Pry has named Wells the starter, but that Drones will play in every game. When has a two qb system worked?

No real judgments offered, but just a look at what happened in each game:


My general take (here's the judgment!) is that people remember him being worse than he was because of the ODU game and the team's final record. He was put in a lot of bad spots by the offensive structure or by his wide receivers, and he wasn't good enough to overcome that - but with a much better supporting cast around him, he should be able to put together a decent 2023 anyway.

As a side note (and unrelated, just because I rewatched all the games and it jumped out), I hate to rag on individual guys too much unless it's an individual play or something, but... man, are Jalen Holston and Brion Murray dudes who jumped out as addition-by-subtraction opportunities for the 2023 edition of this team.

The 2025 ATH target had an impressive opener, scoring on a 36-yard receptions and a five-yard run. He also hauled in an interception at safety. Not a lot of quotes directly related to Virginia Tech, but the Hokies are one of the teams sticking out in his recruiting process. He plans to get back on campus this fall for a game.

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2025 PG Chance Mallory:

From post-practice today. Connor couldn't make it (he'll be there tomorrow), so what I've had passed along:

As I noted earlier, Grant Wells will be QB1, Bob Schick the RG starter for the opener, at least.

Nick Gallo has an injury that they need to evaluate the severity of (my editorializing here: that means at least a sprain of some sort, they'll get imaging from the medical folks and know if it's just a sprain or something that will require significant time off).

Gunner Givens had a surgery and will be out for a few weeks. (My even more opinion-y editorializing... perfect time to start looking at the offensive scheme, Gunner!)

Jeremiah Coney also had surgery, will be out at the beginning of the season. Obviously not a huge deal as long as Tuten/Thomas remain healthy. There's not a pure power back beyond the two guys at the top of the depth chart, though.

I want to preface this by saying there's not going to be much groundbreaking stuff to reveal here. I wasn't given information about any specific plays (the folks I talked to wouldn't know or care unless those specific plays came from specific players), but more vibes-based.

The quarterback competition remains the same. I assume we're going to get the official word about a starter from Pry and Bowen when they speak to the media at 6:45, and that the starter for the opening game is going to be Grant Wells. I know that's not going to be exciting for many fans (though I'm less worried about it), but the reality is that his comfort in the offense is much stronger than Kyron Drones's - for good reason, of course - and he has the arm to also make the big plays. Drones has too much of a boom-or-bust quality at this stage, whereas Well's floor is much higher, and the ceiling not appreciably lower (except in the run game, where the QBs take extremely limited contact in camp).

The injury situation has been clearing up. They probably aren't getting as many full-go reps as the coaches would like, but there's been participation from guys like Bhayshul Tuten and DaeQuan Wright to the extent that they're not missing the mental reps, and getting back into the swing of things physically. Malachi Thomas has been heavily-used throughout camp, but if Tuten's back to 100% in a week and a half, he should have the comfort to go.

The surprise (at least for me) has come at WR, where Ali Jennings and Jaylin Lane are expected starters... but fellow incoming transfer Da'Quan Felton has been making a case for a starting gig. His initial explosiveness is not the best at the position group, but Pry and Mines have not been joking around when talking about his catch radius. His size can mean he's open even when he's not open, and that's something VT can really use - it was the one area where Kaleb Smith was really helpful last year (and as I've said a number of times, Smith would've been a great No. 2 or No. 3 option, and his struggles as a No. 1 were somewhat a matter of poor circumstance: even if the reality ends up being that he just wasn't good enough for the role he was cast into, it's not his fault that was the role). The other surprise has been Da'Wain Lofton, who's one of the guys looking like a starting spot saw a guy transfer in over him... but he's not going down without a fight. It remains to be seen if his dropsies resume in live action, but they've been less of an issue in camp than expected.

Offensive line is still looking for that one starter - at guard - and it seems like the staff is doing what they can to find a guy to fill it, rather than go with Bob Schick. Similar to Smith last year, Schick would be good in a certain role (and it's the role he coincidentally had last year: backup at multiple positions), but the one that is available might be a bridge too far for him. It feels like the coaches would rather try a number of young guys and ride through the growing pains - and if one of those guys doesn't win the job, they can at least use the experience of competing for it to improve as a backup option - and build for the future. Alas, no body has been able to do it. Schick got starters reps and is expected to start, at least for the opener.

The other position of question is linebacker. My take is that Alan Tisdale is perhaps the best of the ILB options... but that might make him too valuable to start at either of them. He can be a really good backup at two spots, or step into one or the other in case of injury, etc. Keli Lawson has been getting starters' reps at WLB, and Jaden Keller at MLB. It's totally possible that when the lights come on, we see that Tisdale seizes one of the starting gigs, and the rotation right now is to see which of Lawson or Keller is going to be too tough to take off the field (with Tisdale supplanting the other). Either way, there's been enough development that the Hokies have multiple options at multiple linebacker positions... with Tisdale often representing the "multiple."

On special teams, the staff is impressed with Kyle Lowe's leg, and they wanted to use the scrimmage on Saturday to give a little bit of game pressure to see if he can do it under a bit of mental/emotional stress. I got conflicting reports about how well it went, but I think with both Lowe and John Love available this Fall, there's going to be a bit of rotation (or situational use) across the kicking game.

From @Adam Gorney:


Hokies not mentioned in the relevant section, unfortunately. (Though I think that's mostly an oversight - VT a more serious factor than Tennessee, for sure. USC definitely a wildcard as Adam mentions. And Georgia has sort of always been the program Cole wants, just remains to be seen where he fits with them).

With week one in the books, a micro-reaction to the seven players' performances and how their recruiting stock is affected (keep in mind, the changes from each single week can only be minuscule given all the other data we have, just a fun little exercise here):

No surprise there - I would imagine he's likely seen as similar in quality as a high school player as he is as a college prospect (where he's New Jersey's No. 1 offensive lineman according to Rivals)


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Information about the Saturday scrimmage what happened any news

Another pretty weak slate that will require a really strong performance (like 9-2 or better) to be seriously in the at-large conversation when conference play begins - though of course the ACC slate will be another opportunity to play their way into that discussion:

I haven't heard definitively from either Mohammed or sources with the Hokies, but I feel pretty darn good about this one. 2024 SG from Charlotte and the son of former NBA player Nasr Mohammed:

PFF liked the Hokies' tackling more than I was expecting last year (my lingering feeling is that it mostly stunk), but what can we expect this season?

Will I ever type "Unitas" without writing "United" on the first try? Stay tuned...

His house was reduced to rubble and his father killed in what appears to be a natural-gas explosion last night:

Not really a true tournament since it's a series of one-off games, but the spotlight will be on as the Hokies play Kansas:

Seven future Hokies were in regular-season action last weekend. As you'll be able to do all season, check out their stat updates here:

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From @RivalsFriedman: