Heading into tonight’s home tilt against Armuchee, Darlington (Rome, GA) sits at 7-0 and is ranked no. 5 in the state in Class AA. The Tigers have played well despite being without the services of one of its top players in offensive lineman Patrick Kearns, a Virginia Tech commitment.

Kearns, a 6’5”, 270-pound senior, is recovering from a stress fracture in his foot. The injury was discovered this summer and required surgery. While in all likelihood the future Hokie will miss his entire senior season, the injury “won’t affect my future,” Kearns said.

“My doctor said my foot will get back to full strength, if not stronger to begin with. I’m going to err on the side of caution when it comes to playing. If they say I’m good to go and I can’t hurt it I probably would play, but I’m not going to rush anything. I would love to play, though.”

Kearns verbally committed to the Hokies while in Blacksburg for a recruiting event on July 25. The Tech coaches knew about the injury at the time.

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