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VIRGINIA TECH UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

August 31, 2019

Justin Fuente

Boston, Massachusetts

Boston College - 35, Virginia Tech - 28

JUSTIN FUENTE: Congratulations to Coach Addazio and Boston College. He's got a good football team. It's tough for our guys to battle back and fight and scratch and claw all the way through and come up short. Lord knows we made plenty of mistakes out there today. That's not to take anything away from Boston College and the performance they put on, running and throwing the ball and creating turnovers.

We'll have to pick ourselves up and get ready for next week.

Q. How do you think Ryan was in the decision-making? Obviously got hit by one guy, but what about the decision-making in the throwing game with the interception?
JUSTIN FUENTE: We've got to be better than that. We've got to be more disciplined and have our eyes in the right spot. It's part of playing quarterback. Obviously, forced some balls in there. Had some times that weren't good. Ryan knows that. I still believe Ryan can make plays and take care of the football.

Q. A lot of guys on the defensive line, and A.J. Dillon didn't have a monster game. Were you pleased with that aspect of the game, and did that cost you in the passing defense?
JUSTIN FUENTE: You can't line up and play two high safeties no matter what versus these guys. You've got to be able to handle both, and that's what good offenses do. They can run the ball in play action and create one-on-ones and take advantage of those. We didn't hold up as well as we'd like to in the back end in some one-on-one situations. We did a decent job in running defense. We could have obviously been better. That was a big part of the game going in.

Q. And Damon Hazelton, I don't believe, played today. Is that accurate?
JUSTIN FUENTE: That's correct.

Q. Why did he not play?
JUSTIN FUENTE: He just hasn't practiced much. Been dealing with a hamstring for a long time. It's a nagging thing that's been going for some time.

Q. With the interceptions and the two fumbles in the first half. How tough is that when the defense is on its heels already?
JUSTIN FUENTE: Pretty tough, really tough. I mean, you can't play people like that. You can maybe survive one or two of those, but not however many we ended up having. When you're playing good people, they're going to make you pay for those.

Q. Run game was 2.3 yards per carry. Did that contribute to some of the problems in the pass game too? What did you get from not running it as well?
JUSTIN FUENTE: I don't know that it was -- that was the reason for turning the ball over. I think we've got to do a better job as a staff of giving us opportunities to run the ball. We've got to be better up front and better at running back, in our decisions and what we're doing. They're a big, stout team. They are historically very difficult to run the ball against.

Q. You looked justifiably upset when you burned a time-out at the end of the second half. What happened?
JUSTIN FUENTE: Just poor communication. You hate wasting those in the second half. It wasn't the players or the coaches' fault. We just didn't get it communicated very well, and we had to burn one.

Q. We've heard a lot, obviously, about Dalton and Mitchell. Caleb Smith was effective for you today. What have you seen from him?
JUSTIN FUENTE: He's been an incredible worker. He's still learning the craft. He's still working on some technique, but it was good to see him have some success today because he has been out there every day just busting his tail and trying to get better. We'll look for him to continue to work and hopefully continue to improve.

Q. Grimsley had the fumble and the overturn. What did Hezekiah tell you about the play? In the past you've taken guys out, but you left him in.
JUSTIN FUENTE: We left him in because we trust Hezzy. I've seen him work. It was a short punt. He was trying to close ground on it, and the ball was just -- I believe he fair caught it, if I'm not mistaken. The ball was just a little bit out of his framework, right off his fingers.

Q. Understanding it's right after the game, but do you have any update on Quillen or Hoyt? I know Quillen was on crutches.
JUSTIN FUENTE: No, I don't.

Q. Keshawn King played a lot for you. I know you mentioned he maybe doesn't have the full package at this point in his career. How much does he have, and how comfortable were you with him out there?
JUSTIN FUENTE: We felt good with him out there. Jalen went down, and so his -- Keshawn's load increased a little bit there in the second half. We certainly don't -- I don't have a percentage on it. He's certainly not ready to run everything we've got out there, but he seems to be picking it up pretty quickly. He missed a little time with the tooth deal, but he seems to have handled it all pretty well.

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