SP+ projects Virginia Tech to beat VMI 68-0 on Saturday night and gives the Hokies a 100 percent win probability. So the final score isn't the story here.

What's worth watching is the offense itself. Saturday is the first public look at what offensive coordinator Ty Howle wants to run in Blacksburg, and at a quarterback room Virginia Tech rebuilt over the winter. Kickoff is 7:30 p.m. at a sold-out Lane Stadium on ACC Network, the first meeting between the schools since 1984.

Here are three names to keep your eyes on.

Ethan Grunkemeyer, QB

Head coach James Franklin named the redshirt sophomore his starter Monday and made him a team captain. Grunkemeyer followed Franklin from Penn State, where he took over after Drew Allar's injury and started the final seven games, completing 123 of 178 passes for 1,339 yards with eight touchdowns and four interceptions.

"His ability to distribute the ball and decision-making, those things are big," Franklin said.

The accuracy is real, but the volume was not. Grunkemeyer averaged just over 16 attempts and roughly 122 passing yards per game behind a Penn State run game built on Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen. He also isn't a runner, finishing 2025 with -46 yards on 35 carries.

So the thing to chart Saturday isn't completion percentage against an FCS defense. It's how much Howle lets him throw, and where. Virginia Tech's 2025 starter, Kyron Drones, completed 56.5 percent of his passes for 1,919 yards. Accuracy alone would be an upgrade.

Marcellous Hawkins, RB

The redshirt senior had one of the stranger stat lines from last season. He ran for 749 yards on 118 carries last fall, averaged 6.3 yards a pop, and scored just one rushing touchdown.

He forced 44 missed tackles and gained 562 yards after first contact, per Pro Football Focus. He's on the Doak Walker Award preseason watch list, one of 62 backs.

When the Hokies get inside the 10, watch whether Howle hands it to Hawkins, goes heavy or lets Grunkemeyer keep it. Franklin and Howle inherited a running back who did everything but score. He won't finish 2026 with one rushing touchdown, and don't be surprised if he surpasses that total in Saturday's game alone.

Luke Reynolds, TE

The junior transferred in from Penn State, where he caught 26 passes for 257 yards in 13 games last season without reaching the end zone. That's underwhelming on paper and misleading in context. He was a five-star recruit and the top tight end in the 2024 class per 247Sports, and Howle is the coach who recruited him to Happy Valley in the first place. Howle also coached Tyler Warren to Penn State's first John Mackey Award in 2024.

"We've always thought Luke was a big-time player," Franklin said in August.

Reynolds and defensive tackle Kemari Copeland both landed on the Senior Bowl Top 300. He caught five passes for a game-high 69 yards in the spring game April 18.

Watch the personnel groupings on the opening script. Two tight ends and three tight ends on the first drive tell you more about what Howle is building than anything that happens in the fourth quarter.

Nobody in Lane Stadium is going to learn much about Virginia Tech's ceiling on Saturday. But the play sheet doesn't lie, and this is the first time anyone gets to read it.