While Virginia Tech's defense was solid in Brent Pry's first year as head coach, they were lacking in a couple areas including their ability to force turnovers. Those struggles led to Pry making this a point of emphasis for his defense and his defensive coaching staff this offseason as he recently shared.
"That was the #1 offseason professional growth for the defensive staff. Call people, go see people that are some of the best in the business at taking the ball away, and that's what we did. We went to Iowa, we went to Middle Tennessee, and we've incorporated a bunch of new drills starting in the winter and the spring, and all summer. We're doing the things necessary to emphasize it. The finer points, the details, we're talking about it. We've got to be better there, those are just giant plays in the game. They're giant plays out here. This was practice #8, we've only met our takeaway goal of three one time in camp. We've had others here and there, but our goal is to get three in an outing, and we've only done that once. It's still obviously an area we've got to improve on," Pry said.
Hitting the road to visit places like Iowa and Middle Tennessee makes a ton of sense as MTSU was fifth in the country in turnover margin last season along with being tied for 3rd with 30 turnovers forced while Iowa was heavily carried by their defense and their ability to force turnovers to give their inept offense shorter fields to kick field goals. This comes in stark contrast to the Hokies who ranked 130th out of 131 teams last season forcing only 9 turnovers. The only program to force fewer turnovers in 2022 was UL-Monroe.
Learning from those staffs and how they coach it up makes a lot of sense. Yes, turnover luck is part of the puzzle, but there are definitely some who are better than others at forcing turnovers or taking advantage of the opportunities that are out there.
Diving deep into the most successful turnover-forcing teams like Iowa and MTSU along with those who do it well in the NFL was also a point of emphasis for defensive coordinator Chris Marve.
“For us defensively, it was an area of interest after the season and certainly this offseason. You look at it, you analyze and synthesize what was going on, what can you do differently, and then you also in our profession, you do a significant amount of professional development. You look around at different programs that have had success in that area annually," Marve said.
"You also look at professional teams that have success in that area annually. You also look at coaches - head coaches or defensive coaches - and their system that have had success in those areas consistently. Then you try to pull things from what they do. You also add to the things that you do in the offseason. We’ve certainly addressed that area in a number of ways. We’ve added circuits, different things that we addressed or emphasized during defensive unit meetings or as a team. It’s certainly been an area of interest and I think I like the direction we’re going in.”
Part of that goes beyond scheme or play design, but to the mentality of your defense. For Brent Pry, that's an area where he feels his defense can improve beyond the scheme work and new drills that have been brought in to address those concerns.
"I think it's both. I still see guys that play it safe in practice. They don't go after that ball, they just secure the tackle. And I want to go after the ball, I want them to test the limits in practice. The habit is to make the play on the ball. So we're still obviously a work in progress there, but we have really put the time in as a defensive staff and defensive players in these last few phases," Pry said.
When you're only forcing 9 turnovers in a season, part of the issue likely is missing some of the obvious turnovers that you have to haul in. While we can focus on the spectacular turnovers often, it taking advantage of the ones handed right to you that Pry feels are the most critical and where the Hokies can definitely improve.
"I'll say this. You have to catch the ones they throw to you. You have to recover the ones that are right in front of you. If you watch the fumble recoveries or the interceptions from the NFL in one season, 50% of them are just thrown right to them, you got to catch them. The fumble recoveries are right there, just side-swaddle scoop it and go. The opportunities that are there, you got to get those. And then you're going to get some exceptional plays in there," Pry said.
So with all that, Tech's defensive coaches are making it a priority for their defense to improve in the turnover category this season with DL coach J.C. Price optimistic that this emphasis by the coaching staff will pay off.
"We're putting an emphasis on it everyday. In coaching, it's always be careful what you emphasize because you're gonna get it. So we're setting time aside to make sure we address turnovers, and work it everyday and what it looks like. And the more you talk about it, the more you should get and that's what we're hoping is gonna happen," Price said.
If Virginia Tech can make a big jump in their turnover-forcing abilities this fall, it could be what they need to get back to at least bowl eligibility after losing a few close games and late leads in 2022 where forcing an extra turnover could have made the difference.
