Virginia Tech football suffers a massive season-ending injury at defensive tackle

Injuries have been piling up quickly for the Virginia Tech football team. Tuesday, the defensive line took a major hit when a transfer announced that his 2024 season is over due to an injury.

Iowa Western Community College transfer Kemari Copeland was working his way into the Hoies lineup early in the season, but he announced on Instagram that he will miss the rest of the season with a torn tricep, which requires surgery.

Kemari Copeland will use a redshirt for this season

Copeland suffered the injury against Rutgers on Sept. 21 after only playing four snaps. He missed last Friday night's 38-34 loss at Miami and will now red shirt for the rest of the season as he played the maximum of the NCAA's requirements for a redshirt, four games. He picked Virginia Tech over Arkansas, Tennessee, Auburn, Central Florida, Arizona State, North Carolina State, and Kansas.

Copeland was a sought-after defensive lineman in the portal and Brent Pry getting the commitment was big. He opened some eyes in the spring with his performance and then over the summer, he was the topic of conversation after a record-breaking squat.

This is a hit to the defensive tackle unit for the Hokies, who now have Duke transfer Aeneas Peebles, Oklahoma transfer Kelvin Gilliam, Josh Fuga, and Wilfried Pene, all of who were listed on this week's depth chart for their ACC game at Stanford on Saturday afternoon.

In four games this season, Copeland finished with six tackles and recorded three in games against Vanderbilt, a season-opening 34-27 loss in overtime in Nashville and in a 37-17 victory over Old Dominion on Sept. 14. Pry is fortunate to have some depth at tackle for the rest of the season to absorb the loss of Copeland, who has a bright future in Blacksburg.