As the final days pass before Saturday’s season opener against William & Mary, Virginia Tech head trainer Mike Goforth has been kept plenty busy.
Injuries on both sides of the ball, some lingering and some new, have left some unknowns about Saturday’s contest.
“We’re pretty close to as healthy as we’ve been since spring ball,” defensive backs coach Torrian Gray said. “Brandon (Facyson) is close. He is working his way back. (Deitrick) Bonner is getting his ankle back healthy, so we’re getting close.”
Gray said that Facyson, who started nine games, had five interceptions and made 27 tackles last season but is battling a hip flexor injury, will start at cornerback if he is healthy. If not, sophomore Chuck Clark will start the third game of his career.
“I still think he’s rusty, myself,” defensive coordinator Bud Foster said. “He’s really only practiced for the last 10 days, so to speak. For sure he’ll be in in our nickel package. We’ll see, we’re going to talk about it more as a staff.”
Desmond Frye was in blue during Tuesday’s practice as a result of a shoulder injury, but Gray believes Frye will be “cleared to go.”
On the other side of the ball, Trey Edmunds benefited from the three days off since last Friday’s scrimmage. Edmunds, who will play versus the Tribe, is trying to make a full recovery from a broken leg suffered against Virginia last season.
“We can’t wait for Trey to get healthy,” offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler said. “I think he’s getting healthier and healthier every day. Is he 100 percent right now, no he’s not. But you want a guy like him. He represents everything we stand for and you want him to get healthy.”
“I thought (Edmunds) looked good,” running backs coach Shane Beamer said. “He looked good, he looked fast and he’s a motivated guy to get back to where he [was]. And I think he will be.”
Fellow running back J.C. Coleman will be on the field the first play of the season, and freshmen Shai McKenzie and Marshawn Williams will be in the fold as well.
As to how Beamer will breakdown the carries amongst the (at least) four running backs that will play on Saturday, that hasn’t been decided yet.
“(I’ve thought about it) a little bit in my head,” he said. “But nothing that we’ve solidified at this point.”
Virginia Tech will send out its weekly injury report Thursday night.
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I would hope that Edmund’s gets no carries against W&M. I would hope that last year thought Shane the value of a 100% Trey vs. an 85% Trey. Plus, this year he actually has OPTIONS!
We’ll see.
Yeah not sure why Trey would get carries. Let him heal for crying out loud. Especially when you’ve got Shai-town healthy and IMHO is the best back we have. JCC, he’s healthy, understandable…. See what he’s got now that he’s 100% healthy aand let’s see if he shows that he can handle the rock vs OSU next week and if all that potential comes to fruition. Marshawn too-he may not be 100% and I could certainly be wrong, but from my own experience with the same hernia injury… I don’t think it could hurt to play him, once the hernia is repaired by surgery, its not going to be a nagging injury like a high ankle sprain. Let him loose too. That’s 3 guys right there, don’t see the need to hurry Trey into action.
MAN…injuries upon injuries. Some of these sure seem to be lingering. Also, WHY would you play Trey and Marshawn when neither is 100%? I must tell myself that the coaches wouldn’t put EITHER of them on the field if there was ANY chance of re-injury or setback… I “think” that is so, but past history may indicate otherwise. Maybe our desperation on offense (especially against a decent 1AA defense) is pushing us to play guys who seemingly would benefit from 2 more weeks to heal!
Then again, maybe the plethora of injuries the past few years has me paranoid. Maybe both Trey and Marshawn are 100% physically healed, and the mental part of getting live action is the missing piece…i HOPE that’s all it is!!!
Guess we’ll know soon enough………..
They probably want to get their feet wet before OSU.