Marty Gordon
NRVsports@mainstreetnewspapers.com
Virginia Tech’s head football coach is pleased with the effort and the attitude he has seen from his team this offseason.
Now, Brent Pry says he has to build off that. This past week, he met with the media.
“That’s what we’re working on right now, to have the type of preseason camp that we need to have. But the competition level is at an all-time high. I think offense, defense, receivers, DBs, running backs, linebackers, defensive coaches. There’s a ton of energy at practice,” he said during this past week’s media day.
“I think some of it is from our new coaches and what they brought to the table, some of these new players and the energy that they bring, but we’re always grounded in fundamentals around here. We’re never gonna lose sight of that, but we’ve embraced some structural changes, we’re leaning into the new offense, some new things on defense, and I’m excited about we’re at.”
“We break this thing down into a series of mini-camps and we’re only completing mini-camp number two today and there’s six of them. So, we’ve got a bunch of work left to do to have a chance to be the team that we can be,” he said.
The team is coming off a 6-7 season, that in most cases fell short of the preseason positive vibes. Pry also starts this season with two coordinators, Phillip Montgomery (offense) and Sam Siefkes (defense).
“I’m very pleased with Phil and Sam. And also with [strength and conditioning coach Jarrett Ferguson], those guys have done a tremendous job. It’s not easy to come in new. Both of those guys [Montgomery and Siefkes] came in with some fresh ideas, some structure changes, with a staff that was pretty much already in place. And so, you got to coach the coaches before you even dive into the players,” Pry said.
“They’ve done a tremendous job of that. With the support from Whit, we’ve been able to bring some additional assistance on board on each side of the ball to help us move things forward and to help those guys reinforce some new techniques, some new schemes. So I think it’s going very well. My relationships with those guys, I would hope they’d say it’s really good. It’s a little bit different with Phil and he’s been a head coach before. And so, the conversations can sometimes go [in] a different direction, but then Sam and I both being defensive guys, he’s very accepting of some evaluations and observations that I have.”
One of the biggest change going into the fall is amount of transfers on the roster, especially when it comes to the running back room.
“Yeah, I feel really good about the depth and the quality in that room. I think it’s [running backs coach Elijah Brooks] and [offensive coordinator Philip Montgomery] harnessing that, whether it’s [Marcellous] Hawkins right now, has had a great camp. P.J. Prioleau is back healthy and has already shown us some good things. [Braydon] Bennett has had moments, then obviously, Jeremiah Coney has done some good things. I think, Tyler Mason [too]. It’s as I mentioned last week to somebody, it’s one of the more competitive rooms right now,” Pry said.
Montgomery agrees and thinks there are some guys that bring some different aspects and skillsets to the table whether that’s the guy that can do a lot of shake to what he’s got in his weapons.
“We’ve got guys with power, we’ve got guys that are slashers, we have some combo guys in there. All of them have done a good job being able to do things out of the backfield, understanding protections and how they fit within it,” he said.
Preseason camp continues into the next week as the countdown is on for that Sept. 1 against South Carolina.
