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DISCOVER ORANGE BOWL: STANFORD v VIRGINIA TECH

December 31, 2010

Bud Foster

MIAMI GARDENS, FLORIDA

JASON ALPERT: Coach, you've been here now for a few years. Any difference with this year's Discover Orange Bowl than any previous year you've been here?
COACH FOSTER: Not right now. We're extremely excited to be here. It's been a heck of a year for us. We're really proud of this football team. I know on the defensive side of the ball really proud of our kids. We've come a long way as a unit, and we're playing an outstanding football team, a really, really good football team. We've been treated first class like we always have. It's been a great experience so far, and we're looking forward to a great football game.

Q. Everybody is kind of wondering is have you made a final decision at linebacker on what you're going to do? And then the second one, what's the status of your two corners' ankles? I understand Hosley rolled his ankle yesterday.
COACH FOSTER: I asked Jayron, he rolled it. It was in a "pass skel," but he finished practice and he should be fine. You know, Rock's practicing kind of knocking the rust off, and I fully expect him to play and play a very good football game. We need those two guys to play very, very well. This is a very -- we're playing a very good quarterback, as you know, but he's not -- he's just not the only guy on this football team. He's got a talented corps of receivers, solid guys. No. 81, I'm not sure how you pronounce his name, but he's been hurt, but he's a guy that's coming back and played the last ballgame and is a playmaker for them besides the Whalen kid No. 89 who's a playmaker. But the bottom line being we need those two guys to be ready to play and to play very, very well.
At linebacker right now, you know, Jack Tyler will probably start the game, and Bruce Taylor will start at our backer position. I don't know how that's listed here in the depth chart. I know B.J. will be going nuts with me if that's not the case. But that's just kind of how we've rotated things at practice right now.
But I think you're going to see this: I think you're going to see Bruce playing back or Mike, as well, and Tariq playing back. We'll play probably a three-man rotation.
You know, Barquell Rivers has practiced. I was really -- our Monday practice, which was today, is our Wednesday, so two days ago was our Monday practice, but I was really concerned about his movement, his mobility. And yesterday he was much better. He had a little bit of massage to him and a little heat therapy and that kind of thing, kind of warmed him up prior to going out, and he moved a little bit better.
But he can play great. I know the biggest thing, I know Mike Goforth is going to sit down and talk with him. And Barquell is a prideful kid; I think he'd tell me everything I wanted to hear, you know, that he's ready to play. But I also want to know does he feel like he can perform at a high level and at the level that he's got to play at for us to be successful.
And I think Mike is going to sit down with him and talk that over and kind of feel him out a little bit from that standpoint.

Q. Luck gets a lot of credit for their offense, but they have a pretty good rushing attack, too. Talk a little bit about that.
COACH FOSTER: Well, you know, as you said, Andrew, and deservedly so, he's a great player and deserves a lot of attention. But really, this is a group that wants to be physical.
It starts with their group up front. I think they're a big, physical, athletic group up front. I think they have three seniors up there, and I've been very, very impressed with their offensive line and their tight ends. They're a multiple tight end group. They've got a kid McGillicuddy that comes in. He's a lineman. He's worn about three or four different jersey numbers. But he's an important guy in their offense as far as he's a movement guy, he gets on the wings, and he gets moving. He's a 6'3", 300-pound hybrid guy, whatever you want to call him. They don't throw him the football I think one time in all the games we've seen. He's a physical player. So it starts up front.
But I've been really impressed with their backs. They run hard. They're physical kids. You know, they're running for close to 212 yards a game on the ground. That's an area that we've gotten better as the year has gone along, but that's an area that concerns me because of the physicalness of their play up front and the physicalness of their backs. Again, 33 is a really, really good back. You know, 32, 25, and then Andrew can run, as well. But that's what they want to do; they want to be physical.
And then a lot of play action pass off the running game, and that's going to be a big key to our success is how -- us controlling the running game. And we did that down the stretch with a couple teams that really run the football for their success, and we did a good job, and again, that's going to be key for us in this ballgame.

Q. Stanford was talking about how they have like 300 plays, how their philosophy offensively, they try to incorporate everything you've seen from like the 1940s. How do you go about preparing your defense for so many options without having your players get overwhelmed?
COACH FOSTER: Well, you know, and the one thing they do, I'll say this, they're very multiple, but it's with more multiple personnel, and they still run the same plays. And the one thing we've got to do a good job of, our package with us is going to be very much a check-with-me package. It's all going to be based on formations and that type of thing.
You know, so I'm hoping we will be able to adjust and handle the variety of formations and things, whether they come and do it out of 21 personnel or 22 personnel or 12 personnel. They're going to do the same things, but it's going to be out of multiple personnel groupings. And that's kind of one thing they've done that's similar to Boise State, they're going to run a lot of people in, a lot of people off, try to get you into substitution match-up situations, and for us regardless of who we have in there, whether we have our regular personnel or nickel personnel, our package is going to be the same for all those groups right there.
So that's something that we've really worked hard on, the five or six days that we've practiced in Blacksburg and then what we're doing here. That's how we're going to handle it. I think our kids have got a pretty good grasp of what they're doing.
And again, we've got to probably take some chances on early downs, too. That's where they seem to like to run play action pass and throw it down the field and do those type of things, and we've got to be loose in our game calling. We've got the ability to do a lot of blitzes and do a lot of different things and show a lot of different looks, and I think they've got to prepare for that, as well.

Q. Can you please explain the impact that Jayron Hosley has had on your defense since he became a full-time starter this year?
COACH FOSTER: Well, Jayron is a guy that really has come into the scene, and we knew he was really a talented football player. Obviously last year as a true freshman came in and made an impact, but to step in this year and play like he's played and then to lead the country in interceptions, he's made some really timely plays for us, especially early in the year when we needed some big plays in some early ACC games, and then he's continued on with that.
But Jayron is really -- he's really a good football player, he's a good tackler. He's got great ball skills. He's got great anticipation and a great skill set from a defensive back standpoint. You know, and he's developing into one of our leaders. Even though he's a sophomore, your leaders kind of come from the guys that are playmakers. But he's a guy that works at it in practice and it's important to him, and I think hopefully we can keep him around here for a couple more years. But I'm really looking forward to him -- I think he's excited about this opportunity against this quality of football team that we're getting ready to play, but I'm looking forward to him having a big-time season and off-season and going into next season to see him continuing to develop because I really think he's a special football player.

Q. Yesterday Stiney called the record against top-five opponents an albatross sort of for this program, and I know it is for the fans of the team because every time a UVA player wants to throw that up there, 1 and 26, they can. You're a competitor. How much of a motivator -- given that you have an opportunity to improve that record in this game, how much of a motivator is that and sort of what's your take on the 1 and 26 thing? I know it's not all under you.
COACH FOSTER: I really haven't paid a whole lot of attention to it to be honest with you. This is kind of the first I've heard about it.
You know, I know this: You've got to be in these games. Unfortunately we've played a lot of good football teams over the years as we've tried to develop this program to become one of the premier programs in the country. You know, we need to win a game like this, I think, to get us to that next step in our progress as the type of program we want to be here.
This is a great -- this is going to be a great opportunity for us. You know, we've been in those games in the past that I've been involved in, you know, there's been some great football games, and it's always a play or two that's kind of been the determining factor of the football game, and that's the one good thing I say is that we've been in those games. There's a lot of teams that play those games that they're not involved and they're not even having a hope to win the football game. We've been a play or two -- and you never know what play or two is going to come and be a part of the game that's going to determine the win or the loss.
You know, but I know this: We need -- in my opinion we need to -- I know we're taking this game very seriously. It would be a great win for our program. But it would be nice to get one.

Q. Going back to the linebacker situation, why have you decided to go with Jack? Is it because of the way he played in the ACC Championship game, or is it a thing you're just more comfortable with Bruce over Tariq?
COACH FOSTER: Well, I think it's a combination. I think it's a little bit part of Jack being a playmaker and playing the Mike position. I think he's a little bit more physical guy than Tariq. Not to say that Tariq is not going to be a good football player; I think Tariq is going to be a very, very good football player for us. But with this offense, what they're doing, they'll running the football. Jack is a very -- he has good vision, very instinctive guy, and it's just kind of a gut feeling for me from that standpoint.
But you're going to see -- Bruce is a guy, he's a heady football player. We've practiced him the last two weeks at our backer spot. He can play Mike and he will play Mike, and Tariq is going to play. But I just felt like going in with this offense, what their strengths are, we need to match what our strengths could be as far as that position goes.

Q. Rock and Davon, these are two guys that have developed a lot on the football field during their careers, but also personally they seem to have grown a lot, especially in the last two years. Shed some light on that.
COACH FOSTER: Yeah, I'll tell you, not only Rock and Davon, but just overall our senior group, I'm really proud of these guys. It's not a big senior group. You know, some of the guys have paid their dues, so to speak, with a guy like Steven Friday that's been a backup and then all of a sudden has a breakout year, and we needed him to. And when you all were at the first press conference when we started I felt like that was a guy I felt like we needed to get a big-time play out of him, and we did. And that was a big plus for our defense.
But then you look at guys like Rock and Davon, who two guys I'm really, really proud of, Davon to overcome some adversity with knee surgery, and the last time we were here he wasn't able to participate because of the injury and that type of thing.
But then you get a guy like Rashad Carmichael, who lost his father here a couple years ago, which was a devastating time for him. And I know the Phillips kid here at Stanford lost his father, and I read an article in the paper today just how his teammates really consoled him, and that was probably one of the happiest times of his life, to see his people really take an interest in him, and I think Rock will feel the same way about his Virginia Tech family here. When times are tough, that's when people draw closer together, and I think Rock felt that and flourished from that.
Those are two kids that I'm really, really proud of. They've played a lot of snaps. John Graves is another kid special to my heart because of what he's all about, and I think the one thing about all three of these kids, those guys right there, especially that have played a lot of football for us and been factors in us winning three ACC Championships is not only are they good players but they're great kids and they've got an opportunity to be successful at whatever they do.
But I'm really just -- they're all different people, but they're -- I'm proud of each and every one of them, how they've grown up and how they've developed as young men, and they've helped us win a bunch of football games right here.

Q. Mentioning earlier about how you guys were going to run a lot of check-with-me type stuff, will it be much more than what you've done this year in terms of guys having to check with you, or have you done that this year more so than past years because the guys are so young? How might this game kind of --
COACH FOSTER: Well, I think our check-with-me package is always -- has grown as the season has gone along. Obviously we weren't as sharp as we needed to be earlier in the year with it, with a lot of young players and inexperienced players. But you know, it's -- the package is more based on coverages, based on formations and that type of thing. We will have some blitz check-with-mes. There will be blitzes within the check-with-mes, as well.
But yeah, to have an opportunity to practice for a couple weeks and getting that down, hopefully we'll be ready to execute. But I'm sure we'll see a different wrinkle, and I know the one thing that Coach Harbaugh and his staff, they do a great job of moving people around and window dressing things. You can still run the power only so many ways, but they're going to win those rushes in a variety of ways, and that's what we've got to be able to see and anticipate and react to.

Q. You talked a little bit about Andrew Luck, but you've faced a lot of great quarterbacks, college quarterbacks this year and over all the years, but what does set him apart? Can you talk kind of specifically about his attributes?
COACH FOSTER: You know, we've seen some really good quarterbacks, but I think Andrew to be honest with you right now may be physically the most mature kid we've seen as far as being 6'4", 235-pound kid. We played Peyton Manning when Peyton was a freshman at the time, and we played Aaron Rodgers, but I think this kid, from a physical standpoint, has ahead of the game from a physical standpoint. From a mental standpoint you can tell he's been very, very well coached. He shows tremendous poise in the back -- in the pocket. Obviously he's got great athletic skills, you know, so he can -- he has great pocket presence that he can get away from trouble. Strong kid, he can break tackles. He's kind of a man amongst boys from a physical standpoint here.
But then obviously we're familiar with his parents -- his father being from the Virginia Tech-West Virginia rivalry over the years, but you can tell he's got a tremendous football IQ and that he's very well coached, and the kid just has a lot of tremendous raw talent like I've not seen in a long, long time from a kid at this point in his career. I think he's a legitimate, legitimate first-round draft pick if not the first draft pick in the draft just with all of his capabilities. He's a big, strong arm, tall kid which the NFL likes, but he's got toughness, he's got mental toughness, he's got a tremendous football IQ.
I haven't been able to find anything that he doesn't do very well.

Q. What has the emotional seesaw been like for you, the staff and the players, between a sense of accomplishment with what you guys have done since the start of the season and also a sense of, man, what could have been this year?
COACH FOSTER: You know, we really haven't talked about that. You know, it is what it is. You know, I knew going into the beginning of the season that if we were going to have success this year it was going to come back on our shoulders. You know, I felt like this was going to be a rebuilding year for our defense.
And it was in a lot of ways. But at the same time, you know, again, you go back, we were five yards away from Boise, winning that game, and we get a 1st down, the game is over and they don't get that last drive at the end of the game. And then I think we let one game affect two. The JMU game was kind of the perfect storm. You guys were there, so you know how that goes.
But yeah, it's been a -- what we've done here at Virginia Tech is something that a lot of people would trade places for. But at the same time, you know, I'd be remiss in saying there's a play or two or a game or two that you'd love to have back again in our time here because it is, and there's a game or two in the last 10, 12 years that could make a difference in us being a top-five team, a No. 1 team. There's a lot of things that could change that 1 and 26 record or whatever it is. I couldn't tell you what it is.
So yeah, you can always second-guess, but it is what it is, and if you're not careful in this business you beat yourself up over things. I'm one of those guys. You know, I've probably done as good a job this year of taking it one play at a time with these guys and looking at the big picture rather than what our expectations are and knowing what we've got to do to get to reach those expectations. That's kind of what we focus on as much as anything.
And right now you can't look back. You've got to look ahead. This would be a great win for us to get win No. 12, to get 12 wins in a row. That would -- to get 12 wins. That's the first time that would ever happen in Virginia Tech's history. To win three straight Bowl games, that would be the first time to do that in Virginia Tech's history. To win back-to-back BCS Bowls, that would be the first time ever done in Virginia Tech's history. So there's a lot of things that we can really be working towards rather than looking back upon.

Q. You've had in recent years a lot of these, I guess you'd call them, sort of one-hit wonders, guys that came in, had one year to start and really produced for you, especially at the whip position. Brenden Hill was one, Cody Grimm was kind of one but he played a lot the year before, and I know Brenden was a big special teams contributor the year before. But at defensive end, can you remember a guy over the course of your career that was sort of the one-hit wonder type impact that Friday has had this year?
COACH FOSTER: No, not really. We've always had a group of guys that have always been playing quite a bit. I will say this about Steven: He played last year -- he played probably a little bit more significant role than he did previous years. But for a guy to step up the way he did, it just shows that he's had a lot of snaps under his belt, whether it's been practice snaps or game snaps. But he really stepped up and made a lot of plays that really number one, I didn't know if he could make without getting reps at. He kind of did it very naturally.
But again, part of that is just being, I think, in the meeting room a lot of times, taking a lot of practice snaps. And then over the course of the years he's played a lot of snaps. But maybe not in as significant a role as you'd like. But last year he did -- he was a lot more our top backup and figured in a little bit more, and I felt -- I think that carried over into his spring preparation. He really had a great spring, and then it's carried over and he's had an outstanding fall for us, which we needed for him to do that, especially with him and Chris Drager, Chris at the other end, and then having young guys that are going to play for the first time as their backups.
But still, we had two ends start for the first time. So there was a lot of question marks going into the year. Steven answered those, and I'm just really, really proud of how he played.

Q. I assume that check-with-me package is basically when the team will be in a certain formation, you guys have a package where you'll come out in a defense and the guys are supposed to look to you to see -- can you explain what that is in layman's terms?
COACH FOSTER: No, the check-with-me is -- what that is, check-with-me is just they don't look to me. It's not like an offense where they're going to get under center and they're going to look. The check-with-me package is based on more what the offense is lined up in. It's based on backfield sets, is it one-back, two-back, is it two-by-two, is it three-by-one formation, is the back weak, is the back strong, is the back at home. We could be in a different coverage in each one of those scenarios or we could be bringing the pressure. So that's what the check-with-me package is.
Now, they have the ability to look at me if we want to change something, if they're getting into that kind of mode. But what we're practicing and what we're doing, that takes care of itself.

Q. So "me" is you, right?
COACH FOSTER: Well, we just call it check-with-me. Basically it's the defense calling it themselves. But it's a check-with-me -- it's a check-with-me call, and they just self-adjust themselves. We've got 11 coaches on the field when it comes down to it. But that takes the game out of the pressbox and puts it in their hands, and hopefully that's why we've had success over the years, that we're going to put our kids in the right position rather than just -- you're rolling the dice anyway, but I think when you do that instead of me just calling a play and the defense, they could have a good play against that defense, now at least we can counter by being in the right coverage, our defense that we want to be in by this look, because they're only going to do certain things in this formation, why shouldn't we be in a certain defense out of that. That's kind of the check-with-me.
Now, a lot of times when we're just calling things, I like to see the offense come out of the huddle because then I can see what formation they're going to be in and I'd rather be in a certain call. So that's what the check-with-me package does; it allows us to make on-the-move adjustments because they can line up in one formation and motion a guy, and we're going to change our whole package right there. And I don't make that call, the kids do. But that's what we're practicing.

Q. These guys at the point now where you think they can handle more the onus being on them as opposed to before?
COACH FOSTER: Well, I hope so. They've done that down the stretch. I mean, down the stretch -- we do that every week. That's kind of what we do, and we've done that for a number of years. You know, but you've got a younger group that's a little bit more experienced, and I'm hoping the games slow down for them a little bit and feel comfortable in their roles and feel comfortable in that setting and making those calls and everybody, because you get into on of -- some of those scenarios, you've got one or two guys have the courage, I guess it is, sometimes to step up to the plate and make the calls and know that they're not making -- if they make the wrong call, they make the wrong call, we all buy into it.
But you want to get 11 guys out there all making the calls that are understanding what we're doing and that type of thing, and I think we're closer to that right now.

Q. I've got to ask the broken record question. In the last few weeks after that Vanderbilt stuff, did you hear from anybody else about either a head coaching position or a defensive coordinator?
COACH FOSTER: No, you know, I haven't. I think with my deal right now, the package I've got with Tech, I doubt that anybody would probably contact me as a coordinator. But we'll see if the head coaching deal comes. And if not, you know what, I'm not losing sleep over that. But in regards to the Vanderbilt job, I think I've done a better job right here than I would have at that position right there, you know.

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