Head Coach: Brent Pry is entering his 4th season as the head coach of the Hokies with a 16-21 record. Pry took over in a challenging spot but after an encouraging finish to 2023, it really felt like this program was set to take off in 2024. That didn’t happen, instead they backslid to 6-7. Now he needs 2025 to be his breakthrough.
Program Outlook: There aren’t many programs that fit their category but College Football is really better when Virginia Tech is good, Lane Stadium is nestled within the Appalachian mountains and has the most electric entrance in College Football. The Hokies have a lot of historical success and even reached the national title in 1999 with Michael Vick. They absolutely ruled the ACC for a long spell until 2011 when Clemson took the conference over. They love football and football loves them, it just feels right when the Hokies are playing good football and now we are all waiting to see them get back in contention.
How does the 2025 Roster look?: Virginia Tech ranks 73rd in the country returning 53.5% of their production per Punt and Rally’s returning production rankings. That’s better than expected considering 20+ players hit the portal this winter. Key players will include QB Kyron Drones who has a lot of talent but didn’t quite progress as expected last season, Drones at a minimum seems to have a really good weapon to throw to in receiver Ayden Greene. Greene had a massive performance in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl and appears ready for a breakout year. Former Bowling Green RB Terion Stewart was a good pickup to lead their stable of backs. The defense is loaded with a playmaking duo returning at linebacker in last years leading tackler Jaden Keller and Caden Woodson, they’re both lunch pail guys you’d expect to see in this defense. The secondary and defensive line will see some new faces, but the Hokies had a different approach to each. The secondary will be led by younger homegrown talent while the defensive line received an infusion of productive players from the portal.
Screenshot from FBSchedules.com
2025 Schedule Thoughts: Virginia Tech’s schedule is not bad. The opening portion will be challenging as the Hokies begin the season with a South Carolina team that finished last year as one of the hottest teams in the nation, Shane Beamer their head coach is of course the son of legendary Virginia Tech head coach Frank Beamer. It’s a travesty that this is a neutral site games because these programs have the most electric entrance in College Football, this deserved to be a home and home series. Virginia Tech gets a rematch with Vanderbilt, they were of course on the receiving end of the first stage of Vandy’s breakthrough last year, at least they won’t be surprised this time. Old Dominion is at home which is beneficial to the Hokies, the Monarchs have a dangerous QB so the Hokies can’t take it lightly and Wofford is coming off a 5-7 season at the FCS level. The ACC schedule maintains a nice balance. Virginia Tech avoids Clemson, SMU, Pitt, Syracuse and North Carolina which is nice but there are still some challenges with Louisville, Georgia Tech, Miami FL on the schedule. Overall if a delayed breakthrough wants to come, this schedule doesn’t do too much to get in the way of that.
Final Thoughts: The time is now, Virginia Tech needs to finally make progress this season and make their way into ACC contention once again. It all comes down to how the offense gells under an overhauled scheme, if they catch on quickly they could win 9 games. The other key is that winning one score games will be critical, 4 one score losses turned last year into a season of regret instead the breakthrough that was expected.
Welcome to Updog Sports Talk 
Leave a comment