Vanderbilt Football Welcomes New Challenge Against Familiar Quarterback, But Different Roster

Vanderbilt faces its first big test of the season this weekend as it travels to Blacksburg for a rematch of last season’s game against Virginia Tech. While it is a familiar foe for Vanderbilt, the Hokies' roster itself this season is far from it.

Virginia Tech still has its mobile quarterback Kyron Drones at the controls of the offense, but the rest of the team is almost entirely new. Of all the power four schools, Virginia Tech had the sixth-lowest returning starters coming into this season with just five, two on offense and three on defense.

With Vanderbilt facing a team that has 17 different starters from last year’s game, the Commodores have plenty of scouting homework to do before Saturday night. It is as if they need to plan for a team they have never faced before, which is quite literally the reality they have.

“They’re different in a lot of ways. Schematically they are different, offense and defense,” Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea said in his weekly press conference. “They return certain significant players and one of those is Kyron Drones, who is a really good player, a good competitor and presents a lot of challenges. They have a lot of new parts and pieces, so not only are they new tactics, but the people that are executing them are new.”

Last season, Virginia Tech leaned on the run game more so than the passing game with running back Bhayshul Tuten rushing for over 1,000 yards and Drones only passing for a little over 1,500 yards on the year. In the Hokies’ first game against South Carolina, the offense was pretty split down the middle. Of the 72 plays they ran, 37 were runs and 35 were throws, which is more throws than Drones threw in any game last season.

Vanderbilt linebacker scouted his opponent Sunday afternoon and paid close attention to the Virginia Tech offensive scheme.

“Definitely a different identity when it comes to run and pass,” Longwell said. “They’re about 50-50. And I’d say a lot more their receivers are guys. They got two guys who can make big plays down the field and catch and run.”

An advantage Vanderbilt could have going into this game is the fact that the Commodores more than likely kept plenty of its plays and offensive sets a secret because they were facing a FCS opponent. Meanwhile, Virginia Tech took on a SEC school that has playoff hopes this year, so it may not have been able to save as many plays that Vanderbilt could have. But Lea is aware it has only been one game and it is a certainty that Virginia Tech did not empty the tank of its playbook.

“They’re going to present challenges that we’re going to need to prepare for, but also be ready to adjust and adapt because this is game two and they’re going to have some wrinkles they didn’t show last week that we’ll need to be prepared for,” Lea said.

Vanderbilt takes on Virginia Tech at 7:30 p.m. ET on ACC Network.

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