Junior QB Tyrod Taylor was the bright spot for the Hokies during their second scrimmage of the preseason on Saturday. While it seemed nothing could go right for Virginia Tech otherwise, Taylor completed 8 of 11 passes for 78 yards (83 if you go by the BeamerBlog's pxp), no interceptions and no touchdowns. He was 3-for-3 for 36 yards against the first-team defense.
While Taylor was able to complete most of his passes, it was the defense that won today's scrimmage. Both the stat sheet and the scrimmage reports had the offense struggling to get yards. Running backs against the first-team defense were limited to 33 yards on 12 carries (2.8 ypc). Hokie quarterbacks completed 4 of 5 passes for 43 yards (8.6 ypa) against the first team.
The first-team offensive line looked solid according to the scrimmage reports. RBs for the first-team O had 77 yards on 20 carries (3.9 ypc) even though the teams focused more on red zone offense this scrimmage. While the first-team O was on the field, Hokie QBs completed 10 of 17 passes for 116 yards (6.8 ypa).
The second-team and third-team offensive lines were a special kind of horrible looking at the play-by-play. If any of our starting offensive linemen get injured, we're screwed.
Williams Injured
At this rate, the Hokies are going to have to start putting their running backs in blue, non-contact jerseys instead of their quarterbacks. Ryan Williams suffered a sprained ankle during Saturday's scrimmage. The first four running backs on Virginia Tech's depth chart are now all hobbled by injury. In addition to Williams, Darren Evans is out for the season with a torn ACL, Josh Oglesby is hampered by a tweaked hamstring and David Wilson has a sprained shoulder. The only healthy running backs on Virginia Tech's roster are freshmen Tony Gregory and Zac Evans.
Oglesby and Wilson are expected to return to full contact on Monday. We all know how that turned out for Darren Evans after he tweaked his knee early in preseason practice. According to Kyle Tucker's blog, trainer Mike Goforth said Williams' injury is nothing to worry about.
ON RB RYAN WILLIAMS' ANKLE INJURY IN THE SCRIMMAGE: "Ryan kind of pulled himself out. Got kicked on the inside of that left ankle. Kind of a sprain, nothing major. He should be back fine."
Clayton Named No. 2 QB
Turns out Nathan Warters was right. The Lynchburg News and Advance writer reported earlier in the week the Hokies were going to redshirt freshman Logan Thomas despite Thomas' impressive athletic ability. On Saturday, the coaching staff confirmed that's what is going to happen and named Ju-Ju Clayton the team's No. 2 quarterback.
Thomas will dress for every game this season in case he's needed.