Everything from Virginia Tech OL Coach Matt Moore After Wednesday's Practice

Virginia Tech offensive line coach Matt Moore spoke with the media after Wednesday's practice session; here's the entirety of what he had to say:

On different alignments in the depth chart (Layth Ghannam at RG, Tomas Rimac at LG, Montavious Cunningham at RT):

"They've been working, you know, all spring. I mean, all spring and all summer, we've been working guys at different [positions], Rimac's played three years at guard. I had to make sure he got enough reps at tackle in case we needed him. So, it's constantly moving around who's going to be where and Monty was the backup tackle last year. Got a lot of reps there. So, I feel good about where we are."

Q: Is Rimac's experience at guard comforting for you?

"Yeah. Yeah, no doubt. Yeah, really comfortable with him at guard. But I know he knows what to do. Tackle is the spot where he needed all the reps and he got a bunch of reps at tackle this camp. And so I felt like I got a really good guy to play tackle there."

On Montavious Cunningham:

"He's really athletic. Like I said, played tackle all year last year. So, really comfortable there. So I feel like I had to get him in there [at] guard to get him feeling good about being able to play guard because you know how it is. You got to be able to move guys around, injury-wise."

Q: Is it fairly simple for somebody like Layth to just flip sides like that?

"Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He can flip left and right. Some guys struggle with it. He's a guy that doesn't struggle with it."

On Kyle Altuner and why Moore is so comfortable with him starting at center:

"First of all, he works really, really hard. I know he's going to make mistakes. I mean, he's still young. He's going to make mistakes. He's going to get beat at the point of attack some. Those things are going to happen but the kid works really, really hard. Cares, works hard in the weight room, takes care of his body. He really studies the game. And it just means a lot to him and that's the kind of people that I put my trust in, people that love it and that want to be great and he's just young. It's just one of those things. He's young. I've had it before and we're going to have to play through some stuff that that's probably not going to be great, but we're going to play through it. He's going to be better on the other end."

On improved cohesion and unity since Moore's arrival:

"We're never going to be where I want to be, you know what I mean? It's getting better, but we're still a work in progress. We're still a work in progress. How you do out here on the [practice field] grass with a little bit of music playing compared to how you do in the Mercedes- Benz with 80,000 people, and all the pressure. We just don't know. That's what we got to figure out, is like 'How are we going to respond in those situations from a communication standpoint?' And we got to make sure that when that happens, it's going to happen. Something like that's going to happen. Give up a sack, tackle for loss. How do you respond? And that's what I talk to them about all the time. It's going to happen. If any of you guys ever played O-line before, everybody's got beat. It's like a coach that hadn't been fired. It's going to happen. So, the thing is what I've been trying to coach them up on is, 'How are we going to handle it? How are we going to handle that situation in a big-time moment when you do get beat?' Are you going to shut it down, millions of people watching, or are you going to just say, 'Hey, dust yourself off and go go back and do it again.' I mean, to play O-line on this level, you got to be a warrior. You got to have a short memory and you got to be able to forget mistakes that you make and you got to be able to go try to fix them and go back out there and try to do it again."

On the younger options in the second group:

"Well, obviously they're backups, so I don't feel as good about them as I do some other guys, but I mean, they're coming along. They just got to keep, it's the same thing there. They lose a block, they lose a battle. Why did I lose it? How do I fix it? How do I get better? How do I come from the mistakes I made today? How do I fix them and come back tomorrow? Because this is going to be an all season thing. You don't just come in and fix an O-line in one year. It's just one of those things you just got to stay after. You got to keep hammering. You got to keep being consistent and trying to be fundamental and just get this thing where the direction you want it to go and keep recruiting and build it the way you want to build it. And right now what we have is what we have and those young guys got to come on and like I said, you never know how they going to react in that situation. [Lucas Austin] has never been in it. [Tommy Ricard's] never been in it. So how are they going to react? They've never been in that situation. So how are they going to [react], are they going to rise up? And that's what I'm challenging them to do. You got to rise up when your number's called and be ready to go. And talking to them all about preparing like they're starters because we're one injury away from any of those guys playing. And you got to prepare like you're a starter. You got to be able, you can't just say, 'Hey, I'm I'm behind this guy or I'm behind that guy. I'm probably not going to play.' You got to go in there and be ready to go."

Q: Is there a particular youngster who stood out so far during camp?

"Nate Wright for a true freshman. He and Gavin [Crawford] both have done a really nice job to be [there]. We had a couple rolled ankles or something early in camp and they had to get a bunch of reps for the second group and the second group was going against the first defense. So, you had Kemari Copeland and you had [Kelvin Gilliam] and those kids really grew up a lot. I see that, both those guys being really good players down the road now. They're not plug and play right now, but both those guys, I thought had really good [promise]. Aidan Lynch is showing tons of promise. I mean, he's just got to keep coming along. I mean, is he ready right now? No. But he may be [in] Game 6. And that's that's the whole thing, is like this thing's always evolving. That's why you got to create competition. You got to keep it always evolving. and we're going to play the best five. No matter if it's a freshman or redshirt freshman or a senior, we're going to play the best five guys."

On what stood out about LT Johnny Garrett in preseason camp:

"His leadership, he's got some great leadership traits. He works really really hard. He leads by example and he does a great job talking in front of the group. And he's the first one in every sprint. He's the first one in the weight room. He and Tomas, I like all those things about him. I mean, the big thing with him is he's just got to perform on the field consistently. Played a lot last year, but now he's the guy. So, you know, everybody likes the backup, like 'Oh, yeah, you know, back, I love to see when he comes in, but then all of a sudden when you're the dude, it's like you got to perform." And that's what he's got to do, this is a performance-based deal for me, for them, for everybody. It's performance-based."

On how Moore has seen the entire group develop as a whole mindset-wise:

"I feel like what I'm really pushing is just the grittiness, just being tough. Maybe we're not the most talented, maybe we're not. There's guys in this league that are just longer and stronger and bigger, but we're really pushing just the gritty and the cohesiveness, like being on the same page, outcommunicating other people, and just straining harder, just straining a little bit harder every time because you never know. You hang on to that block for another half-second, you guys have seen it, and then the running back hits it and it's a big run, where if it's a half-second early, you turn it loose and it's a three-yard run, you know? And that's the things we've been trying to show them on video, of like it's all about the strain. Be gritty, strain. It takes no talent to strain. It takes no talent to be gritty. And that's what we're looking for out of this group is just a tough, hardworking, gritty, attention to detail group that'll come out here and make sure that we're on point with everything we're doing. And we got hats on hats. And you know what, if a guy pressures you out and and sheds a block and beat you, hey, you just got to get up and go do it again. Get yourself in the right position."

Q: Is Dylan Stewart the kind of guy you have to have a a plan for, be wary of on on every snap?

"Oh, yeah. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, he's twitchy, like really explosive, does a great job with brushing the edge and then coming back inside. He's a guy [that] you got to know where he is on the field all the time. And it doesn't take, It's not hard to watch film and figure out that's what a lot of guys did last year. You got to know where he is. You got to figure out a way to to make him really work to get to the quarterback. You can't let him get rolling."

On Kemari Copeland:

"Oh yeah, that kid, I point him out all the time. We're watching film, like he's strange, like if you really watch the film from the wide shot and watch him chase the ball in just a normal, maybe practice No. 17, in camp and he is turning and running from hash to sideline as fast as he can. I want my guys, I show them, I said, 'Look guys, look at this guy. You know this is the way we want to strain.' If that's the way they're straining on defense we want to strain the same way. And so, you try to use your guys on that defense side of the ball. That's training and playing really hard to get your guys go, 'Yeah, I need to do that, too.' Because that's what it's all about, is showing them what it looks like, you know what I mean? Once they see it, they're like, 'Hey, I can do that.' You know? So, he's made a ton of plays. He's really athletic, can change directions. He's really strong, but he just cares and he plays really really hard."