Virginia Tech Football: Antwaun Powell-Ryland rewarded for monster effort

Another week, another Player of the Week honor for the Virginia Tech football team.

Despite putting together one of the more complete games in the last two seasons on both sides of the ball against Wake Forest, several players could have come away with the honor, but the ACC got it right with their selection.

Antwaun Powell-Ryland was the defensive lineman of the week

This one was a no-brainer. Seriously. In the Hokies’ 30-13 win over Wake Forest at Lane Stadium, the defense was suffocating and only allowed two field goals, with the Demon Deacons touchdown coming on a kickoff return in the second quarter. Several players got after Wake Forest quarterback Mitch Griffis and Michael Kern, but nobody was more dominant than Florida transfer Antwaun Powell-Ryland.

https://twitter.com/HokiesFB/status/1713974524528451677

Just how dominant was he? Consider the following,

• He had four of the seven Virginia Tech sacks.
• He had six tackles, four solo
• One forced fumble
• One fumble recovery

From the first snap, the Hokies defense caused all kinds of problems for the Demon Deacons. They had 13 tackles for loss, created three turnovers, two fumbles,  and an interception, and the Virginia Tech offense turned two of the turnovers into 14 points. It was an all-around dominating effort from Chris Marve’s group who held Wake Forest to 35 yards rushing. Very impressive outing.

Powell-Ryland was just part of the dominant defense that night. Keonta Jenkins had 12 tackles, six solo, Alan Tisdale had nine and Derrick Canteen had the interception. Griffis and Kern were running for their life all game thanks to the Hokies’ defense, which had pressure on nearly every dropback.

When the Hokies return to the field on Oct. 26 at Lane Stadium against Syracuse, they will need Powell-Ryland and the rest of the defense to pick up where they left off against a talented squad that is 4-3.