Virginia Tech football met with the media Tuesday for a press conference. Read below to see what Tech head coach Brent Pry and wide receiver Da'Wain Lofton.
Head coach Brent Pry
Opening statement:
"First, we've got a statement we prepared collectively in regard to the University of Virginia and their football team. First thing I'd like to say is that on behalf of the Virginia Tech program, our hearts go out to the families of the victims of this unspeakable tragedy two nights ago. Our thoughts and prayers are with Coach [Tony] Elliott, his staff, the Virginia football team and the entire Charlottesville community during what I'm sure is a very difficult time. I can't imagine what they're going through with the loss of these talented young men, Lavel Davis Jr., D'Sean Perry and Devin Chandler. We continue to pray for Mike Hollins as he recovers. We extend our unconditional love and support to the university. This is a reminder to me and all of us that life is precious and a challenge to love each other more. Football is something that is important to all of us. It creates a brotherhood. We are family and when one of us is hurting, we all hurt. I've hugged my own family. I've felt so close to our team through all of this these last 24 hours. UVA was here for us in 2007 and we are here for them now. It's bigger than football. Coach Elliott and I texted yesterday morning. Our hearts go out to them."
On what he said to his team:
"We haven't met as a team yet. We're off Mondays, so I sent out a message to our team yesterday afternoon early and then we're going to discuss it today. That's first on the list for our team meeting today. It's hard, I mean, I saw a lot of our guys yesterday and I know you can't help but think about if this was our team, if it was three or four of our players. To know what we'd be going through, it hits home that way and so it's a very tough situation. I was part of a tragedy similar to this at the University of Memphis. We lost a player in the season but we're going to keep our team close and it's on our minds of everybody, every player that came through and every staff member. There are so many connections to our program through our players, our coaches. This does hit close to home there."
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Wide receiver Da'Wain Lofton
On the University of Virginia:
"It has been a very tragic situation. With it being so close to here, my family has been calling me to check on me. Just to make sure that everything has been going well. It's been hard to focus on football knowing that those kids had bright futures."
On how this changes his perspective with the team's record:
"You just have to come in every day and put in work to get better each day because that's all you can do."