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FEDEX ORANGE BOWL: VIRGINIA TECH v CINCINNATIDecember 28, 2008Bryan StinespringMIAMI GARDENS, FLORIDA JASON ALPERT: Coach, you've now had a few days here in Miami and the preparations for the Orange Bowl are underway. How is your team looking with just a few days to go before the FedEx Orange Bowl? BRYAN STINESPRING: We're pleased with the way we've practiced since we've arrived here in Miami. Our team is focused. They understand the contest that we're here to give Cincinnati. We have a great respect for Cincinnati, the way that they've played, not just this year but last year and the way they've played themselves into this Bowl game. They're a very good football team. I like our approach. The very first day we arrived here, we went out and had a full practice session, a live middle drill, which is tackle to the ground. I think we set a great pace upon arrival here, and I think we followed it up yesterday with another good Monday practice for us. I like the temperament. I like the pace that we've set since we arrived here and carrying over to the way that we practiced in Blacksburg. We're practicing well. We understand what needs to take place. We need to play at our competitive best because that's what it is going to take for us to beat Cincinnati. Q. How has James looked in that guard spot, and what needs to be done to get him up to speed? BRYAN STINESPRING: Well, obviously it's a great question regarding James Brooks who's replacing Nick Marshman as the starting right guard. A lot of people have asked about are we concerned about the number of snaps that James hasn't taken this season. I know you guys back in Blacksburg have heard me refer to this. The object here is not to concern ourselves with the number of snaps that James has not taken to this point in time; our concern is the snaps that he's getting ready to take here in a couple days. We've probably in the last -- even in Blacksburg and here, we separated our groups a little bit; tight ends and tackles have worked a little bit more individually, whereas that means the centers and guards get a chance to work more individually to concentrate our endeavors in a smaller group, learning experience. I'm going back to my teaching days (smiling). But I think it's paid dividends for James. I've been real pleased with what he's done, especially down here in the two practices he's had here. He's been very good. How that carries over to the game, we'll have to see. He's excited about his opportunity to get out here and play. You know, he hasn't taken that many game snaps, but he's taken 50 percent of our practice snaps all year long. You guys that follow us closely and watch us practice, a vast majority of our practice time goes against our defense, which -- they're awfully good, and if you can go against our defense, whether it's in a practice situation or in a scrimmage situation, before we left Blacksburg, you get 50 percent of those snaps, you're going against good people all the time. There's a difference between game and practice; we all understand that. So we'll have to see how this thing unfolds out there. But James has practiced well. As the tight ends coach but as also the offensive coordinator you watching practice tape and you're watching position, but I can assure you one eye has been on that right guard spot a little bit as we've been watching film. We've been real pleased with what James has done up to this point. Cincinnati does some things, a lot of movement. They're moving all the time, twists, changing the front, and how he handles that I think is going to be important for him. But anybody that lines up out there, they do it not just because there's an inexperienced guy, they do it because that's part of their defensive scheme. That's certainly problematic for the guys that haven't taken a lot of snaps. I think how he handles that part of it is going to be important to him. Q. When you look at Cincinnati, can you draw any similarities to the Kansas team from last year with I guess the new opportunity that they have to play on this stage, and also, any similarities you can draw between their defense and maybe an ACC defense that you played this year? BRYAN STINESPRING: I think obviously when you watched the BCS television show and the announcement, you saw their excitement right off the getgo. They announced their game in their basketball stadium, and it looked like it was jam-packed in there. You understood the excitement level that they had and that they have now. So you know that they're excited about their opportunity to be here. But let me assure you this: We're excited about being here. We're excited about our opportunity to come back down to the Orange Bowl and to play as well as we possibly can and to play as hard as we possibly can. So we're excited, also. We certainly understand the level of excitement that the University of Cincinnati has about coming to such a great Bowl as the Orange Bowl and having a chance to play on New Year's Day and all those type of things. We understand their excitement. So there's comparisons there. And then from a defensive standpoint, I think they remind us a lot of Boston College; very physical, well-coached, outstanding against the run, understand -- when you have ten seniors and a junior playing on defense coming off of a team that won ten ball games and a Bowl game last year and all of them back, there's an experience factor and a confidence factor that you don't run into week in and week out. To play with that amount of experience against a group that's taken that many snaps and been successful, certainly that's a tremendous advantage for any football team. I think you see that week in and week out the way they played defense, so they remind us a lot of Boston College. Like I said, they're very physical up front, can control their gaps, linebackers move well, very opportunistic, corners rally to the football exceptionally well. When the ball is in the air, whatever type of -- whether it's the tight coverage, the off coverage, they're challenging every ball that's thrown. Whether you're trying to throw the post, take off, deep comebacks, quick outs, they have a tremendous ability to challenge everything that's thrown. I think that's probably a team that when we look at they remind us of a great deal. Q. You talked about James, but over there at the left guard Sergio is sliding over to a different side. You mentioned this back in Blacksburg, but I wanted to clarify a little bit about sort of the steps, the stance that you have to take from the right side to the left. I think you said you guys were not going to change that, you were just going to leave it like it was? Talk about that and talk about how Sergio has looked in making that move. BRYAN STINESPRING: Typically when you change sides of the ball, you get -- if you're on the right side you're in what's called basically a right-handed stance, which is geared to help you get your inside hand in the position to pass protect and get your inside hand quickly into the blocker and the run game. If you're on the left side you switch to a left-handed stance. When you do that, it's like anything else we do. If we're used to brushing our teeth with our right hand, when we do it with the left hand it feels a little awkward. We don't need to feel awkward; we need to be as comfortable as we can out there. So we're just not changing the stance. You're giving up a little bit in terms of how quickly you get your inside hand on people because now your inside hand is down on the ground if you're on the left-hand side in a right-handed stance. So you're giving up a little bit that way. But Sergio has quick hands anyway and he's very quick off the ball. We feel it would just be more comfortable for him in his stance, and to play at a fast speed is more important than changing the stance here in non-practice sessions, so we're not doing that. The footwork part of it where you're always used to pushing off -- more than likely pushing off your left foot and your right foot is your guide foot, now all of a sudden you're changing the whole parameters of that; now your inside foot is your right foot and that's your post foot and now your left foot is your guide foot, so it's just a little bit different, what foot you're leading with. I know it sounds like a little thing between all of us here, but to an offensive lineman it's an issue. That's why you don't see a lot of guys flipping back and forth from side to side. We used to do it all the time. We used to have a tight side offensive lineman and a split side offensive lineman. That's the way they practiced from day one. When you get into a routine and this is the way you do things and you change the routine, there's an adjustment for an offensive lineman and -- it's an adjustment. He's done well. He's our most experienced guy other than Ryan Shuman, and he's taken a lot of snaps. That's probably our least concern -- that's the least of our concerns right now. Q. So just to confirm, if he's on the right side, he'd normally keep his left hand down -- BRYAN STINESPRING: If he's on the right side, his right hand is down. If he's on the left side, normally your left hand is down, but he will keep his right hand down all the time. Q. This is an unrelated question about Tyrod. Can you just talk about some of the specifics you've seen in terms of his development in the past few weeks? BRYAN STINESPRING: Tyrod is an exceptional football player, and I think sometimes we forget when we look at Tyrod that he's a true sophomore, a true sophomore who's had to learn an offense and also get acclimated to the college game. Sometimes we forget how he took last year when his first snap was against LSU in Baton Rouge and led us on the scoring drive in the second series that he ever played, and you go back and look at some of the things he did last year, you just understand the quality of his play and himself as a player. What we don't take into consideration a great deal this year is that not only is he still a young player in terms of experience and the number of snaps and games started and all those things; it's still a learning time for him. But he's also -- there's been a period that he had to grow with a group of receivers, a tailback, and get comfortable with that group all over again because by the time he became -- he started playing for us last year, he had a group of receivers that were experienced, that he had great confidence in, that took a lot of pressure off of him. He had a tailback in Brandon Ore that could challenge the game from the beginning of it to the end. So the surrounding cast was very good here. Here he's had to wait until a group of receivers and a tailback were able to grow and mature and gain experience throughout the season, and as that's taking place, now I think you see that Tyrod is in a position where he starts taking over some games, where he's on the best player on the field at times, where he goes down and plays in the ACC Championship and is player of the game. And I think that's a part of who he is, but I think that also shows that his confidence factor in the guys around him right now. I hope that answers your question. Q. What value did Tyrod gain from not registering this season compared to what he lost if he was out there red-shirted? BRYAN STINESPRING: When you play the game, there's nothing like playing the game. You can sit in staff meetings, you can sit in position meetings, you can get you a few reps here in practice, but there's nothing like getting out there and playing the game, and the weekly preparation that takes place. It wasn't 11 games of preparation, it was a 14-game season. That's a lot of practice time, a lot of snaps that he has taken over the course of this year, and I don't think we can -- had he red-shirted, go back and try to hurry up the process of his growth this year other than what has taken place out on the field this year. He's taken a lot of snaps in a lot of adverse situations and responded well. And now I think he's very comfortable with the guys around him, receivers, backs, tight ends, flow with where offense is and where he knows we can get back to towards the end of last year where the book was more wide open for him and his receivers. So I think those snaps that he has taken this year, the number of them, and then the fact that he's led us into an ACC Championship and now back to the Orange Bowl, I don't think it's close in terms of how play is going to benefit him next year and the year after, especially next year. Q. We talked all season, at points over the season, about Tyrod, the hitch in the throwing motion and some of the mechanical things, but would you say it's fair to say that when he is more comfortable out there with the guys around him that those things sort of matter less, that they show up less? Do they sort of maybe nag him more when it's compounded by not being comfortable with the guys around him? BRYAN STINESPRING: I think these things we talk about more when things aren't going well. But to answer your question, I think there's a few things that obviously we're going to work a little bit with Tyrod in the off-season about. But he's accurate; he can throw the ball well. There's a few things that we feel like we can do as coaches and with Tyrod as a player to help a little bit on some of the throws that he's made. Not all of them, it just kind of occurs here and there. It's not a constant glitch per se, it's just something when you go back and study film and you look at things you want to be able to improve upon, improve the release. We're always looking to better our players, whatever position they play, and this is one where we think we can help Tyrod a little bit. It's not to the point -- if it was to the point we felt like it was a glaring deficiency in his play, then we would have tried, I think, to work through this off weeks and all those things. It's something down the road we're going to work just to improve some of the throwing motions. But it hasn't been to the point where we feel like we've got to get it done now. But I think the confidence level in the people around him and knowing that they're going to be where they're supposed to be and get there when they need to get there. I think you go back and look at the last few games, obviously the Duke game, some of the games there's been less accuracy, some of the throws that he's made, and understand his ability to throw the ball and his ability to be accurate throwing the ball and all types of them. It's just something we look at down the road. Like I said, if it was something we felt like was the most pressing concern for him right now, that we had to get this done, we would have worked to try to manage it now. It's something we just want to look at to try to improve, as we would any other player. Q. I think Frank said you were getting the game planning sooner back in Blacksburg just than in years past. I'm just wondering, benefits of that, and have you noticed a big difference in terms of having the Cincinnati game planning sooner as opposed to I believe last year when you just sort of do the -- you'd do your own individual reps and stuff in Blacksburg and then come here and put the game plan in? BRYAN STINESPRING: I think that's a great question, and it's something as this thing as unfolded itself, you learn. You try to adjust. I think that's what Coach Beamer and our staff and football team -- you don't go to 16 straight Bowls unless you're willing to adjust as this thing goes on, and sometimes it's recruiting, sometimes it's conditioning. It's all these variables that you look at. This one we've looked at is get more of the game plan done before we arrive, and in looking at it quickly, the dividends it's paid off, there's very few mistakes out there right now, especially when we came down two days ago and went out there for that first practice back, very few mistakes. Period one a little shaky. We had to shake the cobwebs out a little bit. But after that, we're busting a route, we've got some checks here and there, we're on top of those things, what we're looking for, what we're looking to do against this look, that look. We're right on top of it. So just in a nutshell, right off the getgo, with us practicing and having so much of a game plan in Blacksburg, once we've arrived here, there's a very small learning curve taking place. It's repping what you're going to rep and what you're going to carry into this game and getting sharp at it, and I think that's very important. Those are the dividends right off the getgo to me that are glaring. Q. Just a question for you about Frank Beamer. What is he like to work with on a daily basis? BRYAN STINESPRING: I don't think we have enough time here in this press conference to talk about what it's like to work for Frank Beamer. There's a reason that Bud Foster and Bryan Stinespring and Billy Hite and Jim Cavanaugh and Charlie Wiles and all of our staff, Mike O'Cain, who started off coaching with Coach Beamer, is back 20 years later and coaching with him again. Because I think in this profession there's always the grass is always greener. We can have that mindset a little bit, too. We understand that we are very fortunate, very fortunate, not just to represent a great University like Virginia Tech, but work for and with somebody that not only cares about his players and his staff and what they do in terms of being a student and an athlete, making sure that Bryan Stinespring does the best job that he can as a football coach, but he cares about Tyrod Taylor the person and he cares about Bryan Stinespring the person and his family, genuinely cares about the people in his program. And that means a lot, especially in this game that we play. There's some -- there's a lot of peaks and there's some valleys, and in those valleys all of us get tested. When you talk about family, when you talk about commitment, when you talk about trust and all these things that you throw out there in front of people, those are the times that that gets tested, and that's the reason we've always said when it's tough, that's when Frank Beamer is at his very best. He's at his very best because the things that he believes in day in and day out, whether you're in front of the parade or sometimes you're not sure you're going to be asked to be in a parade, he's the same. And he's at his very best at times when you may not be doing your best, because the things that he believes in, the things that he wants us all to believe in doesn't change, that trust, that commitment, that belief, that support network, all those things. It shows up every day, every single day. We are blessed. As coaches, it was an honor and a privilege to be asked to join Frank Beamer's staff in 1993. Today, 16 Bowls later, an opportunity to play for a National Championship, to be back here at the wonderful Orange Bowl and to have this chance to play, it is still an honor and a privilege to be a part of Virginia Tech and the Frank Beamer program. That's the best I can tell you. Q. What's the most emotionally expressive you've ever seen Frank. BRYAN STINESPRING: We're on camera, right? The most expressive? For the most part, like I said, he has the ability, don't get too high, don't get too low, keep everything in the middle, and he does a terrific job of that because that's where reality rests itself. Reality is not always on the huge highs. The reality we hope is not always on the lows. But somewhere in the middle we've got to keep it in perspective because in the end results, that where he obviously is. I think he does a tremendous job of -- if you lose a game -- sometimes in this game we play, if you're not careful, winning is a relief and losing is devastating. When winning becomes just a relief and losing becomes devastating, that's when we lose perspective on what this game is all about, and the game is still about having fun. And we lose that sometimes. I believe after all these years and all the wins that Coach Beamer has had and the teams that he's had, he's never forgotten that this is about the players. It's about making sure that we're playing as well as we can, that we're always searching for the best that we can but to have fun, too. I don't know, probably the most animated in terms of winning and losing is halftime we were in a pretty good battle, and he jumped up on the chair, and he let everybody know exactly what needed to take place in that second half. There wasn't much room for miscommunication. I can share it like that. I don't think anybody left that room not sure of what was expected out of each and every one of them. Not only did he speak it, but he was animated in the way that he wanted us -- there was a visualization process to it, too. When he stood up on the table and said, "What needs to happen in this second half is we need to hit them right in the mouth, right in the mouth," and he visualized pretty much -- I was afraid he was going to bring me up there for an actual demonstration, but he gave us a pretty good idea of what needed to take place. Q. Do you remember what game that was? BRYAN STINESPRING: I think I do. I think I do, but I don't want to just make a estimate that's not actually accurate. But probably I think it had to do with a team that was located within our state (laughter). End of FastScripts |
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