Hokie ClubBLACKSBURG – Heading into Week 1 versus Old Dominion, Virginia Tech football met with the media on Tuesday to discuss the matchup. Read below to see what head coach Brent Pry and wide receiver Kaleb Smith had to say.
Head coach Brent Pry
Opening statement:
"It's been a long time coming, and it's hard to believe it's here, but we're obviously excited. I'm excited as anybody to see our team play. See what guys bring into the stadium and the positives. I know there will be adversity, there will be things that we have to get better at, but I'm anxious. We've squared off against each other and competed against each other for quite some time now. So, it's nice to have an opponent, other than the maroon and orange to go out and work against. So, we're excited about the ballgame. We've got to finish out our preparation this week. I think it's a heck of a challenge. And ultimately, I know Ricky Rahne firsthand. I know a bunch of his staff. These are good football coaches that will have this team well prepared for us. On top of that, he knows our defensive system. He knows our structure is familiar with us offensively. There's much familiarity between our two programs. And then obviously, there's some history there. So, it's a great opener."
On the Lunch Pail and why he decided to bring it back:
"It's just meant so much to me over the years. It's part of the fabric of this place. In my mind, it's something that's initiated defensively. Its main home is on the defensive side of the ball, but I want that mindset for our entire football team. It was absolutely going to be part of us doing this. We've done something similar, not necessarily with a Lunch Pail, but we've carried that reference and what it meant in other ways. Over the course of my career, on the defensive side of the ball, so it naturally made its way back."
On the test that the first game brings and how players are going respond:
"That is what we're trying to figure out and what that first game is about, particularly for new staff. Who are we really? How do we truly respond to adversity? There's nothing like the true game environment to answer a lot of these questions. We think we have a pretty good idea on some guys who have been there, that are battle tested, but as a unit, as a team, we don't know. Obviously, the development and implementation of a culture have been at the top of our list from day one with this football team. You're going to see signs of that throughout this first ballgame. I'm excited for that piece of growth, development and the things we want for our team. But, there's going to be some weaknesses. There's going to be some things that show up that we'll have to work on. We are still figuring this thing out for real, as far as what type of team we have."
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Wide receiver Kaleb Smith
On what it means to him to be a captain this season:
"I'd say it was definitely my No. 1 goal coming into this offseason, that I talked about in all my meetings with the coaches in the spring and over the summer. To just have that respect from your team and the coaching staff, it definitely means a lot."
On how he visualizes before games to prepare for them:
"I like to think about plays we have run during the week as myself and under the lights. You know, setting up our game and making those plays. It could be anything from just going down there and just blocking everything out and visualizing every aspect of the game. Running out of the tunnel, whatever it is, and just getting the energy there."