Linebacker Brett Warren and defensive end Jason Worilds, both of whom have
been questionable for Thursday’s Orange Bowl, are officially out for the game
and will not play. Warren is suffering from a knee he first injured in the Miami
game, and for Worilds, a season-long shoulder problem has finally caught up with
him.
Warren
first hurt his knee against the Hurricanes on November 13th, when he partially
tore his ACL. He aggravated the injury in the ACC Championship Game on December
6th, and a subsequent MRI revealed the tear. The Tech coaches decided not to
play him against Cincinnati, which means that Warren’s VT career is over. He has
already graduated and will not return to campus after the bowl game. He will
have surgery close to his family’s home in Northern Virginia.
Worilds has separated his left shoulder numerous times, and the separations
have taken their toll to the point where the Tech coaching staff feels it’s best
that he not play Thursday. Tech trainer Mike Goforth told Kyle
Tucker of the Virginian-Pilot:
"[Worilds has] had multiple dislocations (in the left shoulder), so
he’s got what you call a Bankart lesion (labrum tear, which is caused by
a dislocation and contributes to repeat dislocations) and a Hill-Sachs lesion
(damage to the head of the humerus, aka arm bone, caused by the humerus
cartilage hitting against the rim of the scapula). And the deal is, he’s not
going to play. As a medical staff … we’re taking that out of his hands. He
wants to play, but he’s had so much damage done to that shoulder that we’ve
gone ahead and scheduled surgery for Tuesday the 6th (Jan.). He’s played all
season with that thing and really been banged up, and we just feel it’s time
he gets off of it and rests."
Worilds, who is just a redshirt sophomore, had the same procedure done to his
right shoulder when he was a freshman.
Warren will be replaced in the lineup by redshirt freshman Barquell Rivers,
who has taken 28 snaps this year. Worilds will be replaced by Nekos Brown, who
has seen plenty of action and has one start, against Georgia Tech. The Hokies
have been played just three defensive ends — Worilds, Orion Martin, and Brown
— since the Florida State game on October 25th. The Hokies fourth defensive end
is Steven Friday, but Friday hasn’t taken a snap since the FSU game, so it will
be interesting to see if the coaches use Friday to spell Martin and Brown, or if
Martin and Brown will just take every snap.
Warren and Worilds are the second and third starters the Hokies have lost for
the Orange Bowl. The other is redshirt senior Nick Marshman, who was
academically ineligible after first semester. Marshman, who has already
graduated from Tech, was taking graduate courses and failed to pass the required
six hours to remain eligible.
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