Virginia Tech football coverage leading up to game at SMU

BLACKSBURG — Virginia Tech coach James Franklin brought up Ja’Ricous Hairston’s name unprompted a couple of weeks ago as he rattled off players outside of Que’Sean Brown and Luke Reynolds who could get targets in the Hokies’ passing attack.

What was Hairston doing well that merited more looks from quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer?

BLACKSBURG — Virginia Tech’s open week allowed the opportunity for the coaches to alter the practice schedule to accommodate the Hokies’ return to the gridiron on Friday night at SMU.

The schedule was moved up one day with the first practice being held Saturday.

BLACKSBURG — Three of Virginia Tech’s last four games have featured individuals wearing the same lapel pin on their sports jacket. Some of those individuals weren’t wearing shirts emblazoned with the Florida Citrus Sports logo, but each person had a Pop-Tarts Bowl lapel pin.

One of the more entertaining bowls — as far as the promotion and post-game celebration — has kept its eyes on the Hokies in recent weeks. Same with the Gator Bowl, which had multiple representatives watching Virginia Tech play at Clemson on Oct. 24.

BLACKSBURG — First starts are memorable. And making a first career collegiate start against another program from Texas made Tyson Flowers’ initial appearance in the starting lineup even more unforgettable.

Flowers, who was born in Arlington and raised in Fort Worth, finally cracked the starting lineup at safety with Rice late in the 2023 season when the Owls hosted SMU. It was a good showing for Flowers, a sophomore that season, with a season-high eight tackles and three pass breakups.

BLACKSBURG — Virginia Tech’s return to Lane Stadium will come under the lights.

The ACC on Monday announced that the Hokies’ first home game in four weeks on Nov. 14 against Stanford will be a primetime kickoff on one of two television networks.

BLACKSBURG — Ethan Grunkemeyer’s final pass attempt against Clemson is a play that Virginia Tech quarterbacks coach Danny O’Brien said “embodied the game.”

Grunkemeyer didn’t flinch under the circumstances. The first and second reads weren’t open. Defensive linemen were bearing down and looking to add another shade of green to his stain-filled jersey. And most of Memorial Stadium was screaming for the Tigers to make a stand.

BLACKSBURG — James Franklin dubbed it the “redshirt mode” that some freshmen develop over the course of their first season in college. In Franklin’s first 15 seasons as a head coach at Vanderbilt and Penn State, first-year players initially couldn’t play at all and eventually were limited to four games in order to preserve a year of eligibility. Those rules often led to players’ focus being aimed at the future by getting ready for the upcoming spring practices and crafting a potential role on the team.

Redshirting is a thing of the past after the NCAA in late June adopted an age-based eligibility model that allows Division I student-athletes up to five years of eligibility. That means players at Virginia Tech like wide receiver Davion Brown, offensive lineman Benjamin Eziuka, linebacker Terry Wiggins and cornerback Zaevion Cleveland can play for Franklin in the majority of games this season as freshmen and still have four more years of eligibility.

BLACKSBURG — Ross Chastain spent a portion of his Tuesday afternoon joining the Virginia Tech football team for lunch at the student-athlete performance center overlooking the outdoor practice field. It was an opportunity for the Trackhouse Racing Cup Series driver to interact with the players and members of the coaching staff.

The driver of the No. 1 Chevrolet also made a recruiting pitch. If a career path to the NFL or another professional football league doesn’t materialize, a spot in NASCAR is available.

CLEMSON, S.C. — Ethan Grunkemeyer was hit for the final time Saturday night on the Virginia Tech offense’s last competitive play from scrimmage. The quarterback had a chunk of the Memorial Stadium turf stuck in his helmet, yet he bounced up quickly and looked around before realizing his final pass found its mark.

Grunkemeyer was knocked down plenty of times in Saturday night’s 20-16 win at Clemson. Sacked six times. The Tigers made sure to get a lick in whenever Grunkemeyer ran the ball on designed or improvised plays.