Virginia Tech avenged their 2023 loss in Huntington and bounced back from their season-opening loss at Vanderbilt with a 31-14 victory over Marshall due largely to a strong second half. The Hokies had plenty of strong performances in this game, but a couple Hokies specifically stood out above the rest to earn Hokie of the Game honors.
Offensive Hokie of the Game: Bhayshul Tuten
After having two touchdowns against Vanderbilt but a fairly low key yardage day due to a variety of factors largely out of his control, this was a week where Bhayshul Tuten was given his fair share of quality opportunities. And unsurprisingly, the Hokies' starting running back delivered with a big performance.
Tuten was the biggest star of the game for the Hokies with 22 carries for 120 yards plus four catches albeit only for seven yards. Tuten looked sharp in this game taking advantage of the quality opportunities the Hokies gave him and looking like his normal self in this game.
This game changed when the Hokies started feeding Tuten more in the second half, with Marshall not having much of an answer to slow him down once Tech got him going. Looking ahead, the Hokies have to do a better job of feeding Tuten sooner if they want to avoid slow first halves in the future like they had the first two weeks of the season.
Jaylin Lane continues to be the top standout of the receiving corps through two weeks with four catches for 41 yards plus a 58-yard punt return touchdown. Meanwhile, Malachi Thomas added 52 rushing yards on nine carries in a strong performance as RB2 while Stephen Gosnell had two catches for 54 yards including a spectacular 49-yard reception during the second half.
Kyron Drones once again got off to a slow start but found his rhythm later on, finishing this game with 130 passing yards and one passing touchdown on 14-21 through the air plus 36 non-sack rushing yards and one rushing touchdown.
Defensive Hokie of the Game: Mose Phillips
One of the early candidates for the most improved Hokie of 2024 is Mose Phillips who has gone from immensely struggling as a freshman in 2023 to becoming a quality starter with some playmaking upside.
His performance today may have been the best of his career as he shared the team-lead with five tackles including a sack plus two pass breakups. This comes as the Hokies are without Jalen Stroman due to injury and need their other safeties to step up unlike what we saw last year when Stroman and Nasir Peoples were banged up.
Phillips showed signs of growth during last year's Military Bowl and clearly parlayed that into a strong offseason which is proving fruitful this fall. Going forward, it's fair to have a higher level of expectation for what Phillips can deliver in 2024 given what he's shown through the first two weeks of the season.
After a rough week 1, Mansoor Delane was much better this week with one tackle, one interception, and two pass breakups. Tech's cornerbacks were productive as a whole as Dorian Strong had four tackles plus a forced fumble while Dante Lovett had a tackle and two pass breakups.
Meanwhile, Keli Lawson had five tackles and three pass breakups with both those stats leading the Hokies in this game while Keonta Jenkins had five tackles including one for loss. Keyshawn Burgos added three tackles including a sack in this game as well.
