Virginia Tech enters the 2026 season with no shortage of players receiving preseason attention.
Ethan Grunkemeyer is expected to take over at quarterback. Luke Reynolds has already landed on the Mackey Award watch list. Marcellous Hawkins returns after a breakout 2025 campaign, while Que’Sean Brown and Ayden Greene are expected to headline the wide receiver room, and Kemari Copeland anchors the defensive line. But every successful team needs more than its stars.
Especially for a Virginia Tech team attempting to make a significant jump from last season’s 3-9 finish, some of the most important contributions could come from players who aren’t receiving nearly as much attention entering the season.
Here are three potential hidden gems (plus an honorable mention) who I think could emerge for the Hokies in 2026.
Wiggins isn’t exactly an unknown commodity within the program, but the redshirt sophomore wide receiver remains one of the more intriguing players on the roster.
The 6-foot-3, 196-pound Wiggins appeared in four games as a freshman and has the physical profile to become a matchup problem on the outside. He was already viewed as a legitimate playmaker coming out of high school, and Virginia Tech’s receiver competition could give him an opportunity to finally put that talent on display. He missed his second season with a torn labrum sustained in preseason amp.
The Hokies don’t need Wiggins to become their No. 1 receiver. If he can establish himself as a reliable rotational piece and provide a bigger target for Grunkemeyer, however, his impact could be significant.
The secondary has plenty of recognizable names, including Jaquez White, Quentin Reddish and Tyson Flowers.
However, Clarke seems to have already generated positive attention within the program, and his performance in the 2026 spring game was one of the more encouraging developments in the secondary.
At 6-foot-1, Clarke also brings the size that Virginia Tech can use against bigger ACC receivers. He doesn’t need to immediately become a star. Simply becoming a trustworthy rotational corner could give the Hokies another valuable piece in a defensive backfield that needs to improve substantially from a year ago. Clarke qualifies for me as a gem based on his relative lack of collegiate production up to this point. So far, he’s logged two career tackles.
Brown is a true freshman, and James Franklin has generally preferred allowing young players to redshirt rather than throwing them into the fire immediately, something that is of a bygone era now, though, with the redshirt wiped by the NCAA’s new five-in-five age-based eligibility rules.
Brown, however, appears to be making that decision increasingly difficult.
The freshman wide receiver has received significant praise from Franklin during fall camp and is the only freshman among the group competing for the No. 3 receiver role. At 6-foot-1 and 204 pounds, he also has the size to contribute both outside and in the slot.
Virginia Tech’s receiver room is one of the more unsettled position groups on the roster. Brown’s ability to make plays after the catch could give him a pathway onto the field sooner than expected.
I’ll also throw Luke Stuewe in here. Like Brown, he hasn’t logged any career collegiate stats, though he’s been lauded in camp. Stuewe could be primed for a spot in the two-eep depending on how the rest of camp goes, in my eyes.
Virginia Tech has plenty of obvious candidates to lead the way in 2026. But if the Hokies are going to make the kind of jump Franklin and his staff are hoping for, they will need contributors who haven’t stepped up in that capacity before, too.
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