CHARLOTTE, N.C. \u2014 Virginia Tech opens its fourth season under Brent Pry with a marquee game against South Carolina in Atlanta on Aug. 31, marking a meeting of two programs with deep ties to one family.<\/p>\n
The Gamecocks are coached by Shane Beamer, the son of former longtime Hokies coach Frank Beamer. Frank Beamer coached Virginia Tech for 29 years with a run as a perennial bowl team \u2014 including playing for the national championship for the 1999 season \u2014 while winning 238 games.<\/p>\n
So Pry faced a tough question: who will Beamer be rooting for?<\/p>\n
\u201cHe loves Virginia Tech an awful lot but he loves his son first,\u201d Pry said with a chuckle. \u201cI think if you ask Frank\u2019s wife, she\u2019d be like, \u2019My son is where it\u2019s at, you kidding me?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Pry said he had mentioned the opener to Beamer.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said, \u2019I just want both teams to play really well,\u2019\u201d Pry said. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty awesome for him and his family, I think, to have this game. It\u2019s a great setup, appreciate the folks that planned it. It\u2019s an awesome opportunity for our team. But the connection between the Beamers and Virginia Tech, it\u2019s got a nice storyline to it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hey, what about the Wolfpack?<\/p>\n
Just moments after North Carolina’s Bill Belichick and Clemson’s Dabo Swinney held court to a packed interview room at ACC media days, North Carolina State coach Dave Doeren and his players arrived to much less fanfare. Only a few handful of reporters remained to hear what the Wolfpack had to say.<\/p>\n
That lack of attention didn’t surprise NC State quarterback CJ Bailey.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do feel like we\u2019re the underdogs,\u201d Bailey said. \u201cWe have so much to prove and I can\u2019t wait to show it. There\u2019s a lot of people that don\u2019t believe that NC State football can make it to ACC championship and win it, and I think we can because we have a lot of brotherhood.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bailey said NC State is motivated by a rough 6-7 season a year ago under Doeren that culminated in a 26-21 loss to in-state rival East Carolina in the Go Bowling Military Bowl.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe things we went through last year, especially the guys that returned, they saw what happened,\u201d Bailey said. \u201cWe need to do more this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Different muscles<\/p>\n
Duke\u2019s Wesley Williams has found a new test beyond chasing down quarterbacks: hot yoga and Pilates.<\/p>\n
And it wasn\u2019t because of some long-thought-out plan, either.<\/p>\n
\u201cTruth be told, my girlfriend,\u201d Williams said. \u201cShe said, \u2019You\u2019re coming with me.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
The 6-foot-3, 278 pound defensive end who had nine sacks last year said he has been going to those types of classes about once or twice per week during the summer. And he\u2019s gotten feedback from scouting experts saying it\u2019s the kind of training pro players are utilizing more.<\/p>\n
Williams said it\u2019s improved his core strength. It\u2019s also required some humility.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve looked bad in those classes before,\u201d he said with a laugh. \u201cThe ladies in there, they\u2019ll tell you I look horrible, catching cramps in there, the whole nine yards. It\u2019s gotten pretty bad, but honestly it\u2019s really fun.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just different muscles. You\u2019ve got to respect every type of workout. You go in there thinking you\u2019re the big dog because you can bench and squat, and it means nothing in there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Boston College WR eyes record<\/p>\n
Boston College wide receiver Lewis Bond is zeroing in on Zay Flowers\u2019 school record for career receptions and yards receiving this season. Lewis enters his third season as a starter needing 75 receptions and 1,665 yards to break the mark set by Flowers, who is now catching passes from Lamar Jackson with the Baltimore Ravens.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s definitely something I\u2019ve thought about,\u201d Bond said. \u201cIt\u2019s a big accomplishment if I can do it. But I\u2019m more focused on the team, more focused on winning games for the team, and that\u2019ll come naturally. That\u2019s what OB says. He says personal goals will come if the team accomplishes the goals we\u2019ve trying to accomplish.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bond emerged as the Eagles\u2019 most dangerous weapon over the past two seasons with 1,335 yards receiving and 119 catches during that span.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s hoping it\u2019s enough to garner attention from NFL scouts.<\/p>\n
\u201cI guess it would show the next level that I\u2019ve been consistent for three years and also improvement over those three years. So that would be the biggest thing,\u201d Bond said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHARLOTTE, N.C. \u2014 Virginia Tech opens its fourth season under Brent Pry with a marquee game against South…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":89533,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[41807,2871,1428,1318,1317,1315,1316,62,67,132,68,10190],"class_list":{"0":"post-89532","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-audio_enabled","9":"tag-college","10":"tag-college-football","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-ncaa","13":"tag-ncaa-football","14":"tag-ncaafootball","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-us","19":"tag-wires-bot"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114910125272525810","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89532\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}