Tyler Bowen excited about fitting Connor Blumrick into the offense

When Virginia Tech landed Texas A&M transfer Connor Blumrickthe plan was to give him a shot at quarterback after transitioning from quarterback to utility player for the Aggies.

After one year in the quarterback room, Brent Pry and his staff felt it was advantageous for Blumrick to spend the upcoming season as a skill player. He spent the spring working as a pass catcher in the wide receiver and tight end units.

This fall, he has added a little more to his plate as he prepares for his final season.

“Coach Bowen and Coach Pry, they called me in their offense and they were honest with me,” Blumrick explained about the conversation in the spring. “They said we think you are an incredible athlete and you would be more valuable at this position, so I just trusted my coaches and I am going with it.”

At 6-foot 5-inches and over 220-pounds, Blumrick could fit into a number of roles in the offense.

“I am excited about Connor,” Offensive Coordinator Tyler Bowen said. “Connor is working at receiver, tight end, in the backfield, a lot of different places. He’s got a unique skillset. He has played receiver before. Obviously, he has played a lot of quarterback in his career, so it has been fun to figure out how to utilize him and package him into different personnel groupings.”

During his time at quarterback, Blumrick showed some of his athletic ability last fall, but with any transition from throwing to catching, there is always a question of if he has the hands to play at the Power Five level.

“Been very good so far, I’ve been pleasantly surprised and that is going back to the spring when we made the transition and officially moved him. I really haven’t noticed any errors with his hands,” Bowen said.

Over the summer, Blumrick worked fulltime on his transition back to being a skill player, which meant not only changing the way he plays football, but also changing the way he trains, to include spending hours in front of the jugs machine with the other tight ends.

“He has put on some weight over the summer. He looks different physically than he did at quarterback. He has done a nice job with his body so far.”

“I was trying to put on weight so I can do some other things – gain speed, strength – so I am able to do things other than quarterback,” Blumrick added.

What has been the hardest part of the transition back to more of a tight end? As you can probably imagine, it’s the physical aspect of the position.

“Probably learning how to Block those big guys, that is not fun and not easy,” Blumrick said.

“I am not a fan of all the running during practice.”