BLACKSBURG – Virginia Tech has spent the last two recruiting cycles improving its wide receiver corps. The coaching staff brought in three experienced receivers from the transfer portal and signed five pass catchers from the high school ranks.
At times, due to changes, Tucker Holloway’s development was forgotten. He turned heads as a freshman in 2022 with his punt return ability in limited action, and broke into the receiver rotation while still returning punts last season.
Holloway was expected to have an even bigger role as a junior. That expanded role may have to wait until the 2025 campaign.
Hokies coach Brent Pry said Tuesday that Holloway is “questionable for the season” due to an undisclosed injury he suffered at the end of spring practices. Holloway can use a redshirt season after playing five games as a freshman in 2022.
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Virginia Tech wide receiver Tucker Holloway (left) runs for a touchdown during the first half of the Hokies’ 2023 contest against Virginia in Charlottesville. Holloway, who worked his way into the wide receiver rotation as a sophomore, is questionable for next season.
Mike Caudill, ASSOCIATED PRESS
“Tucker has an injury that will question him all season,” Pry said. “And I say that because of the injury, and I say that because he has a red shirt available, which he and I have already discussed, and we’ll let things develop and see which direction we go.”
Holloway did not participate in the final practice or spring game. He wore a sleeve on his right knee and remained on the sidelines during the spring game.
It was a setback that came after Holloway spent the spring working as an outside receiver with both the first and second offenses.
He was looking to build on a sophomore season in which he had five catches for 49 yards. He also added a 33-yard touchdown run in a setback against Virginia.
Virginia Tech’s Tucker Holloway returns a punt 66 yards in the Hokies’ 2023 season-opening victory over Old Dominion in Blacksburg. Holloway, who ranked eighth nationally in punt return average in 2023, is “questionable for the season” after suffering a knee injury at the end of spring practice.
MATT GENTRY, The Roanoke Times
Holloway ranked eighth in the nation with a 12.9-yard average on 20 punt returns and earned third-team All-ACC honors.
The possibility that he could redshirt next season comes from conversations Pry had with Holloway heading into the final two weeks of the 2022 regular season. Holloway redshirted in the Hokies’ road contest against Liberty, and then the season finale in Virginia was canceled following the deaths of UVa players D’Sean Perry, Devin Chandler and Lavel Davis Jr.
“We had two games left. And he didn’t have any games left, so we played him at Liberty and then we didn’t play the UVa game,” Pry said. “And we actually called on the NCAA to get that redshirt back. Because if you had told us he only had one game, you probably wouldn’t have played it. You know what I mean? He probably would have sucked it up and redshirted him. But it’s funny, he and I were talking about that. He now has a red shirt available if we need it, which is really good.”
The Hokies still have a strong contingent at wide receiver with seniors Ali Jennings, Da’Quan Felton, Jaylin Lane and Stephen Gosnell; sophomores Ayden Greene and Xayvion Turner-Bradshaw; and freshmen Chance Fitzgerald, Takye Heath, Chanz Wiggins and Keylen Adams.
“We’ll probably have six that we feel pretty good about, a couple more that if they keep trending, you can feel good about them too,” Pry said of how many receivers he expects to play on a weekly basis. “But when four guys decide to come back, you’ve got to be deep at that spot, if you’re recruiting well.”
Lane is expected to handle punt return duties in Holloway’s absence. Lane ranked fourth in the nation with a 14.5-yard punt return average for Middle Tennessee in 2021, and he had a punt return touchdown called back for holding at Boston College last season.
Greene is expected to be Lane’s backup punt returner if Holloway is unable to play.
“J-Lane has proven to do that,” Pry said. “He Lo has done a lot of games at Middle and then he did it here, some pops, so I feel good about him doing it if Tucker can’t go.”
Other injury notes
Linebacker Keli Lawson and safety Jalen Stroman have been cleared and will participate fully this summer, according to Pry.
Pry added that Gosnell is “surprisingly ahead of schedule” after suffering a knee injury in the Hokies’ Military Bowl victory in late December.
Defensive end CJ McCray is “probably a few weeks away” from being 100% healthy, and Pry added that it would be mid-summer before McCray is “at full strength,” after the senior suffered a left leg injury in the spring game.
Defensive tackle Andrew Hanchuk, one of the first to enroll, suffered a season-ending injury in late spring practices, according to Pry, and offensive lineman Lemar Law suffered medical difficulties and retired from the sport.
Pry said Law will remain with the program in a similar capacity to safety Nyke Johnson.
Damien Sordelett (540) 981-3124
damien.sordelett@roanoke.com
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