Hokies RB Trey Edmunds Ready for a Season with "No Limp, No Gimp" After Several Injury-Filled Months

Tech's coaching staff have made their feelings on J.C. Coleman's performance in the last four games of last season abundantly clear.

Words like "perseverance" are thrown around with aplomb, as the coaches rush to praise Coleman's refusal to quit on the team in the face of overwhelming odds that he'd ever take meaningful snaps again.

But Trey Edmunds notes that he's shown a fair bit of toughness over his last few injury-ridden months as well.

"I definitely think what he did last year was a great example of just what perseverance is," Edmunds said at Tech's media day on Saturday. "He never quit, he always stayed positive throughout the whole situation, and I feel like I showed a little bit of that as well, dealing with the injuries and stuff...I definitely look at what JC did as a positive, and I look at what I did as a positive as well."

Like Coleman, Edmunds spent plenty of time on the bench himself last season because of those persistent bumps and bruises. It took him until late September to start earning regular carries again after breaking his leg against UVA in 2013, and in just his third game back in the RB rotation, he broke his collarbone against UNC.

"Immediately of course it was devastating," the redshirt junior said. "It was definitely devastating at the beginning because I was just getting back in the tune of things with my leg, but it's the game of football. It's physical, it's tough and anything can happen on any given day, practice or the game. So it's definitely another humbling experience. And I feel like it made me more hungry as an athlete and a person."

After a long few months of rehab, requiring the practice of plenty of perseverance of his own, Edmunds believe he's back to where he was at the end of his promising redshirt freshman year.

"No limp, no gimp, any of that stuff," Edmunds said. "I'm definitely bigger and the coaches have been telling me I look faster, so that's definitely a good thing."

Running backs coach Shane Beamer has been the one beating the drum about Edmunds' major weight gain, reiterating last weekend that he's a solid 15 pounds heavier than he was in his lone starting season.

Edmunds, for his part, says that it's even been a significant weight jump since last season. While he's not sure exactly how much he weighed in his redshirt sophomore year, simply because he wasn't weighing in ahead of many games because of those nagging injuries, he acknowledges it was a conscious effort to put on "a couple pounds" at least.

"It's weight that I put on way back when the summer first started and I feel good," Edmunds said. "It's not like I'm sluggish or anything like that, so I feel good with the weight I'm at."

His secret to bulking up was a combination that should sound familiar to any football player.

"I've just been eating good and lifting hard, and if you do that a lot, you're gonna gain weight," Edmunds said. "I feel good at the weight I'm at, I feel fast, I feel light, and I'm liking it so far."

While it's hard not to see that Edmunds looks much more chiseled these days, his teammates say they've also noticed a burst in his game that they've never seen from him before.

"Trey has been looking extremely explosive out there, he's making people miss, making great cuts, he's looking pretty good," said senior RB J.C. Coleman. "Probably better than the freshman Trey right now."

Fullback Sam Rogers agrees with Coleman's appraisal, and that's even considering the incredible 77-yard TD run that introduced Edmunds to the national stage.

"Just the way he hits the holes now, he's just explosive," Rogers said. "Not that he wasn't before, don't get me wrong. That run he had against Alabama my freshman year, I mean, he's just crazy athletic. He's just more confident now and trusting himself. I think that's huge."

Beamer believes that confidence stems from his growing comfort with the position now that he's dedicated three years to learning the running back role after splitting time as a linebacker in high school and early in his Tech career.

"He was a guy that was learning the running back position as he went along in 2013, he's more comfortable with protections, footwork, all the little things you have to do to be a really good running back," Beamer said. "I think he's a lot more comfortable and confident doing that now."

Edmunds can't help but agree, with one caveat.

"I'm still a way off from where I want to be," Edmunds said. "I feel like I've grown since my freshman year playing. I've gotten smarter at what I'm seeing as a running back as far as hitting the holes, my footwork has gotten better, my blocking has gotten better."

His teammates on the offensive line have noticed the change not only in his health, but in his maturity.
"I definitely think he's been doing a really good job because he's healthy this year," said right guard Augie Conte. "It's not a lack of talent last year, he was just dealing with a lot of injuries. But he's definitely doing a really good job this year in terms of stepping up and being a leader."

Edmunds has also stepped in to help his youngest brother, freshman LB Tremaine, as he acclimates to campus with the help of redshirt freshman DB Terrell.

"With me and Terrell both being here, he's been able to see us two go through it," the eldest Edmunds said. "We don't play the same position or anything like that, but when I came home my freshman year, he got to see what the life of a college athlete is. Both my parents went to college, but that was way back when and we weren't born, so I hope for the best for Tremaine and Terrell too, I just hope we can stay hungry and stay healthy."

Now that the entire Edmunds clan is officially in Blacksburg, the redshirt junior swells with pride at any mention of the trio's potential to create VT legacy on par with the Fuller family.

"It's a dream come true for our family name, and for us to all be in the same building at the collegiate level, we're just blessed to have this opportunity," Edmunds said. "Our parents really raised us for us to be in this situation right now, and I just hope the best for every one of us."

The influence of Edmunds' parents on the running back is apparent, particularly that of patriarch Ferrell, the head coach at Dan River HS and a former NFL tight end.

That makes him especially well qualified to offer Trey advice about the game. As Edmunds prepares to step on the field once more after another grueling rehab, he says it's his dad's advice that he remembers.

"My father always told me to have a short memory, and in this game of football you have to have a short memory, because if you think about things that happen in the past, you can never progress," Edmunds said.

But no matter how well Edmunds can limit his memory, it seems inevitable that the specter of his series of injuries will linger at the back of his mind at the slightest hint of a bump or bruise.

So far in camp, Edmunds has indeed gotten a bit nicked up. The team held him out of Saturday's scrimmage, after Beamer says he hurt his ankle in practice.

Yet Beamer couched that decision by making it clear that "If we had a game, he would play."

But does Edmunds feel ready to perform even with a tweaked ankle?

"Definitely," he said with a broad smile. "Definitely."

After what he's been through, a sore ankle must seem like a walk in the park.

"You definitely don't want to get hurt as often, but if it happens, you've just got to deal with it, just got to rehab and get back to getting things rolling," Edmunds said. "The injuries are behind me, and the future's ahead of me."