The Most Overlooked Position Group on Virginia Tech's Offense

The Hokies' receiver room got a major facelift, and so far, nobody is talking about it.

Sep 21, 2024; Blacksburg, Virginia, USA; Virginia Tech Hokies wide receiver Takye Heath (2) runs the ball against Rutgers Scarlet Knights defensive back Bo Mascoe (3) during the fourth quarter at Lane Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Peter Casey-Imagn Images | Peter Casey-Imagn Images

Ayden Greene led Virginia Tech in receiving last season with 31 catches for 516 yards. That was the team high. The passing offense ranked dead last in the ACC at 166.3 yards per game on a team that finished 3-9 and 2-6 in conference play.

Heading into 2026, you'd think this room would be getting some attention. Instead, the headlines this summer have been about the 2027 recruiting class, where Franklin has Virginia Tech sitting at No. 8 in 247Sports' team rankings with 24 commitments, including four-star quarterback Peter Bourque, a former Michigan commit who chose the Hokies over Georgia. This receiver group might have undergone the biggest individual makeover on the roster, and almost nobody outside Blacksburg has noticed.

Greene enters his senior season as the one proven piece. His arc has been steady: 19 catches, 268 yards and two touchdowns as a backup in 2024, then 31 catches, 516 yards and 16.6 yards a catch last year while starting all 11 games he played. He did that with a passing game that rarely found a rhythm. What happens if the quarterback play actually improves?

Then there's Que'Sean Brown. Brown, a redshirt junior with two years left, caught 64 passes for 846 yards and five touchdowns last season for the Blue Devils. That's more than any Hokie receiver managed all of last season, by himself, somewhere else. He shows up constantly in transfer class roundups. He rarely shows up as what he actually is for Virginia Tech, the difference-maker.

Takye Heath quietly had the best year of his career, and it barely made a ripple. The redshirt junior caught 22 passes for 200 yards and three touchdowns over nine games, with seven starts, averaging 9.1 yards a catch.

The depth behind them is better than last year as well. Marlion Jackson, a redshirt senior transfer from Louisiana Tech, posted career highs across the board last year: 20 catches, 370 yards, two touchdowns, 18.5 yards a reception. Penn State transfer Tyseer Denmark turned heads in the spring game with four catches for 38 yards, and fellow Penn State product Jeff Exinor Jr. adds size at 6-foot-1, 218 pounds without a catch yet to his name. Keylen Adams missed all of 2025 with injury and was back for the spring game.

Franklin and Howle inherit an offense that struggled to throw the ball last year, but they have more proven options at receiver than last year's staff did to try to fix that. Wide receivers coach Fontel Mines, entering his fifth season, gives the room the continuity it's been missing. Grunkemeyer closed out his Penn State career by going 23 for 34 for 262 yards and two touchdowns with an 87.9 PFF grade in the Pinstripe Bowl.

Franklin said back in February that most of this room was in an "earn-it phase." They'll get their first chance to earn it Sept. 5, when the season opens against VMI.