Virginia Tech football coach Justin Fuente talks with reporters. The Hokies (3-1) have a bye week this week.
Opening Statement: “Before I start, I do want to say something about DeAngelo Hall (who was injured in Sunday’s game with Washington). I want to let him know that our thoughts are with him. He’s obviously been a fantastic ambassador for Virginia Tech, let alone a great player and great personality. I had a chance to meet him early in the year. He is such a nice man. Our hearts and thoughts go out to him as he recovers from an injury.
“I also want to say something about last week’s game. I am really proud of the team’s effort. I thought it was indicative of what we are trying to preach. I think the crowd was fantastic. It was a great example of Virginia Tech football or what our vision for what it is and what it can be, in terms of the crowd playing a huge role. I loved the fact that people show up for games here. In order to be active participants in the game, I thought they were fantastic. We made big plays across the board, defensive, special teams and offense. It was a lot of fun to play in, and it was a lot of fun to watch the film.
“Obviously, we have a big challenge coming up. We have a bye week this week, but we have North Carolina at North Carolina. We are back in ACC conference play, and it will be a tremendous challenge. They have very good players and coaches. We are looking forward to getting back on the field this week. Tuesday and Wednesday will be ‘get better’ practices. It will be the last two practices that we can have like that in the season. We will focus on development and young player reps. We also will look at a couple things scheme wise. We will have some good-on-good work. After those two practices, we will turn our attention to more of a game prep mindset. Then we will be ready to roll for game week. We have a lot of work today. We have a lot of things that we have to get better at. I am looking forward to seeing what we can improve on this Tuesday and Wednesday.”
On if the team will have any extra time off this week: “We didn’t practice yesterday. We are not practicing today. We will not practice on Friday or Saturday, so the short answer is yes, but we are going to put in quite a bit of work.”
On the timing of the bye week: “I like it. It provides us a nice break right now. It takes stock of where we are at, both schematically and personnel wise. It gives our guys a chance to heal up for the long haul. We have a pretty significant stretch that we are staring at with the two Thursday games and quite a few games on the road here. It falls at a good time. We can take stock in where we are at, and we can get a good evaluation on things personnel wise and scheme wise.”
On the status of QB Jerod Evans’ ankle and whether Fuente wanted him to get down during his 55yard rushing touchdown: “His ankle is fine. I did not yell at him to get down. I yelled at him to protect the football. I was good with him running it. I just didn’t like the way the ball was flapping around all over the place.”
On how comfortable he is with the team right now heading into the bye week: “That is an interesting way to put it. I feel like we have played well the last couple weeks. I don’t believe that previous performances are any indication of future performances. I don’t believe in momentum from week-to-week. I believe in 12, one-game seasons. I also believe that there is something else there that carries over from week-to-week in terms of confidence and belief in what we are doing. We have to understand the process, those sorts of things. I do believe that there is another level that we can get to, but I think that we have made some progress in those terms and guys are feeling better about what we are asking them to do.”
On what QB Jerod Evans has to work on during the bye week and if he is going to focus on throwing the long ball this week: “You bet. He missed him (WR Isaiah Ford) twice last week. He will work on that and a lot of other things. We have a lot of things to work on. We are going to put him in some situations that we have to work on that haven’t come up yet. Third down situations and that sort of stuff. We will put him in those kinds of situations this week and try to improve his development. We have a pretty specific thing that we asked him to do at quarterback when throwing the ball downfield. He has to give the guys a chance to catch the ball, and we didn’t do that on a couple of them. That’s kind of disappointing.”
On if he is comfortable with the wide receiver depth: “No. We are still working on it every single day. I am not comfortable with it at all. The kids are working hard. I am not displeased with them. I think they know it, and they are working on trying to improve. They are just really young. They are freshmen. It’s not comfortable.”
On if he has noticed anything different about DB Greg Stroman’s approach this season: “No, not really. He is a trustable, dependable person. We have trusted him since we’ve been here. I haven’t really seen anything different. If you look back at the return, Greg did a great job, but the other 10 people on the field did a heck of a job too. There was nobody within a long way of him. He had plenty of room in there, which was great. The whole unit should take pride in those kinds of things, but I haven’t really seen anything different this year.”
On if the team will step back and self-scout themselves this week: “Absolutely. Both sides of the ball will take a great in-depth look at alignments from a statistically standpoint and who’s in the game, that sort of thing. We have to get a handle on that. We also will have a leg up on the game plan in terms of North Carolina. They still have a game on Saturday, and we will add that to our break down. We will go ahead and move forward too in terms of breaking ourselves down and getting ahead on North Carolina.”
On if the team has a different approach with away games: “This will be our first true road game. Obviously, the Bristol game was a different situation. It is a little bit different. When you go on the road, you are a minimalist. You just bring what you need in order to get the job done. In my opinion, I have seen that galvanize or focus the team. You get a chance to just bring the people you know that are going to participate in the game. You have travel restrictions for the ACC and that sort of thing. There is not a lot of extra when you go on the road. You also don’t have ticket requests and a lot of other things to worry about. I am not suggesting that I would rather play on the road than in Lane Stadium, but there is another dynamic there can work to help focus the team.”
On if he is any more comfortable with the center position this week: “It is still a working progress for us in terms of ironing out the two deep at center. That’s part of this week’s work. We will continue to evaluate and develop our thoughts and feelings on how to handle that situation.”
On DE Ken Ekanem being named ACC Defensive Lineman of the Week: “Ken has been fantastic. That’s great for him. That is a well-deserved award. Ken is a very good leader. He is very competitive and a good worker. He is a highly intelligent football player that I’m glad to see get recognized for his hard work. I am very pleased with our entire defensive front and how they have played and attacked the game. (Defensive line coach) Coach Wiles has done a good job at getting those guys rocking and rolling, but Ken in particular.”
On if he can ever recall being on the field during the national anthem: “No. I remember the anthem in the Bristol because they had it on the TV in the locker room. I’m not saying I never have been, but I can’t remember a scenario when a football team was on the field during the anthem, whether I was at TCU, Memphis or in my short time here. It may have happened at some time, but I do not recall one.”
On whether he has a stance on the discussion surrounding athletes and the national anthem: “I have a lot of thoughts on a lot of different topics. I am not always going to share them with you all. I hope you respect that because there is a lot that comes with standing up and voicing your opinion. Let me back track, whether it’s the national anthem or some or other cause, I would hope that our kids would want to come to me and talk about those things and help whatever cause it is that they truly feel strongly about. I hope that they would give us the opportunity to discuss how it is that they can help that cause, and I hope they know that I am going to support them in their stance and what they truly believe in, but also find a way to help that cause that can help our football team without causing distractions for our football team as well. That’s how I hope it would get handled if it ever came up for us.”
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