On Thursday, Virginia Tech and Brent Pry added three new analysts to the program’s support staff.
Dyrell Roberts and Jeff Carpenter will serve as offensive analysts, while Kerry Webb will focus on special teams. The trio joins offensive analyst Brian Crist and defensive analyst Xavier Adibi on staff.
Dyrell Roberts
A former Hokies wide receiver and kick returner, Roberts played in Blacksburg from 2008-2012.
He helped Virginia Tech to three ACC Championships over five seasons, totaling 96 catches, 1,363 yards and six touchdowns as a wideout. On kickoffs, Roberts had 62 returns for 1,577 yards and one touchdown, which came against Alabama in the 2009 season opener.
Roberts joins Pry’s staff from Western Illinois, where he’s spent the past three years as a wide receivers coach and pass game coordinator. He has five total years of Division I coaching experience.
Prior to his time with the Leathernecks, Roberts, a Smithfield, Va. native, worked at Norfolk State. He spent two seasons (2017-18) with the Spartans as the wide receivers coach and special teams coordinator, and his punt return unit led the FCS in average return.
Roberts mentored Marcus Taylor at Norfolk State, who earned Second Team All-MEAC honors at kick returner and third team honors at wideout. Taylor was the first Spartan in the school’s Division I era to make the all-conference team at multiple positions.
Before his time at Norfolk State, Roberts worked at Division II Saint Joseph’s College (2016-17) and Division III Earlham College (2015-16), both in Indiana. He got his start in coaching at the high school level at his alma mater, Smithfield, in 2013. He was the assistant head coach and co-offensive coordinator for the Packers.
Jeff Carpenter
A former undergraduate assistant at Penn State for four years, Carpenter comes to the Hokies from LSU.
A 2015 PSU alum, he spent much of his time breaking down film and data entry of personnel, formation and scheme in his time with the Nittany Lions. There, he worked alongside Brent Pry and offensive coordinator Tyler Bowen.
He also had a second stint with Penn State from 2018-20. He was an offensive quality control coach for 2018-19 and served as an offensive graduate assistant working with the wide receivers the following season. He coached the likes of Jahan Dotson, who was 19th in the nation in receiving yards in 2020.
After graduation in 2015, he worked as an offensive intern for the Houston Texans. Carpenter assisted with the offensive line and the offensive line coach while participating in all staff and offensive unit meetings.
He took his talents to Princeton in 2016, where he was an offensive quality control coach and assistant offensive line coach. Carpenter was responsible for self-scouting and broke down special teams film from opponents and Tigers’ offensive film. He also assisted the head coach during games and helped guide Princeton to an Ivy League title.
From there, his coaching journey took him to Bryant University, where he was the quarterbacks coach in 2017. Quarterback Price Wilson set a single-season record for passing yards with 3,311. After that season, he rejoined James Franklin’s staff in Happy Valley.
Kerry Webb
Webb ventures to Virginia Tech from Western Carolina, where he served as the team’s special teams coordinator and coached nickelbacks on defense.
He has coached at many different places, from Valdosta State and Tusculum College to Jacksonville University and Florida. Webb has mentored 14 all-conference players in his career, and he signed two All-Americans and coached three players who played in the NFL.
Webb coached at Valdosta State for four seasons (2017-20) before joining the staff at Western Carolina. There, he was the running backs coach and special teams coordinator. He helped the Blazers win the Division II National Championship. Running back Jamar Thompkins was the Gulf South Conference Freshman of the Year as well.
In stints with the Tusculum College (2016) and Jacksonville (2014-15), he served many different roles, from associate head coach and running backs coach to wide receivers coach and special teams coordinator. He also had a stint with the Dolphins from 2007-13. Webb was part of squads that captured Pioneer Football League championships in 2008, 2010 and 2014.
Webb started his career in the business at Florida, where he was a student video assistant from 2001-04. He possesses 12 years of Division I coaching experience.
Support Staff
For all hires related to Brent Pry’s staff hires, click here. Pry finalized his recruiting staff on Tuesday.
Here’s a look at Virginia Tech’s full support staff. Between the five analysts, there is 51 years of Division I coaching experience.
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Hey, VT is assembling a modern day staff! Love it.
If Carpenter graduated from PSU in 2015, how does he have 10 years of Div I experience?
One defensive analyst? Is that by design or is there be more hires pending?
Thanks! I would like to see a column included that shows which “role” is a new position compared to last year.
I guess in the “new world” of college football all these specialty assistants are needed to compete but hard to picture these as full time 365 day a year jobs.
well they measure every incident of players performance, and expect every move to be accessed and proper technique, then how each move relates to the each individual exercise they do in physical training, and the relationship to performance, then they track the players to the neutron plan and supplements they use and are they getting the appropriate mix for performance. Then after that are they managing the schools and personal life.
These assistants work after the official practice on each weakness on techniques. Then they report back to the assistant coaches,, the coordinator and head coach.
Sounds like the college professor job that consistently ranks as the easiest job in America.
Obviously, you have never been a prof.
I’d love to see this end-of-article chart juxtaposed (various #’s — amount of staff members $$ outlay, years of experience) w/what previous regime was given to work with. 🙂
Good stuff but I’m not a fan of adding up all D-I experience. Very Al Groh-ish
Agreed.