Everything From Virginia Tech Interim HC Philip Montgomery After Wednesday's Practice

Virginia Tech interim head coach Philip Montgomery spoke with the media following Wednesday's practice; here's the entirety of what he had to say:

On how practice was today:

"Practice was good. Practice was good. Really, we've had two really good days. I mean, the energy has really been there. The attention to detail has been there. We've got some urgency about us. We're bouncing around. So, I've been really pleased with that."

On how the team responded following the firing of then-head coach Brent Pry.

"Absolutely. I mean, there's there's so much emotion involved, right? And their world got shocked and our world got shocked and so, you got to deal with the emotional part of it. I think I said this in the press conference part [on Tuesday]. I think the best thing for us was to get back on the practice field, have an opportunity to come out here and work, put our focus and all that energy and emotion into what we love to do, which is play this team."

Q: What do you want to see out of the group Saturday?

"I want us to play complimentary football. I want to see us play four quarters. The effort has been there. Even last week as you look at all of it, our guys were battling. They were grinding till the end. But I want to see us play a complete game and I want to see us feed off of each other and and learn how to do that together."

On transfer situation (players have 30 days to depart program and redshirt):

"Yeah, we have conversations about it. I mean, that's where we are in in today's college football and so we have conversations about it. We want to make sure they understand what the information is and make sure it's accurate because there's so much stuff out there that is not accurate. And so, you know, as we sit down and have those conversations, whether it's as a group or one-on-one, we dive into all of that and make sure that we're all on the same page as we leave that room."

Q: Since players can't transfer and go to new schools mid-season, any players who enter the transfer portal, do you want to keep them around just to have as like guys who can work with the scout team, give you some depth, or is it just case-by-case?

"Yeah, we're going to work through that as a staff and work through that as an administration. As we come to where we're at with all of it, then we'll let that play itself out."

On the response at practice and whether it was as Montgomery hoped:

"It was what I was hoping and uh again I thought they've they've reacted really well to it. Obviously, there's still a lot of emotion involved. But that being said, they've worked extremely hard. They've come prepared every day. They've shown up on time. And they've got a lot of juice and energy about what's going on right now. So, we've got to continue that part of it."

Q: You mentioned this yesterday that you've done this before. You've been in these battles with players as a head coach. Is there a way that you can feed into that to get the most out of them this week and into Saturday?

Yeah, I think so. I mean, luckily I've gotten some experience and I'm getting to buy back into that part of it. The biggest thing: we've got a extremely good coaching staff. Those guys have done a tremendous job. Again, it's not me. It's us as a group and our staff has been excellent and our players have responded to that and we've got to continue to keep growing."

On how easy/difficult it was to transition back into being a head coach:

"Well, that's a tougher question because that's not where my mindset was and for this situation to turn over in a matter of it seemed like 10 minutes. Then all of a sudden, you're just trying to deal with everything that went on. And then you got to kind of switch your mindset and you got to think about what's right for these players, what's right for these young men, what's right for our staff and how we can hold them all together and continue to to move forward.

On how important Montgomery's family has been to him:

"Yeah, I mean my wife, she's a stud. She takes care of everything. Takes care of me more importantly. My daughter is tremendous. Having Cannon here has been an unbelievable help, but the whole staff has rallied together and so, it's a group effort for sure. But for me, it's always been about faith, family, football in that order and and family is always very very high."

On changing arrangements (Montgomery was up in the booth for the first three games):

"Yeah, we're working through that part of it. Obviously, I'm coming back down on the field. And we'll kind of see how we adjust a little bit, whether I put another set of eyes in the box or how we kind of make that work. From an offensive standpoint, the offensive line's gone through a bunch of injuries."

Q: How is that group looking?

"We're getting better. We're getting healthier. Are we going to be 100% by this Saturday? Probably not. But we're continuing to gain momentum in that area. Obviously, it's a big area of concern. But those guys are again doing everything they can to get back and we kind of take it day-by-day."

On Gavin Crawford and whether he will eschew his redshirt:

"Again, where we are from a depth standpoint, Gavin did a nice job the other night, got kind of thrown into the fire. Thought he reacted well. He's going to continue to grow. He's had a good week at work. And we'll see how the the year kind of plays itself out, but I know he is locked into doing whatever he can to help our football team."

On whether Montgomery expects OL Brody Meadows to play this year:

"Uh, I think Brody's going to be out."

On Wofford and what stands out to Montgomery on film:

"Well, I mean, they're a well coached team and they do a lot of good things offensively. We got to do a good job of having our eyes in the right spot. They put you in some in some difficult situations. But I know our defense is going to be prepared and ready. And then defensively, they do a lot of different things with their secondary. They change up their fronts. They're going to bring some pressure at times. And so, we got to do a good job of controlling the line of scrimmage and having our eyes in the right spot, being able to race back through windows when they're dropping seven to eight people depending upon what the situation is, and finding those areas that we can work. Feels good."