Unlike most college football players who have been playing the sport since they were a kid, Wilfred Pene has only been playing football for a few years including his time at Virginia Tech.
After playing at a private school in Connecticut, Pene was recruited to play tight end for the Hokies as an intriguing raw talent who could be molded into a talented football player.
It didn't take long for Pene to experience a position change though with the French native moving to defensive tackle for the 2021 season. However, the timing of the move was unique to say the least as it came after fall camp creating an uphill battle for Pene to earn playing time to say the least.
That meant that J.C. Price and the Hokies' DL coaches had to play catch up with Wilfried Pene, but the Frenchman was more than ready to put in the extra work to get himself adjusted to the new position and push for any opportunity he can earn.
"Willy P's made great strides coming from tight end where all of a sudden he's given to us. He didn't get a chance to go through camp (in 2021). He was given to us into the season. He was just thrown into the individual and at the time, I didn't really have a lot of time to spend with him during practice. With him, it was time after practice, it was time with Korey Rush, extra meetings with him trying to catch him up," Price said.
The work paid off last season as Pene was called into action when one of Tech's main DTs Mario Kendricks went down with an injury. Pene stepped up and proved serviceable with some upside at the DT spot with 18 tackles on the season including 16 tackles during games in November.
Now, Pene has a full offseason to continue grow at defensive tackle with J.C. Price seeing how Pene is not only putting in the work, but he's learning well and avoiding making repetitive mistakes.
"The one thing about Willy P is that he's really motivated and he'll mess up one time and he'll fix it the next. The great thing about coaching a guy like that is that everyday he's learning something new and that's exciting, because once he learns it, he doesn't repeat the mistake," Price said.
His work ethic and ability to learn is something that has impressed his fellow teammates including Norell Pollard.
"That's another guy who just works hard and I said this before in another interview, he's playing for something bigger, he's playing for his whole country. That's the guy from France. Everyday he comes to work, he's learning. He's just a sponge, everything he's soaking it up and learning. That's the attitude and mentality that he comes with everyday which is great for our unit," Pollard said.
Part of that appears to be from how Pene is a part of a small contingent of European players in college football and among the few if only French athlete playing major college football. The effort that likely stems from that in part and his focus on not missing reps has stuck out to his teammates including Pollard who believes those traits will only help him continue to improve.
"His effort. That's a guy who's always pushing, always working hard. Price preaches covering down, getting to the ball. That's one thing he's going to always do. He's going to get to the ball. He's never going to miss a rep to not get to the ball and just having that effort, that's going to take him a long way itself," Pollard said.
Wilfried Pene is on the rise and is not only part of the now as the likely fourth DT for the Hokies this season, but also going to be a big part of the future on the interior of Tech's defensive line.
