While there were many positive takeaways from Virginia Tech's first game of the year, it still goes down as an L in the loss column. South Carolina was the better team in the end. Despite the 24-11 neutral-site loss to the Gamecocks in Atlanta, the Hokies showed some signs of being an improved team over what they were a season ago. However, they need their most important player to be better.
Kyron Drones had an opportunity to keep pace with Heisman Trophy contender LaNorris Sellers early in the game, but just could not connect on enough passes in crucial spots to keep the chains moving. Yes, he was breaking in a new offensive scheme with Philip Montgomery taking over as coordinator. Unfortunately, head coach Brent Pry seems to be growing tired of the same issues regarding Drones.
With this being his fifth season as a Power Four football player, he is running out of time for it to click.
Brent Pry comments on Kyron Drones' challenging day as a passer
During the postgame press conference, Pry commented on Drones' 15-of-35 day at the podium.
"Yeah, honestly the throws in the red zones, I was really disappointed. That stuff that he's moved past, I haven't seen that necessarily in camp. We can't make that play. We need those points down there. We got to be smarter than that. We had three drops out there that we got to have."
Pry continued by saying that Drones needed to be more precise as a passer, but there is progress.
"I thought there were a couple down the stretch in the fourth quarter that need to be on the money right there. He's got a chance to keep the chains going and make that thing a one-score game again, and we were misfiring there, but we'll look at the film. He'll own it more than anybody but he did some good things with his feet. He made some nice throws. I thought he showed poise. First game back, certainly something we can grow from."
After watching the game unfold, not all of Drones' incompletions where his fault. Both Virginia Tech and South Carolina had more than their fair share of drops in the game. However, seeing a third-year starter complete under 50 percent of his passes in Week 1 of the season is not a great sign moving forward. Montgomery's offense is scheming guys open, but Drones is not hitting his targets in stride.
With a huge Week 2 game at home vs. Vanderbilt coming up, the Hokies will need to be ready for it.
When is the game going to finally slow down for Kyron Drones at QB?
Perhaps the most telling and potentially ominous thing Drones said at the podium during his post-game press conference was that he sees no difference between ACC and SEC defenses. He felt that SEC speed was not really at play on Sunday. That may be true, but South Carolina was working with a new offensive coordinator, too. Sellers was still able to execute at a much higher level than Drones...
Overall, Virginia Tech fans are starting to run out of patience with the head-coaching/quarterback tandem of Pry and Drones. Both offered a ton of promise when taking over in their respective roles, but neither has lived up to lofty expectations just yet. Pry was hired away from James Franklin's Penn State staff to recruit the Tidewater Region. Drones came over from Baylor to bring the Hokies back.
Ultimately, Pry can lean into Drones because he knows he has to lean on him at some point. Again, what happened in Atlanta on Sunday did provide some level of clarity that thinks may go differently for the Hokies in ACC play. However, starting out the season at 0-2 with back-to-back losses to SEC would not sit well with the folks in Blacksburg. Drones and Pry have to be better in short order here.
No matter the scheme, accuracy issues remain a constant problem in Drones' game ever leveling up.