Brent Pry shares major Virginia Tech football injury updates

Through the first four weeks of the season, injuries have been building for the Virginia Tech football team. As each week passes, it seems like another player goes down on both sides of the ball.

Monday, head coach Brent Pry spoke with the media one day earlier than usual with the Hokies playing on a short week at Miami on Friday night. Like he always does, the third-year head coach touched on several topics, including injuries and there were some pretty big updates, which are getting mixed results.

On the defensive side, linebacker Keli Lawson is “day-to-day” and will be limited this week according to Pry after playing just four snaps against Rutgers. The Hokies linebackers have played well this season, but losing Lawson for a significant amount of time would be a tough loss. Another linebacker, Jayden McDonald is a “long shot” to play against the Hurricanes, which would be another huge loss.

The injury news didn't get better on Tuesday as defensive tackle Kemari Copeland is "unlikely to play" according to Pry and left guard Layth Ghannam is not going to play. Both injuries compound already banged up lines, especially on the offensive line which has struggled since Game 1 at Vanderbilt.

Copeland out is going to put more pressure on the rest of the tackles and make it difficult against Miami quarterback Cam Ward and running back Damien Martinez. The Hurricanes have been an offensive juggernaut in the first month and a big part of what they do is on the ground and Copeland's loss will be felt.

On offense, Ghannam joins a list of banged-up players with Jennings, Drones, and Tuten all fighting injuries, which is not good going into Miami. After the Hurricanes, the Hokies head to Stanford before getting a much-needed bye week to rest up some key players.