Soundbites: Football Media Day 2025

BLACKSBURG – Members of the Virginia Tech football staff met with local media on Wednesday for its annual media day press conference during Fall Camp. Head coach Brent Pry opened the day with an intro statement highlighting how pleased he is with the attitude and effort of the entire football program throughout the summer months and certainly in the beginning of camp. He also invited Hokie Nation to come meet the team at Fan Day on Friday, Aug. 15. All three coordinators, Philip Montgomery, Sam Siefkes and Stu Holt made their way to the podium and highlighted key insights from their sides of the ball. Read below for highlights from each speaker: 

Head Coach Brent Pry

On his cohesion with the new staff members:
“I’m very pleased with (Offensive Coordinator) Philip Montgomery, (Defensive Coordinator) Sam Siefkes and also with Jarrett Ferguson. Those guys have done a tremendous job. Both of those guys came in with some fresh ideas, some structure changes, with a staff that was pretty much in place. You had to coach the coaches before you really could dive into the players. They have both done a tremendous job of that. With the support of (Director of Athletics) Whit Babcock, we’ve been able to bring in some additional assistants on board on both sides of the ball to help us move things forward and help us learn some new techniques, some new schemes.”

Offensive Coordinator Philip Montgomery

On the running back room:
"I do like the room, I do think that we have some guys that bring some different aspects and skillsets to the table whether that’s the guy that can do a lot of shake to what he’s got in his weapons. We’ve got guys with power, we’ve got guys that are slashers, we have some combo guys in there. All of them have done a good job being able to do things out of the backfield, understanding protections and how they fit within it."

Defensive Coordinator Sam Siefkes

On LB Caleb Woodson:
"His preparation is second to none. I actually had him get in front of the defense yesterday and talk about what his routing looks like. We try to talk to our guys about consistency in the long term and not motivational in the short term and understanding what that means over the course of not only training camp but the longevity of a season. Caleb is somebody who lives his day one minute at a time and lives within that minute which I think is extremely valuable for our players to understand. What he’s gotten better at is his instincts, understanding when to pull the trigger. He’s a guy that by nature wants to go fast all the time, so sometimes it’s learning how to slow down a little bit and able to play to those strengths."

Special Teams Coordinator Stu Holt

On the Hokies' success in the kicking game:
"I think the reason John (Love) has had success is he understands it’s all about the next opportunity, the next rep, so he just has to remain consistent, trust his training that got him to this point. He’s certainly getting some well-deserved attention for his accomplishments but he also understands its a new year and that stuff is great, but it doesn’t have a lot of bearing moving forward so we’ve got to go do it again."