Virginia Tech took care of business this past weekend with a 38-21 victory over Pittsburgh, with multiple true freshmen playing in this game.
Additionally, five true freshmen have officially surpassed the four-game redshirt max and have avoided a redshirt this year. Here's the latest redshirt tracker.
- WR Ayden Greene: 5
- LB Caleb Woodson: 5
- CB Braylon Johnson: 5
- CB Dante Lovett: 5
- S Mose Phillips: 5
- WR Takye Heath: 1
- LB George Ballance: 1
Let's start with the five freshmen who officially burned their redshirts this week, none of which should come as a surprise.
Ayden Greene led these five freshmen with 23 offensive snaps, though Greene did not have a catch in this game.
Braylon Johnson led the defensive freshman with 12 snaps plus two tackles, proving to be the CB4 on a day where starting CB Mansoor Delane primarily worked at safety with Nasir Peoples and Jaylen Jones out. That led to Mose Phillips having two tackles on only nine defensive snaps, his lowest snap count on defense since Purdue.
Meanwhile, Caleb Woodson had one tackle on only four defensive snaps, the fewest number of defensive snaps he's played in a game this season. Backup cornerback Dante Lovett only played on special teams in this game, but given how much he's played on defense this season, burning his redshirt makes sense.
All five of these freshmen have earned the right to burn their redshirt and have all held significant roles throughout this season. While last year's decision not to redshirt Bryce Duke was a head-scratcher, all five non-redshirt decisions make sense.
At this point, it's hard to imagine any other freshmen avoiding a redshirt, especially with you needing to wait only three more games to lock a redshirt in. George Ballance may be the one guy to monitor given that he has played in one game this season, but other freshmen like Layth Ghannam and Krystian Williams seem redshirt-bound.
Meanwhile, Clayton Frady still has only played in one game this season. The Gardner-Webb transfer has taken some time to acclimate to Blacksburg, and preserving a year of his eligibility is making more and more sense. We'll see if that holds true or not, but an unexpected Frady redshirt is growing in likelihood.
