Virginia Tech heads into Saturday’s matchup with Georgia Tech carrying the kind of injury report that can quietly shape a game before kickoff ever arrives.
The ACC released the first player availability report of the week, and Virginia Tech has 11 players listed, matching its total from the Week 6 report before the Cal game. Three Hokies are ruled out: Ballance, Terry and Laws. Offensive lineman Montavious Cunningham is questionable, while wide receiver Takye Heath and offensive lineman Brody Meadows are both probable.
Georgia Tech also has a notable name on its report. Running back Justice Haynes, who has rushed for 462 yards and three touchdowns, is listed as doubtful.
This is the latest wrinkle in a Virginia Tech season that has already taken a few sharp turns. The Hokies opened with four straight wins for the first time since 2017, blowing past VMI 73-3 before beating Old Dominion 44-21 and Maryland 35-26. That win over Maryland snapped a 15-game skid against Power Four non-conference opponents.
Virginia Tech then opened ACC play with a 21-14 win over Boston College in tough weather conditions. In that game, sophomore running back Jeffrey Overton Jr. produced a career day, piling up 209 rushing yards, including 140 in the fourth quarter. That total was the most by a Hokies player since Bhayshul Tuten ran for 266 against Boston College in 2024.
But the last two weeks have gone the other way. Virginia Tech dropped its ACC home opener to Pitt, 35-33, after building a 14-0 lead and then watching the Panthers put together a 35-10 run. The Hokies had a chance to win it late, but John Love missed a 36-yard field goal.
Last week brought another one-score defeat, this time a 25-20 loss to Cal. Virginia Tech led 14-13 and took the lead again with a touchdown and 1:15 left, only to see Cal answer with 18 seconds remaining. Ethan Grunkemeyer’s final throw to Luke Reynolds fell incomplete.
Those losses gave Virginia Tech back-to-back one-score defeats for the first time since September 2024, when it lost 26-23 to Rutgers and 38-34 to Miami in consecutive weeks.
The Hokies and Yellow Jackets meet Saturday, Oct. 17, at 3:30 p.m. ET on the ACC Network. The availability report will be updated again Thursday and Friday, with a final game-day report arriving two hours before kickoff.
In Other News...
Virginia Tech Suddenly Has A Kicking Battle Fans Did Not Expect
John Love entered the 2026 season with the sort of track record that usually buys a kicker some breathing room, but early misses have quickly turned a routine special teams spot into a real storyline in Blacksburg. Virginia Tech has watched Love struggle from distance and consistency alike, and head coach James Franklin has already put the job up for grabs while still publicly backing the veteran kicker.
The open competition now gives the Hokies a chance to reset a part of the operation they assumed was settled, with other options waiting in the wings. It also comes at a time when the punting game has its own question mark, as senior Nathan Totten has not delivered the kind of average distance that settles nerves, leaving Virginia Tech with more special teams uncertainty than it expected this early in the year. [Read more 🡒]
Virginia Techs Transfer Class Is Already Defining The Hokies Season
Virginia Techs roster makeover has been impossible to miss this fall, with 29 transfers folded into the lineup and several of them already shaping how the Hokies look on both sides of the ball. The impact has been felt across position groups, but it has been especially noticeable on offense, where the new faces have helped change the tone and production of the unit as the season has unfolded.
Ethan Grunkemeyer has given the Hokies the kind of stability they were looking for at quarterback, while Que'Sean Brown has emerged as the teams top receiving option. Not every transfer has been able to contribute right away, though, and Virginia Tech is still waiting on some of the newcomers to settle in, whether because of injury or limited opportunities, which leaves the rest of this class with room to keep defining the stretch run. [Read more 🡒]
Virginia Tech Suddenly Has A Discipline Problem James Franklin Must Fix
Virginia Techs latest setback only deepened the sense that the Hokies are beating themselves as much as anyone else is beating them. After leading at halftime against Cal, they let another winnable game slip away, and the pattern has become hard to ignore: turnovers, penalties and an offense that cant quite find steady footing on the ground have all been part of the problem during this rough stretch.
James Franklin and his staff now have a growing discipline issue to clean up as the season moves forward. The margins have been small, but the mistakes keep piling up, and Virginia Tech is leaving too many opportunities on the field while trying to hold together a season that keeps slipping a little farther out of reach. [Read more 🡒]