The Virginia Tech Hokies opened spring practice last week. For the first time in a while, the Hokies opened spring with stability and depth at the quarterback position. While it’s a young room, projected starter Ethan Grunkemeyer has valuable starting experience at Penn State, and his backups bring plenty of youth and athleticism.
The Hokies currently have five quarterbacks on the spring roster. There were rumors last season and throughout the offseason of a potential position change for one of those
young passers: redshirt freshman A.J. Brand.
On Tuesday, Franklin made it official. Brand is switching positions, moving to wide receiver. It was a move that Brand wanted to make.
The 6-foot-1, 210-pound Brand was a four-year starting quarterback at Irmo High School (Irmo, S.C.), playing for his father, Aaron, one of South Carolina’s top high school coaches. A.J. was a two-sport star at Irmo, finishing his career as the 2024 Gatorade Player of the Year for South Carolina. Brand accounted for almost 12,000 yards in his high school career, with 151 total touchdowns.
“So, A.J. is going to move to wideout, that was the position he wanted to move to,“ Franklin said. ”The reality is, a couple of things, he’s too good of an athlete, and he’s too good of a guy. Everybody on the team loves him. He’s got an infectious personality. Right now, where he was at on the depth chart, we had a conversation with him and his father, that it was my opinion, and our opinion, that this was in his best interest, and the team’s best interest. I think he can help us on offense. And I think he can help us on special teams. This is just a way to get another really good athlete and another really good person the ability to earn a role to help us win games come the fall.“
Franklin noted that the Hokies could use Brand in some “Wild Hokie” formations at some point.
Brand has four years of eligibility remaining, and by switching early in the spring, he has a chance to impress coaches in the spring.
