The Hokies suffer a season-ending loss at defensive tackle with injury.
Injuries are accumulating rapidly for the Virginia Tech football team. On Tuesday, the defensive line faced a significant setback when a transfer player announced his 2024 season is over due to an injury.
Kemari Copeland, a transfer from Iowa Western Community College, had been working his way into the lineup early in the season. However, he announced on Instagram that he will be sidelined for the remainder of the season due to a torn tricep that requires surgery.
Copeland sustained the injury during the game against Rutgers on September 21 after playing just four snaps. He missed last Friday’s narrow 38-34 loss to Miami and will now redshirt for the rest of the season, having already played the maximum of four games allowed by NCAA regulations. He chose Virginia Tech over several other schools, including Arkansas and Tennessee.
As a highly sought-after defensive lineman in the transfer portal, Copeland’s commitment was a significant win for head coach Brent Pry. He had impressed during spring practices and gained attention over the summer after achieving a record-breaking squat.
This injury is a blow to the Hokies’ defensive tackle unit, which now includes Duke transfer Aeneas Peebles, Oklahoma transfer Kelvin Gilliam, Josh Fuga, and Wilfried Pene, all listed on this week’s depth chart for their ACC matchup against Stanford on Saturday afternoon.
In the four games he played this season, Copeland recorded six tackles, including three against Vanderbilt in a season-opening overtime loss and in a 37-17 win over Old Dominion on September 14. Fortunately, Pry has enough depth at tackle to help mitigate the loss of Copeland, who has a promising future ahead in Blacksburg.
