Everything From Virginia Tech CBs Coach Derek Jones After Wednesday's Practice

Virginia Tech cornerbacks coach Derek "Cheetah" Jones spoke to the media after practice on Wednesday, Oct. 8. Here's the entirety of what Jones had to say:

On how practice was on Wednesday:

"It was good. We've had a lot of energy yesterday and today. Guys came out confident. And biggest thing is [that] I think they're having fun, enjoying playing. And that's all you can ask of."

On dealing with the group and moving parts:

"A lot of moving parts, as you say. We had some youth in that group. We've got a couple guys that started out that are no longer with us and [we] have had to utilize some guys that we didn't think going into the season we'd utilize. And, so it's been more developing the young guys and taking the older guys and letting them play. And really when we started this season, we was trying to find the best out of that guy. We used the first couple of games as competition to see who would rise to the top. We got an injury here, everything happened with Coach [Brent Pry] getting fired. And then now, we're down one of the guys due to injury. So, we've had to get some of the younger guys to step up. So, the older guys are doing a really good job of helping me to bring those guys along."

On development of Thomas Williams:

"It's been steady. The first year he got here, he was beat up bad. He had two injuries, had to get a surgery, so he didn't get a chance to get a lot of reps. And then last year, he played behind Mansoor [Delane] and Dorian [Strong], got a little bit of mop-up duty here and there, but was still just really learning the position. And he started his first game in the bowl game last year. Came into the season, just still trying to find his way. But being an offensive player all his life, he had to really learn everything. Terminology, mindset, mentality, and all the things that you learn, even when you play defensive back in high school, he's had to learn. But he's a really good athlete and he's a really good football player. So, he's still in the very beginning stages of learning the position."

Q: So he did play some safety in high school, correct?

"Yeah, he played some safety, but it was more kind of in the middle of the field than run right, run left. I watched him play a couple of times, but it wasn't just learning route concepts and being able to identify splits and all the stuff that you incorporate into it on this level."

On whether there's a part that's easier:

"No, I really think all of it [is difficult] because you have to teach them to tackle. You have to teach him how to tackle. You have to teach him backpedaling. You have to teach them to do something completely opposite of what they've always done. And even him, just teaching him, how to judge the ball and when to look back for the ball and just things he never had to worry about. Because he always looked at those things from the offensive perspective. So, it's really been ground zero with him from day one, teaching him everything and he's done a really good job. The thing about T-Will, man, he's a very, very hard worker. He's committed to it. He does a lot of stuff on his own. Trying to get better and you've seen him get better week by week. So, I'm glad. We're really happy with the progress that he's made."

On how Jones had to make sure Williams' mentality is always to stay on his toes:

"Yeah. Playing offense, they hand you the ball and nature takes over. The ability that you have, the instincts that you have, and is just comes natural to you. When you're playing defensive back, some of it's natural, but a lot of it is learning. You have to know when to do a lot of things, but more importantly, you have to know when not to do a lot of things. Probably one of the most important aspects of playing cornerback, in particular, is eye discipline. That's something you don't have to worry about on the offensive side of the ball because a lot of the mistakes that you make playing defensive back, especially corner, are having your eyes in the wrong place. Knowing what to do, just being able to get in front of a guy and looking at a certain body part to see when it moves, to be able to move another part of your body. So, it's a lot of things you have to think about playing cornerback. Whereas, when you're playing offense, you don't have to think as much. You just do what comes naturally to you."

On if Jones is at the point of talking to players such as Jojo Crim about negating using redshirt:

"I wish I was, but considering the fact right now we only have five scholarship cornerbacks, there's not a whole lot we can do other than play these guys. And we've had these conversations. I'm very close with my group. I've recruited all these guys. So, I'm in tight with their parents. So, we've had these conversations. And going into the year, we thought we would probably be able to redshirt both Jojo and Jahmari [DeLoatch], but with everything that's happened, they're in the mix right now. And my group is banged up. Jojo's a little bit banged up. So, having six more games, you can't predict what may happen. So, those guys are prepared to play and they're OK doing that."

On what Jones has seen from Georgia Tech:

"They're a really, really good, um offensive football team. They run the football well, which allows them to be able to control the clock. The quarterback commands the offense, does a really good job of taking what the defense gives him. They have two good running backs. I think one [Jamal Haynes] and zero [Malachi Hosley] are both really talented backs. They can take it the distance. Their receiving core, athletic. No. 4 [Isiah Canion] is a bigger body guy that can catch the ball downfield. Three [Eric Rivers] and eight [Malik Rutherford] both do a really good job of catching screens, kind of running plays that they use within their offense. But they've got weapons at a lot of different places. And probably one of the most impressive things I've seen is the athleticism of the offensive line. The offensive line does a really good job of getting to the next level, getting out in space and being able to get on blocks. And oftentimes, the bigger guys are not as good at that, but obviously, they've recruited those type of athletes to be able to do it. So, that poses some problems for the second level guys."

On what the post-Pry process has been:

"For me, 26 years in the business, I've been through this before and I've actually been through this with friends before. So, the thing when something like that happens, you just continue to be a friend. And that's what I've done. We continue to talk. We continue to communicate and he's cheering for us. We still do date night together and we still communicate together because life goes on. We all understand in this business, it's about winning and losing ball games. And we didn't win enough ball games. But that doesn't mean that we don't appreciate the opportunity at Virginia Tech, we don't love our players and we don't love what we're doing right now. So, I've talked to him on multiple occasions. He's rooting for us every week and [I'm] hoping for for the best for him."

On importance of offensive line getting to the second level:

"Well, really important because that's one of the reasons that they do that. We're smaller body guys getting on the bigger body guys and we don't see that often, especially as often as they run their screen games. So, we've worked this week, watched a lot of film. And teaching my guys and trying to show them the importance of being able to not engage on blocks, being able to avoid blocks and being able to get the ball turned back inside to our guys that can make the tackles. Oftentimes, what they want to do is get you sealed, get outside of you, which changes the pursuit angles of everybody else. So, we've got to do a really good job of being able to take on those guys in space, but not getting engaged with them because our bodies doesn't match their bodies."