'Football Guy' Devin Wilson Talks Transition to Wide Receiver at Hokies' Media Day

Wilson and other members of Fuente's new offense addressed the media.

[Michael Shroyer]

As the rare athlete to successfully balance both football and basketball at the Division I level, Devin Wilson stands out a bit — indeed, he says his teammates on Buzz Williams' squad have certainly taken notice of his new affinity for football.

Wilson could end up playing a pivotal role in Justin Fuente's offense as the Hokies search for depth at wide receiver, but while speaking with reporters at the team's "Media Day" this weekend, he conceded that his new nickname among the basketball bunch is quite simple.

"They gave me the nickname 'The football guy,'" Wilson said. "They always say, 'Go to football practice.' Just messing around and things like that. They're all support. They can't wait to come watch me play and be in the front rows just like everyone else."

Some playful ribbing aside, Wilson said he has no regrets about his decision to make the leap and join Fuente's squad so far.

"I can't lie, it's been one of the (most fun) experiences I've had in awhile," Wilson said. "Just being able to go out there in Lane Stadium when we scrimmage and when we come out here on the field, it's fun. Being able to go see my basketball guys right across the street is awesome."

Being that Williams is so close by, he certainly still keeping tabs on his guard's activities while he's out on the gridiron this season.

"I've met with (Williams) a couple times and he's just kinda asked how practices have been going over here," Wilson said. "He's trying to learn as well. Just kinda to get a different perspective on things."

Just don't ask Wilson to compare Fuente's offseason conditioning program to Williams' infamous "boot camp."

"Definitely, I don't want to answer that," Wilson said.

Devin Wilson

ON FATIGUE LEVEL AFTER HAVING NO OFFSEASON:

"That's a great question. I would say I feel good. I think just always being working out and always doing something kinda how I've always lived my life so I think this is just kinda more normal. Just from high school, you play two sports so it's kinda normal. But I'd say I'm feeling pretty good right now."

ON MISSING FOOTBALL:

"A lot. Every single year you see them run out there in front of 70,000 people and it just seems like such an exhilarating experience. Just from seeing everyone I know on the football team like Bucky and all them guys that came in with me, how much they love it. Just being able to get a chance to play my senior year is a great experience."

ON DIFFERENCE IN FOOTBALL OFFSEASON PROGRAM:

"Definitely wanted to gain some weight. I was definitely undersized for coming straight in. I was about 190. I was able to gain around 10-15 pounds. I think in the program I'm gonna be around 206, so I think I gained the weight that I needed in order to be successful and give myself a chance on the field. Just going through the workouts and the training process is a lot like basketball. The training programs are kinda similar except they build for more bulk here and I think I was able to gain that."

ON ADJUSTING TO DIFFERENCES IN PHYSICALITY:

"I would say well. I think just being able to gain the wait and getting strong, which Coach (Ben) Hilgart and everyone in the training room and the weight room, I've been able to really get on the physical level as everyone else, I feel. Definitely still trying to get faster, definitely trying to build my mentality level. For physical wise, I think I've done pretty well so far."

ON IF HE FEELS HE'S GOTTEN INTO THE RHYTHM OF THINGS:

"I don't think so, yet. I think I'm still learning. I'm still asking them questions every single day. How to get off jams and just how to get in and out of routes. And they've been great on just really not being selfish enough to really give me advice. They've gave all their advice, everything they know and everything they've experience from their last couple years here. Thankful for them and thankful for the coaching staff who've been able to help me as well."

ON IF HE EVER THOUGHT HE WOULD PLAY FOOTBALL:

"No. Never. I was coming out of high school, I just wanted to play one sport and really focus on one sport. It's such a hard decision for me to pick a sport in high school in the first place. Just being able to come out here and have a dream of being able to be a two-sport athlete in college is wonderful."

ON HOW BASKETBALL TEAMMATES REACT TO HIM:

"They gave the nickname 'the football guy' now. They always say, 'Go to football practice.' Just messing around and things like that. They're all support. They can't wait to come watch me play and be in the front rows just like everyone else."

ON ROLE IN DEPTH CHART:

"I'm not sure. We've a lot of great guys. A lot of young guys have been stepping up like (Divine) Diablo, and (Eric) Kumah, (Jaylen) Bradshaw, they've all been playing very well. I think the more depth we have at wide receiver, the better."

ON COMFORT LEVEL AFTER SPRING BALL:

"Definitely more comfortable with the playbook. Starting to learn different positions like the other receiver. Just kinda what the offense is doing overall. I think that's just from really studying the playbook and doing all the meetings that we have. They've made it really easy for me to be able to learn things so fast."

ON BEING HAPPY WITH THE DECISION TO PLAY FOOTBALL:

"Oh yeah, for sure. Like I said, it's been a fun experience. I think I'm doing pretty well at it so far. Just keep hoping to get better and keep learning."

ON IF THERE WILL BE ANY REGRET IF HE DOESN'T GET MUCH PLAYING TIME:

"I've made the decision a while ago and I'm gonna stick with it wholeheartedly through. I'm gonna give it everything I've got, 100 percent. That's really all I can do. Everything from there on else is kinda out of my control. I'm just gonna keep trying to the best of my ability and whatever the coaches feel is my playing time then that's what I've earned."

ON FEELING BETTER WITH THE ADDED WEIGHT:

"For sure yeah. I'm definitely able to take hits a lot easier. Definitely able to give more of a blow. When I first came in here I was kinda getting thrown around a little bit, not gonna lie. But I've definitely learned from that and I've been able to gain the weight to kind of combat it."

ON IF HE CAN RETURN TO BEING AGGRESSIVE:

"Definitely in the beginning I wasn't as aggressive as I thought I would be. The guys here just been playing football, they're a lot nastier. They've been just doing it for a lot more longer. I definitely think I've been picking up my aggressiveness level as the weeks go by and hopefully it just keeps getting higher and higher."

ON CONDITIONING BEING EASIER COMING FROM BASKETBALL:

"Yeah that was definitely something that I was able to enjoy. Conditioning wise, I was already up to par. That's something I just didn't have to worry about so then I would spend more time in the weight room trying to get bigger. More time in the film room trying to learn the playbook and more time trying to learn from the guys."

ON IF BUZZ WILLIAMS' BOOT CAMP IS MORE DIFFICULT THAN SUMMER CONDITIONING:

"It's different. Everyone's been asking me, even guys on the team have been asking, 'What's it like over there?' To compare it to over here, I just say it's a lot different. That's really the only way I can describe it. Unless you go through a boot camp or unless you go through a fall camp or a summer conditioning workout, you wouldn't really understand. I really like to just say it's a lot different."

ON IMPRESSION OF THE OFFENSE:

"Well to be honest, I'm not really sure because it's my first offense. I've never really been in any other offense. This is the one I know, but just from seeing it and just from watching football all my life, it seems like an interesting offense that is going to be able to spread the ball around to different guys and really utilize all our weapons."

Travon McMillian

ON POTENTIAL DISAPPOINTMENT IF HE DOESN'T REACH 1,600 YARDS:

"That is a high goal. I wouldn't be disappointed because I tried my best, but you gotta always set your goals high and try to strive as high as you can. Try to push yourself."

ON UNDER 1,000 BEING A DISAPPOINTMENT:

"Yeah, I would be disappointed. Yeah."

ON STEVEN PEOPLES' INVOLVEMENT AT RUNNING BACK:

"He's working back there pretty well. He's learning the system pretty well. He's going 100 mph every play. He's gonna be a great asset to our offense."

ON IF COACHES UPDATE DEPTH CHART:

"They kind of keep us in the dark. They don't really bring it up too often. It's just compete. Right now, everybody's trying to get better. Everybody's trying to bring each other along."

ON IF IT'S A GOOD THING TO NOT KNOW POSITION ON DEPTH CHART:

"I feel like that is a good thing right now because it's making us all better as a group, as a unit. Everybody's trying to get better each and every rep and try and eliminate mistakes as much as possible."

ON WHO IS THE FASTEST GUY ON THE TEAM:

"I don't know, to be honest. There's a lot of fast guys. There's (Greg) Stroman, there's me. I don't know. There's Terrell Edmunds. There's a lot. Tremaine (Edmunds). Everybody's really fast. Isaiah (Ford), Cam (Phillips), there's just, it's a long list."

Eric Gallo

ON WYATT TELLER:

"He's a great leader. He's a really outgoing person. He's a lot of fun to be around and he has a great ability to rally the guys together. Really take control of the huddle and bring everyone together.

ON TELLER HAVING FUN ON THE FIELD:

"I would agree with that. He's always flying around on the field. He's having fun. He's giving people chest bumps. He's doing the best he can. He has a lot of energy while he's out there and he seems like he's enjoying it."

ON LIKING THE PRESSURE OF HAVING A HIGHLY TOUTED OFFENSIVE LINE:

"We're not really worried about the past and where this group has been. What we do know is that we've been working really hard to get to where we are now and we're nowhere near where we have to be. And that's the thing, we still have so much work to do. We have a lot of room to grow. So that's where we're at right now. No matter where we are, we're not worried about that. It's what we can be and how much better we're gonna get before the season starts."

ON ADJUSTMENT TO PACE:

"Right now, tempo is one of our biggest problems with our offensive line. We need to play with faster tempo. It's just something that we can practice, something we can work on. That's what we're gonna do."

ON VANCE VICE:

"He's a really good coach. I think that he's doing a great job of getting all of us to play well together and I think that he really has the team first mentality when it comes to coaching. He's a really funny guy in the meeting room and in the locker room. He's down to earth, he's easy to talk to. I like him as a coach."

ON IF TELLER HELD BACK FOR THE NEW COACHING STAFF:

"Well Wyatt's gonna be himself. He's a real guy. He's true. He's gonna be himself and he has a great personality. That's why we all love him."

ON HIS GROWTH AFTER A FULL SEASON OF STARTS:

"I'd say that the experience helps. Just knowing kind of what a game is like and what going through a season is like and what to expect. But from that, I'm not treating it any differently as last year or the year before. Every season is a new season. I'm just trying to do the best that I can whether or not I played last year or whatever. It doesn't really matter to me."

ON DEPTH AT CENTER:

"We're all, all of us are trying our best. We're all doing a good job right now. We're just gonna keep working on that until the season and throughout the year. We got a bunch of guys who can play."

ON WORKING WITH YOUNGER PLAYERS:

"I think we all help each other out. When one of us is on the field or the other one is taking reps, it doesn't matter. We're all helping each other out. Where the ball is, the snap, was it off a little bit? Or what happened on the play, what did the defense do? We're all trying to help each other out."

ON HOW YOSUAH NIJMAN IS LOOKING:

"Yosh is doing a good job. He's a great kid. He's awesome to be around. He's hilarious. He really brightens up the room. He's doing his best along with the rest of us. He's doing a good job."

ON IF NIJMAN HAS THE PROTOTYPE OFFENSIVE LINE BODY:

"Yosh is chiseled up. That's something he's been working really hard on is getting stronger. Getting to the size that he is now. Obviously just looking at him is very impressive on how he's built."

Yosuah Nijman

ON IF HIS BODY IS THE PROTOTYPE:

"They do (joke) most of the time. Yeah."

ON PROGRESSION THIS OFFSEASON:

"I've just been doing mostly what everybody else has been doing on the team. I've been lifting, doing things with the offensive line, offense pretty much."

ON WHERE HE IS WORKING:

"Right now it's left tackle, but wherever Vice will put me, it doesn't matter."

ON COMPETITION TO GET PLAYING TIME:

"I would say we're just all working hard as a team. I wouldn't say, you know, we're just trying to build our camaraderie with the offensive line just being a unit, being a team. Building work bonds, better bonds, stronger bonds."

ON WHAT HE LEARNED ON THE FIELD LAST YEAR:

"I would say adversity. Going through the swerves of offense scoring, defense scoring. Team's up by 14, team's down by 14. Just experience on how to play football when you're out there in the game."

ON RELYING ON OLDER GUYS:

"I usually ask them questions every day. They've been playing here four to five years. Augie's been here five years. Jon (McLaughlin) is a four year starter. I always ask Jon questions about anything in particular, the offense."

ON OFFENSIVE LINE UNIT:

"I think we're just trying to build a relationship with just everyone, the whole team. Just working hard as a unit together. I will say the offensive line, just wanting to build stronger bonds and play more as a team."

ON WHEN HE KNEW HE WAS A GOOD FOOTBALL PLAYER:

"I would say junior year in high school. I just started springing up."

"I think every year in high school I grew like another 2-3 inches."

ON WHEN HE STARTED PLAYING FOOTBALL:

"I think I was 13."

ON WHY IT TOOK SO LONG TO START PLAYING:

"I don't think anything took me long, I just played it because my friends did."

ON ROLE MODEL AS A KID:

"I always have favorite college players like Jadeveon Clowney. Going into my senior year, I wanted to mimic my game off him. We all have our motivations and different type of players we want to be like. That's the guy I wanted to be in high school, coming out of high school."

Joey Slye

ON OFFSEASON WEIGHT GOALS:

"I love lifting. I'm in the weight room all the time. This year I just wanted to cut down a little of body fat percentage and gain a little bit more muscle. But I just wanted to make sure that as a kicker, especially with the new coaching staff, that they realize that I was here to work in every aspect of football, I wasn't just kicking. I didn't want to be that kicker that came to practice for a little bit, kicked, and left. I wanted to show them that I was a leader on and off the field."

ON JAMES SHIBEST:

"Coach Shibest is out there with us all the time. We do a lot of film work with him, too."

ON DIFFERENCE FROM FRANK BEAMER:

"Coach Beamer had a sense of, I mean it was Coach Beamer, so there's a little more I guess pressure situations. You're kicking in front of like a living legend. Coach Shibest has done a great job with us and the specialist crew. Keep putting us in situations that we will succeed, but also giving us the feeling of that we're in a game situation so that the moment out there on the field's not gonna seem too big for us. It's comparing apples to oranges."

ON THE IMPORTANCE OF SPORTS PSYCHOLOGY:

"(Not having a 50-yard field goal) eats at me, but I did a lot of sports psychology this offseason with my kicking coach (Paul) Woodside. He's really good training the mind. That's one of the biggest things when I work with kickers is if you're mentally prepared then you're gonna be physically prepared....Make sure that once I'm on the field that 50 is the same as a 20, 60 is the same as a PAT. Every single one of my kicks is gonna be the same exact kick."

ON CONSULTING WITH KICKING COACH:

"It's completely different just because of the fact that Coach Shibest is the special teams coach and then even Coach Beamer was a swing coach. A golfer has a swing coach. But with Paul kicking in college in at West Virginia and then I also have Shayne (Graham). Shayne has also worked under Paul. He's been here a lot actually, working to see if he can get a tryout. I've been working with both Paul and Shayne. Just looking at technique, what can I do to get better and all that stuff like that. It's a lot different but I called Paul I think three times yesterday just to talk to him about anything."

ON HOW LONG HE'S WORKED WITH HIM:

"I've worked with Paul since I was a sophomore in high school."

ON HOW THE NEW OFFENSE AFFECTS KICKERS:

"Operation time, we want to be under a one-three. That's been our goal since Coach Beamer was here. I was a little bit slower last year. I need to speed up my tempo, that's something I wanted to work on to make sure there's no chance of a good block out there or anything coming through the middle. With the up-tempo offense, I have a pretty good regiment on once they start getting kinda to the 50 yard line, I start getting my warmups in. I'd say at about the 40, I know that there's gonna be at least a situation where I might be sent on the field depending on what me and Coach Fuente talk about pregame. On where I feel comfortable kicking field goals and where he feels comfortable. I mean, with his offense moving so quickly, does he want to put the defense back out there. What's his mental thinking. We also had a conversation to say like, let's say it's a close field goal and it's fourth down, maybe 4th and 5. There's never gonna be a time where I look at Coach Fuente and he doesn't send me out there. Because I know he has the best interest of the team, has the best interest of me, all that stuff in mind. It's going to be different with new head coaches, but I'm gonna like the experience."

ON WHO IS HOLDING:

"Wright Bynum. He's our backup long-snapper as well. He's doing a really good job getting equated. We had some struggles in the beginning just because he was absolutely new at holding. A.J. (Hughes) held a little bit his freshman year under Trey Gresh, little bit under in his sophomore year as well, but then his junior year he was really good. Wright's been talking with A.J. a lot to figure out some holding techniques. He's also worked with Shayne, because Shayne's worked with some NFL guys."

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