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

Virginia Tech football interim head coach Philip Montgomery spoke to the media after practice on Wednesday, Nov. 12. Here's the entirety of what Montgomery had to say:

Virginia Tech Interim Head Coach Philip Montgomery Media Availability (11/12/25) pic.twitter.com/kpcZe9eAdA
— Kolby Crawford (@kolby_crawford) November 12, 2025

Q: Is there anything to ask you at this point?

"I know. If you don't have anything, I'm good."

On linebacker Jaden Keller:

"He's proud. He's one of the best leaders we have on the football team. He works at his craft. He's selfless. But watching him progress through [injuries], he's been banged up with some stuff, but continues to come to work. Takes care of his body, does things right on and off the field. He's an emotional player, but plays with great leverage and ability. And he's a special guy."

Q: He was on the the 2021 team that had an interim coach in the year. Did you see him step up when you took over in the interim this year because he had been through that and probably learned from some older guys how to handle it?

"Yeah, he obviously stepped up for us. He's on our leadership council. He's one of those guys that doesn't mind standing in front of the team and being able to really talk and lead. Whether that factored in, you'd have to ask him if that factored in for him, but he's been an intrical part of keeping this locker room together, keeping this team focused and he's been really good for us."

On the offensive line's development:

"The thing about those guys is, they've started to gel, right? Being on the same page. They fought through some injuries. They fought through some other things, but they've stayed hungry about the process. And you're seeing some some really good growth out of those couple of young guys that are in there. The inexperience early in the season kind of showed up. But as those guys have gotten more reps, more game reps, more practice sessions, more film sessions, you see the maturity that's starting to happen with them and that's really good."

On what challenge Florida State will pose to the offensive line in terms of alignment, size:

"Yeah, I mean they're big. They can move, they got great length, they're explosive. They're going to give you some a lot of different fronts. They're exotic in some of their blitz parts of it, a lot of twist game to it. So, those guys have got to do a great job of communicating. They got to do a great job of hand placement, being able to sit down on some stuff in the pass protection side of it and then on the run side of it just because of what they do with their linebackers and their fronts. We got to do a great job of getting things targeted and then being on the same page as we're coming off a football and being able to work movement, work edges, and be able to get those guys in a position that allow our backs to do what they do."

On whether Altuner's gone up against such a big nose guard in Darrell Jackson Jr. and what to do with such a big height disparity:

"That dude's a giant. And [Altuner] has not gone against somebody of that size. We got to do a great job of of helping in some areas with that. But also, allowing Kyle to, there's going to be times where he's got to man up and just take. There's other times where we can play on the edges and and give him some support and some help. And so, that guy's, he's a big nose now. There's not many like that in the country."

On the status of OL Montavious Cunningham and whether he's any closer:

"Not really."

Q: Coach, Florida State's top 25 in the country in rush defense. As a play caller, how do you balance as a run-first kind of team? How do you balance establishing the run but also keeping them honest and keeping a balance?

"We got to find some balance in it, right? And we've got to be a little bit more creative in some of the ways we're trying to run the football. Make them play some gap sound stuff and I think that will help us. Our line's fairly athletic, I think, and allow them to play to those strengths, allow our backs to play to those strengths. And then obviously, when we have opportunities to to spread them out and do some different things, try to make gaps a little bit further instead of everything being right there in front of them. Make them have to play some gap on the sound looks and try to find our advantage, but also, we got to find some more balance between the run and the pass."

On how the guys are looking after two practices following the open week:

"Coming off this break and having two bye weeks this close together is a little bit unusual this late in the season. So, I thought they handled it really well. During the bye week, I thought we got the reps that we needed. We got some recovery in there. But I think just coming off this break, these two practices, we've had two good practices. And we got to stack those together and lead us into what we got to go do with a great test on the road right now in front of a crazy crowd and all of that part of it. Our guys being locked in and controlling the things that we can control and making sure that we are focused on us and what we've got to do to go find a win."