{"id":123826,"date":"2026-03-15T18:16:59","date_gmt":"2026-03-15T21:16:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tech.einnews.com\/article\/899661309"},"modified":"2026-03-15T18:16:59","modified_gmt":"2026-03-15T21:16:59","slug":"fontel-mines-wants-to-see-virginia-techs-receivers-earn-the-opportunity-in-spring-practice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/2026\/03\/15\/fontel-mines-wants-to-see-virginia-techs-receivers-earn-the-opportunity-in-spring-practice\/","title":{"rendered":"Fontel Mines wants to see Virginia Tech’s receivers ‘earn the opportunity’ in spring practice"},"content":{"rendered":"
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BLACKSBURG \u2014<\/strong> The thoughts crossed Fontel Mines\u2019 mind last season. There were instances when he pondered what the future was going to hold for him after Virginia Tech\u2019s new football coach was hired. Was he going to be retained? Did his resume need to be updated?<\/p>\n

The wide receivers didn\u2019t notice Mines sweating the details. He wanted to maintain focus on the next opponent, not on potential changes that were coming after the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think naturally you\u2019re a little fearful of what could happen. Play the \u2018What if\u2019 games a lot in your mind,\u201d Mines said last week. \u201cBut my main focus for the entirety of the season was my boys, to be the same coach and the same mentor to them every single day, because as much as I had going on in my mind and in my house, it was double that for a guy that\u2019s 19 and 22 years old and you lose your head coach.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I wanted to make sure I maintained a really good relationship with my players and made sure I stayed strong and made sure we kept the main thing the main thing, and that was trying to win games.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mines, who was retained by Hokies coach James Franklin, was able to maintain continuity in the wide receiver room after a 3-9 season. Tech\u2019s option receiving option is back, along with promising sophomores and freshmen, and it added four transfers and a four-star prospect.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it just kind of helps the new guys have a voice to be able to communicate with and give them the backstory on who I am as a person and as a coach,\u201d Mines said, adding he had previously relationships with transfers Jeff Exinor Jr. and Que\u2019Sean Brown in recruiting. “\u2026 Some of those relationships are new, and you grow and guys change and mature. We had to rekindle some of those flames.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just think they helped and they\u2019ve done a really good job embracing all the transfers and all the newcomers, and that\u2019s really important right now. Our locker room has taken a step forward. Everybody realizes it\u2019s about the team, and you can\u2019t continue to do the same things and expect different results. Those guys are locked in and focused right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the Hokies had four wide receivers from the rotation enter the transfer portal (Isaiah Spencer to Ole Miss, Cam Seldon to South Florida, Devin Alves to Hawaii and Tucker Holloway to Florida Atlantic), they were able to keep seven scholarship wide receivers on the roster amid the coaching change.<\/p>\n

Ayden Greene and Takye Heath return the most experience among the group. Greene led the Hokies 31 catches for 516 yards and three touchdowns last season, and Heath remained healthy and finished with 22 catches for 200 yards and three scores.<\/p>\n

Greene is expected to be a starter entering spring practice.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tell you what Ayden has done a really good job of is stepping up in moments where we need him offensively, whether that\u2019s in the weight room, whether that\u2019s in winter workouts, competition drills,\u201d Mines said. \u201cThe moment\u2019s never too big for him. He\u2019s continuing to take the next step in his leadership role. That goes without saying, but that starts with the work. You\u2019ve got to prove yourself. He\u2019s not always the most vocal, rah-rah, leadership, but his work speaks for itself. I think he made a commitment to himself and to this program and more importantly to this team to make sure that he brings his best.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mines said Chanz Wiggins and Keylen Adams have recovered from their respective injuries that kept them out last season. Add in sophomore Shamarius Peterkin, redshirt freshmen Luke Stuewe and Cam Sparks, and the Hokies have plenty of untested depth on the roster.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s up to them. We\u2019ve got a lot of depth in the room. We\u2019ve got a lot of competition. But we don\u2019t have a ton of experience,\u201d Mines said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got some really talented guys that I feel like are going to earn the opportunity to play, but they\u2019ve got to prove that. They\u2019ve got to prove that every day, just like the guys returning with experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

The experience factor comes in Louisiana Tech transfer Marlion Jackson and Duke transfer Que\u2019Sean Brown.<\/p>\n

Brown is the star of the transfer class and projected to start at slot receiver. He registered 107 catches for 1,310 yards and seven touchdowns over his three seasons with the Blue Devils.<\/p>\n

As a redshirt sophomore last season, he hauled in 64 catches for 846 yards and five scores.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019re just getting somebody that\u2019s dynamic in space, that\u2019s mature, that\u2019s played a lot of football,\u201d Mines said. \u201cHe\u2019s been productive in this conference, which is hard to come by. You talk about a guy of his stature and his history of what he\u2019s been able to do at Duke and be really successful, and he\u2019s won a lot of games, and he\u2019s also been through a lot of adversity. So he\u2019s a really good resource for a lot of my freshmen and redshirt freshmen in that room of how to take care of your body, how to watch tape, what the work looks like extra to be successful at this level, and to do it for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mines said the spring will help the players get acclimated with offensive coordinator Ty Howle\u2019s scheme. It will look and feel different than the offense Philip Montgomery ran and called last season, which is why Mines is emphasizing consistency throughout the spring so he can get his best players on the field for Howle.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a relationship that helped Mines\u2019 transition to the new coaching staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been awesome. He is very humble, selfless, down to earth. He\u2019s easy to get along with, he\u2019s easy to talk to,\u201d Mines said of Howle. \u201cHe\u2019s not too high or too low, has a really good personality, and we hit it off right away. We have a lot of mutual friends in this business and this profession, so it was an easy and seamless transition for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/strong> <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

… hold for him after Virginia Tech<\/span>\u00e2\u0080\u0099s new football coach was … room after a 3-9 season. Tech<\/span>\u00e2\u0080\u0099s option receiving option is … .\u00e2\u0080\u009d The experience factor comes in Louisiana Tech<\/span> transfer Marlion Jackson and Duke …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-123826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123826"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123826\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}