Nine true freshmen have seen game action for Virginia Tech this season. Let’s update their status and see exactly how they’ve each contributed this season.

ROV Adonis Alexander – 7 games, 5 starts, 345 defensive plays, 44 special teams plays, 389 total plays

Alexander took over as Virginia Tech’s starting rover during the Purdue game, and he’s held onto it ever since. He has three interceptions, and he’s one of Tech’s best open field tacklers. He’s got some work to do in the passing game, but his future looks extremely bright.

CB Jahque Alleyne – 6 games, 4 defensive plays, 34 special teams plays, 38 total plays

Alleyne didn’t play against Ohio State, but he made his collegiate debut the following week against Furman. He’s only been on the field for four defensive plays. He’s see action in 34 special teams plays, making one tackle. Because of the injury to Kendall Fuller and the move of Greg Stroman to offense, Alleyne is actually in the two-deep at cornerback. He is one play away from potentially being a contributor on defense.

TE Xavier Burke – 1 game, 6 special teams plays, 6 total plays

Burke was injured to begin the season, and then he appeared on six special teams plays against East Carolina. He has not appeared in a game since. I’m going to assume that he re-injured himself and will apply for a medical hardship waiver. If he isn’t injured, then it was a very poor decision to play him in that one game.

LB Tremaine Edmunds – 7 games, 1 offensive play, 161 special teams plays, 162 total plays

Despite being a linebacker, Edmunds hasn’t played defense all year, but he actually has one snap at tight end. However, he has a whopping 161 special teams plays. That’s more than any other player on the team, regardless of age. The next closest is Ronny Vandyke at 146. Bud Foster and Frank Beamer would like to get Edmunds some time at backer, but they would have to blow somebody out to do that. Still, I have to ask, why didn’t he play in the fourth quarter against Purdue and Furman? The other backup backer, Jamieon Moss, did not play defense in those games either. If the staff really viewed him as the backer of the future, then they should have gotten him defensive reps in those two blowouts early in the season.

QB Dwayne Lawson – 5 games, 36 offensive plays, 36 total plays

I’m a bit disappointed in how Tech has used Dwayne Lawson. That being said, with Brenden Motley as the starting quarterback, Lawson didn’t bring anything different to the table. You could run the exact same plays with Motley as you could with Lawson. Now that Michael Brewer is back, the situation changes. Will the Hokies give Lawson that wildcat package now? We’ll see.

The biggest thing for Lawson has been the reps he’s gotten as the #2 quarterback for the last six weeks. Because of those reps and that extra time in the film room, he will be better prepared to compete for the starting job in the spring. That said, now that he’s no longer the #2 quarterback, he’s going to be precious little gameplanning reps in practice, and that will slow down his development.

LB Carson Lydon – 5 games, 21 defensive plays, 29 special teams plays, 50 total plays

I don’t particularly like how the Carson Lydon situation has been handled. He was going to redshirt until the Andrew Motuapuaka injury, and of course Tech would have had

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