Virginia Tech Football Notes: Duke, Redshirting, Injury Updates

On Tuesday, Virginia Tech head coach Brent Pry addressed the media for his weekly press conference ahead of Duke on Saturday (12 p.m., RSN). 

Pry provided injury updates, gave some insight into the Hokies’ redshirting world and highlighted the challenges the Blue Devils present.

Kendricks Earns Depth Chart Boost

Tech released its updated depth chart on Tuesday. Of the three changes, the biggest came at defensive tackle.

Mario Kendricks, a 6-0, 290-pound senior from Kissimmee, Fla., separated himself from the rest of the group with his performance vs. Georgia Tech. He posted two tackles for loss and one sack, which came in the fourth quarter.

“To me, he’s probably playing better, outplaying everybody at the tackle spot right now,” Pry said of Kendricks on Tuesday. “He’s gotten better each week. He’s a smart player, he’s hard-working. He plays with leverage.

“I thought that that particular game was his best in terms of his pass rush and getting on edges and really saw a difference in how he approached pass situations, and it showed up.”

Kendricks was all over the place. He recorded a tackle and a quarterback hurry in the second quarter on back-to-back plays. Later, he had a nine-yard sack on first down that led to a third-and-19 for the Yellow Jackets.

Despite them converting, it was a huge play in the game. Kendricks has 16 tackles and four TFLs in nine appearances this season for the Hokies.

“Unfortunately we couldn’t capitalize on the big sack, but it could have been the difference right there,” Pry said. “Should have been.”

After a solid performance against Georgia Tech, linebacker Keli Lawson also switched positions. After practicing at Will and Sam throughout the year, he’s been moved to Will behind Alan Tisdale.

Lawson was injured in the preseason and had surgery, forcing him to miss a good chunk of fall camp. Since returning, his playing time has varied, but he had some good opportunities against GT and finished with four tackles. He also had a pick six after he shadowed Yellow Jackets’ quarterback Zach Pyron, batted a pass up in the air, caught it and returned it seven yards.

“Once he begins to understand defense as a whole and not just his puzzle piece, it’s just the whole thing, how he fits in it and how everybody’s moving, he’s going to be a really good player,” linebacker Dax Hollifield said of Lawson. “He’s really reckless with his body, which is a good trait to have at linebacker. He blitzes with his hair on fire. He’s just a good player.”

The third note is at kick returner where Cole Beck is now listed as the No. 1 option. The Blacksburg native saw his first action for Virginia Tech on Saturday and fielded three kickoffs for 59 yards.

Dorian Strong Out at Duke

Veteran cornerback Dorian Strong hasn’t played since Sept. 22 vs. West Virginia due to a hand injury. Ahead of the trip to Durham, Pry ruled him out.

Running back Malachi Thomas is listed as doubtful. He left the NC State game on Oct. 27 holding his left leg, the same one he injured before the beginning of the year and forced him to miss the first five games. He was listed as doubtful last week, too.

Both Strong (four games) and Thomas (three) are under the NCAA’s four-game limit for redshirting, and Pry said the staff has held talks about redshirting both players.

Walk-on wide receiver P.J. Prioleau left the Georgia Tech game on a golf cart on Saturday. Pry announced he suffered a season-ending non-surgical injury.

Who Should Redshirt?

A few freshmen are involved in the redshirt conversation at the moment, headlined by Tucker Holloway.

The wide receiver returned a punt 90 yards for a score against the Yellow Jackets, and Pry said the Hokies have already met with him twice this week to discuss the situation. Holloway’s only played in three games for Virginia Tech this fall.

“He’s worked really hard to earn an opportunity,” Pry said of Holloway. “He’s put us in a tough decision. He and I talked twice this week already. He had conversations with Coach [Fontel] Mines, with his dad. We’ll have another conversation here following the Duke game, just kind of about his redshirt opportunity and what we want to do there. No decision yet. He’ll play this week.”

Offensive guard Braelin Moore is a player the Hokies are trying to redshirt currently. He’s hit the four-game mark already, and Tech held him out of Saturday’s game to preserve the shirt. Pry said the discussions with Moore and offensive line coach Joe Rudolph were positive, and the move created an opportunity for Bob Schick.

Tight end Harrison Saint Germain played in four games earlier in the season but has not played since. That’s been the opposite case for running back Bryce Duke, who has played in all nine. Meanwhile, fellow tight end Dae’Quan Wright played in his fifth game vs. Georgia Tech.

Pry said as college football has evolved, it’s grown more difficult to make decisions on redshirting.

“It’s definitely more complicated than it’s ever been,” Pry said. “I think the four games has been good. I wish it was five, where you could play guys in bowl games if you need to because of opt outs. But it’s challenging. The portal makes everything challenging as far as managing your roster.

“Unfortunately, nowadays, you have to start having some of these type of meetings down the stretch in your season about guys and what they want to do, forgo their senior year or possible flight risk, things like that. The portal’s going to be a very active place for just about everybody.”

Duke Offense Poses Many Challenges

In year one under Mike Elko, the Blue Devils (6-3, 3-2 ACC) appear a completely different group from the group that went 3-9 (0-8) in 2021.

Elko’s a defensive-minded guy, much like Pry, who ventured to Durham from Texas A&M. So far, he’s done a solid job boosting Duke’s turnover margin, which ranks third in the country (1.56), and the offense is difficult to defend.

A 6-4 sophomore from Fairhope, Ala., Riley Leonard leads the Blue Devil offense. He ranks seventh in the ACC in rushing with 577 yards (6.3 avg) and nine touchdowns, and he’s fifth in the conference in passing yards, marginally ahead of Tech QB Grant Wells.

“Again, another talented dual-threat quarterback,” Pry said. “He can run the ball very well and he’s an accurate passer. He maybe doesn’t have the arm strength of the kid from Miami or something like that, but he can make good throws, a lot of RPOs, feeding off that run game, which is very good. … But he’s also mature, he’s a good decision-maker, he appears to be their leader. A very gutsy player.”

Pry also said Duke will pose the biggest test on the ground this year, and he’s right. The best ACC rushing attack Virginia Tech has seen in 2022 was Pitt; Israel Abanikanda rushed for 320 yards and six scores.

As a team, the Blue Devils have 1,873 rushing yards for an average of 5.4, good for second in the league behind Louisville. Pitt’s fourth with 1,618 yards (4.5 avg).

Four players have over 50 carries for Duke: Leonard (91), Jordan Waters (94), Jaquez Moore (58) and Jaylen Coleman (58). The main three all rank in the top 13 in the ACC – seventh, ninth and 13th, respectively. As a team, the Blue Devils have 26 rushing touchdowns, 17 from Leonard and Waters.

“They have a really good offense,” Hollifield said. “Really dynamic, a lot of zone read concepts, quarterback always has the option to pull it and run with the ball so you have to account for an extra hat when you have a running quarterback, which is sometimes tough. Really well-coached. … They play really hard, they do a good job, so we’ve got our work cut out for us.”