Bud Foster Preparing for "New Wrinkles" in GT's Triple Option with Intense Practice Techniques

With the triple option offense of Georgia Tech on deck this week, Bud Foster is ready to take whatever means necessary to ensure his team is prepared.

"Today, we tried to make it a middle drill for 60 minutes," Foster said Tuesday. "It's the only way you can prepare for this. If not, you're gonna be down 14-0 like we were last year and like we've been some other years."

This certainly isn't Foster's first rodeo when it comes to preparing for Paul John's option attack. But, even after all these years, the longtime DC still finds some surprises when he flips on the game film.

"He's seen so many ways that people have tried to defend it and he's put a couple new wrinkles in this year," Foster said. "That's made us spend a little bit of extra time in our prep and making sure we're fitting up right and all those type of things. That's part of the battle with this, besides them being physical, and besides making sure you're sound in your option principals as far as your assignments and those type of things."

After some deliberation, the team ultimately landed on walk-on and scout-team QB Chase Mummau to follow in the steps of scout players like T.J. Shaw and simulate GT QB Justin Thomas in practice. Now, Foster is hoping Mummau has the goods to keep the defense on its toes.

"He's the guy that can run quarterback and he's athletic enough to stress us, I think, on the perimeter," Foster said. "He's our guy. He's a guy that can throw it, too."

But with injuries starting to pile up on defense, Foster certainly has reason to be concerned about how his defense might perform. The team will have to do without rover Terrell Edmunds for a half due to his targeting penalty last week, and Foster didn't seem overly optimistic about CB Greg Stroman's availability after his ankle injury against Duke.

"He did some stuff with our training staff and that was about it. We're hoping it's day-to-day, and we'll go from there," Foster said.

Luckily, DL coach Charley Wiles foresees the team getting full participation from DT Nigel Williams, even as he's battled through injury this year.

"I think Nigel is ready to go," Wiles said. "He practiced his normal Tuesday, which is until five o'clock, so he got about an hour in today and looked pretty darn good. Vinny (Mihota) was definitely — you know his shoulder and he got an ankle — his change of direction was a little limited last week, but he's had no setbacks. He's only gonna be better as time goes on. Gonna need all those guys in a game like this."

Yet Justin Fuente stressed Monday that the offense can provide a huge boost to the defense by simply possessing the ball and making the most of their time on the field.

"We think it's just about being efficient," WR Isaiah Ford said. "Whether that's running the ball, throwing the ball, taking shots or anything like that; it's just about being efficient in what we're doing."

Ford's quarterback, Jerod Evans, backed him up, noting that the offense's mindset shouldn't change their preparation or their plan.

"I don't think it affects the gameplan as much as we've just gotta focus and concentrate on every possession that we get because it is gonna be limited," Evans said. "We're not gonna get as much as we get in a regular game. We do have to focus and concentrate more on our assignments and execute at a high level."

Complicating matters is Evans' own accumulating bumps and bruises. The Yellow Jackets always tend to beat up the Hokies physically, win or lose, and Evans' persistent troubles with an ankle injury are certainly worrying for the coaching staff.

But it would seem that's not weighing too heavily on Evans' mind just yet.

"I ignore it by wanting to win," Evans said. "I'm so competitive that if coach told me I had to run 70 times to win the game, that's what it would take, I would literally do it. That's how I get through it. I want to win. I want my team to win."

Bud Foster

ON WHAT THE CHALLENGE OF GETTING READY FOR GEORGIA TECH IS:

"In the past we've had maybe some extra opportunities. We've also played them, a couple of years ago, where it was a short week. Hopefully the one thing we have is some experience from how they played last year in this game. That's always helpful. But it's still a tremendous challenge. Paul (Johnson), they do a great job and understand their scheme. He's seen so many ways that people have tried to defend it and he's put a couple new wrinkles in this year. That's made us spend a little bit of extra time in our prep and making sure we're fitting up right and all those type of things. That's part of the battle with this, besides them being physical, besides making sure you're sound in your option principles as far as your assignments and those types of things. I think the biggest challenge, besides that, is getting your scout team to simulate the speed of the offense and the physicality of the offense. Today, we tried to make it a middle drill for 60 minutes. It's the only way you can prepare for this. If not, you're gonna be down 14-0 like we were last year and like we've been some other years. Not to put any pressure on the offense — I've said this, you guys have heard me say this — sometimes the best defense against this offense is our offense. If we can put some points on the board and make them have to play catch up a little bit, kind of like what North Carolina did last week — they rushed for 350 yards against North Carolina last week. The quarterback (Justin Thomas) is not just a dynamic player, he's a great player. He's one of the elite athletes in this league. He's made some runs and some throws that are just — he makes them go. I think where they've improved — obviously he's been the guy — but I think they're better up front and I think their fullbacks — what they call their B backs — are a little more explosive than what they maybe had the last two years. When you get the quarterback and that guy along with your offensive line, which is improved, that's a group that can be tough to handle."

ON HOW MUCH NOT HAVING TERRELL EDMUNDS FOR THE FIRST HALF WILL HURT:

"It's not gonna be a whole lot. You're gonna miss him, obviously he's a dynamic football player, but it is what it is. We're probably gonna shuffle some people around a little bit just to get our best fit and get our best 11 on the field. Which is what we've done against this offense in the past before. If you guys remember, we had Tyrel Wilson, who was a dynamic backup guy for us. An undersized guy, but this was his game. He played and played well in this game. We're looking at what's the best pieces for our puzzle that fits right to give us a chance on Saturday. I know this, these guys, you look at the games against the good people they've played, Miami got a couple of cheap scores, but they've moved the ball on everybody. On Pitt, who I think up front has pretty good players, Miami, at the time, was healthy, they create a couple of turnovers but they moved the ball. You look at North Carolina, who has a bunch of athletes and good players, they've moved the ball and had explosive plays. I think Duke's a solid football team and the quarterback made some dynamic plays. We've gotta be physical up front, we've gotta play assignment football on the perimeter and with our edge people, as far as like our ends and those type of things, and we've gotta get the line of scrimmage and our defensive tackle. That's where the last couple of years, our guys up front, have controlled the line of scrimmage. We haven't had the explosive plays the last couple of years. We've got to eliminate those. Can't allow those to happen."

ON WHO'S BEEN PLAYING JUSTIN THOMAS ON THE SCOUT TEAM:

"We're working (walk-on) Chase Mummau right now. He's the guy that can run quarterback and he's athletic enough to stress us, I think, on the perimeter. He's our guy. He's a guy that can throw it, too. We had Sean Daniels last year, but Sean really — he could run fast, but as far as trying to take the quarterback position seriously and do what the quarterback needs to do to function at that position, we struggled with that a little bit. Now we had some extra time last year. This year we don't. We just felt like we needed a guy that could control the offense a little bit. He's athletic enough and does some things. We had T.J. Shaw a couple of years ago and Chase is probably a little quicker than T.J. to be honest with you. It's a very similar type guy that can simulate their offense from the quarterback standpoint."

ON IF MUMMAU RAN AN OPTION OFFENSE IN HIGH SCHOOL:

"I don't know. Didn't ask him. I just felt like he could do it, that he could be the guy because it's important for him, that he would come in and study it — and has with our graduate assistants — and has done a good job preparing himself to play that spot for us this week."

ON IF HE KNOWS HOW HE'S GONNA LINE UP OR IF HE'S STILL EXPERIMENTING WITH PLAYERS IN THE SECONDARY:

"We've kind of got an idea, but with one guy down at the safety spot, we're rotating a couple of guys there a little bit. We're still not settled in on (what) exactly that we want. It'll be similar to what we did last year, probably."

ON AN UPDATE ON GREG STROMAN:

"He did some stuff with our training staff and that was about it. We're hoping it's day-to-day, and we'll go from there."

ON AN UPDATE ON NIGEL WILLIAMS:

"Nigel didn't play the other day, but he practiced today. He was ready to go. We need to get him back. He played really well in the game last year. We need to get him back, because he's a big kid that can be physical at the point of attack and we need that."

Isaiah Ford

ON IF HE FEELS A PRESSURE ON OFFENSE THIS WEEK:

"He gave us the situation from the Navy vs. Notre Dame game. Notre Dame had six possessions — and on five them, they scored — and they still lost. That just shows how important each possession is and how we have to value the ball and when we get it, we have to make sure to put points on the board."

ON IF IT GETS BOTHERSOME WHEN PEOPLE BRING UP THAT HE'S FOUR CATCHES AWAY FROM THE VIRGINIA TECH CATCH RECORD:

"A lot of people ask about it. If I go out to eat or something, my waiter might say, 'Hey man, you gonna break that record on Saturday?' I think once it'll be over then it'll be fine. My focus is just trying to go 1-0, to be completely honest. If the record comes, then it comes."

ON IF THIS IS DIFFERENT THAN THE TOUCHDOWN RECORD:

"About the same."

ON IF HIS MOM BRINGS UP THE RECORD:

"Yeah, she'll exaggerate it a little with her good luck texts and her expectations of what she wants from me during the game. I'm like, 'Alright, Mom, come on now, let's be a little realistic.'"

ON WHAT HIS MOM TELLS HIM:

"I need like 250 yards and 3 touchdowns. I'm like, 'Okay...I'll see what I can do.'"

ON HIS THOUGHTS THAT HIS MOM DOESN'T MISS A GAME:

"I think that's something I've learned not to take for granted. Growing up, she was at every game. And now seeing how much she has to travel, and being around some of my other teammates and seeing how their parents don't come to every game, it makes me appreciate it that much more."

ON IF IT TAKES HURRICANES FOR HIS MOM TO MISS A GAME:

"Probably, and that was the only one that she missed. She was on the road, coming, and they turned her around. That was the only way that stopped her from coming to the game. She physically couldn't get there."

ON IF THERE'S ANY EXTRA MOTIVATION TO PLAY IN AN ACC TITLE GAME IN ORLANDO:

"That would be nice, it would, but we have to take care of business at home this week. Every game's a championship game from now on. Coach (Justin) Fuente and the seniors have done a great job of preaching that, and we know that we're gonna get everyone's best shot because we're at the top of our division. Every game is a championship game for us. We're gonna get everyone's best. We have a target on our backs, so we have to be ready to play."

ON IF JARRETT BOYKIN HAS REACHED OUT TO HIM AS HE CLOSES IN ON THE CATCH RECORD:

"No, not yet. He probably will. He's someone that I've talked to on a couple of occasions, as well. When he came back during the spring and during the summer, I've talked to him a couple of times."

ON HIS THOUGHTS ON MUMMAU:

"He's a pretty good player. He's being Justin Thomas this week, so that'll be good for him and for the defense to give them a really good look."

ON GEORGIA TECH'S DEFENSE:

"They're athletic. On the back end, they have two corners — two of them from Jacksonville, two of my good friends, I know them. Victor Alexander's a former teammate, he plays linebacker. They fly around a bit on the back end. They like to do a bunch of different things. They're long and athletic. It'll be a challenge for us on the receiving corps."

ON IF IT'S FUN TO GO AGAINST FRIENDS:

"It always is. Especially (because) I didn't get to play against one of them in high school. He went to Chris Cunningham's school, they actually played on the same team. I always tell them how we would have killed them if we would have played them. So now we get to play against each other, so we'll see."

Charley Wiles

ON WHAT THE CHALLENGE IS TO GET READY FOR GEORGIA TECH:

"Get last year's paper out. Obviously it's totally different, you know. Just in three days, the physicality — how physical the game will be. And just the speed of the game. I can remember — well it's every time — the first series, you've been running it all week, and the first series you're (shocked) at how fast it is. Any leak up the field a little bit or you're not flattening out, the ball gets out the gate on you. They just run it so precise. They counter with what you're doing. Coach (Johnson) has been there (nine years), I think we've been working at this for five or six years on trying to develop a package. They've got good players. They're better on the offensive line this year, from what I see. They've played a lot of guys. They've been a little dinged up or whatever, but I think that probably come a little bit with ninth game of the year, tenth game of the year, and the offense they run. It's so physical. But they have some guys that have really bought in and playing really, really hard up front. Coupled with the quarterback, the quarterback's fantastic. He makes them go."

ON IF FUENTE HAS ANY NEW IDEAS HE BROUGHT TO THE DEFENSE:

"Other than just trying to score points, that's the best defense that I've ever seen against this is to score points. But no, he hasn't — I don't think — visited with Bud or anything. It's just what can he do to provide practice time for us to get ready to defend it. That's what he's been offering us is whatever we need to do to accommodate the defense."

ON HIS THOUGHTS ON RICKY WALKER:

"Ricky was playing well coming into the year. Had a good spring and only improved each game as we got into the season and was playing 30 plays a game. If we had the game, if it wasn't in question, Ricky wasn't gonna be in there. I consider him a starter then. Ricky, obviously we were able to redshirt him a year ago. He's a third-year sophomore. Very mature, smart, and he's turning out to be exactly what we thought he was when we recruited him. Just continues to get better. He has played well. That's what you do; if you're gonna have a successful year, you get a starter out, you've gotta have a guy step up like that. He has stepped up."

ON HIS THOUGHTS ON WOODY BARON'S SEASON:

"We wanted to redshirt Woody a year ago, but Corey Marshall got hurt the entire year, so Woody started six games as a junior and quite honestly played great. He had good numbers. He was playing 30-35 plays a game. I think he had — you can check it, I don't know — maybe six sacks as a junior. I don't know how many TFL's, but I wanted him to be a two-year starter. Cause I knew how he could impact our football team. And then the intangibles; leadership, work ethic — he's a dude. Playing great, and it's always nice to see a guy like him get rewarded. There's not a better defensive tackle that I've seen on video. We haven't seen everybody, but we've seen a lot of film. Stay healthy, play well through the stretch, and hopefully he'll get some stuff for his hard work. He's a great kid."

ON IF HE MEANS THE BEST DEFENSIVE TACKLE IN THE ACC OR IN THE COUNTRY:

"In the conference, (from) what I've seen on video. We've seen Florida State on video. North Carolina. Haven't seen Syracuse on defense. Seen Georgia Tech a bunch, just on crossover when you're getting ready for the opponent. Seeing Duke now. I don't know who we haven't seen, but he's playing well."

ON WHAT MUMMAU BRINGS TO THE SCOUT TEAM:

"You've gotta be able to function as a quarterback. You've gotta be able to function as a quarterback and not only just be a fast guy. He's moving around well enough. The big thing, you've gotta be efficient in running the offense, but what their quarterback brings, if he get's in and out of a crease, he can take it to the house. He is legitimately fast. We're blowing the whistle. We're not letting Mummau take it to the house. We're trying to get another rep. Although we're live to a certain point to get our fits right, let's move on to another play. I think he'll be efficient for us."

ON IF HE'S GLAD THIS IS THE LAST TIME HE HAS TO FACE THOMAS:

"Yes, absolutely. He should be in camp, for sure, at some position just on speed alone. Maybe he can return kicks. He's not a really, really big guy — he's not tiny either — but he's fast. He'll be in camp somewhere. May get drafted."

ON WHERE HE RANKS AMONG THE GEORGIA TECH QUARTERBACKS:

"I'd put (Josh) Nesbitt (first). I'd be honest with you, I think he was just an animal. Just so physical. Just rugged and fast, he had it all. Break tackles and just rugged. I think, right now, it would be (Thomas) next. Nesbitt just breaking tackles and just rugged. Play 16 games at that position and run it like a running back, he was tough. This guy here is just right behind him. He's faster, maybe just not as big. That's the only difference."

ON IF HE PREPS FOR THE CUT BLOCKS THIS WEEK:

"Any time you're in an attack front and what we do, people are gonna try to cut you some. So we do some chop block work, but there's nothing to help you when you're running sideways and another guy's jumping on the side of your legs. I don't know how you practice that and stay safe. That's just how it's played. You're here flattening out, running, and it's just you know."

ON IF THEY DO DIRTY BLOCKS:

"There's a lot of choppin' going on. I don't think it's deliberate or being taught. It's just the nature of the beast. You do what they do, there's gonna be some that are questionable. I don't think it's taught or done purposefully necessarily, it's just part of it. It's like friendly fire. It just happens. To get the job done, we have to lose a few."

ON IF HE TALKS TO THE OFFICIALS IN A GAME LIKE THIS:

"If I see something, I point it out to them, for sure. But other than that, not too much other than just small talk. But if we see somebody get tackled or get clipped, we're gonna obviously get that to their attention. But they're working at it."

ON THE DEPTH AT DEFENSIVE END:

"Seth Dooley is playing some decent reps. I feel good about where (Houshun) Gaines — he hasn't been played a lot, but he's been practicing pretty well. I trust the kid, I really do. We moved Darius Fullwood to defensive tackle, which is going to suit his skill set better. Gives us a more athletic guy there. And then really it's been Vinny, (Trevon) Hill, and Ken (Ekanam). Those three have got the bulk of the work with Seth and House being the next guy. They're coming along."

ON IF JIMMY TAYLOR WILL TAKE A MEDICAL REDSHIRT:

"Yeah, I think so."

Jerod Evans

ON IF IT'S HARD TO GET IN A RHYTHM WHEN YOU GET FEWER CHANCES:

"For one, I've never played Georgia Tech. I've never played a team that holds the ball that long. This is gonna be my first time, but I'm pretty sure it's not a good feeling. But like I said, you still have to go execute, you still have to go do your assignments regardless if you're on the field for two seconds or 20 minutes. On the sideline, you've gotta stay warm, stay in the game, don't let us not being in the game get us out of our game. Stuff like that. I'll definitely be talking on the sideline and the leaders will be talking on the sideline making sure we're all in it."

ON IF HE THINKS ABOUT WHETHER THE OFFENSIVE LINE WILL PUSH HIM IF HE TAKES ON A DEFENDER:

"I really don't know what I think in that moment in time. I really try to get down, to be honest. Those guys, they find something about me that they like. They work harder. When they see me standing up — what you would call a stand up — they just try to find a way to help me get yards for the team."

ON HOW GEORGIA TECH COMPARES TO DUKE DEFENSIVELY:

"I haven't really looked at Georgia Tech like that yet, like in the comparison of Georgia Tech and Duke."

ON IF LITTLE INJURIES ACCUMULATE WEEK BY WEEK:

"I ignore it by wanting to win. I'm so competitive that if coach told me I had to run 70 times to win the game, that's what it would take, I would literally do it. That's how I get through it. I want to win. I want my team to win. We've got a lot of seniors on this team, I told them in spring that if I ever were to get the starting job, that this season is dedicated to them because of the things they've been through here at Virginia Tech. That's my mindset when I'm carrying the ball 20 or 21 times during the game. It's not about me, it's about more of what they have not accomplished here at Virginia Tech that they wanted to accomplish. Any little part I can play in that happening, I'm willing to do that."

ON IF HE'S HURT MORE AFTER CERTAIN GAMES:

"Is water wet?"

ON WHICH GAMES:

"I'm not gonna say."

ON IF THERE'S A MENTAL THING THAT HE GIVES THE TEAM IF HE SAYS WHICH TEAM HURT HIM MORE:

"I'm an alpha dog. It's a competitive sport."

Tremaine Edmunds

ON HOW HIS BROTHER IS HANDLING THE SUSPENSION:

"It's tough, but he's gonna sit out and then in the second half, he's gonna come in ready to play."

ON WHAT HE KNOWS ABOUT GEORGIA TECH OFFENSIVELY:

"Georgia Tech has a unique offense. I think it's just about us practicing hard this week through scout team and stuff like that. Just come out with the mindset that we have to go full speed and get the job done."

ON IF STARTING THE GAME LAST YEAR HELPS HIM THIS YEAR:

"Yeah, definitely. Experience is the number one teacher, but I still have to prepare the same way. As a team, we've just gotta come out each and every day and attack the day."

ON IF THE DUKE READ OPTION IS SIMILAR TO WHAT GEORGIA TECH BRINGS TO THE GAME:

"Georgia Tech's offense is definitely different than what Duke was running. But like I said, it just comes down to us executing like we know we can execute. At the end of the day, I think we can get the job done."

ON HOW MUCH EMPHASIS HAS BEEN PLACED ON GETTING OFF TO A GOOD START:

"We just, like we said, just come out from the first play and play to the whistle. We can't let up. Play full speed and just execute that play, one play at a time."

ON IF THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT LANE STADIUM THAT HELPS THEM PLAY BETTER:

"Lane Stadium is definitely a great place to play. Some of the best fans in the nation. But I think each game, we still have to attack it the same way, whether we're playing home or away. Playing in Lane is a great experience."