Virginia Tech football coach Justin Fuente talks with reporters after the Hokies’ 52-10 win over UVA.
Opening Statement: “First of all there’s two people I want to thank. Our fans for their turnout. Obviously you know that this game means a tremendous amount for so many, and their support today was fantastic. Also, I feel like taking a moment to thank our seniors. I know we still have games to play, but these games are personal to them, to all of us. But there’s a little bit of not just pride, but responsibility that comes with playing football here. Our kids have embraced that and our seniors have set great examples. Of those things, I could go down the list of all of them, but I’m awfully proud and happy to get to see them celebrate the victory and the coastal championship and all that sort of good stuff.”
On Sam Rogers “Yeah I was thinking I don’t know what would have happened if I had gotten to coach him for four years. I’ve only known the kid for a year. Our job as coaches is to influence young people’s lives for the better. In terms of fundamental skills and work ethic and doing the right thing, every now and then you come across a guy (a player actually) that has an effect on the coaches. And that’s the kind of guy that Sam is. We have a lot of great seniors and Sam doesn’t want anymore spotlight on him than other seniors because they’re all very deserving, but the way he goes about his life on a daily basis is a great example to everybody.”
On clinching Coastal before today’s game “Well yesterday I mentioned it. I didn’t think it was going to be a huge issue. I didn’t have to give them a long talk about it. But I thought we should at least address. To say congratulations you guys are the Coastal Division champions. Now we need to go take care of business. In other scenarios I would have been worried about it, but this game means too much for our kids for me to worry about it too much and they certainly played that way.”
On UVA’s Mizzell “When you stand on field level he is quick. We knew going into the game that he was an explosive player but when you’re standing there at field level and you see him compared to the other people moving around there is a definite difference in speed. Bud and the defensive staff talked about making sure we are in our gap and making sure we have __ run game. We did a good job of keeping some blocks and creating some movement up front.”
Did you predict this result going into the season “I don’t really look at it like that. It’s always about the process. Giving ourselves the best chance going into the season and at the end looking back and saying this is what we accomplished. I don’t try and limit them by what I think they could be. We just focus on each day and the process and continuing to improve and doing things the right way and trying to teach off those teachable moments either good or bad. As we move forward focus on staying together and those sort of things and at the end of the year tally them up and you guys tell us if we’re good or not.”
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