Virginia Tech football notes

BLACKSBURG — The bowl carrot is gone now for Virginia Tech, vanishing beyond even the Hail Mary of a season-ending winning streak.

More than ever, the Hokies are building for 2023.

In the final three games beginning with Saturday’s visit to Duke, Tech coach Brent Pry hopes to strike a balance between giving veteran players the time they earn on the practice field and working in youngsters with an eye toward the future.

“I think you want to be fair and you want these seniors to have their opportunities to finish out on a positive note, and they deserve that,” Pry said. “But at the same time, we’re trying to maximize these [three] games with some guys that we think can help us. And we’re also trying to answer some questions on some guys moving forward.”

The Hokies held a developmental scrimmage during Sunday’s practice, getting a closer look at young players who are redshirting or buried on the depth chart. Pry also held conversations with multiple players about redshirting to preserve eligibility.

Players can appear in up to four games before losing their redshirt candidacy. Pry has spoken with running back Malachi Thomaswho has played three games this year because of injury, about that possibility.

The Hokies are waiting until after this weekend to decide on freshman receiver Tucker Holloway, who broke the school record with 188 punt-return yards in last Saturday’s 28-27 loss to Georgia Tech. Saturday will be Holloway’s fourth game.

Some decisions have already been made. Freshman Braelin Moorethe backup to Jesse Hanson at left guard, has reached his four-game limit and will redshirt. That bequeathed the backup reps to redshirt sophomore Bob Schick.

Roster management is at the top of Pry’s priority list.

“Unfortunately, nowadays, you have to start having some of these types of meetings down the stretch in your season about guys and what they want to do — forget their senior year or possible flight risk, things like that,” Pry said. “The portal’s going to be a very active place for just about everybody.”

Cat and mouse: One of the Hokies’ biggest regrets from the Georgia Tech loss was allowing the Yellow Jackets to convert a third-and-19 with 5:12 remaining and Virginia Tech leading 27-22.

Pry had called a blitz with “zero” coverage — no safety help — before seeing Georgia Tech line up with an empty backfield and five wide receivers.

“It was the one formation that you wouldn’t want to see them in,” Pry said. “When it showed, I just didn’t feel good about staying with the call. So we called timeout to get into something else.”

The backup call didn’t work, either. Georgia Tech receiver Nate McCollum caught a shallow cross in acres of space, used an official as a pick and won the race to the first-down marker against Virginia Tech corner Mansoor Delaneywho was pursuing from behind.

The 20-yard gain sustained the game-winning drive.

“To be honest, it was a bad decision by me,” Pry said of the scheme implemented during the timeout. “We made a call that we don’t practice a whole lot, in fairness to the kids. And we didn’t execute it very well.”

Injury update: Pry said Thomas (lower body) is doubtful again this week, while cornerback Dorian Strong (hand) is out. Redshirt freshman PJ Prioleau is out for the season after suffering a nonsurgical injury in Saturday’s loss.

Odds and ends: The Hokies (2-7, 1-5 ACC) are a 9½-point underdog against Duke (6-3, 3-2). The favorite has covered the spread just twice in the past nine meetings between these teams.