Virginia Tech Football: Everything From TE Benji Gosnell After Monday's Practice

Virginia Tech TE Benji Gosnell Media Availability: Fall Camp Day 4 pic.twitter.com/HK66Vt7PPD
— Kolby Crawford (@kolby_crawford) August 4, 2025

On the first couple days of camp:

"For me, good. For the team, pretty good. I think we're starting hot. I think we're finishing through camp. Practices, the energy is only going up. It's starting high and it's finishing high. I don't think there's much lulls, per se, for me, for the team. I think we're just doing a better job of being consistent throughout practice."

On team bonding and whether 2025 represents the tightest of groups:

"The tightest. Not one of. The tightest. Yeah, for sure. Before, there would just be some people on the team, not because you don't like them or nothing, but you're just not around them as much. You feel kind of timid or shy to say, 'What's up?' But now there's none of that going on. Like tight ends are hanging with corners. Safeties are hanging with O-linemen. Everybody's getting together at everyone's house, hanging out, talking and that just makes practices more fun because you know each other. It's almost like backyard football with your family. You can be so much more competitive because you have such that greater of a love and a connection with everybody else on the team. Just allows you to compete even harder and play even harder because you love and respect that guy next to you so much more."

Q: So you've seen it translate on the field so far?

"100%, 100%."

On being one of the older presences in the locker and if it's a weird experience:

"It is. It 100% is. I tell everybody I still feel like a freshman. It's probably because I'm the second youngest of 13, so I'll always have that mentality. But it is weird. Going on my fourth year, in five months I'll have been here four years. It is weird, but I think I'm doing a better job of stepping into that role, tried to be a more vocal guy, as well as always trying to lead by example."

On his health:

"The healthiest I've ever been since before my first surgery. I'm in the best shape of my life. I'm heavier than I was last camp and my body just, like, looks completely different. At least to me, I think, and everybody tells me. Last camp, I was the same weight, maybe a little lighter, but I looked eight months pregnant like I was fat. But [strength and conditioning coach Jarrett Ferguson] and their staff has done a great job this summer of getting me in the best shape of my life and I have no pain whatsoever with my knees, nothing."

On if he had any offseason surgeries:

"For the first time in four years, no. First time in three or four years. I finally had an offseason that I was healthy and it was great."

Q: How much does that help? I haven't had major knee surgery, so I don't know what it is like to go through that.

"Tremendously. When you're coming off of a knee surgery, you get cleared. At least for me, if you have it postseason, you get cleared around June, maybe even July and you have one month to prepare for something like this. And just having seven whole months to fully prepare, you feel the world of difference. Like Coach Ferg [and other] people have been asking me how I feel out there and I'm just like 'I'm moving better and I'm moving better for longer.' And my legs don't hurt so that's also a plus.

On how better health has helped in weight room:

"I mean, the way it's helped me in the weight room is just being able to do more. Coming off of a surgery, you're modified. you're progressively working into things. Right after the season, I was just, bam, right with everyone else. Putting a barbell behind my back, as heavy as I could and squatting it. Being able to squat more than 400 pounds a few times. That was good to get back to, it's just great. You can jump right into it instead of having to work into things."

On if relative lack of change in tight end room is weird:

"Yeah, it is. It doesn't surprise me with our group, though. We're a very tight group, a very connected group. We all actually live like right next to each other. I'm actually roommates with two of the other tight ends. So, we're all a very tight group, we all have a great love for each other. It's kind of weird, but I mean, to have those guys, [Harrison St. Germain]'s coming back, me and him are the same age. And then to have [Zeke Wimbush, Cole Reemsnyder and Ja'Ricous Hairston], they're all coming back with experience and development. I mean, you don't really have to look somewhere else to bring an older guy in. We're already kind of there. We don't really have any younger guys."

On tight ends coach Brent Davis:

"He's probably one of, if not the brightest minds I've ever been around. Just the way he grasps defenses, concepts. Previous OC, previous O-line coach and a previous tight end at Georgia. So, he just knows everything about everything pretty much. So, the way he can to develop us, I like to when people ask about it, it's like in MMA, you're learning a different style of a mixed martial art when you're heaving different coaches. And we're learning a lot with him. We're getting better in line. We're getting more physical. We're getting better with our hands, everything like that. And just agreat passionate guy, too. I mean, you love a coach that can just go out there and coach passionately. And you see his love for the game every day. And that's that's you want to play for someone like that."

On run blocking and Davis' history with the option:

"Yes, we do a lot of run blocking like whether it's pre-practice, post-practice, during practice. There's there's so many nuances to run blocking that we've just started to develop and started to drill every single day to get those fundamentals down."

On what the tight end role is in new OC Philip Montgomery's offense:

"Within the players, we like to call ourselves mailmen because we deliver. That's kind of the tight ends, a very consistent role in the fact that you have to do everything. You got to block on the perimeter. You have to block a corner and then the next play, you have to block [defensive tackle Kelvin Gilliam]. So just to do everything he asks of us and exceed at a high level and execute and to know everyone else's job because a lot of times, we're out there, we're telling people where to line up, what to do. So, it's to know the inside

On if he's talked with his brother, Buffalo Bills WR Stephen Gosnell:

"I texted him a few times. I asked him how it was the other day, he asked how camp was going. Honestly, I mean, we text a few times. He'll chime into our family group chat sometimes and say something. But yeah, I'd be lying if I said I didn't plug his name into Twitter a few times just to see what people are saying, because it's just so cool to see him succeed and at such a high level just because I know that's the person he's always been. He's not always got the recognition that I think he deserves, but to see him finally turn heads at a national level, at the highest level in the world, it makes me a proud brother."

On the difference between the previous offense and Montgomery's offense:

"I wouldn't necessarily say difference, because I mean with offense, you kind of recycle a lot of the same stuff. A lot of coaches just call it different things. But I mean, for us as a unit now, we just want to create our own identities. In the past, I feel like people have had their identities, but as an offense, collectively, we never had a true identity that all 11 of us bought in with and put out on the field. And that's what we're working on right now, just trying to collect an identity of 11 cohesive people working and dominating."

On transfer wide receiver Cameron Seldon:

I love Cam. He's a great guy to be around every day. He's hilarious, he's a hard worker. And the physical attributes are there. He's fast, he can catch, he's physical. Like a corner can't match with him. A safety can't run with him and a corner can't play a man-to-man just because of how physical he is. He's impressivie. He's an impressive athlete, impressive human and just a great, great teammate.

On growth of the offensive line:

"They've been some dogs, some absolute dudes. Uh led by [Johnny Garrett], [Tomas Rimac] coming in from West Virginia, and just everybody, they've just bought in. Like usually, the offensive line is the most fun, collective, brotherhood group, but they're just taking it to the next level. They're the hardest working unit on the field. Just the way they come to practice to bring energy [and] consistency. It's just impressive. I love those guys. They're awesome. They're dudes."