Everything From Virginia Tech DC Sam Siefkes After Wednesday's Practice

Virginia Tech defensive coordinator Sam Siekfes spoke to the media after Wednesday's practice; here is the entirety of what he had to say:

On what it's been like in the building over the last week and a half:

"Yeah, crazy is a good word. But it's been impressive. The leadership we have in the locker room, I think, throughout the course of the time and the amount of people that stood up and and tried to keep everything together. I think it's just been a breath of fresh air for all those players. I mean, they've done a great job of keeping everything um in a good place and being able to kind of move things forward."

On what it's been like for Siefkes specifically as a defensive coordinator:

"It doesn't change much. We have a saying on our defensive staff that's 'Stay in process', and whether the result was good or whether the result was bad, we believe in what we're doing from a process standpoint. We tinker and we do things slightly different from week to week, but at the end of the day, we know what we're doing and how we're doing it is the right way. We just got to continue to work at it, so that we can get the results that we want to week in and week out."

Q: How would you evaluate the last few weeks?

I think we're under construction and and in improvement. I think that's the biggest thing is [that] we felt like there are things that we have done but we're incomplete. I think that's the probably the best way to put it. I think all the players would agree with that. Obviously, I'm at the forefront of making sure that we're doing the right things and we're executing the right things. I think [that] is the biggest thing. But they understand that and and I think last week was a step, but they know that was just that. It was one step towards being a better defense going forward."

On CJ Bailey:

"He does a good job. He can extend plays. He does a great job, obviously through the air. He's an impressive young man. I think the offense in general is very explosive. That's pretty easy to see. But I think, throughout the course of these first four games, he's done a tremendous job."

On attacking NC State's productive screens:

"Well, it's hard. They're keeping you off balance. I think anytime that a team is good at screens, which they are, it's keeping you off balance from what you're trying to do on a third down basis. When you watch that, that was the, correct me if I'm wrong, I think, the first third down of the game, which was impressive for them to be able to extend and and go as far down as they did. But they do a really good job of of mixing it up. But that's what we try to do on the defensive side, too, is [to] be able to mix pressure and coverage and and kind of have both variables so that they don't know which is coming. No different than an offense is is trying to execute down the field throws or quick game or screens or whatever the case might be."

On looking back at second half against Vanderbilt and first half against Old Dominion and how it got away from the defense:

"Yeah, to me, it was execution, first and foremost. And at the end of the day, that comes down to me getting the players to execute better. That's my responsibility. That's one of the things that we have tried to continue to do a better job of going forward and trying to do a better job of week by week and snap by snap. But that is the main thing that we're trying to get accomplished is doing a better job of executing their one-elevenths is what we call it. So, player by player, just doing their job on that specific play. If we do that, we feel pretty good about the result."

Q: Is it simplification that takes place, just reinforcement of previous stuff? What do you really have to emphasize when you do that?

"I wouldn't necessarily say simplification. I would say it's more so just an understanding of the technique and the fundamentals within that specific scheme. Guys have to understand what their what their specific job is and don't try to outreach that job. I think at times, within those games, they felt like, 'All right, hey, the drive's getting a little bit extended. I got to do something that's outside of my job.' And you don't have to do that if they just do their job. But we had multiple opportunities in many of those games in which we could have gotten off the field. And we felt like if we do a better job of executing we can do that."

On what Siefkes wants to see improve ahead of NC State:

"I think multiple things, right? We want to do a really good job on first and second down of limiting explosives. I think that's one of the things that we have a high concentration on in general as a defense. On third down, we want to have a high execution rate of getting off the field. In the red zone, we want to be able to hold teams to field goals. Like, those are kind of the basic structures of what we want to do defensively. And then within that, it's just like Andy talked about, like it's what we want what we're trying to do from an execution standpoint so that when we get to those situations, we understand it. We can be able to go out there and get it done."

On Siefkes' reaction to Kemari Copeland's first career interception:

"Surprised. I didn't think he could catch, so that was probably my first reaction. And in reality, he probably has better hands than almost everybody on our defense. So, surprised would be a good word."

On the linebackers:

"Yeah, I've been encouraged. I would say the improvement from, you know, Week 1 to [Week 2 to Week 3 to Week 4] has been vast improvement. Obviously, this past week, Kaleb Spencer got a lot of reps and I thought he did a lot of really good things for us. I think JK [Jaden Keller] has made a lot of steps going forward. But you're right. I mean, we've played a lot of guys, not just at that position, but a lot of positions. And I think the main thing is we want to try to keep guys as fresh as we can throughout the course of the game so that they don't feel like they're tired because they're going to play a lot of special teams and they're going to play a lot of snaps on defense. We want to be able to even that out over the course of time. But there's a lot of guys we trust in that room that we feel like can go out and play and execute."

Q: You rolled out eight freshman there on defense. Was that good to get some film for those guys and to get them some game reps?

"Yeah, 100%. And I thought they did a really good job. You know, at practice, you go through and you try to push them to make mistakes, right? What we try to do is give them the hardest look that they could possibly get within whatever the call is and then allow them to kind of screw it up. And I think the thing that I noticed throughout the course of the game with those freshman playing was they did a pretty good job mentally. And I think, no matter what the game is for a freshman that's playing in their first game, sometimes they can be a lot. And I thought those guys did a really good job of controlling their emotions and being able to execute down in and down out for the snaps that they did play."

On how Siefkes' adjustment to Blacksburg has gone:

"Good."

[Editor's note: This was a question that I asked, to which Siefkes responded with a question of "From a football standpoint?" I responded with a yes.]

"I mean, I think it's no different than the players. I would say it's an ever-improving atmosphere. Like we talked about this in training camp, I'm a person that's miserably happy. I'm miserable because I always want better from myself and I always want better from the defense. But I'm happy in what I'm doing on a day-to-day basis. And I think that's the sign of somebody that always wants to achieve the next thing as a defense, as a collective, as a unit. and that's what we're trying to get done is [that] we don't want to be satisfied with the results and we're not satisfied with the results. And so, we're working to try to get to a point where we're proud of the result that's on the field."

On if a roster possibly in flux makes it difficult to game plan:

"Yeah, I think it is [difficult]. But we have a good basis of guys that are bringing the collective together. While there is some some areas in flux, like you're saying from an availability standpoint, we feel good about the nucleus that's going to go out there and play the majority of the snaps and that's really all you can ask for going forward. And I think putting that plan together, with knowing kind of what that nucleus is, is going to be good for us, you know, come Saturday."

On Kelvin Gilliam and his outspoken leadership:

"Yeah, I'm very proud and honored to be able to coach Kelvin. He's done some leadership things that I've really never been a part of. And for him to say things like that in the given moment, when it's easy to be in a different emotion or direction, I think it speaks volumes to who he is as a person and his character and being able to kind of keep things where they need to be for our our defense and our team."

Q: What kind of things has he done that's been extraordinary?

"I think he's just always been steady. There's always been a standard with him, on how we operate with things in the meeting room, on the football field, in the game. The standard doesn't waver with him. And when one of your best players is also your hardest worker, it makes it really easy to bring the collective along with him."