Everything From Virginia Tech HC James Franklin At April 16's Media Availability

Virginia Tech football head coach James Franklin spoke to the media on Thursday, April 16, two days before the Hokies' annual spring game (Saturday, April 18; 3 p.m. ET). Here's the entirety of what Franklin had to say:

On how practice was this week:

"It's been good. I thought today was good, and this is really the last practice before the spring game. We'll have a Friday [practice], but it's going to be more like a jog-through dress rehearsal of what to expect for the game. So, this was really our last practice. And sometimes, they put it on cruise control a little bit. But I thought today was really good. I don't think there was really one out of the 13 practices we had where they came out flat and we had the push-up. It was highly motivated, highly competitive all spring. So, I was pleased culturally with how we worked."

On what Saturday's format will entail:

"So, we'll put something out. We're going to put something out social media with all the details, but we're going to go live. We're going to go live. We will limit a few guys' reps, but everybody will get some live work, except for the quarterback. When I say live, except for the quarterback, the first quarter will be a traditional quarter. Then after that, we'll go on a running clock. We're not going to go traditional halftime. We're going to keep going on what I've learned over the years. If you have a half-time, you go in, you come out, everybody's gone, or a lot of people left. So, we're just going to do quarter breaks for a few minutes and do something in between, but not long at all.

We're going to keep the action going. If I had to guess, we'll probably get 45 plays for both the maroon offense and the maroon defense. So, about 90 plays this format has equaled out to about that the last couple of years. So, I think it'll be a really good opportunity for you guys — the media and the fans — to get a feel for what this team is going to be like. Special teams will pretty much be on air, but we will punt kick, kickoff, do those types of things. But besides that, I think you'll get a pretty good look. You guys already saw an entire practice, but that was early. So, you'll get a better feel after Saturday. "

On if the team will split up into two different teams:

"Yeah, two totally different sidelines of maroon team, a white team. It's not ones versus twos. It's not a ones and twos versus threes and four fours. There are some of that, but it's a mix. It's legitimately a mix of guys on both sides that I think will have a chance to be a competitive game."

On how Franklin balances that as a coach and if he does anything to "do it up" differently than in other practices:

"No, we're going to be in the stadium. We're not going to do anything flashy. We're going to play football, and hopefully, we're going to play an exciting brand of football on offense, defense and special teams, which will be enough. But with where we are as a program, a lot of people have gone away from spring games because the practice — that 15th practice, or that 14th practice — is just so valuable. That's why they've gone away with it. So to me, we're going to the stadium, we're going to let everybody get a peek at who and what we're going to be. But it's about us not putting on a show, so we got to get better."

Q: So Saturday, obviously, a small milestone in a much larger process. But is there one thing that you're looking for that says, "Hey, we're moving in the right direction here?"

"I think culturally, we got really good buy-in. I think there's excitement in the program right now, the players, the staff, the staff that have been retained, Bud [Foster]. Bud comes to pretty much every practice. His perspective has been interesting. So, I think the buy-in has been really good. I think the staffs are doing a really good job. And I even mean, we typically meet with 20 to 30 recruits on a Tuesday or Thursday, which I wasn't sure how that would be in the mornings, to be honest with you. And then, we're probably meeting with about 30 on Saturdays. And just the feedback I'm getting from parents, high school coaches and other college coaches is, they're excited about Virginia Tech. They like how they're treated.

I've been very impressed with our off-the-field staff and how they're handling people in terms of recruiting and organization. That's the feedback has been great about that. And then out of practice, same thing, we're maximizing our time. We're getting a ton of reps. We're getting some really good work. So I like where we're at and the feedback that I'm getting from people — whether it's Kyle Fuller, Bud Foster, Michael Vick, high school coaches, college coaches that are visiting us — has been really positive. I like what I've seen on tape, too."

On how Franklin is going about setting up the spring game:

"I'm talking more operational, right? Like the street we walk up, what that looks like, what that feels like, where we enter. I don't want the first game of the year [to be where] me and my staff are not comfortable with the rhythm and the feel of how a game goes. This is an unusual setup. We don't have a locker room in the stadium, right, so it's very unusual to walk one of the big changes we're making is, we're not going up here [to Merryman Athletic Center] at halftime. We'll be in the stadium next year at halftime, because I think losing that four to five minutes of transition time is valuable. So, that'll be a change. So, I want to make sure that myself and the staff and all the new players that have come, they know what it's like, walking from here in your traditional locker room down in the stadium. Reminds me a little bit when I was at Vanderbilt, where our locker room was across the street. We had a gameday locker room as well, but we walked across the street.

There are just some nuances here that I haven't experienced very often, that I want to make sure myself and the staff are very comfortable with how we're going to do pregame meal at the end. I want to make sure that there's no issues next year. So, it's a dress rehearsal for the Inn and the chefs and how we do things. It's the same thing — what our expectations are for the players at the meal, what time you get there. How do we do all those things? What they should be eating, all that kind of stuff. So when I talk about a dress rehearsal, not really in the stadium, it's all the ... pregame ... operation. But like, yeah, the bands, right? You got two bands here. I've never experienced that. You got the traditional school band, and then you also have the military band. So, just all those things, I want to make sure myself and staff are very comfortable with."

On going live with the quarterbacks:

"We ended up not doing that. Coaches didn't want to do that spring."

On the leadership developing within spring ball with the team this year:

"I think it's been good. Sometimes you say, 'I want to come out of spring and name at least one offensive, defensive, special teams captain.' I don't think we need to do that. Sometimes, coaches do that, and it doesn't matter who you say. It's who [the players] think are the leaders, right? So we may do that. Right now. I don't think we have a plan to do it. We may wait until the summer, until we have a better feel for this team. But I still meet with the leadership council, typically weekly, if not biweekly. We've got a lot of stuff to do between now and our first game. Obviously, all of our assistant coaches will meet with every player before they get on the road recruiting. Then, after they meet with them, I'll meet with all 120 players, which will take about three weeks. It'll be a grind; give them feedback from my perspective as well. So, that'll be valuable and important, but it'll be a grind. And then the coaches will all be on the road."

On the cornerback room:

"The issue we got there, just got so many guys dinged up, not with major things. Guys that will be back, but we just haven't had that full contingent all spring. Some of them, we knew we wouldn't have all spring. Some of those guys had little bumps and bruises during spring ball. So, just hard to get a real feel for that position. Because a lot of these guys haven't been out here every day."

On A.J. Brand's transition to wide receiver:

"I was giving him a hard time today. I think A.J. Brand has got a real future at wide receiver. He came out at first and was having success, but he scored a touchdown, wouldn't smile. In some ways, [he was] still kind of fighting the transition in my mind. But he's killing it right now. I think he's got a chance to really help us this year, and I think he has a chance to play for a long time at the wide receiver position. He's like a real dude at wide receiver, and it's exciting for him, and it's exciting for us. And at the end of the day, it's not about who's right and who's wrong. It's about getting the guys in the best position to be successful.

I think this is a perfect example. If the portal was open, I think it probably would have lost it, and I don't think it's the right thing for him. We had a kid named Nick Scott [when at Penn State], who I'm still very close with from Virginia. Him and Saquon [Barkley] came in in the same class. [Scott] said he had 26 reasons to move away from running back and move to safety. Because Saquon wore 26. He moved to safety, ends up having a great career at Penn State. And I think he's on year nine in the NFL, and I've talked to him about it. He says, 'If [there] would have been a transfer portal now, I probably would have left and went to play running back somewhere else, and it have been the wrong thing to do.'

There's some positives to this. I think about a bunch of these stories that forever, when the kids couldn't transfer without sitting a year, of guys that change positions. I think you have less and less of those stories [now] because guys leave. This is the right thing, in my opinion, for A.J. And it's the right thing for not only our football program, but also for him in his long-term football future."

On if it's a relief to not have the current transfer portal:

"Yes, but there's also a bunch of coaches around the country who say, 'God, I wish I had the portal to be able to solve this problem that I then identified during spring ball.' So, don't get me wrong, I'd rather have it the way it is right now, but I do think there are some coaches who say the benefit of having the second portal [is that] you can go out and solve some problems. But you could also create some, too."

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