Building A Legacy

0:27 Music and welcome back to the Boundary Corner Podcast along with my partners Ryan Siegler and Jonathan Talley. I am Curtis Wilson in this episode is brought to you by Doctor Jeremy Counts at the Main Street Pharmacy in Blacksburg, your friendly neighborhood pharmacy, 301 S Main St. Blacksburg, VA. And we are back with also one of the members of the family Matasys 247 Sports joining us. Mattei, how you doing first of all tonight? I'm doing great.

1:17 This is we got day two of EA 25. I've been been grinding out the dynasty, so doing well, but as always, just such a pleasure to be on here with you guys. I got to be up there with most recurring at this point. So something I'm my most proud title at this point. We we have you on at least twice a season here, at least the last two to three years. So you're definitely up there with with most recurring if you're not at the top of the list, man. So welcome back. Always fun to talk recruiting with you. We have a couple other fun topics we get to chop up with you tonight. So really happy to have you back. Tally. Yes, Sir, in Alabama, man. Say what now? How?

1:58 Hot Is it in Alabama? Too hot. So hot they messed my Wi-Fi up every day. Every day. And burned through the CAT5 over there. Yeah, Nah, man. We had a baseball tournament this weekend and it was, it was think it was 97 is what it was saying. We played on two turf fields and it was so it was so hot that parents were moving away from the field, stepping back to try to watch the game because you can smell the turf. It's how hot it was, so our boys had to win three games to win it all. They did it on Sunday. I don't know how they was look like they were going to fall out, but they toughed it out and ended up winning, pulling the tournament out. So, good times man, but it's hot. Well.

2:45 Congrats to your son and his team with a nice victory there. Tally. I know you know, we know the trials and tribulations he went through because I think the last time when Tay was on he was still recovering from his injury. So it's great to hear he is fully back playing. And Brian, you said earlier we had some fun topics after break, including CFB 25, which I'm the only person here that doesn't have a copy Y'all do. So I'll let y'all talk about it. But we do have Matei on because we got to talk some recruiting because this staff has been on absolute fire since we last came with you. Last time we interviewed you was Coach. Last time we saw Y'all, we were interviewing Coach Pratt and after that Coach Pratt lit the barn on fire and got a bunch of crews. So Matei, we're going to talk with you about them, but let's reverse your way back.

3:30 Let's go way back and let's talk about the portal editions right after the end of spring ball. Colin Sheeley, Curtis Perry, Caleb Spencer As you started getting the wind of each of these players, knowing their backgrounds, knowing their histories, knowing where they fit in the discussions, what is it telling you about this upcoming season in a way the staff feels? Yeah, I think you know what the these three guys in particular, they're kind of your luxury signings in the portal. When you look at what they were able to do with some of their other signings in the transfer portal to be able to plug those holes that they had.

4:11 You know what these three guys like, you look at Colin Schli and you know, they feel really good about Pop Watson. Even last season, he was the number two quarterback for a large part of the season when Grant Wells was hurt. But you know, Shuley was a guy with one year left. He just came from UCLA. He was at Kent State before then. You know, he's 63225 as opposed to Watson, who's I think 511 and listed at 175. So he's a guy. I mean, they're so confident in Kyron drones that, you know, if you think this team is going to be as good as expected, they're going to need someone in mop of duty late in games to be able to take that load in the running game to be able to, you know, take some of those hits at the end of the game. And I think Shli is kind of like a a gap year before Pop Watson really can take over for this program. Then you look at Curtis Perry and that guy out of Alabama. I mean, just such a great recruit and a guy that, you know, the staff said if we can take him, we'll take him. Like this is a guy that will develop into a big time player. I don't think he has a huge role for next year. He could fight his way to that number 4 #5 defensive tackle. But he's a guy that you're looking long term with him. You feel pretty good about the direction of the defensive tackle room.

5:29 I mean, we look at it a couple years ago, it's pretty bare. So now you have some guys, you're kind of staggering, you know, the years of what the guys have there. And then Caleb Spencer, I think he was the last AD of the class. He's kind of a do it all guy. And I know that they have some familiarity. He's an LCA guy. He can really play a nickel. I think they're going to try to slot him in at safety. He's the guy that can play star. I mean, there's a lot of virtual building there, but they were looking for someone like that that can play multiple positions in the back end. So, you know, All in all, these are luxury signings. But you know, especially with Perry and Spencer, these are guys that I think will be starters, you know, maybe 20/25/2026.

6:17 Yeah. And I know when when we had Coach Pryor last month, you know, he was talking about Spencer in particular. And I think everybody had him kind of, you know, thinking about safety, maybe nickel corner or something like that. And he's like, yeah, linebacker. Like right out the gate. I was like, all right, so he's that type of versatile. I guess so. I was going to say, I'll tell you what, if you need, if you play 20, NCAA 25, they like Perry on them. He's on the field a lot. All right. Nope. Yeah, taken note. Taken. Before we flip over to the commits for the 25 class, we did sneak in there and get a 26 commit, and that's Peyton. Is it Falzone?

7:07 Is it Falzone? Yeah, the quarterback Nazareth, PA 65200 looks like a kid, maybe kind of a fast riser at this point as far as, you know, rankings may be concerned. What do we know about this kid? I know it's still kind of early on in the 26 process here. Yeah. I mean, it's always an arms race to get a quarterback in your class. Like you always want to get that guy, whether it's like a Kelden Ryan this year. I think he committed same time maybe last year. But you know, this is a guy that you know, he comes out of Penn State territory. Definitely a lot of connections to the staff. Obviously he was really looking at Penn State and Virginia Tech. I think Penn State took another four-star quarterback a couple days before he decided to commit. I know we were joking before we jumped on here about everyone taking vacation or I was actually on vacation when they took the commitment.

8:05 But he's a guy that, you know, he loved what he saw from, you know, the offensive presentation from Tyler Bowen. He's a six, five, 200 LB guy. And I think a lot of people are quick to assume that he's a pocket passer, but he's a guy that certainly has a bit of wiggle. I think he listed his 40 at 46. It's probably closer to like a four eight. But he's a guy that, you know, is able to really be in that read option game. He's kind of a shortened motion, but a lot of arm strength. I think recently that other site ranked him a four-star. The Shikes didn't remain nameless.

8:46 So, you know, there's a lot of potential there. I think there's a lot to like about him. I definitely think he can fill into his frame. But he's definitely a guy that I think, you know, has huge potential. And, you know, I wouldn't say watching his film, he's like a perfect fit for the offense. But I think with growth, he can certainly get there as his body kind of morphs into college shape. Like I think he'll be better in the ground game. He's more of AI wouldn't call him like a, you know, he's certainly not drones in his running ability, but he's a guy that can, you know, move in the pocket again, play that read option game. There's a lot of development to be done. Again, he's a 2026 guy, but really, really high ceiling with him A. 100%.

9:29 We still got we still got 22 high school seasons before we'll see him join the Hokies in the future if if he gets to signing day there. So it sounds like he's a guy that has a little bit of the skill set that we're looking for, but maybe not quite those like high end athletic attributes that you see out of Pop Watson recovering drones. Absolutely. But definitely the size and the ability to get there. And I think that's, you know, that they really want. He's a guy that when you have that unquestioned ability, especially as a passer like you, you take him and you see what you can do once he's on campus. And I think he's a great add to the class. Yeah, and and Matteo, you mentioned having a little bit of wiggle. I think what his sophomore season like over 400 yards rushing on like 60 attempts.

10:12 So it might not be the drones level or the pop level athleticism, but it's that enough that if it's in the read option game, that end has to stay home because the second he crashes, he's going to take off for a 15 or 20 yard run. And it's like OK, now let's flip it to 2025 and let's start with this guy because this was the first guy immediately back on June 14th that committed Christian Evans out of Stonebridge high school power up in Northern Virginia here listed at six two and a half 280 lbs rated as a three star 88 tally.

10:52 You hear that they got him at 247. Hasn't has an 88 so far Got got to got to make that point, because y'all know tally he he he walks it like a hawk, but but. Again. Sean Quinn, the primary recruiter, JC Price secondary, tons of offers. I mean, you see, like in Oklahoma, you see North Carolina, you see a bunch of different places. You know, Penn State had interest in this guy. And most recently for the Under Armour camp. He was the DLMVP up at that camp, up in Baltimore, which is a big camp. How did the commitment go and what do you feel he's bringing to the table today? Yeah, I mean, he's a great interior guy. Like when you think about Virginia Tech recruiting, I know I kind of alluded to it with the defensive tackle group, but like it's not often that you see these big time commitments in the trenches in the interior last year. And now Christian Evans are maybe the exceptions to that. Like really high motor guy can really get up the field, as you mentioned was the MVP of that camp. Oklahoma was squarely in the mix, but he really want to stay close to home.

12:00 That was huge for him. Ultimately it came down to, you know, Virginia Tech, North Carolina and UVA and you know, I love what he had to say on his commitment that, you know, he wanted to play for the flagship program in state. Just really believed in the vision. I think it was he was heavily leaning towards Virginia Tech and then it was the official visit. He was able to be there with a lot of other guys that are now in this class and just being able to spend time with them, spend, you know, multiple hours with the coaching staff really sold him at the end on the vision. Yeah, it's awesome to hear. And and you know, we talked about the the reiteration of the flagship program.

12:43 I'm glad that's starting to get hammered home again and folks are trying to take recognition of that. So good to keep that branding out there for the program. Let's flip it over to the next guy here. And this one's kind of close to Curtis and I's heart a little bit because because his dad played, played at our high school, won A state championship for our high school. So I've got got a little bit of tie in there. But AJ Brand, quarterback out of South Carolina, Columbia, we get to to go into Shane Bieber territory and snatch one out. Looks like South Carolina was the other team with the big push. They wanted him probably, probably at safety. We were we were good for him at quarterbacks. So what can you tell us about AJ Brand? Yeah, This is one that once the wheels started to turn, they moved fast.

13:30 Like they Virginia Tech has been on AJ brand for a long time. But really, you know, we heard, you know, they wanted two quarterbacks this entire time. They had Keldon Ryan for over a year. There was a lot of smoke out of the Malik Washington camp. But then eventually, I think when Tyler Bowen's looking at it, he looks at AJ Bran. He has a bit of a Corky throwing motion, but he's just a perfect fit for what they want at quarterback in the system. And I think as time went on, as they got to know him better, as they got to see him a bit more, they realized this is the guy we want to really bring into the program, you know, work on those throwing mechanics once he gets to campus, but someone that they really believe in. And they went all in on him.

14:17 And like you said, it was a big battle against South Carolina. That's his, you know, home state. That's, you know, there's a, there's a lot of trends in this class, specifically more than any other year with battles against Shane Beamer and South Carolina. And, you know, they really believed in him at quarterback, and I think that was enough to get him in the boat. Yeah. And and I think the one thing I like about him, first of all, I will say this first hand experience, my cousin, one of my cousins played against AJ. They beat him last year and this year their school Irma beat them. But if if you checked out, I mean, he was the state player of the year down there in 4A in South Carolina, which is the second biggest division.

15:00 So you're not dealing with a bunch of small schools. And you look at his numbers. I mean, he went 3000 as a sophomore, what, three or a junior, 3000 yards, 45 touchdowns, 1100 on the ground, seven. I mean, he was that team's offense. And that's crazy to see. I'll say this. I I know y'all have even a recruiting profile on him. I mean, that man needs a bump. That man needs a bump from an 86 because you don't do all that as a junior against in that level of competition. So Matei, make the wheels turn. All right, let's I got a question since you brought it up. I didn't want to bring it up, but Curtis used the word bump so I got a question.

15:41 Bump. So, and this is, you know, this is just for a normal college fan, not a crazy Virginia Tech fan. A person, if a, if a young man commits to a school, is it harder for him to get a bump because he's not really actively being recruited? I know he may be still being recruited by other people, but like not actively going to maybe a lot of camps or, you know, you kind of know where he's at. It's not as much publicity going to be on him in the recruiting ranks unless it's a, you know, flipping them. So is it harder for a player that's committed, you know, earlier to get a bump like that? I think yes and no, definitely with the camps, like you're not going to go to camps once you're committed.

16:25 You're not visiting other schools hopefully. But at the same time, I think where the biggest bumps come in are those senior films. Once those come in, like I'm trying to think it was who was a Jaden payout who got like a bump from like an 84 to like a 90 and that was like late November of his senior year. So there are stories certainly of guys getting those bigger bumps senior year. It's a bit of luck as well. Like you got to make sure that evaluator has your tape and that you have some pretty excellent tape there. Right at that 88 number was what you said. That senior film came in in December and it was like, whoa, this guy's a four.

17:07 Like a couple guys went to four-star, a couple guys got the, the Gabe Williams thing was great because they bumped Gabe back up where he originally. Yeah, yeah. Before he committed. So, I mean, we get it. But you know, we always are watching. You know we watching. Y'all I know, I know. You know, but it's not yumate. We know it's not you, but it's. Everyone he it's him too. I always joke around and we have the UVA intern because 11 someone commits to Virginia Tech Normally you see that little, you know, decrease in the rating. But it's funny because I think out of, you know, all the sites, if you go to their individual profiles, you can see their historic rankings like you can see when they got the bump or the drop. So everyone's always checking that.

17:48 Trust me. I got a lot of DMS about that, yes. Hey, what's going on with these numbers, man? Christian Devin's got the bump, a nice bump after he committed a nice bump and it puts him very close to the 89 four-star. All right, I'm going to flip. Let's talk to another guy. Let's stay or let's take it back to the DMV. We're we're staying in the footprint though, and one of the big ones, the math of Catholics, Noah Chambers, linebacker 622-1686 is the star rating some solid offers. You know, it's one of those we kind of always look at comes to linebackers and safeties. I see Pitt on there if a linebacker has a pit offer and he's probably a good fundamentally sound player and probably can do good things. But you know, the math of there's Elijah again, there's that connection.

18:36 And even though Marv was his primary, Elijah's right on there with him. How big of a get us to keep that DeMatha train rolling and what what is it looking like? What's the story behind the Noah commitment? Yeah, so I mean, it's huge. I mean, you think about it, Dante Lovett, Emmett Laws, now you got Noah Chambers. This was a guy that, you know, was top of their board in terms of linebacker prospects from the beginning of the cycle, Obviously, like Brett Clatterball was, you know, the the top guy that everyone looks at because of his star rating. And that was one that they definitely wanted to get in early. I think Noah could have probably committed earlier, but he really took his time with this process.

19:17 And Virginia Tech was the first offer for him. Like they were they were out there in the very beginning. They stuck with him the entire time. They were straight up and honest with him. And you know, I think where you look at Brett Clatterbaugh and like great, great prospect, I think Noah Chambers also has the opportunity to really blow up. Like I think he's just so athletic and he's a guy that can play multiple positions. Like I would not be surprised if you know, he's a guy that sees the field maybe even earlier than Clatterbaugh. So really, really good get and especially with the context of they had two guys at linebacker that they desperately wanted and they were able to land both of them.

20:02 Pretty good because we need it. I mean, we've had so many times in the past where, you know, you're thinking, man, if we had a, you know, a a linebacker in this position, this game would be a little bit different. So it's good to see them getting some talent in there. Speaking of talent, we're going to go to the the next recruit Green run Kit got to go. You know, shout out to Brody Adams man, for for starting that wave. You know what I mean? Shout out to him and his family yes, for starting that wave. We've had what this is the third kid from green run this 4th from this from this recruiting class. So crazy.

20:44 But Zeke, I'm not even going to try to pronounce the last name, but 66240 think this kid just transferred there. So his first year at Green run. Let me see 247. Y'all got him at a 85, so that's OK. You know I ain't going to get on you too bad about that. I need to see what he do. I'm going to go with Mattea and we going to watch some film and we're going to see about you know if we need to throw any bumps in that. But kid seems like he has a lot of potential. Like I said, as far as a high ceiling guy. What are you thinking about him, Mattea? Yeah, I mean, he's great. I think, you know, a lot of the guys on the Vt Scoop team have, you know, in our slack, we're always talking about him and just how he might be the biggest hidden gem of this class. Like, he's definitely very raw.

21:29 A third guy from Green Run obviously didn't play there last year, but he's a guy that's going to come over from Ocean Lakes. They beat out West Virginia for him. I think it's great that he's going to be able to play against Thomas Wilder, who's a 2026 recruit on green run. Keep keep an eye out for him. four-star guy pretty much pretty much has offers from everybody. He's 66285 S Zeke is going to go against him and practice every single day. Like these are two solidified D1 guys going at it. I think his senior development will be huge and you know, again, he's a guy that you like 6 foot six, 240 LB defensive ends don't grow on trees.

22:13 Like this is a guy that's going to absolutely transform his body at the collegiate level and you know, just humongous upside. So I think 85 is fair for him now based on what he's shown. But he's a guy that you, you just like, you got to get him in there and, and see what you know once you coach him up, what he can become. Yeah, he's got the, he's got the physicals, he's got, you know, some of those intangibles. So it's all about what, what does that production look like on the field? And will that warrant a bump and kind of move him up in that class? Let's go to somebody else that's kind of that that that lower side of the class. And in terms of, you know, 2247 Sports has them at 86 and Nathaniel Wright, Woodbridge, VA Yeah, big, big guy already. Yeah, 65275 looks like he's going to slide in at that interior offensive line.

23:07 What have you seen from him? What what's the feelings on on his potential, especially on an old line that needs probably a little bit of depth here? Yeah, absolutely. I know that with the old line, there was a couple guys from this class there. You know, obviously, I think there were a couple top end guys that Virginia Tech missed out on and they would admit that as well, you know, whether, you know, they just wanted to go to bigger programs or found a better place for them. But I think when you look at Nathaniel Wright, he's a guy that was able to go to a camp, earn an offer out of a camp. They really liked what they saw from him and really prioritized him after Carter Stallard.

23:50 So big guy, interior guy, like yes, he's an 86, but he's also the fourth highest rated offensive lineman out of Virginia. So I think that was another huge thing as well. So just all around, I think, you know, sometimes coaches really trust in their evaluations, especially when they see guys in camp. And I think he was a guy that kind of rose towards the upper half of of their board just because they were able to see him in person and really evaluate him. Definitely, definitely. We're always looking for offensive lineman. Got to get Brian over there to show him some footwork. Brian's got all kind of records, man, so we got to show him how to lift them weights, man, they ain't. They ain't lifting hard enough on things, right Brian? I think Brian froze up.

24:38 There. But yeah, I guess I don't like this. Yeah. I didn't know if it was me or him. Am I freezing? You getting good now, You good now, you good now. So, yeah, you know, being very early in the class or being in the class in general, I don't like to say favorites, but I am going to say my favorite recruit right now is Jeff Overton. I think Dwight Victoria may have been the first person that told me about Jeff Overton a little while ago, maybe a year and a half ago or something like that. But yeah, I mean, crazy athletic man.

25:20 If you go watch this film, anybody, if you, if you haven't watched this film, please do. I'm not going to even talk rankings right now because I don't want to put Matteo on the spot. I'm just going to let him talk and then I may come back in and say something. But Matteo, how you feeling about Jeff Overton? First off, I'll say this, I do have a bias with a lot of these recruits. I'm able to really see them, get to know them. And so a lot of them I want to give bumps, right? Like I do have that bias. But like I objectively speaking, Jeff Overton should be a four-star. Like there's no question about it. And he's a guy again, like was a can't lose prospect out of this class no matter what his ranking says. Gatorade football player of the year put up the absolute video game numbers.

26:10 Like I don't know, they're finding Tyler Mason, who's, you know, has over 110 touchdowns in his career. But like Jeff Overton is doing it at at an even higher level. He had 41 touchdowns last year, 13 yards for Gary. Just like this guy has a bit of everything that you want out of the running back position. Just an absolute total package. And again, just a can't miss prospect. They went all out for him, rolled out the red carpet and they got him and you know, again, top of the board prospect. I'm so excited about his future at Virginia Tech. And when he says rolled out the red carpet, he means rolled out a white Rolls Royce.

26:53 Somebody in the chat said I don't know who death on the plate is. Thank you for watching though. Think he asked his drones dad on. Yes, Mr. Kevin, drones is usually on with us. That's family. He's usually watching with us. He's usually popping in and out. So yes, Sir, that is Mr. Drones right there. Shout out to Mr. Kevin. Meet us in Nashville. Yes, Sir. Yes, Sir. Meeting y'all in Nashville. Hey, and you mentioned those video game numbers hay fields in six a 6A is it's nothing but the biggest. It's nothing but the biggest throw that on here. I want to get Brian's opinion on that. Brian, your opinion on this before we jump to the next recruit. I think online can benefit from ballet. I mean, I think personally, anybody can benefit from ballet because anything that you can do to improve your balance is going to improve your performance on the field. Yoga, a lot of that stuff like it sounds funny, but a lot a lot of offensive lineman or anybody who has to, you know, can torture body and do different things that they have to do being big guys, you know, Pilates, yoga, a lot of people take part in that even ballet sometimes. I mean, it's not, it's not talking about, you know, when, when you're, when you're blocking, having to maintain your balance while still moving somebody backwards, moving laterally, vertically at the same time. I mean, it's a lot of balance that takes place there. So anything that can improve that, go for it. 100% So there you go from a former offensive

28:29 lineman himself and from Tally collegiate football players. Well, that that stuff benefits. So I'm going to flip it. Stay on the line. We went to the DMV, we got one, we went to South Carolina. Let's finally rip one out of North Carolina. Let's talk about Sherrod Henderson, the edge out of Rocky Point, NC Hide Trask. I don't know, Robbie, if you're out there listening to give us some background on Hide Trask 63210 and 86 solid offer list for him. You know, you see a team like Michigan State, Duke, especially Duke with Manny Diaz. We know he likes those fast edge rushers, but how did this commitment come together? Because a lot of these names Mateo, I'll be honest, I've seen I've seen Evans, I've seen Overton. Zeke was one.

29:15 This one pops up as like who's this and where did this come from? Again, it's, you know, they really make this effort in June to get guys on campus for official visits, really to get them around other members in the class and really detail what their outlook would look like at Virginia Tech. I believe he had, you know, a huge military background. So the core was a big thing there and just, you know what that means at Virginia Tech. But you know, even though 63 this is a guy with 610 wingspan, like can absolutely grow into his body like he's a guy that again, like we talked about it with Zeke. They are finding these guys that just like don't grow on trees, you know, like you, you got to find once you find them, you got to trust in your ability to develop them.

30:02 And I think he's another one that they just once they saw in person, it's it's just like, Yup, we need this guy immediately. Like you're telling me he has one more season to play and then he's going to college. Like, are you kidding me? So another story there, someone that, you know, sat down with pride for about two hours, was not pressured whatsoever to commit and just like loved the honesty of of the approach. And at the end of it was like, what am I waiting on? Like this is a place I want to be and decided to commit. So some of these move a bit faster, some are slow and then you get them on campus for officials. But yeah, this is a guy agreed with Robert there. Like quick, very long guy.

30:46 Another thing I like seeing too, Brian, we'll put this up here right there. Another coming from a playoff team coming like, hey, Phil was a good team last year. Demath is always a good team. So a team in the state of North Carolina making the playoffs, right, like again, prize. Talk to us about it. Guys who win, guys who know how to do that because that's something you got to learn. Sorry, Brown. I stepped on him, man. You're good, man. Are you good? And and like you said, I'll be winning programs is definitely something that Pry has prioritized since he's been here. It's prioritize the state of Virginia and hid in the footprint, but also prioritize pulling guys from those winning programs.

31:27 So this just a a continuation of that. And I mean, you know, when we look at the next guy, we want to talk about Matthew out. And that was a big one big, big commitment. You know, athlete at IC Norcom, Portsmouth, VA hit the 757 four-star kid. You got to love that, you know, 6 foot 200 kind of that that ideal size. Tell us a little bit about Mr. Allen here. Yeah, I mean, he's just, he's a phenomenal player. And you know, I want to shout out Evan G Watkins just 'cause he pointed it out, but I know we'll get to the other headliner of this class.

32:08 But back-to-back cycles with the number one and #2 wide receivers in the boat out of the state of Virginia. This is a guy that very seriously was considering Penn State, loved his official visit there. And I think, you know, honored, honored his commitment to coming to Virginia Tech for his official visit. And I think it really helped out that Virginia Tech had, you know, kind of the last say in things there because they really were able to map out a path for him. And he really believed in the vision there. So yeah, Virginia Tech lands an absolute stud with him. I think he's a guy that can really do it all at the wide receiver position. I know he's listed at athlete, but he's a guy that I think can line up in a lot of places.

32:56 You can get the ball in his hands in a lot of different ways, and just an extremely versatile and proven player. So yeah, can't miss four-star Guy. 100%. Yeah, I was a little nervous about outing for a while just cause in my opinion, he kind of I know that pry and Pry and crew were on him pretty early, but he kind of went quiet for a little bit and with with Virginia Tech and blew up. So in the past most of the time when that happens you like so long, you know what I mean? But the closer and closer it got to commitment time, we're still in it we're still in it. And then he commits the Virginia Tech. That's what that's what you love to see.

33:38 Speaking of that, another again, can I just say everybody's my favorite? I said I had a favorite, but can I say everybody's my favorite? This, this is different though. The reason this is different is because Michael Matthews, if everybody don't know, if you don't know him, that you've been under a rock. Again, with my son playing multiple sports, he is a player that I've told my son to take a look at because I'm going to talk a little bit about his baseball skills. He's you know, baseball has them listed a little bit different than football, but we'll go with football 622 O 5. Baseball has them listed at 63200. So right around now we may add an inch or something somewhere, but he's very he he has just he has the the physical ability on the baseball field to be the best person on the baseball field.

34:35 Every time he steps on that Ronald Acuna type outfielder, you know, a little bit of flash to his game. He moves really, really good in the outfield. His his hit speed through the zone. He stays through the zone for a long time using, you know, he's up the middle of the field when he hits. Like, I can go on and on about baseball because that's what we watch, and then you go to go ahead. 54th rated player in the country, right? Now I was going to say, and then you know, they're a little bit different than what you are in football because you live, you're looking at stars. And but when you go to a perfect game and you look at his, his ratings and how he's progressed over the years as a 13 year old, because they keep progression of, you know, your exit V low and how fast you're throwing and pop times and things like that.

35:21 Like it's it's amazing what he's done in the couple of years that he's he's blown up to where he is now. I switched that over to football. I watched his commitment and listened to some of the things he says and he says, you know, football player that he looks up to as Debo Samuel. That's kind of who he models his game after. And then you go watch the tape and you're like, OK, he don't mind taking the ball out of the backfield. He don't mind getting the short passes, making something happen with the ball. So again, Michael Matthews, we're going to toss it to Mattei. Y'all got what 247 has rated at a 92 right? 92. We going to stay at 92, we going up, but I'm going to pass to Mattei. We're going to take, we're going to pass to Mattei. Let him talk.

36:03 What are you thinking about, Michael Matthews? Yeah, just from the a football standpoint, like I, I know we talked a little bit about Matt Auten and now Micah Matthews, but like both these guys are listed as the 4th and 5th athletes in the country. Like these are guys that are versatile in multiple positions. You mentioned the Debo comparison. I think that's fair to say. That's kind of what he's been pitched on at Virginia Tech. A guy that can have the ball in multiple situations. Like both of these guys, it's going to be a fun offense in a couple years. But like this is a guy that is just so dominant, you know, the best player on the football team, the best player on the baseball team.

36:47 Like when we talk about athletes, we're not just like, you know, multiple, like a lot of these guys play multiple sports. But this guy could potentially GoPro in two, right? Like that's what we're projecting with A4 Star here. And he's someone that really loves the vision at Virginia Tech. I think football being so important to him was huge because it really came down. I know Utah was in there as well in the mix, but he was going to play both sports in college. They gave him a detailed schedule, what that would look like at Virginia Tech. And UNC was on him for a long time. And you look at it historically, UNC is the better baseball program.

37:30 And a lot of people thought that if he were more serious about playing baseball, he has a pretty good option there in Chapel Hill. But it as it turns out, the pitch for the football team for Virginia Tech really stood out to him. And he was very serious about that. And ultimately that's why he chose to be a hokey. And I think, you know, just a, a great player. I think my favorite quote, he did a sidebar with Colby. He said like his favorite route is running a slant 'cause he's not afraid to get hit. He's not afraid of contact. He's a big kid. Like that's someone you love to have in the program. Not someone that's just like so athletic and so skilled, but someone that has the right mentality.

38:11 And I mean, I could go on and on about him. He's he's the headliner for a reason of this class. Yeah, I'm gonna. Ask. I'm gonna ask. I'll go ahead. Go ahead. I was just going to say he really brings the seems like maturity as well, like seems like a really mature kid and you got to be when you're playing multiple sports on that level, it's hard to avoid, you know, having some of that maturity, some of that leader, those leadership aspects that you're looking for in the program as. Well, well, well, also that maturity too, because tally, you made a point going to perfect game since you're 13 or 14, you you better be on your PS and QS because every scalp is watching you and how you act and what you're doing. So if you ain't on your P's and Q's there, you're going to fall off that saying like ain't going to worry about him.

38:55 Go ahead, talent. No, I was just going to say, you know, and then watching him, I was trying my best to find like somebody who does what he can do on the current roster. And I don't the only person who I would think would be close is probably Jay Lane, right? Like Chad. And I'm going to tell you is that it like who, who do we use kind of in the area that we would use him right now? Yeah, I mean, I I think you would have to look back and I know it's a completely different offense, but like a Trey Turner type, like you just want to get him the ball however you can. I think that's kind of what he's going to be just in a better scheme and, you know, a bigger version. So just a really great all around athlete. Like he can do it all. Yeah, and and the other thing y'all, if y'all didn't notice, I'm going to tell you, mentioned how high they were on athletes, the athletic ranking 5th and 6th top players in Virginia. So people, a couple months ago, people were getting very, very, very worried.

39:51 Oh my God, we don't have a top ten player. Clatterbury went down to 11. We don't have it. What are we going to Clemson? And lo and behold, everybody be patient. Everybody be patient with Tay's clearly telling you that this staff knows what they're doing. And. I think you know four weeks ago. I think you know you. I think a lot of people had Matthews penciled in the UNC and out in pencil in Penn State. So. Easily. Easily. No idea. So getting getting those commits is huge from that perception standpoint, getting back in Virginia standpoint, but also kind of calming some of those potential like, oh, is, you know, is 25 going to look be as good as 24 and all this other stuff. And now it looks like, you know, we're rounding out to a yeah, about the same level as that class that we were really, really excited about last year.

40:44 So and we still got a couple couple other guys in that top ten in play too, so. Yeah, and I just got to say, like, again, I, I know I mentioned back-to-back years with the number one and #2 wide receivers from Virginia, but like, we're talking about Brody Adams, Chans Wiggins. Now we got Auden and Matthews. Like, think about that for a second. Like when has Virginia Tech's wide receiver room looked like that just from like four names alone 17 years ago? That's a long, long time ago. So it it's gonna be a treat for whoever the quarterback's gonna be, whether it's pot or pop or whoever else. Like that is a great wide receiver room to work with.

41:27 Oh yeah. Right. Definitely. Yeah. And you know, since we talked, you know, 25, let's flip over a little bit and kind of bring 24 back into it as well 'cause we had, you know, we took 16 and 24. It's currently sitting at 15. Total recruits are 25. Do we are we thinking this class is going to be in that 18 to 21 range or are we going to kind of stick back into that kind of 16 to 18 range with the size of the class and leave more room for potential portographs? Yeah, I certainly think that as of right now, like they feel really good about this class. I think there was a definitive push to get these guys in before all the vacations took place. Like there's a reason all these guys are in the class right now. They were, you know, the must haves. It's going to be the formula for every year. They're going to look at 16 to 20 guys. They're going to look for five guys, maybe more that they can take out of the transfer portal.

42:22 You just never know with attrition these days. But you know, it's about finding these guys to build up the base and then layering it, layering on top of that with transfer portal guys. So, you know, I think they did a great job this year so far. I think my favorite quality about the class, you have 15 guys, 11 of them are from Virginia. So like really sticking to what they said about the blueprint about getting these guys back from the state of Virginia. And you know, these players are sprinkled across Virginia like they're bringing guys in at multiple positions for multiple schools all across the Commonwealth. Like they really lived up to what they were saying. So that's definitely what the blueprint is like. If you replicate this Class A couple times over, a majority of your roster is going to be top in state kids. And then you know, you're going to have your drones, you're going to have your J Lanes, your Feltons, Ollie Jennings, all those kinds of guys.

43:20 So you'll find transfer portal ads every year, but this is really the base that they're going with. Definitely we got to get some offensive lineman. I mean, I think they're doing all right, but next year offensive lineman, please go get some. Speaking of, you know, offensive lineman and still on recruiting with Matteis. Sis, I need everybody to be quiet and listen because when the man speaks, he usually is doing pretty good. Now two years ago, I wouldn't have said this. I would have said he ain't know what he's talking about. But once he started coming on here and he starts spitting that knowledge, man, it's been coming to fruition. So my question to you is top three uncommitted targets, who are they?

44:07 Wow, a lot of pressure on this one. Now matching. It up. We'll see. Hopefully, you know, out of these three, maybe two out of three would be successful. You know, the first guy is Messiah Delome, Warwick High School guy Michael Vick. Shout out. He's a guy that you know, he's being recruited by a lot of top teams, including Ohio State. I would say they are the biggest factor in this recruitment other than Virginia Tech. But he's a safety guy. I think he's #4 in Virginia, four-star guy. He's one that again, when you look at the cycle, you say can't miss guy position of need.

44:51 Like, they want to bring him in. I feel really good about where Virginia Tech stands with him. I know you know, the conversation has been, oh, Ohio State has three safeties. They have two cornerbacks. Like, they're pretty filled up. They would take him. Like if Virginia Tech is able to land him, it's because they were able to beat out Ohio State. So we'll see. I feel pretty good about their chances right now and say it's pretty 5050. He's a guy I don't think will commit until maybe late in August, but someone that definitely is being prioritized right now. Another guy is Kendall Daniels, another safety guy. South Carolina, Virginia Tech battle the story with him. Everyone's saying, you know, he's going to go to South Carolina, he's going to commit to them. Clemson's also in the mix there, but he hasn't committed there yet.

45:48 And I keep going back to that. Virginia Tech has really worked on him. He's very high on Virginia Tech. He knows what the vision looks like. He's someone that I think could commit at the end of this month, if not early August 6. Three guy, 210, just, you know, could be a really powerful Rover style safety for Virginia Tech. You know, they're really going for the history there. Again, they're fighting against Tori and Gray and Shane Beamer. So it's a it's a big battle there. And you know, again, Clemson's still in the mix, but he hasn't visited there yet. So it's going to be a tough couple weeks for him. I would say South Carolina's probably 7525% favorites right now, but I keep going back to that point that he's still listening to Virginia Tech and you never know until he makes his commitment public.

46:38 So the last one that I probably feel the best about is Jan Kamaju, Defensive lineman, 63 edge guy, another one of those freaks, super athletic. Now the story with him, he is a like, he's an absolute genius. I think he has like a 4.2 GPA, very serious about engineering, works in Virginia Tech's favor. Like he's a guy that Virginia Tech has been on for a very long time. Again, I think he, you know, Virginia Tech is the favorite right now for him. I don't have a definitive time for when he's going to end his recruitment. I think it could be by late August, but just a a huge guy. No, you said 3 Jordan Krim is another one out of South Carolina, 6 foot one cornerback.

47:34 Again, a lot of these guys are in the secondary. I think they really want to bolster the numbers there someone that camped and they really loved. He is kind of a scattered offer list, but Virginia Tech is, is, you know, very much on him and he's, you know, kind of a plug and play guy, so to speak that, you know, at he he just does everything that Cheetah wants out of that position. So those would be the four guys I would put at the top of the list and I think, you know, that would put Virginia Tech in that 1817 to 20 range. OK. All right. So you're still feeling that's? The way you want to be that's. What?

48:14 Yeah. In in this day and age, that's exactly the way you want to be. I want to throw this. This is not part of it, but it's a good question coming from somebody out here. RSD man 97 and how important it is to having a good year to keep the guys in the boat. Well, I can I'm going to give my opinion on this first y'all, we're ahead of schedule. We weren't supposed to be having the conversations we're having this year about 910 plus wins compete for the ACC backdoor chance at a playoff. We're ahead of schedule. So regardless what happens this year, I don't think it matters. I don't know if y'all's opinion on that, but that's my opinion because we're ahead of where we had three wins a few years ago. Yeah, I will say, you know, winning matters. You know, you got you.

49:01 You want to see your team go and you want to see your team go and put on a good show. And no matter where they play and who they play, you want to see them win big games. You want to see them win the games that they're supposed to win. But I think, you know, kind of the to go with what Curtis is saying, if you listen to a lot of the interviews with the team, like Virginia Tech hasn't won anything significant in a while. So what you're selling to recruits is we're building, you know what I'm saying? So a lot of recruits say they're building something special there. I want to go there because they're building something special. So yeah, you want to see the wins and winning is important. But I think that for some reason, if things go to hell, I think you still have where if we would have had this player here, if we would have had you here, I think Pride kind of has that down where he can pivot and let recruits know what they're missing to what happened. You know what I'm saying?

49:58 So that's kind of my opinion as well, Curtis. Yeah. I think it's got it's right, right there in line where as long as you're not taking a demonstrative step back in 2024, I don't think you're really at a big risk of something like that, you know, So I think, you know, I think everyone wants to see the 910, you know, whatever wins. But I think 7 or 8, especially in the if you're talking about regular season wins probably get you back in that same, you know that that that doesn't hurt you with with this class. If you do that another one or two seasons after that, that's when it would start hurting you with future classes because you're not taking that next step. But I think as long as you kind of stay on the current trajectory and don't take a step back, I think you're you're pretty good to go, at least with this class. And I'll say this too, like you think about last year, most of the class, like this cycle was pretty much set in stone before the season rolled around.

50:56 If you remember, by week four, there was some scary talk on the timeline, like talk that was making its way to recruits, talk that other schools were using as leverage. And in total, there were two D commits last year. One Mensa, was 'cause he always wanted to go to Ohio State. The second one was because Georgia came rolling around for Barnes and that was his dream offer. Eventually he goes to Syracuse to follow for Rand Brown. But like those two things are happening regardless what happens on the football field. Those were the only 2D commitments. Everyone else, like there were some really rough times and they stuck it through.

51:41 Like these guys when they say they're in and when the staff accepts commitments, it's because they know these guys are going to be in. So yes, you occasionally see a decommitment, but like I would not worry about the on field product as a result. Yeah. It's, you know, those are two commitments where space in another place opened up that wasn't there when they committed. It wasn't that, oh, I'm panicking. So I'm going to take this offer that's still available. 100 percent, 100% All right, one last question. And this is not only for Matei, but all three of us as well. But right now one player in the state of Virginia and I'm going to stick to Virginia.

52:24 So we ain't got to go through all the offer lists and all this stuff. If if y'all don't have the list of Virginia, it's in our our chat here amongst us. Matei, one player in this state that's already committed that you say whatever reason position, who they're committed to, I want to flip that player to make a statement. OK, if we're sticking with Virginia, I got to go with I got to go with Caleb Williams, like South Carolina commit on the defensive line. He's someone that, you know, even though he's been committed to South Carolina and I still think he's pretty firm in all of that. Like, he's someone that is probably top, top, top guy that before the season you're like Virginia Tech needs to land him just a really dominant force on the defensive line.

53:16 And I think a huge position of need defensive tackle. Absolutely. That would be one that I think any Virginia Tech fan and all the coaches would welcome a flip for. LeBron. Yeah, but Tay stole my Thunder there. That's OK 'cause he's the guest today. But yeah, it's definitely Caleb Williams and it's not even close. And for many of the reasons that Mattei just said there, it'd be nice to thumb our nose a little bit down at Shane Beamer because of all the trash that they were talking up until recently. So that would feel good getting getting somebody else in Virginia in the footprint, Really good frame, really good abilities already shown it.

53:58 I mean, it's really a, a, a no lose situation if we could flip somebody like that. Pally, did you get the list up man? Oh, yeah. I mean, it ain't. You don't even have to look at it. I mean, they them two took it. But just because of where he's committed and you know who he is and what he does. But I'll go a little different. I'll say I like the Lord. I, I, I followed him a little bit. I know he committed to Cincinnati. I'd like to. I would still like for him to be a hokey and then another one that's not committed yet, but I think he's been leaning toward South Carolina's Jalen Gilchrist, You know, big offensive lineman, you know, would love to see us, you know, get in that, get in that recruitment.

54:43 But again, you know, you never know till you know. So that's that's the two I'll throw out. What about you, Curtis? Well, I was going to go Caleb Williams. Exactly what y'all said. Also RVA kid and then these two guys jump all over it over here, Brian and Matei. So I'm going to I'm going to shift gears. I'm going to stay in the RVA because give me a flip on Shamari Earl's if you toe down and take somebody away from Georgia. A first of all, if that happens, it's going to be double digit next to West by the end of the season. They go flip somebody like that because I think that's one of those more of the statements you talk about.

55:25 We're building a home now. If you come in here and get them early, we will have a season and we will take them back. Give me some. Mario's down Thomas Dale in Chester. So that's who we want. I'd love to see before we get into our commercial break from Main Street pharmacy. If you're out there, take a look at the top 20 players in Virginia, see where they're committed. Who would you want to flip? Who you want chat? Let us know, man, who you want. Robbie, tell us what it is. RSD Thomas, who y'all want to flip and we'll show those up as we go into the second-half. But right now, quick break from our partners at Main Street Pharmacy. I can probably save you a lot of money and I can take a lot better care of you.

56:08 That's pretty much it. My name is Jeremy Counts and I'm a pharmacist. I own and operate Main Street Pharmacy here in downtown Blacksburg. My brother's a pharmacist, I'm a pharmacist, my uncle's a pharmacist, my dad's a pharmacist. I remember he would give me M and Ms. to count in little pill counters. It's just something I've always done, and I'm just lucky that what I know so well is something that I can do and feel good about it and give back to people. Pharmacies are your frontline defense. Pharmacy's job is to make sure you're getting optimal care. For the lowest price possible. Also, we take the pressure off of emergency rooms. I'll tell people immediately when they need to go to the doctor or I'll tell them if they just need a cream over the counter. If there's something that isn't commercially available, if it's something that's not available in a certain strength or a certain form or anything like that, we'll make it. Tailor made medications.

56:54 Some of those options save people a lot of money. What motivates me, I get to take care of people and limit Blacksburg. That's all neat. And there is doctor Jeremy Counts in Main Street Pharmacy, our sponsors. I'm going to give him a shout out if y'all have not checked it out yet. Jeremy has started his own little podcast called Blacksburg on the Rocks with former ESPN host Paul Van Wagner. Check that out. I've caught pieces of it. Y'all. Jeremy's so entertaining. He just honest to God is he. He makes me laugh all the time. Also, late happy birthday that was over last week for Jeremy. Had happy birthday to you. All right, boys, Thanks for hanging out with us A little bit more, Matei.

57:37 Finally, finally, finally. And I'm Brian. Did you? Did you? Were you able to rip him? Yeah. Tally's happy about this. Look at him clapping it up there. Hey, we're getting here. Hang on, we're getting into the screen here. So last Friday? Well, actually, no. Last Thursday. Because of a gamer who has significantly early access to NCAA 25, which probably made all three of y'all jealous. Like why does this guy give me access? The uniforms or the brand new uniforms for the Hokies were released. I got to give shout out to the social media. The social media with Vt football played it all very well, made it tongue in cheek and then the revealed the next day. Brian's trying to pull it up.

58:25 I know mostly everybody has seen it. I know we have it, but give me y'all's thoughts. I don't care who goes first. Is it what you expected, what you loved, what you wish they didn't do? Tally, you're on mute. Just so you know what y'all think. I'll let Tally go ahead. Also, I'm first. You first. Oh, OK, Well, I'm not going to lose my mind if that's what everybody thinks because we didn't get the right color. But I will say I think that orange is still coming. My my opinion on the uniforms is they did a great job.

59:10 When Pratt came on, he was very honest about how he felt about uniforms and what they look like. So in my opinion, I knew what they expect. I mean, of course, in then being a Virginia Tech fan, we kind of knew what we're moving toward, what looked good, what we wanted. But the CM executed and put out, like amongst different fan bases, it's been well represented, man. People are really, really happy with Virginia Tech's uniforms. Like I've had a lot of people, you know, are looking at a lot of people say, you know, they think that Nike got this right. And it's mainly because everybody's look so cookie cutter this year.

59:53 You know, you got so many teams that have the same template. It was good to see something retro and just a clean look. So I think they got it right. Man. I just need them to give me a alternate orange uniform. Can we do that, please? Virginia Tech, I don't care what game. I don't care if we don't even wear it. Just give us one to let us buy it. I think we have that game on the schedule, orange effect or something, so maybe we'll see it then. But IA 100% agree. I think you know, it's funny. I think earlier today I saw the UVA and I don't want to, I don't want to poke too many shots at them, but. Like take them, take them, they deserve it for this one. Every single comment was like, did anything change? Like it it, it looks exactly the same. And I think when you look at Virginia Tech, like, yes, it is a lot different, but it's also very simple, like it's a call back to history.

1:00:49 And then you add in some modern touches. It looks clean, like it's everything this program has been preaching. And to Tally's point, I think what makes the uniforms even better is like it feels like this offseason with everything combined, the expectations, like the just the positive momentum in all aspects of the team, the recruiting now the jerseys, it's like for the first time in a long time, you know, I've been covering this team for a long, long time. It feels like they are. That's a that's a big one right down there. It's a big one. Say it. I didn't say it. I didn't say it. You didn't. Say it, let me. Let me say something right quick before you finish tubing tape. Go ahead. I don't want to say this because Kevin, Kevin hit me up. Am I am I am I am I good?

1:01:36 Y'all can y'all hear me? OK, so Kevin hit me up on on Twitter and he's like they got my son looking like a linebacker. Now I don't know if y'all noticed like when that when that first came out that that's our quarterback in the maroon drug league. Like that don't look like a quarterback that is a dude and that's a big dude man. Like that was our quarterback in the maroon jerseys and I thought that was cool. Like just the the reveal that they had was perfect. Like the pictures were great. But anyway, Matteo, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off, but when Kevin popped up, I thought about that. Yeah, and Dorian and the white.

1:02:17 But the last thing I was just going to say, just with everything combined, the expectations, the recruiting, the jerseys, it feels like for the first time in a very long time since I've been covering this team, Virginia Tech is finally cool again. Like, nationally, they're cool again, and that makes the jerseys feel that much better. Ron. Yeah, yeah. But they just said it. I think the the relevancy of a lot of Virginia Tech, we we made a name for ourselves where we did on the field. But the late 90 nines and most of the 2000s, we were also known for having some damn cool jerseys while we were out there doing it. And I think we had gotten away from some of that.

1:02:59 And I think going back to this classic callback, some modern touches, something that is uniquely Virginia Tech, I think was really important because, yeah, I think if anything we wanted, we wanted the shoulder stripes gone. But if they had rolled out with that like basic ass Nike template jerseys, we would have had a fucking cow. Even though it was something new and we probably would have liked them more than the shit we were getting rid of. We would have pitched a bitch if we got came out there with those like generic ass double stripes on the bottom of the of the arm jerseys this year. So they got it right. They knocked it out of the park. You know, anybody can quibble here or there with details here, details there.

1:03:41 You're going to have people saying something. But as far as top to bottom, I mean it. It couldn't have got much better for me all. Right, There's two things that I love about this Jersey 1 The hokey stone on the inside that is unique. Nobody else has something like that. The white is iced out. It looks beautiful. The maroon Harkins me back. I I'll always go back to those mid 2000s, all maroon everything. But what do we keep saying? We kept saying get the arm patch right. That arm patch looks beautiful. That arm patch with that orange numbers tally by in Jersey just so we can get the orange numbers on that. He already got one. I already got it.

1:04:21 The one that I got signed by Victoria is the white one. Is the white one. With the with the orange numbers on the orange numbers though. That's what they got right love it love it love it all righty so that got revealed because of E A/C FB2025 and I won't just sit this one out for a couple seconds y'all been playing y'all have added voice I'm. Going to tell you the guest and you said you got it, so we got to let you go first. What you think? Just for a little context, like I could not be more excited about this game. Like I've been grinding it the last whatever how many hours, 20-30 hours by this point. But like I was the type of guy that was like downloading those updated rosters like off the dark webs.

1:05:07 Like I was playing NCAA revamped if anyone knows what that is. I was finding any way to play this game before this one came out. Now there's a lot that's changed. The first game, dynasty mode, I loaded up with Yukon trying to build them back, but through 7 interceptions in the first game on All American 7. So it is, it is a huge learning adjustment, but the actual feel of the game, like it feels very ecology. I like the updated, like just everything, like the pageantry, all of that. Like Hokey's coming out. I know it's like a slightly altered version of Enter Sandman, but like it's so sick. And it's just like, I'm going to be like, there's a million options to play this game, like with a million different teams, get to know like what makes that program special. And I'm like most excited to figure that out. And the recruiting has been great. So I don't really have any negatives other than my gameplay needs serious improvement right now. Yeah, I came out of the gate pretty quickly with that. I jumped on it right at 4 yesterday, grinded on it for about 3 hours, only got about a little over three hours today. So I haven't been, you know, kicking it quite as much today relative to the, you know, time I was awake. But I like that it is you know, and I think this is the biggest ass most people had and I'm going to tell you already touched on a little bit.

1:06:38 This is not a Madden clone with college jerseys. Right. This this feels like a college football game and I think that that's the biggest thing that I like so far is that element. The recruiting is good. I I think it's I think it's a lot deeper than what we got the last time out. Obviously you got the portal in there. Now you got, you know, nil when you're doing the road to glory. So that like the things that you want to and the things that you know, you you look for in the game or there. Yeah, I think from a game day presentation, I might would want to like ratchet that up maybe for for next year throw, you know, throw in some of the the ESPN stuff or you know, some of the things on some of the other networks as well. Whether you get some of that production in there. I think that would kind of increase the game day experience, opening of the game, the halftime stuff. But I think just the feel of the game, definitely it it, it, it feels like a college game and again, over 12 years in the making.

1:07:43 So it's nice to have it back. Yeah, definitely. So I'm still, I'm like Robbie, I'm still waiting on my copy. I got to pick it up Thursday. Thursday night I got a a disc copy on my PS5. And I mean, they sold me with a locker and all this different stuff that comes with it. So I'm like, you know what, if it ever goes away again, can I sell it and make some money? So yeah, let me just do this. But my son has the Xbox, so he he wanted it. So we got it on his Xbox for him. And I didn't, I didn't play a lot yesterday. I just, you know, opened the game. I think it was we were playing Virginia Tech versus North Carolina State. And it is different.

1:08:25 It is very different than you know, like when you put it, you better be prepared to know what you're doing because you always going to throw picks. You, you know, you're not just going to get out there and run for it. I mean, if you got it on on on your got your settings right. And I guess if you put it on, you know, freshman Ricky, whatever, you, you do what you want. But if you're playing on all American, like you got to get your mind right because they coming for you. So the one thing I noticed with playing with Virginia Tech is I mean, got a lot of we talk about it all the time because we're Virginia Tech fans, but like to see it on the game. It's a fun team to play with. Like there's people who are not Virginia Tech fans that'll look at that team and go, oh, OK, they got a you know, nice stadium and you know, stadium noise is good on 3rd downs and you know, home field is great and you know, uniforms look good, good traditions there and you and you really do have some playmakers on the team.

1:09:18 So on the offense and defensive side of the ball. So it was good to see and, you know, just being in the game was was awesome. And it brings you back to football. I mean, you took everything away from us. I mean, we didn't have college football for a while. I mean, you took away what what's what's that show that comes on that they stopped making a last chance you, you know, usually we'd be watching last chance you around this time that's gone. So bringing college football back was a great way to get people to stay in the house and not go out and kill each other. Yeah, I mean, July used to be all about preview magazines and NT AA and we and we got them back. And now you got now you got Mattei grinding and killing 13.

1:10:02 Year. Olds, Yeah, killing 10 year olds online. 7 picks a game. Yay, they're killing me. We got KIRO with gas, man. He came for your neck. You know who that is though, man? I've seen Kevin poster. I had a post on I think it was on Twitter that that I seen Kevin post and his his sons, like I got a couple of friends that are doing it. You know, I got one, one of my guys that's here, I sold cars with his sons at USC. He he went to Georgia State and didn't transfer it over to to USC Southern Cal. So you know, somebody like Kevin that's playing the game. Your son is in this game. 2 two kids, 2 two sons.

1:10:44 You know what I'm saying? You can't call them kids like grown men. Like he's playing with his he's it's his kids playing with his sons on the game. Like that's awesome to see, man. Another one of my buddies, he his sons at Kennesaw State. He's a cornerback. I've seen him posting some stuff. And then my cousin, he's a he's a high school coach and he just had screenshots of all of his kids that he's got kids at, you know, high level programs. He got kids at Ole Miss, Clemson. Well, Tennessee, he's got kids all over right now. So I see him posting like clips of them playing with each other and them playing with themselves. And that's just awesome, man. To be able to get back to that and just distract you from all the bullshit that happens in the world that you know that people are tired of. Like it's just it, it, it's awesome to see, man. Like I'm I'm so glad it's back and I'm ready for the real thing to start.

1:11:35 Damn right. And real quick, just so y'all know, Brian's low keying it because Brian doesn't work on Friday. So I got a feeling. That Brian's going to pull. Yeah, I'm, I'm putting in, I'm putting in a lot of hours on Friday. I've been. I've been like you. Know I got to get up. Together, giving a few hours here, a few hours there. Friday's going to be at least that whole morning is going to be a marathon probably before we can get some other stuff in the afternoon. But man, it's, it's, it feels so good to have it back. Man, It's it's just. Well, let me ask you all this because it came out a few days, I guess a couple weeks ago and they were doing the toughest places to play Texas 17 and y'all are now playing the game where they're saying like they got A&M at 1 Oogas 5 swamps 10. Is it?

1:12:22 I mean, Mattea, I think you mentioned it about having like the the atmosphere of Tech like this is real. Does that come across in the game? Like if you were playing LSU in Death Valley, like the controls are different. Like you try to hike the ball like I'm pressing X hike the damn ball. Is is that something that's showing through in the gameplay about the toughest places? So I haven't, I haven't played like the top top teams yet, so I'm sure I'll discover that soon. I, I did see I'll probably throw 9 picks, but I did see that list. I yeah, I mean, there's a lot of places on there. I think, you know, tech definitely feels good. I mean, I was playing Aztec, but it feels great in there on 3rd downs on defense. And it, it definitely feels that way. Like it, I'm excited to go to like the shoe and see what that's all about.

1:13:14 But again, like I was kind of saying earlier, there's like so much to explore. Like I don't think I'll get sick of this game, which is a good thing. So definitely excited for those prime time matchups. What about y'all Brian Tally? Just playing like the fields of some of those bigger stadiums that are the higher ranked. Yeah, I mean, just a personal commentary. I feel like 17 is a little too low, but you know, I, I think top 12, top ten maybe, but you know, 17, I'm not going to hate it. You can definitely feel the difference when you're playing in a loud stadium. OK. I've played probably I guess a dozen games at this point, couple big Rd. games.

1:14:01 Vanderbilt felt like you really weren't impacted unless there was like a tight moment or something like that. It wasn't going to get loud at all. When it did get loud, it really it didn't really show much of A distraction where as you flip over, you know, you play somewhere else, you play like a trying to remember the one that oh, I played West Virginia, it got it got pretty loud there. You could tell the difference, you know, comparing that atmosphere against the atmosphere like down at Vanderbilt. It was a significant difference as far as the that day-to-day impact. You know, I'm looking forward to checking out some of the other stadiums. I've pretty much only played other than like that one off game against West Virginia.

1:14:50 I've only played one other. I've only played the games on our 2024 schedule at this point. So you know, you kind of know what that looks like. And there's not a ton of marquee matchups, especially ones away from Lane Stadium this year, so. About you Tyler. Did you and your son mess around and play at some crazy stadiums? No, man, I'm sure he was grinding on it all night. Like I said, I only play for about 1/2 and it was just, you know, I just wanted to kind of see what the Hokies had and what they were doing. And one thing I took from so I haven't been able to get into the the stadiums and things like that besides playing at, you know, playing at lane. And it was it was getting lying on 3rd down and I was I was Virginia Tech, so it was helpful to me. But I'll tell you what, I wasn't doing very good running the ball, but #33 was not going down with one hit. I promise you that.

1:15:43 Like he was getting me. He was getting me three or four yards when I was running into people, so tuting is pretty tough on them. So it was it was I was like, Dang, it's like him for real. So it's pretty awesome all. Right, so now we got y'all having the experience and saying in the game, if you go to one of the loudest stadiums, it's tough. Y'all saw the list. First of all, one stadium matte. You've been to some of them. We've all been to some of them. We what's like the other? Like that place isn't that loud. That place isn't intimidating. That place isn't tough. And. If you need to pass, you can pass 'cause I I got mine already. I don't know if I need a pass, maybe it was just because of the outcome of the game, but maybe Florida State. It was very loud in the beginning and it was a phenomenal time as the game went on, very much quieted out. That's because they scored three points. One thing I was shocked though, that I didn't see on the list, unless I'm completely missing it, is Washington. Like, where's Washington?

1:16:50 Are they on there? I don't think. So they are not in the top 25 though. So that's your too low. Like, yeah, why don't we get getting get insane? Like, I think that is one of the most underrated places. Like, I've never been there, but sometimes when I'm missing football enough, I will go on those videos to like see the fan bases screaming and shouting. And Washington is always up there. So I was kind of surprised not to see him. Honestly, honestly, both of the big Pacific Northwest teams are too low because Washington's not on here and Oregon's at 11. Yeah. Who's too high then?

1:17:33 I, I mean, I, I think, I think you go right, right back to FSU. I don't think it really gets loud at Bama. They just have a pretty high capacity, but they got. Oh, no, it's loud. You got a whole bunch of drunk. You got a whole bunch of drunk rednecks. They loud. There's a whole bunch of them. But I don't know. I don't. I mean, I've never paid attention enough to like the reason I say that. Like Alabama, like being at Tuscaloosa compared to being at Auburn is significantly louder. Alabama's loud or not. Yeah, Auburn's smaller. But like South Carolina, I don't know, like, is South Carolina loud? Like they're on the list and I don't like I don't hear people talking about and you know the game that. But again, I don't pay a lot of attention to them, but I just seen them on there.

1:18:20 I was like, is South Carolina loud? For for a stadium that's older, they have a good stadium, but I don't know necessarily know if they're like super loud, like like that, especially compared to the other SEC teams that are kind of on this list, like they're right there. You know, with Auburn in this list. I mean, Tennessee could be a little bit higher. Tennessee could be high. I agree. With Oregon's a lot higher, they got a lot of people at Tennessee man let. Me, tell you who's too high? There's two that's too high. One is Oklahoma. I have never heard anybody being scared to go play in Norman at Memorial. And this other one is the Horseshoe, because if y'all go back to 2014, watching it on my television set, we were the loudest people in the stadium that night. You heard more hokey fans cheering than Ohio State fans that night.

1:19:11 So I like what you said the other week, Tyler, when me and you chatted. It's tough to play because they got the best players. That's why it's tough to play at those places, right? MY2 low. First of all, I don't give a damn. A&M does not need to be #1 LSU is number one. LSU is. I agree. LSU should be #1. I want to tell you something else too, man, Like Mississippi State, like they haven't had the best program, but as far as being on this list with some of these other SEC schools, like you do not want to be anywhere near them cowbells when it's going on. And I promise you maybe the ears will be ringing. It is miserable. Like it's miserable to be there if you opposing team, you know what I'm saying?

1:19:53 Like they it's loud there. Like, and again, just looking at the list like I was like, is Michigan State loud? You know what I mean? Like I don't watch enough games there to know, but I I don't hit like I know Michigan. I've heard enough games and seen enough games. What what Michigan is doing like videos and things like that, but Michigan State I don't know. So it. Doesn't it doesn't seem like that the other one, Brian and and this is my other two low Oregon should be higher Oregon. Washington is it is an atrocity. They're not on here in a team like like Boise's on here like Boise's not loud. It's a Bluefield like, let's let's be real here. Boise is another one that like it's loud for AG5 program historically AG5 program right so.

1:20:40 It's loud for would you rather go to Boise and the Bluefield or would you rather go to the Sound and go to Washington? And play a game. Yeah, No. I'm gonna go to Boise. Exactly. Exactly. Oh. Man I could literally talk about this for hours but. If I mean Arkansas may be a little high I I don't have enough frame of reference but like I've never heard. Damn, I really don't want to go play Arkansas this week. Like that's not some shit that you hear. Like they they. They're loud. Yeah, but they're not in I, I wouldn't say they're any louder than your average SEC school. So they kind. Of like, yeah, because the thing that all throws me off is like people say, you know, they just not, they just don't win enough to be like, like, we've been winning.

1:21:22 But we always have been loud. Always. Like, yeah. That stadium's always rocking, you know what I'm saying? At least for a little while. Maybe it's a halftime, at least you know what I'm saying. But some of these places, I just don't see or don't watch them enough or see enough. Like of them being loud like there's no videos of them to subject to support what that what the list was I guess. Yeah, I mean, there nobody, like I said, nobody talks about Arkansas being a tough place to go. Like, they just don't, you know, they, they might be tough if they're having a good year, but like nobody says, you know, upset city. I do not want to go to Fayetteville. Just because it's at, you know, it's at Fayetteville, yeah. They just, they say I don't want to go to Fayetteville.

1:22:03 They ain't even. It ain't fucking there all. Righty well, hopefully when this thing gets done redone next year, we are back in the rightful spot in the top ten, because that's Brian. My opinion would tally what you said. You ever seen a three and 17 just get sell out after sell out and it's loud and you can't hear yourself think that's what happened? Hey, Peyton was talking about it when he was talking about the hoagies. Like, yeah, they were. They were selling out when they didn't have anything to sell. Exactly. Exactly all right, last piece and and I love it that that that it fell like this because of the building or the name of this episode. It's called building a legacy, and if y'all didn't see it, go back and look back at the end of the last month.

1:22:49 Bill Conley basically wrote an article of the top most 30 influential college football teams of all time. And I mean, you start looking through this list, you're talking about like 93 Florida. Like the years on the Spurrier when fun and guns started the Swamp became prevalent. You're talking about 19 LSU. You're talking about 86 Miami. You're talking about some of the teams like BYU and some of the Bama teams. And lo and behold, at #20 is 1999, we did not win a national championship. We played. And when I saw that in where we sit right now and where we where we were, what we've went through and you see that pop up and especially this whole thing, the recruiting momentum that Matei talked about all tonight, college football, ESP or EACFB coming back in.

1:23:43 Damn, Texas 17, we're one of the toughest places to play. It's, I don't know, it just, it just keeps me. I don't know, I feel like I'm going to do something dumb in a month here y'all? Don't, don't drink 1/5 of Evan Williams. Will not do that. I will not do that but. Nobody else did that. Somebody else did it, but. But they did that. Who the hell did that? But nobody with their brain would do that. But we'll tell you, when you saw that list come out and you saw that and everything else going on, what was the first thing to come through your mind? I mean, it's it's great. I mean, I know it's maybe a little crazy to put in the context.

1:24:24 Yeah, they played in a national championship game but didn't win. But when you think of like what the entire fan base has been dreaming about and like how that's kind of transcended what Virginia Tech is to the college landscape, like we have our jerseys based off that year, you know, like that is our influence are, you know, we're constantly talking about what Michael Vick did. And I think it's, I think it's true, like in a lot of ways, like Virginia Tech, when they are at their best, they are a part of the pinnacle of college football. Like they are what makes the game, the game so special. And so it is extremely influential. I think 20 is great. Correct me if I'm wrong.

1:25:07 That's a top 30 list. The top 30 list a lot of great teams not included. On there it's, you know, it's tough to pick all those schools, but I think certainly a good shout for what has transcended an entire fan base. Yeah, definitely, definitely. Yeah, it's, I'll go ahead. Brian, I mean to cut you off. No, you're good. You're good. I was just going to say, when you look at that team and what that meant for the program and how that program was already on that upward trajectory and that just kind of pushed it over. You're talking about the enrollment bumps, you're talking about the recruiting bumps that happened, happened on the heel of that. And, but they, you touched on it.

1:25:47 And Sheldon and I actually were on a podcast earlier this week, you know, talking about, you know, teams that have a puncher's chance to, to, to make some noise this year. And, you know, one of the things that they were talking about and that I hear all the time, and it's such a compliment, is that college football is more fun when Virginia Tech is good, even for fans of other teams. And I think that means a lot as a Hokies fan because obviously we're, we're in the shit. Like we, we, we live it, we breathe it. We're here all the time. It's nice knowing that others see the value in the things that we appreciate, the things that we have always loved about this program.

1:26:27 So seeing that, getting celebrated a little bit and bringing some of that national relevance back has been good and it started with that team and that's why that team is influential. Yeah, definitely. It's like whenever you're making a list, like a most influential list, like when you, I think a lot of basketball fans, whenever you talk about it, like you always go to a who you buy, It's like, oh, I'm a Kobe fan, I'm a LeBron fan, I'm a Jordan fan. We're just talking about who's the most influential, right? So if you remove this team or you remove that player out of the history of the game, does the history of the game change? Absolutely. So that's what you look at with that team. If you remove that team out of the history of college football, does college football change?

1:27:16 It does, because you had a play on that. I mean, you had a lot of great players on that team, but you had a play on that. It really transcended what quarterback position is, you know what I'm saying? Like he did three star starting ranking system, go to Virginia Tech hometown school, draft it first, and then he went on to be who he is, Michael Vick. You know what I'm saying? And then now you see all the like the quarterbacks after him. Not saying there was never, you know, a mobile quarterback before him. So oh, heads don't come after me, but I'm just saying the way that he played the game, a lot of people hadn't seen it that way. And even before that, you talk about like what Bema was doing.

1:27:58 Again, I hate to keep on bringing Kevin in it, but we've talked to Kevin plenty of times. And when he takes his son on a recruiting visit and he looks at the the quarterback wall, I mean, it does make a difference. When you see when you are a African American quarterback and you look up on the wall at Virginia Tech and you see four African American quarterbacks that have been there, that's they're greats. It's not a lot of schools that have that pedigree. Frank was great at doing that. He was going to put the best on the field and that's what that team was made of. Whoever the best is, it don't matter where you come from. It don't matter what your ranking is. We're putting you on the field and we're going to go compete with the best. That's what that team was. That's what Virginia Tech has started to get back to.

1:28:40 Brent Pry has done a great job to come in and say, you know, we got to get back to those roots. And he's like the perfect husband, you know what I'm saying? Like you keep waiting on him to mess up. You're like, I know this motherfucker lying somewhere. You know what I'm saying? Like everything that he says is like, right, you know, but he, he is who he is. Like everything that he said when he came in, like you got to go back and go like he stuck to it. He stuck to his roots. He stuck to, you know, the, the recruiting footprint. He stuck to what he says about the uniforms. Like again, I know I'm getting off the but talking about that team and then leading it into into what we see now, it's nostalgia, you know what I'm saying? And like again, me being here in Alabama, everybody says the same thing like we'll be in the office and everybody college football's coming up, man.

1:29:27 We can't wait to be who's your team or Virginia Tech? I ain't I ain't worried about that. Like I'm I'm happy about that. I don't care. We want y'all to be good, you know, because most people here are SEC fans. They don't care if we good, we ain't bothering them, you know what I mean? So they want to see us good. And it it like you turn on the TV on a Thursday night and you see Virginia Tech, you know you're going to see a good game, so. Yep, I'm going to. I'm going to end it right at that because you, you put a great. Cap on the up. Yep, fired up for the season we are getting in that six weeks away. But Tesis, we appreciate you joining us tonight. And that is going to wrap up this episode of the Boundary Corner Podcast brought to you by Main Street Pharmacy in Blacksburg. I'm Curtis Wilson.

1:30:10 I'm Brian Siegler. Jonathan Tally. Matasys visit our website boundarycornerbt.com to listen to all of our episodes newly in our merchandise shop as well. While you're there, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, subscribe on YouTube, all of your favorite podcast sources put in Boundary corner. You will find us. I'm going to put this up here because Andretti one of our listeners looking for game tags. So if you're in the chat, put it out there BC bond might have to create ABCP homepage or something for NCAA GOT. To get the got to get, got to get all the game tags right, Yeah, yeah. We got to get our dynasty together.

1:30:51 We'll play some some online dynasty here. All right. All right, as always, we let our buddy Jason Long play us in. Play us out. Check him out Jason Long music.com. Link to all his music on Apple, Spotify, his YouTube and Facebook pages. And this Friday night, July 19th, he will be down at Blind House Beer Company, 534 Salem Ave. SW in Roanoke, going to be playing a set, drinking some beer. Go out and say hello to our buddy Jason. We thank you all for listening wherever you may be listening tonight. And as always, let's go.

1:31:36 The.