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Press Conference: Virginia Tech defensive coordinator Bud Foster

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Virginia Tech defensive coordinator Bud Foster talks with reporters.

 

bud fosterOpening Statement
“It was good to get the game underway. To see where we are as a team. It was really cool that Coach
(Frank) Beamer could be there and be involved. I got a chance to say hello to Coach (Don) Nehlen,
he looks really good. We’re really excited to be back home, great atmosphere, great environment.
To get that rivalry rekindled and we’re expecting the same kind of atmosphere I hope this weekend.
I hope the Hokie Nation is as excited about this football team as we are.”

On how did he feel about the defense’s performance after watching film
“Yeah, you know the way these offenses are now a days they’re going to throw it all over the field.
You know its kindof like the Syracuse game last year, if we don’t give up a couple of cheap plays
they’re going to get yardage but you’re going to keep things to a minimum. It’s kinda like it was the
other day. The disappointing thing of the whole deal was we had one busted coverage down the
sideline, well two busted coverages, and in the running game, we had two plays that popped that
were just basic plays, one was an isolation play and one was a counter. We spilled the Iso and didn’t
get over the top and a linebacker was supposed to be over the top. On the counter our defensive
end leaked up the field, got kicked and actually blocked our linebacker who’s supposed to also spill
it to a free hitter. So those are things we can correct but those are the things we practiced to that
was disappointing.
“You know at the end of the day I saw a stat somewhere, and say if you’re probably out of the BIG
12 you’re going to look at this game and say boy Virginia Tech played really really well. I think it’s
kinda what you’re used to seeing and the type of offenses you’re used to seeing consistently. Would
we like to have a couple plays back sure, but I can’t fault our kids effort one, they gave a winning
effort for 60 minutes in all aspects. That’s what we’re looking for, we can iron out some things. The
offenses now a days, particularly when you’re playing good people, they’re going to have dynamic
athletes at certain spots and they’re going to make some plays. You know hopefully the big thing
we’ve got to do is keep them from being explosive plays. Doing that on a regular basis, we’ve got to
eliminate that. There are some things yeah obviously. You know me I think we’re in the last on the
list of everything right now after game one. I always tell that to our kids it’s not where you start it’s
where you finish and we’ve been there before. That still doesn’t change what I think about this
team, this group of kids. Do we have depth issues yeah, and is there a drop off after our first unit
yeah, but that’s a part of it and we’ve got to bring some guys along. It was a really good win for us
against a really good opponent, on a big time stage, in a great environment and it was a great win
for us.”

On what was the discussion of moving S Divine Deablo from offense to defense
“Well technically I have to give all of the credit to Coach (Justin) Fuente on that one. Obviously you
could see his playmaking abilities from a tackling perspective in the kicking game. He was probably
our leading player in special teams (coverage) last year. He was probably not the most natural guy
at catching the football, that was probably factored in to it a little bit. For a long body, seeing his
suddenness, his explosiveness, how quick his feet are, meaning with tying all of those things
together. Sometimes you get those longer guys who are long striders and it takes them a little bit to
get going, and he’s not one of those guys. He has defensive back qualities with his footwork and his
suddenness there. I saw that as a receiver and I liked what I saw when he came over, and really in
our early morning workouts. I really looked at him closely that way to be able to evaluate what his
assets are from that point. I’m really pleased that he’s with us (the defense) right now because his
upside is tremendous. He’s got length, he’s got coverage ability, he’s got catch radius, hopefully he’ll
be able to catch the ball. He’s got all of those things that you’re looking for.”

On what did he see from the backup defensive linemen in limited reps
“Well there were limited reps, so I saw some guys do some things that showed encouragement. You
know when it was all said and done they were limited. You’re talking single digits. We would like to
get more of that and part of that is like I told you guys this offense is more to the tempo of Syracuse
than a North Carolina or somebody like that. We had a hard time, I would have loved to have gotten
into more of our 30 packages and done some blitzing, and things like that. We tried to pressure
early but it just makes it tough to substitute your people in there without getting caught on the field
with that. I’m still encouraged by the guys like (Emmanueal) Belmar and Houshun Gaines. I think
those guys did a nice job in the kicking game as well as playing for us defensively. You know there’s
a drop off a little bit at defensive tackle, particularly size wise right now. Which is because West
Virginia is really big and physical up front I thought. We’re just going to keep grinding and keep
working and keep improving everyday and that’s all we can do, but there were some encouraging
signs when it was all said and done. We would have liked to get him in a little bit more but that
offense really lead to us not being able to substitute as freely as we would have liked to.”

On big was Ricky Walker’s performance during the game
“Yeah I’ll tell you, Ricky played extremely extremely hard and played extremely well. He’s our bell
cow right now up front. I mean he is the leader of that group. Not just how he performs on the field
but how he leads them in the weight room, how he leads them in the meeting room, how he handles
himself off the field. I think I mentioned he was a guy of our underclassmen during camp that held
the lunch pail for about a week or so. He has the qualities that you’re looking for. He has the
qualities of a Sam Rogers, of a Woody Barron, of a Nigel Williams, those kind of guys that you know
what you’re going to get from him, from Ricky every day. He’s going to be very professional in how
he approaches his off the field habits, and he’s going to be very professional in how he handles his
on the field habits. He’s a great role model for the younger guys to look to and follow. If they do that,
they’re going to have a chance to have a good career if they follow what he’s all about.”

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