Yes, Grunkemeyer looks to be leading the Quarterback Room, but the Virginia Tech Hokies have a taste of competition going on for Fall practice, and we need to look at the entire room. The coaches haven’t quite made up their minds, just yet.
The Reality on the Field
There isn’t a whole lot of fooling anyone on this one. The Hokies have a 2026 Quarterback quandary, and many hopes are pinned on the jersey of an academic Junior/Redshirt Sophomore as the starter in a program that has struggled at the position for over a decade.
Let’s go over the realities of the importance of a quarterback, first, before we start knocking down the smallest room on the roster.
- If a team does not have a competitive quarterback, it is unlikely to win much. (– Captain Obvious)
- If the quarterback is one dimensional (with the exception of Triple Option QBs) the offensive line and running backs must perform at a much higher level. (Remember the Glennon-Taylor flip in Tyrod’s Freshman season.)
- If the quarterback struggles to pass effectively the team will lose most close games. (Having no two-minute offense means many one score losses.)
- If the QB cannot, or is not allowed to, learn to read and respond to defensive coverage and formations (both pre-snap and within the play), he is unlikely to learn how. The offense will always be too slow and overcoached to compete effectively.
- Injuries are common, if the talent drop-off between the starting QB and the Backup is precipitous the loss of the starter will also doom the game, or even the season from the point of the starting QB’s injury. (The Sun Bowl disaster comes to mind on this one.)
- Any Quarterback who cannot maintain clear vision after contact will look great in practice but fail on the field in games. (Adrenaline induced tunnel vision is common and almost impossible to beat.) Quarterbacks with that reaction become one-read and run injury prone halfbacks.
- The greatest reality regardless of how other players feel: The Quarterback is the single most important player on the football field. (- Captain Obvious checks in, again.)
The Current Headache
Virginia Tech’s 2026 quarterback situation is difficult to grade without understanding the current overall situation. The QB Room is small and there is no institutional knowledge or deep, full season, on field experience in any position on the depth chart. Bryan Manning noted in his latest article, Ethan Grunkemeyer has the most game experience over a partial season with Penn State. Eathan Grunkemeyer’s Time at Penn State
As Bryan pointed out, his tough start pushed him hard, and he managed to pull the Nittany Lions into a Pinstripe Bowl Win over limping Clemson (A tiger difficult to beat even when wounded.) That’s some real lessons learned and hopefully absorbed, but Tech has been plagued by the greatly inferior backup syndrome, and Grunkemeyer is not a running QB. We’ll get to the offensive line review soon, so their success at keeping Grunkemeyer on his feet and with good passing alleys will be critical. Of late, our first season successes at quarterback, have suffered 2nd season woes (Sophomore Slumps are crippling.)
Reading the Room
Let’s pull in the entire grid and look at where things stand as we pass the first week of “Fall Camp”:
The Starting QB is in Little Doubt
There is little to chew on, here, as far as real competition and surprise variables that is. The order of the chart is by class, and that looks to be very much what we anticipate the order of the first depth chart will be and barring injury, for the season as well.
Bryan covered Grunkemeyer’s injury induced insertion into the PSU starting lineup during mid-season with a substitute coach. His reaction to facing two brutal B1G conference opponents, Ohio State, and eventual national champion undefeated Indiana might have been one of those situations where you see a non-running QB rise to the occasion and remain clear headed enough to learn from the losses to lead his crippled program to bowl eligibility and a win. Unless there is some unforeseen unfortunate circumstance, there is no rational way the coaching staff is going to knock Grunkemeyer off of the #1 box on the season’s Depth Chart.
Let’s look at the next three players instead of rehashing Bryan’s informative article. We’ll just give a wink and a head bow to the probable outcome of the Fall Quarterback Competition.
The Critical #2
The real competition this season is for the #2 and #3 positions on the depth chart. That might be a less than humble prediction, but the chances of a real struggle between #1 and #2, at this point in the process is really low. Both of the potential candidates have been on the team, either through their recruiting class, # 12 Kelden Ryan, or their transfer over the Spring Semester allowing participation in the Spring Game, #22 Bryce Baker.
Kelden Ryan – 2026 Football Roster – Virginia Tech Athletics
Kelden Ryan is an academic sophomore and recruit from Virginia Tech’s 2024 class. He’s considered a dual threat quarterback and given his Texas high school origins that’s a normal functional skill set for him. Ryan showed up well in the Spring Game for the White team notching a 20-yard TD pass to Chanz Wiggins. Kelden is expected to challenge Baker for that #2 box in the chart.
Bryce Baker – 2026 Football Roster – Virginia Tech Athletics
Bryce Baker transferred from North Carolina after what was probably a pretty disappointing redshirt season with the Tar Heels. Technically he’s operating with the exact same experience level as Kelden Ryan, and also hit a touchdown pass for the White Team that actually won the game for what usually is the #2/#4 squad. Baker seems to have a few good passes in his kit bag. He can definitely move, but with his size it would be best if he used that to avoid trouble more than become a functional runner in a warmed-over high school read-option offense. The story that he needs to tell Hokie Nation, is just exactly why the very unusual #22 as a QB. It would also be interesting as to why the staff allowed him to keep it. All of that aside, Baker looks to win the competition for #1 as much as settling for #2.
Remember in any case, most seasons, the #2 QB has played a significant role on the field for the Hokies. Starting quarterbacks go down to injury more often than we admit. Often, a team has to dig deep into the backup roster since the #2 guy can go down, too. There is always that “practice isn’t real football” specter that hangs over every QB who steps on the field on Game Day. Those “no-contact” jerseys are there to protect “The Single Most Important Player on the Field”, but they do little to test that tunnel vision that develops after sustaining actual hits. It’s one of those safety precautions that has a nasty double edge to it.
Troy Huhn – 2026 Football Roster – Virginia Tech Athletics
Troy Huhn is a true Freshman and given James Franklin’s usual practice from teams in the past, is likely to be redshirted for the season. He’s big, as in tight end big. His California high school record suggests that he’s more of a passer than the average dual threat QB, but he’s still big enough to run QB Powers and Dives through the A-Gap. Huhn is a true Franklin recruit and looks to be someone that the staff will want to develop instead of throw to the lions. The caveat here, though, is that regardless of what happens on opening day in the top 3 depth positions, Huhn is still #4, and that means he’s going to be busy.
Wrapping the Quarterback Situation
There is always a double meaning in the word “situation”. It could be a statement of factual reality for an individual or organization. This is where things stand and what’s being faced. But culturally, “a situation” can mean something much less positive than a neutral statement of fact. We will have to wait and see, in those critical first four games, just what “the situation” means to the Hokies at Quarterback.
Right now, the Situation is guardedly optimistic. However! Remember the first bullet in the list. If a team does not have a competitive quarterback, it is unlikely to win much.
