Listening to Brent Pry during his spring practice press conferences, one thing is for sure, he likes the way things have been so far. Why shouldn’t he? He returns a lot of talent from last season’s 7-6 team that went 5-3 in the ACC over the last eight weeks to earn a Miltary Bowl berth and a season-ending victory over Tulane. It was a valuable month of practice and another game for the Hokies which was a big springboard toward the 2024 season.
The annual Virginia Tech Spring Game will be on Saturday afternoon at 3 o’clock at Lane Stadium to put the finishing touches on spring practices ahead of camp this summer. Here are three big questions facing the Hokies as the spring game gets closer.
How will the offensive line play out?
Virginia Tech brings back 21 starters from last season’s team, including along the offensive line. They added Montavious Cunningham from Georgia State in the transfer portal and could even look to upgrade there again in the spring portal, but they do return a bulk of the line.
Once ACC play began, they struggled against the top three teams, Florida State, Louisville, and North Carolina State, but were good in the other games. This season, with dual-threat QB Kyron Drones back along with running back Bhayshul Tuten breaking out at the end of the season he is on pace for an even bigger season in 2024. How well the offensive line plays will be a big part of the success of the offense next fall.
How does the defensive line look?
One area where there was some big retainment was along the defensive line where Antwaun Powell-Ryland and his 9.5 sacks return along with Josh Fuga. The defensive line became tough for ACC quarterbacks to play against over the final two months of the season.
One area in which Brent Pry added some talented depth in the transfer portal with Aeneas Peebles from Duke and Kelvin Gilliam from Oklahoma. Peebles had a good season with the Blue Devils and Gilliam struggled to get on the field a lot with the Sooners, but he should make an impact with the Hokies. Kemari Copeland from Iowa Western Community College has a chance to be an under-the-radar addition to the defense after having a strong JUCO career. There are some freshmen and some other players in the mix, but don't expect to see a lot of Powell-Ryalnd or Fuga, instead the players with something to prove.
How does the backup quarterback battle play out?
Most eyes will likely on how things go between Dylan Wittke and Pop Watson in the backup quarterback battle behind Kyron Drones. Pry said that they have cut back Drones' work in the scrimmages giving Wittke and Watson about 100 snaps each the last two weeks.
This is a big area that the Hokies need to get right, as we saw last fall when Grant Wells went down in Week 2 against Purdue, and Drones was brought in and the rest is history. Watson has an upside as he is a similar QB as Drones being a duel threat, something he had a lot of success with at Springfield Central High School where he earned Massachusetts Gatorade Player of the Year honors. Pry said that Drones will play some Saturday, however, Watson and Wittke will get plenty of action to make their case for the fall season.
It's hard to believe, but the Spring Game is almost here and there is a lot of excitement for it and the 2024 season.