One of the big headlines of this recruiting cycle was the commitment of Baylor QB Kyron Drones who was the promising backup QB for the Bears this past season and considered a four-star transfer by 247 Sports.
Grant Wells showed promise this past season and had some good moments but also had some not so good moments, making it clear that VT could use a QB transfer to at least push Wells for the job and could win it themselves.
Insert Drones who was one of four quarterbacks that Virginia Tech had their eyes on the portal but emerged as the top target for the Hokies. Brent Pry dove into what made Drones their top QB target while also setting the stage for the coming competition between him and Grant Wells.
"He's a triple-threat guy, really high football IQ, great wheels, and can spin it. He's got all the attributes we were wanting. He was our number 1 guy on the board. We had them set up, we had 4 quarterbacks in the portal set to visit. When you're looking for a quarterback in the portal with everybody else, there's kind of 10, 12 schools that are looking for a guy. We needed someone to come in here and compete with Grant (Wells). We got to better at that position. This guy is going to make Grant better. He's going to make us better. We'll have a good look at things this spring," Pry said.
Director of Player Personnel Mike Villagrana also dove in further to what Drones brings to the table as a player and also mentioned his leadership as something Tech has confidence in.
"His ability to hurt you on the ground and his arm. He's a smart player. If you go back to his high school film, he was a phenomenal player. So all those things combined with his intangibles, the way that he carries himself. You can tell that he's going to be a leader, that guys are going to follow him. Just an all-around good kid. He's going to be a good player, good skill set," Villagrana said.
The dual-threat ability is a common thread throughout and a necessity in modern college football. While Grant Wells has shown he can be a decent runner, Drones has shown loads of upside in that regard as well which may fit how Tech wants a good amount of mobility at the QB spot even if not looking for a full on running QB but rather a mobile passer.
Part of what made landing Kyron Drones was the impressive turnaround time from Tyler Bowen flying to Texas to meet with Drones just before an official visit weekend to Drones then flying that weekend to Blacksburg and then sealing the deal on the Monday after his second weekend of December official visit.
Villagrana took us further inside how Tech's pursuit and landing of Drones came to be from being ready in case he chose to enter the portal to pouncing on the opportunity once he did.
"The first question about the portal and the challenges. Well the challenge is he wasn't in there and a lot of these schools now, you have to target guys that are second on the depth chart who are really good players and he fell into that category 'he may be a guy that goes into the portal and if he does, we want to be able to jump on it' so we have a board of guys that are not in the portal," Villagrana said.
"So when he (Kyron Drones) hit the portal, he (Tyler Bowen) was able to get on the plane, be one of the first guys there, and that went a long with way Kyron when you talk with him that Coach Bowen was there first day that he was in the portal, was able to set up the visit, brought him here. It was first class for him, got to meet everybody, showed him everything, and showed him the situation. We were very transparent with him, and he liked it enough to commit and we couldn't be more thrilled about it. Great family, great kid, really excited about him."
The reality is that at the quarterback position, there are plenty of backups who know that a path to starting sooner may be elsewhere and that making that move is the best for their growth rather than waiting around. In the case of Drones, that proved true with the Hokies ready to pounce and seizing the opportunity once it arose.
Virginia Tech got the transfer quarterback that they wanted in Kyron Drones with a well-thought plan that they executed perfectly to quickly get him before anyone else of his numerous other Power 5 suitors like Kentucky, BYU, Indiana, Northwestern, and more really had a chance.
