Virginia Tech Defensive Media Session: A very newsworthy chat with Bud Foster

Today the media had an opportunity to chat with defensive coordinator Bud Foster, and it led to an interesting exchange about the possibility of monetary fines (from players' cost-of-attendance stipends) as a means of discipline.

"Well, we're going to look at doing that," Foster said when broached about the subject. "You know, there's some people that got in trouble for punishing people at 6 a.m. in the morning and obviously you know you need some discipline, some discipline issues and I think that's one way you can potentially do that and control that a little bit. These guys right now, they haven't had access to money unless they've been Pell Grant recipients, so they'll want that when it's all said and done at the end of the day."

Foster also acknowledged other alternative discipline methods such as reducing game ticket allotments and fines from bowl game stipends.

"Yeah, we can do that. We can do that as well, which is part of our policy, too. Yeah, there's that potential and then obviously sitting out quarters or halves or games, too. So you know that all ties in together.

"We've done that with bowl games and things of that nature over the years. But that was with certain fines and things with game day attire and different things like that. The bottom line is we want guys doing the right thing, being a team all the time, being consistently good, developing those habits and all those types of things. In the real world, you don't adhere to the rules and regulations, you get fired. We're not in a position to fire anybody right now, so we can fine them a little bit."

Virginia Tech athletic director Whit Babcock said Wednesday night the idea of football players being fined for violation like missing team meetings or being late for meals "has been discontinued".

"I had no idea of any of it," Babcock said Wednesday night. "Have addressed and will further. It has been discontinued 100 percent. ... I don't know of any past practice and I didn't know about this today either. Again, has been addressed and will be further. All of it discontinued immediately."

Additional interesting tidbits and quotes from Foster

As of right now, here's whom Foster said he would likely redshirt: DEs Houshun Gaines, Darius Fullwood, DTs Tim Settle and Harry Lewis and LB Carson Lydon.

Foster expects freshman backer Tremaine Edmunds to be play on special teams this year and is grooming him to replace Deon Clarke for next year. He even compared Edmunds to former NFL LB Xavier Adibi.

He is concerned about DE Dadi Nicolas possibly developing bad habits in the run game with the cast on his right hand (which Foster referred to as broken).

He loves DE Vinny Mihota's motor and aggressiveness.

ON ANDREW MOTUAPUAKA BEING A LEADER ON DEFENSE:

"He wants to be a leader. As a young player, you always want to be a little quiet but him playing under Chase (Williams) and Jack (Tyler), I think Andrew (Motuapuaka) really learned from Chase (Williams) a lot. I used him (Williams) as an example. Just being loud and everybody's counting on him, particularly up front. Just be decisive in your calls and he's taken to that role and I appreciate that."

ON SEAN HUELSKAMP BACKING UP MOTUAPUAKA:

"He's a guy that was going to figure in last year on special teams, but tore his ACL on I think the opening kickoff. He's a guy that I really trust. Plays for us very smart, very intelligent. Kind of a little bit of a Chase Williams, Jack Tyler kind of guy right there a little bit. Smart, heady kid. Tough kid. He'll play for us."

ON BACKER DEON CLARKE:

"You know, Deon (Clarke) has really come in this year with a great attitude. Attacked the weight room. He was 229-230 lbs. You know, which he put on about 15 lbs from last year. Working hard to be a complete linebacker instead of just being a guy that we're blitzing off the edge or playing in our Bear defense and doing those kinds of things. For us to be successful, he needs to be a complete football player and do a lot of different things because that spot for us is a playmaking spot and has been and he's showed that skill set. Just being another year along and last year was his first year playing a significant amount and you saw him get better and the game so slow down and that's what I've seen right now. He's just in a little better comfort zone than where he was last year."

ON IF HAVING CORNERBACKS PLAY MAN-COVERAGE AGAINST OHIO STATE IS MORE OF A RISK THIS YEAR:

"Well, I'm not going to say what we're going to do, but yeah, that's a concern a little bit. You know, we've got good corners. I think that's the one thing in that game with the exception of a couple plays, we matched up very well with them on the perimeter and if you can do that, that allows you to load the box. You know, they want to run the football. But QB (Cardale) Jones did a great job of throwing the ball down the stretch, but everybody (opponents) was just playing, kind of, quarter-quarter-halves (Cover 6) and he did a great job of finding the open man in the zone. In our defense, I don't care what coverage we're playing, we very rarely have guys running free through zones. You know, we're going to match somebody up and you know, we're going to do a couple of little things different, but hopefully at the same time we're going to have a lot of people running with their receivers and make that quarterback make good throws and throw under duress and I think that's where we're a little bit different than who they've played. I got a lot of respect for Alabama and Oregon and Wisconsin, but I think our front is a little more aggressive and twitchier and can cause some problems a little bit more than those other groups. You know, it's going to be a combination of both. We've got to be able to get some pressure on the quarterback like we did last year, but good coverage also allows for good pressure and good pressure allows for good coverage. So, it's all going to tie in together."

Linebacker Andrew Motuapuaka

ON IF THERE WERE PLAYERS HE EMULATED GROWING UP:

"Troy Polamalu was always my guy. I mean, the way he plays with passion and just flying around to the ball, that's really all I watched. I mean, Ray Lewis, he's the man. He's the man at linebacker. I liked watching safeties. I always wanted to play safety, but I guess I'm too big, too heavy."

ON IF THERE WAS A PLAYER HE EMULATED WHEN HE ARRIVED ON CAMPUS:

"When I got here my freshman year, (LB) Jack Tyler was here. Great linebacker. Man, I don't think I've seen anybody have quicker reads. I mean, he'd read it and his reactions were really quick and I want to get my reads up to that point."

ON HIS BIGGEST STRENGTH AS A LINEBACKER

"I don't know if I have a biggest strength. I really can't tell you what my biggest strength is. I don't know. Just have fun. That's what it's about for me. When you're having fun, most of the time you're doing everything right."

ON PLAYING ALONGSIDE BACKER DEON CLARKE:

"It's a pleasure to play alongside him again. Last year, I only got four games to play with him, but I'm excited to just play next to him. Me and Deon, we get after it sideline to sideline. I know Deon's going to give me his best effort and I'm going to give him my best. That's what it's all about. Laying it all down for your brother."

ON WHAT HE'S HOPING TO IMPROVE UPON THIS SEASON:

"I'm trying to just be more mentally sharp. I mean, there's a lot of big plays that we let pop last year and we want to minimize those and all those come down to really, like mental mistakes and just not filling gaps like where we're supposed to and that's what it comes down to. Just making sure all the little things are right and just making sure you're there mentally."