Everything From Virginia Tech WR Ayden Greene After Wednesday's Practice

Virginia Tech wide receiver Ayden Greene addressed the media after practice on Wednesday, Oct. 15.

Virginia Tech Athletics

Virginia Tech wide receiver Ayden Greene spoke with the media after practice on Wednesday; here's the entirety of what he had to say.

On what Greene does during an off week:

"Regroup, take care of your body, reflect and get ready for the next phase, the next, you know, few games, the back end of the season. Luckily for us, we have a lot of good opportunities against good opponents and teams to go out, finish strong, showcase our abilities, still put our name out there. Still prove what kind of team we are and team we can be with everything that's happened this year."

On if the bye week serves as a mental break:

"Yeah, it's a challenging game just by itself, but you add all the other adversity we face on top of it and it makes it even harder. So, it's good to get a break in the midst of the fire, to regroup, reflect, get your bodies right, get your mind right. Kind of calm calm down for a little bit. And then get back ready for it."

On flipping the mindset from Old Dominion to Wofford:

"That's what I'm here for. I mean, that's part of it. You win, you lose. Play good, you don't play good. It's part of it. It's part of the ups and downs. It's a game of lessons. So, you go out, you lose a game, okay, [you ask,] 'Well, what did we do wrong? What didn't we do good? What could we have done better? What did we do right that we should have did more of?' All those things, and you look back on it, you move on because there's another game to play on Saturday. There's another opponent to prepare for. You go throughout the week getting ready for these games on Saturday. So, it doesn't really end. You can't really dwell on it, worry about it. You kind of just in a sense let it go and move on because you don't have time to worry about what happened yesterday."

Q: You mentioned to me after the Wofford game that football was like a game of war. How do you feel like that war is going right now?

"Not what we planned, honestly. Not what the coaches planned, not what the players plan, not what the fans plan. It hasn't been what we said it was going to be. It hasn't been what we worked for it to be. But there's good in that too, though. It builds character. It shows you who you really are as a person, as a team, as a coach. Then as a fan base, things went bad and everybody turned their back on us. But the people that didn't turn their back were the people in that locker room and these coaches that are making us better. And that's really what matters at the end of the day. But something like that happening shows you who's really there, who's really wanting to benefit us, benefit our team. Because like I said, we still have games to play. We still have a season to finish and we still have a lot of opportunities to play for."

Q: How bummed were you to have your toe on the the stripe on that catch last week?

"I was very bummed. I like to view myself as a guy that can make extravagant catches and plays and all those things. That was a little heartbreaking because that was a hell of a catch."

Q: You think you had it at first?

"I did. And in that particular moment, which I never do this, but the play was a little bit out of whack. Kyron [Drones] had pressure, so he wasn't able to get the ball out on time and I'm looking at the ball coming. Me and the dude are right next to each other and I'm looking at the ball and I'm like 'Okay, this is going to be a tough catch.' I'm built for it. I'm made for it. That's who I am and what I do. But I was looking at the ball coming and I took my eyes off the ball and I looked at him to see like how much distance I had. And then I looked back up at the ball. And at that point I had started you like shifting towards the sideline because of where the ball was going and I kind of lost sense of like my where I was at on the field. Granted, I wasn't out by like a yard or so but you know, it happens. It'll come back to me."

On whether he tries out the one-handed catches in practice:

"No. You go anywhere across the country and you hear coaches say 'Two hands on the ball, put two hands on the ball.' But it's kind of funny because like my friends ask me because I'm a regular person outside of what I do on the field. Nothing special, nothing different. I go home, I play video games, I hang out, I do all that kind of stuff. My friends always ask me like, 'How do you do it?" And I'm like, 'I work very hard. I train. And I do all the preparation necessary.' But when you step on those white lines, it's kind of almost like something else takes over. And you do spectacular things that you look back on, you're like, 'Wow, like I did that. Wow, that was awesome. I can't believe I made that play.' And there's a little bit of both sides to it. I worked for it. I prepared for it. But, I still amaze myself sometimes, too. But no, to answer your question, I don't work on catching the ball with one hand. It kind of just happens. It's one of those things where, especially in a game, defenders are really handsy nowadays, at the top of your routes, deep down the field, refs are horrible making the calls within that. But you got to create separation. This much separation can go a long way when it comes to catching a ball on a defender. So, it's kind of just something that I do. But no, I don't really work on it. I work on one-handed catches, but it's not my my goal going into catching a a pass from KD [Drones]."

Q: How would you assess how you've grown as a receiver this year and what do you want to do and grow over the second half of the season?

"I think I've taken a lot of steps in the right direction. Each week, I want to win. That's my first and main goal. I feel like I deserve it. I feel like my team deserves it. I feel like I've grown a lot just in my confidence level, my skill set and then my leadership. Like, if you were to ask me two years ago, would I be in the position I'm in now? I wouldn't feel very confident in saying that. But I put my head down. I worked. I didn't really worry about it. I didn't let it fog my fog my brain or anything. I feel like I've did what I needed to do up until this point, but from a scale of winning, it obviously isn't enough. So, this back end, like I said, we have a lot of good opponents to play and a lot of good opportunities that I plan on taking advantage of. I'm a gamer. I like to game. I like to play. And when I get in those scenarios, I flip a switch and I turn into the player that I need to be when it comes game time. So, for the rest of the season, I just plan on capitalizing on the opportunities and trying to be the best receiver I can be each week. And showcasing my abilities and who I am for this team and then nationwide. Because I feel like you play good opponents and you show out, you feel better about it yourself. And then, you get your name out there more when it comes to going to the next level and all those types of things."