On Monday, Virginia Tech quarterback Kyron Drones and running back Bhayshul Tuten were named ACC Players of the Week after their performances in the team’s victory over Pitt. They’re the second Hokies duo to earn the honors this season, joining linebacker Keli Lawson and punter Peter Moore, who received the recognition on Sept. 11 after the Purdue loss.
Drones (6-2, 234), a redshirt sophomore quarterback from Pearland, Texas, was terrific in his third career start on Saturday, passing for three touchdowns and rushing for two. Since 1987, the only other Virginia Tech player to accomplish that feat was Logan Thomas, who did it twice. What’s more, Drones joined an elite crew of former Hokies to score five touchdowns in a game in the last 25 years: Michael Vick, Lee Suggs, Bryan Randall, Thomas, Jerod Evans and Josh Jackson.
Drones was 12-for-19 passing for 228 yards against the Panthers, which featured two touchdowns of 50-plus yards to Da’Quan Felton and Jaylin Lane. He had the best QBR across the ACC on Saturday. On the ground, he carried the ball 21 times for 41 yards, scoring from the 1- and 10-yard line.
In three starts, Drones is 50-for-86 (58%) for 578 yards with four touchdowns and one interception. He’s ran the ball 58 times for 190 yards (3.3 avg) in that span, too.
Tuten (5-11, 205), a Paulsboro, N.J., native, had his best game in a Hokie uniform to date, rushing for 109 yards on 24 carries (4.5 avg) against Pitt. He was also a threat out of the backfield, catching four passes for 37 yards, highlighted by a 12-yard screen that went for a touchdown. Tuten is the second Tech player since 1987 to have at least 24 rushes and four catches in a game, joining Dwayne Thomas, who did so twice in 1993.
Tuten has steadily improved through five games with the Hokies. After rushing for just 104 yards in the first three games, he went for 88 and 109 yards, respectively, in his last two performances. He’s continued to be a threat in the passing game, too, and has 12 receptions for 132 yards (11.0 avg) and two scores this season.
Drones and Tuten are the first Virginia Tech quarterback-running back duo to earn ACC Player of the Week honors. The program had multiple quarterback-wide receiver combos over the years, from Bryan Randall and Josh Hyman to Josh Jackson and Cam Phillips. The Hokies even had a running back-wide receiver combo in 2012 with David Wilson and Marcus Davis, but it’s the first time for a QB-RB pairing.
Tech (2-3, 1-0 ACC) turns its attention to No. 5 Florida State on Saturday (3:30 p.m. ET, ABC). The team returns home after that for a homecoming game vs. Wake Forest on Saturday, Oct. 14 that will kickoff at 3:30 p.m. ET and be televised on the ACC Network.
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Cam’Ron Kelly gave 400% effort to be selected as defensive back of the week.
You have to give Pry and company kudos for their Portal pickups. From Drones and Tuten to Lane, Gosnell, APR and Payne there are some solid contributors. Jennings would be too I’m sure except for his injury. This was a team that needed an early talent upgrade, and Pry probably deserves more credit than he’s gotten for using the portal.
For sure. That is a big part of building up a program until you can get big talent directly through recruiting. And as Dabo is finding out, you may have to keep doing it even if you get big talent directly.
VT is never going to get BIG talent directly through HS recruiting (at least until if or when VT gets an SEC/B1G invite and even that won’t guarantee anything). The best bet forward for this program is to focus intently on under-recruited/later-developing players at smaller schools – or high recruits stuck behind older players or in a bad fit system-wise at top tier schools. The whole “win back the state” sounds nice – particularly to the nostalgic for 2002 crowd – but it’s not a winning strategy for program which simply doesn’t have the resources/location to compete with the top ACC programs, let alone SEC/B1G.
Great article David. Thank you! So excited for our Hokies to get well deserved recognition 🙌🏻 So happy for both of them and so proud of the hard working coaching staff and players. Go Hokies😎🏈😋
Tuten runs hard AF … he leaves NOTHING on the field. Great get by Pry and Co.!