NC State wide receiver Wesley Grimes met with the media to discuss his play leading up to the opener, the Wolfpack's offense, and much more.
NOTE: Click the video above to watch the interview.
What makes CJ Bailey a good leader?
I feel like over the past year he's progressed a lot as a leader. He's gained that voice, he's got more confidence just to speak up. I think with Grayson being here, last year he kind of felt like he should let Grayson just do his thing and lead. And Grayson was a great leader, but now he's kind of taking that initiative to fill his shoes and be a leader for the team.
What's his best leadership trait?
I would say he helps guys feel more confident. So even when we mess up, like today I dropped the pass, I know you're going to catch that ball next time. So just having our backs and making sure we don't hang our heads and keeping that confidence in our shoes.
You ran a 4.24-40 this summer when you saw that time on the clock. Was that a shock or did you expect that?
No, definitely not a shock. It felt really good. That was the best 40 I feel like I've ever ran, probably my best time I've ever ran. But my mechanics, everything felt smooth, so I knew it was going to be a good time to hear that 4.24.
Now Noah said yesterday if y'all ran 100 meters, he said he'd beat you. Do you think that's true?
I don't know about all of that. I mean, I don't know.
Did you do track and field?
I didn't because I play baseball. But the track coach always wanted me to run track.
How explosive can this offensive position group be?
We're going to be very explosive. We have all the pieces, now it's just repetition, everybody getting on the same page. And just perfecting all of the little things and details, but we’re going to be very explosive in the run game, the pass game, guys on the perimeter are going to block.
Are y'all long-term goal-oriented or how do you approach it day-by-day?
Day-by-day, win-win mentality, the next opponent.
Do you feel like a senior?
Oh, man. I do. I feel like it's gone by fast, but I also feel like I've been in college for a long time. So kind of both. But yeah, I felt like yesterday I was just moving into my dorm as a freshman. Now in my last year of college football, I've got 12 camps left. So that's what went by fast, but every year has been a blessing.
What does it look like for you to really assert yourself as a leader in this wide receiver room?
It's been big. I've been trying to just give all the guys the little nuggets I've learned over the years from all the great receivers I've learned stuff from. Being that leader, trying to keep everybody's confidence up. Just the things I wish I knew when I was their age. That's just what I've been trying to do, have a voice. I'm not really a vocal type guy, but I've been trying to be that type of vocal leader for the receiver room.
Who was your mentor when you first arrived at Wake? Who are you mentoring now?
I would say Donavon Greene was a big guy I looked up to at Wake. And then A.T. Perry helped me a lot. So yeah, those guys, watching him practice. Taylor Morin was a good guy, watching his practice habits. So just watching, observing, talking to those guys has taught me a lot. I feel like the whole freshman room, I feel like I'm kind of mentoring, helping out. Teddy, Terrell, all those guys I'm trying to just feed into and give them every piece of knowledge I've got. Even the guys like Noah, Keenan, Terrell, we learn off each other like I'm still learning stuff off of them. So those go first.
Is there much of a difference for you between playing in the slot or playing outside?
I would say I can do both. I feel like I'm more of an outside guy. I can't go inside and run the slot routes. It gives me more flexibility. So learning both just gives me more versatility for the next level. So I've just been trying to know all the routes, even the running backs where I've seen them do them.
What was the funniest text you received after the 4.24 came out?
The funniest text I received?
Yeah, I'm sure that your phone blew up.
Yeah, I had a bunch of guys. It's funny. Even my teammates said to their friends from places like Boston and Florida, they said, Oh, I saw your friend ran a 4.2, so it's just crazy to see how many people saw that. But I feel like I can do way better. I didn't really train for it. We did speed training, but we weren't really specifically 40 testing. So yeah, I'm trying to break that next time around.
You've got a game next Thursday night. So how anxious are you to get this offense out there and show the folks what you're all about?
Yeah, we're super excited. The day's been going by fast. It felt like we have a little clock. It felt like it just said 30 days, 50 days. Now it's 10 days, 9 days, 8 days. So it's going by fast. We're excited to get out there, but we're trying not to look too much into the future. Just taking it day by day. Each day in practice, trying to get better than the day before. So really, we're just trying to stay in the moment. Be where our feet are. That's what we always say. That's what we're focused on.
What would you say the biggest strength of the receiver group as a whole is?
I've been saying this. We're just versatile. I feel like we've got guys that can do everything. We can block. That's a big thing. We can block. We can do a high-pointed ball. We've got speed.
We've got guys that can do any type of route. Loose hips. We can move. Freak athletes. I've got Noah, Terrell, even Teddy. Yeah, we've got it all. I feel like we've got the hands, the speed, the blocking, the IQ.
