Brandon Facyson Will Use a Medical Redshirt
By Tim Thomas
Sep 6, 2014; Columbus, OH, USA; Virginia Tech Hokies cornerback Brandon Facyson (31) against the Ohio State Buckeyes at Ohio Stadium. Virginia Tech defeated Ohio State 35-21. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports
Entering the season, Brandon Facyson was one of the top cornerbacks returning in the ACC after having a great freshman season. There was tons of hype surrounding Facyson and Kendall Fuller with Fuller living up to the hype so far. Meanwhile, Facyson’s 2014 season was plauged by an injury that he hasn’t fully recovered from.
Facyson started the first three games but played very little in the second half of the games against Ohio State and East Carolina. Facyson was absolutely dominated by WR Cam Worthy in the first half which proved to be very costly in the end. After that, the Hokies did not play Facyson in the following three games as they decided whether to use a medical redshirt on Facyson or not.
Now, a decision has been made.
This is not a major surprise as Brandon Facyson has clearly not been the same player and needs to make sure that he fully recovers from his shin injury. This spring will be big for Facyson to prove that he can at least get back to the level he was at last season if not be even better entering next season when the Hokies likely should be a top 15 team entering the season.
The last couple weeks have proven that the Hokies will be fine at cornerback without Facyson with Donovan Riley and Chuck Clark doing a solid job across from future All-American Kendall Fuller. Facyson was not one of the top 3 cornerbacks when he played due to his injury so the move to use the medical redshirt also makes sense in this way.
With Facyson out, Greg Stroman is now the number four cornerback and might be able to get some valuable playing time and gain some experience. Stroman could have a bigger role at cornerback in a couple of seasons and gaining some experience now could be very valuable.
This is the right decision as Brandon Facyson needs to get healthy.