Virginia Tech Football 2026 Position Preview: Wide Receivers

How do the Hokies' wideouts shape up?

Nov 29, 2025; Charlottesville, Va.; Virginia Tech wide receiver Shamarius Peterkin (15) attempts to make a catch as Virginia defensive back Jordan Robinson (9) defends. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

In part 3 of our Virginia Tech football position-by-position previews, I'll be taking a look at the Hokies' wideouts, previewing who's coming back from the 2025 unit and who's new, taking a look at who's favored to start this year, the biggest question mark surrounding the unit and what the bottom line to take away from the squad is.

Previous Installments

• Quarterbacks
• Running Backs

Returners:

• Ayden Greene (Sr.): Greene was the Hokies' most accomplished wide receiver last season, finishing with team-highs in receptions (31), receiving yards (516) and receiving touchdowns (three). He finished with 95 yards off five catches against then-No. 13 Miami on Nov. 22.
• Takye Heath (r-Jr.): Heath logged 200 yards and three touchdowns in his redshirt sophomore season last year; he caught two touchdowns against California and finished with the third-most receiving yards on the team.
• Keylen "Brodie" Adams (r-So.): Adams played in three games in 2024 and redshirted before missing the entire 2025 season with an injury. The former four-star product accrued 1,233 receiving yards and 18 touchdowns as a senior at Green Run High School (Virginia Beach, Va.) and he was a three-time VHSL All-State wideout.
• Chanz Wiggins (r-So.): Wiggins played in four games in his freshman season, but the 6-foot-3 wide receive rwas injured in 2025 preseason camp and missed the season. The former four-star recruit accrued 815 receiving yards and 15 scores during his senior year at King George High School (King George, Va.)
• Shamarius "Snook" Peterkin (So.): Peterkin played in eight games as a true freshman, logging 62 receiving yards on two catches — including a 57-yard house call in the regular-season finale vs. then-No. 17 Virginia on Nov. 29. Peterkin was a dual-sport athlete last season, also being listed on the men's basketball roster for the 2025-26 season.
• Luke Stuewe (r-Fr.): Stuewe did not see action in his freshman year and redshirted.

Walk-Ons: Israel Hairston, L.J. Booker, Joseph Hobbs, Drew Hube

Newcomers:

• Marlion Jackson (r-Sr.): Jackson's spent the last four years at Louisiana Tech, and this is his final year of eligibility. The 6-foot-2, 207-pound Georgian logged 370 yards and a pair of touchdowns last season for the Bulldogs.
• Que'Sean Brown (r-Jr.): Brown, a undersized 5-foot-8, 170-pound wideout, shined as a speedster at Duke. He logged 846 receiving yards and five touchdowns for the Blue Devils last season, punctuated by a 178-yard, two-touchdown outing against Arizona State in the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl.
• Tyseer Denmark (r-So.): Demark played in eight games last season for Penn State. In two seasons, the 5-foot-10, 183-pound receiver from Philadelphia, Pa., has caught four catches for a total of 45 yards.
• A.J. Brand (r-Fr.): Though Brand isn't a newcomer to Virginia Tech's squad — he was on the 2025 team as a quarterback — he is new to the position at the collegiate level. The Irmo, S.C. product redshirted the 2025 campaign after not seeing any game action.
• Jeff Exinor (r-Fr.): Exinor redshirted his true freshman season, though he did play in five games on special teams. The Baltimore, Md. native logged 463 yards and six receiving touchdowns as a senior at McDonogh School in 2024.

Who is favored to win the starting WR roles?

Greene and Brown are likely penciled in as the 1-2 punch based on their proven production in the ACC. Greene returns as Virginia Tech's leading receiver from a year ago, while Brown arrives after an 846-yard campaign at Duke and brings the explosive, game-breaking speed the Hokies lacked at times last season. Expect Heath to be heavily involved as the third option, with Peterkin, Jackson and Denmark competing for rotational snaps.

Biggest question mark:

Can this group consistently create explosive plays? Brown should immediately help in that department, but Greene has yet to eclipse 600 receiving yards in a season and several of the Hokies' other options are either returning from injuries or are new to the program. Virginia Tech has more depth than it did a year ago, but finding a true difference-maker beyond Brown and Greene remains the biggest question entering 2026.

Bottom line:

This should be a better wide receiver room than the one Virginia Tech fielded in 2025. Brown gives the Hokies a proven ACC playmaker, Greene provides a dependable veteran presence and the depth behind them appears to be noticeably improved with the return of injured receivers in Keylen "Brodie" Adams and Chanz Wiggins, and the addition of experienced transfers. If a couple of those complementary pieces emerge, this has the potential to become one of the more underrated position groups on the roster.