ESD 2022 Pry + Friends Pressers Discussion

For those that are just coming to this thread, it's a little busier than usual. I did a live watch and typed my takeaways from Pry's portion in the comments below. The other interviews I watched later and typed the key points in the body of this post. Thanks for everyone who followed along for putting up with my typos and a diaper change break.

All of the press conferences are now embedded in the post, but here's the link to the HokieSports ESD page for review.

Pry-ssr Takeaways are in comments below 👇.
All have been edited for clarity after furiously typing some gibberish during the live look.

Jones Q&A Takeaways:

• Sick pocket square.
• Maintaining relationships is key to flipping croots. Cotman was flipped more by the recruiting class than the staff, but Jones stayed in contact with Cotman and his father throughout the process.
• Jones talks about getting guys for the system. Jones wants to be able to play aggressive man coverage and went after guys early to play including Lovett and Flemming.
• We recruit defensive backs, we want CB skills everywhere so offenses can't play to weaknesses in coverage. Current group has a lot of people with offensive experience to improve our ball skills. PICKS y'all
• Staff is thrilled about Mose Phillips, didn't know if it was going to happen until 48hrs ago. Knew about him early on, but slow-played it to keep attention off of him.
• Cotman and Phillips are early enrollees
• Relationships, relationships, relationships - Steve Ballmer

Mines Q&A Takeaways:

• Known Jennings for a long time, since 7. Offers consistency and is going to push the rest of the room. He will be a coach on the field.
• Quan is long and athletic. Confident and has a chip on his shoulder. Is going to bring a different demeanor to the room.
• Discussing between staff on where to put ATH's can be animated sometimes. Mines likes WRs that play Defense as well because it shows physically and a team mentality.
• Relationships, relationships, relationships - Steve Ballmer

Villagrana Q&A Takeaways:

• Mics magically suck again 🤷
• Challenge with the portal is it hits all at one time. Have to strategize around that day and the dead period.
• Portal is to fill roster needs not flip the roster. We want foundational guys out of high school.
• Silverlining of not bowling is that the staff got on the road and was able to lock down the class.
• Talks about East TN being a good pipeline from a relationships standpoint, but also because Blacksburg is a place players from the area can identify with.
• Drones was one of 4 guys the staff was really looking at. Being a dual threat was something the staff wanted.
• Staff keeps a board of second stringers that could hit the portal and be a contributor in Blacksburg.

Pry ACCN PM:

• ACCN showing VT with the #46 class, not sure which site has us that low.
• 15 total VA players 12 recruits, 3 transfers
• High School recruiting is the focus, portal is for immediate needs. Pry brings up the transfer calendar being off again. Signees can transfer in a few months and the spring window can mess up development from spring ball. Pry wants one window.
• Excited about Ali, recruited him at PSU, he and Kyron ended up being a package deal.