Brent Pry said QB Kyron Drones is dealing with an MCL, a stress fracture and turf toe. #Hokies— Andy Bitter (@AndyBitterVT) December 18, 2024
More in-depth answer from Pry detailing what Kyron Drones was dealing with this year. #Hokies https://t.co/c0CC0tToO9 pic.twitter.com/I2SUHbHWWL— Andy Bitter (@AndyBitterVT) December 18, 2024
He can't run against Georgia Tech, and he insists on playing. We play him, we win the game, Tyler does a great job. He's probably at 80 percent. We rest him, try to get him right for Clemson, and he goes out there and suffers an MCL and a turf toe in about two series of time and gets mad when I take him out of the game. He's just such a competitor, it's hard for me to ever rule him out. He's big, strong, physical, very determined, but at some point it was just too much
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Man... as someone who managed people for many years I am conflicted about this. On the one hand everyone loves the hero narrative, sacrifice the body for the team, yada yada yada. But in reality teams that work on heroics alone are not functional for long. If someone is sick or hurt they need to be focusing on recovery because returning to work too early can result in making things worse and instead of missing weeks you miss months or worse do permanent damage to your health and potential.
You have to know that a backup at 90-100% is going to put your team in a better position than the star running out there at 80% and getting taken out for the remainder of the season.
This is one of those "teachable moments" that you'd hope that your coach had already learned beforehand.
And I don't give a shit if he got mad at Pry for being taken out, you have the big whistle, you're the decision maker.
If Schlee was 100% those games I'd be furious but our backup was not healthy either. I'm sure someone will respond clamoring for Pop. I don't think throwing Pop to the wolves would have been the right move
Drones wasn't healthy because we played him hurt against Vandy causing him to make a bad situation worse and have lingering issues all year.
Schlee wasnt healthy because we played him hurt against Syracuse causing him to make a bad situation worse and have lingering issues into the next game which was further complicated into a season ending injury.
Our coaches didn't learn. They made the same mistake twice and caused bad injuries to both our 2 deep at QB. Inexcusable and if I'm a parent I'm steering my kid away from VT cause I don't trust Pry to keep my kid healthy.
We fired our OL coach so we're trying. I'm not sure I've seen the injury updates on Schlee but wasn't his last injury getting his head knocked off because he dove instead of slid. Pretty sure he went to the huddle before the quarter and thought he was in a McDonalds drive through.
Amen, Amen... when we get our ass kicked by UV-fucking A... "Hooker couldn't lift his arm above his shoulder since the 3rd game". "Grant Wells sucked because he is hurt". "Drones was hurt all season". Fuck all of that- it fucking pisses me off... its always the same shit. Like I said the last healthy QB we had all year was probably Druckenmiller- why? because he won games so morons didn't blame "injuries" for him sucking, and he was 6'05, 265 and never ran the ball 20 times a game or on every 3rd and 6.
No coincidence this is when our 4 🌟 QB decommitted.
If I wanted to be a QB at the professional level I would not go to a school that has 10+ designed runs for the QB up the middle a game. Pop and Schlee at least scrambled outside on their runs to my recollection.
Pop was as good as he was at the end of the season because when the injuries started piling up he got more and more practice time.
If I get out of bed and my first thought is something other than an ache or pain, then I consider myself 100%. Athletes at this level treat their body much different and think about health a different way. Rarely are any of these athletes at a true 100%; there is always something minor going on and they are so much more aware of their health because it is always being tested and monitored. I would assume that most athletes are typically playing at 90-95%. I'd say 80-85% is probably the lower threshold for putting a player on the field. Obviously, many factors involved in these decisions. But where our season was at that the time, you don't bench Drones if he is 90-95%, and it becomes difficult to know where the line is. Also, Drones probably wasn't forthcoming with how he felt, so the coaches probably had to infer based on his play and movement.
I think Pry did a good job with the Quarterbacks, and the backups seemed pretty well prepared. I take more issue with some of the in-game coaching decisions and timeout management. I'm fine with how he handled QB injuries.