Virginia Tech suddenly decimated by injuries heading into Clemson showdown
By Scott Roche
Slowly but surely, injuries are beginning to pile up for the Virginia Tech football team. Earlier this season, the Hokies lost Iowa Western Community College transfer Kemari Copeland to a season-ending injury and now injuries to key players keep popping up.
Last Saturday at Syracuse, quarterback Kyron Drones was ruled out right before kick-off, and running back Bhayshul Tuten dressed for the first half, but never played. To compound matters, backup QB Collin Schlee was injured on a drive in the fourth quarter which appeared to limit his mobility late in the game and overtime.
Tuesday, head coach Brent Pry met with the media ahead of this weekend's game at Lane Stadium against Clemson and the injury news was not good on multiple fronts as the Hokies look to become bowl-eligible this week against the Tigers.
Virginia Tech injuries mounting
- Kyron Drones (QB): Questionable
- Bhayshul Tuten (WR): Questionable
- Mansoor Delane (CB): Questionable
The good news is that Pry mentioned the Schlee was cleared and should practice without restrictions this week after being nicked up against the Orange. As for the others, well, the news was not sounding very promising.
According to Pry, Drones is better than he was at this time last week while Tuten is more or less the same after injuring his ankle against Georgia Tech on Oct. 26. Pry said that they will know more in the next couple of days, however, the news doesn't sound promising against a team that suffered their first ACC loss last week at home against Louisville and will be coming to Blacksburg angry.
Schlee played more than well enough last week to win and if the defense didn't implode in the second half, he would have. Malachi Thomas and Jeremiah Coney both ran the ball well enough to win. Still, as we all know, Clemson's defense is different than Syracuse's and much taller take for Virginia Tech, which suddenly is becoming a very banged-up team with key injuries to extremely key players.