Virginia Tech Releases Its Depth Chart Ahead of Week Two Game vs Vanderbilt
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While Virginia Tech played South Carolina tighter than most expected, the Hokies fell short because they could not get anything going on offense. The Hokies wasted opportunities in opposing territory, and quarterback Kyron Drones did not look sharp. Still, it was the first game of the season, and the thing that Virginia Tech can hang their hats on from this game is that their defense looked sharp.
Ahead of Saturday's game, Virginia Tech has released its depth chart.
New Depth Chart for Saturday
Position | Starter | Backup #1 |
|---|---|---|
QB | Kyron Drones | Pop Watson or Garret Rangel |
RB | Marcellous Hawkins or Terion Stewart | Jeremiah Coney or P.J. Prioleau |
WR | Ayden Greene | Tucker Holloway |
WR | Donavon Greene | Devin Alves or Shemarius Peterkin |
WR | Takye Heath | Cam Seldon orIsaiah Spencer |
TE | Benji Gosnell | Harrison Saint Germain or Ja'Ricous Hairston or Zeke Wimbush |
LT | Johnny Garrett | Aidan Lynch |
LG | Layth Ghannam | Lucas Austin |
C | Kyle Altuner | Tommy Ricard |
RG | Montavious Cunningham | Brody Meadows |
RT | Tomas Rimac | Hannes Hammer |
Position | Starter | Backup |
|---|---|---|
DE | Ben Bell or Keyshawn Burgos | |
DT | Kemari Copeland or Kody Huisman | |
DT | Kelvin Gilliam Jr | Emmett Laws or Immanuel Hickman Sr |
DE | James Djonkam or Elhadj Fall | |
SLB | James Jennette | Jason Abbey |
MLB | Caleb Woodson | Antwone Santiago or Kaleb Spencer |
WLB | Jaden Keller or Michael Short | |
Nickel | Isaiah Cash or Sherrod Covil | |
CB | Caleb Brown or Dante Lovett | |
CB | Isaiah Brown-Murray | Thomas Williams |
FS | Quentin Reddish | Jordan Bass |
SS | Tyson Flowers | Christian Ellis |
Position | Starter | Backup |
|---|---|---|
Punter | Nick Veltsistas | |
Kicker | John Love | Kyle Lowe |
Kickoff | Kyle Lowe | John Love |
Holder | Nick Veltsistas | |
KR | P.J. Prioleau | Cam Seldon |
PR | Tucker Holloway | Isaiah Spencer |
Areas of improvement
If Virginia Tech is going to bounce back, they are going to have to have a better performance from quarterback Kyron Drones. After the game on Sunday, head coach Brent Pry evaluated Drones' performance:
"Yeah, honestly the throw in the red zones I was really disappointed. That stuff that he's moved past, I haven't seen that necessarily in camp. We can't make that play. We need those points down there. We got to be smarter than that. We had three drops out there that we got to have. I thought there was a couple down the stretch in the fourth quarter that need to be on the money right there. He's got a chance to keep the change going and make that thing a one-score game again and we were misfiring there but we'll look at the film. He'll own it more than anybody but he did some got things with his feet. He made some nice throws. I thought he showed poise. First game back, certainly something we can grow from."
Not only that, but Virginia Tech is going to have to be better on special teams. The Hokies gave up a return for a touchdown and Pry also broke down that play after the game:
"Yeah, I think it's two things. You never like to have your cover team go twice in a row. You just don't want that. I didn't like it when it happened. And then our gunners, you got to take your shot. You got to finish. I don't know if they assumed that he was wasn't going to catch the ball or he was going to fair catch it, but they came off the gas instead of taking their shot which makes the guy go sideways and gives the rest of your coverage team a chance to make the play. Certainly disappointing. Q. With the defendants, seemed like Sam mixed things up quite a bit, tried to get Sellers out of rhythm. Did you feel like they were able to do that, especially with the ability to rotate as many guys as you were and especially the adjustments that you made to be able to mix things up and really force South Carolina to earn it like you said? BRENT PRY: Yeah, I think we mixed coverages up. We changed fronts up on him. I think we had him hesitating back there a little bit. I think we had four sacks. I thought the game plan was the right one. I got to look at that first series again. They had us yinging and yanging and we didn't slow them down until we got the third and five in the red zone. We got to make a play there and force the field goal, because we were pretty good after that with the exception of the deep ball. But I think we got a good group and we had a good plan. Certainly things we got to do better but for the most part, I think it showed a foundation there with a new defense and new structure in who we can be."
Virginia Tech and Vanderbilt will play this Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. ET on ACC Network.
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Jackson Caudell has been covering Georgia Tech Athletics For On SI since March 2022 and the Atlanta Hawks for On SI since October 2023. Jackson is also the co-host of the Bleav in Georgia Tech podcast and he loves to bring thoughtful analysis and comprehensive coverage to everything that he does. Find him on X @jacksoncaudell
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