Hey. The Monarch nation it's Virginia tech week. So we. Have a great two-part So for you. First we talked. With Andy bitter. Virginia tech beat reporter from the athletic to learn about the 2020. To okies after. after that discussion we meet with fellow monarchist, Mary williams for a round table discussion on our odu monarchs Enjoy the show

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And you're listening to the Moar podcast. This evening. We have Andy bidder, Virginia tech football beat writer for the athletic he's covered the hokey since 2011 ly for the Virginia pilot in Roanoke times, and has written about college football for 20 years. Andy, welcome to the world's best and only podcast.

World's best that's that's lofty praise there. I'm I'm excited to be here. Thanks for having me guys.

Well, our competition isn't really keeping up their end of the bargain. So Andy thank you for joining us. You've been covering the hokey for more than a decade and many consider you to be the written voice for the hokey. This past off season tech brought back a former GA and the antithesis of Justin Fuente in Brent, pry to hopefully bring back the hokey to competing for the division. They off dominated under Beamer. Since he's been hired, the James Franklin influence. It's pretty blaring. It's clear. He's tried to reconnect the program with fans and place a lot of value in keeping the state talent at tech, both are things Monarch fans witnessed with the hiring of Ricky and it helped him remake this program quickly. If you had to pick out the most impactful change that coach pry has brought to the program, what would it.

You know, I think the big thing is trying to reconnect to a lot of relationships that have maybe been, were maybe burned in the past. I know a lot of in-state stuff. In terms of recruiting with high school coaches and, and stuff like that. I think that was just not a forte of the previous staff. They maybe didn't get out there as much and, you know, shake hands and see all the people in the high schools as they did in the past. And that was sort of a specialty of Frank Beamers. They knew the state in and out. They were well respected when they went in there. And I don't think that was the case with FTE. And you know, the part of the pandemic was a tough time with that, but he could have done a better job. Nonetheless, it just kind of wasn't his personality. Get out there, shaking hands. Do the, the, the, you know, all the, the kissing baby shaking hands type stuff. You almost have to be like a politician as a head coach. And he didn't really feel like that. I, I, I don't know if he didn't feel like that was part of the job or if he just didn't enjoy it, he's just like, I'm not gonna do it that much. There was just like grit your teeth and do it. It's like you have to do it as a head coach that comes with the territory being the head coach. So I think, you know, pry has done that. He's embraced. You know, I think he saw what James Franklin did all those years at Penn state. And, and before that he was at Vanderbilt with him. I mean, he was with him for a long time. You can't help, but have some of, you know, what he brings to the whole process rub off on you in that and seeing how you, he forged his relationships. That's, that's the biggest thing. I did a recruiting piece where I talked to a bunch of high school coaches and they're like Penn state, man. They're just like, The head coach is calling these recruits and there's a relationship and, you know, family up there. I know every school says family. That's the, you know, drink if you've heard that one before. But you know, it feels like they really fostered that at Penn state. I think that's what prize doing, tried to do at Virginia tech. We'll see if he accomplishes it, but I, I think he's taking the right steps in the early, going so far.

So. If you said all of that and just put Ricky's name, where prize was ODU fans would agree with you. So it's clear it's a Penn state model that they're all building at ODU and Virginia tech,

Yeah, I think so. I think so. And I just, I feel like that's a model that you should have to follow in college football period. And that's sort of what the name of the game is in college sports. And yeah, it's changing a little bit now with ni L and you know, I think a lot of these recruiting battles will come to, well, how much can you pay me on top of doing all this stuff for these relationships and family feeling, family feeling only goes so far. If some other school's gonna give you $200,000 to go there. It's like, oh, I like my family too, but I also like getting paid to do this stuff. So we'll see if, if that, you know, model or that approach holds up. In the shifting landscape of college football, but I think that's sort of essential. I think you have to do that in college sports.

So speaking coach fry and 7 57, what's the staff's feeling or what is your impression of their feeling on this series and it being a long series?

It seems A little strange that they would scheduled out this far ahead. Like I I've always come down hard on ADSS and they're like, ah, we gotta schedule our, our seasons out through 2035. It's like, what, what you like you're gonna do. My daughter is six years old. You have to schedule out to when she's going into college.

And which one let's pick right now.

I'm not gonna go that far. I, I, we we'll see what it costs in you know, 15 years or however long. It's gonna be a little bit less than that. So I better save a little bit quicker, but it's like, why do you have to schedule so far in advance? Why do you schedule so far out, like, look at your needs each year and come up with interesting matchups and. I mean, they did this mistake with ECU where they scheduled so many ECU games and then they just kind of got tired of each other and there was resentment and there was the whole cancellation thing with the hurricane and then just got outta control. It's like, you don't need to schedule 10 matchups out into the future. So I, it makes me wonder a little bit why they bother. Doing it with this series. If you know, from Virginia tech, I can see why they do it. It's going down into a, you know, talent, rich area of the state. It's not bad to be visible down there. I know people will say that that's an overblown facet in this whole thing, but I don't think it's the worst thing to go into the 7 57 and appear every now and then. I mean, that's five hours from Blacksburg. That's a long ways. So I think down being down there is helpful. You know, it is relatively cheap for Virginia tech in terms of. You know, trading off home games like that. They don't have to pay a big guarantee for some team to come in for a one off game in lane stadium. So I, I see some positives to it. I just, I don't know if it needs to take place as frequently as it's going to.

I will say thank you to tech for that ECU situation, because ODU reaped the benefits of that by signing a long term deal of ECU as well. And I think both series are very important for ODU. They they're both ones that are gonna get fans in the stadium and excited. Both easy road trips.

Yeah, I think ODU and ECU is, is a much better series just cuz proximity for one thing. I mean they're right there. They're both competing for the same recruits down there in the 7 57. It feels like I feel like that one is, is maybe a lot easier to get to from somebody who's made. Many drives across the state of Virginia and North Carolina to get to you know, Norfolk and to get to Greenville. It's not convenient. there's no, there's no good east west road in this state that makes that drive very easy, but I could see how ODU and ECU would be a lot easier to get to one another.

Yeah, we joke that we're, we're kind of the cul-de-sac of Virginia. It's it's not really easy to get here from anywhere in the.

No, it's, it's an odds. I mean, I've lived in Virginia for, you know, 17 over the last 20 years now. And I St the, the geography of it still boggles my mind. Like I've lived in Danville, Lynchburg, and, and now Christiansburg the new river valley. And that just, it's not easy to get to anything. We go to Richmond lot and it's like, man, it's. Four hours up the road and 80 one's a disaster. It's just, they need to make transportation a little bit easier in the state, I think. And that that's before you even deal with all the tunnels and the traffic and the 7 57, which, you know, if you hit those at the wrong time of day, good luck.

Yeah, you're not gonna get in the argument out of us with regards to travel and bridges, trains, planes, and automobiles coming around here. So we were just talking a little bit about. Some potential storylines. There are a lot of storylines in the 2022 version of this particular game. One of the major ones that sticks out is Ricky versus Brent, right? They are both both coordinators under James Franklin. Also we've got the importance of the 7 57 where we were just talking about with recruiting. I, I think. Like you said, some people are gonna may, may disagree over that, but it's a recruiting hotbed. And, and over the years, I know Frank Beamer made a, a living off of getting great talent out of 7 57. Obviously nobody wants to lose this game, but do you get the impression from coach pry that this game is bigger than any others? This.

It's tough to say, cuz you'll talk to 'em and it's like, oh, every game is important. You know, it's the, the typical coach speak thing, but you know, starting off at ODU, a place that was the most infamous loss of the Justin Fuente era, really sort of the beginning of the end, that was like, oh. There are cracks in this whole thing. That's where it started. That would not be a great way to start your tenure at Virginia tech. And then obviously going up against Ricky, Ronnie who's great. Familiar with great familiarity with, from their time at Penn state. You think of how many times they've gone up against each other in practice. This is your first impression. As the Virginia tech head coach, I just don't think you can go down there and lose in that stadium again. Cause it just would bring back so many bad memories from the last time they were down there. So you know, he might say this just like every other game, but you know, from an outsider's perspective, looking at it, I would say, Hey, don't lose that one. Especially that would be a tough one to start off with.

Yeah, I can imagine that tech fans would be up in arms if that were to happen. It would be an interesting weekend to write, be writing about the, the football game.

Yeah. Well, I remember the last time down there, it was just like, is this really gonna happen? it's just like, like you, you look through a couple quarters and then Josh Jackson gets hurt for the hokey. And you're like, okay, they got the backup quarterback in there and they're not really stopping anybody. And you know, a couple weeks earlier, they didn't allow Florida state to do anything. In a game and then it turns out Florida state was an absolute disaster offensively. So that didn't really tell you anything. But yeah, that was a weird game that night watching it. You're like, oh, in the middle of the third quarter, you're like this, this is probably gonna happen at this point. And it felt like Virginia tech was powerless to do anything about it. So yeah. Hokey fans have a little bit poor memories of, of going down. SB Ballard stadium, then I'm, I'm looking forward to the, the new renovation there, but I think a lot of hokey fans don't just like the general area of, of being in that stadium.

So Andy we touched on recruiting and scheduling these games out for a long period of time. I think a part of why Virginia tech does it is to keep other ACC schools off of our. But one of the benefits of playing us in Norfolk is being able to recruit players and host them on the sidelines. However, this year, the game being played on a Friday night they won't really get that benefit as much as they would normally cuz those kids are being playing games. What is your impression on the coaching staff's feelings on playing this game on a Friday night.

You know, I hadn't even really thought about that. I know coaches, coaches in general, don't like the Friday night because of that. Although I feel like official visits, at least in the fall are becoming less and less over the years. It seems like more guys are doing that in the summer and in the spring than what they were before. You know, it is probably tough. You'd like to have some people out there. I mean, if you're Virginia tech, you're the visiting team. So it's not like you're having people on your, your sideline as visitors at this game, but you know, they see you there at the same time. So I don't know. That's, that's a tough one. I, I think the trade off is that this is what the TV demands and the TV is paying all the money. So, you know, you took the check, you kind of have to play whatever they tell you to play. So. You know, if, if it comes down to taking a little bit less money in their salary versus playing on a Friday night, not necessarily liking it. I think the coaches probably would be like, I'll take the money. Thank you very much.

Right on. So ODU fans know two staff members of Virginia tech very well from their time in Norfolk, offensive recruiting coordinator, wide receivers, coach Konta mines and senior director of strength and conditioning white GA. What impact have those two had on Virginia tech so far since they joined the squad?

Well, I've heard good things about the strength and conditioning program. And I think you always hear that with a new head coach where you know, it's just sort of a refreshing thing to hear it from somebody new. And I can't tell you how many places I've been, where there's been coaching changes and all of a sudden everybody's like, oh man, this new strength staff is working us. Like we they've never worked us before. It's like, okay, I've heard that before that that has been the case in a lot of coaching changes, but. I think he comes with great credentials in his past, obviously learned from a very decorated strength coach, his dad up at Penn state who is pretty well regarded in the strength and conditioning community. I've heard good things of, of what he's doing here. You know, ODU players had good things to say about him. So I, I would expect it to be pretty good on that end font down mine. Is an interesting one. I actually covered him. I used to cover UVA when I, I was at the Lynchburg news in advance. I covered him when he was at UVA. And he's just an interesting guy. He's just like Virginia to the core. I mean, he's from Richmond. He's coached at basically every school in the state. Like I think if it goes to Liberty, you'll get a set of steak kni for hitting every school in the state. Basically. But I mean, he's just. He is a matter of fact kind of coach. He tells it like it is, and you know, whether it's on the field or talking to us, he doesn't really sugarcoat things too much. And as a reporter, I appreciate that sort of that, you know, blunt honesty that he has about his players and where they need to improve. And. You know how things are going. I mean, it's not always cheery. And he says, it's not always cheery. And I like that fact. So I, I sort of like his brute honesty on a lot of subjects. He's, he's one that I've enjoyed talking to so far.

I'll just say this the hiring of white gold at ODU showed that things were changing for our program. It, the difference in the size of alignment from his first year was pretty alarming. So I kind of credit him for changing the trajectory of O football even before Ricky got. He is gonna do great things and that one hurt, especially cause I'd heard so many awesome things from the offensive and defensive line about him. But bill Connolly, he does a rank of returning production and in this era of N report portal I think that ranking is more valuable than ever before. Virginia techs, numbers show, coach fry liked a lot of what he saw about the defense, but the offense brings a lot of question marks for the new QB and a lot of turnover. What can we expect from this offense?

Your guess is as good as mine on this. I, I, haven't gotten a really good feel of what this offense will be like or really schematically what they wanna look. They look like they've kept a lot of that under wraps, and they've said they want to come out and run the ball. I question whether they have the offensive line to do that. On a consistent basis. They brought in a, a transfer quarterback and grant Wells from Marshall, who, you know, I'm not a quarterback expert, but he looks serviceable out there. He looks decent in, in terms of throwing the ball out. I'm not saying he's gonna be all ACC. And certainly in a, you know, a year like this, where the, the conference is just loaded with topnotch quarterbacks, but I think he can be an improvement on what they had last year with Braxton Burmeister, who, you know, sort of struggled pushing the ball down field a lot. And. You know, the receiving core is not deep, but they have some guys that are interesting, you know, Caleb Smith day one loft and Jayden blue is a 10 transfer that had, you know, a thousand yard season a couple years ago. I think there's some pieces there. I just question how deep this group is. And you know, I worry particularly about the offensive line. You get to that second team on the offensive line. You're dipping into true freshmen in a lot of spots, potentially. You know, they go into week one, Malachi Thomas, their top running back is hurt right now. Looks like an ankle or something like that. Jalen, Sen's been a long nicked up there. They just don't have a lot of guys that if they start losing the piece here or there. You get down to some young guys or some really inexperienced guys where I think that could be a struggle, but if they can stay healthy, I see a path to a decent offense that, you know, perhaps has to throw the ball a little bit more than they like to just cause I, I wonder if they'll be able to run the ball, but I think this has a chance to be an improvement on offense from what they had last year. That's not, that's not saying much. It's not like there were some great offensive machine last year, but considering the pieces they lost, I think that would still be a step forward. If they weren't able to make an improvement there.

So given Boeing's background and state tight end coach, I imagine there, the system's gonna look a lot like ODU system, where the tight end plays a viable role in the office. What are we looking at at a tight end for Virginia tech?

Yeah, I, I think I'd agree with you there. And that's actually one of the deeper positions on the team. They got Drake, Dous Nick Gallo coming back, or a couple veterans that are sort of, you know, what you imagine when you think of the tight end position they've got Blum, who's playing there. It was a quarterback last year. That's sort of playing this. Slash type role where it's HVAC tight end receiver running back, maybe what? Maybe a Wildcat quarterback. Maybe they could snap it to him directly. He's somebody. I think this offensive staff is excited about right now. We'll see if the, you know, if that turns into a bunch of touches this year, but they like what they see there so far. And then, you know, a true freshman that just got here. It was day one, Wright. It was a pretty well regarded recruit last year. I think he stepped in and brought maybe a little dynamic ability at that position. Maybe pushing the ball down field as a receiver a bit more. He was like a thousand yard receiver in high school. A bit more of a receiver than like a, you know, hand of the ground type tight end. So there's a diversity of talent there. A couple guys that I think they can do some things with. And I think that'll be valuable cause they're not very deep at the receiver position. They might have to split what tight ends out wide or can do some different things with Blick in different roles. But I think that's gonna be basis of this offense, because like you mentioned, Tyler Bowen is the tight ends coach too. And he's done this before and he's used these kind of pieces before. I think it's gonna be a big part of the offense.

So as mentioned, the defenses got quite a bit of talent coming back for the leading tacklers in the backfield are back in the fold, including daks hollow field. What's the biggest chance of fans from that are the fans are gonna see from winte to pry on defense.

You know, I think pride just has a defensive plan. About things on that side of the ball. I mean, that's his bread and butter. That's what he's been his entire career. He's gonna be hands on. He's gonna be calling plays on that side of the ball. He's gonna be heavily involved in game planning. Obviously, this is what he did at Penn state. And it's just a matter of. You know, fitting some round pegs and square holes, square pegs, and round holes, whatever the saying is. I mean, they don't exactly have all the, the, the types of athletes they like at some of these positions, but they're working to get, you know, the existing guys that they have here to fit certain spots and find out who's stronger and, you know, coverage or who who's a liability and coverage, stuff like that. So I think that'll take a while to sort itself out, but I think just from the, the organizational. Standpoint and schematic standpoint, it might be a bit more cohesive than what it was before, where, you know, the end of the bud foster era, and then moving into Justin Hamilton with the hokey, I think there was just sort of searching for an identity and search trying to get back to what they used to be. And it just hasn't been the same. They haven't been, you know, with the exception of 2019 at times. Where they look like a bud foster, defensive old for a couple games. They just haven't had the stats on that side of the ball. It's been very, you know, disconcerting. If you're a hokey fan to look at this team and. This isn't what Virginia tech is. It's just like sort of tears at the fiber of this team when they're giving up 400, 500 yards of offense or 30, 40 points that that's just not what Virginia tech is. So I think pride coming in, it'll be a return a bit to the past, even if schematically it's a little bit different than how it's been.

So Zach Coots made your coworkers, Bruce Feldman's college football freak list for 2022, Zach he's six eight has a four, 4.5 40 and a 40 inch vertical. Who on the tech defense gets the privilege of trying to guard him.

Well, let's see tight end. That would probably be Kiante Jenkins. The The Sam linebacker would get the most duties with that. Maybe a corner bag maybe, or, or a, a safety comes in Shamari. Connor could do a little bit that I'll say this. If he's six, eight, they're giving up some inches on him. They don't have a, if Kelly Lawson was healthy, he's like six, six. As a Sam linebacker, maybe he could match the height a little bit better than some of these guys, but man, it's gonna be like a guard trying to box out a forward in this situation. They're gonna have to figure out some other ways to do it than just relying on straight height going with this guy down the field. So that will be one of the more interesting matchups in this game.

Yeah, Zach is just. You're gonna have to double team. You're gonna have to make it hard for him to get off the line and get into his route. Otherwise you're gonna be toast. He, he's just different. I I'm shocked he's here and I'm happy he is, but it also shows how good Penn state's tight ends are that he couldn't get playing time there. So this year hokey special team. Replaces their lead point, returner their kicker and their long snap. That's quite a bit of turnover from a pretty good unit last year. Do they have the pieces? And if so, who are we looking at?

You know, I, I think they have the potential there. They have a couple long snapping candidates. I don't really know. You know, I'm not gonna sit here and break down the long snapping competition. Cause I don't know if I can add too much nuance to that. You know, they snap the ball. I mean, there it is. It's a snap you know, kicking competition. It sounds like will Ross is maybe ahead of a freshman John Love right now. They've had very, a good successful history sort of lineage. Of kickers there going from Joey slide to Brian Johnson, to John Parker Romo last year, a couple of these guys going up to the NFL and continuing to kick there. So they've had a lot of success there. I think they'll be okay there. Once they get some experience, Peter Moore back is a punter. He was a all ACC guy last year. And then I look at the return game and. You know, they lose Tabion Robinson, who was really good. But DJ Harvey's probably the guy on punt returns that we haven't seen him return a whole lot, but I, you watch him in the spring game and man, he just caught the ball so easily. Like it was just second nature when he was catching it. It was not, it was not like a big deal. You get some of those guys back there and you're like, oh man, is he gonna catch this thing? Like, it's, it's a little shaky getting into the, you know, the stomach by the time you bring the ball in. But he caught it with ease and we'll see if he can turn that, you know, into actual returns as well. It's a different thing when you have a fear of getting hit and, and have to go down the field. But I think they have the potential there. So it, you know, it. They turn over a lot on specialties, but I, I think it, it might not be that much of a drop off. Maybe you could maintain what they had last year as well.

So Beamer ball, we know all about it. It, it got famous for using defensive starters on the coverage units. Is that something pride is gonna be doing?

To a degree. I, I think, you know, every coach now has to sort of guard against putting their star players in bad spots. Or injury prone spots. And there's, there's nothing more injury prone than special teams being a gunner or, or something like that. You know, historically you can look at the trends. That's where a lot of injuries happen, cuz you're just flying down the field and, you know, high speed collisions. So I think they'll be smart with that, especially since. You know, the thing about this team is they, they feel okay about their first team. It's the depth. That is the biggest concern. So I think if that is the, the big deal, you don't wanna put your top guys out there and risk them getting hurt in a situation. That's not just them playing their regular team. So I think there'll be a little bit of, of top guys playing there, but I don't think you're gonna see like the starting 11 out there on the kickoff coverage team or something like that. I, I think they're gonna try to be smart about that.

So I think with the hiring of coach pry, we're taking a, like a step back to more tradition, looking at things from the past, the glory kind of glory, years of Virginia tech. Are we gonna see the lunch PA on the sidelines of 2022?

You know, I don't think so. It was sort of a bud foster thing. I mean, Justin Hamilton took over, they phased it out knowing that it was a bud foster thing, it's like, we, we kind of wanna do our own thing at this point. And I know Brent pry reveres, bud foster. I mean, foster still has an office in the Virginia tech football building. He's he's, you know, pride will go bend his ear a little bit about things every now and then I'm sure. You know, he wants this to be his own thing as well. And you know, the lunch PA was so identifiable with, with bud and how he did things on defense that I would imagine pride would like to sort of do his own thing on this. I haven't heard him say for sure one way or another. If, if the lunch PA will be a thing, but I think that's, it's probably in the past now. It's a nice, you know, they have a flag up in the stadium. With how they retired numbers, they retired the lunch PA technically they put it up there in the stadium, cuz that's so identifiable with bud foster. And I think Virginia tech and pry would probably like to keep it that way.

Interesting. So the last time y'all made the trip to Norfolk, it was pretty rough for tech fans. I'm hopeful that memory is still fresh in a lot of tech fans' minds, but how are the tech fans anticipating this game? Are, are they nervous? Are they chomping at the bit?

Probably both I mean, I, I, I don't think they can feel anything, but a little nervous just because of the history. I mean, if it's the only time you've been to a place like that and you lose pretty. Shocking fashion like that and such a lasting loss. I mean, it was the injury of the quarterback. Trayvon hill gets kicked off the team the next day. It just, everything that could have gone wrong on that night did go wrong. it was just like such a defining moment of the FTE era that, oh man. That's when it turned. That's when, you know, in hindsight that's when it completely turned from this guy is, is got everything going on to what the heck is he doing in this locker room? So I, I think there's gotta be a little bit of nervous feelings among the hokey fans. And on top of that, it's a brand new coach. You dunno how he's gonna operate. You've never seen Brett prize a head coach. On the sideline. You've never seen grant Wells throwing passes for the hokey. You, you haven't seen this scheme. So there's just so many unknowns that I would have to imagine that there's a little bit of trepidation on Virginia techs part at the same time. I think they're eager to get this thing started and probably want to exact a little bit of revenge. On ODU for what happened. I mean, you know, beating them in Blacksburg is one thing, but going back to the scene of the crime, so to speak and playing well and exercising those demons a little bit would probably be satisfying to this fan base. So probably a little bit from column a and a little bit from column B will be.

All right. So early takes Vegas, sees this game in text favor from anywhere from about seven and a half to 10 points. What's your take on how you think this thing's gonna go.

You know, I think Virginia tech wins you know, I don't, yeah, I'm not gonna sit here and say, I'm an expert on OBU and everything that it's done. I just. I like Britte is at right now in terms of just sort of optimism and general feeling around the program. And I think they'll show up on the field a little bit. And, and my biggest concern with the steam right now is depth. And as you go into week one, when there's not that many injuries, I think that shows up less of a problem in a game like this. So I don't think they're gonna run away with this one. By any means? I'll probably put it somewhere where Vegas does a touchdown, something like that. But I, I do think the hokey come out of this one with a win.

Well, Andy one of the things you mentioned was the line being pretty thin and that plays in O's favor quite a bit with our biggest strength on defense being the defensive line. So I hope grant is ready to run, cuz they'll be coming for.

Yeah, there'll be something interesting to watch. I mean, people look at Wells and they see the, the passing numbers. He actually moves pretty well. He's not like. He's not gonna be Bryce Perkins out there or something like that running for a hundred yards every game, but he's got a good pocket sense. He can kind of drift away from, from trouble when it's designed runs. He seems to make good decisions on whether he's keeping him or, or handed it off. And, you know, that's not something that Marshall did a whole lot with him there, but I think the hokey have been pleasantly surprised by how well he moves. But you know, like I said, about the offensive line, I look at the first team offensive line and for Virginia tech and I. I can see it. I can see it with this group, but man, if there's just one injury and all of a sudden you're shifting things around and a true freshman jumps up to the, the starting or starting lineup or somebody who's never played really. That's basically everybody on that second team just doesn't have a lot of game reps. That's when I see it start becoming problematic. And you know, if you have a leaky offensive line that affects everything. So that'll be something to watch in this opener, especially if that's a, a strength for ODU is, is how well they can protect Wells. And if they can open up pole to run the ball,

Honestly, it sounds like it's gonna be a defensive matchup really. And what it's gonna come down to is who makes fewer mistakes. Luckily we have a quarterback that's pretty good at protecting the ball and that's Wells' biggest weakness, or it was at March. He made a lot of bad decisions at times through a lot of picks. So if we could force some into mistakes, I think we have a shot here, but who knows with being surrounded by tech athletes, how, how much that changes

Well, if I recall Wells last year played ODU and had two picks in that game, then also had like a touchdown in the last two minutes or something like that to force overtime. So you saw sort, you saw sort of the good and the bad of Wells at the same time.

That was also before we did our quarterback change. So,

Ah, okay.

Our offense, isn't it. Wasn't what it was later in the season. Yeah, he took it from us. He, he won that game for him.

Yeah, I think that's sort of the book on Wells that Marshall is he can be a guy, but he can also be the guy that gives it away to the other team too. And that's gonna be the biggest thing this year with him is can you cut? And he had 13 picks last year tied for the conference USA lead. Dubious distinction, but can he cut that down? And, you know, can he cut that down against ACC competition this year? Because you know, that's a big deal. Can't be given it away like that, especially against you know, a higher level of competition than what he was playing at before.

I just wanna take a real quick step back, go back to instate recruiting. So obviously Mike, just, we talked about what happened the post mortem of the last time that this game was played in Norfolk. Obviously every game has been played in Blacksburg. Virginia tech has won pretty convincingly If ODU wins this game in Norfolk and goes two and oh, in Norfolk, do you think this thing makes a, a significant impact on in-state recruiting between these two schools?

You know, I always am hesitant to say one result. Can really shift things too much. I mean, maybe this combined with the 2018 result, you, you can point to it as no to you coach and be like, Hey, every time they come down here, we beat 'em. So how about that? How's, you know, there's your flagship program in the state out there in Blacksburg? They, they struggle every time they come down here, maybe that's something, but I, I still think. You know, recruiting comes down to all sorts of factors and, you know, facilities and now ni and opportunities. And I feel like a lot of guys will look at the two schools and go, you know, can I play in the power five or not? And, you know, if, if you get the power five off or you have the opportunity and there's a, a plane, a path to plane time for you. I think a lot of guys will just take that, especially if there's some IL money behind it now. So you know, I it's like, you know, people always ask like, oh, Virginia tech beats, North Carolina, are they gonna, or recruits? It's like, well, that hasn't been the case lately. Because they continue to beat North Carolina and still lose a bunch of recruits to the tar heels anyway. So I try not to get caught up on individual results when it comes to recruiting. Cause I think recruits employers don't necessarily think that way.

Yeah, it's more for the, the guys at the end of the, when you're trying to fill out the end of the class that we're gonna be competing for really, to be honest. It's not the top line guys that we're really recruiting against you guys for

Yeah. And, and when it comes to those guys, I think it comes down to what they're looking for and like, Hey, I, I can go into ODU and, and start possibly earlier in my career. Or I could go to a place like tech and probably have to battle a little bit longer on the depth chart. You know, it's just, it just depends on what their preference is and, and how they want to go about it.

Agreed. Well, Andy I appreciate you taking the time to talk with us and we really appreciate it. And we can't wait until next Friday.

Yeah, I'm tired writing about pre-season stuff. I wanna actually get to some games, so let's get this thing fired up. I'm excited for it.

Absolutely Andy, where can people find your stuff?

Go to the athletic.com. You get all of our stuff there. You know, if you don't wanna sift through the site, follow me on Twitter, Andy bitter, VT. I tweet all my stuff out and links to all my work there.

Awesome.

Thanks, Andy.

All right. Thanks for having me.

Go monarchs.

Go Monarch.

podcast Hi, I'm coach Ricky, Ronnie, and you're listening to the monarchist.

So we've covered Virginia tech, pretty extensively through our discussion with Andy. Now let's shift our focus to the home team, the boys and blue, the monarchs tonight, we are joined by fellow Monarch, Gary Williams. You'll find him on Twitter at 3g Williams. Welcome to the Gary.

Hey, thanks Mike and Aaron for having me appreciate you having me on and love the podcast so far. Some, some great stuff from those interviews. Think you'd make a lot of other podcasts in the Sunbelt's a little jealous by having, you know, the commissioner on and all of our coaches. So awesome.

Well, thank you. So we're gonna do this a little differently than our typical interviews and just have a brief round table discussion to get everyone's thoughts on this big game and the 2022 season. So let's start with the strengths, of the 2022 monarchs.

Yeah, I, I think the big strength that ODU is gonna rely on this year is that offensive line returning four outta five starters is, is gonna be huge for them. I know we've seen some depth charts come out. I think there's still some question on who's actually gonna kind of fill the void there for Isaac Weaver. My money would be on Santa Saunders to join the, the main starting five of the offensive line, but Ohio transfer, Gary Hoover is gonna get a lot of plane time and don't be surprised to see Xavier black and Skylar grant get in there as well. I mean so many. So much experience on that offensive line coming back. They're big. They, they really look like a power five offensive line. I think the key for them is filling kind of that leadership void that Isaac Weaver had. I think Salvad area is, is gonna be the, the true leader who steps up there and probably makes a lot of the protection calls on that offensive line. But everything stems from that on the offensive side of the ball, if they can leverage. Experience and leadership and really just how nasty and dominant they got last year, even against some really good defensive lines. That'll open up the run game to pass game everything. And I think that's probably the biggest strength that we can rely on to make everything else work this year.

Yeah, I agree. A hundred percent with you, Gary. If we're talking on the offensive side of the ball, everything stems from the line, the running game, the passing. What Hayden's able to accomplish. It's all gonna depend upon how that team comes together. Obviously the defense took a big step forward. We'll probably talk about that a little bit later, but I expect them as a unit, as a whole, to be a significant strength of the monarchs for this year.

I think another awesome thing. If you look in the future of ODU is, you know, hunt is a senior and the transfer Hoover is a senior. Everybody else has eligibility. So if you're able to rotate eight, nine guys on that offensive line this year, you're just gaining a ton of experience. That's gonna help you. The end of this season, in case we have injuries. Into, you know, future seasons and really develop a true core there. I mean, you know, we talked about, I think eight or nine different guys, but there's also about a dozen other, you know, freshman red shirt, freshmen that are just getting bigger, getting stronger, learning the game.

I'll say this. It, it seems like there's a, a continuity thing going on with, we had Clark who was great at center and he handed the ball off to Isaac Weaver and now Weaver's handing it off to big Sal. And I, I think Sal's really gonna be that great anchor point for this offensive line. And I'm excited what they can do. So if we're talking about strengths, we also have to mention the skill position guys. Cause we got a few that are pretty talented. We have to, talk about he's just a freak. He's a he's if I, I don't see anyone that we're playing this year, that could cover him one on one. They're gonna have to double team him every game, which opens up stuff for the rest of the team. Then O Jenning. If you're not covering him double deep, you're gonna get burned. And then we got Blake Watson outta the backfield who can make plays catching or.

Yeah, Koons just presents a matchup nightmare. For any defense, you can't put a linebacker on him. You can't put a safety on him. Can't put a corner on him. Really have to bracket and with this RPO style of offense we have with option routes, you can almost force who's covering, you know, you break outside and you force the safety to chase you break inside. He's gonna outrun any linebacker. And then, you know, talked about Ali Jennings and that opening up things for him. Isaiah page out of the slot, lined up on the same side of the field as Zach Koons. I mean, that's gotta be just, just nightmares for defensive coordinators, trying to figure out which way they're gonna break. Who's gonna cover.

Yeah, there's, there's a lot of possibilities here. And I think that opposing coaches are gonna have a difficult time. They're gonna have to make choices and they're gonna have to live with those choices. I there's, there's no choice, but to double team Zach. And when they do that, other things are gonna open up. We already saw last year, there was a big transition. There were kind of a tail of two seasons. And we saw in that second half of the season with Jennings, with Koons and with Blake Watson and how effective those guys could be once once things got going. I think that we're gonna start off from the beginning of the season, just like we were ending last season there. Tech is gonna have to figure stuff out real quick. I think the first drive is gonna tell us a lot.

So we're talking about strengths. We got, we gotta pivot a little bit to the defense here and talk about the strengths there. Honestly, to me, it's Terry Johnson. I'm not sure there's a better safety in the league. What do you think Gary?

Yeah. I mean, he is, he is likely gonna be first or second team. Conference the impact. There brings a lot of leadership, a lot of experience just being in that role in the 4 25 defense, getting to control a lot of the things that happened in front of them. But I I've gotta look to the, the defensive line. I think going into last year, that was probably the biggest question mark, because they were so young and within five minutes of gameplay at wake forest, we were like, wow, these, these younger guys are, are kind of nasty. They're just leveling P five offensive linemen. And they just got better as the season went. I mean, that's, that's probably the core of, of the strength on the defensive side this year is those four up front. And then also the ability to really rotate eight guys in, in those defensive line spots. That's a huge advantage, especially looking third, fourth quarter, when they've been pushing all game long, to be able to get fresh legs, keep pushing that offensive line. So depth and talent, there is a huge strength kind of while our, our secondary gets up to speed with, with some new pieces. Definitely led by the safety position.

We all know when that, that D line makes things difficult for the opposing. The amazingly, all of a sudden your corners, your safetys get a lot better. Real quick. The quarterbacks are forced to make decisions that they don't wanna make or make them quicker than they wanna make 'em and, you know, bad things happen for offenses. When quarterback is rushed.

I think kind of an X factor on the defense is Stevie William. He's gonna rotate in again at linebacker, but I don't know if you've seen him in person from either spring ball or, or last season. He is huge. So you can look at him and be like, oh yeah, he used to be a quarterback. Now he is a monster. He is fast. He hits hard and he understands how offenses operate. So I think him getting some of that rotation in that either the linebacker spot or kind of that third safety linebacker corner hybrid position, I, I think he could come and come in. Some second and third down plays and really do a lot of damage

I think Phil Steele was excited to see what what he was gonna do this year too. Obviously he sees the. Him a different perspective than a lot of players just from his background and having played the quarterback position. And I agree with you a hundred percent. Think Gary should be interesting to see how things line up for Stevie, this.

doctor death.

To throw in a comment on Stevie. He enters the rare air of being the ultimate Monarch with David Washington and being willing to do anything, to get on the field and help this team win. Going from quarterback receiver back to quarterback now going mean, what more could you ask from a player and they do it without any complaints. He's, he's gonna go down as one of my favorite Monarch. And I, I hope he succeeds. I, and I considering how good of an athlete he is. I, I expect him to, so last area of strengths, we gotta talk about the special teams units with ion James returning kicks. That's a strength. If you can get back there, I'm not sure if they're willing to do that with his injury history, but those two returning kicks is, is a nightmare for special teams, coaches.

Yeah, that's having two weapons like that. I, I don't know if Paige will spend a lot of time back there, maybe in some of the pun return game where he can be out there on the field, but LeMar and James, I mean, we saw it in the bowl game, you know, opening kick going down the field, scoring a touchdown, and that ended up being. Pretty important in that game because the offense was not moving the ball. Like we thought it would just having that X factor and making. Teams plan against that is almost half the battle. They're gonna have to spend a certain percentage of their time that week talking about don't kick to this guy, kick the other side of the field. Where is he at? What are we gonna do? And, you know, eventually that's gonna lead to a kicker, just kicking it right out of bounds about the 20, we get great field position and you know, going up against Virginia tech in the first game, and they're gonna have a huge emphasis. Defense and special teams. And if we can win a special teams battle here and there, make an explosive play, that's gonna set us up for success. The rest of the.

Yeah,, I'd be shocked if teams kick it to Lamar. Purposefully if they can kick it outta the end zone, they're gonna do it every time. But for kickers, who don't have the leg to be able to do that, I think we're gonna see exactly what you said of trying to get really cute with positioning positioning those kickoffs and ending up, kicking some balls outta bounds and giving us a short field to start. We saw last year, a couple times exactly how explosive he can be. And there's nothing that tells me that he wouldn't be even more explosive this year with a year under his belt and being able to see how the field opens up for.

Think for talking about special teams here, we gotta talk about last year, how good they were at blocking kicks. I think they led the country in block kicks last year. I'm not sure if that's right, but I'm pretty sure they did. If we can get back to that, that's gonna be another X factor for us moving forward.

Yeah, R really being able to pressure those punters and those kickers not make it seem like it's gonna. An automatic and easy operation. I mean, anything you can do to put pressure on special teams, guys that aren't on the field a lot, it is a win including kickers. Like you get that punter thinking about someone coming off the edge or busting through the middle and it's gonna affect their process. And that's only gonna lead better field position for us. And then, you know, explosive plays with blocks and tips and, and just really setting ourselves up.

Yeah, I think what I need to look at in special teams is, you know, Nick rice graduated. Nick was very steady for us. Last year when Nick ran out into the field, I think the coaching staff had an extremely high level of confidence that Nick was gonna be able to perform under any situation. And I think those of us in the crowd felt the same way. So this year is gonna be, you know, Nick's and that's gonna be an adjustment that the team is gonna to find some level of confidence in.

I'll tell you, Ethan Sanchez has a monster leg. I don't know how accurate it is. We'll find out. But I mean, in, in some of the camps he was at, he was bombing 60, 65. Yarders like, it was nothing. So if they can hone that in and have that translate to a game, that's a huge weapon for us because we're gonna be in a lot of knockdown drag out defensive battles this year. Being able to get three or put a 50 yarder through, could be, make or break you know, times it was make or break last year for.

And hopefully we don't have to see him out there too often, but having Ethan Dwayne back for another years is he's a solid Bonner. He's gonna get the job done. And I imagine he's gonna grow quite a bit from last year to this year as well, but no team is perfect. So we gotta talk about any weaknesses you guys think we have in any areas of potential opportunities for the opposition to take advantage of what would highlight.

Yeah, I, I don't know if I've necessarily call it a weakness, but I think it is our area of opportunity to have the biggest impact on us for the season. And that is wide receiver. You look at our stats from last year, Kos Jennings page and smart with those four, they were 71% of our reception, 75% of our receiving yard. 73% of our receiving touch. Well, the good news three or three of those four guys are coming back. The bad news is that's a lot of work on three guys. And if those are your three guys in the receiving game, you can plan for it. You can shut them down. So really someone emerging as that true number to receiver on the opposite side of the field from Ali Jennings is, is critical. Like Jordan BLIS got a great chance to do it. Marque bell coming in from Cincinnati has a great. But I really think that that number two spot is truly wide open. You'll probably see a lot of people rotating in and out of that position to start the season. But if, if someone can step up and be that true number two, to be on the opposite side of the field of Ali Jennings, it opens up as that Koons Isaiah page. It helps in the run game. It, it essentially makes. So difficult to defend that someone of that group is always gonna be open Amari, grander and Peter KWA, the, the two freshmen. I think they can make an impact, especially as the season goes on and they learn the playbook cuz they're explosive. They're great athletes. Get the ball in their hands. You know, I would expect to see them in some capacity in certain package. Just to shake it up, but if we can develop a true number two with, you know, Paige in the slot, couns it tight end Jennings on the other side. I mean, if you're Hayden Wolf, you have to be super excited about that. Right. Experience, offensive line, all those weapons, you can do whatever you want back there. It's, it's a great spot to be in. So. If we don't develop that number too, I think that's a weakness for us, but the opportunity there with as much talent within that wide receiver group that would be a, a huge plus for us, especially going up against this really tough schedule.

I think we need to figure that out fairly early in the season, Phil still agreed with you and Jordan Bly, being that guy that could possibly step up. We saw him make some incredibly difficult catches. Last year when he had an opportunity. And I, I think that he's got a great chance to, to be that guy. But like you were saying at the the open practice they had here, not too long ago, Granger looked really nice. It looked like he had a nice, nice chemistry there with, with Hayden. So hopefully over time, like you're saying, you know, he, and some of the other young guys would be able to do that. My, my bigger one. Number two will step up in wide receiver. I wanna know who the number two is gonna step up behind Zach. So Zach doesn't, you know, Zach can get some, a breather when he needs to, and he is not out there because you know, the tight end position is blocking in this offense as well. So, It takes a toll and you want him to be fresh in the second half of games in the second half of the season to be able to use, you know, be it be it a hundred percent going through. So I'd like to see someone step up right behind him to be able to spell him when, when needed.

I, I would agree with you there on that second tight end. I think there are some great options. And I also think the emergence of a great second pass catching tight end would allow the offense to run double tight more often. So if you have guys that can block in receive in that double tight with two wide receivers out, the defense has no idea if you're running or passing, especially in an RPO. But I mean, Dante Anthony and Isaiah Spencer, two, two pretty good candidates to, to come in right behind Zach Koons are line up on the other side.

So, if we're talking about opportunities, I, I gotta admit linebacker is a little bit of a concern for me. And I think there's a lot of opportunity. There's a lot of talent at that. Positioning a guy like is a, is a big ask. He did everything for this team last year. But replacing them's gonna be, we we've heard the coaches say it. It's gonna be a team effort. You can't replace him with one guy. That's one of the areas that I'm gonna be focused on mostly on Friday is who's the guy that's meeting the ball, every play, cause someone's gonna do it, but we, we're not quite sure who it'll be yet.

I'm, I'm anxious to see Malcolm Brit come back. Him. Out there will be a big plus for us, but I mean, Ryan, Henry's gonna step up and, and do some damage Henderson. We saw him last year as a freshman and talking about a run stopping linebacker. He can get in there and, and reek some havoc. Then, then Stevie Williams, I think there's gonna be a good rotation there. And I think down and distance and scenario may dictate who is on that field. I mean, first and second down, you've got Jason Henderson up the middle. You're gonna be in pretty good shape on anything running through the a. I think with that 4 25, you naturally are a little bit susceptible to outside runs and off tackle. So that's, I think where Stevie Williams can come in with his speed to kind of seal that edge. Yeah. Lot of, lot of great talent. I think the mix and match and this situational subbing is gonna be critical, especially against those high, simple offense.

All right. So we've talked about the strengths, the weaknesses. Do you see any areas on the field that ODU can exploit against Virginia tech?

Absolutely the defensive line Virginia tech is not returning a whole lot on their offensive line in terms of experience. They're big, they're talented. That's for sure. But they haven't spent a lot of time together as a cohesive unit. They have all new coaches on their staff. They're running new schemes. I think that if the defensive line can do a good job and run defense and stop the run, that that's what Tech's gonna do. They're gonna pound the ball as much as they can. Cause they've got good, good running backs coming back. We've got some big offensive linemen. If the defensive line can put. Virginia tech in third and sixth, third, and seven force them to pass. Then our defensive line can 10, our years back go after the quarterback. And I think we've all seen what happens when grant Wells has to move around in the pocket with a lot of pressure leads to a lot of turnovers, a lot of bad decisions, but it's getting to that point where they're in third and six plus third and seven. So they're in third and three, you know, they they've got the options to do a lot of things. So I, I. Our defensive line, being able to exploit Virginia techs, little bit of an experience up front in a new system. Getting to those third and longs is a great opportunity for us to really control field position and just the game itself.

Yeah, when we talk with Andy bit, you know, Andy. Talked about the offensive line and how the talent was there, but they weren't necessarily very deep. And I think within, since the time we've talked with Andy, I think they may have actually had an injury to the offensive line, which makes it even more difficult for them. So everything that Gary said, I think that is gonna be the key here is having our defensive strength really try to assert their strength on. Virginia tech. And we know that games are one in the trenches. If we're able to, I push around might be the wrong word, but if we're able, if our defensive line is able to assert themselves on Virginia Tech's offensive line, that does a lot mentally to a team, and everybody sees that. And if we can kind of make that statement early on, it could be a long game for the hokey.

So when we were talking with Phil steel, he, he wasn't really impressed with their skill position players at all. And if the D line can make an impact like that on their offensive line, it just makes Trey Hawkins, Tobi his hairs, Terry Johnson, their job's easier. So I'm really optimistic about what our, our secondary can do in this game. If the de defensive line takes advantage of their offensive line it could be really fun for us on Friday night. That defensive line is reaching hav. But on the offensive side of the ball, they have a talented defense that they're returning defensive coach. They're gonna be pretty stout defensively. I think given everything that they're bringing back and with prize focused on defense. Is there an area you think we can exploit?

I mean, I would expect Virginia tech to pack the box against us and expect a lot of. Watson and whoever else is coming out of the backfield. I think our strength on offensive line kind of works the same way that our defensive line works. They, they don't have a lot of experience returning on that defensive line. A lot of new I, I go back to the wake forest game at the start of last year. When we came out on defense wake forests, move quickly. They were up tempo. They were on that line, snapping the ball, and we just kind of got blown away. Those first couple drives. We couldn't make adjustments. Couldn't sub I, I think our, the cohesiveness of our offensive line, having Hayden Wolf coming back and having experienced group there going up tempo, especially early on put Virginia tech on their heels. They'll only be able to, to rush their front floor. They've gotta drop guys in coverage and cover outside gaps to really leveraging our offensive line and the experience there. And with the experience of the rest of the offense, to really blitz them in a way come out, firing go up tempo, hit those explosive plays, spread the field to, they just can't concentrate between the hash. Is is something that we can exploit there for sure. But it all comes down to that communication on the offensive line, especially in this RPO, you've gotta know what's going on behind you without being able to see it. You've gotta call those protections. We gotta know who we're leaving unblocked so that Hayden can make the read. And I wouldn't mind seeing Hayden bust outside on a, a little keeper for about 20 yards.

You saved the best for last there, Gary? I, I think if no one is expecting Hayden to keep the ball after last season, not old, do old dominion fans, not any fans of opposing teams, who've played us. Nobody expects him to keep the ball. So. If he does do that once or twice, it changes things a lot. And Hayden is a much better athlete than a lot of people realize he's, he's, he's fast, he's strong. And if he does that once or twice, once or twice defensive coaches are gonna have to really open their eyes and make some adjustments. I think everything key is off of Zach here. Until we have a wide receiver step. Zach making some plays down the middle of the field and really making Virginia tech kind of maybe not bust as many people down on that running game or early on will help everything open up for old dominion.

I mean us going up tempo. I like that idea a lot. It makes it hard to sub and we, we remember how many substitution errors we've had with new staffs. It can get messy pretty quick and you can get exploited pretty fast. I'd love to see us go up tempo and see Hayden build that connection you had with Kos and Ali all over again. Putting Virginia tech on their heels in a rough environment. Cause we know Ballard can get loud when people are there. And when they season ticket sales and the ticket sales for this game, it's gonna be a sellout easily. It's not gonna be a quiet stadium for them to operate in communications is gonna be tough for them. The more I think about this game, the more I get excited, I don't they're they understand how much talent we have on both sides of.

Well, it's the first game that their coaching staff has been together that are gonna have to make those adjustments or gonna have to communicate on the fly. Everything that they've been practicing together is just in practice. It's not a game that we've heard that. Said before by a professional athlete. But it'll be interesting to see how Virginia Tech's new coaching staff is able to adjust during the game, as things are going, even though our coaching staff, as a young coaching staff, the most of em met together before a season and they were forced in fire last year. And we saw what happened in the second half of that season. So I would expect, I would expect them to, to kind of. Right where they left off last year. I know Ricky said he doesn't believe in momentum carrying from one season to another, but clearly something clicked last year. And the main players that were making things cook last year are all here. And you know, Hayden's here, Jenning's here. Watson's here. Koons is here. The defense is here. So I think, I think that they're gonna pick up right where they left off.

I think this has been a much more fun off season for old domain coaching staff, just because they played football last season. There were so many unknown going into last year. Like, yes, they practiced. They watched film, they installed everything that they could, but there's still that newness of when the ball gets kicked off, who's gonna perform and where and how, and they have so, so much of a better idea. Of who's gonna perform on the field now as compared to last year, then on the other side, Virginia tech, I think they're only returning 11 starters from last year. All new coordinators. You have an offensive coordinator there. I mean, I think he was a co offensive coordinator for one year at Penn state. Then he was down in Dubal with the disaster that was urban Meyer last season a lot of potential, you know, everyone on ODS coaching, staff thinks he's fantastic, but it's still that newness, that, that 42nd O' clock is really fast. When it's your first time calling those plays. We saw that a little bit last year with some delay game penalties, getting calls in from the sideline. So ODU not having as much newness is a huge advantage, especially in a home game against a power five school. You know, that everyone on ODU sideline is gonna be jacked up for this game. So just not having that newness, I think is a massive advantage for OD you.

All right, fells. So we've talked about strengths, weaknesses opportunities. If you had to pick one player to be a breakout star for this year and this game, who would it be? Gary?

Talked about him earlier, but Stevie Williams I don't know if anyone on the team has more experience than him has played more positions understands more about the overall big picture. Him coming in on second and third downs, especially third and long scenarios. Being able to read the quarterback, understand what that quarterback is going through. Drop back in coverage if needed. He's that X factor on the defense. It takes us from having us. Pretty good defense is what I think we'll have a really good defense to just being an elite, you know, top two or three defenses in the Sunbelt, being able to bring him on had that experience in that position group. If I was betting on someone to, to kind of come out of nowhere and all of a sudden be on draft boards it would be Stevie Williams.

All right, I'm gonna cheese out a little here and I go for the more conservative pick. No, one's talking about him being at the top of any of the Any of the lists in the Sunbelt, but I think Hayden Wolf is the breakout here. I think he's gonna have a outstanding season and people are gonna look back at the end going, where did this kid come from? I mean, he's, it's gonna be his first year where he's established, established himself as the quarterback of this team. I mean, he's a sophomore, he's got lots of legs to go. If he gets good decent protection from our offensive line, I think he's gonna have it a phenomenal.

I like. Answers, and I'm not gonna cheat and just cop out here. So I'm gonna go off board here and pick Tobias Harris. Everything I've heard from him has been amazing. He's coming from D two, which is not a jump that a lot of guys make successfully, or even find a team in D one to jump on, but he's got all the tools. He's a little undersized, but those undersized guys, when they get a chance to shine, they usually take advantage of it. And then he's surrounded by a lot of talent. Trey Hawkins on the other side of the ball is gonna help him. Terry Johnson behind him is gonna help. The defensive line is gonna make it harder for the quarterback and the receiver to connect. I, I think everything is in line for Tobias hair. Step big season at corner.

If you want to throw in a comeback player of the year nominee Matt Geiger at running back, I think he's gonna get, get some important snaps back there and bring a lot of experience in that position group. Talk about a nice X factor to have coming outta the back field in one way, shape or another. So keeping eye on Matt Geiger and, and getting that Snapdown.

Apart from maybe Jeremy Cox. No one in an ODU uniform has ever run the ball harder than Matt Geiger. I love watching that guy, play. He hurts people and he is gonna get some bruises just for how hard he runs. I'm excited to see him back in on the field.

Love to have him with some late game carries with the lead. Maybe have some Jeremy Cox bowling over the. Virginia tech defense clips. Again,

Yeah, let's do it. So finally, we're gonna get to predictions. What are your expectations? You don't have to do a prediction, but you can just say expectation. What are your expectations for the Virginia tech game for.

a lot of unknowns going into this game for Virginia tech, but the one thing we're familiar with is grant wealth. So defensive line, putting Virginia tech and there's third and long. Getting pressure with the front for make grant Wells, move his feet, move around in the pocket to lead to interceptions. If they can put Virginia second situations where they have to pass and they can provide pressure. ODU is gonna win this game. Expect low scoring, knock down, drag out, run in the trenches with a couple explosive plays mixed in. Whoever makes the most explosive plays is gonna win this game. I, I would not be shocked to see something in like the 24 to 17 range as a final.

I'm thinking very similar to you, Gary, but I think, I think old dominion wins this game by 10 points. I think it's 27 17. I think we're gonna go into the fourth quarter and we're gonna have, we're just gonna run the ball, run the ball, run the ball. We're gonna be up and we're just gonna punch it in at the end and assert that offensive line and just really drain the clock and play smart football.

The number that keeps shoving out to me is 21. I don't know why, but I like that number. late end game touchdown for us to, to pull this off and send them home wondering why they ever decided to agree to play morphic ever let alone for the next decade. Can't wait to see what happens on Friday night. Ask for the season. I'd love to hear what your thoughts are. Phil steel said he could see this team winning anywhere between three and nine games, just because of the difficulty of the schedule. I tend to that's on the right path, but I think it's more like five to nine games, maybe 10 games. This team's talented. but it's gonna depend on how resilient this team is and if they can avoid injuries

I, I think Phil Steele is kind of right in that we could win three, we could win nine. I don't think you're wrong to predict either one of those. I mean, it, it's a brutal schedule. If you look at the schedule, there's no game where you're like, all right, we got that one. There are teams that maybe haven't been great in the past, but you don't know coming in with the Sunbelt. I mean, what does south Alabama look like the last week of the season? What do we look like last week of the season? I think if you really wanna take stock on where we're at, where are we at after the Georgia Southern game? Like I looked at kind of the Buffalo game as a litmus test of where we were last. It could not have been more representative of our season. First half, just nothing was working. Right. Couldn't get anything. And then a different old dominion team come out of the locker room. The second half, we felt a little bit short in that one, but that really kind of sparked the, this team is different. So I mean, if, if we come out of, you know, Georgia's Southern there and I think that's our seventh game and if we win that game and we're five and two I think we would all be very happy with that. But I wouldn't necessarily be shocked if that's our third win of the season and we're three and four. And I don't think that's necessarily a bad spot to be in either. I think realistic expectation is right around that seven and five mark. And we would probably be the best seven and five team in the country. You know, I will say if we start this season three and O beating Virginia sec, a comeback east Carolina team, and then win at Virginia. I mean, I'm probably going streak into getting the 12 and O shirts out. I think the realistic is seven and five, you know, trying to be two and three, three and two coming in after the Liberty game. I mean, winning record after the Liberty game, I think would be in, in, in great shape, but seven and five is, is my guess.

Yeah, I'm a seven, five or a eight and four kind of guy. I say, we revisit this after the story or Southern one, like you said, Gary, it makes make the second half prediction, but I think it, I, I think the season depends on how those first four games go. I mean, obviously Virginia tech, east Carolina and Virginia, probably gonna tell us a lot about. Our team. And then we have our first Sunbelt game in Arkansas state, and everybody likes to talk bad about Arkansas state, but that team looked better at the end of last year than what people are saying things about. So they keep being talked about at being a bottom feeder, bottom feeder, but I think that team is a little bit better than what people say. So it'll be interesting in our first game there on the 24th of September and the Sunbelt.

Well, they have a lot of S E C transfers, but maybe people aren't looking at last year to this year cause of how much turnover they have had on their roster. They're kind of an unknown. You don't really know what they are. They have the most freshman in the country. I think the number was over 60. Like they're very young and no one is coming back with really any experience for that team. So I, I can't peg them anything as good, bad anything. I, we don't know.

I will tell you, I'm happy. We're playing them the fourth game of the season and not the 10th or 11th game of the season, because if they have that many young freshmen, they're gonna look a lot different at the end of the. And just from a, how difficult our division is within the Sunbelt. Now, the three teams you hear as being projected to win that division of the Sunbelt. You hear coastal, you hear Georgia state and you hear Appalachian state lucky. Luckily for us, we have all three of those teams on the road. So I think you really, if you want to think about a tough, tough game on our schedule, aside from the obvious power five. That game in Boone in November is going to be incredibly difficult. Cause absolute they've got UNC at home, then they're gonna go out and play at Texas a and M they're not gonna be afraid of anybody who's rolling into Boone after that kind of schedule, but what shape will they be in at that point? I mean, you play that many power fives and roll into a tough Sunbelt. You could be missing a lot of pieces, but I think if that's a game that old dominion is winning. I think we are feeling really good about how this season has gone to go in a tough, tough row game like that.

Yeah, that's gonna be a tough one. They are replacing a lot, but by the time November rolls around, those guys will be, if they're healthy, they'll be ready to roll. Chase price is pretty good too. He really came on last year after transferring in Georgia state is the team that I keep looking at that they should be the favorite cause they're returning everybody and they have two of the best backs in the league. And I, I don't know. I just, I like them a lot. Maybe it's their lack of fans that they aren't getting the hype that they should be. But I think they're gonna surprise a lot of people. This.

I don't think I would be surprised by any team winning that division of the Sunbelt. Like I think it is stacked top to bottom. And I'm, I'm happy that ODU is now in that division because it's gonna be that knockdown drag out. And it's gonna, it's gonna make us better as a program, as we go forward. I'm excited that we'll be able to watch the games on some sort of ESPN platform. And instead of whatever we were trying to do to track down the UAP U N T game last night, I don't know where that was actually broadcast gas station TV gets a shout out.

All right, fellas. Well, I, I think that's a good place to end it with the conference USA joke. So thank you for joining us tonight. Go monarchs.

Go Monarch.

And go, thank you guys.

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