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Press Conference: Virginia Tech football coach Frank Beamer

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frank-beamer-ndVirginia Tech football coach Frank Beamer talks to the media on Monday. The Hokies (4-5, 1-4 ACC) play at #19 Duke (8-1, 4-1 ACC) on Saturday.

 

Opening statement: I’ll start out by saying something you guys already know, but Coach Cutcliffe has done a fantastic job with Duke. Recruiting, coaching, really, they lead our side of the conference. For real, [they’re] certainly for real. First of all, I admire the job he’s done there. They are balanced offensively, about 50-50 run and pass. The quarterback does a nice job for them. (Anthony) Boone makes good decisions, takes care of the ball. They’ve got just a very solid football team. Well, well coached and we’ve got our work cut out for us.

On if Duke’s tendency not to hurt themselves puts extra pressure on Tech… Well I think when they went to Miami they had a couple turnovers down there. It’s just a fact. When you turn the ball over, your chances of winning goes down every time. That’s just the way it is. On why Tech has cut down on the interceptions… I think experience. I think playing more games. I think emphasizing, ‘Hey, take care of the football.’ The game we had three fumbles, I mean that’s not really us. But I think when you narrow it down, the more touches they get the less likely they are to fumble when they get the ball. I think it’s just a combination of things really.

On how he feels about RT Jonathan McLaughlin (ankle)… I feel like he’s going to be operated on here, I think later today or tomorrow. The third offensive linemen we’ve lost. Started out not a deep position for us. (Beamer nods to confirm McLaughlin will be out for the rest of the season).

On frustration level and if you can take advantage of frustration… I don’t know if frustrated is the right word. Before we ever started this whole thing, I knew it was going to be a little bit of an up and down year. People say ‘Well, how about Ohio State.’ Well that was an up. But you still have to come back and play with guys that haven’t played a lot. And that was before we had two of the offensive linemen drop out before the season started, that’s before we played 21 freshmen – I think 11 of them started. So, I think it’s just a growing thing. I think our deal is continue to get better. Build the program. We are where we are. The level of experience is where it is. That’s just being realistic. I’m not sure if frustrated is the word I’d use. Being realistic, it is what it is. Now, I think what the question is, and this team has given me no indication that says we’re not going to keep battling, we’re going to keep getting better, we’re going to keep working, we’re going to be as good as we can be, and I like this group of kids. I think they’ve done what we’ve asked, they’ve practiced hard, they’ve played hard. So, I don’t think frustrated is the right word.

On Wade Hansen now starting at RT… Well, he’s got toughness. He’s got good athletic ability. One thing he doesn’t have is experience. But I like toughness and I like good athletic ability.

On Chase Williams’ health (knee)… He’s going to come back and work today and then we’ll see at the end of this week. Two guys there, (Andrew) Motuapuaka has done a nice job, and then I was watching (Dahman) McKinnon on a kickoff against them last year earlier today and he made a terrific play. So, we got some kids there at that linebacker position that are really athletic and can run. I’d like to get Williams back, but I think we got some good players there too.

On all the injuries at defense to major contributors… That’s not us. Someone was telling me the other day, we’ve lost one-third of our projected starters when you say (Luther) Maddy and (Brandon) Facyson and so forth. Again, your experience level is there, but you have to keep working hard, keep getting better and that’s the only thing I know to do. Grind it out, put your head down, let’s go.

On if he expected this to be a rebuilding season… I certainly thought it was going to be an up and down season. Just who was playing, the level of experience. Don’t get me wrong, now. These young guys that are playing are pretty talented. I really like the young guys. And the one thing about playing them, it’s just a fact; you get better quicker by playing. You don’t get better quicker by standing over there beside me. It helps when you’re getting good reps in practice, but the quickest way to get better is playing. I think for the future, having played all these young guys we are going to be better. Right now, you just go through some growing pains. But, again, being around these coaches and players hasn’t been anything but good. It’s a good organization, good people. There are people that haven’t played as consistent that we know you need to play to be OK, to win games, but we haven’t given up the ship by any stretch of the imagination either. I’m proud of the guys and how we keep fighting.

On if missing Chase Williams’ leadership is the worst part of him being hurt… I think that’s where it hurts the most actually. Helping guys get lined up. Confident in the calls, confident that you got a guy that knows what’s going on, kind of your leader out there. When you got young guys running around, they have that athletic ability like I talked about before, but they don’t have that experience. I think that experience being around, we miss that. Chase certainly has good athletic ability, don’t get me wrong. But I think we miss his experience and his leadership out there.

On if Motuapuaka’s quieter nature hurts the defense… I’m one of those guys that, vocal is the last thing I’m worried about. I think you worry about how fast you can get to the football and what kind of mood you get there in, and Andrew, I think, does a pretty good job of that. I think there are a lot of different kinds of leadership. If you are vocal guy in the right way, yeah that’s great. If you’re a vocal guy and no one is playing attention to you, that’s not so good. I’d rather have a guy that sets the example and let’s go. If he talks, he talks. If he doesn’t, he doesn’t. Play hard. Make plays.

On if he will look back to two years ago to try and keep bowl streak alive… I think it’s always been a program that continues to play hard and continues to not point fingers. Like I said earlier, you go through different levels. We don’t stay the same, other teams don’t stay the same. Every team is a different year. Myself, I think we’re getting ready to get back in the thick of things, and that’s what we are getting ready to do. We got to continue to improve right now, that’s the deal for us. Continue to improve. Put your head down. Let’s go.

On the outlook for Trey Edmunds (clavicle)… I’ll wait and see on that. Right now, Jerome Wright has been cleared to go full speed. Marshawn (Williams), to me he wasn’t quite the guy last game that he was the week before. I’m interested in getting those two guys going full tilt and seeing where we are after that.

On J.C. Coleman’s role… He’s certainly got a role. I think where we get J.C. Coleman out in open spaces is what we need to concentrate on right now. Nothing wrong with his toughness, nothing wrong. But he gets beat up a little bit while blocking. Not because he isn’t physical; he’ll block like heck, but he gets beat up a little bit. I think trying to use his ability, like on the kickoff return, which was a big, big play for us in the last ballgame. Trying to use his ability in that regard is important.

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