Virginia Tech fell short in a fist fight against No. 13 South Carolina in Atlanta, 24-11. Despite the loss, there were standout performances worthy of Hokie of the Game honors.
Offensive Hokie of the Game: WR Ayden Greene
Without watching the game, you can clearly see that the offense struggled. You can see Tim Thomas' offensive takeaways from the game here.
While the Hokies struggled offensively, there were some bright spots in the game, where the Hokies had north of 330 yards.
Ayden Greene is a bright spot that stands out above the rest. Greene had an impressive game, where he caught five passes for 71 yards, including a 36 yard pass that came in the first quarter of the ball game. That put the Hokies in the red zone for the first time of the game.
Greene was expected to take a big step forward in a much bigger role than he's had in his two previous years, and he proved that he was up for the task in the season opener, where he graded out as the best offensive player to total at least 25 snaps. The Junior receiver achieved a 75.8 offensive grade with a 73.6 pass-play grade.
Defensive Hokie of the Game: DT Emmett Laws
Defensively, Emmet Laws had a spectacular game. The DeMatha Catholic product had a stand-out game, with 1.0 sacks, including splitting the first quarter safety with Kelvin Gilliam, another pass rusher up the middle.
Laws was another young player who was expected to take a step forward with a much bigger role this year. Last year, Laws played 15 snaps in the bowl loss against Minnesota and graded out as the best Virginia Tech defensive player in what was his only significant first team action as a true freshman.
This past game, though, Laws played 19 snaps in a crowded IDL room, where he split a pair of sacks and had the team's second best pass-rush grade per PFF.
