ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE FOOTBALL KICKOFF

July 23, 2024

Dorian Strong

Virginia Tech Hokies

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Dorian.

Q. You were the second FBS cornerback since 2014 with 300-plus coverage snaps. What led to such an improvement in your game coming back from an injury?

DORIAN STRONG: That's a great question.

Just my rehab process, talking to the coaches once going into spring ball and just making sure that I had a great off-season training-wise, putting more mass onto my body, getting stronger. Just talking to the coaches going into the season. They had a great plan. Just believing in them and believing in myself.

Q. You got to hear your teammates answer this, but what has it been like to have an off-season where everybody is loving on you? How do you tackle those expectations, make sure you live up to them?

DORIAN STRONG: It's been good hearing everybody come give us great congratulations on our accomplishments last year. At the end of the day we know that we can be better. We know, shoot, we still have work to do going through all four phases this year, winter, spring, summer, now we're going into fall camp. We still know we have a lot of work to do.

It's a great thing to get the pats on the back, feels good, boost your ego, gives you confidence. I feel like my job in my corner back room is just trying to push confidence onto the guys, push competitive edge onto them. I feel like I've been doing a great job at that.

Regardless of the love or hate, which way it comes from, you take it and you just got to move past it. Can't let it dwell on you.

Q. You played in all 11 games as a true freshman. That was the COVID season. That must feel like forever ago. What is it that you've learned about yourself through all of these experiences in the last four years?

DORIAN STRONG: That's a great question.

What I learned about myself is how competitive I am. That's always been in me, always been instilled in me. Just the coaches since they've gotten here, Coach Pry, Coach Jones, I've just grown into being a man, better football player.

Just from COVID, was a very interesting time. Wouldn't change it. I loved the experience, the empty stadiums. Felt like high school. I was able to just, like, get my feet under me and calm down, gain my confidence back.

Q. We're going to have a conversation that a lot of people are not going to understand. I'm from Peachy County, you're from Peachy County, went to Wise High School. A lot of talent. What was it like growing up in Peachy up there? Talk about some of the talent that a lot of people don't know about.

DORIAN STRONG: Yeah, man, definitely was an interesting time growing up. I feel like going to Wise, I played JV for two years, a lot of guys play JV, go straight to varsity. I played JV for two years. Broke my thumb my freshman year. My sophomore year I went crazy at receiver. All my life I thought I was going to be an offensive guy. My coach, he sat me down and had a conversation. I think you should be going to quarterback, doing seven-on-seven. I grinded through my high school years. I feel like I was a diamond in the rough type of player. Didn't get a lot of recognition till my junior year.

Went to a spotlight camp, the O staff at Tech offered me. I feel grateful because I was talking to a lot of Power Five schools. They wasn't trying to shoot their shot. When Virginia Tech shot their shot, I believe they believed in me, trusted me. Never looked back.

There is a lot of talent in Maryland. You've got me and you've got my man Mansoor. A lot of hidden talent in Maryland.

Q. You've had a lot of success throughout your entire time at Virginia Tech. Is there a personal accomplishment for what could be your final here at VT that you haven't accomplished yet that you really want to accomplish?

DORIAN STRONG: Yes, I want to pick-six in Lane Stadium. I've been fortunate enough to catch a couple of picks in my career. I only thing I got, what, one in Lane Stadium. I felt that roar that first time when I was running. Now just to do that, to catch multiple pick-sixes in Lane Stadium.