The Virginia Tech football team has began practice for the Duke’s Mayo Bowl, which will take place on January 3 in Charlotte against Minnesota. We’re 16 days away from kickoff, which seems crazy, but there’s still a lot going on with the Hokies in this episode of Virginia Tech Football News.
Kyron Drones Injury Update
It was revealed on Friday that Virginia Tech quarterbacks Kyron Drones and Pop Watson would return for the 2025 season, which is good news. It doesn’t sound like Drones will play in the bowl game, with Watson likely getting the most of snaps against the Golden Gophers.
Drones hasn’t played since week 9 against Clemson at home and that was the only game he played in November. Wednesday, head coach Brent Pry revealed why his signal caller was out. He said that Drones has been dealing with multiple injuries, an MCL, stress fracture, and turf toe. That would go a long way into explaining why he struggled to move around against the Tigers and why we haven’t see him since.
Pry said there’s a lot of interest in unfilled coaching positions. Last week, Pry did something many people didn’t expect him to do: he fired three assistant coaches, primarily defensive coordinator Chris Marve. The Hokies defense had a lot of potential, but it struggled throughout the season. Pry stated that there is a lot of interest in filling the unfilled positions on his staff.
According to Kolby Crawford of 247Sports, Pry stated there is “an unbelievable amount of interest” in the coach jobs. That is all well and good, but filling such positions should happen sooner rather than later. Potential Bowl opt-outs There was positive news for players at practice on Wednesday. According to Andy Bitter of Tech Sideline, despite entering the transfer portal, running back Malachi Thomas, wide receiver Xavion Turner-Bradshaw, and cornerback Jonathan Pennix attended practice. Wide receivers Stephen Gosnell and Ali Jennings both participated in practice, which was even better news.
Bhayshul Tuten, Kaden Moore, Dorian Strong, Keonta Jenkins, and Wilfried Penne were among the players that entered the transfer portal or declared for the NFL Draft but did not attend practice. Is there a chance some of them will still choose to play against Minnesota? “Some of those guys have opted out, and some of them are still deciding,” Pry explained. “I’m not going to get into the particulars yet.” It’d be shocking if any of those players choose to play in Charlotte. Actually, it would be really shocking.
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