One Coaching Adjustment That Could Define the Season for Virginia Tech

The Hokies gave up 29 sacks last year. Now they're built around a quarterback who can't run. Ty Howle's answer is the tight end.

Sep 20, 2025; Blacksburg, Virginia, USA; Virginia Tech Hokies tight end Benji Gosnell (82) congratulates Virginia Tech Hokies wide receiver Ayden Greene (0) on a touchdown during the second quarter against the the Wofford Terriers at Lane Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brian Bishop-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Here's the problem waiting for Virginia Tech. The Hokies gave up 29 sacks in 2025 and protected the passer poorly all year. Now they've handed the offense to Ethan Grunkemeyer, the presumptive starter and a pocket passer who isn't going to buy time with his legs. Put those two facts together and the season's biggest risk is simple: if the pocket collapses, so does the year.

The fix is the one thing offensive coordinator Ty Howle does better than anyone on the staff. He's going to feature the tight end.

At Penn State, Howle built a tight end room that produced a John Mackey Award winner and a first-round pick in Tyler Warren. The position isn't a luxury in his offense. It's the load-bearing wall. A tight end who can chip an edge rusher, stay in to block or leak out as the quick safety valve does two jobs at once. It keeps Grunkemeyer clean, and it gets the ball out before pressure ever arrives. That's the adjustment. Almost everything the immobile quarterback needs, the tight end can hand him.

Virginia Tech barely used the position last year. Its top three tight ends combined for 28 catches, 226 yards, and three touchdowns. Howle changed the math fast, bringing Luke Reynolds with him from Penn State. The junior, a former five-star now on the Mackey Award watch list, headlines a room that also returns veteran Benji Gosnell. The early signal was loud. Tech's tight ends accounted for 205 of 428 receiving yards in the spring game.

The line still has to hold up its end. Four of five starters return; line coach Matt Moore is in his second year with the group, and Oklahoma transfer Logan Howland projects at left tackle. But the margin is thin, and the schedule is unforgiving, with five road games and trips to Clemson, SMU, and Miami.

This is where it connects. Virginia Tech went 3-9 last season with a minus-8 turnover margin. A quarterback under constant duress forces throws, takes sacks, and coughs it up. A quarterback kept clean does the opposite, and Grunkemeyer's reputation is for efficiency and taking care of the ball. He can be that only if he has time.

So the season turns on a small, specific choice inside a bigger philosophy: how often, and how well, Howle uses his tight ends to protect a quarterback who can't protect himself. Get it right and Virginia Tech steadies. Get it wrong and the Hokies spend the fall watching Grunkemeyer run for his life, and running back into everything that sank 2025.