. Then he decides, makes the decision to come back this year and has the set back he's had so, you know, I definitely feel for him."

5. I saw Brody Meadows and Gunner Givens getting the split at the right guard, how has Meadows looked and is Givens making some strides?

Brent Pry: "Gunner is making some strides. Um, you know, he had a good summer, he put mass on, he got stronger. He looks the part now, and he's learning it, and he's slowly getting better. And then, you know, Brody is coming back after a minor setback looks good and it's good to have him back."

6. Does Givens have one of those bodies where he leaned down to play defensive line and added mass? For a player like that, what does that do for your defense?

Brent Pry: "Well, you know, he was good playing either position and I said, listen, you run too good. Let's see if we can make you a D tackle and you know, I think his familiarity and comfort level was O line but we gave it a good shot and I'm not saying he couldn't be a solid D tackle here one day, but we felt like his upside was more on the other side of the ball. Honestly, he was fighting, and gaining weight, and that was one thing, just let it happen, let Mother Nature run its course and you're going to be a big guy."

7.I guess there's some questions about whether ODU's quarterback will be ready for this one, do you prepare for the backups in that? Are they similar in style? Or are there some differences there?

Brent Pry: "Obviously we are familiar with seven, but, you know, the backup listed on the depth chart wasn't dressed for the last game, but we've certainly evaluated him and what he could do. And then, you know, the red-shirt freshman, the high school guy from California. We went back and watched his high school film, and we looked at that last year. He was a freshman on the team, but you know, he's an athletic guy. He's not like the starter, um, if that's the guy we see, I think things would be pretty similar."

8. You look at Henderson on the defense, he didn't play last week, played sparingly against South Carolina. So does defense change much without him in there?

Brent Pry: "Just honestly, I think the guy they're playing at his spot, is doing a nice job. He's a good player too, and I'm sure they miss him. I mean, he's the heart and soul of the defense, but they do have a guy that stepped up and is playing pretty good, they've got a nice defense."

9. Walking around practice, I heard somebody make a comment about Dorian saying Dorian the cheat code, having a guy like that, come back? I know you talked about the conversations you had with him about just where he can improve on playing him a little bit nickel. And where have you seen him grow mentally through these first couple of weeks?

Brent Pry: "Honestly, he's refined. His skills were pretty good, but he wanted to bulk up, he wanted to be more physical. He's done that, I think even the play he made on their explosive run, not only did he chase it down, which shows you speed, he's always had that, he made a really nice adjustment and a strong tackle right there and, he's gotten better that way. But the other piece is he's a great leader in that room. I mean I don't know that coming out of last year, you would have just said oh, here's a captain for next year. He earned that, you know, through the winter, through the spring, through the summer, you know, to be named the captain by his peers. I don't know that at the end of the season, you had a great year, but I don't know if it screamed captain. So he's grown a lot that way, he's mentored Mansoor, he's mentored Dante, mentored those guys so, you can just tell he's kind of carrying himself a little bit different, I think."

10. We asked you Saturday night about Kaleb Spencer after you watched film. How do you feel about him as the backup?

Brent Pry: " Yeah he's still coming, I like him, Quinn likes him, I think that's where his future probably is. We messed around with him a little bit at Will Backer, but he's a physical player, he loves the game. He's twitchy, you know, we're bringing him along, you know, I hope that as we get into the season his snap counts go up and you know, he's got a role in special teams, which is helping us."

11. Touching on Kaleb Spencer, Thomas Williams saw some snaps that game, kind of, you've been mentioning for years now, rebuilding that cornerback room in the secondary, some of the younger guys. What did you see out of him and continually to do?

Brent Pry: "I'm excited about him, his role is growing on special teams, and he's earning that trust where Coach Jones, you know, is feeling better about putting him in the game. I mean he threw him out there the other night, you know, in the red zone, and Dorian needed a blow, and rather than ride Dorian, he threw him out there and did fine. He's proven it out here, he's done it, you know, and he's a young guy. Again he's not super experienced in the secondary. But I'm excited about Thomas Williams."

12. Do you notice this game meaning a little more to the 757 guys on the roster?

Brent Pry: " I think so, we talked about it today you know, they're very prideful about where they're from and what it means. They want to go home and play well, there's no question in my mind."

13. How about Ali going back down there for the first time?

Brent Pry: " I can't even imagine you know, I mean for a guy, he means so much to us it feels like he's always been a Hokie you know it's very strange, I'm sure it's strange for him, but he's handled the transition well going into that game last year. And you know, he did his team share last year and talked about it and had nothing but respect for those guys. And you know, I got a lot of buddies over there and, you know, but let's go win this game."

14. Does it still burn in your memory, what he did two years ago?

Brent Pry: " Yeah that was a heck of a play by him, you know, we look back at that game and, you know, there's some things that we certainly needed to do better to win it. "

15. Is that a game that you knew he was a power five receiver?

Brent Pry: I think so, I mean we liked him going into the game. You know, we're like, this guy's a good player. So we're fortunate to have Ali. He's playing really good football right now. He didn't get many targets the other day, but he has been really consistent just, you know, been at the top of his game."

16. You were asked yesterday about Kyron, running the ball, and you said that you felt like Marshall was kind of keying in on that and making it so Kyron was giving on those read plays. You feel like after, you know, some film is out from last year, do you feel like teams those first two weeks playing you guys any differently than maybe you were at the end?

Brent Pry: " I think a little bit, but the other piece is, you know, you make it hard to stop the tailback when you do that. So, you know, it's kind of feast or famine, I mean, I've been on that side of it. And you say, okay, what do you want to take away? And we have to make it where, if you take one away, we got something else. You take that away we got something else, they've got enough production out there. We gotta be able to just spread it and share the wealth where we need to."