BLACKSBURG – With Virginia Tech football having an open week, head coach Justin Fuente and coordinators Brad Cornelsen and Justin Hamilton met with the media for a press conference on Monday. Read what the trio had to say below.
HEAD COACH JUSTIN FUENTE
Opening Statement:
"Bye week this week. These weeks are really, really important for health, for the football team, for the development of our young players. It's a chance for the coaches to take a deep breath and take a good look at what we've been doing schematically, personnel wise. Go through it with a fine-tooth comb and try to figure out things we can be doing differently or better or do more of one thing or less of another. Take a really good look before we hit this big long run, should be basically two straight months of playing football. We're in the middle of that right now. We'll practice essentially with the players that haven't played as much Tuesday, Wednesday of this week. Thursday, we'll have everybody back out on the practice field. Should be a fun practice Tuesday and Wednesday with basically, I'm sure you all can figure out who will be out there, guys that have played a bunch of snaps for the first four weeks will not be out there. They have to get healthy, have them feeling better and get ready for the big stretch run. The rest of guys, you have to get them ready to play because we're going to need them as the season goes on."
On the offense and the improvements it can make:
"First of all, you shuffle the offense line around a little bit, you have to come to some level of understanding where you think that needs to go. What gives you the best chance to be successful. What gives you the best chance to have some depth with what you've got. How does that need to look. You have to look at are you asking too much of certain positions and players or are there things you can tweak to give those guys a better chance to have success. What needs more work. What can you build off of that has been good. We take a really good thorough look at all of that and move forward. We've lost a lot of plays in the first four weeks on the field, a lot of plays. That's not one position or one player or one anything. It's pretty obvious watching the film, there have been a lot of missed opportunities. That's on us as coaches to get the execution level at a higher, more consistent basis to take advantage of those opportunities."
On his bye week process:
"The bye comes at different times, there's certainly the statistical self-scout that you get every week. What plays are you running out of certain looks or down-and-distance tendencies and all those sorts of things. What we're talking about is a little bit more in depth in terms of, you get the statistical analysis all the time, but what we're talking about is truly a scheme and personnel driven evaluation. That's what you have time to do on the bye week. Taking a good look at not just grading everybody but evaluating productivity, or lack thereof, that positions and schematically, to see how you can improve the opportunities for those guys to have success."
On how he goes about the self-scout with the staff:
"What I'm looking for from each position coach and each coordinator is a pretty short synopsis of what have we done well, what do we need to improve on, and how can we improve upon that. That's positionally, that's each side of the ball so that will be schematically. We'll spend the lion's share of today working on just that. I get in there for some of it on both sides to listen and watch. I like to ask questions that I already know the answers to in general terms. I usually do quite a bit of that work on my own too."
OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR BRAD CORNELSEN
On his thoughts on quarterback Braxton Burmeister's performance against Richmond:
"Yeah, I think there's definitely another big step that he can make. Because of his athleticism, he's made some big plays for us on the scramble and on the move. He's had some nice throws from the pocket. He's done a nice job at times at the run-pass-option (RPO) game. He's got the ability to do all the different things we need to do and he's shown spurts of all the different things. There's another level that he can get to, to make us a better offense and to make it harder to defend us but I certainly think it's there."
On quarterback Braxton Burmeister's communication in and out of the game:
"Braxton wants to be able to do anything we want him to do. I know he understands what's going on. I know he sees it well out there. I know he feels like he can execute anything we put in front of him. But that communication of what he feels the best about going into the week and during the games is something that is a continuous process between him and I."
DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR JUSTIN HAMILTON
On your thoughts on the linebacker position:
"Those guys have been solid, you know. Dax is leading in tackles but he's more than just one player, he's communicating or he's making sure guys are on the right pages. He plays with a lot of energy, effort, and passion. Tisdale is the same way. He's growing and learning each day. He's grown a lot over the course of this offseason from the winter until spring ball and now. The defensive lineman don't necessarily get the stats and the recognition but they've done a good job as well. And if you're getting the ball to your linebackers, then you're probably getting things done."
On the ability to rotate guys up front:
"You have to be able to do that. I think the difference between the offensive line and the defensive line is that the defensive lineman have to chase the ball, and on the offensive line that isn't always the case. I know they are coached to chase the ball but a lot of times, once they have blocked to the point of attack, they don't have to chase it. It's imperative that you have that because over the course of the game, those guys have a lot of wear and tear. whether they're running or they're taking on double teams or playing off blocks or all the different things that the game requires. It's nice to have a group of guys that you can roll in there, that are starter quality, but are also comfortable rotating in and rotating out for four quarters of the game."