Inside HOKIE SPORTS | Vol. 11 No. 4 | March 2019

18 Inside Hokie Sports Q: Are you expecting Reggie Floyd to be the senior leader in this group this spring? BF: He can be. I hope he will be. Being a senior and being a guy with a couple of seasons as a starter under his belt, I would hope he’d be a guy that would challenge the group to perform at a high level. Reggie himself has to do that. He’s had some really good games and made some good plays, but he’s another one that’s got to be consistent and do things the right way all the time. I’m expecting him to be a leader in everything he does—from the weight room to the meeting room to his work ethic and to his discipline on the field. Q: Where does Devon Hunter fit into the picture? BF: We’re going to look at him at rover. We’re actually going to look at Chamarri Conner at nickel. I know he played rover last year, but that nickel spot is a key playmaker for us. He’s got some abilities, and he’s a physical kid. We want to see if he can cover. That guy needs to be not only a blitzer and a factor in the run game, but he also needs to be a cover guy. That’s what spring ball is all about. We’re going to take Brion Murray, the JC kid, and put him right there [at nickel], too. Those are the two guys that we’re really looking at to see if they can do that. The nickel is part corner, safety and outside linebacker. The better cover guy you have, the guy that has the ability to make plays in space … when we’ve had that, we’ve been pretty good. I think we saw enough of Devon at nickel. What are his assets and his liabilities? He was playing solid at the rover spot, and when we lost Mook [Reynolds], we kind of had to find a guy, and Devon has great skills, but that nickel spot has a lot of responsibilities. I think that [the move to rover] takes some of those things off his plate, and the rover spot will play to his strengths. I’m hoping we’ll see a better Devon Hunter. I think that’s a good move for both him and us. You’ve got a senior in Reggie, and I know Chamarri could always move back potentially. That’s what I hate about not having Nadir Thompson out there. He’s a potential nickel guy, too. Kind of that corner/safety guy. We’ve looked at Nasir Peoples, but we’re going to look at him at safety. Nasir was a safety that played, but had hamstring issues and other things. Q: Where do you hope to be by the end of spring practice? BF: I hope we make big strides. I hope everybody improves tremendously. I hope they understand their position and have a great position IQ, which means they know their position so well that it’s, ‘OK, let’s line up and let’s go.’ Now, we can coach guys on football and play more anticipatory football. That comes with experience. A lot of guys gained experience last year. Our lack of experience, or our youth, is not an excuse anymore. My goal is to improve every day, get better every day, and by the end of the spring, we would have a much-improved defense—a defense that understands the expectations, goes out there and believes and trusts in one another and goes and plays that way. Play with a lot of confidence, both individually and collectively. Continued from page 17 RAYSHARD ASHBY FOOTBALL