Virginia Tech Football: Grant Wells season was summed perfectly vs. BC

Before the 2023 season, Virginia Tech football coach Brent Pry named senior Grant Wells his starting quarterback, beating out Baylor transfer Kyron Drones. It was not a surprising move, but Wells suffered an injury that put him on the sidelines.

Against Purdue in Week 2 during a 24-17 Hokies loss, Wells suffered an ankle injury that cost him most of his season. Drones has settled into the starting role and he has Virginia Tech one win away from becoming bowl-eligible, something that didn’t seem that possible after a 1-3 start.

Wells has been suiting up for games recently and last week at his weekly media session, Pry said that Wells was coming along well in his recovery and in the “90th percentile” in terms of health. During the Hokies’ 48-22 win at Boston College this past weekend, Pry inserted Wells behind center in the fourth quarter as part of massive substitutions.

Grant Wells comes up short on a highlight-reel play

Grant Wells took a snap near midfield and the play call was a read option and he read it very well. In fact, he read it so well that he darted to his left and took off down the Virginia Tech sideline on his way to an apparent huge touchdown run. Unfortunately for Wells, he came up just a bit short.

As Wells was closing in on the end zone, Boston College linebacker Victor Nelson chased him down at the 4-yard line and knocked the ball loose toward the end zone. The ball went through the back of the end zone and by rule, the ball was awarded to the Eagles.

First and foremost, that rule is one of the worst in football, the ball is fumbled out of the back of the end zone and goes to the other team. That’s an argument for another day, but in this case, Wells was oh-so-close to his highlight reel play for this season.

“I hate that for Grant. It was a nice run,” Pry said. “He saw the opening, got outside, he showed his speed. I think he got a little winded at the end. The ball was starting to float on him, and he just couldn’t get it back in there. The kid made a nice play from BC to get it out, to be honest.”

It has not been the best season for Wells as suffering the injury set him back. Who knows how the season would have ended up playing out had he not gotten injured, but since the offense now belongs to Drones, Wells’ opportunity to add to his highlight reel came up four yards short, and that sums up his frustrating season very well.