College football preview: Former Indian River star hopes to be part of Virginia Tech’s revival

BLACKSBURG — Once Antwaun Powell-Ryland announced last May that he was transferring to Virginia Tech, word quickly spread back in South Hampton Roads.

The former star at Indian River High in Chesapeake, named by The Virginian-Pilot as the No. 1 high school recruit in the Class of 2020, had plenty of friends and family in the stands during his high school days. But that fanbase became a remote crew once he decided to attend the University of Florida.

Now that he’s calling Lane Stadium his home field, Powell-Ryland is a hot ticket — and they expect the junior defensive end to be the one supplying the tickets.

“It’s going to be crazy,” Powell-Ryland said during Virginia Tech’s media day earlier this month. “I’m still asking guys for tickets now. And I still will need more tickets. People (from back home) are always hitting me up for tickets. They want to be at the first game.”

Powell-Ryland’s new coaches and teammates are also excited to see the edge-rushing specialist on the field Saturday at 8 p.m. when the Hokies open season at home against Old Dominion) ACC Network.

Powell-Ryland was a late addition to a major roster overhaul conducted by second-year Virginia Tech football coach Brent Pry and his staff.

While most veteran players to join the Hokies via the transfer portal are found on the offensive side, Powell-Ryland hopes to make his mark on the defensive line, which had more than a half-dozen players either transfer or graduate.

Powell-Ryland spent three seasons with the Gators, redshirting in 2020 and then seeing action in 25 games over the last two years, including five starts in 2022. He had 34 career tackles and 4½ sacks at Florida, which was ranked as high as No. 3 in the country during his time there, but also struggled to 6-7 records in both 2021 and 2022.

He said he now wants to be part of Pry’s attempt to reboot the Hokies program, which either won or played for the ACC championship in seven of its first 13 years in the league but has since managed just two winning seasons and no bowl victories since then.

“I’m here to bring whatever they want,” Powell-Ryland said. “I want to let them know that (seasons like last year) happen everywhere. Everyone has bad seasons, but what matters is how you take it to the next season. That will determine what will happen next.”

As one of the newest of newcomers, Powell-Ryland said he needed some time to get to know his new teammates and mentally adjust to his new environment. Defensive line coach J.C. Price said that took about a month, and then Powell-Ryland’s impact started to be felt.

“About the second half of the summer, he started to become more vocal,” Price said. “Still, in order to become a leader, you have to make plays before someone listens to you. But after those first couple of practices, he started making plays and flashing. Then they started to listen.”

Pry said the Hokies were just a few minutes into their first fall practice in pads when Powell-Ryland caught the squad’s attention during some one-on-one drills.

“We just hadn’t seen a rep like that since we’ve been here,” Pry said. “The takeoff, the movement, the pad level — it was one of those whip-shot sack-fumbles. It brought everybody to their feet. We were like ‘OK, this is what it needs to look like.'”

Back in high school, Powell-Ryland had narrowed his college choices down to Florida and Virginia Tech before picking the Gators. The time away wasn’t long enough to forget the expectations Hampton Roads-based defensive linemen have when they come to Virginia Tech.

“I’m from Virginia, and part of the history of Virginia Tech is (defensive) linemen — coming from the 757,” he said. “You have Bruce Smith and all the others. It’s really a benefit to think you have to compete with what he did when he was here. That’s motivation.”

Mansoor Delane

Soph., 6-1, 180, CB

Delane moved into the starting defensive backfield midway through his freshman season and still led the Hokies with eight pass breakups.

Nasir Peoples

R-Sr., 6-0, 200, S

Peoples, the Hokies’ most experienced defensive back, becomes even more important playing behind an inexperienced group of linebackers.

Malachi Thomas

Soph., 6-0, 206, RB

Virginia Tech needs Thomas to shake off his injuries that limited his playing time in 2022. When he’s healthy, Thomas is one of the best in the ACC.

Xavier Chaplin

Redshirt Fr., 6-6, 328, OL

After seeing limited field time in 2022, Chaplin has improved enough to earned consideration to be the Hokies’ starting left tackle

Peter Moore

Redshirt Jr., 6-1, 197, P

Moore’s distance and accuracy in punting situations will be important for the Hokies, especially early in the season as the offense tries to find its footing.

The big picture: In his second year as Virginia Tech’s head coach, Brent Pry has a roster that has evolved closer to his preference in personnel. More than 30 members of last year’s roster (scholarship and non-scholarship) have either graduated or left the program, meaning roughly a third of those on the sidelines will be new faces.

Direct communication: When last year’s quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator, Brad Glenn, left to become the offensive coordinator at Cincinnati, Pry streamlined the communication line between the signal callers and offensive coordinator Tyler Bowen by making him the quarterbacks coach as well. “It’s been refreshing for me,” said Bowen, who worked directly with the tight ends last season. “I think I get to understand their why more, being in that room every day.”

Wells’ streak continues: Going back to the 2020 season, Grant Wells has been the starting quarterback in 34 consecutive football games — all 11 last year for Virginia Tech and the other 23 during his two seasons at Marshall. His production dropped last season, completing less than 60% of his passes, with just nine of those for touchdowns. That trend needs to reverse if he hopes to see his streak move closer to 40.

New-look ACC schedule: Now that the ACC has scrapped its division format, Virginia Tech will no longer face former Coastal Division rivals Miami, North Carolina, Duke and Georgia Tech every season. The Hurricanes had been on the Hokies’ schedule every year since 1992. Only Virginia (since 1970) has been a regular longer. Virginia Tech this year will face every former Atlantic Division member except Clemson.

Bowl bound?: If Virginia Tech plans to begin a new consecutive bowl appearance streak, a fast start would be advisable. Wins over its two Sun Belt Conference opponents — Old Dominion and Marshall — would be a good start toward six victories, as would wins over Big Ten foes Purdue and Rutgers. Both the Boilermakers and Scarlet Knights are picked to finish sixth in their respective divisions. Six of the Hokies’ ACC opponents are coming off winning seasons.

Sept. 2 vs. Old Dominion, 8 p.m.

Sept. 9 vs. Purdue, noon

Sept. 16 at Rutgers, 3:30 p.m.

Sept. 23 at Marshall, TBA

Sept. 30 vs. Pittsburgh, TBA

Oct. 7 at Florida State, TBA

Oct. 14 vs. Wake Forest, TBA

Oct. 26 vs. Syracuse, 7:30 p.m.

Nov. 4 at Louisville, TBA

Nov. 11 at Boston College, TBA

Nov. 18 vs. North Carolina State, TBA

Nov. 25 at Virginia, TBA

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