CB Tyrique Stevenson has had a weekly blog all season at CaneSport.com. In this edition, Stevenson talks about the Virginia Tech game and its aftermath:

We sent the seniors off well. That was the main message of the week: These seniors have put their all into this program, all their sweat, the injuries all the time and all the effort. I felt like coach Diaz did a great job this week just hyping us up, definitely hyping the seniors up. I felt we had great practices, a great plan and we went out there and attacked the plan as we said we would all week just to send the seniors out on the right note.

I felt like some weeks we know we’re an attack team, can compete with anybody. Some other weeks we have doubt. But the coaches, the seniors, just everybody on the whole last week took the challenge after losing to FSU. We just came together as a whole, just attacked the plan.

Keeping everyone engaged, I don’t even know how it happened. As a human being with emotions, feelings, you lose some things, lose games with a bad flavor in your mouth. But this season the coaches kept it truthful and we kept the main thing the main thing. Take it a day at a time, execute every game plan like we’re preparing for Alabama.

We all had the same mindset, send these seniors out the right way so all their hard doesn’t go unnoticed. I felt the seniors played their heart out for their last game in Hard Rock.

Making this huge decision that can impact my life, coming back or heading to the pros, starting my life - I didn’t want to participate in the day because I didn’t share the hard work with those seniors. That was one of the reasons I didn’t want to participate in Senior Day. And another reason was because I still haven’t made that tough decision that I have to make yet.

That decision, it’s starting to get real difficult. The beginning of the season you put it off, just talk about it - you have time, weeks. Now it’s two or three weeks, maybe a month away before I make a decision. It’s just a real hard decision. Just make sure I make the best decision and put all my thinking into making this one decision that can change my life.

As for my season, I improved a lot, got better each game. I feel I opened eyes for a lot of guys. I had been in the box at safety, blitzing, so I felt I opened a lot of eyes, proved a lot of people wrong playing corner this season, improved myself as a player all around.

I’ve been grading out really well. During the first two or three games it wasn’t my best game, but getting better each game. Even in spring I wasn’t comfortable, doubting myself. It was hard coming into practice, getting these movements back down, understanding things from a corner standpoint again. I needed the spring and summer to get my confidence back at that position.

I’m still not convinced my future is at corner, though. Once I get to the league I’m an anywhere-you-need-me type of player. But I wanted to prove myself at one position. I can play any position, just need an opportunity (in the NFL).

As for me maybe coming back, if I do it’ll be just about improving every game. In this game you can improve every day because things change up every day. Just with me coming back, I feel like I’d be a much better leader than I was this year, make sure the secondary is on point, that we’d be one of the best secondaries in the nation. I’m familiar with the defense we run, younger guys understand it more too. It’d be better.

When I do make the decision, coaches I grew up with my whole life will help, family members. But it’ll mostly be me because no one has to live with the decision I make but me. I’m waiting to see how people perceive me, and if I do need to come back there wouldn’t be a problem. I’d come back and make sure I dominate even more.

Social media is a big influence on everything nowadays. We found out from social media, a lot of us, some from coaches, about Blake James.

It was all over Instagram, I have people that pay attention to the pages send it to me, and that’s how I really found out. That, I really didn’t pay too much attention to it because I have no words that can go into that decision. I knew with that happening, just like any other business, some changes would be made regarding that he was fired.

You try not to pay attention to it. It’s not what the focus is right now, not what the plan is today. As players we typically try not to pay attention to it. Stuff like that can go to your head sometimes.

It’s just stuff like that we tend to put a blind eye to. Because stuff like that is out of our control. The only thing we can control is how much effort we put into practice, effort and attention we put going into this game. That’s what these coaches helped us do this past week with all these rumors going around. Coaches played a huge part in making sure we were mentally focused, what was on hand in front of us.

All last week coach Diaz let some of the seniors come up and talk, they gave us their feedback on how college has treated them, gave us advice. He called all the seniors up, two or three a day.

They gave a heartfelt speech on how college has been for them. Having coach Diaz do that, having younger guys understand what these older guys have been through just added a little more maturity to the team.

Each of the guys gave heartfelt speeches before practices, at meetings coach Diaz let them speak their piece, speak from the heart. All of them made an impact. I’m going to be in their shoes with this draft class or I can be going into next year at Miami. All of it hit me understanding the fact they put so much into this, put their all into this four years, five years, six years later and it’s coming to an end like high school. This is a day you never prepare for but you have to take it on the chin and be ready to face life and the adversity that comes with it.

We treat every game like we’re playing the number one team in the nation. Just go in and execute our plan, make sure we are going into this game healthy, just go in and dominate. Any opponent, any team just make sure we keep the main thing the main thing, the same thing the same thing. Just because they are a lower opponent don’t let them sneak up on you and pull out a win. We’re just going in and making sure we go in and dominate.

There may not be a lot of fans there, but COVID prepared us for that. You have to create your own juice, your own energy. Last year even though we had less crowded stadiums I still found a way to get myself hyped. And even some of the players from last year said the same thing, went out there excited. As a player on the team you just create your own juice.

Last year it was an all around bad year for a lot of athletes. Just a rough year going into stadiums, they’re empty. Last year you found out you had to create your own juice.