After suffering a hand injury against West Virginia, Virginia Tech was hoping that Dorian Strong might be able to return at some point this season. However, those hopes are no more as head coach Brent Pry announced today that the Hokies' star CB is officially out for the season due to injury.
Pry says CB Dorian Strong (hand) is out for the year. "He just needs more time." #Hokies
— Andy Bitter (@AndyBitterVT) November 15, 2022
In only four games this season, Strong had 10 tackles, 3 pass breakups, and 1 fumble recovery in what had been a strong September for the junior cornerback. Thanks to the 2020 COVID free year along with him only playing 4 games this season, he will have 3 more years of eligibility following this season.
In many ways, this is the best decision for Virginia Tech and Strong with Tech wisely choosing not to risk a Strong return with the Hokies out of bowl game contention.
For Strong, shutting him down not only takes off the pressure of trying to return this season from his recovery, but also allows him to redshirt and preserve a year of eligibility because he played only four games. Though Strong has the talent to be a guy who leaves for the NFL early, preserving a year of eligibility is always worth it in a situation like this.
Strong being out means that the Hokies will go with freshman Mansoor Delane and veteran Armani Chatman at cornerback the rest of the way with DJ Harvey as the top backup for the Hokies. This is a unit that has only played those three guys recently with Brion Murray rarely playing as the season has progressed with this being a unit having little depth going into the final two games.
