Everything From Virginia Tech TE Benji Gosnell At Fan Day

Virginia Tech tight end Benji Gosnell briefly spoke to media during the Hokies' "Fan Day" event held on Sunday, Aug. 16. Here's the entirety of what Gosnell had to say:

On his being married:

[The start of the transcription cuts out. Gosnell mentioned one of his groomsmen misplacing a tie.] "Ended up being Stephen, but he didn't take the blame. It's the only south thing that went. But it was perfect, according to plan."

On how much different married life is (previously: going over film with roommates):

"It's definitely refreshing. Say, if you didn't have a practice you wanted, or like you left some plays out there, you're not just sitting there reliving those like poor plays, poor performance. You get to get home, kind of level out, realize there's more to life than just football. You get to spend time with the person you love. Get to hear about her day and what she did, so definitely just kind of helps get your mind off of the gauntlet, especially camp or football in general."

On the biggest difference in the strength and conditioning program over this offseason:

"I just think it's buy-in. Like a lot of it's similar systems, I would say. But I just think the buy-in. And the support we've had, like with new resources. We have like two nutritionists as opposed to one. The buy-in from the players has been great. So, just each individual person taking care of their body the way we've been taught how to has just been able to transform our bodies physically, and obviously makes better performance."

On Gosnell's focus — bulking up or slimming down, goals:

"It was definitely body composition, but I honestly wanted to add a few pounds. So, it was like, I lost like 5% body fat, but I gained two pounds. That helped me tremendously, especially for like plate weight. And strengthening my lower body, which I've always struggled with having like surgeries and stuff. But that's been the biggest thing for me, I've lost four or 5% body fat, and I've actually gained like two pounds."

On if the key to that is diet:

"It really is our diet. Yeah, very high-protein diet. Probably 280 grams of protein a day. A lot of steak. Staying away from sugars. Yeah, just and being consistent. There's no cheat or off days. You have to be very consistent."

On if Gosnell has noticed that difference on the field:

"100%. in the weight room, on the field. I've had some strength coaches tell me, like your movement is just like so much more fluidly. Even they can tell the difference from spring ball, and then now like I look different, feel different, and it's all great."

Q: What's the biggest area of improvement that you think that you made in your game from last season to now?

"I would probably say inline run blocking. With the extra strength that I've been able to kind of accumulate in the last seven months, it's helping me like stay attached and run my feet a lot better on contact within the line as far as the ends goes."

On if stacking years together has helped Gosnell in terms of his development:

"100%. People don't understand, like especially with like my caliber of surgeries. Two of them are ACLs, so that's eight months of rehab before you're clear to go. In both my legs, you your VMO, which is part of your quad. I still really can't like activate the one on my right leg just because I've had two surgeries on that knee. So yeah, people don't understand how much strength you really do lose. You don't know. You can't walk for a month on some of those surgeries. So having twooff seasons now under my belt with no surgeries, no injuries whatsoever, has been tremendous for my my health and just overall development."

On this year's expectations:

"I think we've done a good job of trying to block out external types of expectations. Obviously, it's great that we have Coach [James Franklin] here. We brought players and coaches in, but I think as a team this year, it's a bit different. Because in 2024, we may have like kind of heard those and read those and maybe kind of bought into the hype ourselves. I think this year, we're just trying to stay together, grow, build a team and let the scoreboard and outcomes take care of themselves. And for us, we're just trying to buy in as much as possible each and every day."

On what the tight end room is like:

"They're great. They're great people. Two weeks in that. Like I told [Coach Ty Howle], these guys, [the new transfers], are great fits. Obviously, they're really good players too, but we all work together very well. Meeting rooms are very open-ended. We talk over plays and over schemes with each other a lot, just kind of picking each other's brains. Great people. The new guys were actually at my wedding, so like it didn't take long for us to become really good friends."

On if Gosnell believes there will be a larger role for the tight ends due to OC Ty Howle also being the tight ends coach:

"Yeah, and I also feel like we've done a good job of earning the right to kind of get on the field. Coach Howle talks about there's a pie, and every job and every position group has the opportunity to earn their slice, if you will, of that pot. I think as a unit so far, we're doing a good job of going out there every day, making plays, earning the coach's trust to be out there. Hopefully, that kind of works out."

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