When Virginia Tech football coach Brent Pry made some coaching changes following a Thanksgiving Weekend win over Virginia last November, offensive coordinator Tyler Bowen was not among the changes. Then, in February, Bowen, surprisingly and out of nowhere, left Blacksburg to become the new offensive line coach at Ohio State.
That left Pry scrambling to hire a new offensive coordinator quickly, and when the dust settled, he hired Philip Montgomery, a veteran OC in the college ranks, as well as a head coach. He has coached some good quarterbacks and got the best out of them, which is what Pry is hoping he will do with veteran Kyron Drones.
Virginia Tech is in its first official game week ahead of Sunday's season opener in Atlanta against No. 13 South Carolina. Meeting with the media on Tuesday, Drones revealed the difference between Montgomery and Bowen.
Virginia Tech QB Kyron Drones explains the difference in his last two offensive coordinators
Drones worked the last two years under Bowen, and you could make the case that Bowen never really unleashed Drones' ability to make plays. His play-calling, especially early in the year, was very suspect, at best, and it always seemed like it took until a quarter of the way through the season before the play-calling started to click. Drones spoke about the difference between the coaches.
"Oh yeah, it's definitely a difference,'' said Drones. "Like, my last two coordinators were both O-lineman when they played. It's definitely a difference from somebody who has been in that backfield and has played the QB position. So, they probably know what you're thinking after a play. Like you just got sacked, and you got a clock in your head now. So, they know how to call the play from there. And then they just know, like if they see you in a rhythm, not to go out there and just keep running the ball for you to get out that rhythm. So, it's a huge difference."
That wasn't a shot of any kind by Drones at Bowen, but it highlights just how much different things are for someone who played the position and is coaching Drones and the rest of the Virginia Tech QBs compared to someone who was an offensive lineman. Is it going to pay big dividends this year? We'll see, but you can bet the play-calling will be aggressive earlier in games than in years past.