Andy Backstrom (
@andybackstrom)
Publisher
Virginia Tech head coach Brent Pry couldn't have gotten off to a worse start to his head coaching career. Everything went wrong for the Hokies at Old Dominion, ranging from a mistake-ridden performance that included 15 penalties and five turnovers to a halftime elevator malfunction where part of his staff got stuck—delaying the start of the second half—to a mid-game locker room robbery.
Pry has turned the page, though.
The focus for Virginia Tech is on Boston College as the Hokies welcome BC in their home opener at Lane Stadium Saturday night.
This week, Pry answered questions about the Eagles. Here's what he had to say.
Q: You worked with John McNulty at Penn State and coached against him when he was at Rutgers. What do you expect from him Saturday night now that he’s BC’s coordinator?
PRY: “John’s a really good football coach. A great guy. He was an offensive analyst for us at Penn State. Coached against him when he was at Rutgers. So, familiar with John. He’s got a lot of experience. I look for him to have a great plan against us. He knows what we like to do.”
Q: Anything specific stand out about this Boston College offense to you?
PRY: "Yeah, they stretch the field. They stretch the field vertically. As much as anybody I’ve seen in a while, to be honest. They’ve got several guys that can run. And they’re committed to pushing the ball down the field."
Q: Do you have any history with Phil Jurkovec? I know he’s a Pennsylvania guy.
PRY: "We recruited him some at Penn State. We were certainly heavily in Pittsburgh. And we recruited guys from his school. But not me personally."
Q: Facing a guy like Jurkovec whose been around the college game for so long, what challenges does that bring to the defense?
PRY: "First of all, he’s got the 'it factor.' He’s one of those gutsy quarterbacks. He’s gonna make big plays. He runs better than you think, and he runs tough. He can throw all the balls. He’s a veteran. So he’s a battle-tested guy. We gotta try and make it tough on him. Because he’s certainly good enough to beat you."
Q: Any kind of hallmarks that you see of a Jeff Hafley defense?
PRY: "It certainly reminds me of Ohio State’s defense. Just a lot of [Cover] 3 and [Cover] 1. Sound. He went into Ohio State and kind of fixed that thing up and got them playing better defense before he left for that job. So I’ve got a lot of respect for Jeff and what he does defensively."
Q: Where do they challenge you the most defensively?
PRY: "Probably, just they’re very proficient with what they do. They don’t do a lot, but they do it well. I think they’re a well-coached bunch. They’re a couple years into this thing, and they’ve got a good handle of what they’re doing defensively."
