Virginia Tech matters compounded against Vanderbilt with key defensive injury

As if losing to Vanderbilt, 34-27, in overtime wasn’t bad enough on Saturday afternoon, the Virginia Tech football team suffered just as big of a loss on their depth chart. Tuesday, head coach Brent Pry said that safety Jalen Stroman will miss a couple of weeks with an undisclosed injury.

Before Pry met with the media for his weekly session, the Hokies released their depth chart and Stroman was noticeably missing from the depth chart after exiting against the Commodores. The depth chart against Marshall looks different as Jaylen Jones and Mose Phillips will assume the duties against the Thundering Hurd. Freshman Quentin Reddish and Devin Alves are behind Jones and Phillips.

Stroman is a big loss for a defense that struggled to slow down Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia who used his arm and legs to beat the Hokies with an offensive gameplan that allowed the 2023 Conference USA Player of the Year at New Mexico State to rally his team and score the game-winning touchdown in the extra session.

On the bright side, Phillips played well for Virginia Tech and now Jones will take on a big load replacing the veteran Stroman. 

Some other key takeaways from Virginia Tech’s depth for their home opener against Marshall, Keli Lawson is being moved to will linebacker with Jaden Keller sliding over to the backup mike behind Sam Brumfield. Caleb Woodson goes from the backup star to the will spot behind Lawson and Miami transfer Kaleb Spencer is now the backup star.

On the offensive side, Nick Gallo isn’t listed on the chart as a tight end and Caleb Nitta is the backup center. The good news is that Kyron Drones, who struggled on the final drive of the fourth quarter and played just one play in overtime, is listed as the starter with Colin Schlee as the backup.