Three Players to Watch on Virginia Tech's Offense vs. Maryland
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James Franklin gave Maryland its scouting report himself.
"I think the combination of Grunk, Q, and Luke is problematic," the Virginia Tech head coach said after the Hokies beat Old Dominion 44-21. A defense can take away one weapon. It's much harder with a threat on each side of the formation.
Quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer, wide receiver Que'Sean Brown and tight end Luke Reynolds have carried the Hokies to their first 2-0 start since 2021. Saturday's trip to Maryland (2-0) is the first Power Four test for both teams. The Terrapins lead the Big Ten with 10 sacks and haven't allowed 300 passing yards to any of their last 18 opponents.
After Virginia Tech ran 42 times for 89 yards against Old Dominion, the offense might have to run through these three.
Ethan Grunkemeyer, Quarterback
Grunkemeyer has continued the high completion trend that he had back when he was at Penn State. He's completed 48 of 62 passes (77.4%) for 551 yards and four touchdowns without an interception. Against Old Dominion, he went 31-for-42 for a career-high 327 yards, his first 300-yard game.
He's also seen defenses like this one. After Drew Allar's season-ending injury, Grunkemeyer started Penn State's final seven games of 2025, going 4-3 with 1,339 yards, eight touchdowns, and four interceptions. Two of his first three starts came against Ohio State and Indiana.
That experience matters because Old Dominion sacked him four times, and Maryland has three players with at least two sacks. Watch the deep ball, too. He missed Brown on two long throws in the opener before they finally connected.
Que'Sean Brown, Wide Receiver
The Duke transfer has 13 catches for 150 yards and a touchdown, plus 117 yards on three punt returns.
The opener showed his ceiling: six catches for 109 yards against VMI, including a 51-yard touchdown. Old Dominion kept everything in front of him, holding him to 41 yards on seven catches. So he beat the Monarchs on special teams instead, returning a punt 79 yards to the ODU 1 to set up a field goal.
The 5-foot-8 slot receiver caught 64 passes for 846 yards and five touchdowns at Duke last season. He capped it with 10 catches for 178 yards and two scores against Arizona State in the Sun Bowl.
Both touchdowns Maryland has allowed this season came through the air at UConn. Brown is the Hokie most likely to test that secondary deep.
Luke Reynolds, Tight End
Reynolds caught 26 passes for 257 yards in all of last season at Penn State. He already has 158 yards in two games at Virginia Tech.
The junior leads the Hokies in catches (13), yards, and touchdowns (three), and those three scores are already a career high. Against Old Dominion, he caught eight passes for 108 yards and two touchdowns, all career highs, and was named ACC Receiver of the Week. No Hokies tight end had reached 100 receiving yards since James Mitchell at North Carolina in 2020.
Watch Reynolds when Virginia Tech is in the red zone. Virginia Tech scored on all seven red zone trips against Old Dominion, and Reynolds' first touchdown came on a fourth-down throw from the 10. Maryland is tied for first nationally in red zone defense.
Maryland's pass rush will decide how much time Grunkemeyer gets. What he does with it depends on the two players Franklin named alongside him.
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James Duncan serves as a staff writer for Virginia Tech On SI, covering football, men’s and women’s basketball and recruiting. He is a 2026 Virginia Tech graduate, having majored in Sports Media and Analytics with a minor in Professional and Technical Writing. Duncan previously covered the Washington Commanders as a reporter for The Lead, where he reported on the team throughout an offseason.