Virginia Tech Depth Chart Changes Ahead Of North Carolina Game

Virginia Tech is looking to bounce back this week after a 33-10 loss to West Virginia with a trip to Chapel Hill to take on North Carolina with the Hokies hoping to get to 2-0 in ACC play.

Ahead of their trip to UNC, Tech released their latest depth chart as shared by reporters on sight including Aaron McFarling of the Roanoke Times.

So here's my look at some of the most notable depth chart changes.

Keli Lawson Moving Up Among Will LB Shift

The biggest change came at will LB as went from Jaden Keller and Jayden McDonald as co-starters to Jaden Keller sharing it with Keli Lawson moving over from sam to will LB.

The Athletic's Andy Bitter was able to get some insights from Brent Pry on Keli Lawson shifting to will LB plus a potential reason why Keller isn't the outright starter at that spot currently.

One of the things that has seemed to emerge is that this staff is big on Jaden Keller's potential to the point where they hold him to a 'this guy can be a NFL Draft pick in the near future' standard. There's no doubt that Keller hasn't been perfect but he's shown plenty of playmaking abilities especially after he had his largest role to date for VT against WVU and had 7 tackles including 0.5 for loss.

Meanwhile, Keli Lawson seemed more true linebacker than the hybrid LB-DB that Tech seems to be wanting at the sam LB with Keonta Jenkins and J.R. Walker being former safeties.

Personally, I think this is Keller's job over the course of the long term, but Tech clearly wants to find various ways to get Lawson on the field and you wonder if he may get some work at will LB when Tech has their nickel package in.

The guy not being mentioned is Jayden McDonald who has seen his role shrink from being the starter against ODU to seeing his reps decrease to only playing 5 snaps against WVU.

Keshawn King Returning Kicks

Keshawn King is healthy again and is understandably returning to his role as Virginia Tech's kick returner with Chance Black sliding into the backup spot.

This move is an obvious one with King healthy now as King has proven to be the better kick returner over the years averaging 24.1 yards per return over the course of his career compared to 22.2. King also has the greater speed and explosiveness that makes him a better fit in general as a return man.

Also, Chance Black didn't have a great night returning kicks against WVU with multiple shaky moments. The Hokies may have been fortunate that they didn't have a turnover on one of those kickoffs with Tech wisely moving their kick returns into more experienced, safer, and higher ceiling hands with King.

Now will Black still be back there as the secondary guy? That seems unlikely given that Tech has 0 interest in redshirting Bryce Duke who has looked solid in that secondary role but we'll see.

Will Johnson, Jalen Hoyle Jump Onto Depth Chart

There were a couple of new guys on the depth chart on the defensive side of things in Will Johnson and Jalen Hoyle.

Hoyle's inclusion seems in part due to Jalen Stroman's targeting suspension for the first half against UNC with Hoyle being the #4 safety and Ny'Quee Hawkins being Tech's top backup safety when Stroman is out.

The more notable one though is redshirt freshman mike LB Will Johnson getting the bump to the backup spot over Keshon Artis. Artis has played a decent amount of reps this season making this something that is truly out of left field especially since this isn't even an "OR" between Johnson and Artis.

This suddenly becomes a battle to watch with this week being a great chance to see if Johnson starts getting some actual playing time for the Hokies or if Artis is still the true backup mike LB? I would still lean for Artis but it's definitely an interesting under-the-radar storyline to watch for what a 2023 VT defense could look like.

Brody Meadows Joins Second Team Offensive Line

Make it three true freshman in the two-deep along the offensive line as Brody Meadows is now the backup at right guard supplanting redshirt freshman Danijel Miletic.

Meadows was the only true freshman offensive lineman on campus and working on the offensive line this spring with Braelin Moore working at DT prior to moving to guard. Joe Rudolph mentioned to the Roanoke Times over the summer that his preference was Meadows at guard over tackle with the freshman from Bluefield clearly making some strides recently to start climbing the depth chart.

Meanwhile, Miletic is now behind a pair of true freshman backup guards making his path to a future starting role trickier and requiring him to jump someone with more eligibility than him in the process.