Virginia Tech has a great chance at their first winning season since 2019, needing only a victory in the Military Bowl over an 11-2 Tulane team that has already seen its coach leave for Houston and its top receiver enter the transfer portal. A big reason for the Hokies' progress in year 2 of the Brent Pry era has been the production Tech has received from their transfers.
Around late October, I gave out my midseason-ish grades for Virginia Tech's transfer class, but it felt like time to bring out the final report card. So with that said, here are my final grades for the Hokies' transfers.
QB Kyron Drones: A
Kyron Drones proved that he was an A-grade quarterback over the latter half of the season, continuing to elevate his game and helping get the Hokies to a bowl game after a rough 1-3 start.
Over the course of 10 starts, Drones had 1,994 passing yards with 15 passing touchdowns and only three interceptions while completing 58% of his passes. He also ran for 642 yards and four touchdowns while averaging 4.4 yards per carry, which includes all of his sack yardage. Despite not starting the first two games, Drones ranked 10th in the country among quarterbacks in rushing yards.
Drones gave the Hokies a true dual-threat quarterback that helped open things up for the Hokies' offense. His rushing threat, combined with Tech doing a much better job of using misdirection and getting guys like Bhayshul Tuten in space, helped get the Hokies' offense firing on all cylinders with five 30+ point performances in Drones' 10 starts, including a Commonwealth Cup record 55 points against UVA.
Drones was often used as the between-the-tackles runner on read options, making the right decision often on those plays while also breaking plenty of tackles himself. He also was a proficient passer who did a good job at working within the structure of the offense while also being unafraid to take some deep shots and hitting on a few of them.
Drones had a few passes that were fortunate not to be intercepted and, at times, chose to take the low-odd deep shot rather than the easier open pass that the defense gave him. He also has some work to do on his accuracy, which holds him back from receiving an A+ grade.
Virginia Tech has their quarterback of the future in Kyron Drones, who can have Hokie fans dreaming of a return to national relevance in 2024, especially with the skill position talent surrounding him.
