Brent Pry on NIL: ‘We have to be good in that space’

Brent Pry knows Virginia Tech needs to do a lot off the field as well as on the field to be successful. Namely, excel in the NIL space.

Pry was honest, they have to be good. As a Power Five institution, the Hokies should be able to put out the resources necessary. Or so you think on the surface.

The truth is, Pry and his Virginia Tech staff have to navigate being behind football’s “blue bloods” and don’t have “war chests.”

“You don’t ever want to be too confident with it,” Pry said. “But we’ve had a lot of support … That group’s been very strong and competitive where we’ve needed to be. We don’t have the war chest that some other folks may have. But like I’ve said from the beginning, we don’t want anybody to stay at Virginia Tech because of that, and we don’t want anybody to come here because of that. We want to be competitive. 

“And I want these guys to do as well as they can do. That’s not the right reason to choose or stay. But we have to be good in that space. And we are, we have been to this point.” 

This is not saying Pry can’t do it with what he has at his disposal. He just has to be smarter with how the program manages NIL and where it goes each season.

Whether it’s recruits or transfers, Virginia Tech will be involved with NIL, but just don’t expect the Hokies to be Alabama all of a sudden. Plus, Pry’s message is a good one: he doesn’t want to be reliant on it solely for players who seek larger NIL deals.

Pry knows NIL isn’t the end all be all. Heck, you still have to put a good product out onto the field and that starts with spring practice.

“Yeah, there’s been some situational things that have been good: four minute, two minute, a 1st and 10 segment that’s helped us. I think we’ve earmarked guys starting last week that need to get the majority of the reps. And there’s certain guys at this point, you know, you’ve seen enough and so let’s get them a couple of pops early in the period and get them out. 

“So some of that’s happening right now. There’s some guys who got question marks on them. You know, can they play at this level or not? Putting them in positions to help us make decisions there for them and for us, so a lot happens in the last week.”