Marty Gordon
Virginia Tech has released its updated football roster, and a local player is not on the list.
Former Radford High wide receiver Marcell Baylor is not among the group.
The 6-1, 185 pounder played in only one game this past year as a freshman as he dealt with numerous injuries.
While at Radford, he helped the school to three regional playoff appearances. As a senior, he registered 45 catches for 972 yards and 17 touchdowns and was named to the Class 2 all-state team as a receiver.
Baylor was rated a 3-star recruit by 247Sports and ESPN and was ranked as the #26 recruit in Virginia. He had gone through early workouts last month with the Hokies, but he did not attend the Military Bowl with the team.
In other roster news, there is not much experience behind QB1 Kyron Drones. Three redshirt Freshmen sit behind Drones.
William “Pop” Watson III was named the Gatorade Massachusetts Player of the Year in 2022 and graduated as Springfield Central’s all-time passing leader, having completed 459-of-691 career passes for 7,847 career passing yards (66.4 percent) and 81 career touchdowns, while also having 190 career carries totaling 2,120 career rushing yards and 40 career rushing touchdowns. He was rated a 3-star recruit by 247Sports, ESPN, On3 and Rivals and ranked as the No. 20 overall quarterback by ESPN, No. 30 by On3 and No. 42 by Rivals, ranked as the No. 6 Massachusetts prospect by On3, No. 8 by 247Sports and Rivals, and No. 10 by ESPN.
Dylan Witike won three state championships in high school in Buford, Georgia, compiling a 50-4 record as a starter and came to Blacksburg with high hopes as the overall #39 QB in his class.
Walk-on Jackson Sigler did not see action this past season after coming to Blacksburg from Mt. View High School in Northern Virginia. He held a starting record of 23-4 leading his team to back-to-back district championships and regional championship, throwing for 4,684 pass yards and 62 passing touchdowns along with five rushing scores.
The running back room currently has six watching film. Bhayshui Tuten and Malachi Thomas are heads above the group with former Radford High’s PJ Prioleau and incoming Freshman Tyler Mason from Mt. Airy, North Carolina in the mix.
In other Virginia Tech news, many fans were scratching their heads during the recent men’s basketball game against Florida State, who came out of the locker room in light blue uniforms.
The team was showing support for the Seminole Indian tribe they are associated with. They are also selling jerseys with the monies go to support FSU’s Native American Center as well as public education and youth sports within the Seminole tribe.
Charlie Thomas, a guard on Virginia Tech’s 1973 National Invitational Tournament championship team, has passed away. He once coached the men’s basketball program at now-defunct Bristol College.
Thomas played at Harrisonburg High School and prior to Bristol College, he was an assistant at Emory & and Henry College.
On Monday, Feb. 19, Smithfield, sponsor of the Commonwealth Clash, is challenging all basketball game attendees to bring in nonperishable food items for donation to the Market of Virginia Tech. And for every pound of food collected, Smithfield will donate $1 to the food pantry for up to $5,000.
Since the 2014-2015 academic year, the brand has partnered with Virginia Tech and the University of Virginia in the rivalry between the schools across all school-sponsored sports — becoming the presenting sponsor of the Smithfield Commonwealth Clash in the 2021-2022 season. But for Smithfield, this sponsorship means more than just promoting athletics.
Throughout the year, the company looks to support the communities surrounding UVA and Virginia Tech, including each school’s food pantry.
The Market of Virginia Tech, an initiative of Student Affairs, was developed to provide support to students currently experiencing food insecurity. Program participants receive a variety of produce, proteins, dairy and nondairy products and shelf stable items on a weekly basis.
Supported by a $1.5 million donation from alumni couple Hema and Mehul Sanghani, the program launched in 2020 to provide up to 115 students at a time with weekly grocery shopping and last semester The Market served 350 additional students through other initiatives including Open Market hours and Pop-Up pantries. The Market’s top preferred foods are rice, peanut butter, canned protein, canned soup and canned beans or vegetables.
The Atlantic Coast Conference has issued a public reprimand of Louisville women’s basketball coach Jeff Walz for violating the ACC Sportsmanship Policy following Louisville’s game against Syracuse on February 11.
In addition, the league announced that an institutional fine has been issued to Louisville ($20,000) as a result of the violation. The funds from the imposed institutional fine will be placed into the Weaver-James-Corrigan-Swofford Postgraduate Scholarship account.
Walz’s postgame comments regarding the officials were in direct violation of the ACC Sportsmanship Policy that states: “Public criticism of officials or public comments evaluating the officiating of particular contests is not in the best interest of intercollegiate athletics. Individuals associated with the athletics program are prohibited, therefore, from commenting while acting in an official capacity on officiating other than directly to the Conference office.”
