For the seventh time during fall camp, portions of practice were open to the media with it being about 25-30 minutes today. Here's a look at some of my quick notes from the seventh open portions of practice for the Hokies.
Jadan Blue Back, Jalen Holston Remains "Unavailable"
Virginia Tech has some good news on the injury front at wide receiver as Jadan Blue was not only back at practice but also in full pads and not wearing a blue non-contact jersey. To state the obvious, this is good news for a Tech team that has questions about their wide receiver depth with Blue being the most proven player from his time at Temple headlined by his near 100-reception 2019 season.
A healthy Blue gives the Hokies a solid starting trio at receiver of Blue and Kaleb Smith on the outside and Da'Wain Lofton in the slot with Stephen Gosnell, Jaylen Jones, and Christian Moss as the top backups. Blue's return to health now should also give him some valuable time to build more chemistry with Grant Wells that he had missed out on when he wasn't available.
Elsewhere, running back remains a concern as Jalen Holston was not practicing and is currently "unavailable" per a VT spokesman. With Malachi Thomas already "week to week" with an injury, Tech's RB room has some major concerns ahead of ODU with Keshawn King the favorite to start if both Thomas and Holston were to be out while Bryce Duke seems likely to have a good-sized role as well in that scenario.
Jesse Hanson Over Braelin Moore At Left Guard (Plus DT Notes)
The notable competition to watch that has emerged slowly as fall camp has progressed has been at left guard where projected starter Jesse Hanson has been pushed by true freshman Braelin Moore. The brother of Kaden Moore, Braelin spent the spring at defensive tackle before moving to offensive guard at the end of it and finding his best fit there.
Brent Pry has had plenty of praise for Braelin Moore during fall camp and even hinted last week that there was a competition at the left guard spot. However, that competition still seems to be heavily in the favor of Jesse Hanson who was working with the first team interior offensive line (Johnny Jordan at C, Kaden Moore at RG) during a competitive drill against the drill. Hanson got work against the full two-deep of the defensive tackles which included the big 3 plus Wilfried Pene.
Meanwhile, Braelin Moore was working with the second team interior offensive line (Jack Hollifield at C, Danijel Miletic at RG) against the third team against the third-string DTs who appeared to be walk-on Nigel Simmons and true freshman Malachi Madison. Madison was not wearing his normal jersey but yells of "Malachi" from J.C. Price could be audibly heard.
Yes, Braelin Moore is making a push and seems likely to be the first guard off the bench to give either his brother or Jesse Hanson a breather, but the former Lord Botetourt standout Hanson seems to still have the edge.
Armani Chatman Emerging Over Brion Murray
One period of practice we saw featured a more full defensive alignment with a mix of guys at some spots. One spot that seemed to be the likely starters was at cornerback where Dorian Strong was on one side and Armani Chatman was on the other side.
Chatman always felt like the favorite over Brion Murray for this job even if a close competition seemed assured as well. It does seem like Chatman is in the lead which shouldn't come as a surprise given some of his impressive numbers from last season including how he ranked in the top 4 for fewest passing yards against him (minimum 300 snaps) last season along with three 2022 first round picks per Pro Football Focus.
Murray has plenty of strengths of his own as well and not only should play plenty this season still but continue to push Chatman into the season. For now though, the 757 native Chatman seems to have the edge over Murray.
