Going Camping 2023

0:45 And welcome back to the Boundary Corner Podcast with my partners, Brian Siegel at Jonathan Talley and Shelton Moss. I'm Curtis Wilson in this episode is brought to you by Jeremy Counts at the Main Street Pharmacy in Blacksburg. If you love this podcast, the Hokies the town of Blacksburg. Make sure you're supporting Main Street Pharmacy when you go to town. Whether you need prescriptions of tube, of toothpaste or just want to stop and say hello, let Jeremy and his team take care of you. The money you spend at Main Street Pharmacy goes towards the things you support. So next time you're in Blacksburg, head on down to Three O 1 S Main St. Fellas, we got a packed one tonight. I'm excited to bring this man on tonight.

1:25 He is the owner and creator of Pick Six Previews the. Most accurate preview magazine out there He is Brett Ciancia. Brett, how are you doing tonight? Hey guys, I'm doing great. Thanks for having me on. It's it's an honor to be back on with you guys. Probably our fourth straight season, but this is a special season here, the end of an era 2023. When you look across the conference landscape and the playoff bracket changing, it's it's a little bit of nostalgia this time around. So excited to break it down with you guys. And and yeah, so to get into it. Yeah, we've got, we've got the PAC 12 kind of dismantling there. We've got the ACC more or less on on life support here. So it's definitely an interesting time to talk a little preview, talk a little college football and kind of see what what the Hokie season look like and kind of what the ACC schedule is kind of stacking up for the Hokies this year. So let's go ahead and jump right into it, Brett, you know. We we looked at the magazine.

2:29 We we we love what you wrote there. Very, very insightful information about the Hokies. But let's start with with some of the weapons that the Hokies added on the offense pretty much at every skill position. But your success for this team is probably going to begin and end with the quarterback. That room now has Kyron Jones drones, along with returning starter Grant Wells. Regardless of who wins this job, how much additional production must come out of that quarterback position this year for you to feel that the Hokies could become more of a middle of the pack offense versus kind of where you have them right now, which is kind of that bottom two or three?

3:09 Yeah, well, that's certainly an area of concern last year and definitely need some improvement. You look back statistically second worst in the conference in a lot of the key metrics. I look at passing wise QB rating per attempt. So and the touchdown to pick ratio, I think he was a solid 991 to one ratio. It's not going to get it done in the ACC. So yeah, that's a big area that's needed to improve and it was a limitation along with pretty much pick your spot last year on the offense. Unfortunately, it was one of the worst Virginia Tech offenses I've ever graded, and I think they ended up third worst in Power Five overall. So. That's certainly the most important position but they have a lot to clean up across the across the board. Absolutely.

3:53 And then last year you know you had Brad Glenn and Joe Rudolph, two guys who have been offensive coordinators in the past and you know you mentioned in the magazine they moved on. Glenn had the Cincinnati as an offensive coordinator, Rudolph moving up to Notre Dame. But now there's going to be more of a focus on Bowens, Moorhead RPO spread type system and of the metrics we you review. We feel that if OL offensive line run push improves that this offense is going to have a lot more success for you. As you look through your metric, which one sticks out to say if the Hokies are better, that one's going to be better? Yeah, well, I like your answer actually. I think it's got to start with the offensive line. When you look at them last year, one of the worst offensive lines statistically in the country.

4:42 You know, I have my, like you mentioned, offensive line, run, push and my past protection Sacre. They were one of only three in Power 5, the place in the bottom, you know, outside a #100. So along with Iowa and Boston College with some of the worst offensive line play in the country. So got it proved there that that's step number one. But for this big RPO offense, another one I'll throw in there will be the explosive place. I think that's that's huge in a wide open spread attack. You know Bowen, you talked about Jim Moorehead. They come from that old. Those Penn State teams with Trace Mcsorley they were blowing off. Huge, huge explosive passes they had, say Quan Barkley, you know, ripping off long yardage runs. So along with offensive line improvement, I want to see some explosiveness return cuz it was really stuck in the mud last year. Definitely, definitely pivoted to our next point. When you talk in your in your outlook, you talk about there weren't enough or I don't want to quote you if I'm wrong. You said there weren't enough overnight fixes in the offense to imagine a jurastic.

5:45 Change or drastic? Better offense? A better unit? The Hokies took 66 Portal offensive transfers. Now, with that being said, was that, you know, not enough players? Maybe not enough quality players? What kind of brought you to that outlook? Yeah. So I guess the quantity might be there with those six guys? Guys, but when you look at the ratings that they didn't rate anywhere near the top 15 of the transfer classes and I think it's a little bit of uncertainty. So these guys might turn out to be incredible. I know that Tooton had a ton of production at the NC at the what was it the NCA&T, the FCS level.

6:27 So he could be a star. We'll see. And then with with drones, I mean he was recruited the Baylor, I think it was a high three, maybe a four-star dual threat. I mean, he led a state title in Texas. That's a pretty good resume builder. So he's got a high ceiling too. It's just a little uncertain for me and I guess it's all comparative too. I think that these are all good players, but when you look at some of the other transfer additions across the conference, they are former starters, even former all conference guys at other places. So maybe it's just, I should have said, maybe more proven in other places because these guys certainly have potential. Now I would, I would say, I mean, I'm glad to hear you say that. Now you did throw us a little bit of love. We did pick up Ally Jennings from Old Dominion. And he did make your all transfer team, so we're pretty excited about that.

7:11 I was glad to see you throw us a little bit of love on that. So hoping that can translate on the field. Yeah, well, it's been such a crazy offseason. It was last year too, at the transfer portal boom. I felt that, you know, for my preview book, I wanted to add an all transfer team, a new feature. Everyone's familiar with the all ACC or all SEC teams, but I put in an all transfer team so you can start the map where all these players are going. Yeah, definitely. Yeah, Virginia Tech represented there on the offense. Yeah, so Brett, looking looking big picture now, one thing I like about your previews is that you include A5 and 10 year trend and recruiting also gain grades to kind of give a big a long term look at the health of the program. I think this is a bit of a sour spot for Virginia Tech fans because of the regression that the program has seen over the past few years. But do you think that Virginia Tech, is there a good reason to believe that this program can get back to being a consistent top 25 team, even if it kind of takes a few years to kind of get there?

8:09 Well, yeah, I think that it's definitely possible. I think that Virginia Tech has a program, definitely has a top 25 ceiling. I mean they could definitely be in there. I don't know if you meant recruiting or overall, but it really in both because first with recruiting, the first thing I ever look at is geography. I think that's key in recruiting. It always will be. And yeah, they're based in the in that DMV area that that's southeast of the country where there's more and more high school talent popping up and they have a coach now with Brent Pry. I had a chance to interview him last spring and he said his number one concern was returning the importance of in state recruiting. It had been kind of looked away in the in the prior regime. So all that to say, I think they definitely can be consistent top 25 recruiters going forward.

8:52 And with the right staff and the right schemes, a top 25 recruiting class should translate to a top 25 caliber football team. So and you know I'm a little bit on the younger side. So growing up all I knew was the Frank Beamer era and and solid defenses, great secondaries, you know DBU and they got some consideration there. So for to me, Virginia Tech is a power program and certainly has that ceiling. It's just a matter of getting back, you know. It feels weird placing them so low in the in the conference and. I think it's a matter of time until they're back in that a CC top five competing. You know, we're right there with you, man. We feel weird too. We want to get up out of that. But yeah, so the loss of longtime starter, that's Hollyfield, I feel.

9:34 We feel like he was here for about 20 years for how long he was at Virginia Tech. But he's moved on now and we're seeing more athletic linebackers in that room. Pride and and Marv have started to get players that are more of their type of players in. Would it surprise you to see a big jump in that defense and in that room, production in that room with them getting more athletic players and longer players? No, I wouldn't be surprised at all. I mean, I'm based out of Pennsylvania, so I was a little familiar with what he did at Penn State. It was some of the best defenses year in and year out. And and really one of the key points of it was how aggressive they were Attacking and aggressive I'd call it. And it's funny when you look at my stat chart there for defense. One of the only bright spots last year it's hot 40 national was the negative play rate which is directly tied to that aggressive nature that blitz happy making plays behind the line of scrimmage causing havoc.

10:32 So I think that's all part of prize DNA. And now with a second year coach bonus, yeah, that wouldn't surprise me. So I'm not exactly sure on which personnel is going to step up, what, what starter and our new, you know, new emerging player it'll be. I know it will be someone and there's enough firepower there to to find a starting 11 and I'll find a starting linebacker trio. So I think you're in good shape defensively. Yeah, yeah, Definitely excited to see what what Lawson can do as a fulltime starter. Maybe see Keller step into that mic position with Dax out there. So it's going to be an exciting year to look at that. Let's move up a level here and talk about the defensive line. You talked a lot in the in the book about the the the D line, departures at the defensive imposition and the lack of rush production last year. Tech ranked actually 94th nationally and Sacrate in 2022, but one of the bigger offseason Portal editions was Antoine Powell, Rowland Junior coming over from Florida. We know veterans like Cole Nelson, CJ McCray, they're going to play a role there.

11:35 It looks like Powell Rollins kind of the guy to to take up a lot of the steps that that Taiwan Garbet had last year. Do you think he can have a similar impact for the Hokies in a fulltime role, considering that he showed a big flash in a more specialized role at Florida? Yeah, absolutely. And you got to remember who he was competing against on the roster of Florida. It's, it's blue chippers everywhere, top 100, top 50 guys everywhere. So despite not being a full time starter there, I think he's still got valuable experience, no knock on him. So yeah, that's potential. I like what they have at defensive tackle with some familiar names coming back. So yeah, there's there's definitely places to build around and and I agree with you on that. That's awesome to hear.

12:20 Now I'm gonna, I'm gonna have a little little come Jesus moment. So you mentioned a big win would be bowl eligibility this year. We'd like it obviously. But I think as we look back at 2022 with one of the worst offenses not on just G5 or P5 in the whole country in the solid but not a great defense. The Hokies blundered 3 games they blundered ODU. They blundered NC State, they blundered Georgia Tech, and they didn't get to play UVA, who they probably would have been a significant favorite over. So my question, you know, due to the tragedy that happened to UVA, But here's what I say.

13:00 Based on this schedule, is this more of a big win, or is this more of an expected progression where the close games flipped the other way this year well? I'll stick to what I was saying just because coming off of last year, I mean it was a pretty brutal season win loss record wise. I think that, yeah, the Old Dominion game, you really fumbled that one away. Literally. I saw that snap fly over the holders head. That's a 10 point swing man. That's a 10 point swing. And you know you mentioned the other two close ones, but there were a lot of black eyes too. I mean getting beat down by West Virginia, blown out several weeks really. The offensive limitations was really. Weighed down their grades last year. So I think to to get the five in this case six wins for bowl eligibility. That shows that you fix the offense. That shows that the defense made a progression from average to above average.

13:50 So I think all those things are wins and you also have to factor in you're playing a couple power fives in the non conference this year with Purdue and Rutgers towards the bottom of the power five, yes, but still, I mean those are power 5 opponents. Marshall had a great defense last year. So yeah, I think the getting the a bowl season in year 2 is a win. I think you got to start to stack those start to get momentum because you know it's it's rare to go from three wins to ten wins. You got to get that intermediate year, that building block year. This is a good spot to try and get the six or seven plus wins. Definitely, definitely. When you talk about those wins and trying to get there, one named a week as hokey fans don't want to see is FSU, which is one of our one of our opponents this year. You actually had FSU favored to win the ACC and head to the College Football Playoffs this year. So they're returning a lot of production on both sides of the ball, trending positive and a lot of matrix. That said, is there one particular matrix that gives you like a little bit of pause that, you know, they may can't close it out or they may kind of fumble that away? Well, I feel pretty strong with the Florida State pick. You know, I think it's a little bit of a surprise to see them in the playoff bracket.

15:04 I, you know, I got a lot of attention for that. It wasn't by design. I just truly believe it. It start with last year, 2022. That was really their breakthrough year. Statistically, you look at all my numbers and metrics, they were top ten, top 20 and everything. Offense, defense, pick your number. That was good in itself. But then they bring back the number one most returning production in America, the entire roster coming back. Some key NFL decisions that decided to come back to Florida State on their defensive line. Jordan Travis still threat quarterback. And then the last piece is that not only that those two factors, but they really excel again in the transfer portal. Another top five transfer class and Norvell, he doesn't just sign them, he really develops the transfers into all conference guys.

15:48 So while Clemson ignored the portal. Florida State's embraced it and really bolstered the roster up. So yeah, I feel pretty good about this Florida State team. Definitely to hit their nine and a half win total. That's that's why one of the best bets of the year winning the conference will still be tough against Clemson. But yeah, I think it's a pretty strong team and if they survive the ACC 12 and one, that means a playoff bid. So in keeping with the ACC opponents at tackle face this year you've got the Pitt Panthers, who have been a thorn in the side of Virginia Tech for the past few years. They're interesting team to watch, I think. Obviously they're very good developmental program under Narduzzi, his bread and Butters defense, but they do lose a few key defensive players this season as well as a running back, a band of Canada. Do you think that their success will depend on on Phil Jerkovich's health and do you see? Their defense being able to kind of maintain where they've been the past few years coming into our 2023. Yeah, yeah.

16:46 Well, with the defense, it's funny. I was talking to Coach Darduzi and. He was very adamant that he, he invented his scheme and everyone else is copying him, you know, so you know he's the originator and everyone else that just drives a a worse version of his car and he's likes to say, but yeah, I think and you know what, there's some truth to that. I mean look at how they reload every year. They they place in the top five in sacks every year, one of the most disruptive in the backfield every year. So all jokes aside, he does have quite a track record defensively now. It is more transition than usual. More stars are gone, but when you have a coach that's successful on one side of the ball, I I tend to side with them. So I think that they're going to be fine defensively. I like the the transfer edition of Dracovic. He was really strong in 2020 and 2021 before his injury and then last year had one of the worst offensive lines in the country in front of him and got knocked out of the year again. So I think not only is he with a better offensive line here at Pitt, he's back with.

17:46 Frank Signetti, who was the coordinator up at BC when he had his best season. So all that to say, I have them fourth in the ACC. Outside the top 25, though, there's still a lot of questions there. Definitely a winnable game from Virginia Tech, but I do have them all the way up there at number four. I like hearing that. I like hearing that we might. You have confidence eventually us taking care of Pitt this year. All right, I'm going to flip to another ACC school. Let's talk about Louisville. It seems like they are getting a huge bump from the hire of Jeff Brom by everybody, everybody in the country. And that said, there is a lot of question marks for this team. For Louisville though, despite the optimism with him coming back in the success he had at Purdue, you got them six.

18:29 We feel they probably could be as high as five due to their easy schedule or if things just don't click, maybe as low as 11. What metric really gave you pause to say they can finish in the upper half of the ACC? Well, you touched on its schedule, was a key driver here for Louisville. But schedule aside, I think coach Brahms, A proven offensive guy. He's got a fun offense, It's a widespread passing offense, and he brought in two former quarterbacks. So these guys are really familiar with him. One's a former starter with Jack Plummer and then Indiana quarterback, quarterback of the year or whatever at the high school level, Brady Allen. So he's got his quarterbacks coming in.

19:11 Top 15 transfer Hall too, and then also some good talent on offense to build around. So now here's the the testament spin is that, yeah, it's a coaching transition season. There's a big talent drain on defense that they have to deal with. But yeah, I think the middle of the pack of the ACC, there's a lot of thin margin there. You could argue A-Team like you said from 5th all the way to 10th. It's a tight pack. But their schedule was the difference here. They have definitely the easiest in the ACC. They avoid the top three and I'm calling that Florida State, Clemson and UNC. So they avoid all three of them and they play all seven of my bottom 7. So schedule wise, huge bonus. And you know, it's a whole new world now without the Atlantic and Coastal Divisions.

19:53 The schedules are all scattered around, so you gotta find these gems like this where they could even be an average team and go eat and four. Yeah, I mean, that's definitely what we were looking at too. Like we saw the schedule like okay that that makes sense why they're getting a big bump here, especially with Brahm coming in. So definitely could see, like I said, like I said, we look at it, we could see them five, we could see them five. We could also see them 11, just depending on how how the defense stacks up, whether they can stay healthy. But that schedule is definitely going to give them an easy path to 8, like you said. Let's pivot over to UVA though. You know, looking at that, that team defense was the kind of the lone bright spot for that unit in 2022. Yeah, up front they got 4 starters back, but they lost both starting corners and an all ACC linebacker. Are you expecting a regression year for the defense? And if that's the case, maybe even an uglier overall year two than their than their first year with Tony Elliott at the helm. Yeah, well last year they were all defense. So when you look at their that profile when you watch them, they couldn't get anything done offensively. But it was a solid top 20 defense. And the problem here with 2023 is it's twofold #1, I don't see a fix on offense.

21:08 I think that's going to struggle again. But #2, I don't think that the defense has proven like it was last year. You lost their top three defenders and worse, it wasn't 50 year guys that have exhausted their eligibility and heading to the pros. It was they transferred all the teams. It's. It's hard to see that happen. So you had three time all ACC. Nick Jackson, quarterback of the defense there at backer he's gone to Iowa he's going to be the starter over there and then and then central Cyprus #1 cornerback transfer in the entire country heads over to Florida State. So their best guys got coached and I just don't see any any huge fixes. So I have them slated for dead last in the ACC and what is that 66 out of 69? That's 4th the worst in the Power Five. So.

21:52 Looks for it like it looks like a tough year for UVA. Yeah, and it does seem that way even, you know, as we follow it, even on the recruiting trail, there's not been many wins for UVA this year. All right, we got one more for you. I'll let you out of here. And that is one of the out of conference opponents you mentioned. And the reason we're mentioning it is because all four of us will be heading to Blacksburg for that game and it's Purdue. And let's talk about them. Ryan Walters, great job as the Illinois defensive coordinator last year. This is his first full time head coaching gig. And he walks into what is a slightly below average defense in the portal week. Absolute havoc on their line for transfers out. The rush defense was a little bit above last year, little bit above average and graded holding explosive plays down.

22:36 With all these losses, are you expecting that to be the metric that just takes the hit in 2023? Yeah, I think that they're in for a transition season and not in the good way for Purdue. You know, if you if you put it, you know, if you did a blind resume on Purdue, you would never have predicted that, be a conference champion or division champion. They won the West last year. I don't know how it does. It doesn't stack up. What is that? They were graded 44th and Power 5 despite winning the West. So I have them all the way down in 6th place out of seven in the Big 10 W. Now I do think the Ryan Walters, he's a great defensive mine. I had a chance to talk with him too and he's coming in really confident into the Big 10. He was saying how he knows the Big 10.

23:17 It doesn't matter that he's a new time head coach now. It doesn't matter for your matchup. You're not a conference opponent, never played him. So yeah, I think it's gonna be a tough transition season for Purdue and definitely winnable game there that you guys will get the witness and lean stadium. Yeah, we're looking forward to that. But that's gonna be a big game. I feel like, you know first kind of big power 5 out of conference that we've had in a little bit at home. It's going to be interesting because you know this schedule for the Hokies this year isn't isn't a lot of marquee matchup. So that Purdue game is kind of circled for a lot of us, so should be should be a lot of fun. But let's talk about the offensive guy that they brought in. We got Graham Harrell there brought in to to run his Air raid offense and they went out and got quarterback Hudson Card from Texas. Is there an offensive metric that you're expecting to improve the most within that system compared to what they had last year under Brom?

24:14 Yeah so it is a little bit similar of an offense. It's both can be passed heavy and you know Graham how running his his version of the Air Raid. Slightly different than coach Brahms but in the same family of offense. So probably a similar step profile. I think the one that might improve might be quarterback rating. I think that maybe per on a per play basis, maybe they'll get more efficient, but. Hudson Card, Yeah, he was a former top 50 recruit. Started some games at Texas, had to go against 25 stars down there. So it's not exactly the usual backup quarterback. I think it's a solid starter, probably in the upper half of Big 10 quarterbacks. So yeah, you're going to get a solid team, but again, it's only going to be in his second start. It's his first Rd. start in the at Purdue. So I think it's again a winnable game for you guys. Absolutely.

25:02 And you know, he did have some starting time down at Texas, but again, holding new system, holding new place, whole new environment. Brett, we know you were a busy man. You jumped from the Spurs Up podcast straight over to the Boundary Corner podcast. We really appreciate you taking your time. We know you're now headed over to the Big Red Podcast with Nebraska, so you continue to make your rounds around college football, keep doing what we do, what you do because we love the magazine. It's a great read every year to not only familiarize ourselves the way you feel the ACC's going and our Hokies, but also the rest of the country. Yeah, well thanks a ton for the praise. Thanks for having me on and huge respect for the Hokie fans out there. One of the most passionate in the in the country, definitely in the ACC.

25:42 I've seen it first hand. I was down 2009 in Lane Stadium for the Nebraska Virginia Tech game. A random match up there sure brings back some memories for you guys. Danny Cole running down the sideline. But yeah, but no. But yeah, I want to get back down to Lane Stadium eventually and you know get to see that that experience again. One of the best in the country, so. Big respect to the fan base and to you guys for putting on a great product here covering the Hokies and best of luck this season. Appreciate it. Appreciate it, Brett. Thanks, man. All righty Fellows. Before we get into more topics tonight we are gonna take a quick pause for a message from our digital partners. So as we take a quick break, we'd like to tell you about getting your free website report from our digital partner, Grassroots Digital Marketing Studio. They'll tell you how your website ranks on Google onsite, SEO and social media.

26:34 No commitment to buy anything. You can get your free report by visiting grassrootsdigitalstudio.com/freewebsite Dash Report. Now back to the episode. Alrighty and we are back. Before we jump into the other topics tonight, y'all we rolled through that. We rolled through that. I don't know. We got every question in in 30 minutes and less. So we did it. We did it. We did that quick. But let's think about some of the stuff he said. The Hokies, the opponents, anything, anything that caught y'all, any of y'all start, anything that caught y'all right off. And if you're out there listening and you got something he said that you don't agree with or you agree with, completely put it in the comments.

27:18 We'll talk about that too. Who wants to fire first? All right, does did Narduzzi invent the attacking 4/3? He said he did. Comment, he said he did. There's a lot of that's what he is. He keeps already loading on that defense. He he's a hell of a developmental coach. I'll give him that. I'm inventing the the attacking 4 three, though I will not pass that on to him. No, I just want to beat him. That's what I want. I just want to win him, man. He can, we put y'all, can admit y'all, can admit everybody on that schedule. Beating him is fun because that man gets so pissed off.

27:58 I remember in lane last time me and Brian were at 2019, we were on, we were we were in stands across from it and you can just see him like upset the whole game because they couldn't move the ball in the rain. We scored early. He knew he had no chance and he just was cursing the rest the whole time. Like he is the funnest guy to watch. Because as an opposing fan, it's like when you beat them. It's it. It's like no one's fault but the referees. I remember he, he was bragging head again. He's like you know we played the white out at Penn State and we didn't jump off sides. We're not going to jump off sides in the in lane and what first series I think it was 3 total the whole the whole the whole game.

28:41 So yeah, I mean. It was so fun. It was so fun. You were in school there, man. I remember that game. Yeah, I was working. I was working that one. That was so much fun. So what caught your outfield? I mean, you've read, you know, we know you're our data guy. So looking through the magazine, anything you agree don't agree with, kind of see where he's leaning to when it comes to Hokey's opponents. I don't know if there's anything I disagreed with too much. I actually, I will say one point of agreement. I don't know how Purdue won their division this year. They were eight and six. The metrics didn't like them that much. I know Tech fans kind of look at Purdue and say like oh you know that's a, you know reigning division champion. Like gotta watch out.

29:24 I mean you know they've they're, they were okay last year. They're getting new head coach. I think that's pretty vulnerable game because I know that some tech fans are kind of worried about that one. So I would agree with him that you know produce A-Team. That's a little bit. It was a little bit of a flash in the fan last year. Yeah, it was in in the but. But the Big 10 W was dreadful last year. I mean Iowa like we talk about our offense. The Iowa offense last year was Oh my God, like we might If we would have had the Iowa offense, we might not have won a game last year. Well, at least we had some explosive plays like we had. We had some explosive plays here there that. Nothing kind of boomed us a little bit here or there. Like, the problem with us last year is that if it wasn't an explosive play, we weren't doing shit, Yeah.

30:07 But here's the thing that Brett said it I I this is where I wish we'd have had him for 20 more minutes. He was talking about like the West Virginia blowout and a couple blowouts. Y'all we watched it. West Virginia was a game, literally until the early part of the fourth quarter. It won't like they took us behind the shed in the first half and the game was over. That was a 1610 game. Welcome to the 4th. That was our cornerbacks. We had two and and they were gassed by the mid, mid third quarter. So big disagreement there. The Pit game, which people look at as, oh, you got blown out. Y'all know about the pit game. Y'all know that the pass was over the middle.

30:47 We were going to fumble and then Abaconda. But I'm this when it comes to Pit, you look at them, it's one of these people like Shelton, you watch their development, right? But they're never like this. They're good and then they have the dips. They haven't had a significant dip since 2018. They've been 3820. They had the elite defense last year. They were in the 20s last year. Is this the year they regressed back down into the middle of the pack with the defense? Because it happens. It happens to just about everybody unless you are getting elite talent consistent. I think it's possible. I mean, like I said, obviously depending on, you know, Jerkovich's health. You know, anything can happen there. I mean they they've been, they've been, you know, I would say the second best team in ACC outside of Clemson the past, you know, 3 or so years.

31:38 Oh yeah. Narduzzi typical, I mean he usually maximizes the town that he has, not so much offensively always, but like you said, usually when you recruit at kind of like that midrange like 35 to 40 level, you're going to you know fall back to earth eventually. I think going down for last year 1130 before that it's highly possible that they're they're due for regression, maybe just kind of some stumbles. But still, there's no reason to think that they won't be, at least, you know, as at the bare minimum I think is 7 one team because that's really what they've been in the past five seasons. Yeah, I don't think they're going to fall off the bat. I think their defense might drop just enough where there'll be kind of that average middle of the pack, a CC team, kind of that 6-7 range and not in the 3-4 range that we've seen the last three years. What about you tell you got, you got to have, you got to have something to say?

32:23 You always got something to say. I just. The only thing to get that I can, I can say I disagree with when he talked about the which he he touched on it a little bit when when I asked him the offensive starter or the offensive transfers. I just feel like it's a much different offense than we had last year. And with all the games that you guys are talking about, we had a chance in a lot of those games. Whether it was the coaching just wasn't where it needed to be. Whether it was a playmaker wasn't there that when we needed them, whether it was quarterback play, it may have been one or two things. But we were in a lot of those games and I feel like we brought some people in that can push us over the hump to win a couple of those games. Because if we do win three of those games last year or four, however many you know it's, we have a much different discussion of what Year 2 looks like.

33:20 So y'all know how I feel about this year. I've been saying it. Before any depth charts drop, before I seen anybody in pads, I got a good feeling about this year. What my good feeling is, hell, I don't know. I just. I just think it's going to be better than better than what you're saying. I think we're going to make a bowl game, so. I think what you see tally is and probably and we all see it and we all look at it is year one, there was not much roster turnover. Year two, it has been a. A ton of roster turnover, including those three guys right there coming on. And again, I respect Brett because Brett looks at that.

34:01 He doesn't lean that much into the portal stuff because to his point, they produced here, can they produce here? So he doesn't. It's not like the big metric, because if you take a look at the way it's kind of shaped out, we had a good transfer class, not a great, but I think the way he shapes it is. It's almost like doing an unknown commodity, right? I don't know what Ollie Jennings is going to be like on Virginia Tech with Jalen Lane is going to look like and he and he gave us some good credit for for Jennings obviously. But I think it's more of there. Yeah there's there's a lot of potential with what drones can do being a former four-star coming in if he wins the starting job. There's a lot of potential what Toodin can do if he if what he did at NCANT translates to Blacksburg. You know same with Feld and same with Lane. So when you when you look at those pieces there is a lot of potential there that could be realized and and or it could be more middle of the pack.

35:03 So that's the question when you, when you middle of the Packers are going to, you know, level us up a little bit. When you think about everything, nothing's guaranteed. When you talk about transfers, you can have somebody that was starting at Alabama but gets in trouble and then goes to. I don't know Tennessee and could be a totally different player, you know? So when you talk about, well, you know, it's a sure thing. It's never a sure thing. It just comes down to whoever's writing the article, Do they trust the coach that has the player? So I think with our coaching staff, it's a lot of unknown. So people like Brett, people like in the college landscape, just don't know what Pride and the staff can do, you know, just on the field. We're saying the right things.

35:48 We're recruiting pretty good. Me, myself, I think they're going to be fine. I think again I'm pretty optimistic about this year. I think that again none of this matters till we hit the field. But from what I see, I think that it's we going to take a take a step forward. So I hope I'm right. I can't handle another year like last year. Also, regarding Curtis's point about the roster turnover, I was running the numbers today and found that. Virginia Tech has turned over 40% of their scholarship roster from last year. So. I mean that kind of shows you. That kind of shows you what the coaches thought about the talent level last year. And credit to credit to our friend PP on Virginia Tech Twitter for this one.

36:33 I think we had 26 portal entrance last this offseason. Only four of them went to power, Five schools. So that was. No. Like what? We're getting rid of, like we're not losing. We're not losing that much. It's one of those things and that was a big point. It was four guys who went. It was what Captain Mcnatty, UNC. Yeah. Kent State is where? Who's the 4th? Caleb Smith was in there. Caleb. But he. Didn't get up, but he retired. Yeah, so really 3 legitimate and it's a great point. Sheldon, you talk about the turnover, but it's who you moved out. And it's something we hear Brent property all the time. I need competition. I need guys who are going to compete.

37:14 And Tally, Brian, y'all, both played at a collegiate level, demand you across from in school who you're practicing. It's every day. If it's a if it's a pushover, there's no challenge for you, right? Yeah, yeah, well, you, I mean, you hear all the stories. Anybody. Even if you don't, if you never played sports, you hear about oh this person ran scout team and he was amazing and he did this and. He had a great look like it makes a difference. Just, you know, for the the practice competition that you see, you know, if you have a quarterback that can imitate, I don't know, Michael Vick, which was of course would be hard. But if you're going up against a quarterback like that and you're able to imitate it like it's a, it's a big deal.

37:57 So I just don't think that we had enough players that could have a significant, you know, piece on the team last year. But this year, I think it's going to be a little. Different Brian Brian's favorite point just got brought up by Jim West Vt Yeah, I mean I I I talk about it a lot. He, he makes the point here. He doesn't think that Tyler Bowen and Rudolph mix very well. You know you can throw Brad Glenn and that as well for being honest. I think there were way too many cooks in the kitchen last year as far as what what we needed to do, how we needed to do it. You know, we saw some, you know, heavy into what Rudolph has traditionally ran to start the season.

38:38 And then as we got further into it, it looked like there was some of Bowen's hand on it, some of Glen's hand on it. Like, you know, you hear whispers here and there about who's doing what, who's calling what. Like it's. I think it was just too many guys that had experience being an offensive coordinator in there with a guy that was doing it for the first time, even though his name, the title next to him is offensive coordinator. So I I think it's going to be some addition by subtraction in that front where you know the philosophy is going to be consistent and the philosophy is going to be filtered down from from one individual to the rest of the the the coaches on that offensive side of the ball and less people in in Bowen's ear as the year goes along. 100% We got some more hokey stuff to talk, but I do want to kind of. Flip and talk about this, Brett mentioned at the beginning sort of a nostalgia year and it's effectively it's the death of the PAC 12 with Oregon and Washington heading to the Big 10.

39:42 Colorado, which was the first domino to fall, Arizona, Utah and Arizona stall all heading to the PAC 12. And it's really funny because me and Tally, me and Tally talked a few minutes yesterday is like, OK, the Big East died, OK, Big East was around from 1991. Literally us growing up and shell near you a bit younger than us, so I know it's going to hit a little bit different. But for me, Brian and Jonathan here and Tyler here, the PAC 12 had been literally a part of our life. Like remember, eight or nine years old, they they show like UCLA and the Rose Bowl or USC and that's gone. It's gone. We're never going to see that again.

40:23 And just what are y'all's thoughts in whoever wants to lead lead? What are your thoughts about what this realignment's going through in general with this happening? I mean I think it's, it's bittersweet here a little bit. You know the PAC 12 has been around what, 100 years, over 100 years. I mean it's it's not, it's not a flash in the pay and conference or kind of a mix and match. It's something that has had some sort of core group for a very long period of time. So from that front, it's a little sad but. You know, this is something I think everyone saw coming, especially once, yes. The last round of of realignment started. You know, once you once you lose kind of an anchor piece like USC, the writing is on the wall.

41:18 But you know, I I think it's going to be all right. I'm I'm more worried now about where the Hokies can land in all of this. Then about what? Saving college football or whatever that means. Like, I just want to make sure that the Hokies stay relevant. That's really the only thing I care about. Well, I care about two things. I care about the Hokies remaining relevant and give me this damn NCAA Football game so I can go build my own team and put them where I want them to be and win some championships. So EA Sports, stop pushing it back. Let's get it right.

41:58 Hey whoever, you got to pay so I can get on the game and kick seal of that. What do you say? Well, you guys. Sheldon, I know you had some thoughts about this in general. Yeah. Look, I mean for me it's all about perspective, right? You mentioned how you know I, I'm a lot younger than you guys. So the cultural eye experience was different from the cultural you guys experience, right? Like I did not grow up with the Southwest Conference and so because of that, I don't really care about the Southwest Conference. But you know, that ended in the 90s. And now we're seeing the PAC 12 probably going to fold pretty soon. I think the nature of college sports is change, and I think sometimes people have a hard time accepting it. That's not to say that what's happening right now in college football is necessarily for the better, but it it's the change has been the nature of of college sports forever. And people have always talked about, you know, the influence of money.

42:49 It's all about the TV ratings. There's no, there's no heart in the game anymore. I mean, people have been saying this stuff for decades. You know, if you go back deep enough, even in the 1930s, believe it or not. So I just, I try to have perspective. At the end of the day, the question asked myself is, one, will there be football in 2024? Yes. And two, will I be rooting for Virginia Tech in 2024 also? Yes. So with that in mind. Yeah, like I'm just, I'm still going to go to the games, I'm still going to watch football, I'm still going to, you know, go to Pks my friends afterwards. So I just, I tried. I tried to have perspective and realize that, you know, it's not going anywhere. I personally think culture will be fine. It's going to look a lot different. I know you what's gonna happen in the next five or six years, but it's still football and we'd. Love that.

43:33 Now I got a question for you Sheldon. This is on a little bit of a different level, a little pivot here for you because we know you know a lot of people, man. You know we we definitely happy on the show. We know you know a lot of people. We know you work a lot of different places but you're pretty you you know some cool guys on on on Twitter or what are we calling it X now? You know some cool guys on there and a certain account that you know is really, really good at making memes and in in different videos and things like that. So I'm wondering, do you, have you talked to that, that account or that gentleman or lady? About some of this conference realignment and have some of those videos and stuff queued up yet? Nope.

44:16 I plead the 5th. All right, he's pleading the 5th. And that's going to go no further concerning the death of the PAC 12. But let's talk about this. It came out yesterday and today, ACC potentially adding Stanford Cal and SMU. Don't. If y'all can hear from my voice, I'm not very excited about that at all. Because they screwed the pooch. When if you actually would have attempted to go after brand names, more known names, teams that have been in the Rose Bowl in the last few years, the Nike team, one of the, you know, Washington who has a 75,000 seat stadium. You might could have renegotiated your contract to something actually viable.

45:01 And and I sit here, I think we speak a year from today because you know, I can't remember who it was exactly, but somebody out there put up that if you're going to leave a conference, the A/C G's particular the 15th of August, you have to be advising. I don't think that's coming this year, but in my opinion, I think realignment's going to happen again. I think the ACC is dead in the year and I mean dead effectively. There's a date set when multiple teams are leaving. What about y'all? I mean, let me circle back real quick on the on the Stanford Cal SMU. Oh yeah, you'll start that. We did an episode called Loose Partnership after the PAC 12 and ACC, and all of that came out after the last round of realignment and we said. This loose partnership isn't going to mean shit. They're going to there's going to be teams that jump, and that's that's the only thing that's going to matter. Then we saw USC and and UCLA jump. So the loose partnership was always dumb. We said at the time, if you're going to do something like that, you need to go ahead and merge the two conferences. And that's what probably should have happened at that time if you wanted some form of the PAC 12 and a CC to survive. In the next five years.

46:22 That being said, I don't think the ACC is dead in a year, but if they lose FSU and they lose Clemson, they are going to be on life support alright. So whatever, whatever you take of that, that that's where we are. So if that is the thing that precipitates another six teams that jump ship, then yes, the ACC will be dead. But I think they're going to unfortunately, hang on. For a little bit longer after that, and I'm hoping that we're one of the next round that gets out if FSU and Clemson jump ship in the next year. Sheldon.

47:03 Yeah, I don't know. I don't know where where for a sake could go. Cuz like I don't. I don't know if the SEC wants to expand more and they also have the ESPN contract, so they'd essentially be negotiated against themselves for the. To the payout. Maybe I'm wrong. I kind of flip-flopped on this a little bit. Part of me thinks like it's impossible to get out of the Gor because of the absurd amount of cost. But also part of me thinks that the state of Florida's going to have some judge that can just lure their way out of it and kind of give that to see if we pass, which given the state of Florida would not really surprise me. So yeah, there's going to be a lot of politics in this, but like I said, I just don't. I've. I've flipped off both ways and I just don't really have a clear opinion at this point.

47:45 Kind of the same way. I mean, I don't really have a clear opinion. I know that the ACC talking about adding Stanford and Cal is probably stupid because I mean, just think about travel time and other stuff like that. I guess that's just not a good fit. So I don't know it. Gives us. It's not worth. It's not worth the bump to also factor in what you said, the additional travel time and everything else, and probably having to kill at least. One or two nonreal sports to accommodate that. That's true. Well the only upside would be you know, excuses to stay up to like 2 in the morning on Saturdays if when tech's. Out West. I'm gonna. I'm gonna be up till two.

48:25 I had to sleep anymore. Yeah, I'm gonna let the fans. So I'll watch games late at night anyway, and I'm very disappointed while watching them, so I'm used to that. But when I think about it, you know, you think about just say, I don't know, freaking softball or baseball. Having a game on a Wednesday. In California, like what? Is it Palo Alto or something Palo Alto? How do you, how do you do that? How do you, how do you make that work? I'm not the guy that knows how to fix that, but how do you make it work? That's all football. If they don't it, no other sport matters. See what Jim's got here again Cal, Stanford, SMU to keep the association with Notre Dame with the ESPN. I can't see them pushing for an ES the the SEC ACC merger, since they merged their property.

49:14 Yeah, I don't see the first one makes sense, makes a lot of logical sense. The second one doesn't make sense to me, but but the issue is this, and we talk about Gor and Chum you brought up, they can't get out of the GR. There's one way the GRR ends. If the conference devolves, you need 8. And if it's not, if the SEC is going to expand because eventually the Big 10 numbers are going to get up to 1520 million more tally you down in SEC country. They ain't the biggest fan of being the second most paid conference. That's going to happen when when that shifts, there's going to be 4 that goes to the South. There's going to be two that go up north, and there's going to be two that goes out West.

49:58 And they're going to come in and say we call for a vote of disillusionment. They're going to dissolve the conference. There is no ACC. There is no grant of rights. I'm to Brian, you said it the other day. We're guaranteed a landing spot, but I think we all want it to be one of the better landing spots and not the Big 12. I just want to land somewhere so we can win 10 games or win a I mean put me in the Sunbelt so we can win the temperature. Put me in the. I mean, we going to a bigger, we going to a bigger playoff, right? We going to a bigger playoff. We going to a bigger playoff, but they're probably going to renegotiate. How? Being courteous to talk. To I don't want to go.

50:39 I don't want to go to the Sunbelt. I'm joking around, that makes sure. You're joking about it, but I'm I, I, I just. It's so much being thrown around right now. So many people are like, up in arms about it. It's just like I'm to hear what Shelton says is kind of how I am. It's like, am I going to watch football if it's being played? Yes. Am I going to be rooting for the Hocus? Yes. That's all I really know right now. All the other stuff. Shit. I don't know what they're going to do. I don't either. But I sit here, I like to speculate. I like to talk. I also want to come. I want us to be in a conference that's getting paid because we joke about the Sunbelt. You imagine getting $20 million a year. Hey, now go compete. Don't compete. There's 20 million you. Don't get no recruits, huh? You better have some good.

51:20 Developments, the conference you're recruiting again is getting five times that or four times that. And and I think that's where the issue lies. And I think me and Brian discussed Friday, we had a little phone call and let me tell you what the playoff they go, I think they go to 24, I think they go to 24 and then they look and say we can have three divisions or we have 4 divisions. You want a division in the Big 10 of the SEC, you get in the playoff. We'll figure out the other ones in a few in a few years. Yeah, I'm crazy like that. I wouldn't doubt it. Alright, let's flip it over. Let's actually talk some fun stuff hokey wise here boys. Let's talk about a couple commitments. Let's start with the offensive tackle out of Macon, GA Webb, Davidson, 6 foot six, 290 pound, three star rated by 247. Brian Y'all, Who had a chance to look at him? What do y'all think of him?

52:15 I have not had much to dive into this kid yet. Not a lot of tape out there that I could find, but I mean, I love the size 66291. I mean, it's hard to argue with that as a tackle coming in. That's a Power 5 build. We talked about the other day, I mean if you got a guy with that type of size, he's got some of the athletic traits, I think you could get something out of that guy. So like the pick up, I mean it's not not a flashy rating in terms of the the recruiting sites out there, but solid power 5 rating for a for a tackle and with that size I think we can work with them. Yeah, and he's been, apparently he's got something that they like, you know, they probably crook likes because. All of us who follow recruiting have heard his name for a little bit of time.

53:03 There's been a lot of other names thrown out and you know I guess they didn't move on them or they weren't moved by him. But this guy, we heard about him a little while ago and they they made sure to to keep him in the fold. So that is that is again good size. I I haven't watched like Brian said much film on him. There's not much film out there but. He's BMF. He is. And if you, if you look, if you want to know how big he is, take a look at the picture. It's on 247. He's standing next to 75. I think that's a kid out of Christiansburg. He's like legitimately 68. And he he he right there just about out of out of with him.

53:45 All right, let's talk about the one nobody saw coming. I didn't see it. Y'all, didn't see it until it literally dropped. We going back to Texas boys. We going back to Texas, Texas to Vt Texas to VP out of Fort Worth TX. Kelton Ryan 6 foot 195 pound quarterback in 86 with offers from Arkansas, Baylor, Miami. OK State pit Penn State guys got a lot of offers to be a mid three. I know the the the comments are he was playing at a very bad school and he's effectively transferred to a better school. I mean it.

54:29 If you watch a little bit, I think I said a little bit of highlights and a little bit of working out and stuff when you see an awful list like that because you can't just say, of course, like ratings do matter. People say they don't, they do. Ratings matter. But when you see an awful list like that and then you see the rating, it just doesn't match up. But then when you watch like a little bit of his tape. And what he's good at and what he does, you say okay shit, I see. I can see a coach going to watch somebody else play and see him and be like, who the hell is that? You know what I'm saying? Which is probably how it happened or he started camping late. It's why he doesn't have a bigger bump in the in the ratings. But again, he's a 2025 kid.

55:14 He's got a long time, you know, he's got a long time to, to get more offers, to get bigger, faster, stronger. To also, you know, get a bump in in in rating. So I'll be interested to see. I haven't dug into it a lot to see. Like, yeah, that's how quarterback of the future. But I'll be interested to see kind of how his progression goes. Absolutely all. Right. So I'm I'm gonna say it. This guy is Pop Watson skill set, but he's got much bigger size coming out of the high school. He's already 61, almost 200. Get two more years going into going into his junior year high school. So what you're saying is potentially pop skill set, potentially drones body?

55:58 Yeah. Somewhere, somewhere in that ballpark, yeah. So that that's kind of what I'd like to see if he really jumped off on tape. Obviously he was playing on a team that wasn't very well. I don't know what the competition level was relative to that as well. I'm interested to see now that he's in a on a better team, in a better conference, in a better district down there, you know? How his junior year shakes out because if he goes out there and has a big junior year, I'm you're going to see a bump to a four-star. Oh yeah, Did you see that? Did y'all see the video of him working out in the Virginia Tech shirt? Yeah, that was back in like April. Yeah, so apparently they've been on him for a while but him working out in that Virginia Tech shirt just again, when you're when you're. I don't put a lot into like people working out or 707 stuff for me.

56:43 I'd rather see you in pads, but for a quarterback just to see Kenny throat. Like, he's got some good mechanics and he can, he can spin the ball. So it was good to see that. Yeah, absolutely. All right, so a couple more commits there. We've obviously got a few more places in the boat left. Obviously, I don't have this on the rundown, but I'm sure y'all saw it. Our buddy and Roanoke, our music man. Jason actually texted to me and Brian this morning at 6:30. Chris Cole set to commit September 10th, the day after the Purdue game. We'll see how that goes, but let's talk about a few other things in camp. We're going to talk about a couple position battles as well. But I always mention something that I listened to Coach Prize interview last Thursday, the first one, and he mentioned they changed it up.

57:30 Something he shared with us that basically always evaluating, always looking to do things different, how they shape and shift things. And he mentioned for this particular fall camp they're doing effectively 5 minute camps, 3 on one off. Callie Siegler y'all went through college camps. Tell me what y'all like about this concept and what y'all hate about this concept of three in ones up until up until the 20 the week of the 20th. For me, I think he's they're trying to find ways to keep people healthy. You know, because you're just getting a roster that I can say you you semi trust.

58:13 And you got a lot of new guys in there, so I think they're trying to see them, which every college does, ice baths and stuff like that. But probably talked about some of the guys not playing when he was on with us talking about some of them not playing in the spring game. And you hate to see somebody go down in a game like that or even in fall practice. So I think that they're just trying to maneuver to to make sure that we have. As much camaraderie as possible, but as little injuries as possible. I think that's where you're getting three days on the field, one day off, and then so on and so forth. But when you say what don't you like about it? It's just the fear of the unknown for the most part. Like you, if you've never done that and you never seen it, of course you're going to be kind of skeptical if something goes wrong.

59:01 It's like, are we missing time? You need to get as many practices in as possible. Are we missing this or so? Just things like that, but. Hopefully it works out and we see a big jump as far as production on the field. Yeah, I mean looking at it for me it's, you know the positive is going to be keeping healthy, keeping fresh, having fresh legs for longer stretches of those full padded practice, those shell practices. I think that's that's going to be the biggest benefit looking at it. On the flip side, what I can see being somewhat problematic is maybe we got a lot of new guys coming in both. Freshmen and the transfers. Sometimes when you get into a practice routine, you get into a rhythm and I don't know if like a day off might throw off some of the rhythm and potentially, you know, disrupt some of that progress that some of those younger guys or some of those newer guys are making within the new schemes. Tell anything just obviously you we were around the program for years, you've known it for years, you follow sports in general and he feels on this.

1:00:10 No, it's hard to say because I never really laced them up put on the pads. But I mean I like what what prize kind of talking about as far as like you know, just trying to find some sort of I guess identity. I know his press conversation. He kind of talked about this five principles, you know, things like accountability, leadership. And I think he's done a good job of identity that isn't just like a chalkboard slogan actually kind of putting into practice. And you kind of see that, like when he said. You know when you first got here like guys were okay with losing reps, guys are okay, teams were okay with with losing battles like that type of stuff. I mean you know that's that's the stuff that's the type of culture building where you can kind of see it happen.

1:00:51 So just to see those things kind of put into put into practice is pretty good to see. Now we'll translate to wins, you know sooner or later we'll see. But I just, I really like the way he's kind of gone about it and I think it's really good at managing perception. And I think just getting the fan base excited and and having things to kind of look for. So he's definitely, in terms of the PR game, he's at 10 out of 10 right there. I feel like the culture under Fuente was like it was. It was good enough. Like it wasn't winning every Rep it was. We're good enough and it can be that. Way we're getting by. So I mean, I feel like, you know, winning every Rep The competition that he's brought is definitely, I think, improve the culture.

1:01:34 Around the program and I think we're seeing that Thomas Train actually there was the comment that I threw on there. He talked about better evaluation, doing it every 3rd day. Yeah, that's a really good point. That's a really good point because you actually have a day where you can really sit and focus on breaking down some of that practice tape, seeing what you know you you see it on the field obviously, but. You get a little bit more time to really truly dig into that practice tape and evaluate and maybe even shuffle things a little bit as far as whether it's how you want to practice the next day or next set of days, how you want to do the rotations. So there's so much that you can really glean from that by doing three on, one off.

1:02:20 So that's a good point. I'm going to put this up here, Jim, Just put it up here and probably actually mentioned it today. This was something their sports science individual mentioned, that going to this would be better. And I think again, y'all went through that stuff. Three in one. I'm sure y'all you get to a limit at a certain point where it's just like I can't do anymore or it's Brian y'all y'all play again. Y'all are on the lines. I'm losing technique now. I'm losing my technique so. I mean, I I my fall camp was three days for the first two weeks, so. Yeah, you know, even like my son's 13 and watching him, he's playing football this year, He's in 8th grade. So even watching how they practice compared to how we practice coming up and things like that is much different. I see you, Dwight, thank you for your comment, man. We're going, we'll see you next week. We're going to get your perspective on this stuff as well.

1:03:13 But even somebody like Dwight could come on and talk about how I think he he, he put a tweet up a little bit talking about two of the days or. Somebody asked them, could they take the helmet off or something crazy like that. Like, you know, at my son's practice, they were running routes with the helmets off. You know, like when I was coming up, you didn't take your helmet off when you took. When you stepped on the field. It was just different things. And the coach said I'm trying to keep them cooler. You know, you got so many people like Sheldon that pay attention to analytics and they get paid a lot of money to make sure people don't get hurt. I guess one parent, they asked me, have you seen the caller that makes some kind of caller that's supposed to help? With you not getting concussions or something, I I don't know. I haven't seen it.

1:03:58 But I'm just saying there's so much stuff out there that, yeah, of course we're going to see stuff different. And that's kind of why I say it on my point. It's just the unknown, you know what I'm saying? I haven't. I've never seen it done that way. So I don't. I ain't going to say I love it because I don't know you. Bring it back to cowboy collars. It ain't a cowboy collar, though. It's not that. It's it's something that looks kind of like a Have you ever seen somebody put on the earphones to go around the net? Yeah, yeah. So the earphones that go around your neck, it looks like that. It's a Heinz device now. I don't. I'm gonna, I'm gonna look it up and I'm gonna, I'm gonna put y'all in the chat you search it because I'm gonna ask y'all another thing I liked about it and I wonder if this what did to it, Prime mentioned.

1:04:41 I don't know about that if somebody more educated. You it's it's the skelly helmets that we just actually have them that look like they look good. They they look like our helmets, just like. On top of it, instead of the more just, you know the rough padded ones that a lot of other places have. I'm gonna throw gems off here. I'm gonna put the whites up. Yeah, as long as we're more mentally tough during the games, I have no issue with it. The other reason I like this, and I'm wondering if this fit into that about the schedule was Prime mentioned they're actually going to do a full game week before they do a full game week with ODU. And I'm wondering if again, we know there are certain rules with the NCAA of how much you can practice. And I'm wondering by chopping it up like this, by giving these guys probably 5 days off, going up to that last week Okay when we get to the 20th, you know we're able to do because when we spread our days we can go a full week, we can do our normal practice routines.

1:05:39 We can go through everything. We can go to the Roanoke, the Hotel Roanoke on Friday night and almost have like that full game week where they're really focus. This is what we're going to do. Here's a practice version. I wonder if that had to do something with it and if anybody knows the exact limitation. I know there's a limitation number of practices and days off you've got to have. I wonder if that was another reason behind it, because for anybody it's it's like prepping for something. You get a chance to do a run through and it actually doesn't count. It's going to help because you're going to be mentally ready to be like, oh, I screwed that up last week during this portion of practice, Not screwing that up this week. All right, couple other things.

1:06:24 And this is offensive line we're not going to talk about on the depth chart. But if you heard Clements talk, first of all Clements is just funny to listen to. Just the way you talked with this South Carolina accident, talking about chaplain and little more just literally going out there and giving everything every day. He's like, he's like, dude, they're they're, he literally said. He's like, they're going out there like this is their last day they're ever going to play football, which I love to hear, especially from two young guys. Yeah, I mean it's it's it's big that that Parker's kind of taking more of a leadership role this year. You know when we had Kayden on, he talked a little bit about it too. So those two are going to be the de facto leaders on that unit this year.

1:07:08 So it's going to be big for him to, to take on the leadership role and I like that he's. When he's he's got the spotlight he's highlighted other guys. I like that. I like that that that that's a that's a good quality of an offensive live right there. When you get the spotlight you're you're highlighting the other guys around you so that that that's big to me and I love hearing it about that chaplain and more because that's we're going to need those two to step up and hold down that left side of the line. I mean, especially with some of the news we got, you know? A little bit of a little bit ago, you know about Jesse Hanson, so we got less depth on that offensive line. So it's going to be big. Those guys play a big role this year. Was that chaplain?

1:07:48 Was that chaplain going against Powell and that that was, yeah, that spin. Move was pretty. Thick Man Chaplain, You better keep going out there and attacking every day you see somebody like that line up across from me. Jesus Christ, but how many of those? Spin move. You got to drive through it, man. You can't sit back on the spin move. You got absolutely smoked there. Anything on the offensive line Shelton that you see in here and? Yeah, I mean, I was just kind of look at the numbers. You know, Hanson, surprisingly enough, not a guy that people really associate as being like a stalwart at the offensive line. He was actually Tech's highest graded offensive lineman last year, according to PFF. Now it was about league average. So it wasn't, you know, too big of a thing. But losing him definitely hurts the depth.

1:08:31 And you got Janzie gone as well. Jordan too, I feel like. Obviously with Parker. We didn't know that a time, but obviously he was injured last year, couldn't really lift and obviously that kind of had a huge, huge impact on his play. So I think he's going to have a positive improvement this year. Same with more those two guys, they were so good as freshmen but just fell off a Cliff last year. I think he'll get back to it. I think when you really need Parker. Parker to me is the most important player in this, on this oh line, especially because of the lack of, you know, overall tackle depth. So it's going to, it's going to be a little bit thin, but. I I feel better about the the, the right side than I do now. I did about last last year's team for sure. Nice nice. And let's talk about some other depth stuff we're hearing. You know we saw we'll shout him out. David Cunningham going out there busting it at practice trying to put depth charge together and you know it's it's it's by law Tally knows this tally had to talk to Toast Frye about it by law got called quarterback.

1:09:29 It's cliche, I know, but it's been told it's been said. Wells and drones each having times with the ones rotating days effectively. But here's what I'll ask you August 22nd, boys, and we'll start with Sheldon. August 22nd, that bonus week. That week we're going to go into prepping. We'll pronounce the starter on the 22nd because there will be a media day that day. I think so. I mean, I think he, I think he did it. He definitely did it earlier than Fuente did. Last year it's my understanding. So yeah, I think he's because I know with with like Fuente was kind of like you know he he went to wait to the absolute last possible minute and then when he did make the announcement it was like you know in a hush tone it's like OK let's just move on.

1:10:18 I think prize taking a little bit more kind of making the announcement having to be like OK this is our guy. So yeah, I would say that media conference is probably going to be the time that he does it all right He he says 22nd we're announced, Sally. I don't know, man. I I was kind of on the fence about it when we talked about it. I said I could see it kind of lingering on just to kind of throw some, we don't know who's up on that first game and then giving Purdue a little bit less to know of who's going to do it. But I think Prior kind of what Sheldon said though, man, I mean with us knowing Prior we've talked to him, I feel like he is too candid of a guy to hold something like that and that's one of the things that the fan base like. Longs for.

1:11:03 So yeah, I think he's going to announce somebody about that time. I think it's going to depend, and I think it's going to depend on the the, the trend, because I think we know that from a grass of the offense perspective. Wells is a head of drones at this point. He was in the spring. I think he still is at this point. Is he seeing enough practice to practice with drones picking things up? Where he's not quite ready by August 22nd, That's my only question. I could see him playing some gamesmanship with Purdue and ODU, but when we really go back and look at it, there's not a lot of tape out there on drones that's really going to, you know, waste hours of ODU and and Purdue's coaches spending time bringing down tape.

1:11:55 There's not enough out there for them to really justify that, and any smart coach is already going to have a scout team. Quarterback that can that can run and do the things that drones is at least running a handful of plays in that practice anyway. So I don't think there's any games with ship there. But like I said, my question is how is the battle trending? Is it starting to trend where you know it's ratcheting up every week in terms of the grass of the offensive? If there is, you know you might give one last week to to let Let drones prove himself to see if he can take that role. If if he's not making that progress, then I think you go ahead and name it for Wells at that point, Yeah, I think, I think you're y'all are right.

1:12:36 I think it's announced that week, but I think there's going to be a caveat in it regardless who it is. I think if it is Grant Wells, there's going to be the caveat of we have to take advantage of Chiron drones, athleticism, his ability to run the ball, he's going to be used. If it's drones. We're going to be dependent on Grant to be helping Kyron. We got to depend on him to be ready if something happens to go in and play immediately. So he's on caveat where he's not basically burying like that's our guy. I don't care what happens one way or the other but I think it has to be that week because I think what that does it puts a firm stamp on who we are as 18. And I feel like talking with Brent pride like we have he's that sort of person he wants to I'm going to tell the team and I'm going to tell him who it is and I'll go out here and tell the public and we're going to be strong when I go forward like that. So I I feel like we do know but who knows he might throw some curveball let's talk D line and and if anybody was actually shocked y'all tell me pal.

1:13:40 Ryland already on the ones. Just got here this summer. Anybody shot? Nah, Nah. If you're shocked, then y'all didn't see the tape. But let let's talk this. Not so Again, We've seen him on tech, we've seen his stats, we know what he is. But my feeling on the defensive line room in general is to go from average to above average, because I do think it was an average line last year. With the exception of stack numbers, everything else you know good at creating negative plays in the run game. What's up I? Was going to say sack numbers in the Pit game, in the pit game. That's it. That's it.

1:14:21 But but my fields, two players are key. I think Burgos is key. I love to hear him probably talk about him today and I think Pain's key because if to me if those two guys click, you've not only got your 4th end, you've also got that guy that can go likely inside out as needed. What y'all think? Yeah, we talk about pain. Pain was in that clip as well. And to talk about him coming back from a injury, you know, I know it's not, you know, full, full game or anything like that. But to see how he moves and it's good to see, you know, coming off of an injury to have another guy like that, to throw in depth wise. And again, we've got a lot of guys that can move in our bead, you know? We haven't seen that a lot on our lines. We're usually going after the small twitch, you know, twitchy guys.

1:15:12 But when you talk about Burgos or you talk about Roland Powell, these guys are big and physical and they can move. So I think we'll take a step in the defensive line. I think we have an opportunity to, you know, of course football you could have injuries, we don't speak that, but I think we'll take a step forward just with with some of the some of the guys that we're plugging in. Yeah, I mean processed today he talked about Burgos being a motor guy, big motor guy and you already got a guy that's that big. If you say he's got a motor, I mean that that's going to be somebody that's going to outwork everybody around him seeing him. Yes, they they said he could push for a starting spot in in the in the press conference today which you know.

1:15:57 Worked my ears up a little bit but I was just hoping for Burgos to be pushing for a fourth or fifth spot on the on the DN position. If he's doing more than that then we then we we cook them with something fellas. Talking about pain too. I mean, we've seen flashes he got brought up in the presser last week and this week as being somebody that's working, working really good, making some progress, pushing some guys. You know, if he can be that fourth guy in the rotation, that's only leveling up the interior of that line as well. And with pain being kind of a a tweener there, you could get him in at certain spots on on rundown, certain spots on passing down. So he gives a little bit of versatility across the line as well. Anything on the D line room, Shelton? I like having Kendricks back and Paul a lot. They were probably.

1:16:48 Our two best lineman last year to look at stuff like pass rush win rates, Nelson is a guy that is good to have back, but he's got to improve a lot and CJ McCray also in there as well. So in terms of pass rush, I think it's a pretty good setup. I mean I know the run defense was kind of hit or miss, but we've got some guys that can that can get to the QB, I think and I think that's gonna be the key this year because you know we were talking the other day. What was did you did you find that the Havoc stat you were trying to find look up? No, I didn't have the Havoc stat. Yeah, I didn't have the Havoc set. I just got the SAC right. I mean we were bottom 30 in terms of SAC, right. And I think in terms of you know preventing explosive plays, obviously the the run defense was was terrible in terms of explosive plays.

1:17:35 So yeah, that was, that was probably the biggest thing that I noticed looking at the stats. So again it's it's and this was a solid defense last year was a solid defensive line. It wasn't spectacular and I think could and that's why we I'll go back to the gentleman we first started with Powell. Ryland is that guy that can make it spectacular because y'all seen it. If you have an edge guy, the attention shifts every everything about that offensive setup Tally and Brian from both playing there. When you have that guy that can come off the edge and can fly and condemn every single person is like, where is he? Yeah, where is he? Quarterbacks looking for him, tackles trying to call him out, guards trying to know where do I push, where do I kick tight in Tally, I'm sure there were times you played edge guys. You're like, I don't really want to go against him. Yeah, man, it's it all comes down to like you. Like if you have the game plan for somebody on a defensive line changes the whole game plan that your office has, you know what I'm saying?

1:18:35 If you have a defensive line, I mean, and then this year is going to be big for JC because you have so many. JC haters that are out there, you know, they said he couldn't recruit. You know, he starts getting a couple of recruits in and then they said, well, he can't coach. So we're going to have to see, can he coach? You know, like, I think J C's fine, but I'm just saying for the Virginia Tech landscape, you know, this is a big year for the defensive line and then shifts you to another point, our cornerbacks like your defensive line. Is a direct reflection of what you're They can't guard forever. You know what I'm saying? It was like a lot of times when we talked about Delaine last year, him being a freshman tossed in the in the games that he may or may not have been ready for. It was it's tough to cover a long time like that. Especially when you got a quarterback that's running around and they're breaking off routes and things like that. Wasn't that he just, you know, even got beat. It's just sometimes you.

1:19:32 Hell, you don't you. You can have perfect coverage until that last two seconds. And you're hoping that your lineman get to them and cause some kind of chaos. Had we weren't doing that. So I feel like if we are, if we're able to, if we can't get to the quarterback, if we can pressure them enough where they have to throw some air at throws, then our defensive backs out, we have a defensive backfield that can cause some chaos as well. So if that defensive line is 2 steps better than last year, then I think our defense has got some cooking. Yeah, in that cornerback room, the first three are good. You got two guys who were previous freshmen, Allamerican, Actually, I think Canteen was a freshman Allamerican too, wasn't he? I think you're right.

1:20:14 I think he was a freshman. But I'm pretty positive. Yeah, pretty positive. He was. And so those guys are locked. It's all about the freshman. Because when I looked at DC's depth chart and I started reading cornerbacks, it's like Braylon Johnson, That freshman just got there. Dante Lovett, he just got there. And then coach mentioned Christian earlier today it's like and he's in prize. I love the again, it's the candidates. These guys are going to play. One of these guys is going to play a lot this year and it's that whole he mentioned he's like it's it's the constant developing. Developing right. You know growing pains through the first four games, but if you start getting better games, five, 6-7 and eight, you're going to the games going to slow down, you're going to be better.

1:21:00 We did. I don't want to cut you off, Curtis, but I want to play this right quick. Last year we did a space after the ODU game. I was livid. I was on the pledge. No way. Everybody was. Dwight came on and talked to. It was over, you know? Did. You Dwight came on, but you know besides the white, he called some backup and LJ came on as well and he said, you know, somebody was on there and said, you know Gene tech's not going to recruit Well, you just lost the ODU you have, you know. Recruits watching it, blah, blah, blah. And LJ said this is what you have to do as a coach. I'm, I'm paraphrasing, this is what you have to do as a coach. You have to sell that. You know, you have to say we lost a couple of games because when we talked earlier we talked about games that we lost about one or two points. So one or we didn't have enough depth. But now you brought in some players and and I'm sure Pride went to him and talked to him and said hey, if we get you here we can use you immediately, so.

1:21:57 You want to see some of these players get on the field and produce immediately because that's just going to be another good selling point to the next proper recruits. Even the recruits that they just brought in or they're bringing in for the 2024 class, you know, that's that's what they're saying. Hey, I know I can go here and play. Hey, I know that they're building something. I can get in here and play. So when I seen those freshman's names on there, you know, some people get a little nervous. But I'm like, hell. Shit, we ain't got nobody in front of them. Kelly had a. Let's talk. Let's talk about this real quick, though, because we talked a ton about how much the wide receiver room has flipped. But when we look at the first six in this cornerback room, one of them was in the two deep at the start of last season.

1:22:41 That's true. Only one, the cornerback room has completely flipped. It has. We had Bria Murray in our in our coffee room. No disrespect, but I don't keep my ass. If I had this, we had Brianne Murray in that playing significant steps, man. I mean come on. The thing is I think with Lovett all three and and to me always Lean Braylon because of who Dad and and and and that's he's going to have that mark on who dad is. Where he played I I don't until we see it. But it's that feeling of Braylon Johnson might be the 4th one.

1:23:26 I mean it's just it's I know it's lineage and I know it's it could be that nostalgia where you want the guy who was here when it originated and his son to basically take that torch and kind of replan it and say we're back to where we were. But I'm pretty sure he started all four years at Highland Springs. They want three state titles. You know, he's got it up here because his dad was that type of player. You know it's up here. So the question is, which of these, which of the which of the three plays a ton, which gets a red shirt and which is getting significant minutes on special teams and to give blows probably every fifth series to the upper guys when needed?

1:24:09 It's hard. It's hard to say, man, because a lot of them are are so. I guess they're so similar as far as body sizes. They are and and and builds and things like that, but they aren't under built right all about 180 a 180. They're not under built to be. Corners and and I mean, like I said, I think I talked to y'all about it. When you talk about college football, like cornerback is the I don't want to use the word easiest. I don't want to use the word easiest, but it's the it's the most likely position for a freshman to come in and be able to contribute quickly because that is. Pretty much a lot of athleticism. And those guys do a lot of work, you know, and they're usually getting some high level work, even in high school as D B's with a lot of these trainers and stuff. But you talk about quarterback, quarterback's pretty tough to go in and just be a stud lineman.

1:25:00 It's very, very rare for a lineman to come in his freshman year and have his body ready to go and have his feet ready to go and have his mind ready to go so. I wasn't really surprised at the cornerbacks that we have are are making some noise. I'm just ready to get to it and see what they can do. I'm ready to see them in the games man. I'm ready to see them put it on, but on the all once jerseys and let's go play. That's the second game. Let's go play. By the way, my first trip down there, I've got to go to the to the bookstore and get orange shirt because the only orange shirt I got is a Nike one. Everything else in a room like this. You need orange, man. I know it's the orange effect. I got to buy one.

1:25:40 It's like guaranteed. I have to buy one real quick. So those corners have been covering the wide receiver room, which we've talked about a ton, flipping over Jennings and Layton, Felton with the ones, but obviously rotating. We saw Bosdale and Holloway and another name that from last year popped up. I may be a little bit shocking. That's Dwayne Lofton. Sheldon, any shock, anything you're hearing about any of these guys or heard about any of these guys, any of the six? Not really, honestly. I mean I think it's pretty impressive they done kind of turn that room over. You know like we were talking about we have to, I think we have to trust coaches to some degree. Obviously when we look at Brent Pride flipping over 40% of roster because he knows that the talent level last year wasn't good enough.

1:26:28 Similarly, you can look at what he did with the wide receiver room getting in all those handful of guys and the reason for that is because they just know that the talent level there wasn't good enough last year. So when we kind of assess you know Grant Wells and how he performed last year, obviously he could have been a lot better. The receivers did not do many favors. So I think the coach has done a good job of totally revamping that room in just one year. And obviously I trust fontel mines a lot with his player evaluations and hopefully he can get those guys coached up. You know he he was talking to podcast a while back about how. You know, perimeter blocking in his room is non negotiable. Like if you want to play for this staff you have to block, which I really like to hear because blocking to me has been a big sore spot for Tech over the past few years.

1:27:12 So hopefully you can get this guys coached up. I have a lot of faith in him and I think, I think that's a room where we're going to see a lot of improvement. Yeah, I mean he's a tight and he knows, he knows about blocking out there on the perimeter. So he's the one of the best ones that could probably get that that group doing that at a consistent level. Whatever he's telling, man, people are buying. I'm back. They are. We've talked to Frontil and you see the, you see the. First of all, I wonder who's garden? Felton in practice. Like, that's a big ass dude, man. You know what I'm saying? Like, we had wide receivers. What, what? What? What Coach call him today? Avatar. Avatar. Like he's like Avatar out there.

1:27:52 What The thing is, is like I don't think tech fans, we haven't seen wide receivers. The size that we're going to see some of the wide receivers that we're bringing in and that we have and even with some of the skill set, I know I don't want to look too far ahead because anything can happen. You know, talking about the people that we have on on on campus. But even the wide receivers that they're bringing in like Makai White just committed to Maryland because we don't got space for him. You know, I ain't saying like he was a lot to go to Virginia Tech, but I'm sure we had a shot to get him. You were showing us a whole lot of love until the last like week or so when? People can spend it how they want to, but I mean we've got a lot of wide receivers and everybody knows we don't have a lot of room.

1:28:33 So you just got, you know the number one receiver in the in the in the state of Virginia. Then we get Chance Wiggins. I don't know exactly where he falls in another top receiver in the state of Virginia that's coming in. And then you see these guys that they have that are. They saying that's the the number one of the the first team, the second team like it's going to be a lot of competition in that room and when people talk about competition it you can have competition of sorry people and you just going to get the battle of the media. You know what I'm saying like this, the people that that the the caliber that we have been bringing in and what we see now I think.

1:29:13 The best players going to have to play, the best players are going to rise to the top because you got a lot of talented people in that wide receiving room. I think it's probably our deepest unit right now. Which, considering where we were last year, saying something. Yeah, it's crazy. It's saying a hell of a lot. And just in general that room and we talked about the growth of guys now and we talked about Holloway coming up. Holloway obviously going to probably be fighting with punt return. Again, everything is changed. I think that's again, we talked about being nostalgic. That is the one thing about this area of college football we're in with the portal. You're a bad team one year you go make the right moves, build the right culture, bring the right people in.

1:29:55 It doesn't take long to flip and that's where I was. That's why I kind of went after Brett a little bit and said it ain't like we were two and 10 and got boat raced in 10 games. We got boat raced in really one. One, I'll say this, we didn't bring in any sure things, but we brought in a whole lot of good compared to what we had, the talent level that was on the roster last year, what we had, all right, anything breaking, we didn't. We didn't change conferences while we sitting here. Everyone quit and check it real quick. Not yet, man. Not yet. Yeah. Yeah. All right, well, since that is it, we are going to wrap up this episode of the Boundary Corner podcast brought to you by Main Street Pharmacy in Blacksburg.

1:30:36 I am Curtis Wilson. I'm Brian Siegler. Jonathan Talley. And I'm Sheldon Moss. Visit our website boundarycornerbt.com to listen to all of our episodes. Also, we do have the merchandise shop there at Boundary Corner Store, which I have been thinking about maybe making a new one. Just been thinking about some old school stuff in my head. Why you're there? Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, subscribe to our YouTube page. Shout out to all those on YouTube tonight. I know we've got quite a few. Been on with this the whole time. Also your favorite podcast source including Spotify, Amazon and Apple Podcasts. As always, we let Jason Long, our buddy down in Roanoke, play us in. He plays us out.

1:31:17 Check him out of his website jasonlongmusic.com. This weekend, August 12th, he will be at the Pepper Palooza at the Grandin Village Farmers Market from 8:00 to noon. So check him out there. If you are in the area, check out his most recent covers EP, including the Midnight rider you heard with the Brent Pry episode. We thank you all for always listening and as always, let's go. How next week beat at B Square?