--West Virginia head coach Neal Brown said that Hershey McLaurin stood out on special teams, Jordan Jefferson was the defensive player of the week and Tony Mathis was the offensive player of the week Zach Frazier was the offensive lineman of the week, with Doug Frazier coming in a close second. The blue collar award was given to Brian Polendey because he has done a great job blocking. Jake Robbins, Raleigh Collins were the scout team players of the week and Keaton Thomas was the special teams on scout team. The sideline award was given to CJ Cole.
--Virginia Tech has a new staff and if you look at throughout the staff they have had a lot of success throughout their careers. They play hard, and they are physical. Pry has a defensive background and the team has bought into his mentality. They are multiple defensively and like to pressure. They have two defensive ends that like to speed rush and deep up font. Dax Hollified is playing at a high level at linebacker and he is one of the most improved players on the defense. Peoples is one of the better tacklers at safety they'll face all year. They want to find ways to run the football on offense and are physical and will use multiple running backs and tight ends. Grant Wells is from West Virginia and played well at Marshall, he can run and is athletic. They have been solid on special teams and they won't face a better punter this year.
--You go back and look at last year from a personnel standpoint for match ups but schematically all three phases are different.
--Wells is more athletic than people give him credit for and he can run. He does a good job scrambling and he does
--Tomas Rimac did a nice job on the offensive line, Jaylen Anderson at running back and all three of the backup quarterbacks. Treylan Davis did a nice job being physical in the run game. Preston Fox made a nice catch. Pleased they got Cortez Braham and Jeremiah Aaron extended playing time. Mike Lockhart continues to grow and get in shape. Caden Biser did a nice job. Raleigh Collins did well and Jacolby Spells and Andrew Wilson-Lamp continue to progress are young guys that stood out.
--Numbers were low on offensive line and had few guys that had played. They decided to go young in the COVID-19 year and made a little bit of progress. In 2021, they added some pieces such as Wyatt Milum and Doug Nester and they played well at times but a little inconsistent. Now, they are an older mature unit up front and they needed to run the ball against good people. They are ranked inside the top five in a lot of categories so this will be a challenge. They like Tomas Rimac coming on and the freshmen that have redshirted.
--This is the only game on the schedule they are playing for a trophy and that makes it more special. They definitely have talked about the rivalry and the meaning of it.
--The Pitt game helped prepare them for the atmosphere they are going to see Thursday. They're going to go to several games coming up and will do some things in practice today and tomorrow to prepare for it.
--It's on a short week so everything is hurried. You like to get into a routine but you're out of it, and they're doing the same thing though with the same turnaround. The mid week game is good. There should be a lot of eyes on them and this is an opportunity for them in prime time. The analysts work ahead anyways so they got a good work day on Friday and they came in early on Sunday to get started with a light day on Sunday and today will be a work day before Tuesday, Wednesday being like a typical Thursday-Friday in a game week.
--They talked about it after the game resting and preparing their bodies on the short week. They need to stay hydrated and are eating and resting right. He will know more today.
--Aubrey Burks will be back and Jalen Thornton will practice today. Charles Woods will be out, and it's a unique surgery and they are hopeful he will be back but it's not a normal injury it's unique so there isn't textbook rehab. It will be a couple weeks.
--Doug Nester is playing at a high level right now. He has been more consistent with his play. Wyatt Milum is much, much better offensively from an experience standpoint. On defense, Jordan Jefferson and it really started at the end of last year. And in the secondary, all of them will get better but Aubrey Burks has had moments of really good football.
--Nester will tell the guys about playing in Blacksburg and their entrance to the stadium.
--They do a bunch of good things offensively. They do RPO stuff and power read stuff and can see some of the things that each of the coaches bring with them. They mix it up and have a lot of big bodies. They don't have the depth but the first group has played and they do a good job because they run so many tight ends at you.
--Virginia Tech has played well at home and he thought that against Boston College that was one of the more physical and highest level of strains on tape. They flew around and had great energy and they played really hard.
--Virginia Tech has a new staff and if you look at throughout the staff they have had a lot of success throughout their careers. They play hard, and they are physical. Pry has a defensive background and the team has bought into his mentality. They are multiple defensively and like to pressure. They have two defensive ends that like to speed rush and deep up font. Dax Hollified is playing at a high level at linebacker and he is one of the most improved players on the defense. Peoples is one of the better tacklers at safety they'll face all year. They want to find ways to run the football on offense and are physical and will use multiple running backs and tight ends. Grant Wells is from West Virginia and played well at Marshall, he can run and is athletic. They have been solid on special teams and they won't face a better punter this year.
--You go back and look at last year from a personnel standpoint for match ups but schematically all three phases are different.
--Wells is more athletic than people give him credit for and he can run. He does a good job scrambling and he does
--Tomas Rimac did a nice job on the offensive line, Jaylen Anderson at running back and all three of the backup quarterbacks. Treylan Davis did a nice job being physical in the run game. Preston Fox made a nice catch. Pleased they got Cortez Braham and Jeremiah Aaron extended playing time. Mike Lockhart continues to grow and get in shape. Caden Biser did a nice job. Raleigh Collins did well and Jacolby Spells and Andrew Wilson-Lamp continue to progress are young guys that stood out.
--Numbers were low on offensive line and had few guys that had played. They decided to go young in the COVID-19 year and made a little bit of progress. In 2021, they added some pieces such as Wyatt Milum and Doug Nester and they played well at times but a little inconsistent. Now, they are an older mature unit up front and they needed to run the ball against good people. They are ranked inside the top five in a lot of categories so this will be a challenge. They like Tomas Rimac coming on and the freshmen that have redshirted.
--This is the only game on the schedule they are playing for a trophy and that makes it more special. They definitely have talked about the rivalry and the meaning of it.
--The Pitt game helped prepare them for the atmosphere they are going to see Thursday. They're going to go to several games coming up and will do some things in practice today and tomorrow to prepare for it.
--It's on a short week so everything is hurried. You like to get into a routine but you're out of it, and they're doing the same thing though with the same turnaround. The mid week game is good. There should be a lot of eyes on them and this is an opportunity for them in prime time. The analysts work ahead anyways so they got a good work day on Friday and they came in early on Sunday to get started with a light day on Sunday and today will be a work day before Tuesday, Wednesday being like a typical Thursday-Friday in a game week.
--They talked about it after the game resting and preparing their bodies on the short week. They need to stay hydrated and are eating and resting right. He will know more today.
--Aubrey Burks will be back and Jalen Thornton will practice today. Charles Woods will be out, and it's a unique surgery and they are hopeful he will be back but it's not a normal injury it's unique so there isn't textbook rehab. It will be a couple weeks.
--Doug Nester is playing at a high level right now. He has been more consistent with his play. Wyatt Milum is much, much better offensively from an experience standpoint. On defense, Jordan Jefferson and it really started at the end of last year. And in the secondary, all of them will get better but Aubrey Burks has had moments of really good football.
--Nester will tell the guys about playing in Blacksburg and their entrance to the stadium.
--They do a bunch of good things offensively. They do RPO stuff and power read stuff and can see some of the things that each of the coaches bring with them. They mix it up and have a lot of big bodies. They don't have the depth but the first group has played and they do a good job because they run so many tight ends at you.
--Virginia Tech has played well at home and he thought that against Boston College that was one of the more physical and highest level of strains on tape. They flew around and had great energy and they played really hard.
