Virginia Tech head coach Brent Pry spoke with the media after open practice on Wednesday and provided updates on injuries, notes on Boston College and more.
Practice Observations And Injury Updates
Here are some observations from the 25 minutes of practice reporters saw on Wednesday:
Practicing Multiple Positions
Connor Blumrick was splitting some time with the quarterbacks and the tight ends. He was part of the group of quarterbacks practicing read options with the running backs as the media entered the session before transitioning to the tight end group.
After spending the majority of last season at quarterback, Blumrick transitioned to a tight end/H-back role in the offseason. He played against Old Dominion and had one target but did not record any stats.
Kaleb Smith Continues To Progress
One of seven team captains, Smith missed the second half in Norfolk due to an injury. Right before halftime, the Bumpass, Va. native came up limping after a long pass play, and he came up holding his leg a few plays later. Pry listed him as day-to-day on Tuesday.
“Kaleb’s further along for sure,” Pry said after Wednesday’s practice. “He did a lot today with the training staff that made us all feel a lot better about him playing.”
Smith played a big role in the first half at ODU, catching three passes for 45 yards. He had one of the Hokies’ biggest plays on the night, a 39-yard reception from Grant Wells that put the offense at the Monarch 21-yard line. That set the table for Tech’s first touchdown in the game, an 18-yard rush from Wells.
Running Back Room On The Mend
Running back Malachi Thomas was at practice but was watching from the side. The sophomore, who was previously deemed week-to-week, was dressed out. Pry said Thomas is a long shot to play for Virginia Tech on Saturday against Boston College, but “is an incredibly fast healer and has progressed really well.”
“I’m not counting him out,” Pry said of Thomas. “With a Saturday night game, I would probably run this thing all the way to Saturday morning if we can. If he’s ruled out before that, OK, but otherwise, that could be a gameday decision.”
Thomas missed parts of spring practice and much of fall camp due to an injury to his left foot. As a true freshman in 2021, he burst on the scene in October with back-to-back games of over 100 yards rushing. Against Syracuse, he posted 21 carries for 151 yards; a week later, it was 25 rushes for 103 yards at Georgia Tech.
Pry said running back Jalen Holston has looked more like himself this week. The veteran did not practice much leading up to the season-opener at ODU, which limited his snaps, but could have an impact against the Eagles.
“This was a better week for him, absolutely,” Pry said of Holston. “You know, he hadn’t practiced for quite a while, so it was good to get him some reps in the game. I don’t think he would tell you he was 100%, obviously, but he got some good work and he’s had a good week so far so he’s got a chance to be at his best on Saturday.”
Holston had five rushes for 12 yards in the first game of the year. Keshawn King carried the running back room with 111 yards on 19 attempts, good for 5.8 yards per run.
Keli Lawson Will Play On Saturday
A 6-4, 215-pound redshirt freshman from Stephens City, Va., Lawson practiced at both Sam and Will linebacker in August. Though he picked up an injury that kept him out of parts of fall camp and forced him to miss the first game of the year, Pry said Lawson is going to play against Boston College.
Recruited as a wide receiver, Lawson played on both sides of the ball in high school. When Pry and his staff started in the winter, they moved him to linebacker. Though he hasn’t taken a collegiate snap at that spot, the coaches are confident he has the tools to succeed.
“He’s tall and thin, but he flies around,” Sam linebacker coach Shawn Quinn said of Lawson in August. “[He’s] got great speed, really good range. He’s just really new to this, but you can see the arc where he’s going if he keeps his hunger and attitude. He’s gonna be a big time player for us when it’s all said and done.”
Special Teams Notes
Virginia Tech committed a special teams error not seen very often in college football on Friday night.
Attempting a 38-yard field goal with less than two minutes before halftime, long snapper Enzo Anthony sent the ball over the hands of holder Peter Moore. The ball rolled into Tech territory, Moore’s recovery attempt failed, ODU picked it up and took it to the house. It was a potential 10-point swing in a three-point game.
Pry said Anthony hadn’t snapped the ball over somebody’s head all spring and all fall camp, but he bounced back from the gaffe with a solid snap on the next field goal.
“He’s snapped in games, he’s a proven guy as a short snapper and he’s had a good week,” Pry said of Anthony.
Justin Pollock is Tech’s snapper in long situations such as punts, while Anthony handles the shorter distances like field goals. That decision came down to how they performed in practice starting in the spring, and they both have their strengths.
Outside of the miscue, Pry thought the Hokies were “average” on special teams at Old Dominion.
“I thought our punt team did a nice job covering, securing,” Pry said. “There weren’t many yards after the catch. I thought we did a good job there. I’d like to see us kick the ball through the end zone a little bit better. We had been doing that and we had to cover some kicks, which is going to happen at times, but there were a few too many.
“Punt return, some missed yardage there, we gave up some yardage that you don’t like to see happen, so we’ve got to improve our decision-making and what we do.”
What To Expect From Boston College
Veteran quarterback Phil Jurkovec leads the Eagles’ offense, and he’s as experienced as they come in college football.
NFL scouts are high on the 6-5, 214-pound graduate student from Pittsburgh, and he’s getting back into the groove after missing a portion of 2021 due to injury. Here are his career stats:
292-490 (59.6%), 3,977 yards, 29 TD, 11 INT; 161 rush, 601 yards (3.7 avg.), 8 TD
“First of all, he’s got the ‘it’ factor,” Pry said of Jurkovec. “He’s one of those gutsy quarterbacks, he’s going to make big plays. He runs better than you think, and he runs tough. He can throw all the balls, he’s a veteran so he’s a battle-tested guy so we need to try and make it tough on him because he’s certainly good enough to beat you.”
In his two previous games against Virginia Tech, here are Jurkovec’s stats, taken from Chris Coleman’s game preview:
2020: 28-of-51 (54.9%) for 345 yards, 2 TDs, 2 INTs
2021: 7-of-13 (53.8%) for 112 yards, 0 TDs, 1 INT
The Hokies cruised past the Eagles in 2020, winning 40-14 in Blacksburg, but offensive issues – including Braxton Burmeister and Tre Turner missing due to injury – doomed Tech in Chestnut Hill last year. However, if Tech can get pressure against a young Boston College front, they could make Saturday night very uncomfortable for Jurkovec.
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I just hope all VT fans realize we didn’t get in the shape we’re in overnight and just because you have a new coach doesn’t mean your instantly more talented realistically if we win 6 games this season it would be an amazing coaching job
You guys are so gullible. Coach Pry is playing the media & apparently many posters like a fiddle.
He’s just giving you fodder for the “sky has fallen” & for the media types to write about something.
He’s masking the reality of true preparation for BC.
I think Coach Pry will eventually do a decent job in Blacksburg. However for him to state our special teams were average against ODU is a statement of denial or delusion. In my 33 years of being associated with this great university, that was easily the worst display of special teams ever. If this is considered average by Coach Pry, then I guess we can expect the same on a regular basis?? What does bad look like in his mind??
Agree 100%
He said….absent the field goal gaffe….. The special teams absent that crap play weren’t terrible and weren’t great. They were…’meh’. Average….
Yep, that is what he said…”absent the field goal gaffe” they were “average”. Big difference than saying as a whole special teams were average, which is not what he said.
Two things-
I hope the coaches told Moore to fall on the ball, instead of trying to ole’ the ball from the side. Never seen anything like that. Not that I blame him for the loss, but fall on the ball.
Second-BC’s QB is good and experienced. Regardless of last week and what he’s done against us before. 10-15 years ago, we used to eat good QBs for dinner. Last few years, we lose, every time. Saturday night that trend will continue.
Couldn’t agree more, no way we beat BC with an experienced qb, this team is not talented enough to handle that.
Not sure we will exceed 2 wins for the year……but hoping we at least show signs of improvement.
yeah, that recovery attempt was about as good as the snap
Yep….I’m a fan of Peter Moore in general but not his best game. Several punts seemed shorter than normal and that recovery attempt…sorry to say it, but that was some UVA level wussiness.
Yeah he was going to be like some secret weapon to make it hard for LBs and safeties to cover because he was a matchup problem. Hmmm
i hope that Coach Pry learned a lesson last week: You don’t play a guy that is not 100%, like Holston at ODU. He was hurt and it showed. Therefore; you do not play Thomas and Smith on Sat. night unless they are “Full Go.”
My sentiments exactly. We have 11 more games and playing hurt players guarantees they won’t be 100% healthy during the season. Take your lumps if you have to, but don’t make matters worse by not letting a player fully heal. I know this is a rough game and everyone that plays it has some kind of hurt, but not letting an injury fully heal can lead to disastrous results.
Hurt or not, IMO Holston is what he is at this point…strong as an ox and runs hard, but often seems to lack patience and field vision. Seems like he’s always running full speed right into a crowd of defenders.
Nonetheless, it is still a preference having a utility player in the game instead of any other QB on the roster. It certainly does not show confidence in the 1st Team QB. It’s not like Blumrick is an exceptional run threat, particularly when everybody knows what the play will be.
We got 3 back up QBs and Blumrick is practicing with the QBs. Doesn’t sound like much confidence in our present QBs. We were told all off season how mentally tough and prepared our QBs were. However, now you put Blumrick( who only run) back in the mix. Interesting
Isn’t it pretty obvious he’s only going to run “wildcat” if he’s in at QB? I’d say so. They may mix in a trick pop pass, but it has nothing to do with how they feel about the other QBs
Exactly. So the entire world knows it and will be ready for it if he comes in at QB.
The same can be said of every wildcat qb ever.
“They’re not booing, they are saying Boooone”
Over react much?
Sounds Iike something Pry floating out there to give BC one more thing to prepare for.
Agreed. More likely we don’t see him in that role than we do.
+1 Agreed. Pry is playing parlor games with media, and thus the BC coaching staff. I like it.
To the **game 1** mob shouting, ‘Bench’em all, put in the 3rd stringer, OMG the transfer portal!!!’ — our quarterback room is just fine, folks.
We have no one talented enough at qb to be prepared for……a standard defense stops all our qb’s.
Minor detail: Blumrick had 2 consecutive targets on the last drive right? Surprising his limited looks given he was talked up in ths preseason