How Jarrett Ferguson is changing the Hokies’ culture while battling a hidden foe: the chicken nugget

By Bill Roth

With over 40 new players, the Virginia Tech football program will have a much different look when it opens the 2025 season against South Carolina at Atlanta’s Mercedes Benz Stadium on August 31.

Boy, there are a lot of new names on that roster aren’t there?

For Assistant Athletic Director of Football Strength & Conditioning Jarrett Ferguson, the month of May has provided key insights into what the 2025 team will look like, specifically the work-ethic, chemistry and personality of this group.  It’s in that weight room where teams – and bodies – are built. Right now. No classes, no games.  Away from cheering crowds and hidden from cameras, inside that weight room, new leaders are emerging.

Who is turning heads?

“Donavon Greene, a wide receiver. He's come in the door and just worked. Doesn't say a lot, but he works,” Ferguson said.

Greene, the transfer from Wake Forest, is truly the elder-statesman in Tech’s weight room. He started his career at Wake in 2019 but missed both the 2021 and ’23 seasons for the Deacs because of injuries. But as you can see in this link, he’s shown big-play potential when healthy. 

He averaged 20.1 yards per reception in 2020 the highest single-season mark in Wake Forest history. He holds a career 18.6 yards-per-reception average and averaged 32.40 yards per kick return over his career.  When he’s healthy, he’s a big-play threat and he’s doing everything this summer to make sure he’s in top-shape.

“You know, he trains like a professional,” Ferguson said.  “He takes care of his body. Anything that we ask him to do, he does it 110-percent and he's rolling.”

In Ferguson’s eyes, Rice transfer, safety Tyson Flowers has also emerged in May.
“He’s a worker,” Ferguson told me. “And those two guys right off the bat changed their bodies within three months. It's unreal.

“We have some before and after pictures. Green and Flowers changed their bodies in three months just because of the work and the dedication that they had. Other guys, all three of the (offensive) linemen, they came in, Tomas (Rimac), Lucas (Austin), and Kyle (Altuner). Those guys work and they bring a different energy and a positive energy to the offensive linemen.”

Altuner is a fascinating prospect. He redshirted at West Virginia last year but was an Under Armour All-America, a three-time All-Washington Catholic Athletic Conference First Team honoree  and a two-time Washington Post All-Metro Area First-Team honoree at Our Lady of Good Counsel High in Maryland.   

“Kyle Altuner is a go-getter. I mean, I love him,” Ferguson said.

“He works. I don't say this a lot, but he reminds me a little bit of Jake Grove, as far as how he works and how he carries himself on the field. I don't throw that around a lot because Jake is a really good friend, and I know him and Kyle reminds me a lot of him.”

A throwback coach with modern science and techniques.

Ferguson, a Tech alum who starred at fullback for some of Coach Frank Beamer’s best teams, was an assistant at Tech the last few years. But he totally gutted the teams’ strength and conditioning program when he took over following the 2024 season.

“I like to observe. And so over the last three years, I just sat back and assisted. But I observed what I thought this program needed to succeed. And looking at how we were, you know, having trouble finishing games, I was like, man, we need to get back down to the basics again. We need to develop our young guys. We need to condition. And then we need to keep our strength and our power throughout the season.

“And so, it was immediately, I sat down and just restructured everything. How we ran the weight room, how the players come in and how they attack the program day in, day out. And we ran. And we're going to run even more this summer.”

To date, the results have been obvious.

“The bodies have changed. Our guys have gotten a lot bigger. Their lean muscle mass has gone up with the body fats going down. Our speeds have increased. We were able to attack practices in spring ball a lot harder than in the past. So we're seeing a difference and we're seeing player loads and everything go up because we're in shape and we're prepared to do it. So those are the things that we're seeing right now, and that's only going to increase.”

Ferguson wants to push the players hard. Challenge them harder than they’ve ever been in their lives.  But he wants to avoid injuries.

“And a lot of times coaches want to test at the very end of the summer. We're going to break that up,” Ferguson said.  “We'll test some in mid summer. We'll test some of the stuff that's not as stressful on the low back at the end of the summer.”

And the Hokies are going to run.  Post-practice. Challenging, brutal running – a staple of the 90’s conditioning model, is back.

“Well, you look at the NFL model now, they rely more on the practice speed, how fast you're practicing through and they get their conditioning through practice. But sometimes we're not dealing with all pro athletes. We're working with developmental guys as well,” Ferguson said.

“I feel like you need the condition after practice. But the good thing is we have the technology and everything to kind of let us know what kind of conditioning we need to implement each and every day.”

Ferguson vows the late-game fades, fourth-quarter cramping and mental collapses can be avoided.

“I tell our guys, that's never going to happen again. Like, you're not going to be tired in the fourth quarter.

“You're going to be ready to play another game in the fourth quarter. So if you're prepared for that, then all those mental mistakes tend to kind of fade away because you're still fresh in your mind because you're conditioned to be in that situation.

“That stuff is going to crank up even more this summer for us because it's just going to be me and the staff training these guys.”

Hydration and the hidden foe: The chicken nugget.

More than training sessions, there’s a lot of technology and science that Ferguson insists is just as important.

“We’re constantly educating them on how to train their body, how to treat their body outside of this facility. And they have to know this stuff,” he said.

For example, quarterback Kyron Drones had severe cramps at the end over overtime in the Vanderbilt game in Nashville.  He had to leave the game.  Since then, Drones has become a leader when it comes to game-week hydration and more.

“It took that one time, the hard head makes the soft tail,” Ferguson said, quoting an old southern adage.

“It takes that one time for them to understand, like, I need to hydrate even more. I need to up my nutrition game even more. So he understood it. From that point on, he kind of took care of himself. And then he understood the need to hydrate.”

Another issue Ferguson is battling is one of Tech’s most challenging hidden opponents: the chicken nugget.

“The nutrition now is trying to get them to eat something other than chicken nuggets,” Ferguson said. “It is a different monster now where everything's really convenient for them to go across the street and get nuggets and go about their day instead of sitting down eating something with some sustenance. You know, it’s hard trying to get them going.”

In Carly Hildahl, the Hokies have an elite sports nutritionist in the football program. A registered dietician, her responsibilities include team education, individual counseling, body composition analysis, menu development and management of the football Gatorade fuel bar.

“Carly does a great job with educating, Ferguson said.  “And then we reiterate that in the workout. Say, hey, look, if we have to get a body weight to this point, talk to Carly, let her help you, and let's get our meal plan together so we can get there.

“It's constant with these guys. And they have to know the deal. Sometimes you have to eat breakfast, a mid-morning snack, a lunch, a mid-afternoon snack, dinner, and maybe something at night before you go to bed.”

While most of us are thinking of summer vacations and trips, Ferguson knows the clock is ticking towards the opening of fall camp.  It’s a crucial time for the Hokies.

“This is going to be a very important off season for our guys because it gives me the most time with them. So, once we start up, it gives us about a nine-week training program with those guys, and we get to go straight through. I'm trying to prepare them for camp.

“The better condition we are going into camp, it'll allow us to practice with higher intensities and if we can practice at higher intensities, that's going to prepare us for the games. So, that's what we're looking forward to.”

But it won’t be easy for the players.  It will be a throwback to when Ferguson played under his mentor, the Hokies’ legendry strength and conditioning coach Mike Gentry.  It was tough, but the guys who made it through to the end loved Gentry.  And the on-field results were tremendous.

“The things that we're going to do, they're going to be tough,” Ferguson promised. “They're going to run a lot and they're going to train. And as they see their bodies changing and as they get stronger and faster, that confidence is going to start building.

“And we're not going to have a deal where we're worried about ‘are we going to be in shape enough to finish out the fourth quarter?’ I told them we're going to be in shape to play two games.”