AFLAC KICKOFF GAME: VIRGINIA TECH VS. SOUTH CAROLINA

August 31, 2025

Kyron Jones

Donavon Greene

Virginia Tech Hokies

Mercedes-Benz Stadium

Postgame Press Conference

South Carolina 24, Virginia Tech 11

Q. Kryon, seemed like you got things going a little bit and then would bog down in the red zone or in South Carolina territory. What do you think is holding you guys back offensively?

KYRON DRONES: Just self-inflicted wounds. We're shooting ourselves in the foot. Like you said, we were moving the ball up and down the field the whole game and you can't do that. You can't shoot yourselves in the foot against a good opponent like that. We got to be better and next week we will be.

Q. Kryon, first game for you and Mont's offense, how would you assess your performance?

KYRON DRONES: It was probably okay. We lost so it really doesn't matter how good I did. It doesn't matter.

Q. It's right after the game so I know you haven't had time to watch the film, but just on your gut reaction what steps do you think you need to take, throws, anything like that you feel like, man, I know I need to do this in order to be better.

KYRON DRONES: Just can't miss the easy throws. We're not that good to where we can just shoot ourselves in the foot and try to get over that, so we got to always be on point. Yeah, you're going to have misses here and there but I can't miss the easy throws.

Q. Donavon, Brent mentioned he wasn't to sure about the personal foul that was called against you. What exactly -- it didn't seem like television or anything really caught it. What exactly and what were your thoughts on that call?

DONAVON GREENE: I mean, it was something that definitely backed the offense up, something that I'm coached better than to do. Yeah.

Q. And you team-high 94 yards tonight. Had a couple of impressive catches in traffic and some big catch after the run. How did you feel about your first game at Tech and this performance?

DONAVON GREENE: I mean, like KD said, it was okay but we didn't win, so I feel like we can obviously play better.

Q. Kryon, we saw a lot of fade routes versus press man coverage and Donavon that ended up working out for you guys. Is that something you were really focusing on this offseason and working on? We didn't see a ton of it last year. Is that something we can expect to see throughout the season?

KYRON DRONES: Yeah, you can expect to see. Coach Mont is all about winning your one-on-one. I trust my receivers to go and catch the ball with any one-on-one no matter who they go against. If it's press coverage and you're playing man, you're going to get the ball.

Q. And playing against a very talented SEC defense, do you feel like it was faster than what you have seem normally in the ACC? Do you feel like it's prepared you for the rest of the season playing this quality of opponent early in the season?

KYRON DRONES: No, it wasn't faster. Defense is defense. Football is football. College football is college football. SEC, ACC, same thing. It wasn't faster. It prepared us to know what we got to look at and see what we got to be better at for next week. We play another SEC opponent, but defense is defense.

Q. Donavon, your defense forced six punts and had that big safety in the first half. What do you feel like that group gave you guys early in terms of juice, momentum.

DONAVON GREENE: Yeah, our defense definitely came out and played good, put us in situations that we could have capitalized on but obviously, like we said before, we had some self-inflicted mistakes that we got to clean up.

Q. Kryon, that first pick, was that just a forced ball there? What did you see on that one?

KYRON DRONES: It wasn't a forced ball. I saw Takye in the end zone. I just didn't throw it high enough. I thought I did I knew as soon as it left my hand I didn't, so.

THE MODERATOR: Thanks, guys. Appreciate it.