After nearly a month, the Virginia Tech football team will finally play their Duke's Mayo Bowl game on Friday night against Minnesota at Bank of America Stadium. When the ball is finally kicked off, the Hokies will be fielding a roster that has been hit hard by players opting out for the NFL Draft and transfer prortal, but all that does is it gives some of the younger players a big opportunity on a big stage.
With a ton of work and development needed going into next season, some of the younger Virginia Tech players are going to get big minutes against the Gophers, and win or lose, it will interesting to see how some of them play. Here are three x-factors for the Hokies for Friday night.
Pop Watson
As expected, head coach Brent Pry confirmed this week that Pop Watson will start at quarterback. Kyron Drones is returning next season with Watson and coming off of multiple injuries, it makes no sense for Drones to play. Collin Schlee will back up Watson and expect there to be some plays for the UCLA transfer in his final collegiate game.
Watson has played seven quarters in the final two games of the regular season against Duke and Virginia. He has been impressive so much so that if Drones opted for the portal, Watson would likely be QB1 heading into 2025. Watson has shown off his arm and his legs in his two games and if he's protected by a patchwork offensive line, he should be able to make some plays.
Ayden Greene
If Watson does get protection and time to throw, one wide receiver worth keeping an eye on his Ayden Greene. Jaylin Lane and Da'Quan Felton are not playing in the game, but Ali Jennings will be suiting up. Greene has been called on to make some plays this year and he has.
He had a touchdown run against Duke and made a nice touchdown catch against Miami back in September. He announced earlier in December that he's returning next season and will be one of the veterans in the wide receiver room returning currently on the roster and this is an opportunity for him to make some plays on a big stage.
Dante Lovett
On Tuesday, one of the Hokies' young and talented defensive backs, Dante Lovett, announced that he's returning for 2025. That's big news for Pry and his new defensive coordinator as Tech lost three players to the portal.
𝓘’𝓶 𝓫𝓪𝓬𝓴 𝓵𝓮𝓽’𝓼 𝓻𝓸𝓬𝓴 ! @HokiesFB @Triumph_NIL pic.twitter.com/5eYVcV0zll
— Dante Lovett (@dante_lovett) December 31, 2024
Lovett has impressed this season when he has got playing time and he even had a pair of big breakups against Marshall back in September when the Thundering Hurd picked on him against a bigger receiver. Lovett has an opportunity to put the rest of the ACC on notice for 2025 with a strong game against a Big Ten opponent.