OL Augie Conte, Wyatt Teller, and Laurence Gibson Won Excalibur Awards

This was posted on HokieSports.com Camp Confidential: 30/30/30 Blog earlier this week.

How difficult is the Excalibur Award to obtain? The actual grading scale was created from test data collected from college and pro teams. To receive the highly competitive and esteemed Excalibur Award, the player must average in the top eight percent of the chart (superior level) for all tested criteria.

The trio became the first Tech football players to earn the award since former standouts Marcus Davis and Joey Phillips received the honor in 2012. They became the first offensive linemen to earn the honor since Brandon Frye won it back in 2006.

Conte, a 6-foot-6, 295-pound redshirt sophomore from Richmond, led all Tech players in the bench press (440 pounds), front squat (460) and push jerk (385). Teller, a 6-6, 301-pound redshirt freshman from Bealeton, Virginia, finished second behind Conte in the front squat (450) and push jerk (375), and he actually tied Conte in the bench press, but Conte is considered the leader because he weighs less than Teller (weight is the tiebreaker). Gibson, a 6-6, 297-pound redshirt senior from Sierra Vista, Arizona, led all Tech players in the power clean (385) and finished fourth in the bench press (430) and fifth in the push jerk (340).

Gibson's 385-pound power clean broke the position record for an offensive tackle. Conte held the previous record of 375 pounds, which he set last year.