Hokie media day: Coordinators at the podium

Defensive coordinator Bud Foster mostly discussed his impending retirement while OC Brad Cornelsen talked quarterbacks at VT media day.

Read their comments here.

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“You always feel a little guilty on vacation over the summer when our players and strength coaches are up here and the kind of work they put in. Coach Hilgart and his staff along with the trainers, the nutritionist. My favorite meeting of the year is when Coach Hilgart to the staff meeting before fall camp and he goes over every single player. He shows us the before and after picture. Talks about the way they have been working. It’s exciting and these guys have done a great job top to bottom. It’s exciting to be back around them and starting to get ready to go. I’m anxious to get going.”

On what he learned about how QB Ryan Willis played at the end of the game last season:

“We knew the kind of talent he had going into the season. He had shown us at practice that he had a skill set to make a lot of plays. What we didn’t know is how he would take care of the ball, execute, and handle himself in those situations. I think he has played enough football and been through enough of those situations that he understand the game and what he needs to do in those situations. He’s got good instincts when it comes to those sort of things. I think we felt good from the very first start he had and the way he played. He got better as the season went on, he wasn’t perfect and he still has a lot of improvement he can make. He showed us that he would take care of the ball as a whole throughout the season. That was exciting because he is talented and can make plays. I’m excited about what he can continue to do.”

On the quarterback and running back competition:

“It’s usually pretty wide open initially. You have a lot of reps going around. You have a lot of different groups going. It will be a lot of different guys in there. You have your first scrimmage and you go watch it and evaluate it. Things continue from then on to get filtered out.”

On his expectations on Willis after having seen him play last season:

“The biggest thing with Ryan throughout the year, spring ball, this summer and fall camp will be his consistency on executing the plays. It’s one of the hardest things to do probably as a player and certainly as a quarterback. There are certain situation you are put in, different plays and decisions. Being able to put a play behind you and execute, do what you have been coached to do, what we have asked you to do, make the right decision, understand that not every play will be a big play and you may to throw the ball away or take a sack. That’s the thing for him that he has consistently gotten better at that he needs to keep coming on. In my opinion, that’s the key for him. He can make the plays and he’s got the talent, the intelligence, it’s the consistently of go do what you are supposed to do play in and play out. Put a full game together and let’s go put a full season together. It’s pretty wide open what we feel like he can execute as a quarterback. He can run, he can move, he can throw on the run, he can drop back and can run play action. He’s got a chance to be pretty good at a lot of different things.”

On his take on the running back position:

“We’ve got a couple of guys that have been with us now the longest and have got to be the foundation of the group. They’ve got the game experience and are probably the most solid of those guys. Then we’ve got some young and inexperienced talent and we are excited about that. There are going to be a lot of those guys that at every single meeting, walk through, practice and drill they are competing and being evaluated for reps in practice and eventually playing time. Its and exciting group and a talented group. Still a lot of inexperience there and a lot improvement we have to make at that position. There are a couple guys that know how to lead that group and I think there are a lot of young that are hungry to follow them and continue to get better.”

“Thank you Coach Fuente, I appreciate it. I appreciate everybody coming. I appreciate the relationships we’ve had over the years with several of you. I know there’s a lot of familiar faces here and I can’t thank you guys enough for how fair you’ve been in my time here and I hope we’ll keep that going. I’m not going to spend a whole lot of time on this today. I think at the end, this thing’s about our players and this football team and that’s where my focus is going to be, but I do have a couple things. Obviously, as Justin [Fuente] said, we just came from a team meeting.

“Obviously very emotional, had an opportunity to visit with the staff. This is never an easy decision. It was my decision. I can’t thank Justin for allowing me the opportunity to continue on and be a part of this program. I can’t thank Whit enough for his support and him allowing me to do this my way. I mean, in this business, you don’t get that opportunity very often. You don’t get a chance to go out on your terms. I’ve been very blessed to have this opportunity and Whit I can’t thank you enough.

“I want to thank Coach Beamer for giving me an opportunity to do some really special things and giving me an opportunity to get a chance to experience a dream of a lifetime. That’s what makes this thing really, really hard. It’s about the relationships you bond with, the players you meet, the people you meet, the fans – it’s just a special opportunity and I can’t thank him enough for giving me that. But, it’s time for me to step down at the end of the season. I’m not sick, I’m not burned out. At least I hope I’m not sick (laughs). Nobody’s forcing me out, it’s just going to be time when it’s all said and done. Like I said, I’ve been given a great opportunity. I saw Coach Beamer go down this road. He knew it was time. This was not an easy decision. I know Justin can talk about it; my focus is going to be on our players. This has been something we’ve been talking about for several months. I’ve talked closely with a lot of people close to my heart. It’s a decision I’ve made, and I made it. Like I said, I consider myself very fortunate in the end when it’s all said and done.

“I just told the team whatever greatness is I’m going to push them as hard as they can. I’m going to give them every ounce of energy that I have and I’m going to expect that in return. That’s really what it comes down to. I love our players, I love this team, I love their focus and our focus is going to be on this team and their season. We’ve got some great kids and we’ve got an opportunity to do some special things. I really feel good about them and I can promise you I’m going to give them my very best for these next 120 days.

“There’s going to be plenty of time to reflect and celebrate. Hopefully at the end of the year there’ll be some good and some bad things said. Hopefully good not much bad. At the end I’ll be happy to sit down with you guys and talk about the process, but really I hope you respect the fact that this thing is not about me. You’re in this business about young people, about developing and preparing young people to be successful on the field, but hopefully to be successful in life. That’s where my focus is, and I hope you guys respect that and appreciate that. I owe to it our players, our fans at Virginia Tech to do it that way. So, Justin thank you so very much, Whit thank you and I appreciate you all being here. Thank you so much.”