Virginia Tech Hokies 2024 Football Roster Review: Tight Ends and Wide Receivers

Looking at the Receivers and Tight Ends

There just wasn’t a fun title for this one. There are lots of positions that when performed well can turn a game or performed poorly – even for one play out of dozens, can mean a win or a loss. The designated eligible receivers are one of those positions where one brilliant move or inopportune grab by the “turf monster” can mean the difference in a series, or even a game. The reality of modern football is that it is a passing game supplemented by running plays. Even if there is a fair amount of running, unless the plays are ripping off impressive amounts of yardage, the pass play is the king move of the offense.

That reality built slow momentum over the decades of all levels of football. There are games in recent memory when a team like Georgia Tech, Navy, or Army might pass the ball a grand total of three or four times. The old triple option was finally put to bed with the retirement of Paul Johnson, and the implementation of a rule that stopped cut blocking outside of the tackle box, which was a critical element for the option to function. We are seeing those teams now have to adjust for the need to implement the newer but strangely ancient Read/Option style offense. Someone who watched football in the 1920’s with the single wing, would not be surprised or particularly stunned by the Read/Option.

Well, that change accelerated into almost mind-bending statistics with multiple hundreds of yards burned up with passing plays using the threat of runs by either the quarterback or the lone running back to offer a note of uncertainty to the mix.

The big problem for Virginia Tech over the past decade or so has not been a dearth of quality receivers or tight ends. Tech has suffered mightily from an inconsistent development and deployment of quarterbacks. It’s also had serious offensive coaching issues with a lack of stability and a series of offensive coordinators who just couldn’t keep critical personnel glued together with game plans that fit their capabilities.

It almost seemed that the Pry era would start off with the same problems as is evidenced by the 2022 season and the brutal inconsistency in the passing game from the quarterback to the receivers. Tech certainly had a few capable receivers, but they never had a consistent starting quarterback to work with. That relationship is critical. Receivers need to know how to run their routes, yes, but they also need to know how to adjust to the situation, what their quarterback is likely to do, and how to take advantage of a play situation that has broken down into something resembling a school yard game. That sort of relationship takes practice, repetitions, after hours work on the field, and multiple levels of communication.

The final installment of Kyron Drones at quarterback, and a better level of trust between the coaches and Drones resulted in a major turnaround in the 2023 season. It wasn’t an overnight success, mind you. There are several painful games in 2023 that wouldn’t have been that way if the coaching staff had started with Drones and something special that we are about to discuss, receivers.

Wideouts Might be the Best Room on the Team

Easily the wide receiver room has been the deepest and most consistently good section of the depth chart and that falls right into the lap of Coach Fontel Mines. The great news is that Mines finally has an official assistant coach to help get some serious one-on-one time with the players. Hokie great Cam Phillips has been on staff for a season, but with the new rules in place, Cam can now work with the receivers directly. Cam was an Elijah Brooks coached player out of DeMatha so there is a natural relationship there, and with the increased look at the running backs as receivers out of the backfield that relationship is going to be important in 2024.

Well, Coach Mines has certainly changed things in the last three practice and recruiting seasons. The Wide Receiver room in 2022 was threadbare. There were no real starters available and there was no recruiting tree in place to replace the personnel that had left via graduation or the portal. Talk about being a hard worker and getting out there to recruit enough to save things in short order, Coach Mines grabbed some serious talent from the portal, Jaylin Lane, Ali Jennings, Stephen Gosnell, and Da’Quan Felton are all transfers from and with the exception of Jennings, who was lost to an early injury, they all figured significantly into the 2023 turn-around.

The news, here is that we just named the likely starting wide-out lineup. All four players are likely to start at one time or another and play one of a number of positions. As he said in an early 2022 interview, Coach Mines doesn’t like to peg players into specific positions.

The #1s are Obvious

Now, that doesn’t mean that we don’t see Jaylin Lane running a whole lot of slot routes, or Felton doing what he told GC back then, getting to fly. It’s just that the opposing defenses never know just exactly what Mines’s patterns for a play will be when a certain receiver package comes in for a play. Stephen Gosnell has been running fluid and strong crossing and out routes at intermediate levels but has been known to convert a sluggo into a drag just under the zone. Felton might like to fly but he’s strong and capable of pulling up and catching the ball in heavy traffic. Lane, who is a natural slot receiver, blew the doors off of opponents by running a deep cross (not a typical slot route) catching the ball and then lighting an afterburner to leave opponents eating turf.

What we haven’t seen is how Ali Jennings is going to fit into the scheme. And that’s not meant “in a difficult way for the offense” either. Who does your best man-on cover match up against? If Jennings and Felton are on the field with either Gosnell or Lane in the slot, which guy gets man coverage? Which route do you have to cover with a zone, and is that zone coverage suddenly on an island when Jennings cuts a skinny post, or Felton takes off on a flag? And now, with modern offensive formations you could see all four of them on the field together and potentially not have a pass thrown. Lane as proven adept at the quick jet-sweep, and Gosnell bulls his way through traffic under the zone on a large target past the line to gain or lined up in a deep slot where he runs that half-wheel out of the backfield.

If this team can get a momentum-based rhythm of play calling and play execution by Drones (or his probable backup Collin Schlee), the effect will be an explosive and dangerous pass offense. We are going to talk about the running backs and how they might fit in, but all of the top depth guys in that room can catch and run.

The #2s Would be #1s on Many Teams

The issue that you see with the #1s is pretty simple, Graduate Student. This is the final season for all four players, and that means getting the next season’s #1s serious snap time, route running done, and a few accomplishments under their belts. Look to see Xavion Turner-Bradshaw, and Tucker Holloway are both serious receiving threats. But Holloway is still rehabbing a knee injury from the Spring and has a redshirt option available to him. It’s not unreasonable to think that Coaches Pry and Mines – along with Coach Holt of Special Teams (Holloway was a 2022 and 2023 stand out punt returner) might want to put that red shirt on Holloway, let him continue to rehab his knee, and maybe play 4 games later in the season as a redshirt. Turner-Bradshaw on the other hand is working hard to get a spot in that starting rotation and made some impressions late in the 2023 season and in the Spring Game. His 2023 highlights seemed to be mostly on the ground though. He tallied only 1 9-yard reception in the season. A quiet #2 who could bubble up in place of Holloway is Ayden Greene who quietly and efficiently played in 12 games last season with five total receptions and closed the season with a 19-yard grab against Tulane. He will see playing time in 2024.

Chance Fitzgerald and Takye Heath both played a few Special Teams games in 2023 so they are expected to find a place somewhere when the ball starts flying in 2024. They are both redshirt freshmen so are just finding their places and will be expected to step up since the top 4 will definitely not be on the squad in 2025.

Expect all of the Freshmen to Redshirt. Unless there is a full-blown emergency, major injury disaster, they are unlikely to play with the exception of maybe some playing time in 4 games for their redshirt eligibility.

The Rack is Full for 2024 for the Wideouts we’ll worry about 2025 after the bowl season is over.

Tight Ends All Look Familiar and Very Experienced

I get another big headache looking at the Tight End lineup for 2024. There are 2 potential positions on the field at any one snap for tight ends, but that depends on the package. A “Jumbo” might have 2 TEs lined up tucked right next to the Tackles just like the old days, but in modern football there might be one on a strong side of the line, and one playing an H-Back (motioning hybrid fullback/receiver role), or only one on the field where the extra receiver is a 4th wide receiver/flanker instead of the tight end. It’s all completely dependent on offensive scheme, package, and play called.

In 2024, the Hokies not only return their season ending tight end package, but they also return Nick Gallo to the depth chart after his having to suffer a full season rehab for a knee injury that was not trivial. Gallo looks pretty sharp in practices, is moving easily, and is a probable starter for 2024. Gallo will also be on the field at various times supported by Benji Gosnell and Harrison Saint Germain both are looking to make it to that #1 position slot in the depth chart over the next two seasons. Both played in all 13 games in 2023, Gosnell caught 12 for 137 yards and a touchdown, Saint Germain had a breakout game in the Military Bowl with a touchdown for one of his 2 receptions. He looks to really get more active receiving snaps but played all 13 games primarily as a blocker.

Cole Pickett and Cole Reemsnyder played a few games on Special Teams and will be looking to get more involved in snaps from scrimmage in 2024.

Overall, the Tight End room looks like a solid lineup, but the key will not be their play on the field, but the sorts of plays called by the OC. Tight End receiving duties are usually the intermediate routes in heavy traffic where the quarterback needs to throw the ball up and out of the reach of zone coverage. Tyler Bowen has not been known to call those sorts of plays very often. One can only hope that he has changed that attitude because the lack of an intermediate passing game (often made up for by dangerous QB runs) has been one of the weak points for the Hokie offense for decades.

The Passing Game isn’t Everything… Right… Sure…

It’s 2024, not 1984, 1994, or even 2004. Football has changed in a generation. For all of those “run the ball and control the game” people, the reality drops in on their heads to prove, time and time again, that running well is nice balance, but if you can’t pass, you are unlikely to win. It’s that simple. It’s not impossible, mind you, but it’s improbable.

The 2024 Hokies have a strong, athletic quarterback and a receiving room that can catch the ball, run with it, and turn a game on a dime. And Kyron Drones has been known to pitch a few dimes to the likes of Jaylin Lane, Da’Quan Felton, Stephen Gosnell, his brother Benji, and HSG. Getting Ali Jennings back into the mix and getting Nick Gallo back in the starting line will give him more targets to maybe turn dimes into touchdowns. If the Offensive Line can do its job for long enough, and the plays are called that maximize the talents of this offensive personnel mix, the Hokies might just have a very surprising combination for the season.

We’ll see August 31st.

Next up for me, Special Teams.

GO HOKIES!!!!