Opening Camp with Austin Cannon

0:44 Welcome back to the boundary Corner podcast with Brian Segal. I'm Curtis Wilson. Tonight. We have a very special guest, former hokey offensive lineman and current Hanover Hawk assistant football coach, Austin Cannon, Hey, Austin. How you doing tonight? But pretty good man. Are you doing? I'll can't complain. Thanks for jumping on with us here. No problem. Yeah man, we appreciate it. How's uh, how's your day been has been long been up since 5:00 a.m. and, you know, just working getting ready for the season now.

1:28 Have you already started Camp up in Hanover? Where is this? There's a next week. Now we start Monday. Day tomorrow. We finish up our summer workouts with you know, big, squat Friday and conditioning the tradition continues. Oh yeah, for sure. Nice man. What y'all first game are y'all playing Labor Day weekend as well or y'all little later than that believe we got September 1st or 2nd. Okay. And we're home against Monica. So okay. It's it's going to be a great, great matchup, you know, that they had some players last year, but you know, we'll see what they got. You know, we have a lot of momentum coming in from that spring season and you know, the guys are excited, the staff is excited, so we're ready to go.

2:27 So you were coaching in the spring. I know you know you got a big decision kind of as last season. Wrapped up was Was getting into coaching kind of your plan in college, or was that something to just kind of presented yourself, as you were kind of taking those next steps? I mean, I knew all along I was going to coach, you know, I kind of figured it out when it was my senior year in high school. I started coaching Hanover Warriors, like ten you. And, you know, I really enjoyed it. And, you know, that kind of gave me the ideals like, hey, I know football is going to end one day. You and two for me to continue to be involved in the game, you know, coaching was definitely, you know, something in my future. I do that man.

3:18 Love it. Love to hear that so that sounds like you've probably thought about it even before that, which is unbelievable. And now, you know, get a chance to go out there, you know, shape from football here in the RV. A, but let me ask you this, what is it like working for the head coach? Of the Hanover Hawk Sam Rogers, you know, guy you obviously probably played against in high school and then played with up, jigna Tech. Yeah, you know, I mean, Sam's a great guy, I mean, there's, you know, Hanover High School, you know, they did a great job, you know, hiring him and you know what, he's trying to do with that program and You know, it it's unbelievable, you know, and, you know, I trust what he's doing, you know, me and him have the same mentality, you know, and kind of bringing that Virginia Tech mentality to that program.

4:15 And, you know, we're wired the same way. And so just that cohesiveness and that relationship, you know, I think it's awesome. You know, I couldn't ask for a better head coach, you know, to start on my coaching career. So, are y'all doing some similar things that we're doing in Blacksburg? Or is it kind of a mix of different philosophies and schemes? I mean, you know, it's very similar what we ran, you know, at Tech, you know, in terms of like the spread offense and things like that and, you know, he's brought like his own little twist, you know, some things when you're, when he was in the league for a little bit, but little bit of time, he was in there. And you know it just his football IQ is like it's impeccable, you know, and he's such a smart football player and now football coach and you know, I'm kind of like learning the ropes you know, in terms of the whole grand scheme of things because you know for most of my life I was just worried about that box that front seven, you know, I didn't really have to worry about the defense like that. But, you know, now I kind of have to You know, pay attention to those things because, you know, I recently got, you know, put on the role of the JV, you know, offensive coordinator. So, you know, he's been working with me the past, you know, two and a half months, you know, we

5:48 meet every Thursday and he's kind of teaching me all the passing Concepts and, you know, we're talking about receivers, and dbe's defense of coverages and all that kind of stuff. I was like, Okay. We'll crash course, right? Yeah, little crap. And so you know, I've been starting up on it and I'm excited to take on that new role instead of new challenge. And you know, I love new challenges, it was going to make me grow and be a better football coach. Well, man, I'm almost ready to have you back in like five or six weeks. After you've called some of those JV games, just to hear what's going on with your some of your sheep.

6:33 Yeah, so obviously today was first day of fall camp for the Virginia Tech Hokies. And you know, we're seeing the pictures, we're seeing everybody seems happy today they want, right? So me and Brian, we're talking. We wanted to kind of ask you as a player. What was the part of the camp? You look forward to the most but then what was the kind of what was the dread day. What was the day? You hit like day 7 and you know, date is this - like got to get it over with but not looking forward to it. So what was the favorite day, first? Mmm. Favorite favorite day was. Probably obviously, you gotta go with first day of pads. There we go.

7:19 You know, we open it up. We always open it up. First aid pads with Hoagie drill, you know, and it's a competition, you know, between, right? Handbags linebackers and wide receivers dbe's o-line d-line and you know, eventually you know, Fuente will get us all in a circle, you know, and he'll have the two bags in the middle and you know, he'll call out, you know, specific guy from each side of the ball. And, you know, and we'll go at it and, you know, we keep score, they run off an offensive line, got got that winning record. So there we go. A proud proud beyond the window. You got to keep the pride there.

8:01 Oh yeah, yeah, I'm a prideful guy. So but yeah. And you know, with the days that I dreaded it I would say more of towards the end of Camp, okay. You know, when you're like so close to the season, you know, like you can almost taste it and you're like, all right, like I've been going up against the same dude, you know, twice a day. Yep. You know. However many weeks and I'm just like, I want someone different. That's definitely, you know, that part is what I dread the most but you know I mean it flies by so fast. We have a question here for one of our listeners tonight, hokey Farm on OU, pharmacist Jeremy, shut up, maybe somebody that had to go up against Silas one time.

9:01 Who had who had to go up against Silas? Yeah. And Hoagie drill in the hook here? Oh my gosh. I mean, you had a manual Belmar. You had Yeah, Justice Reed. You got oh yeah. Jared Hewitt. I mean, pretty much everybody that you've seen play on the defensive line, you know, has had a piece of Silas and let me tell you silas's thousand sighs. I mean, that being a big boy Mount another man. I so, so I want to ask this and if you don't want to talk about former teammates, don't who is the person when for went they would call their Name that you're sitting there like I don't really want to go against him today and I know you as a football player.

9:54 Yall's mentality isn't like that but I'm sure sometimes you heard a name and it was like I want to do this drill down but got to go out there and fight it. Oh man. I mean I'm I'm never you know scared of any man but he answered the answer your question. You know, I would I would definitely have to go with Tim saddle. I mean, we're just talk about big guys. Like this is big. Yeah interview. So Tim was always fun to go up against and you know it was always a challenge but you know when you've gone and done maybe about three or four hokey drills, you know and also you get called into the the big circle and you gotta go up against Tim saddle.

10:41 It's like, come on man. You know, there's always one dude that like you know, you don't back away from it, you're not, you're not afraid of your. Like I know I'm gonna feel this once I hit him, I know I am. I mean, that's just, you know, I think he was what like 3:30. Yeah, it's you're so like, you know, and he's obviously trimmed down a lot. Since he's been in the league, such a low center of gravity to like, you can't, you can't get underneath. Neither like, no, and it's so hard. And like, if you mess with your hands, you know, if your hands go outside and I mean, you're just screwed all that power, the low center of gravity, that strength.

11:25 I mean, you really have to have your Technique down to a tee, you know, to compete with Tim. So, That's good to know and obviously Tim really doing well for himself and you had quite a few guys that were there during your time there. So it's cool to hear those type of stories from you with this. And and by the way, last year we had John McLaughlin on, again, teammate of yours and it must be in the line thing could Brian, if you don't recollect, it was he it was it was some sort of drill. He didn't like, was like, what do you look forward to first day of pads? He was with you, it was near the end.

12:06 He's like, that's when you start dreading it, because did insane, guys, but you're also hitting your teammates. It's almost that feeling of. I want someone across from me, that is not wearing maroon and orange, and I want to take it out on them and love that mentality because y'all are all Brothers day and it's finally, we practice we're ready to go. But he kept saying, I can't wait for my game. I can't wait for my game. That's what he kept saying, like We're doing. What is my game? Yeah, my game, you know, that's really fun. And you know, we take it very, very seriously. But in terms of like having a physical toll on your body, it's like one of the easiest days out of the camp schedule, you know, and it's but it's more mental than anything, you know.

12:58 It's basically like a dress rehearsal from the right before we Get on the bus with the Friday walkthrough to, you know, pretend, you know, we're getting on the bus to how we're going to conduct Friday meetings and, you know, Saturday morning meal for breakfast and, you know, kind of like the pregame meal and pregame meetings, you know, kind of pick me up talks and stuff like that. And so, you know, it, that's what I love to how everything was so organized. And, you know, how, Reyes, it was, you know, and, you know, I think that's, you know, kudos to coach Fuente and his staff and how they run things and you know, and it's freaking awesome.

13:48 Very nice to hear. Well before we get to more with Austin, cannons night, we are going to take a quick 30 second break from our digital sponsors. All right, Austin. We're going to jump back in here. You know, we talked a little bit about Camp opening up kind of your favorite parts and of camp. But let's talk a little bit more about some of the things from 2020 some of the unique challenges that covid presented especially in regards to fall Camp. What was the biggest difference about fall camp in 2020 compared to your for previous camps with Hokies? I mean, 2020 Camp was I was A easy, I would say it was easier you know compared to the other Camp simply because of the whole code stuff.

14:37 Like the way it was formatted and, you know, you couldn't really, you know, do as much, you know, we were to limited, you know, back-to-back days and then I got another day off stuff like that. But when we got those two days in a row like, I mean, don't get me wrong like we went after it. Okay. you know and we competed and you know got ourselves better but I mean if you want to compare to the previous four, I mean definitely the easiest but also the longest like yeah so long and you know you talk about you know you're getting kind of towards the end of camp and you're dreading in you want to go up against somebody else will like that was the ultimate test right there you know? Because we were winding down towards the enemy camp. You know, you had the conference's contemplating whether to have a season or not you know then you had the Pac-12 and Big Ten.

15:38 But then we knew that we were having a season. All right, now that was a plus dip, but then NC State had a breakout, right? They had to postpone right? So we're getting up. We're gearing up getting ready for NC State. You know, still going through that camp schedule, but then I got postponed. Then our, you know, our Focus shifted to UVA because I was weak to They're all sudden outbreak happened on Artie. You know him that we couldn't really control. It was inevitable and so that got postponed now.

16:22 We're kind of doing some more Camp stuff, you know. So like it kept on, getting delayed the season kept getting delayed, so there we kind of kept with that cam schedule and a kind of purgatory there for a while. The yeah, I mean just it was Is terrible. You know I was just like itching to get the season started and it just felt like 2 months really, you know, it was like a month and a half. I know something coach Fuente mentioned in an interview with textile on about a couple weeks ago. He was saying there were times it Camp. There were no bodies there because the protocols like you guys were You know, you would have groups out like half of this group's gone, ten players from this groups going, how difficult is that from your perspective? Now, as a coach, you know the saying, how do we do that last year when we couldn't do certain drills because we don't have enough players on the field?

17:26 Yeah, I mean there was times where, you know, we had, you know, portions of our practice kind of taken out because of the lack of numbers and I'd like to give you an example you know of kind of how the next man up you know philosophy was you know, used like we had We have bra Kaufman and in Hawaii Zechariah who eat, you know, they had to like Korn team for some reason, right? And this is when quarantine was longer than when you got infected or something. Yeah, crazy. It was 10 days if you're infected and 14 if you weren't. Yeah.

18:09 It is contactors. Yeah, I mean you can take what you want about all that stuff but I think it's absolutely ridiculous. I don't care if people disagree or agree with me or not but You know, then I had to be put in its inner and, you know, I've always snap during pre practice and, you know, I knew how to play the position. So you know it wasn't nothing surprising to me. But, you know, I I was in there taking first team reps at Center and, you know, Cornell send bias and Fuente. You know, they're telling me how the offense didn't really skip a beat, you know, when I was in there and, you know, that was good to hear. But, you know, with me, I was just doing my job, you know, doing the best I could for the team for myself and, you know, so I mean, it's the best I can do that. I mean, that's why I'm there, you know, to be a great teammate, great football player, and, you know, and just gave my best.

19:11 So, but like, yeah, in terms of lack of numbers like we were missing, you know, our first to Sinners, you know, firsthand second team centers, and you got guys jumping around different positions. You know, we couldn't really do like a full team, kind of like scrimmage period. You know, sometimes and you know, it did hurt us a little bit, but it wasn't like a major setback or anything. We found ways. We worked around it and got the most work. We could So, we had a little question here from, from a listener here. Was there a significant amount of like, cross-training like offense to defense? Or was that more relegated to the skill positions versus the line?

19:57 Or was there any of that or was it just next man up? Even if that next man is a walk-on or anything like that. I mean, you know, like you said, it doesn't matter who it was. I mean, to, you know, have an example for that question. You know, we had a Tyler Matheny, you know, come in for Diablo, I believe ya versus Duke, you know, and he freaking balled out and, you know, we were so happy for him when he got that interception like that, sideline erupt, you know and so does matter if you're, you know, a walk-on scholarship guy, you know, you know 20-plus game starter, you know You know, I got that rotates or barely played like if you're in that depth chart like your name could be called at any moment.

20:53 So, you know, everybody, when they went to practice, you know, they were, you know, knowing that my name could be called like today or like in just like that. Like an instant second. So, everybody kind of took their job. Seriously, we came to practice because you just never know when your numbers going to be called. Okay, that makes sense. So just to covid landscape in general, you know, what was the hardest part to navigate? I mean you had I just sit here and think about you had football, obviously super important. You had your own health to worry about, you have friends, you had class, you had family. What was it? Like the piece that was the most difficult part for you.

21:33 Last year, going through just something, no one had ever done in their entire lives. I mean, I think, you know, Early on when, when they kind of shut everything down. You know, we were just about to finish up winter workouts and, you know, we got sent off for spring break and, you know, we're in the middle of spring break and they were told and like, hey, like we're, we're locked down now, like you guys might as well, just stay where you're at or, you know, go home and, you know, We were sending it and some workout videos and you know, just trying to do what we could and I think that was hard because I'm like, dang I like this could be my last season you know, or I was thinking like this is my last season not knowing about the extra year and all that stuff and I'm like this is how it's going to go like there's no way.

22:37 And then eventually I think it was like July or so early. June was when we got to come back and kind of be with the team again and see everybody. And I think, you know, that kind of picked everybody up, you know, in terms of morale and things like that. But also the testing I mean, we're talking about. Sometimes I think early on I was like twice a week, you know, then eventually he got wrapped up to three times a week and it's like I don't want A swab up my new one more time, man. But yeah, that's gotta get old quick. Yeah, I know it did it did.

23:22 So but, you know, we had to do what we had to do in order to play a football season and, you know, that's what was important to us, you know, is to have a season in play. And so, we had to do whatever whatever we had to do to get it done and, you know, but it sucked, you know. Well, you know we're we're tough guys so you know we just had to endure it and move on. So I you were talking earlier about, you know, sending in the workout videos. If I recall correctly weren't you did you send them one pushing a truck? Yeah. That yeah, that was my 98, Ford Expedition.

24:03 I mean that work out, you know, it's been something of mine that I've done all throughout High School. Me and Alec Everly. You know we used to push, you know our trucks I used to have his Chevrolet Silverado that wasn't my first vehicle and me and him will go at night time and the parking lot at a lie and, you know, put it in neutral and knew he would steer and I'll push and then we will switch. And so like always love, pushing pushing the truck, it was a great workout. And so, you know, I was like, you know what, I'm almost hitting this in, and You know, in our, you know, got some positive reviews.

24:47 Some of them, some good for jokes, but now, I love the square bodies. But I mean right now I drop a Ford Edge end up getting getting rid of the Expedition. It was getting a little worn out but that's been all throughout college so I'm not complaining. So my jump down here they want to know how far you would push the truck in the in the parking lot. So in the apartment like this parking lot behind, the school is ginormous like easily over a hundred yards and if you pushed it towards the varsity practice field, it had a slight incline as Went farther and farther.

25:29 So I would say probably about almost close to about 200 yards long. Oh, wow. And so me and Alice would try to go, you know, three times, you know, each so yeah, it was, it was a killer workout but, you know, always loved it. Shout out, Jacob on that question. I was a great question. So, 600 yards of pushing the 98 for Expedition by Alston cannon in the at leat parking lot and the r-va you mentioned it just a few minutes ago. Austin, you didn't know about the extra year of Eligibility, what kind of factors played into your decision to kind of pass on that opportunity.

26:17 Because, you know, you could you could be sitting back at Camp day one. But instead you're about to get ready for your first. Task will go champ. Yeah, so Like I want to say this right now, I mean it was the hardest decision of my life, you know, to I wouldn't say to give up because I didn't give up, I gave everything I had to be game but to kind of close that chapter and to open up a new one, I mean, it was kind of hard to, you know, close that chapter but you know a few factors played in, you know, I just turned 25. Ivan may, you know, easily would have been the oldest guy in the room.

27:03 Fun fact, I'm actually older than Darrell Smith. Yeah. Which is, you know, surprises because he's going on near 77, you got the doctor it to them. Yeah. So, you know, I kind of laid that and, you know, I knew I had five years, you know, two kids, everything that I had And you know, I came out with a bachelor's degree and a master's. So you know that was the most important thing to me, you know, being a first-generation college student and college athlete to kind of change the direction of, you know, my family's future.

27:46 You know, I take great pride in that. And you know I also promised myself freshman year when I got there in January of 2016 you know I said if I don't have that burning passion you know when you know we're on that winter break and you is getting close to get back to work. You know, if I don't have that burning passion, then I know it's time and you know, because if I were to do something, I would give it 110%. I'm ten toes in and, you know, it wouldn't be fair to me, or the coaches or my teammates the program, everybody if I came back and I was kind of 50/50 or I didn't give everything that I had.

28:37 So I was either going to do it or not, do it at all and when it got closer you know the coaches they were recruiting me more than I've ever been recruiting High School my life. So it's kind of it was kind of neat and you know, just, you know, listening to them. And you know I wanted to take everybody's opinion. Everybody that was important to me but ultimately at the end of the day it's what I decide. And so it was a kind of, you know, heard the tone. Hey like I'm good. I'm moving on.

29:19 You know what? Point a and Coach Vice and really that whole staff has done for me as a football player and as a man like I'm in Forever, you know, in debt to them, you know what Virginia Tech has done for me forever in debt to, you know, the program, the university. And, you know, I'm very blessed to have gone to the best university in the freaking country and to get an education of world-class. ation and to play for program that's, you know, known all around the country is, you know, crazy people, you know, jumping up and down Enter Sandman and having the best interest in college football and just the atmosphere, you know, it was kind of hard to believe that you leave it on the Wayside and move on but you know I'm happy where I'm at right now you know and kind of being Vol drowned, football, you know, thing that's helped me a lot with coping with me not playing. I think that's a lot of, you know, football coaches and they get into coaching, you know, because they just love the game of football and they don't know what their life would be like if they didn't have it.

30:38 So Yeah, it's hard to get rid of that itch. It's always there. Even, I mean, part of the reason that I love doing this, as any kind of still, gives me an opportunity to be, you know, a part of that world. So, you know, you never really lose it once you once you get it. So I definitely see that we had a, we had another listener. He's got a question. He's, you know, we talked about the your end time in Blacksburg. Let's talk about kind of what led up to that. What did you like about Fork Union? The By the time you spent there. Yeah, I mean, we hear about Fork Union, its military boarding school all, dudes, and you know, you would think that would suck but you know, it wasn't bad.

31:21 I mean, it as long as you were, you know, behaved and you were disciplined and things like that, you know, it was easy, but, you know, coach human over there, you know, he's a legend, you know, he He helped me get to where I need to get to and without him, you know, I don't know if I was, you know, going to be sitting here talking with you guys with all this hokey stuff in the background, you know, and having the career that I had attack. So you know it was it was a neat experience, very humbling experience but you know I don't know what my life would be. Like if I didn't kind of take that little detour to get to my final destination.

32:09 Destination. So I shout out to coach schuiteman, you know? He's a, he's a goat. Yeah, a lot of some of the the tech grades have taken that path through Fork Union. So, definitely kudos to coach Schumann there. Let's, let's pivot a little bit here and talk about last year's offensive line and kind of what this year's offensive line is going to look like for the Hokies, you know, you were part of arguably, definitely, probably one of Better offensive lines in the last decade at Virginia Tech, you know, few pieces have moved on, you know, one way or other there. But kind of, what are your expectations for that unit for 2021, man?

32:52 I mean, I don't think they'll skip a beat. I mean, you got a lot of guys were turned in, you know, Brock often arguably the best center in the ACC. You know, top 10, top 15 in the country. And you know you got lucita Smith and you know Luke 2 Nu du he's come a long way and you know I'm glad those guys are reaping the rewards, you know, Silas Jazzy to and of course, old man juice you know, Jesus, you know, there there's a lot of guys in there and that room that have experience and you know, there's some veteran leadership in that room.

33:39 And they're going to bring those young guys along and they're going to help those young guys develop and leave that off as a lot of room better when they found it, you know? So I'm very excited what they're going to do. They're hard-working group, you know, they're gonna, they're going to grind and they're going to put the team on their back. You know, the team goes as the office of line goes. And, you know, so there's no doubt in my mind that they're going to you know Kira. Rolling on that vice squad train for sure. Right now speaking of the vice squad you know we've seen a lot of Coach bikes you know he's one of those outspoken guys we saw the video this year you know that pokévision did which was great as great insight to it but we haven't seen as much interaction from coach cornelison you know behind the scenes coaching to inspect of.

34:35 How do they compare to one another and you know what something, maybe a little different about Corn compared to coach device. I mean they're very smart coaches you know I know some people have different opinions about Coach cornelison but you know at the end of the day the guy knows what he's doing like you wouldn't be in that position you know, if he didn't know what he was doing, you know I kind of you know, had a Zoom meeting with him not too long ago, you know, kind of pick his brain. Since, you know, I got that JV offensive coordinator role, you know, tired. Just you know, see his you know way of seeing the game and, you know, always trusted corn with everything he did with the offense. And you know, but biases that more outgoing you know, very well.

35:34 Vocal if you know what I mean you know funny as all get-out I would say it's him and Coach. She best is like the funniest coaches you know on that staff. But you know they really do care about the, you know, the players and their development, you know, on and off the field and I mean the whole staff does but you know, in terms of these guys, you know, they're very smart coaches, you know there they know. They're doing core. Nelson is kind of, you know I would say more like laid back at that makes sense.

36:16 What do you what do you like talks to the you know offensive unit on like Sunday meetings? He was like all right men you know we had a good game or bad game this week, you know, he puts it on himself and like he'll take the bullets, you know, like every coach should and But you know, they work so hard and you know, I appreciate both of them a lot and but, you know, when when coach corn gets mad like, he'll raise some hell but you know, but vices, you know, that constant, you know, fired up Mojo and he's got the haircut and the bad words, having the sunglasses, he's fired up, whether he's yelling at, you're joking with. Yeah, oh yeah.

37:07 You just want to talk about, you know, Vice off the Record, you know about some I got some great stories but taking you up on that by the way, great source of advice and but yeah like Corners a little bit more Bill Belichick like in terms of like talking town but then he'll also you know get after you chew you out, you know if If you mess up but yeah they're both great coaches and you know, they bring their, you know, own style and personality, you know, and I think it's kind of good to have different kinds of personality. You know, different ways of coaching to the team. So yeah, I mean great coaches but, you know, two different personalities in my opinion.

37:59 Gotcha, that makes sense to, I mean we kind of get that but you know, not having quite seen as much of of Coach cornelison. He's kind of good to you know, give fans and things like that. So much some other perspectives there. So that's why you wanted to touch on that a little bit. Let's pivot a little bit too little bit more about you. You know, you kind of came to. You came to Virginia Tech as a preferred walk-on, but you earned a scholarship while you were in Blacksburg. What was that feeling like when coach? Let you know you were Scholarship athlete. I mean, I mean it's probably the most like achieving thing I've ever done in my athletic career.

38:41 You know, I was, you know, under recruited you know basically for my height like I'm only 62. You know I never really understood You know, why the height thing was a huge issue? And when, when I was in the recruiting process, you know, I'm looking at the depth charts of like every school that was interested in. I saw Tech, you know, they had killed fairs college and are Gallo where they're like, 6263 guys and I'm like, okay, like if text says I'm too short, then I know that's complete bullshit, you know?

39:22 And so, you know, that's That's where I really what I got. And, you know, I got a scholarship offer to JMU both in that kind of blew up. And that's a whole different story with itself. But then Shane Boomer Shane. Beamer recruited me and you know, gave me the fur walk-on spot. And you know, obviously I knew that Tech had a good history with Walk-Ons and rewarding them for hard work and you know, and being talented and getting out there on the field and you know, heads again, you know, my boss Sam Rogers. You know, it was an example of that it wasn't on there very long but, you know, so I do that. Like I had a shot, right?

40:06 But then I was at for Union and Beamer retires and then Here Comes This coach for Memphis who I do nothing about, you know, and so I was with one day since day one. I mean, talking about like, January 2016. Like I was wouldn't like day one and you know, Chicago on that Journey with him and that staff. And you know, I gave everything I had and I knew I was like if I do get it one day, like the trains not going to stop like I'm not going to be satisfied. Yeah. There's more things on my checklist that I need to check off and but that was like the number-one thing and you know, it was towards the end to camp.

40:54 I want to say 2019 and, you know, I'm kind of out of it, you know, it was a long day and, you know, we're about to break out of this team meeting and basically, kind of just close camp and he said, I need is Shand, you know, Caleb Smith and Austin, canon in my office. And initially, I'm thinking, hold up. When you get Calling to the coach's office. It's usually not a good thing, you know, most of the time. It's not a good thing. So I'm like, what did I do? I don't know what I did.

41:34 There was a kind of anxiety that kind of, you know, Panic for a quick second and then he paused and then he said to sign your scholarships and the whole team team meeting room erupted. And you know, I'm getting swamped by a bunch of teammates and hugs and high-fives and you know it took me a little bit to kind of realize and process like what the hell is going on. And you know, when I sat down in front of flint and his office to sign a piece of paper, I mean the pain was just shaking my hand because I'm like holy crap. I cannot believe I'm doing this because when I had my little Signing Day you know his head like a Word document saying like I was going to Virginia Tech and like just signed it for the photo op and all that stuff but to actually Lee, do it for real? I mean, I was like, pinch me, I think I'm Dreaming right now and you know it was you know my parents were on their 25th wedding anniversary vacation now in St. Martin and somehow someway I got a hold of them and you know I just broke down crying in my car, you know? And they couldn't believe it and you know, it just it was surreal it was a surreal moment.

42:57 And you know I'll never forget it. Well I'm sitting here thinking about he says is Canon Caleb going to be in my office like how long did he wait? Like that's your the there was a pregnant pause. Yeah. Like it was probably just solid like close to like 10 seconds, you know. Like it was like I mean it could have been shorter but when you hear your name called you know that again like that. Panic sets in and what did I do? Yeah, long pauses longer than you think or, you know, then it actually was and and then he said it and I mean, it was it was awesome like it was awesome.

43:43 That's all. Alright. So we're going to do a couple little fun questions here. The first one is real simple. Yes or no. Answer two words. Tots rails. Yes. Yeah, there we go. Now, man. Yes. But for, for my rookies out there, to all my young Hoagies, we were just turning 21, you have two things to do, all right? When you turn 21 the first place, you go to his tights. The first thing you order is a rail and I should say, three third thing, don't get too many of those. Oh no.

44:25 Oh no! No, no, no. You know, I love me some Jack Daniels. But, you know, hey, nice toss rail. Would, you know, would be nice right now, too. So yeah. Yes, to Todd's rails be smart. And that's the first thing you go. To when you turn 21, Todd's rails will sneak up on you. It will, you do me like, this isn't bad in like I'm doing great and all of a sudden boom and Oh okay. All right. Well I was drinking this in downtown. I got a little sponge leg going on. I'm Braun.

45:07 You got a question for ya. So I mean you got well acquainted with the restaurants in Blacksburg. I'm sure while you were there. What was the go-to spots for like the linemen lunches or like the victory, Beals after a big win? You know, my senior Year, you know me and you know, couple guys, you know, we went to know certain places. I know Bull and Bones was one of them we had Blacksburg Tavern, that's really good. If you haven't been there go there they have some really great food. Check that out. I've been there yet but It's not but this place though is like the holy Mecca. All right, and it's not even in Blacksburg, it's like right outside, you know, Home Place.

46:05 RP Homeplace, you know, sucks that they had to close because covid but as 0 line, you know, the entire office line we will go there, you know, Late July Kylie, right before camp. And, you know, it's kind of like, you know, southern comfort food Fried Chicken, you know, turkey and mashed potatoes, green beans and the roles but it was like endless amount like they just kept coming, you know, until you're like okay I'm done. And you could just see this the servers and the Cubs and all that stuff and like when they know that office of line and showed up if they start you know sweating you know it's like all gonna be a long next hour and a half.

46:48 Yeah we would actually get the Freshman. Oh I'm and it's kind of like a little initiation. It will get the bowl of gravy that you important your mashed potatoes and each one would have to take like a humongous gulp of it, you know, out of them. All so it, you know, our chicken gravy like in Super Troopers, they were treated maple syrup. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah. You know, that that's a, you know, a thing that offensive line has done for a long time and you know, it's unfortunate that, you know, that police had to shut down, you know, because of certain circumstances.

47:28 But yeah, I'm sure they're going to find somewhere else to kind of hold that tradition and But yeah, that one for sure is like Top Notch. All right, I'm off. I don't know if you know about this place you ever been to Tanglewood ordinary out and Goochland. Hmm, you need to go there because it's almost exactly like Homeplace its Southern southern, cooking food? Family-style biscuits fried chicken, pork roast green and they continuously bring it out to you. And they don't stop. So if you need to take your often Sublime and I know it might be a hike from Mechanicsville angle ordinary, I'm good.

48:13 I recommend it. I've been there several times. Um also I want to kind of hit kind of hit some with you here, you know, you've been very, very open about, you know, Your battles with anxiety depression, end. We've seen, you know, Simone biles last week, Naomi Osaka and other folks as well, but those two are really brought to life. Ton, you know what message do you have for athletes out there listening? You know, about who are experiencing these mental health issues from your perspective and you know what sort of advice would you like to get him? Yeah, I mean, you know, it's okay not to be okay.

48:57 You know, there's like this stigma, you know, especially with football players, you know, you're you're tough, you showed, no, emotion things like that. And I think that's, you know, kind of been pushed for as long as football has been around. And you know there's been guys that have battled anxiety and depression but never really talked about it because they were scared or you know they fear that they will be viewed as soft. And you know, I always believed that, you know, when God made us, you know, he gave us a motion, right? He gives the emotion to love to grieve to be happy to be sad and if we didn't have those emotions, then we would be robots, you know, we're not robots. So it's, you know, it's okay not to be okay. But, you know, most importantly you have to speak up about what you're going through.

49:57 Through, you know, you can't bottle everything up. And that's the mistake that I made. You know, I had all these huge events kind of happen in such a short amount of time that, you know, I just felt like, I couldn't handle it, any longer, and I didn't really talk about it. And, you know, I try to, you know, in my own life and, you know, I think a couple days here I think will be the five-year anniversary of that moment, you know? I still got the scar on my thigh and, you know, it's kind of like a daily reminder of where I've been, you know, the lowest point in my life to where I am right now. And, you know, I'm very blessed to be sitting here with you guys right now because five years ago, you know what, if I didn't make it out?

50:50 And so to all those athletes that, you know, have a lot on their mind and on their plate, you know, find somebody talk to, you know, whether it's your friends, your family, you know, they're not going to view you as soft or anything different. Right? Because you know, their true friend, they're going to care for you. No matter what your family is going to support you and love you, no matter what. And so you to kind of get this snowball going terms of talking about mental health, you know, it's a two-way street, you know, the athletes or anybody has to go out there and be open about it.

51:34 Be willing to be open about it. And, you know, on the other side, you know, if you're a friend or family member and use kind of notice, you know, something is kind of off about your friend or your family Or, you know, build them like hey, are you doing okay, like I'm here for you. You know, just be a listening ear, you know, you might not have all the answers and the best advice in the world and that's totally. Okay, but just be a listening ear and, you know, just be, you know, create an environment where these people that are struggling mentally, you know, have their voices be heard So that's my advice to anyone that who's, you know, secretly time, battling mental issues.

52:28 You know, I encourage them to go talk to a family member or friend, or even, you know, a counselor therapist and it's, you know, for me personally, I think it's a lot better when I go and I talk about what I'm feeling. What I'm Being in kind of get it off my chest rather than yeah. You know what, this, not a big deal to anybody. Like, you know, I just keep it to myself because, you know, life was going to be hard. You know, the real world is is hard. It's cruel. It will beat you down to your knees, but you know what's worse, is, you know, battling yourself, you know, you versus you and, you know, you're going to need that support system.

53:17 Them and that support system is there, you know, but you just got to go out there and be willing to you know, use that support system. Yeah and I feel like football even more so than probably some other sports you know when we talk about you know not being okay. Like that has always seemed like to be focus on, okay. Well you know you need some time because you have an injury, your concussed, but you let the mental health aspect. Never Really gets talked about the way it should, and I feel like that's, that's an unfortunate situation because it does kind of condition people to either try to deal with it themselves and bottle it up like you were talking about there, Mmm. Yeah, you know?

54:04 I think it was just it was hard for me because, you know, I was always viewed as that, you know, that tough guy, you know, on the field, you know, and, you know, all to feel, you know, I'm a guy that can talk to anybody, you know. And hang out and you've laid back kind of guy, but, you know, I never really talked about my personal issues. And, you know, and I regretted that, you know, looking back on, I regretted it because then I wouldn't have had that that event happened, you know, five years ago and but you know, you live and you learn. But you know, I'm glad that mental health is being He talked more and more now and you know, it it goes beyond, you know, being you know, this stereotype of being a tough guy and all that kind of stuff.

55:09 Like your mental health comes first. So, you know, I'm glad that this discussion of mental health is being brought into the spotlight especially, you know, with all that Olympic stuff happening with biles. Also, you just said some in. And if that doesn't happen to you, five years ago, you want an advocate now, and for someone like you who's going into coaching, it's going to be around a lot of young people, man. I think you're going to have kids, just feel so comfortable coming up to you knowing he went through it, he speaks out about it. He constantly tells us hey something's going on. Come to me.

55:51 I'm your person in dude. It takes a man. To talk about the stuff you've talked about and to be so open with it and I applaud you too because there's a lot of us not strong and I think your influence and you know I'm going to say for the whole RBA your coaching up in Hanover but I think your story is going to get to other parts of the r-va and I'm going to you know I just applaud you man. That's a blank. Thank you. All right now before we close up here tonight you have some guys you want to kind of Shoutout to real quick. Yeah, football camps. Yeah, south of Hanover High School, man. We're about to get ready to go.

56:37 We're excited to play some football in the fall, not in the spring. And here we go back. Where it's supposed to be? Yeah. And, you know, shout out to my boys, alligator, Burly and Nick Clark. You know, they run their own sports was Sports Performance. Jim Siege performance in Mechanicsville. Right off the 301 behind the Wawa and also their Hogs Academy, you know, if you're young offensive lineman and you want to get better, go to them, you know, they're doing a great job with that and, you know, they're the best place for, for then, in our VA.

57:20 So, shout out to them, go to them, get better. Awesome, man. Well Austin, we appreciate you joining us tonight and that is going to wrap up this episode of The Boundary Corner podcast. I'm Curtis Wilson. I'm Brian Sigler. Visit our website at boundary corner, be t.com and listen to all of our episodes while you're there. Don't forget to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, subscribe on YouTube to our account. Also, so, Props your favorite podcast Spotify, Amazon Apple, we are on all of them. If you're looking to join, the Hokie club and achieves the reach for excellent campaign.

58:02 Please visit boundary corner be t.com forward slash giving to get started is always we let our buddy Jason long down in the nrb play as out this weekend Saturday he will be at The Grandin Village farmers market. So go check our boys out. Catch him on Spotify and apple music as well. We thank you all for listening and watching tonight and as always let's go Hokies