Virginia Tech's in-house publication, Inside Hokie Sports, published a couple of interviews with Justin Hamilton and Brad Cornelsen.
http://inside.hokiesports.com/issues_ihs/ihs_march_2020/
J-Ham was a bit more forthcoming, at least in my opinion. He raved about Amaré Barno, although he was asked specifically about him. I'm interested to see if and where he gets on the field this season.
What tidbits jumped out to you?
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The Cornelson article was lengthy without saying much at all. Only on the last few questions did we really get insight into players filling vacancies. He really didn't give us anything related to scheme or changes we can see as a result of new personnel. Basically just gave coach speak lines equivalent to "everyone is working really hard ".
Edit: Cornelson totally dodged the mention of Drake DeIlluis on tight ends. I'm assuming he is a non-factor right now.
Hamilton went into a little bit more detail, because he had to. New coaches, new players, injuries all dictate changes. And he actually addressed it. I definitely appreciated a look under the hood for defense.
Cornelson's personality is that exact same way "off the field". He is a quiet, reserved, not exciting guy.
Probably the right personality for an OC. DC's can be maniacs, OCs have to keep their head on straight or else they'll start running their offense the way I play Madden, aka the "Fuck it we're going deep" offense.
The fuck it offense is my personal favorite offense
Just Verts and Wheel Routes all day
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In Cornelson's defense, he was asked mostly about players leaving, whereas Jham was asked mostly about players still on the team. The former really restricts you to relying on coach speak. The latter gives you some leeway to answer questions on specific players.
what jumped out to me were J Ham's statements on fit ("I'd like to change our fit structure systematically within a call to be able to get into a couple more things") and his references to playing zone in the response re: Hunter. My gut says Teerlink and Claeys are going to make more than just cosmetic changes in how the front 6/7 operates
I saw those, too. I have a feeling the d-line slanting across gaps for run assignments is going away with less man/cover 0/cover 1 and inverted halves w/ robber.
I'm still expecting a 4-2-5 defense, but how it's run will be a bit different than we're used to. I'm definitely looking forward to French's reviews after games to learn more on how this defense has changed.