Virgil making immediate impact
September 07, 2025 | Football
LUBBOCK – Two touchdown calls from TNT's J.B. Long on the broadcast started and ended the first half with receptions by Reggie Virgil from Behren Morton to give Texas Tech a 48-0 halftime lead in a 62-14 win over Kent State.
"Off the play fake, Behren Morton reloads, endzone… Virgil got it. Thirty-five yards and for the second week in a row Reggie Virgil strikes first."
"Clock rolls, ball made ready for play. To the endzone, contested catch. Unbelievable. Reggie Virgil with his second. Touchdown Texas Tech."
In the season opener, Morton found Virgil for a 9-yard touchdown just three minutes into the game for the first touchdown of the game in a 67-7 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff. A week later, a 35-yard reception with 11:53 on the clock in the first quarter once again gave the Red Raiders an early lead in another blowout win. Virgil's third touchdown of the season came with 12 seconds remaining until halftime – set up by a 50-yard reception by Terrance Carter Jr.
"It's really a blessing how much they trust me already," Virgil said. "I don't take that for granted. Our coaches are making great calls and Behren is putting the ball right there for me. I just want to show my skillset and ability to make any catch. It's important to score early to get our team going. We have great receivers on this team and it just happens that I've scored the first two touchdowns in both games to start the season."
Virgil's two-touchdown game matched a career best after he also caught two last season while playing at Miami (Ohio) in a game against Eastern Michigan. An Apopka, Florida native, Virgil is in his first season at Tech after playing three years at Miami where he caught 43 passes and had 10 touchdowns over three seasons. In his first two seasons, he combined for two receptions and one touchdown before having a breakout junior season with 41 receptions and nine touchdowns in 13 games. Through just two games this season at Tech, Virgil leads the Red Raiders with nine receptions and three touchdowns.
"I feel confident in all of our receivers but Reggie definitely has a great ability to track the ball up in the air," Morton said. "He's such a physical player too. He's 6-4 with a big body and is really athletic. I'm big on giving the playmakers a chance to go get the ball and he's doing a great job for us."
"We're having a lot of fun and getting all the details down right now," Virgil added. "We're still working to prepare for our conference games but right now I feel good about where we are at. We've had a lot of practices and these two games gave us good repetitions against opponents. It's all about getting ready to be at our best every game we play. We have a great relationship on and off the field. It's the best thing ever when you've built that trust with your quarterback. He trusts all of our guys. You can see that on the field. When we're out there, we have each other's back and we're going to do everything we can to make each other look good."
By halftime against Kent State, Virgil and Morton had completed all their work for the day with a 48-point lead. Morton finished the game with three touchdowns, going 18-for-26 for 258 yards. Virgil led Tech with five receptions for 50 yards in a first half where Tech's defense had limited the Golden Flashes to only 52 total yards. The dominating performance started with Kent State winning the coin flip and deferring to the second half – giving the Red Raiders the ball first and starting a drive that began with two runs by J'Koby Williams. The third play was a 6-yard reception by Virgil and the seventh play a short 3-yard reception again by Virgil. On the eighth play of the game, Morton went deep to Virgil who had burned his defenders.
"Coach McGuire told us we would take the ball first and that's what I wanted," Morton said. "As soon as that happened, I told our offense it was time to roll. Reggie did a great job finding open grass and getting us going again."
With a cornerback grabbing his jersey in the endzone, his second touchdown of the day showed focus and physicality after his first was all about speed. It was the 52nd reception of his career and puts him just 16 yards away from 1,000. Â
"We knew we had a size advantage in the game and Behren had been telling me all game to be ready," Virgil said. "He looked out there and saw I had a good mismatch. He gave me a great high-pointed ball and I knew I wasn't going to miss the opportunity to put more points on the scoreboard."
Before this season started, Virgil said "a younger version of himself wouldn't believe where I'm at now". His football journey wasn't a direct route to the endzone in Jones AT&T Stadium, starting when he was only 7 years old and sneaking behind his mother's back to play on the Osceola Cowboys. His mom originally didn't want him to play football but by the time she found out that his dad had signed him up, he was already the star running back in the youth league. He would become a quarterback in high school before being beaten out by a friend and moving to wide receiver where he has thrived ever since. After his second touchdown against Kent State, he could be seen embracing the moment – hyping up the Texas Tech student section and running back to the team's sideline waving his hands and celebrating with his teammates. Taking it all in.
"Our fans have been incredible," Virgil said. "I love being able to look in the crowd after a touchdown and fire them up even more. It gets me going more too. I love walking out on the field for warmups and seeing them already fired up. There's a great connection our team has with our students and fans. I love being able to go out there and put on a show. This football team means a lot to them and it means a lot to us. I feed off their energy. It was fun going out with a bang to end the first half and put us up big again."
